107
“Ahhh, Alora.” A voice comes from my side and then I’m dive bombed by an enthusiastic male who footballer style wrestles me into a hug before I’m hit from behind by another. Equal stealth and strength and I almost fall over with the weight of two heavy boys hugging the life out of me. Unable to breathe and not sure if this is an attack, I crumple almost to my knees.
Domi and Remi near choke me to death, ruffling my hair, picking me up between them before I get ground into the mud and I get a kiss on each side of my face in unison. Sloppy, wet, a bit ewww but overall, it’s kind of sweet.
“Our little sister came home. Our puppy!!” They both state in synchronized perfection, sounding like a melody in their sing song playfulness. I get yanked from side to side, set on my own feet then let go just as Cesar appears in front of me, Meadow moving aside with a look of joy on her face, smiling like a proud mother.
“Don’t you ever do that again, missy. Do you know how worried your pack has been?” Cesar swoops in between the twins, that equally heavy accent as his mates and a stern paternal tone to match that serious frown he is giving me. He gives me a less ferocious cuddle, a quick squeeze, and kiss on the cheek, before he pulls back, and the rest of the sub pack seem to appear around me.
Matteo, Radar, Jesus, all crowd in at me and I guess they were part of our escort to get us here. All of them take it in turns to lean in and welcome me back with a short embrace and a peck on the cheek, a few words of welcome back, until I’m blushing and awkward with all this attention.
“We missed you. Don’t run like that again. We’re your pack, man, we were all crazy worried.” It’s Jesus, and he bops me on the head with a soft closed fist and shakes his head at me, a real frown on that face that shows his genuine emotion.
“Yeah kid, little pups like you shouldn’t be out there alone!” Cesar reiterates his earlier statement.
“Colton has been unbearable, dude. You girl, are getting chained to him so we don’t have to endure that again.” Matteo pushes the twins aside and clears a path in front of me as he tries to move us along, and Meadow ducks into the center beside me, catching my arm in hers and starts walking me in behind the boys as they turn and starts leading the way. Some turning to walk backwards as they interact and throw me smiles and genuine looks of relief that I’m home. I can feel it all around me, that it’s real and honest. The genuine relief, the love from my adopted pack that swells my heart so much it hurts. None of them faking it at all, and I don’t question where that certain femme of Colton’s is, because right now, I don’t want to know, and I don’t care.
“You missed a war. Colton put his daddy on his ass. It was epic.” Jesus seems a little too gleeful over that fact, skipping sideways in front of me somewhat boyishly and Matteo shoves him in the shoulder playfully, out of the way. A warning tone to his words.
“Shut up. Colton hears you talking like that he’ll put you on your ass. You know how sensitive he is about all this right now.”
“Yeah pipe down, bro, he’s only a few feet ahead. Have some respect.” Radar the voice of reason leans in; he pats me on the arm in afterthought, with a nod, and a wink, to say hey. That always terrifying white eye, blank, dead, but his good one is kind of shiny and happy and it makes him a little less scary to look at. The scar isn’t as much of a visual draw like it was when I first met him and he steps in, speaking a little lower, nearer my ear.
“Welcome back…. and thank you. For finding her. She’s been missed for so long, some of us were losing hope.” There’s a strange tone in what he says, a distant look in his eye and as he talks his gaze wanders to the bed ahead of us, he shoots off instantly, to go catch something one of the trolley pushers drops. Scooping it up before it hits the ground and merging into that hobble of people to replace it on the bed.
“Radar always had a thing for Sierra. You’ve no idea how much this means to him, for her to be home.” Meadow whispers in my ear, hushed so the rest of them don’t catch on. Like it’s some sort of unknown secret and I quizzically glance her way.
“What? Isn’t he too young? Aren’t they like son and mother aged?” I flash a look at him again in the crowd, then back to her in confusion, but she shakes her head.
“Radar is our Papi. Every pack has a mentor who’s mature. He’s older than all of us, mid-thirties. He went to war as part of the Luna’s guard. That scar on his face, he got by protecting her with his life, and it almost ended him. God damn silver and wolfsbane, I shudder to think. He’s always been a slave to Sierra and never mated because his heart lies with her, devoted, and loyal. It’s kinda sad, to be that crushed on someone that even in her absence you still pine them.” Meadow is hushed, but the torn tone of real empathy drags through her voice, a hint of real pain for her pack mate.
“They had an affair?” I gasp, my head spinning on that point alone, and I can’t help but staring back at Radar in the people before us, seeing him in a whole new light. He’s not exactly ugly or unattractive. That scar is obviously a major, but he has a nice face despite it, and a strong, tall build, like Colton. The white eye I guess kind of makes him a little bad ass. In that rugged, hero type, way
“No, you know the laws on adultery with a mate bonded wolf. Radar is straight down the line, not a rule breaker. He never told her, she never knew, never even had the courage to look her in the face all those years because he was completely submissive in the hierarchy to her. It’s forbidden for the guards to look upon the alpha’s mate and make eye contact. The Luna had many guards, and he just blended in, I guess. He was the only one of her guard to make it back alive though, probably because he was so badly wounded and recovering. that he was taken down and missed the last battle they ever fought. The Luna’s guard were all massacred in that last fight, then everyone came home, and she was gone before he recovered enough to regain his duties.” Meadow shrugs, retelling what she knows, and I inhale heavily as pieces click in place and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Juan probably had them all slain too because they would have been loyal to their charge. Their Queen. She was their focus, not Juan, and Radar escaped only down to being almost dead. Which means he missed what happened with my mother and knows nothing of what Juan did. He would be dead too if he’d been there, and it removes any shadow of doubt that he was ever involved. He didn’t even get the chance to save her from being sent away. I think if he had been, he would have died to rescue her all over again.
The adultery thing though, highlights how much Colton doesn’t respect or care about me if he expects me to throw aside the laws and have an affair with him anyway. We all know the shame it carries, and I could be completely exiled from this pack if we went through with it. His alpha role would be dissolved, and he too could be dethroned to live in shame. He’s an asshole of the highest order if he thinks that’s a solution to him marking that Puta. He can’t have his cake and eat it.
I blink in Radar’s direction, trying so hard to get my head around this new information as we sweep into the brightly lit grand foyer of a huge entranceway of this so-called homestead. I mean Colton grew up in a manor that was more of a castle and housed hundreds…. this is small by that standard, but still a freaking castle in its own right. It’s amazing, and huge. Prehistoric, and the décor is definitely old-world witch, but I don’t doubt it can house a vast amount.
The hub bub of the crowded hall, and wave of bodies moving up and down the stairs, and around in general, as word spreads, they have their long-lost Luna back, makes this place feel pretty overwhelming. It’s not enough to distract me from watching Radar follow the group though, stopping when they get so far, as Colton and the doc wheel Sierra’s bed in the direction of a narrow hall to the left.
