I was starting to wonder if I shouldn’t be sequestered away the rest of the world the same way Candice was. I was gaining a less than stellar track record when it came to dealing with other people these days. Granted Connor brought my irritation with him on himself. Blake let out a muffled grunt as my fist connected to his abdomen, just below the rib cage. He stepped back and held up his hands in surrender, “Fuck! Who pissed you off this time?” “No one,” I huffed. He arched his brow quizzically at me, forcing me to change my answer, “I guess me. I’ve been pissing myself off. We planned this entire thing out to most trivial detail, and every time I turn around I’ve fucked it up in one way or another. Now the best I can do is stay out of the way so I don’t fuck up anything else.” He flashed me his patented dimpled smile, “You’re too hard on yourself. We expected some push back from the other Alphas, so you can’t blame yours
It was hard to believe that all of this was just for me. Well, me and the miracle that was our baby, now that I was a shifting member of the pack. It was also a nice political move for Selene, even though she’d been resistant to the idea of opening up the celebration to including the visiting lunas. There was a mountain of gifts piled high and they were adding another table to hold the increasing pile when Blake walked in with me. Selene had agreed to let Nathan be her shadow for the day, to allow him to be at my side. She’d insisted on it in fact. She wanted me to have the comfort of my own mate at my side. This wasn’t just going to be about party games, and gifts, I’d agreed to use mine and my wolf’s gifts to help her find possible candidates for the Menae waiting to be called to server beside her. Sophie was her beta. Blake was her protector. Dmitri was her mate. But this was the only thing that I could contribute for her, our goddess
Selene came out of Blake and Kelly’s rooms looking like the weight of the world was pressing down on her shoulders. “Do you want to try to get some hitting in?” She cocked her head up to look at me with a wry smile, “I don’t think there is much left for me to learn in the next day or so that is going to help me, but I’m always happy to smack you around for a bit if you need me too.” “Come on,” I grinned down at her, “I’ve got a surprise for you that I think you’ll like.” “I swear to god if running drills, I’m going to break more than just your nose and ribs Nathan.” She shot me one of those rare warning looks that reminded you she was far more deadly than she looked, making me chuckle. “Just come and look,” I led her down to the tunnel system and out to the training grounds. She frowned at the men and women standing paired off for the evening sparing sessions, “I’m not going to practice kil
There was definitely something off about Selene tonight, but no one seemed to want to voice anything about it. I was willing to bet that the only person that would’ve spoken up, was Blake, but she’d ordered him to stay with his mate for the rest of the day and even arranged to have their diner brought up to them so that Kelly wouldn’t have to tax herself any further by dealing with more people. She kept staring off into space throughout the meal. Clearly her mind was somewhere else. But she still managed to fake a smile, and nod at the appropriate times as the conversations prompted. She didn’t even lean into Dmitri’s touch, which struck me as more odd than her lack of banter.&
It wasn’t hard to see that everyone had picked up on Selene’s complete lack of interest in everything around her. But just like everyone else, I said nothing. After the report Nathan gave me of the test run he’d put together for her, she seemed broken in a way that none of us knew how to heal. I couldn’t help but feel that things were only going to get worse. If ‘killing’ a statue had this effect on her, what was going to happen when she actually took a life? I cursed myself for letting her set the terms to all or nothing. Someone had to die, and I was starting to worry that she’d let it be her instead of having to take a life herself. Traditions and laws be d
Nathan ran back to spend his day with Candice, some kind of last day with her mate bullshit. Dmitri had shifted back into his wolf to carry the goddess in Selene’s body out to their hideaway cabin, since she was deadlocked in human form. I was tasked with grabbing a motorbike for Dmitri to ride back on, since I’d be staying out there with Selene. ‘There’s been a change of plans,’ I linked to Kelly as soon as I was close enough. ‘Did you guys find Selene?’ ‘Yes, but she’s not herself today, so we’re spending the day out at the cabin,’ I expl
“I don’t understand, what is going on?” Alex stared at me as I watched Dmitri storm down the hall. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her out of the hall, “I don’t know yet either, but I’ll let you know what I can when I find out. Ok love?” She frowned at me, “Meaning you have to leave early this morning.” “You know I don’t want too,” I brushed the hair out of her face, “and in just one more day, almost all of this craziness will be done and over. Then I can ask Dimi and Selene to let us have a few days out at the cabin.&rdq
It wasn’t too hard to babysit a goddess once I started approaching the situation like I was taking care of my own little sister when she much younger. Aside from having a filthy vocabulary and an overwhelming sense of entitlement, it was just like taking care of a ten year old girl. She played in the water like she was a nymph, basked in the sun until it got too warm, preferred sweets and junk food over veggies, playing dress up with the plethora of clothes in the closet, and sitting on the floor in front of me while I brushed and braided her long, unruly curly locks for her. “She chose well with you,” she sighed contentedly as she watched me clean up our dinner dishes.