Sophie looked disappointed when she noticed I wasn’t returning from the direction of our suites. “So you didn’t take a minute to yourself to do some relaxing,” she frowned as she teased. “You don’t actually think we sleep when we go to bed at night do you?” I teased back. “Eww gross,” her face scrunched up, “I know I started it, but can we just not?” I shrugged, “I can’t wait to tease you about this stuff. We really need to figure out how to find your mate.” “And have to share my cookies, no thank you.” She pushed her way into the kitchen, eager to get the cookie dough out and start baking. “You’re still going to make me share these with Kelly aren’t you?” she pouted as she hugged the bowl against her chest. “I’ve just come back from going toe to toe with your brother, I’m not about to do it again for your sugar addiction,” I laughed, hopping up on the counter to watch her. She’d done this part often e
Kelly’s face lit up when Sophie held out the container of cookies, “We brought snacks! And some of them are even still warm on the top.” “Are you trying to make me look bad?” Blake groaned looking hungrily at the container as it was passed into Kelly’s hands. “Why, what did you bring for her?” I looked around the room to see if I could spot it. “Just a pint of ice cream,” he frowned at me. “Well now she can make her own ice cream sandwich cookies, depending on the flavor of ice cream.” “Where did we have ice cream stashed?” Sophie pouted, making us all chuckle. “I’m going to start to get a big head with all this attention you keep giving me,” she gave me a warm smile. I shrugged, “Not all my visits are fun though. I’m afraid this one is more business than pleasure and it concerns both of you.” Kelly’s smile didn’t waiver, but Blake’s face expressed concern. “I know I’v
Dmitri hadn’t been particularly stoked with the idea of me spending another night in the Aether after my fun detour trip to ancient Egypt last time. He was less happy about me doing it alone. But we didn’t know what excessive exposure to the celestial energies there would have on him. We had enough shit to deal with as it was. This was the first time I’d had a clear intention and some instructions on how to achieve it, before I let my consciousness drift away to the inky black void with all its twinkling star-like eyes watching me. No one was there to greet me and Dmitri hadn’t been yanked along with me. So far, so good. I sat down and closed my eyes. I was going to call a specific Menae, on purpose, for the first time. The image of a midnight black wolf, with a starburst shaped white patch of fur on the forehead above silver eyes formed in my mind. I needed the daughter that had the gift of reading people, claircognizance, Bo called it. “Delphinios,”
They’d awoken Sophie and refreshed themselves a little by the time that I was ready to go. “Does Isabel know to expect us? Or should I let her know now?” I pulled my hair up into a messy bun to keep it out of the way while I got poked and prodded for however long this was going to take. “She’s expecting us,” Dmitri circled his arms around me from behind. “It’s not going to be as bad as you think it’ll be,” he tried to whisper reassurances in my ear. I shrugged, “Easy for you to say, you’re probably not going to become a human pin cushion after this.” I leaned into his embrace briefly, taking what little comfort I could before volunteering for torture. I couldn’t say that I could blame her for looking surprised. A request to be ready for the four of us, during the time of day I usually trained, I probably would’ve expected to see someone in need of medical attention as well. “Should we start with your concerns or see if I can break her
I couldn’t help but wonder if all this was my fault. If I’d just listened to her when she’d insisted that she didn’t need the recognition or the formalities, would we still have to go through any of this? Would Ulf have even found out about her if we hadn’t stuck to tradition and invited him? Candice may have still been a thorn in our side at some point. Be she wouldn’t have been given the chance to create this much trouble. I was sure of that much. She would’ve been killed on sight the moment she’d stepped a foot into our territory. It was just the way that she’d been posed and done up to look like Selene that had saved her life. And now she’d been allowed to get under all of our skin. Without letting Selene rip her mind to shreds there was no way of knowing what information that she’d given to Ulf. We could only assume that she’d divulged every intimate detail that she knew about all of us in her attempt to be his ally. I never should’ve let her stay
It wasn’t as though I had been expecting a warm welcome home or anything like that, but seeing Sophie standing at the top of the stairs outside waiting for me all alone reminded me how broken things still were. She waved and smiled like the Cheshire cat as we pulled up to the entrance and waited until the motor died before waving out a few of the maid staff to come collect our guests’ baggage. She followed them down the stairs, practically bouncing with excitement as we stepped out of the vehicle. “Luna Jeanette, and Delta Anthony, it’s so wonderful to see you again!” Sophie’s smile widened as Jeanette blushed. “Lu-Beta Sophia, it’s so kind of you to come oversee our arrival personally,” Jeanette stepped towards Sophie and pulled her into an awkward hug. It was interesting to see that I wasn’t the only one that hadn’t quite adjusted to Sophie’s new title and place within the pack. “I wouldn’t hear of anyone else greeting you,” Sophie r
“I’ve never faltered in my original oath as your Beta or my loyalties to you or the pack,” I growled angrily, dropping my bag and stepping towards him to meet whatever challenge he wanted to lay before me. “I’m not going to risk the life of my mate on a paltry oath of empty words made when we were children,” Dmitri growled back, staring at me through the obsidian orbs of his wolf’s eyes. “I’ve never told a soul the truth of your relationship,” my own wolf pushed to the surface and growled back. “My oath was neither empty words nor meaningless to me. I will carry that secret to my grave.” He chuckled bitterly, “You’ve always been a defiant and foolish whelp.” “And you’re a stubborn impulsive hot head!” “Wolves back in their cages,” Selene hissed at both of us, having moved undetected yet again. I felt like all the air was sucked out of my lungs, and staggered back as my wolf retreated,
Watching Nathan process the truth reminded me of when I’d first told Dmitri. He was just sitting there and stared at me as if I’d grown another head and 3 sets of arms with monstrous claws at each end. I was beginning to wish that I could see what was going on inside his head. At the very least, I should’ve taken Isabel’s suggestion and done this where all his vitals could’ve been monitored during the process. But, I felt I owed him his privacy instead. “Maybe we should go ahead with Blake taking over things for tonight,” Dmitri sounded smug, happy to see that finally he hadn’t been the only one with difficulty coming to terms with my existence. “I can still do my job,” Nathan’s voice sounded a little robotic and detached. “It doesn’t really look like you can do much of anything right now,” Sophie quipped from her seat. She was also enjoying Nathan’s struggle, but more like how a sister enjoys her siblings’ misery. “I