Catch Me

Chapter Two

Walking up to Anthony's room I shake any thoughts of the past out of my head, taking just a moment to make sure my face is expressionless before pushing the door open.

Anthony sits there at his desk that is in the corner of the room, facing the door so he can easily look up and see who is coming in. When he looks up and sees its me he quickly shuts down his laptop and stands up, grabbing a few papers and coming towards me.

"Shut the door." He tells me, going to the bed on the other wall to spread out the papers in his hands.

I shut the door and walk over to stand next to him as he finishes.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush man, I got some of the stats of the pack and printed them off so you can see. This is serious. The health of the pack has decreased, the doctors don't have the right medicines right now because we're running out. We haven't bought anymore because you haven't given anyone permission to bring in foreign medicines yet. The money that the pack has is taking a steady fall, we used to have $500,000 but now we're at $200,000. There's a few more minor issues but we need to fix these before it becomes too late for the pack Ashton. You're alpha so we can't do anything that you don't give permission to which is why I needed you to come look at this stuff."

I look over the papers that he has laying on the bed, seeing that he's right. All the stats are taking a steady fall to the red. 

It feels like I can't breathe, it's like the feeling you get when you're in a tight, confined place and you start feeling claustrophobic like you need air or you might suffocate.

All the air in my body seems to be trapped in my lungs, unable to get out.

I've failed my pack. I've failed my family. I've failed myself.

The past four months I've been wallowing in my self pity, my wolf has been detached after losing his mate to the coma she now sleeps in, and all the while my pack has been trying to fend for themselves when I, the Alpha, was supposed to be protecting them.

Another pack, or rogues for that matter, could have attacked us at any time and they wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. Because of me.

All the air in my body rushes out quickly, making my head spin. I stumble a step to the left before righting myself and going to the bed to sit down. I run my hand through my hair while I think, going over the possibilities and my options.

I need to get this pack back on track, if not for them then for me. I can't let everything that my dad has worked so hard for go to waste.

With that thought in mind I stand quickly and grab all the papers, stacking them in a pile before heading to the door with them in my hand.

"Thank you, I'll take care of it." I quickly say before pulling the door open and rushing out.

I take the stairs leading up to my office, the hallway slowly suffocates me more and more as I get closer, making me feel like I can't breathe once again. 

I stop outside the door leading into my office, frozen with the fear of waits on the other side.

I feel paralyzed, I don't want to walk in and think of all the times me and Madeline have been in the room together, laughing or talking about the pack.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, pulling the door open quickly before I lose my nerve.

The best way to get over hard times is to face them head on right? I tell myself that as I slowly open my eyes, taking in my surroundings.

Everything is exactly how I left it, down to the papers scattered haphazardly around on the desk.

I take a deep breath again and walk around the desk, slowly sinking down into the chair. I push the papers to the side so that the current ones in my hand will have room. I carefully lay them out on the table so that I can look at all the things I need to catch up on.