Thanks EC Brenway for your reviews! Despite the issues loading the chapters again! Don't know what's going on with them!

Chelly sure are reconnecting and pierce is the 3rd wheel of all 3rd wheels! Chelly being attached to one another with pierce unable to intervene, glad you like the big plus of that! Ooh finding her mate complicating Elly's transformations? You never know, there may be some complications when we get there!

The Chemistry In Darkness

Chapter Twenty

Friday 22nd November 2024

"Hey, Bea, have you and Yashvi settled on a date for Chloe, Aster and I to plan your engagement party or would you like us to arrange that for you too?" Elly asked her younger sister as soon as she walked in the door of the Kennedy's for her lunch break.

"Hello to you too," Bea teased as she walked over to the dining table where Elly was sitting with Aster and Karl, whom was home after his night shift at the hospital, giving her niece a quick kiss on the top of her head, "At least Aster's glad to see me home, aren't you lil one?"

"Yes, Auntie Bea," Aster giggled.

"How has the morning been setting up your new bedroom, Aster? Do you like the bed your mum got you?" Bea fired off questions to the young girl as she headed to the kitchen to grab some lunch.

"Yes, it's gonna be awesome having my own bed for the first time ever," Aster enthused.

Bea smirked as Elly raised her eyebrow at her, "Right, so engagement party. Are you sure you and Chloe want to plan the celebration for us?"

"And me, Auntie Bea," Aster piped up.

"Yes, sorry, Aster too, I bet your ideas for the food and music are gonna be amazing!" Bea smiled at the youngster.

"You bet they are, they'll be food and music for kids too as you'll be inviting Mark, Aaron and Toadie's kids, won't you?" Aster asked.

"Of course," Bea agreed, "You looking forward to meeting the entire Brennan clan over dinner tonight?"

Chloe won't be there tonight…I want her to be…maybe I should pop over to her place to ask her again…

"Yes, Auntie Bea, I can make friends with their kids. I never had friends me own age," Aster revealed.

"I'm sorry about that, Aster," Elly apologized, not wanting to remind her daughter in front of Karl and Bea why they couldn't integrate with other people besides the Pack for the past few years, then looking back up at Bea, "So, do you have a date we can work with or not?"

Bea grabbed her lunch and walked over to the table to sit next to Karl, opposite Elly, "Yashvi and I aren't rushing down the aisle anytime soon. We'll probably marry in the second half of next year so we don't need to rush to an engagement party but we do want to do that this year."

"Okay…excellent decision not to rush down the aisle unlike Mark and I…so do you have a date in mind for the party?" Elly pushed again.

Bea shrugged, "Well, Yashvi's drawn the short straw at the police station. She's rostered on for the next two weeks as night shifts but then the polite human being that she is has swapped her shifts with a colleague for an extra week so I am barely gonna see my girlfriend except when she stumbles into bed when I'm getting up to go to the garage for three weeks straight."

"Three weeks of silence at night so we can all sleep?" Elly teased, then furrowed her eyebrow.

Wait…three weeks from now…no…not that weekend! Next full moon is Sunday 15th December so I need to head back to the Pack the Saturday morning for the three-night cycle of the full moon. Crap! What do I do if Bea wants her party the Saturday night? Yes, I told my family that I need to go back to my friends for several nights next month sometime but I was playing it vaguely as to when I'll go back to them. Not that I have the dates in my calendar and need to do this every single month without arising suspicion. How can I talk my sister into changing the date of her engagement party without letting her know I need her to avoid the full moon cycle?

"Yes, you will enjoy that but I'll be hoping the garage is quiet so I can wrap up late afternoon early to…spend quality time with my fiancé before she goes off to work for the evening," Bea stuck her tongue out at Elly.

Elly watched as Karl seemed to be amused by something Aster was doing rather than listen to their conversation, "So…what date exactly does Yashvi finish her night shifts? Or we can do the party the week after, no need to rush it."

"The Thursday night in three weeks is her last night shift for at least a month or so, not that I'll be counting down the days," Bea answered.

"Perfect, we'll have the party on the Friday night then…which is the…" Elly fiddled with her phone feigning looking at her calendar, "13th December. Sound good?"

"Wouldn't the party be better on the Saturday night?" Bea asked.

Elly shook her head, knowing she was lying to her sister for her own personal benefit, "See if you have the party on the Friday night then you get to continue the celebration into Saturday and Saturday night. Whereas Saturday night just goes straight into Sunday and you have those Sunday blues feels about work the next day."

"I suppose you do have a point, Elly," Bea agreed, "Though when was the last time you had those feels as I thought you didn't really work whilst you were away?"

"I did a lot of tutoring for one of my friends, Lexa, as she quit school far too young and I helped her to achieve graduating from high school through my tutoring," Elly replied proudly, then wanting to shift the conversation away from Lexa in case it led to more questions about the Pack, "We good to start planning the party for that Friday night?"

"Sure," Bea decided, "I'll text Yashvi to let her know so she doesn't go and swap any more of her shifts out of the kindness of her heart. Are you sure the three of you want to plan this party cause Yashvi and I will be fine to organize the event ourselves?"

"Perfect. Yes, Bea, I want to do this for you, both of you. I've missed so much of your life and I want to do something small to start making up for it," Elly insisted.

"And spending time with Chloe, aye?" Bea wiggled her eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elly worried.

"I see that little smile on your face every time the word Chloe comes up," Bea winked.

"Auntie Bea's right, Mum, you always smile around Chloe," Aster piped up.

"So, I was right," Bea chuckled.

"I don't know what you two are trying to get at as Chloe's my best friend, why wouldn't I smile around her?" Elly played innocent, praying Aster wouldn't pop back up to call Chloe her 'mate.'

"Chloe deserves someone better than Pierce, always has, and we all know she was wildly in love with you. If anything was to ever happen between you two…post-Pierce, as I don't condone cheating, Elly, then I'd be very happy for the two of you," Bea declared.

"Well, that's just insanity as Chloe's married and seems very happy with Pierce so nothing is going to happen between us," Elly insisted.

Except for the fact I'm starting to accept more and more that Chloe is my mate and that means we will find our way to being together…

Before Bea could argue further, Elly added, "Karl, are you okay to mind Aster for a bit for me? I'm going to pop over to Chloe's to check when she wants us to get together on the weekend to plan this engagement party…and maybe try to talk her into joining Aster and I for our meal at the Brenaka's tonight with her fam."

Karl nodded in agreement, oblivious to most of the rest of their conversation.

"Hmm both things you can do via text but you want to see Chloe," Bea smirked.

"I'm just trying to make more of an effort with everyone now that I'm back, that's all there is to it," Elly told her sister.

As Elly stood up, ran her hand through Aster's hair then kissing her cheek, to say goodbye until she got back from Chloe's, Bea shook her head at Elly, "Sure."

Bea is so gonna work out my feelings for Chloe before I know it…I guess I'm lucky she won't comprehend the extent of them by knowing what Chloe being my mate means…

A moment later, Elly bounded silently up the stairs to Chloe's house. Her ability to skip up them without making a sound, still amused Elly that she had powers like that as a werewolf even when she was in human form.

As Elly reached the top of the stairs, she found herself glancing into the side window at the front door which was tinted to obstruct people from seeing inside the house. But Elly wasn't a normal human being and her powers of sight allowed her eyes to see through the tinted glass.

Chloe was standing in the living room, where the couch usually sat. The couch, Elly assumed though she couldn't see must have been shifted out of the way. Chloe stood there in her gym outfit with Elly unable to make out what she was doing, seeing the blonde from behind. Chloe's phone suddenly rung.

Elly couldn't help but listen in to Chloe's side of the conversation, the door and windows thick enough to stop her being able to clearly make out the caller's side of the conversation. Even though she knew she shouldn't use her heightened powers around her friends and family, Elly justified it to herself that it was Chloe and she wanted to know what was going on with her best friend.

"Yep, we're still on for today, my Uber is on the way. I'll be out of here in a few moments… Y'know, you don't have to call to check in on me every time before I leave to see you, even though it is rather sweet of you to do so… Course Pierce doesn't know. I wouldn't have even answered your call if he was around… Yes, just gotta be home by 3 o'clock to pick up my niece and nephews from school… Okay, see you soon," Chloe said to the caller.

Chloe's hiding something from Pierce…I really want to know what…

A moment later, Elly heard some shuffling coming from the living room, glancing in the window once more, she realized the couch had been shifted back into position. Elly ducked down the stairs, finding herself slipping to the side of the house. Pulling out her phone, Elly texted Karl, saying Chloe wasn't at home but she wanted to go to the shops if he wouldn't mind looking after Aster for her for a little while longer. The reply from Karl was almost instant, agreeing to mind Aster longer for her.

Where is Chloe going? And why is she hiding it from Pierce?

Elly held her breath as she slipped her head around the corner of her hiding spot, seeing Chloe bounding down the stairs as a car pulled up at the end of the driveway.

Chloe's still wearing her gym outfit…with a sexy leather jacket too…damn she looks so freaking fine! Why are you hiding here and making excuses as to why you won't be home within minutes? Ugh…I'm so curious where Chloe's off to and what she's hiding from Pierce…I want to follow her…you can't follow her…but I want to follow her… What if Chloe's in some kind of trouble? You're the worst…you know deep down Chloe is your mate…and you are so keen to learn anything about Chloe and Pierce that will prove Chloe doesn't belong to him and she has to be yours one day in the future…

Groaning at herself for being unable to ignore her desire to follow her best friend for any kind of insight into Chloe's life now as she felt Chloe was still quite guarded over how her life has been for the past couple years, Elly was glad that she had her car keys in her pocket.

Once the Uber drove to the end of the court, Elly raced to her car parked in the Kennedy's driveway. Jumping in her car, Elly quickly had the vehicle reversing out of the driveway to follow Chloe.

I am the worst…following Chloe rather than letting her live her life that you really have no reason to be part of to this level that you want to find out what she's hiding from her husband…cause you know she's your mate and for you and Chloe to be together then Chloe and Pierce need to split…but I'm not going to actively try to break them up…right? How can I? Chloe wouldn't want to be with me if she learnt what I really am…

And yet I'm still following Chloe…

Next time - Mystery surrounds Chloe's disappearing act, where will Elly follow her to and will she be able to find out what Chloe's hiding from Pierce? What do you think Chloe's up to?