Jo-anne POV
Jo-anne woke with the sun, dressed and stood by the window, kept the curtain closed all bar the gap she was looking out of. She was waiting. West had yet to come banging on her door, angry about what had happened last night. Neither had Miranda, for that matter.
She herself had a terrible night's sleep, every damned noise had woken her, and her eyes had moved nervously towards the door, expecting it to explode and find West or his Mate standing there.
There they all were, finally. Westley, T.J., Ricky and Cole, all of them headed off to the pack's training grounds. Wests' first official day of running the pack, and the first order of business to train with his Unit. Jo-anne already knew his routine or had done, being Mated to him for two years. Unless he’d changed things up Sunday morning, the first crack of light, they would all meet up for Alpha training.
Though West had always been up a good hour or sometimes more before sun up, to pull her across the bed for sex, Sunday’s she shivered, he’d always had more energy on a Sunday. She’d often just lay there and try to recover from multiple orgasms on a Sunday. While he’d gone off to training. She never understood what it was about Sunday’s that turned him on. Never asked either.
Jo-anne waited and watched them, until they were completely out of sight, the training ground on the other side of the hill from here. Then she picked up her handbag and grabbed her suitcase. She did not want to run into West, have a run in with him before she left.
Every one in this pack knew she didn’t live on pack territory, and had heard her say she was off overseas today, so it would not arouse suspicion for her to be leaving the pack this morning, not like the last time she’d left and West had been informed. No one would bother to tell him this time, or interrupt his first day as the Alpha with something as trivial as a pack member who lived off territory, heading off territory and home.
She placed her belongings in her car, and drove away, smiled at the guard at the gate. He opened it for her without issue. When she told him she was headed back to Seattle, he didn’t even bat an eyelid, just nodded and stated “Alright.” let her pass unconcerned.
She hadn’t planned on leaving this early, her flight wasn’t until the afternoon and had been hoping to have lunch with T.J. before heading out, had actually been going to ask him to drive her to the airport so her car could be brought back to the pack. Now she would have to get it picked up and transported back after she left. But with what had happened with Volt and Clova, this was a better option, she thought.
Clova seemed happy today, did not object to leaving the pack, resting comfortably in her mind. Mated by Volt, but not his Mate, didn’t seem to bother her at all. Most wolves would only Mate their Mates with exception to rogues, who would Mate anything. Didn’t seem upset about leaving, guess that was on the account of them not being actual Mates anymore. She had slept all night, Volt had mated her good and she still felt sated it appeared.
Jo-anne spent the day walking around the city, looking at the sights, to kill some time, took some pictures. She had lunch at a small cafe and emailed through some of the pictures of the Alpha Ceremony to Alpha Damien, one’s she thought would make for good family photos and keepsakes, adding a line of apology about not getting any with West smiling.
Received a reply right before she was getting on her plane that it was perfectly okay, not to apologise, the boy didn’t smile ever. Hadn’t in a decade that he knew of. Thanked her for the photos and wished her well on her trip. She’d smiled. Alpha Damien had been a good Alpha fair and just, a little more lenient with her than most she thought. She knew why. Appreciated it.
The flight was long and noisy, and as they announced they were preparing for landing, Jo-anne started to feel restless and uncomfortable. As the descent of the plane started she felt outright agitated and started getting nauseated. Tried to shake it off, drank some water and sat taking a few deep calming breaths to try and help. It worked, though only a little.
What the hell was wrong with her? She had been here a couple of times before, there had never been an issue, she’d never felt like this coming into landing. Though all her other visits had been short trips a few days and once a week. She had been excited for the trips. Just as she had been about this move.
Jo-anne really liked it here, like the people, their culture, absolutely everything. It's why she’d actually gotten her language and linguistics Masters. She had always wanted to come and live here.
Even loved watching the Korean dramas on Netflix, heck only ever watch Korean or Mandarin dramas and hardly ever watched anything else. They were a roller coaster of emotions. Could make her laugh, cry and feel happy or annoyed; the actors she loved. Not to mention loved looking at handsome devils, all of them. She was really excited about coming to live here.
She was sitting in her seat, as the plane came in for landing wanting to vomit, her stomach was in complete knots and rolling around all over the place, she could barely sit still in her seat. The stewardess must have noticed and came down and handed her a sick bag regardless everyone was to remain in their seats.
Jo-anne had thanked her and used the bag to breathe to try to help calm herself down, seeing as the contents of her stomach had yet to be brought up. Kept her eyes closed and kept telling herself to calm down. She’d lived away from the pack for a long time. This was no different, just further away.
The plane touched down and she felt throbbing inside of her head, instant headache, just what she needed, a freaking headache on top of all else she was feeling, still nauseated, and restless.
Thankfully, all her stuff had been sent ahead of her and she only had her carry-on luggage to deal with. Pulled it down and disembarked the plane, just trying to breathe the whole way across the gangplank from the plane to the terminal. The minute her foot hit the actual airport terminal, pain shot right through her and she gasped and stumbled, reached out for anything to grab onto there, was nothing there, and fell onto her hands and knees.
More pain raced through her body, from her hands and knees, shooting up her arms and legs, tears blurred her vision, as waves of pain started to rack her body. Where her actual skin was in contact with the terminal, it felt like it was burning her. Her palms and knees felt as though they were on fire.
She was assisted off the ground and into a chair just by the exit of the plane, by the stewardess ushering people off the plane. The pain eased a little, only her feet were burning now. She looked at her hands. The heat dying down, there were no actual burn marks there, all psychological it seemed.
Jo-anne lifted her feet up off the ground and a wave of relief washed over her, as the pain started to ebb away from her. She was just trying to breathe. She could hear the staff calling for paramedics, and raised her hand to them. She was starting to feel better, she did not want to worry them or bring medical attention to herself, she was not human.
Sat staring at the ground, bit her lip, it only seemed to hurt when she was touching the actual ground, closed her eyes and tried to breathe ‘I forbid you’. Wests' voice suddenly echoed inside her mind. ‘no’ he couldn’t do that. Couldn’t forbid it, didn’t accept her pledge until after he had said that. Surely it wasn’t that, it couldn’t be.
Jo-anne slowly put her feet back down on the ground and instantly, pain course through her feet, she lifted them right away and again the pain eased off once more. How could this be? Obviously, when he had stated that to her, he had meant it as an Alpha’s Order. Although he’d not yet accepted her pledge, he had been sworn in as was the Alpha of her pack. It would hold.
Jo-anne sat there, she had to get through customs yet. Stand and wait in line, how could she? When just touching the ground caused her pain. She couldn’t even leave this country without first getting through customs and actually being in the country. She was not going to be able to stay here, had to leave. There was not going to be a choice in the matter.
She needed to go from here in arrivals to the departures and buy a ticket out of the country and to do that she was going to have to be standing, walking, likely running the whole time, waiting in line for tickets, waiting in line to board the first flight out she could get. Goddess waiting in line for security checks. This was a nightmare.
Agony awaited her, hours of it, it seemed, but what other choice did she have? She couldn’t sit here on this chair looking like a crazy person. Sooner or later she was going to have to get up, or they would make her. She would wait until the entire plane was empty and most of them were through customs. Only then would she get up. She could see the line from here. This was a real living nightmare and there was nothing she could do about it either.
If West had meant every word he said?
Then calling him to ask him to relinquish his order, he would know she had disobeyed him, was actually here in Seoul, Korea, would likely be even more mad at her. She could call T.J. she supposed, but again, the same problem. He’d have to tell West.
She had no idea if he would just leave her here in pain and not care, or if he would send for her to be brought back and punished for defying him. Likely wouldn’t matter that she had not known it was an order. One did not defy their Alpha without punishment.
She did not know what her punishment would be, had, had nothing to do with the man in ten years. Had no idea what he was like anymore or how he liked to punish his insubordinate pack members. Had only seen him briefly when at home in the pack. He’d seemed just as angry with her now, as he had been when Mated to her. This was only likely to tick him off even more.
Jo-anne could do nothing but brace herself for the pain she knew was coming, forced herself to stand up, bit down hard on the pain that was shooting up both her legs and into her body. Defying an Alpha’s Order was always painful, excruciating and could literally kill one, depending on the order given and being defied.
Somehow, she made it through customs, thankfully could speak their language fluently and managed to convince them that she was suffering from and really intense migraine headache and just needed to get to her apartment and rest up, that she had medication for it in her apartment.
Found the nearest seat on the other side of customs and sank down again, lifting her feet off the ground, put her head on her knees and closed her eyes, breathed deeply and slowly, trying to get past the pain that was wracking her body and calm herself down. Calm Clova down, who was also in pain with every step they took.
There was no way she could spend two years here, it would kill her long before then. Stayed there on that chair until as much of the pain she had been feeling subsided, it never actually entirely went away, just lessened. Lifted her head and wondered how the people in the airport would feel about her walking along the chairs to get to where she needed to go.
Jo-anne knew it would not look good and that the airport would not like it, it would draw attention right to her and likely bring security as well, and how could she explain to them? that just standing on the ground was hurting her. She could not. Perhaps if there was a shifter of any kind around, she could have asked for help. Looked around, smelled with all her wolfen ability, nothing.
She did know there were shifter packs here in Korea. Kitsune’s came from Korea. Not that she had ever met one. But now she would gladly ask for assistance from any other shifter, surely they would understand her plight. Help her.
There was nothing about, she didn’t smell anything other than humans. She needed to get up and find her way to the departure side of the airport and book herself on the first flight out, regardless of where it was going. Anywhere would do at this point, it didn’t matter what country, just not the one West had forbidden her to be in.
Took several deep breaths, gritted her teeth and left the arrivals, got directions for departures and hurried there as fast as she could, didn’t care about anyone seeing her using Clova to assist with the speed of their dash from the arrivals to the departures, climbed right onto a chair, tears streaming down her face.
Dashed them away and tried to calm down, it was getting worse, even just sitting here, was starting to cause her pain ‘I’m trying to leave.’ she told herself, trying to convince that part of her brain that was under her Alpha’s order, that part of her that was attached to him and keeping the order in place. That she was trying to comply with the order, willing to obey it, so that it would ease off and give her and Clova a break.
It did not work, Clova had retreated to the back of her mind, couldn’t cope anymore with the pain. Jo-anne let her, wondered if she could buy something silver to wear. It would cut clover off from her, and hopefully save her from the pain that they were feeling. Yes, it would burn her skin and likely leave a scar. She already had scars, so she could handle that. It was Clova she needed to protect now. Her wolf had already been through a lot in their lives. She would not cause her pain. If there was a way to disconnect her and save her from this, she would do it.
‘Do it.’ Clova whimpered inside her mind.
Find a flight first. She had to get inside the airport to where the shops would be, looked up at the board, the next flight out, Singapore. Turned her phone on and logged in to book it via a travel app. Only a few seats left, all in first class had to do it, spend the money, paid a fortune for it. The only thing that mattered was getting out from under her Alpha’s Order.
Got her ticket and headed for the gate. There was only an hour till the departure. She had to rush to the gate, spotted a jewellery store, stopped and bought a silver bracelet and put it on, damned near cried out in pain. It was excruciating and compounded on top of the pain she was already feeling, but Clova was disconnected from her and unable to feel the pain she was in within a minute. Better for her wolf.
Moved to the terminal, unable now to use Clova’s speed had to just go at normal pace, it was at the other end of the damned airport. By the time she got there, it was at least boarding. But still she had to stand in line and wait her turn. At one point, so racked with pain she knew she was going to throw up, ran for the closest bin and vomited the contents of her stomach, stood there holding the bin, shaking, it was all starting to become too much.
If she passed out here, she would not make her flight, she would likely be transported to a hospital close by and that would not help her at all. The amount of time she would be in here under his order, the stress on her body, she might not survive it. She was starting to sweat, she noted, felt clammy all over.
Got back in line for her flight, it was shorter now. The stewardess was looking at her questioningly. They didn’t want a sick person on their flight. “Morning sickness,” she stated, it would explain the sudden vomiting and the nausea she was feeling, her pale complexion and current clamminess.
Thankfully, they believed her and she was allowed to board, sank down in her first-class seat and felt the waves of pain start to ebb away, asked for a bottle of water and a sick bag, just in case, then breathed deeply in and out and closed her eyes, the minute the plane was up and off the ground she started to feel better.
Took the silver bracelet off once all the pain was gone from her altogether, dropped it into the pock of the chair in front of her, a perfectly good waste of money, but she would not be picking it back up and taking it with her. Leave it there. Some other lucky person could find it and claim it as theirs.
Took Clova a good 10 minutes to return to her after the bracelet was removed. There was a burn mark on her skin around her wrist, added to the ones she already had there from when she had been 16, so it didn’t matter, it would just blend in, with the scars already there once it settled down.
Her permanent reminder that someone had taken her and for 4 days she had been under silver restraints before she’d woken up next to West. Resisted the urge to rub at it and make it worse as it pained her a little.
How was she going to explain this to her new employer? She did not know! How was she going to explain it to the gallery owner? who was holding her art exhibition, that she could no longer attend the exhibition herself. She also did not know. Goddess her apartment and all her things, how was she supposed to deal with all of that as well?
Just one Alpha Order, and her life was in complete turmoil. West likely hadn’t even known what he’d done. Who knew if he even knew about the contract she had made with his father? It was likely, but then, why had he forbidden her? If he knew what was going on. Hadn’t that meant that he’d also had to approve it? If so, why’d he suddenly change his mind?
6 and ½ hours to Singapore, she had time to think about it, but still there was a lot she could not explain, perhaps she needed to call Alpha Damien and explain. He was the one who had approved this. So perhaps he could fix it. She was definitely not going to call Westley, that much she knew with full certainty.
She should be able to find work in Singapore, she did speak three languages and had a good portfolio. Hopefully, she could find something soon. Her bank account had just taken one hell of a hit though, so she would need to find somewhere cheap to stay, til she got a job, then she could get a small apartment somewhere.
Jo-anne took a deep breath and stepped off the plane when it landed. No pain. Thank the Goddess, headed out through customs and sat down to use the world's number 1 airport, Changi Airport, to use its free wifi, to start job hunting and looking for a cheap hotel to stay in.
Took the opportunity while she was here to look around. This place, this airport, was a photographer's dream.
So many places and things to photograph, she found herself in the butterfly garden, stopped and looked around. Wow, it was amazing, couldn’t help but smile as she watched the butterflies fly about, her camera at the ready, started taking pictures. Through the lens of her camera she found herself looking at a lady who had a smile on her face, her hand raised and there was a butterfly on her thumb, stretching its wings slowly. Took several pictures. When the woman lifted her hand to make it fly away, snapped another, it was a great shot, pure joy in the woman’s face.
Jo-anne excused herself for bothering the lady and showed her the pictures, offered her them. How could she not? She just looked so darned happy and full of life. She was very photogenic too, a stunning woman. The woman, Eu-Meh, she introduced herself as smiled and called out to a man. He strolled over and they all looked at the pictures Jo-anne had taken.
Jo-anne handed over her business card and explained she’d just arrived today, though the suitcase she was trailing probably let them know she was either arriving or leaving, she guessed. Told them she was more than happy to email them a copy of the pictures at no cost.
Was given a business card by the man, Steffan Lang, CEO of the Lang Corporations and he told her he was more than happy to pay for the photo’s to email him tomorrow with a price, he wanted all of them.
Steffan seemed a little bit surprised that she spoke Mandarin. She just smiled and told him she actually had a Masters in Language and Linguistics, and could speak 3 languages; Mandarin, Korean and English. Gained his full attention.
Started asking her questions, talking quite quickly, he was testing her and she knew it. Jo-anne smiled and let him, answered all his questions, even fired a few back for the fun of it. After 10 minutes, he laughed, nodded his head to her and said well done. Glanced at her card, it was the one for her Art degree, stated oil painting, water colour painting, sketches and photography.
Asked her if she had one to go with her Masters in Language and Linguistics. Which she did, fetched it from her bag, and handed it over, told him to call her if there was a need of her translation skills, that she was actually looking for work.
Watched the two of them walk away and continued on her way around the airport. This place was amazing, took photos in the Crystal Garden, the Enchanted Garden and just walked around for several hours amazed by everything. It was no wonder this place was considered the world's best airport.
Jo-anne took photos of everything, spent many hours there, handed out a few of her cards to people, she took photos of, deleted those photos of people unhappy about her taking their photos right in front of them so they knew she respected their choice. Apologised for overstepping her bounds.
Then booked herself into the airport's crown plaza hotel for the night before setting out into Singapore tomorrow morning.