“I’m checking in. What else would I be doing, Vale?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “At this time of night? Sleeping, actually. Or you know, you could have checked in weeks ago.” “I was busy. Auri, do you mind if I get something to eat? I’m starving.” Snorting, I rolled my eyes. “You don’t need to eat anything else.” My mom came over and elbowed me. She started to sign but my dad turned his back and disappeared into the kitchen. Her hands fell to her side and I heard her sigh. Kissing her head, I nodded up the stairs. “Go to bed. I’ll make sure he doesn’t eat the sink while he is in there.” She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. 'Goodnight, Vale. Don’t get into a fight with him, please.' 'I promise. Go.' “Auri, do you have tea made?” I shook my head and headed into the kitchen. “Auri…oh, Vale, where is your mom?” Pulling out the cold container of tea, I grabbed two glasses and poured him one. I poured one for myself and sat down at the kitchen island. “She went to bed.” “
“We will need to air out the place. Probably wipe down the ceiling.” She didn’t say anything as she cut a slice of cake and set it on a plate. Cutting another half the size, she placed the big slice in front of me, and took up the seat next to me. Taking the fork, she cut into the corner and took a bite. As she chewed, I watched the tears fall down her cheeks. Morgan might be right. 'It might be time for me to move on. I can’t protect people when they are fighting against me.' With her thoughts, more tears fell down her cheeks. “Let me talk to Týr first. Please. Let me try to figure out what the hell is going on.” She shook her head. 'They will probably will be by to check for life.' I grabbed my fork tightly before digging into my cake. This whole situation infuriating me. Dad should have been out here immediately. So should her son. Checking to see if she was okay. Going on a witch hunt to find out who did it. She was the Luna of this pack. She fought in wars, sacrificed herself
Naresh and I lapsed onto silence for a minute or two before I hauled up the bag of potatoes. She didn’t specify what she wanted so I would just bring the bag back in. When I went out, Danger was in the middle of the burnt pile with a shovel. “Mom, you didn’t call him all the way out here to roast your pig, did you?” The smile she showed me told me that’s exactly what she did. Danger though, seemed all too eager to be helping her out with this. She placed the potatoes in the ground and then Danger helped prep the pig in his trunk before they put it in the smoldering pile. Between the two of them, they finished in just under an hour. He came in for a slice of cake but headed out soon after, saying that his mate had such a tight leash on him, he started to yell their safe word every time she wouldn’t let him go. I realized, at that moment, all my mom’s friends were as shameless as she was. She asked him to come by later when it was done cooking and he said he would text her later if he
Suddenly, Lucy’s face went red. “I’m sorry, Vale! I didn’t even think you would have a mate!” My mom, Hector and Bryan snickered as Lucy turned even more red. “I didn’t mean…I just…I’m sorry!” I laughed. “Lucy, it’s fine. Currently, I’m not attached to anymore. Though, maybe check with the person before you use them as revenge on your ex-mate, yeah?” She nodded sheepishly. “You guys captains now? When I left, you guys were applying.” AJ rolled his eyes. “Turns out, you needs to be a fat fuck to be a captain now.” He shot a glare back at the group we were completely ignoring. Jax elbowed him. “We decided freelance was more our thing. Your mom here hooked us up with the deluxe mercenary package. So we’ve been working for the guild for five years now.” “Shit! Congrats you guys. I’ve worked with more than a few mercenaries in the past five years. Maybe there will be an opportunity." “Hopefully really soon.” Jax waggled his eyebrows but I watched as my mom kicked him in the back of
Hector got to her door first and threw it open. I could hear the lock break as it hit the wall. Right behind him, I surveyed the room. My mom was standing, chest heaving, golden eyes lit up and her full-length mirror shattered under her. Her hand was sporting shards of glass and blood as it held the crumpled piece of paper. She was shaking but the look on her face was angry more than upset. “Mom?” Her eyes found mine and suddenly, I was brought to my knees. Behind me, I felt Bryan grab me so I didn’t fall to the ground. “Auri.” Hector walked into the room, his hands up. “You’re bleeding.” Shaking her head, she brushed past him and disappeared into the closet. She came out a few minutes later, wearing body armor, her hair pulled up and completely suited up with weapons. Bryan took a deep breath. “You aren’t going onto the territory, Auri. You can’t. They will attack because they would know you are coming! They can feel you!” Her hands came up quickly. “I don’t care.” She signed it
“Lucy, don’t say it like that. We are going to build a pack and ask nicely when the time comes.” AJ laughed, leaning back on the stool he sat down on. My eyes stared at Lucy as she held my gaze. I was trying to rationalize what I just heard. The thought had crossed my mind that I would eventually like to have my own pack. Staying at the castle for the rest of my life wasn’t necessarily appealing to me, I didn’t really know how to begin. Really, I had thought I would start with my Luna and work our way through the world. Maybe picking up some of the good apples amongst the rogues and building from there. Usually, the king would take over his families pack but I refused since I didn’t want to take away anything from Týr. That left me packless for the first time in recorded history. Alpha King Odin did have a pack but chose to leave it. Though, he did end up building a new pack from what I knew of the genealogy book. I just hadn’t really nailed down the specifics. Now, I was being told
I sat on the edge of a small cliff that was not too far from the house. Further east was a waterfall from a stream that wrapped around the territory but that was further than I wanted to go. The air blew through my hair and I had my leg pulled up, the other dangling off the edge. It was sunny and so the rock beneath me was warm since the trees didn’t grow this close to the edge. It overlooked the rest of the forest that dropped down about thirty or so feet. It was peaceful. There weren’t any sounds outside of the wind, the rustling of the trees, and the creatures in the forest. I found a place that I escaped to outside of the High Council castle as well. Here though, was familiar and safe. A place where my head could just not think of all the things I needed to do, all the duties and problems of the world. Naresh also sat quietly in my head as we looked out. At some point, I closed my eyes and slipped into a meditative state. I heard someone come up behind me and I looked back, seein
***Ezekiel’s POV*** I sat in my office looking down at the paperwork in front of me. The same paper had been in front of me for the last half hour but I couldn’t bring myself to comprehend what I was reading. My mind wandered more and more lately. In my dreams, I found myself back at the High Council, roaming the corridors of castle. It was a never ending maze and at every turn I could smell him; fresh baked bread and basil. Rose had tried to explain to me what it meant to have a mate, what it was like when she met Cory. I didn’t understand until now. It was harder though, so much harder. The first day I saw him, stepping forward as the Alpha King Vale, I was shocked. I remember Leo having to get my attention after he spoke. His words flowed over me and I felt myself being carried away. I wanted him. I want to walk into his arms and never leave. It was only when he backed away, disappeared from my line of sight that it all came crashing down on me. I remember shaking like a leaf and