Part of the Promise (Book 3 in the 'Part of' Series)

Chapter 14 Back to the House

Chapter 14 back to the house

Aiden's POV

We stayed for a while after we brought mam home, we wanted to make sure that she would be able to settle in alright and be well taken care of. It would make things a little easier now, and yet more complicated. I would stay at the house when Harlow was at school. I'd need to have some members of the pack here with me. I didn't want to feel as though I was interfering with them but the discomfort was still there.

I knew that most of the wolves don't mind, coming along to human society was interesting and something they were fascinated by. I knew some weren't a fan, it wasn't their way of life and I didn't want to stop them from living their life. I wanted this to stop. Sometimes I thought about what would've happened if I didn't go camping that night, each time I shook my head and scolded myself. If I didn't go camping, I wouldn't have met Ralph. That was almost a certainty, the forest would have probably been destroyed by now as well. I didn't feel like it the majority of the time but it felt nice to believe that I've made a change.

"It was definitely Travis' pack who poisoned Penny." Beaumont announced as we entered the living room. He hadn't spoken the entire way back. The words had burst from his lips as though he had been trying to keep it in forever.

"Uh-what?" Randall looked at him with surprise. "Where'd that come from?" Beaumont went into his pocket and pulled out a card. Harlow frowned at it and slumped down on the settee. I had a feeling he would've gone to his room if he could, just so he didn't have to listen about this anymore.

"A note." Beaumont said simple and handed it to Ralph, who sniffed it, made a disgusted face and nodded. Abilene, Elowen and the children weren't in the room. I guessed it was near their bedtime. It wasn't a set time each night, it depended on how low the sun was. It confused me and fascinated me at the same time.

"Ew, definitely." Tempest coughed into her fist after sniffing the card. "Very fancy, expensive perfume. Around £86 for a small bottle. Obviously female, fancy writing too." The note was handed to me and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"It looks familiar." It took me a while to actually read the scrawl which was on the piece of paper. It was simply the instructions and properties of Acanite. It wasn't anything too impressive or important. It described how it was given to mam and what effects it would have on her. "How do we know it's from Travis?"

I felt a little embarrassed given the fact that everyone had agreed it was from Travis' pack. "It's the scent." Moss explained. "He honestly just reeks of that fancy stuff. No other wolf that I've ever met has anything like it."

"Why couldn't you smell it on Liam then?" Harlow had furrowed eyebrows and his cheeks were red. He covered his face with his eyes and mumbled, "Ignore that." Hollis reached over and ruffled his hair. "What is it with people ruffling my hair? I need to wear a sign telling people to stop."

"Don't think that'd stop 'em" Rhodes smiled slightly. "It's more difficult with people, their own scents mask others rather well. Depends on when they were with each other and how close they were." Harlow nodded slightly.

"So, we're no further forward." I walked further into the room and sat by Harlow's legs. Ralph joined me on the floor and I leant into him slightly.

"We'll start taking baby steps." He reassured. "We're just waiting for the message to be returned. Or for someone to show up." I sighed and lent more into him. "It's arrived at their packhouses, we just need to see what they decide to do with the message."

"If they do anything." Tempest muttered. "Honestly, I don't think they would." I shook my head once again, it seems to be happening a lot.

"Don't be so negative."

"Yeah." Hollis said enthusiastically and pointed towards me. "They've got nothing against us that we know of." He glanced towards Eben, he had beene extremely quiet. "Is there anything we should know?"

Eben frowned and looked towards nothing. "Not that I know of. Travis isn't the social type when it comes to wolves." It wasn't the first time that this was mentioned, he didn't bother with people past a certain place. "He would only have local allies as he now has some power in the human world."

Harlow snorted. "Even in a world full of werewolves, people have power because they have money." It was unclear whether he was disappointed or if he disapproved of the ideology. It was something that ahad annoyed su since we were kids, being bullied for our lack of money.

"We should make a back-up plan." Randalls aid out of the blue. "Just in case nobody comes to help. It would be something surprising and totally unexpected." He was looking in the same directions as his father was, at nothing.

"Tell us when you think of it." Randall told him in a lighthearted mannar. "We could do with an actual plan, relying on ourselves instead of others." I bit my lip, allies were important but if we didn't have them, we'd be screwed. "I'll think of something." Randall nodded firmly "For now, we just have to focus on making sure we're strong enough. If the unexpected happens." The rest of the pack gave their own form of agreement. "What do you think, mister alpha?" Ralph tilted his head back and groaned.

"Alpha junior, don't act like that to your brother." Ralph joked lightly before becoming serious again. "I'll give them a few days, wait and see if we get any messages back. If not we could start formulating a plan. It would have to be more...sneaky and less charging in there with teeth bared. We would be able to do it if we start close enough."

"I think we should-" I was interrupted by a knock on the door. Everyone became still, it was a tense feeling which entered the room from each and every crevice in the wall as the noise sounded. Someone was here, uninvited, unexpected and unnoticed.