Chasing Freedom

XI

New update is here! Hope the long chapter makes up for the wait. 

Next update will be far quicker.

Myles opted to drive. His, his aunts and his parents homes were the only ones on the three kilometre patch of land, edged out by the untamed forest. To walk between them took no more than fifteen minutes, shorter if he shifted to make the journey. With the heavy snow fall of last night, the decision hadn't been a hard one to make.

He'd passed by several sentries on the drive and he knew far more were present unseen. Numbers had been amped up overnight in the announcement of this meeting.

As he turned onto the buried gravelled driveway, the home he'd grown up greeted him. Two levels, it was long, the exterior timber as washed-up as it had been when it was built decades before. The stories were split, the top where his parents resided, with several balconies, while the lower level was where the pack convened and a porch wrapped around the length of the house house. The trims of the windows had recently been painted charcoal, as had the front door.

All part of his mother's re-decorating. It was what she did when something was bothering her—and presently that was Mira. His father had called him once already to complain. Which had led to his mother taking the phone and firing questions about potential colour schemes to Myles that he couldn't answer. Wanting no part in the argument, he'd quickly hung up, leaving them to finish it on their own. These days, it was as close to a real domestic as his parents ever got to. Per usual, by the end of it, his mother got her way. Whether or not she'd gotten to downstairs yet was the thing.

Leandro, leaning against the porch railing, one leg crossed over the other as he smoked a cigaret was a surprise. He watched with a raised eyebrow as Myles tucked his car under the car port, left of his parents vehicles were parked, having recognised the licence plate on sight.

Myles abhorrent stance on pack initiations was no secret. He made an appearance when he had to. Middle, beginning and end of the story, without exception. Until Mira. Until he had personal stakes in the outcome.

Leaving the ignition running, he turned to Mira, who was staring at the window silently. She had her legs curled on the seat, plucking at the chords of the green bracelet on her wrist. A bracelet he'd given her—through the guise of his aunt. Her profile was shielded by her hair, curled over the shoulder of the white sweater she wore. He knew the expression on her face would be closed off, trying to disguise her nerves despite the fact that it smothered her scent and his car.

"I'll get out, check in with Leandro. Wait here with the heater."

Her head turned an inch. "Who is he?"

"My fathers second."

"Second..." A pause. "A second Alpha?"

"Second to the Alpha," he corrected.

Officially, anyway. Unofficially, he was much more. Enforcer. Solider. Confidant. Friend. Baby sitter —although that was going back two decades now. He was as much Myles' uncle as Kiva was his aunt. Had been so, in fact, before he even knew he had an aunt.

"Is he be part of the council?"

"No. Well not the offical one, anyway. He's harmless—"

She cut him off with a strangled noise. "Are we looking at the same person?"

At six-foot-six, Leandro towered over them both. He was rugged, having adapted to life in the mountains. His beard was down to his waist, plaited where he usually left it loose. He was bald, a scar running the length of his life cheek, and his nose was crooked from being broken too many times. Over a white tee, he wore a thick flannel paired with worn-out jeans and boots. To Myles he was harmless.