5

B E A U

✿

"How beautiful you are here, sweetie! I've missed you already.' Aunt Rose called out to me from the large communal kitchen of the warehouse. I saw them fiddling around, heard the clinking of kitchen utensils.

I was just able to suppress my wolf's angry growl. I'd stopped complaining about the stupid nickname a long, long time ago. I would always be her little nephew no matter how tall or old I was. Or what hierarchy I maintained in the pack. She saw me as her own boy. And oh dear, you should never make mothers angry, I had actually fucking learned that .

So for once I kept my mouth shut and sat down on the bar stool, which was almost too small for my height. I leaned across the table and rested my head in my hands as I watched her pace around the kitchen. It was a spacious, bright kitchen adorned with lovely fall decor, turning it into a true home. My hair stood on end at all this damn frippery, but I silently accepted it. It must have been the omega wolves; their way of taking care of the pack.

"Would you like some hot chocolate? Do you remember how early?” Rose reminisced.

"No chocolate, for heaven's sake," I grumbled, and my scowl earned a bright laugh. Her red hair flew around her head as she swung around and gave me a cheeky grin.

With one hand on her hip and one finger raised, she said reprovingly, "You used to beg me to cook you one."

I leaned back on the stool and crossed my arms. "I was eleven fucking years old then," I growled, pretending to hurt my pride when in fact I would have taken every little taunt for the woman who loved me more than my own mother did. to make you smile.

"Well, some things just never change." Her grin grew warmer, revealing a softer side of the otherwise tough soldier. Rose had never hidden that side of her from me, never skimping on the devoted love and affection that was so important to a traumatized eleven-year-old. She'd found him at the edge of pack territory with nothing but shattered, thin fur and bones - terrified at what had happened to her nephew, who was drenched in blood. From then on she had taken him in, fighting with a soldier's tenacity to let him come back to his human side and not lose complete control. It had taken a full solar revolution until he finally changed – even then the limit to succumbing to the raw wildness of his wolf had been tight. Today she was wafer thin. When he was eleven, his wolf had to take the lead. He had realized that the boy in him wasn't capable of surviving on his own. But today it looked different. Today the man knew that his wolf was getting wilder and wilder. Today he knew that each further transformation brought him inexorably closer to this limit, which he must not cross.

"So what would you like it to be?"

'Just a water, I'm about to go. Xenos has ordered a meeting.”

"So? Because of the islander?” Rose's forehead arched in concern. It didn't surprise me that she knew about the woman. Rose was high in the hierarchy. I nodded.

"Here." She handed me the still mineral water and then sat down next to me at the bar counter with a hot cup of tea for herself. "And how are you?"

I uncapped the bottle and took a generous sip. It was crystal clear to me what she was implying. I quickly suppressed the painful flicker of memories that awoke each orbit of the sun at this time of year. "Good," I answered curtly. "Where's April?"

"Don't think I wouldn't see you avoiding the subject." Of course not. Her warm hand on mine took the harshness out of her urgent voice. She squeezed briefly. "It's been a long time, but even old pain can run deep."

My throat felt like there were broken pieces in it. I pulled my hand away from her, grabbed the bottle and washed the cold water down my throat. A quick sideways glance, and then I said, "Like I said, I'm fine."

Rose sighed but left it at that. "As for April, the little girl is driving me to the madhouse!"

April. My lovely little cousin who wore the most innocent smile in the world and hatched some bullshit. My wolf grinned mischievously. "Now what has she hatched?"

My aunt's eyes darkened and she said the following words as if they were the most terrifying nightmare in all of Semeera: "She's dating boys."

I raised an eyebrow. "She's fifteen."

“Beau, you don't know today's youth. They already have other things on their mind. You leave her alone and then . . .' She put down the cup of tea she had just been sipping from and tapped the bar counter nervously with her forefinger. "I'm telling you, I'll take on every single one."

“And driving April insane with it? She needs experience.”

Her shoulders sagged and her expression crumpled. The thought of April suffering from her upbringing sickened her as much as boys stalking her daughter. She sighed loudly and shook her head. "You are right."

“They're boys from our pack. You know you can trust them.' I assured her. Then one corner of my mouth lifted. "Besides, each of them knows who April's mom is — and they won't make the mistake of screwing you up, trust me."

Immediately her face lit up. "Damn right." Her lips curled into a sly smile and her sharp teeth flashed. 'I won't forbid her. And if the boys make one misstep, they'll be caught in the open."

Of course, Rose would never be able to harm anyone in her own pack. Maybe she'd pull some boys' ears, but then they didn't deserve anything else.

Rose straightened my hair in a motherly manner. I just let her get away with it. My wolf was already snarling—something it had never done before orbiting the sun. But I wasn't that close to the invisible border that I was inexorably approaching.

"And when can I finally meet my daughter-in-law?"

The feet of my bar stool squeaked and dragged across the floor. I quickly grabbed the water bottle and kissed Rose's head before leaving. She knew the damn answer, I'd given it to her before. And it would always turn out the same.

" If I'm lucky, never. “

I wasn't allowed to have mate. I had already killed my sister, my mate must not suffer the same fate. And it would. I would kill her tooth and claw—no doubt.