Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer, my OCs belong to me.
This chapter is dedicated to Alphabloodwolf, WriterNMomma, Sarahkala444, Asherah Isa, maggiepie123 and rickaroo922
This is really late. Part of it is real life bleeding my writing time, and part of it is knowing what to do with this story. At the moment it's early days, and I got no big scenes in mind this early in the story, but I need to establish things.
Robyn
I woke up, wondering where I was at first. Took a second to remember I was in Tregarran. When I'd stayed in the past it had usually been when all the kids were here and it was up in the attic with the girls. This time I was waking up in one of the actual bedrooms. Hadn't Addie said it used to be Tony's?
Where was Addie anyway? He wasn't in bed with me, but I didn't panic long cause I could sense him in the bathroom before my ears really registered the sound of running water. I got out of bed and realised I'd forgot to pack something yesterday, my contacts. My eyes weren't as bad as they had been when I was a kid, but without my contacts it was the difference between SD and HD. I didn't think it would matter much since I wasn't planning anything that needed much coordination this morning.
I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. Addie had left the door open and now he was stood at the mirror. His curly hair was slicked down with water and he had a towel around his waist as he stood at the mirror, shaving.
"You're getting rid of it?" I asked and pouted at him in the mirror.
Addie turned around and give me a guilty grin, his lower face half foamed and half smooth.
"We're probably heading home today, I need to get rid of it before Mam sees." He explained.
"You know, she doesn't have a problem with Simon having a beard. Do you think that maybe the reason she doesn't like Mal having one is because it personally affects her? You think she'd care so much if you had one?" I asked.
"Maybe not, but until I leave school I should probably go clean shaven. It's gonna look weird enough with me having shot up and filled out without me adding a beard on top that makes me look about thirty." Addie said with dread.
"I guess that's a point." I said as I stepped close enough to whisper. "And last night was amazing."
"It was only 'Oral'" Addie said, mouthing the last word and blushing.
"It was still good." I said and stroked the smooth side of his cheek. "Well, I guess I should shower myself."
Addie nodded his head.
I smiled and kissed the clean side of his face before I stepped up to the shower, turned it on and stepped under the water. I washed wiped and dressed then dried my hair, thankful that it was short so it didn't take too long to dry.
Soon we were ready to head down to breakfast and I hoped Dove and Simon wouldn't question us about the night before. As far as I was concerned it was none of their damn business. Hopefully Dove wouldn't bring anything up in front of Essie and Tobias, mostly Tobias because he had a strong sense of what was rude.
Turned out it wasn't Dove and Simon I had to worry about. It was Loki. Not that he made it too obvious, but knowing him as long as I have it was obvious he was pissed with Addie and me. I didn't find out why exactly that morning, but it was clear he wasn't happy with us. Kinda reminded me of the week Leda was away.
Since he was being passive aggressive as opposed to overtly antagonistic I decided it was best to ignore him in front of the old people and chew him out about it later. Or at least get him to explain his beef.
But other than a grouchy Loki breakfast seemed to go well, and even better when Tobias said, "Dove, I hear that you and Simon must return to Hollywood. Perhaps we could aid you in seeing Robyn safely back to the Res, means we are heading that way."
He caught Dove off guard, but said it in such a reasonable way that she couldn't refuse. I could have kissed Tobias in that moment since he got me a ride back with Addie. Not to mention got Dove out of my hair a lot sooner.
Addie led us back through the forest so we could go in the back way. I didn't waste anytime packing my bags to go home and I was back at Tregarran with Addie by lunchtime. We weren't going straight home, Essie and Tobias were giving the others a few hours to get their stuff together. I think mostly they were giving Olly a few extra hours with Keelie, but I wasn't about to comment on that.
Leda
I awoke snuggled up next to my Loki and I was happy. We had gone to sleep on chaste kisses, after all, Papa and Kitty-Kat were in the next room, but I had found it sufficient, because soon we would return home and we could spend the odd night at our tree house and very soon we would have our apartment with no one else beneath the same roof.
Loki stirred and his fingers stroked through my hair.
Morning my lover. I thought toward him, knowing that Essie would not pry and Papa would not hear.
I can't wait until I get you on your own. He thought back as he kissed my head.
Are you reading my mind? I teased.
Don't need to, to know what you're thinking. Loki said as he pulled me in closer.
I chuckled as I hugged him tighter and reached up to kiss him.
"I will shower first." I said as I got out of bed.
"Sure, sure." Loki said, closing his eyes in the pretence of going back to sleep.
"That's not a permission slip for you to go back to sleep." I chastised and hit him with a pillow.
Loki opened one eye and raised an eyebrow at me.
"Seriously?" He asked.
I shrugged.
Loki glared at me for a moment, then let out a growl as he rose from the bed and grabbed around me. I giggled as he turned me onto the bed and started tickling me. Loki suddenly stopped and frowned.
Might not want to make you giggle. He thought toward me as he lifted me into his lap and hugged me. Alec thinks we're up to something.
Then I really should shower, and hopefully we can return home and find our privacy in our tree house.
Good point. Loki thought and kissed my temple before he loosened his arms from around me.
I stood up and entered the bathroom. I didn't linger in the shower, I had every intention of returning home as soon as possible so that Loki and I could have privacy. As was becoming usual to us, Loki showered while I dried my hair. Once dressed and perfectly presentable we made our way down to the dining room.
Loki was in a very good mood, even when Papa entered the room to accompany Kitty-Kat, but as soon as Addie and Robyn entered Loki frowned deeply and I felt his mood shift. Unfortunately mind speak was impossible when in the room with several other telepaths, I would have to wait until we were in our room once more, and hope no one else would become aware of his bad mood.
Once breakfast was done I followed Loki upstairs, but he didn't return to our room, instead he led me up to the roof. He stopped at the crenulations and looked out over the grounds. I stood next to him and hugged his arm, leaning my head against it.
"What troubles you?" I asked.
"We were good last night." He said.
"Yes we were." I confirmed.
"But since we were sharing I thought I'd let Addie know so they could share too. You know, to be fair." He explained.
"Of course."
"They weren't good last night." Loki said darkly.
"In what manner?" I asked, unable to follow his meaning.
"Well, it was no more than oral, but still? Under our grandparents' roof?" Loki demanded.
"Would that have prevented you had Papa not been next door last night?" I asked, frowning for in truth I had no idea what was his view on this matter.
"Yeah." Loki said with a firm nod, and I realised that was the truth, as much teasing and complaining of being next door to my parents, it had all been in jest, he would do no more than kiss here in his grandparents' house.
"That's very admirable my lover." I whispered and kissed his cheek. "As for Addie and Robyn, they're caught up at the moment, being separated for almost a week and Addie witnessing what he has. I know we experienced our own horrors down in Mexico, but we faced them together and it became a bonding experience. Addie had to face those horrors alone. Now that he's reunited with Robyn, he's grabbing every experience he can."
"When you put it like that, I guess I should cut 'em some slack." Loki said before he took a deep breath.
"There is also the fact that we have our tree house to look forward to any night you're not running. Where have they to go when they want privacy? Olwen's roundhouse? That's all well and good, provided nobody else is using it. Not to mention the fact that we will soon have a place of our own."
"That's another good point." Loki said and he smiled in embarrassment. "I guess I need to make it up to them now."
"Perhaps."
"I think, when we do get our own place, maybe I could give Addie the tree house. At least for them to have somewhere to get away to when they want a little fun but it's not the best time to travel up to the lake." He stated.
"I think that would be appropriate." I said with a nod. "So when will we start apartment hunting?"
"Once I get my work shifts back in order and I know when I'm running so I know when I got free time." Loki replied.
"I'll scour the local ads in the meantime and try to narrow it down." I promised. "Any preferences?"
"It has to have two rooms." He said.
"Two rooms?" I inquired.
"Well you did promise." He added with a grin.
"I did." I conceded. "Very well, two rooms."
"I've also been thinking that maybe we should be looking more toward renting a house." He said in a way that suggested he was testing the waters and unsure of my reaction.
"A house?" I asked, curious more than anything else.
"Yeah. Well a house is more likely to back onto the woods and less likely people will notice when I'm coming in from running."
"That is something to consider." I mused. "Very well. I will look at houses too. I suppose we'd need a ground floor apartment with rear access if we were to go the apartment route. Will a house cost more?"
"Jane's covering the rent for the first year and then Addie and Robyn can move in with us when they graduate to help us cover the rent. Should be ok with four incomes." He said with a shrug.
"If they want to move in with us, but I'm sure we'll find a way to cover the rent regardless. We will have a year to do so."
"Yeah." Loki agreed.
I settled my head against his shoulder one more and we were silent for a moment as we looked out over the grounds where Addie was now visible leading Robyn by the hand while her parents followed behind. He was leading them back to the Cranston Farm so Robyn could retrieve her belongings before heading home some time later with Addie and the wolves. From the pace Addie was keeping it was clear he wished to be away from the scrutinising gaze of his future in-laws. It was something with which I could sympathise.
"I don't mind living in a smaller house if it means I'm out from beneath Papa's feet." I whispered.
"I'll be glad of the extra space." Loki observed wistfully.
"You have your own room, now you will share." I pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'll only have your mind under the same roof and I could run around in it forever." He said with a little growl as he placed his arm about me, pulled me into his side and kissed my temple.
"As enamoured by that prospect as I am, we must also feed ourselves. Not to mention we will deprive the world of our music." I said lightly.
"Good point." Loki said and kissed my lips in a quick peck. "Now let's go pack and hit the road."
Keelie
I woke up a little confused. There was an arm over me. It came back to me in a rush. Getting home after the concert and Mom assuring Dad that there wasn't anything wrong with me sharing a bed with Olly. We wouldn't get up to anything, he could check in with that, but given that we were about to be separated it would be cruel to cut our time together short. Even when we were asleep.
Since Mom had given us this leeway, I hadn't done anything, but waking up snuggled with Olly all I wanted to do was kiss him. I resisted the urge since kissing him in bed might lead to other stuff, or at least go too far for Dad to handle and he won't let me within a foot of Olly until I turn eighteen.
So I got out of bed instead, pulling my t-shirt back into place and making sure my jeans weren't riding low, we'd left all our clothes on to be even better in Dad's eyes. Olly stirred a little but didn't wake up.
I grabbed some clean clothes then made my way downstairs to use the shower room on the other side of the kitchen near the back door. My bathroom didn't have a lock on it since I would lock my bedroom door when I wanted to use it. I didn't usually have people stay over so it had never been an issue before.
Of course using the downstairs shower room meant I didn't have any of my products. There was just the generic man smelling ones Dad kept here for if he got muddy when he went out running. It would have to do, so I showered and dressed, going back upstairs with my hair in a towel.
Olly's phone buzzed as I went back into my bedroom. He groaned as he reached out for his phone, probably wherever he usually kept it in relation to him in his room, because fumbled a bit then sat up to locate it. He took a moment to get his message open then groaned as he dropped back onto the pillows.
"What's up?" I asked as I wiped my hair with the towel.
"We're heading back today." He said sadly.
"Oh." I said, feeling suddenly sick as I dropped the towel to the floor and sat heavily on my chair. "What time?"
"I need to be packed and over at Tregarran by four." He grumbled.
"We got this morning to do something." I said, looking for a bright side.
"I guess it won't take me that long to pack." He said as he sat up and managed a smile.
"And you'll get to see your mother. You gotta be missing her." I said, searching for anything to make him having to go home have a meaning.
"Yeah." He said with a nod.
"I need to dry my hair then we can decide what we wanna do?" I said, although it was more a question, because I needed time to process it.
"I'll go have a shower, get dressed and pack." Olly said sadly as he got up off my bed.
I nodded my head and watched him as he made his way glumly from my room. I sighed unhappily before turning to my mirror and I started brushing out my hair. I dried it and braided it, pinning it up around my head. I looked into my own sad eyes, I knew we wouldn't have long, but the time had come too quickly. Especially since I wasn't sure when I'd see him again.
Olly knocked on my door and I jumped a little before turning to look at him.
"You were away with the fairies." He said as he stepped into my room.
"Yeah." I said, feeling a little embarrassed.
"I made you something." He said.
"You did?" I asked, feeling touched and surprised.
"Yeah. It's not great, but I'll make a better one by the time we meet again, but since I'll be leaving today I thought I'd make you a little something." He said with a shrug.
"Ok."
"It means I'll have to get some new laces when I get home, but you're worth it." He continued, grinning.
"Thanks?" I said, a little uncertain.
"So, here." He said and brought his hand from behind his back. He was holding a band that was woven from the blue laces of his converse. "May I?"
I frowned for a moment, then held out my left hand realising what it was, a promise band. Olly tied the band around my wrist before he stroked his thumb over it.
"It's pretty." I stated.
"Not really, but like I said, I'll have a better one next time I see you." He said with a shrug.
"You don't have to." I said as I hugged him. "It's something you made, and that's more important to our people, not what it's made from."
Olly shrugged again.
"Now I have to give you something." I said and I looked up at the array of necklaces hanging from the frame. "I made all these."
Olly looked up and glanced over them.
"They're good." He said with a nod.
"There's one that's just right for you." I said as I got up and sorted through the various leather cords until I came to what I was looking for. "This was one of the first I made. When I first got my inheritance Mom said I had to bring home dinner to prove my skill. I also had to use as much of the deer as I could. When he fell part of his antler came off, it was too small to do anything really useful with, so I carved it into an octagon, the perfect shape to emboss a snowflake onto."
I picked out the right necklace.
"I wanted to make it several strings so I made the cord longer. It should be big enough for when you're a wolf and if you don't like it that much I guess you could always wear it under your clothes." I said as I held it in front of him.
Olly was still knelt in front of me and he reached out to take the pendant that was about double the size of a quarter. I'd carved it so the snowflake was embossed rather than indented, so it stood out against the inner surface of the antler.
"How old were you when you started with the ice powers?" He asked.
"Twelve. Not long after my first period. I guess it came with puberty." I said with a shrug.
"You carved this when you were twelve?" He asked, sounding a little like he couldn't believe it.
"Yep." I confirmed.
"Wow." He said as he rubbed his thumb over it. "It's really good."
"Thanks. I replied, feeling my cheeks burn.
Olly bowed his head and I realised what he wanted me to do, I slipped the lace over his head and pulled the tips of his hair up through the band to fall back into place. I ran my fingers around his neck and followed the lace down to the centre of his chest where the pendant fell.
Olly placed his hands over mine to keep them there, then looked up into my eyes. I felt my breath hitch and I leant down to him and put my lips to his. I pulled my hands from beneath his and moved them up to his cheeks, where I traced the shape of his face to etch it in my brain. I wanted to remember everything about him when we had to be away from each other.
Olly stood up as we still kissed and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer as I tilted my head up to stay with his lips. Then I broke the kiss and leant my head sadly against his shoulder.
"I'm gonna miss you." I whispered, and I couldn't help the sob.
"Don't worry. We'll face chat every day." Olly said as he stroked my back. "So much you'll get sick of me."
"Not possible." I said, chuckling a little, letting him cheer me up because we still had a few hours together and there was no point ruining them by moping.
I pulled away from Olly and smiled up at him.
"Come on, let's grab breakfast and decide what to do for today."
"Sounds good to me." Olly said, and he kissed my forehead before taking my hand and we went downstairs.
Mom and Dad had gone out for a run according to the note Mom left on the fridge. I decided it was more that she'd dragged Dad out to give Olly and me a little space this morning.
"You want pancakes?" I asked.
"Sure. That's something we can make together."
I nodded, smiling widely at the fact Olly wanted to cook with me and didn't just assume I'd do it all myself.
"Ok. Let's gather the ingredients."
An hour later we'd had breakfast and cleaned the kitchen after us. Now it was a case of what to do.
"We could make out for a while." I said. "Mom will have Dad out as long as she can, and well, we won't see each other for long while, we should at least make it memorable."
"You don't have to convince me." He said as he moved closer to me on the sofa and put his hand to my cheek and met my ready lips.
I don't know how long we were making out for, but whatever, Dad's voice whispered into my mind.
Just a heads up, we're a mile away and closing. I know you and Olly need to say goodbye, but maybe it's best not to have us walk in on you?
I sighed and pulled away from Olly.
"Mom and Dad are nearly back." I whispered and I gave him one last kiss before I stood up to pull my clothes straight.
"Ok." Olly said as he pulled his own clothes straight.
I turned on the TV then sat down next to him. We wouldn't fool my parents, they already knew, but I guess Dad wanted us to at least pretend. A moment later Mom and Dad came into the house.
"What do you guys want for lunch?" Dad asked as he looked into the living room.
"Whatever's going?" I said with a shrug.
"You got any better suggestions Ol?"
Olly shook his head.
"Then I guess it's up to Olwen." Dad said before he left the room.
"Is it lunch time already?" Olly asked.
I glanced up at the clock and it was half past twelve.
"Yep." I said.
"Where did the morning go?"
"I have no idea." I said and shook my head. "Time's slipping away."
"It won't be forever." Olly stated.
"That's something I guess." I said despondent.
"Come on, you barely know me. I can't have made that much of an impact on your life yet." He joked.
"No. Not at all." I said, smiling, letting him cheer me up a little.
"Good. Cause you're not my every other thought."
I giggled.
"And I got something to remember you until we meet again." He said, taking hold of his pendant.
I nodded as I put my hand over his.
"Until we meet again."
Olly put his lips to my forehead before pulling away.
"We got all afternoon before we have to say goodbye."
"I guess we should look on the bright side." I said sadly,
"Grubs up." Dad announced.
Olly and I got to our feet and headed to the kitchen for what was probably the last meal we'd share together for a while.
Loki
Leda and me were packed by lunchtime, but since Gramps had made chicken curry for lunch we decided to fill up before we hit the road. We were a little early getting to the dining room so we started setting the table. Addie and Robyn were the first to get back so it gave me chance to apologise.
"I'm sorry for giving you crap this morning." I said.
"You did?" Addie said with a frown, but he knew what I was talking about, but he also knew why I was pissed and didn't want it brought up.
"Don't worry, I'll leave all that till we get back, but in the meantime, sorry."
Addie gave me the thumbs up although Robyn frowned a little. I was sure Addie would fill her in.
Just then Gran came up from the kitchen.
"You're all early." She said.
"We've been setting the table." I said defensively.
"Ok." Gran said with a shrug.
There was an awkward silence.
"So you all wanna take your seats?" Gran suggested.
We all sat down and waited for lunch. Kitty came to join us, Alec was packing their things in the car ready, before Gramps sent the food up on the dumb waiter. Turned out it was a good idea to wait for lunch. As usual, Gramps' chicken curry was delicious.
Once we'd fed, Leda and me climbed back into her car and we headed home. As we neared the Cullen House Leda frowned.
"I should give you a lift home."
"Well you did drive me up here, but I think maybe we should call into your house until your parents get back, then you can take me down to the Res. At least you won't have to rush back up to make sure they get back safely."
"Good point." Leda said as she took the turnoff for the Cullen House.
Leda parked up on the gravel since we intended to go to the Res as soon as Kitty and Alec got back. I winced and let out a grunt as the hatred and anger filled my mind all at once.
"Are you ok my Lover?" Leda asked in concern as she put her hand to my cheek.
"Just…a moment." I managed to get out.
I closed my eyes and concentrated to bulk up my shield until the only minds I could feel were my own mind and Leda's. I let out a sigh and turned to Leda.
"Sorry. I just got this wave of heated emotion." I explained.
"What do you mean?" Leda asked.
"The three of them in there are more or less all thinking the same thing even if it's for different reasons. Adrian hates Zoë for 'stealing' his daughter, and is angry that Mischa wants her around. Zoë's pissed that Adrian is hating on her and starting to hate him because he won't cut her a break. Then there's Mischa, disgruntled that her dad can't get on with her girlfriend and starting to hate spending time with the both of them together even though they're the only two people in the world she trusts to look after her. It hit my head like a hammer straight through my temples."
"Oh my poor wolf." Leda said and started massaging my temples.
"That feels so good." I sighed and closed my eyes as I lost myself in the calm.
"Is this the secret to taming the warrior as a man, when a scratch behind the ears tames him as a wolf?" Leda whispered.
I opened my eyes to drown in the turquoise of her eyes. I smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips.
"Yeah." I said, before grinning at her.
"Are you hurting now?" She asked, and I could feel her worry.
"Nah." I said, and shook my head. "It's almost numb now. No headache at all. Thank you."
"You're welcome." She said and kissed me again before she got out of the car.
I got out too and she took my hand, threading her fingers through my own and I smiled down at her before we crossed the gravel to the front door.
I braced myself as Leda opened the door and we stepped inside. I was expecting a fresh wave of mind noise without a wall between me and the grouchy trio, but nothing happened. The only thing I could sense was Leda's desire to keep my mind protected from them. All she wanted was that I didn't feel them.
I didn't feel anything coming from them, or sense a single flicker of thought. Even though the tension between them all was clear, I didn't feel a thing. I did think for a moment that maybe Leda's powers could work on the mental level, but nah, her powers worked on the physical. Of course, if she could numb my mind from telepathic onslaughts I didn't mind if she was my kind of novacane.
Zoë and Mischa was sat on one of the love seats. Adrian had pulled one of the armchairs around so it faced the love seat directly. He was glaring at the girls and twitched when Zoë's head snapped around to the door.
"Loki! Leda! You're back!" Zoë said excitedly, as she jumped to her feet and hugged the both of us at the same time. Which was unusual for Zoë, she wasn't the hugging type.
"Yes. We stopped off at Tregarran on the way. Addie and Robyn shouldn't be too far behind, Grandma Essie is bringing them home." Leda replied.
"Cool. I'm glad you're both safe." Zoë said as she ushered us over to Mischa and pulled one of the other loveseats to the halfway point between Adrian with her telekinesis.
Me and Leda sat down.
"Now I've heard Mam and Dad's side of things and Seren's filled me in a little too, but how about I hear about this whole thing from you two?"
"Sure." I said with a shrug. "Then you can tell me how it went at Tregarran."
"Let's get that out of the way first then. Bugger all happened, the GT are miffed they missed out on the action, but they got given hero plaques by the Height's kids so they're chuffing a little about that."
"Doesn't take much to please them." I joked.
"So, you want to tell us all about it?"
"Sure." I said, then together me and Leda told our side of the whole defeat of the League.
Olly
I said goodbye to Keelie before I climbed into the back of the van. I took one of the backseats, Silver took the other. He waited until everyone was loaded into the car and we were on the road before he leaned over to me so he could speak quietly without the others overhearing.
"You ok Bro?" He asked.
"Sure." I said with a sigh as I played with the snowflake Keelie gave to me.
"Sounds convincing." Silver said and thumped my arm.
He laughed a little, trying to cheer me up, I managed to laugh back, but I didn't feel like it. I felt lousy having to leave Keelie behind. It was a pain in my gut. Would it be like this every time we had to be apart? Would it go away? I don't know if I could stand feeling like this for the next few years until we're old enough to live together. It couldn't be right. It'd get distracting. I wouldn't be able to live my life and that can't be good for the wolf spirit.
"Don't worry. Not long and you can see your mom again." Silver offered.
"Yeah. I ain't seen her in a week. Never been away from home that long before."
"Me neither Bro." Silver said with a grin, and that was a point. After all, we'd nearly always done everything together, even started phasing around about the same time. My brother would help me get through this.
The journey seemed long. Silver kept up our usual stream of banter. I put up a good show for the others, but my brother could tell my heart wasn't in it, but he knew I didn't want to let on either.
All I wanted to do was get back to the Res, say hi to Mom, and escape to my room where I could mope a while. I looked around in confusion when we stopped at the border, but Essie was just letting Tobias out since he didn't have permission to cross. Then she took us to the First Beach parking lot.
Before we could go anywhere Twain had something to say. Of course she did.
"Right guys, I'm not sure what's gonna happen, I'll go let Tina know we're back. Don't get too comfortable and listen out for the call in case there's a meeting."
"So standard procedure." Hugo said dryly and the others laughed. I managed to join in.
"Nice one bro." Twain said sardonically. "But seriously, keep an ear out."
I agreed and grabbed my bag, ready to bolt as soon as I could.
"You may go."
I wasted no time pushing my way out of the van and legging it for home. The door was unlocked, but we never locked our doors on the Res less we were gone for a week. We were a tribe, a family and we respected each other.
"Mom?" I called as I entered.
"Olly?" She said warmly as she poked her head out of the family room door.
"Yeah. We're back." I said as I moved along the hall.
"You look like crap." She said, scrutinising me. "You tired? You need a bath?"
"Can't." I said as I stepped into the family room, ducking my head under the door, these houses had been built for normal height people.
"Why not?" Mom asked as she followed me back in.
"We might have a meeting." I said as I dropped into my chair.
"But you look ready to drop." Mom said as she sat in her own chair.
"Yeah, but I've had a busy week. We all have." I looked away and muttered. "And I've imprinted."
"You what?" Mom asked in shock.
I nodded.
"Who?"
"Keelie Black." I replied.
"Hunter's daughter?"
I nodded again.
"When?"
"The other day."
"And you didn't say?" Mom demanded.
"Thought it should be something I tell you face-to-face, not over the phone."
"I guess." Mom said. "So, do I get to meet her?"
"She's coming here for Tony and Liza's big birthday bash. You can meet her then."
"And you won't get to see her till then." Mom realised.
I nodded my head sadly.
"No wonder you look like crap." Mom said as she crossed the little floor space and sat on the arm of my chair to hug me. "If you need to visit her before then, just let me know."
"Really?"
"I got a few family days spare, and I get to meet her sooner." Mom said, moving back to her chair and she winked at me.
I snorted a laugh, Mom always knew how to cheer me up.
"Is she cute?" Mom asked.
"Beautiful." I said with a smile and I brought up one of the pictures I'd taken of her on my phone to show Mom.
Mom took my phone and nodded her head. "Yep a cutie. Is she a wolf?"
"Nope." I said, and shook my head as I took my phone back.
"A vamp?"
I shook my head.
"Then she's plain human?" Mom asked, that were the three main possibles.
"Not at all. She's like her mother Olwen." I stated.
"What does that mean?"
"Know Olwen's story." I said.
"Kinda. She's some kinda witch and she had a winter spirit that gave her a vamp killing sword?"
"Pretty much. Well Keelie can tap into that winter spirit and it's like us with the wolf spirit. Only her eyes go icy blue, instead of turning into a wolf, and she can channel the spirit into any weapon to be her teeth and claws. She made a tree stump explode with an old branch." I said in awe.
"Must have been some show."
"Yeah." I said, grinning. "She's intelligent too. She wants to be a lawyer, and more important, she wants to train hard and be a lawyer for the Quileute. Money's not important, just protecting our rights. Isn't that honourable?"
"Sure is." Mom said with a nod. "So what you gonna do?"
"Something my muscles will help with. Not like I can go away to college." I said with a shrug.
"Other wolves have." Mom pointed out.
"Only cause they're brilliant. I barely keep up my c's." I grumbled.
"I guess we can leave career talks for another day." Mom said with a sigh. "You hungry?"
"Mom. I'm a wolf. Course I am." I said with a grin.
Mom chuckled as she got to her feet.
"I'll go fix us something to eat and you can go put your clothes in the laundry." She said as she headed to the door.
"Kay." I said.
I got up, picked up my bag and went to the bathroom to empty my clothes into the hamper. Then I took my bag back to my room and took out the coconut and black lumpy rock I'd found in Susie's garden. She said I could take them.
I carried them into the kitchen where Mom was working on one of her delicious fish dishes.
"Mom, I couldn't get much since we were confined to Susie's garden, but I brought you back a little bit of Hawaii." I said.
"You did?" Mom asked.
"Sure I did." I said, as I held out the coconut and volcanic rock to her.
"A real Hawaiian coconut, and a rock from its volcano?" Mom asked as she took them off me. "Couldn't ask for anything better. It's the Quileute way." She added as she put both the rock and coconut on the shelf that had once been for the bread bin, flour barrel, tea, sugar and coffee pots, but now it was filled with stones of different colours, shells, bits of wood, pine cones and other things I'd found and brought home to Mom over the years. "Although I think we'll have to crack it open and eat the nut to preserve the shell or it'll rot."
"How about tomorrow?" I suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Mom said with a smile. "Our food won't be long, you want to set the table?"
"Kay." I said and grabbed the cutlery to set the table.
I poured us some soda too, then sat down in my usual place. Mom carried two plates over to the table. I had a bigger pile of fish and rice than her, but I needed more food ever since I started phasing. I started eating and like always Mom's cooking was the best. I had my plate empty in no time.
"You really were hungry." Mom said with a chuckle.
"Yep." I said and got up to start washing the dishes.
"I can clear up here." Mom assured me.
"You got work later?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Then I'll clear up in here." I insisted.
"You're a good boy." Mom said and tapped my shoulder as she put her plate down next to the sink. "But I can handle a few dishes. Go keep a ear out for the call."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I don't want you to be late when they call you."
"Ok." I said and decided to go out and sit on the edge of Mom's raised flowerbed to hear the call better.
It was a minuet later when Tony gave the double howl.
"See you later." I called back into Mom before I ran into the trees. I stripped off my clothes, securing my jeans to my ankle in case we had to be human, and headed for the meeting point.
Hey Bro. Silver said as he joined me, running next to me.
Heard the call then. I said.
Yep. He replied. Was in the middle of dinner.
Just finished mine.
What did you have? Q asked, he was half a mile from us, running on an intercept course.
Mom's spicy fish and rice. I replied.
Tasty. Hugo cut in. She made it for me once.
When? Why? I asked.
Oh, just being neighbourly. Hugo said and there was a thought he quickly pushed way down and I was glad he did lest I want to bite him for the mental scars. The pack mind was a bitch when it came to your fellow wolves dating members of your family.
I never knew Hugo had dated Mom though. I'd have to ask her about it at some point. Why she did? Why it didn't work out? It was probably the imprinting side of things.
It was the imprinting thing. Hugo said sadly. Which is a shame. Aura's a nice woman.
She is. I replied firmly and it echoed with Silver backing me up, and reminding Hugo she was off limits, at least when we were on the pack mind together.
We ran on in silence, well as silent as the pack mind could be, there was always the whisper of other people's thoughts, but we weren't holding a conversation. Q met up with us and the three of us run on through the trees. We reached the meeting place, only Tina, Tony and Twain were already there. They were still wolf so we took our places in the circle.
Didn't take more than a minuet for everyone else to join us. It wasn't often we had the whole entire pack, I sometimes forgot how many of us there were. Even Mags' pack were back from their travels, though they seemed to be down a Cadence. We had a new member to make up for it.
First things, let's welcome our new brother Addie to the pack. Tina declared as she stepped a little into the circle.
Addie came to the edge of the circle, just near where Amber and Laurel were standing. They made a big enough gap for him to step into the middle of the circle.
Let us sing to welcome our new pack brother. Tina said, before pointing her nose to the air and letting out a howl.
We all joined in, including Addie, it was expected, it made you part of the pack. Join your voice with your brothers and sisters to become a part of the family.
Once the howling was done Addie went to stand between Loki and Harry.
We will also welcome back our wandering sisters. Tina said, turning her head so her muzzle pointed out Mags and her pack. All six of them bowed to the pack, we all yipped our approval. They were back with us. And we'll remember our sister Cadence, even as she works to help our allies down in Wyoming.
This was met with more of a wary acceptance, a lone wolf was likely to go mad, but we couldn't force Cadence to do something she didn't wanna either.
Tonight we called the entire pack who are present on the Res, because we have important issues to discuss. I realised that Rupert wasn't here, he was out buying paint with Seren, at least that's what Billy thought. Luckily the business with the League went smoothly, though it has led to the discovery of two extra wolves. Loki. Addie, you had the most contact with them, you want to fill the pack in on the details.
Sure. Loki thought and he stepped into the circle, Addie besides him.
Even though I'd met Kekipi, he wasn't in a talking mood, more blind-wolf-panic over his imprint and baby sister being kidnapped by vamps. I was interested to hear Addie's thoughts on him. Also Loki had talked to the baby sister in question, Isla, and she was phasing too.
You wanna go first Adds? Loki suggested.
Yeah. Kekipi is Hawaiian. He's a Uley.
Damn right. Marie said proudly.
Susie and Tuck are his grandparents. He's the son of Kimo, though he's going by Jim now. Not important. Kekipi's been phasing for years, and didn't even now any of the rest of us existed until Auntie Billie washed up there. Oh yeah, he imprinted on Auntie Billie. He's an ok, guy and done pretty good for someone having to deal with phasing on his own and no one to tell him why it was happening to him. I think Billie told Gran they're planning to visit in a month, so you'll get to meet him then.
And I met Isla. Sprung her and Billie from the prison van the vamps had them locked in. She's cool, though to be honest, Mags, Kaden, Laurel, Marissa, Felicity and Amber know her better. Mags is her alpha.
That true? Tina asked.
Yeah. Mags confirmed. She came running with us down in Wyoming.
She's a good kid. Kaden added. Wants to know everything about us. We didn't have enough time to really get to know her, but we know she's good people. We know she's our pack sister.
Yeah. Mags agreed. She'll come meet you all when she can, but she's still in school at the moment so she has to stay in Hawaii a while. At least she's not on her own. She's got Kekipi and Billie to help her.
And Drogo. Addie's thought cut across the pack mind.
Drogo? Tina questioned and I guess she hadn't been filled in on everything yet.
I guess when he's better. Addie said sadly and then everyone whined as he accidentally shared the image on the pack mind.
Drogo, a guy I didn't know beyond having seen him once on the Res, hanging on a wall, pinned with his arms out and a big beach umbrella impaled through him.
Oh Aiden, I didn't realise it was that bad kid. Tony said as he crossed the circle and looped his front paw around Addie in a hug.
Sorry. Addie said, realising he'd shared it with us.
That's what a packs about Bro, we share everything, the good and the bad. Loki said as he brushed against Addie.
We all thought things along these lines as we all piled in on Addie to reassure him. We were a pack, we supported each other, through good or bad.
After a few minuets of our dog pile, we moved back into the circle.
We'll send our well wishes to Drogo. Tina said solemnly. Let him know that he might not be one of us, but the Quileute think highly of him.
Especially since he went through all that to protect Isla. Addie stated. He was ready to die, they couldn't get Billie's whereabouts out of him if he was dead, but then Isla knocked the door and they made it clear they'd kill her next time she showed up, well he had to stay alive then. No matter what they do.
Poor Drogo. Tina thought. We'll howl for him.
We all howled again. This time it was sad, and I felt what every other wolf felt, that shiver in the air, like the wolf spirit was moving in response to our call. We didn't really have a religion any more. The European mercenaries forced Christianity on our ancestors and our old beliefs became stories, even as Christianity never really took with our people in a significant way, and we didn't even have a church anymore. We didn't pray or anything like that, but in our wolf form, putting the howl out like this for an injured ally felt spiritual. Like we were part of something greater. I guess us howling wouldn't really do much to help Drogo really, but in the moment of the howl I believed it could.
There was a minuet of silence where all our thoughts were on Drogo and everyone who got injured or killed during the last few weeks.
And now on to tonight. Tina said. We decided Alphas only tonight. So that's me, Tony and Mags, also Boo to make up the numbers. The rest of you get your sleep tonight and we'll meet back tomorrow to discuss how we'll get back into running normal again. Goodnight all.
That was our cue to leave. I broke for home immediately and Silver kept up. When I reached where most my clothes had landed I phased back and pulled on my jeans, picking up my t-shirt, underwear and trainers.
"You up for a sleepover Bro?" Silver asked as he pulled on his shorts.
"We're supposed to sleep. Alpha's orders." I said as I headed to the tree line.
"Since when have you ever cared about Alpha's orders?" Silver pointed out.
"Ok. But no talking about…about Keelie. Not till I've talked to her at least." I said firmly.
"Fine by me." Silver said with a shrug.
"Ok. Let's go let Mom know." I said with a sigh, I knew when Silver wanted to cheer me up, I had to let my brother try.
"She working tonight?"
"Yep." I confirmed.
"You wanna come over mine instead?"
"And have your sibs listen in when you finally get me to talk about Keelie? No thanks." I said, shaking my head.
"Kay. It was just a suggestion." Silver said holding up his hands in surrender.
"I know. Sorry if I'm a little pissy right now." I growled.
"Yeah, you got a touch of P.I.T." He said with a grin.
"P.I.T?" I asked.
"Post imprinting tension." Silver explained and laughed.
"Very funny." I said, unimpressed.
"You'll feel better once you talk to her." Silver assured me as he tapped my back.
"I hope so." I said as we reached my house and stepped in.
"Mom?"
"Great, you're back, I was just about to head to work." She said and kissed my cheek. "Hi Silver, Guess you're staying over tonight?"
"Sure thing Momma Aura." He said with a salute, it was our thing, I called his mother Momma Vida.
"Make sure you behave. And no up past midnight." Mom warned.
"We already got that order from Tina." I stated.
"Then maybe you'll listen this time." Mom said dryly. "I'm off now. See you in the morning."
"See you in the morning." I said and kissed her cheek.
"See you in the morning Momma Aura." Silver said before grabbing her in a big bear hug.
Mom chuckled as he let her go.
"I don't want to hear from Old Old Quill that you've been keeping him up all night." She warned.
"We'll be mice." I promised.
"Ok." Mom said as she pulled on her coat and picked up her purse. "Bye."
"Bye Mom." I said.
Mom waved before she closed the door.
"You need to shower?" I asked Silver.
"Yeah, but I need to let Mom know I'm staying over tonight. Also, can I borrow some sleep wear?"
"I'll put them in the bathroom for you."
"Thanks." Silver said as he went in the family room and picked up the phone.
I went and got some shorts and a t-shirt from my bedroom and put them in the bathroom.
"It's all ok with Mom." Silver said as he stepped into the corridor.
"Cool. I'm gonna face chat with Keelie while you shower."
"I understand Bro." Silver said and punched my shoulder. "I'll go wait in the family room when I'm finished. Don't wanna walk in on anything."
I rolled my eyes and went into my bedroom.
I booted up my laptop and text Keelie to ask if she was online. She wasn't but she could be in a minuet, so I logged on to Skype ready and waited for Keelie to join me.
I felt all kinds of relieved when she showed on the screen.
"Hi." She said smiling into the camera and I smiled back.
"Hi." I replied.
"You got back ok?"
"Yeah. No dramas. Mom was happy to see me and can't wait to meet you." I replied.
"You told her about me?"
"Course I did. You're important, and Mom is important too." I explained solemnly.
"Ok." Keelie said and shrugged.
"She's working tonight, so Silver's staying to keep me company. Also he's gonna try and make me spill. You sure you're ok with me telling him everything?"
"I'll share most of this with my girlfriends, leaving out the wolf bits, but that's cause they don't know about the supernatural. But I was serious, he's your brother so just share like you would have with any other girl. Just don't do it in front of me."
"Ok." I replied.
"When are you running next?" She asked.
"Not sure. We had a meeting tonight, but the alphas are running, we're gonna discuss the rota tomorrow."
"You think you'll be running tomorrow?"
"Not sure. I kinda hope I am to get it out of the way for a week. There's so much sleep to catch up on." I said warily.
"Then make sure you do. No staying up too late talking to Silver." She said with a grin.
"Yes ma'am." I said, and saluted.
Keelie giggled.
"I need to go now. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We need to collect Alfie at ten and the pick up point is in Olympia."
"I'll let you go. Tell me how it goes."
"I will." Keelie promised before she blew a kiss to me.
I blew one back and we said goodnight before I logged off.
I stepped out of the room and the bathroom door was open. I could hear the TV in the family room. I grabbed shorts and t-shirt for myself and placed them ready in the bathroom. I went into the family room where Silver was blowing up one of the airbeds as he watched the TV. He plugged up the valve.
"Finished your convo?" He asked.
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"I'm gonna shower myself. I feel rank after all that travelling."
"Ok. I'll set up in here." Silver said, indicating the other airbed and sleeping bags. It was the only way we could do staying over now. Like a lot of bedrooms on the Res, you could just about fit a single bed and a wardrobe in my room. In the family room we could fit the two airbeds as long as we pushed the furniture back to the wall.
"Great." I said before I went to the bathroom to shower
By the time I got back to the family room both the airbeds had been blown up and a sleeping bag rolled out on each one. Silver had even grabbed the pillows from my bedroom. He was sat on the one furthest from the door. I sat down on the closest one.
"So?" He prompted.
"So what?" I asked.
"How far have you got with Keelie?" He asked.
"Making out." I said with a shrug.
"Only making out?" Silver asked doubtfully.
"We were on call and her parents were nearly always there, kinda hard to lose yourself in the moment." I pointed out.
"What about your romantic picnic?" He asked.
"We made out."
"You at least got to second base?" He begged.
"Yeah." I said with a smile, I couldn't help it.
"Aw man, I need to get me a girlfriend." He complained.
"You didn't like any of Keelie's friends?"
"Tory was ok and all, but she lives all those miles away." Silver complained.
"Yeah." I agreed feeling sick all of a sudden.
"Sorry Bro, didn't mean to bum you out." Silver said as he tapped my shoulder. "But you know, I meant for a casual fling. Unless you got a deep forever bond what's the point in long distance?"
"Good save." I said flatly.
"Well I'm trying to make you feel better. Guess I'm failing." He said with a shrug.
"Not really. I just at the moment want to spend every single second with Keelie, but that's stupid right? Impractical? We can't spend every second together. And other imprints spend time apart. Look at Rupert and Seren, they don't see each other for months."
"Maybe you could talk to him?" Silver suggested.
"I don't know. He's one of the older wolves. We might all be brothers in the pack, but we've never really talked."
"Maybe you haven't, but he is my uncle. If you wanna talk with him I'll ask." Silver offered.
"Yeah. That might be best." I said frowning a little. "Guess it be better than talking to Tony."
"Oh god! I know! Can you imagine talking to an alpha about this?" Silver gasped and I shuddered.
"It wouldn't be right."
"Nope."
"Can you imagine if we were in the pack before the fangs when every single thought belonged to the pack?" I asked in horror
"It was bad enough in Hawaii having to watch every thought." Silver said warily. "Can't imagine if I had to do that every time we phased."
"Tell me about it. Especially now I got things I don't want them knowing. It's intimate, and even if I tell them about it, well it's just telling, not full showing."
"To be honest I'm surprised their girlfriends even confided in them at all since one wrong thought at the wrong time and the whole pack would know." Silver stated.
"Yep."
I sighed, feeling better.
"Thanks Bro, I needed this." I said and held out my fist.
Silver bumped my fist. "We're bros, course I'm here for you."
"We should probably sleep now though. We might be running tomorrow."
"Yeah." Silver conceded.
I got up and turned off the TV and all the lights. I climbed inside the sleeping bag, which seemed ridiculously small since I started phasing, and settled down on the airbed.
"Don't worry Bro, even if you're apart from Keelie, you can still dream about her." Silver pointed out.
I smiled.
"Thanks Bro."
"You're welcome."
"Night."
"Night."
And we both settled down to sleep.
Addie
"How did you enjoy your first wolf meeting?" Loki asked once we were human form again.
"It was pretty good." I replied. "Of course I can't wait to actually run. I got a little taste in Hawaii, but I bet it's nothing compared to running here."
Loki shrugged.
"If you want I'll volunteer to show you the ropes tomorrow so we can run together." Loki offered.
"Yeah. That'd be great."
"Hopefully Dad will let us be in the same pack. I know we're both fangs, but it'll work out better when we're gigging." Loki planned.
"I didn't think of that. Yeah, we really need to be part of the same team now. At least it'll be the same night we'll have to pass on and not two different nights." I reasoned.
"I'll talk to Dad tomorrow." Loki decided as he stepped out of the trees. "See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow." I replied. "Leda staying down?"
"Yeah." Loki said and winked.
"Hope you have fun." I wished him.
"Make sure you give Robyn a good night kiss."
"Well maybe we can sneak outside for a few minuets, but nothing's changed. We still have to behave under Mam's roof." I said glumly.
"Yeah. That reminds me. Tell Robyn I'm sorry I was pissy with her this morning. I was a little annoyed that you'd done stuff under Gran's roof, but Leda put me straight. After all, we got the tree house. You haven't got anywhere."
"There's always the car." I said with a shrug.
"Well, me and Leda are gonna get our own place soon, so when we do, if you and Robyn need some place to be alone, the tree house is all yours."
"Thanks." I said with a smile, although I had to really think about it, and talk it over with Robyn.
"I'm going now, Leda's waiting for me." Loki said, pointing somewhere in the direction of his tree house.
"Then go." I said, tapping him in that direction.
He laughed then took off running. I started jogging toward the house. I got in and found Mam and Dad in the living room.
"How did it go?" Mam asked.
"It was great." I said.
"There was a lot of howling." She observed.
"Well they were welcoming me. They welcomed Mags' pack back and they also howled for Drogo." I explained.
"When are you going to run?" Dad asked.
"Don't know yet. We're discussing that tomorrow, but Loki said he'd ask Uncle Tony if we can run tomorrow and he'll show me the ropes."
"Then you may run as soon as tomorrow?" Mam asked in a worried voice.
"I'll be ok Mam." I said and hugged her.
"I know you will. It has nothing to do with worry over your safety. It's more a sadness that my baby boy is growing up." Mam said with a sniff.
I wasn't sure what to say about that.
"I will let you go. I'm sure you wish to say goodnight to Robyn before bed."
"Yeah." I said, straightening up.
We all said goodnight and I made my way upstairs.
I stopped at Robyn's door and knocked.
She opened the door and gave me a scrutinising look.
"What?" I asked, feeling nervous.
"You don't look any different." She said. "Thought there'd be some indication you were now officially part of the pack."
I laughed.
"Did it go ok?" She asked.
"Yeah. I might even be running tomorrow night." I replied.
"Wow." Robyn said, looking impressed. "Then I guess you want to catch up on your sleep?"
I nodded.
"See you tomorrow, my big strong wolf." She said in a low voice.
I felt my cheeks burn as Robyn kissed one.
"Night." I said.
Robyn smiled before she stepped into her room and shut the door.
I went to my room and changed into my pyjamas before I climbed into bed and drifted to sleep.
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