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Chapter 71
Ari P.O.V
I woke up on the morning the exam results came out with a nervous twisting in my stomach. I went and had a shower, and then got dressed. I managed to eat a couple of sausages, but that was it. I saw that Luce was in much the same condition as me. She was driving herself up to the college she'd been studying at when me and mam left for school.
Nobody said anything until it was time to leave. I gave Luce a hug, and wished her luck.
"You too Tigris." She said.
The three of us left the house. Mam drove us to the school. I took in several deep calming breaths. I really hoped I'd done well. I needed at least two B's to get on the creative writing and world History courses. I sat in the passenger seat of the car, nervously playing with a piece of string I'd found on the dash board.
When we got to the school, I saw that Cari was already there with her parents and Logan. Logan had his arm wrapped round her waist, and she seemed to be shaking. I looked down at my hands. I wasn't any better. I got out of the car when mam parked and walked over to them. I hugged Cari.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"They'll be here soon."
"Good. I want to get this over with." We always opened our results together.
Soon Mark was there, and then Paddy, and finally Faith. We all headed into the school, and to the hall where the results were being given out.
We went for our results in the order that we arrived. When we all had an envelope in our hands, we walked to one side of the hall, leaving the others who had come with us near the entrance, and then we opened the envelopes.
I looked down at my results, still shaking. I let out the breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. I had straight B's.
"All B's." I said.
"An A and two B's." Cari said.
"B's and a C." Mark said.
"Same as Ari." Paddy announced.
"Two A's and a C." Faith said.
We all started laughing. We'd gotten the needed grades. Everything was good. We walked back to the others, and told them our results. The first thing I did after telling them mine, was pull out my phone. I sent dad a text, seeing as he was probably still asleep. Then I sent one to Luce with all our results. Finally, I sent a text to Victor. I soon got a reply from Luce.
"She got straight A's!" I said.
"Luce did?" Paddy asked, grinning. "I knew she was smart!"
"Didn't we all?" I asked.
"Come on everyone, lets go." Owen, Cari's father, said.
Paddy sent a quick text to Luce, telling her we were heading for lunch, and for her to meet us there. We'd agreed to have lunch out, to either celebrate or commiserate the results.
We went to a pub that sold quite good food that we all, minus Logan, knew. Luce met us there, and we all went in for food. When we were sat down, Cari was on my one side, and Mark was on my other. Faith was sat next to Mark. Mark put his head on Faith's shoulder. She pushed his head up, and he let it fall onto my shoulder. I pushed his head back, and it once again 'fell' onto Faith's shoulder. That sparked a game of 'head tennis' that lasted until Faith and I both grabbed Mark's head, and pushed it onto the table causing a thud.
"No sense, no feeling." Mark laughed.
We all ordered our food, and slipped into an easy banter, ignoring the adults for most of the time (except Logan). I was going to miss our daily chats and debates.
"Guys, you have to visit whenever you can." I said.
"Don't worry. We will." Cari said, hugging me.
"Just as long as you visit too." Paddy said.
"Oh, definitely." I said. "I'm not going to not come to Wales, am I?"
"It'll be hard mind." Luce said.
"Yes, but we'll manage. Somehow. I'm not loosing anymore friends." I said.
The others nodded. I think that was the thing I was the most insecure about. Loosing everyone. But I needed to do this. I needed to move out to test myself. I needed to know I could do this. After all, the only one in the group with a healing factor was Cari. I needed to brace myself for what was going to happen in the future.
Lunch was good. I had a good time, and so did the others. We all parted ways afterwards. I went with mam back home, Luce and Paddy went off to do something together, so did Mark and Faith, and Cari and Logan went off to do something as well.
Cari P.O.V
I wrapped my arms round Logan's waist as he started his bike up. I rested my forehead on his shoulders as he drove and relaxed into him. It was easy, being with Logan. He didn't expect me to be someone I wasn't, unlike the others I'd dated, and I loved him for that. He accepted that I put my friends and family right next to him on my list of priorities. I was thankful. The other guys had been jerks, always wanting me to give my time with my friends and family up for more time with them. But not Logan. He knew that they were important to me, and he knew that when I moved to America, I wasn't going to give them up. I doubted that there were many others like that. I guess Ari and I were lucky. We got the ones who understood us. But on the other hand, we were unlucky in the sense that we were mated to two brothers who were fighting like hell.
Perhaps Ari and I could get them to set there differences aside. At least partially. Logan had told me that he wanted me to be happy, and if I lost my sister because of some feud between them, I wouldn't be happy, and I knew that Ari wouldn't be either. But both of us could work on our mates. They both gave us what we wanted. That sounds like something a spoiled bitch would say, but it was true. Ari only expressed the fact that she wanted to learn to ride, and maybe get a bike later on when Victor was in hearing range, and look what happened there. And then there was Logan and I. I hadn't let him know of anything I wanted to have that was expensive, but when he heard I was hungry, I got food. If I let it slip I wanted chocolate, I got chocolate. And then there was the fact that he was paying for me to move over to America, he put his foot down, and he also booked a flight to come over and surprise me early this summer. So, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to convince them to put their differences aside. After all, Ari and I had a hell of a stubborn streak.
I focused on the speed that the bike was going at, and I smiled. This was definitely my definition of fun. I loved riding a bike. And I definitely loved riding one with Logan. I loved how close I was to him, and at the same time had the speed I craved. It was great.
I closed my eyes, and let the speed wash over me.
Ari P.O.V
The next day, I was up at four in the morning. I got dressed into a knee length commando green skirt, with a vest top to match and a green body warmer. There was a knock on the door. I went downstairs, to see that mam was already up. She answered the door, and let the moving men in.
"What are we moving?" The eldest asked.
"Those boxes." Mam said, pointing at the boxes that were piled up across the wall at one side of the living room.
The men nodded, and set to work. I made mam and I breakfast, as she got changed. Soon enough, the boxes were all in the moving Van. Mam and I had just finished, so I headed into the kitchen and grabbed my shoulder strap bag which had my Kindle, passport, money, and check in information and put it over my shoulder. I then picked up my two suitcases. I walked back out to the living room and mam and I walked to the car. The delivery van started off as mam and I put my two cases in the boot, and then we started off.
Everyone had insisted on seeing me off at the airport. Luce was going with Paddy, as she had slept over his last night. I slept for some of the drive, but most of it I spent awake, and talking to mam about my plans.
"Oh, and ma?"
"Yes, Ari?"
"Make sure to give Autumn a kiss from me whenever you see her."
"I will, don't you worry." She said.
"Good. Thanks."
When we got to the airport, mam parked up, and helped me get my stuff to the terminal. I checked my stuff in, seeing as the checkout had just opened when we arrived. When I was done, I saw the others, just a bit away from the door. The big surprise tough, was that Zoe had brought Autumn and James with her too.
I hurried over to them all to say my goodbyes. I hugged Paddy, Luce, Mark, Faith and Cari tightly, tears in my eyes. I then hugged James, and then Zoe, kissing her on the cheek. Then I hugged a sleepy looking Autumn and kissed her on her forehead.
"Be good for your mammy, alright. I'll call whenever I can and I'll visit at some point, I promise." I was almost crying. Autumn however, was crying.
"Do you have to go Auntie Ari?" She asked.
"Yes sweetie. I do."
"Can't Uncle Vic move over here?"
"No sweetheart. His job is mostly in America. And anyway, I'm not just going for Vic. I have a place at university there."
"But you'll visit right?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'll visit. Here." I unhooked a necklace I'd had for years from my neck. I'd been wearing it as well as the necklace Vic had given me today. It was a silver four leaf clover pendent. I hooked it round her neck. "Your great granny gave me this. It's supposed to bring good luck. You can have something of me this way, yeah?"
She nodded, and then hugged me. I stood up and moved onto mam. I hugged her. "I love you mam." I said.
"I love you to sweetheart." She said. She was crying, and that set me off. "You take care. Study hard, but have fun."
"I will. I promise. I'll call on the Skype phone and use the web cam."
"Good." She said. "Text me when you land."
"I will don't worry." I replied.
Mam kissed me on the forehead, and then hugged me again. I hugged everyone once more, and then looked at Logan, who had come with Cari.
"You hurt my sister and I will hunt you down." I said in a low tone, so only those with enhanced senses could hear.
"I'll keep that in mind. I promise I won't hurt her." He said. "And tell Victor, that if he hurts you, he'll not only have Cari and the others to deal with, he'll have me to answer to as well."
"I'll pass the message on." I said, smiling at him. I then looked back at everyone else. "I guess this is it then." I said. "I'll see you soon." I said.
"Bye Tigris!" My friends said. Not one of them were dry eyed either.
"Bye Arianwen." Mam, Zoe and James said.
"See you soon Auntie Ari!" Autumn said.
"See you round Tiger." Logan said.
I turned and started walking towards departures.
"Tigris, wait!" I heard Cari call.
I turned, and she collided with me, and hugged me tightly. "Try and get Victor to put aside his differences with Logan." She said softly. I could hear her crying, and I started crying again too.
"I will Blaidd." I said.
"Blaidd?"
"It's welsh, for wolf."
"It suits." She said. We pulled apart.
"I'll miss you sister." We said together. Then we laughed, while still crying.
"I have to go." I said.
She nodded, and then I turned, and walked away again, and headed through airport security. The flight was delayed, so I had to wait even longer. But it gave me a bit more time to stop crying before I boarded the plane.
The flight took ages too, but I managed to keep myself occupied with reading and sleeping. I was sat next to a woman who slept the whole journey through. By the time the plane touched down, I was itching to get off and move round. And I was impatient to see Victor. I grabbed my hand luggage, and left the plane. I walked through customs, before I grabbed a trolley, and wandered to baggage claim.
It seemed to take an age for the bags to start to come through, and then even longer for mine to appear on the belt. I grabbed them, and put them on the trolley. I pushed the trolley towards arrivals, and when I got there, I scanned the heads of people waiting for others for Victor.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the familiar mane of blonde, and I looked round. I saw him standing there, and grinned. I made a bee line for him, and he started towards me. When we reached each other, I stopped the trolley, and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist, and my arms round his neck. He brought his lips down on mine, and his arms wrapped round my waist, holding me to him.
I felt his tongue run over my top lip, and I opened my mouth, granting him access. Victor's tongue explored my mouth with relish. I moaned into him, loving the feel of his burning lips on mine.
When he pulled away, I was breathless. "Hello to you too Kitten." He said, grinning, and putting me down.
I hugged him, and felt his arms wrap round me once more. "Hey Vic." I replied softly.
He kissed my neck, on top of his mark. I sighed happily. He chuckled. He pulled back without letting me go, to look at me. He grinned. "I have a room booked for us at a hotel. I'll take you to your new apartment tomorrow."
I smiled widely. "That sounds good to me." I replied.
"Come on then." He said.
With one arm still around my waist, Victor grabbed the trolley. He had both hands on the bars, so I was trapped between him and the trolley. We walked out of the airport, and Victor led me to a black car. Victor let me get into the car, and he loaded my cases into the boot and then got into the drivers side.
Victor leant over to kiss me once more. "It's good to have you back, Kitten." He said.
"It's good to be back Vic." I said, smiling at him.
With that, he started the car up and we headed off.
A/N: So, what do you think? Please review and let me know!