~July 2nd~ Later in the afternoon…

Light shone through his window. Percy cracked his eyes open to avoid being permanently blinded. Once he adjusted, he threw the covers off of his body and went to the bathroom.

Percy brushed his teeth and hair and washed his face, then hopped in the shower.

He threw on some skinny jeans, a green hoodie, and his favorite beanie form yesterday before heading to the stairs.

Percy noticed that Jason's bedroom door was open. He was going to ignore it and go to the kitchen, but Percy was too curious for his own good.

He approached the door quietly. "Jason?" he whispered, in case the Alpha was still sleeping.

Jason's bed was empty. The sheets were a mess, but everything else in the room seemed immaculate.

Percy took a deep breath. His wolf was comforted by the mere smell of Jason's room.

After peeking around some more, Percy turned around and headed downstairs.

When he walked into the kitchen, he saw his mother and Hera making food and talking.

"Mom!" he said, and hugged Sally. Sally smiled and hugged her son back. "Hey, Percy. It's only been a day; you can't possibly miss me that much. What did you do yesterday?"

Percy told his mother about meeting Jason's friends. "The Chases I know, and the Zhangs as well," Sally said, "But not so much on the McLeans. Ah, well."

"We finished painting my room yesterday; it's like an explosion of blue, Mom, I love it, and before I went to bed, Jason-" Percy blushed and stopped.

"Jason what?" Hera and Sally asked.

"N-nothing," he said.

"Spill!" Hera put her spatula down.

"It was nothing!" Percy protested. "We just kindamaybesorta exchanged words that I will never forget for my entire life and he kissed me on my forehead."

Hera squealed. "That's so cute!"

"Sweetie, that's great." Sally said.

"Speaking of Jason, where is he?" Percy asked.

"He's in his father's office, doing papers. You know; Alpha work." Hera responded.

"Okay. Thanks."

Percy kissed his mom on the cheek, grabbed an apple, and left the kitchen.

He walked toward the center of the house, which was supposedly where the Alpha's office was.

Percy approached the office and knocked on the door. "Come in." Jason's voice was muffled from the other side of the door.

As Percy opened it, he saw Jason take off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Hey, Percy." He smiled. "What's up?"

"I was going to ask you that," Percy said, "what's Alpha work like?"

Jason sighed. "It's a lot of paperwork. Some of these are pack treaty agreements...Father wants me to learn all of them in case one decides to hold a meeting. I can't go in knowing nothing them, it'd be an embarrassment to this pack."

Percy sat in the chair in front of Jason's desk. "Well…I can help you, if you'd like."

Jason smiled. "Really? I think the work would be a lot easier with you here."

Percy grinned and picked up the first paper. "Okay. Alpha Troy Baker of the Dark Moon Pack."

Jason looked at the paper. "Alpha Troy is nineteen years old. His mate is Anna Loister, age eighteen. They have zero children. Troy is known for his generosity as an Alpha, accepting any runaways who don't seem to pose a threat to his pack: he makes sure they are trustworthy. There is someone in his pack with the ability to discern lies from truths."

"That's amazing." Percy said, taking a bit out of his apple. "How do we know this pack?"

"Father and Troy's dad, Oliver, were friends back in the day. The second they became Alphas of their packs, they made their first alliances with each other."

Percy nodded. "Okay, next: Alpha Deborah Gery."

"I definitely remember her." Jason smiled. Percy's heart plummeted.

"She was the first woman Alpha of her time; it's pretty hard not to forger her."

Oh. That's what he meant. Of course.

Percy's heart soared back to its original position and he instantly felt better. I can't believe I got so upset so quickly just because he spoke in that tone about another girl.

Well, we are mates.

"…Anyway, that's Alpha Deborah."

Percy tuned back in. He put Alpha Gery's paper down and went on to the next one.

They continued doing this for a while before Jason looked at the clock. "Okay, Percy. I'm done with my work. It's a Saturday. It's 12:00 in the afternoon. What would you like to spend the rest of the day doing?"

Percy thought about it. "Well, since I got to meet your friends last night, how about you meet my friends?"

Jason smiled. "Definitely."

So Percy led Jason to Nico's house. As Percy knocked on the door, he heard crashing, yelling and cursing, and pounding feet before the door opened.

"Hello!" Will said cheerfully as he opened the door. When he noticed Jason, he bowed. "Good day, Alpha."

Jason grinned. "Thank you, but there are no formalities needed. I'm here to meet the friends of my mate."

Will's eyes widened. "So it's true! Nico told me, but I never thought…oh, it doesn't matter. Welcome! Please enjoy your stay!"

Will opened the door all the way and stepped aside for Jason and Percy.

As Percy walked in, he saw Nico come in from the kitchen holding a broom and dustpan. "Will Alexander Solace, I am going to murder you later for breaking that glass! And then my mother is going to kill me! And then my father's gonna be mad at her! Do you see what you have caused? A circle of grief-" Nico stopped his ranting when he saw the company in the hallway.

"You're so lucky. I can't kill you now that the Alpha's here." Nico muttered. Percy laughed as Nico bowed his head at Jason. "I apologize for speaking so freely in your presence."

"It's fine. Just call me Jason." He waved off the apology.

"Really?" Nico asked.

"Yeah." Jason replied.

"That's a relief." He said. Nico ran over to Will, lightly smacked the back of his head, handed him the broom, and dumped the glass bits into the trash.

Percy and Jason hung out with Nico and Will, watching movies and making fun of the actors. At one point, Nico grabbed Percy's arm and led him into the kitchen. He looked seriously into Percy's eyes and asked, "Are you happy?"

Percy blanched. "What?"

"Does he make you happy?" Nico asked. "He's not hurting you, is he? Because if he is, don't you dare be afraid to tell me. I've heard too many stories about Omegas mated to Alphas getting abused during full moons to the point that they die. You are not going to become one of those stories."

Percy smiled and hugged his friend. "No, Nico, he hasn't hurt me. And I really don't think he will. Just last night…"

Nico smirked. "Last night? What happened last night?"

Percy blushed and told Nico what Jason said to him.

Nico was silent for a minute before he nodded. "Alright. I approve. But if he does anything-and I mean anything, like it could be something as small as a kick in the shin- you come over here and you tell me, okay? Will and I are fully prepared to go beat some Alpha ass."

Percy laughed. "Got it, Nico."

Nico smiled and they headed back into the living room.