The One

Chapter Nine

Chase's POV

    After Emerald had fallen asleep on my leg, I gathered the courage to start a conversation with my father and the unknown wolf driving the car, if the pack accepted us, I would be the next leader after all.  "So dad, who's this?" I asked tentatively, "Oh, this is Jake, he's one of our Gamma's". "Nice to meet you Jake." I smiled as he looked at me in the rear view with a nod and continued driving. "Oh, don't worry son, the rest of the pack is more social, Jake's quiet, but damn does he know how to fight and he's really good with number's, he helps with the pack finances, very valuable member." I nodded and asked, "So how far are we driving?"  Clyde turned to look at me and said, "We might have to pull over and stay at a hotel for a night, we'll probably make it by nightfall tomorrow." the alpha stated, shocked I then followed up with, "Will we be able to get some food."  Which earned a chuckle from my father and Jake, "Don't worry young prince, we will be pulling over for dinner in a couple exits." The quiet man chimed in.  I sighed and looked down at my sister, her curly red hair in a ponytail, she was drooling on my jeans, I gently shook her shoulders, "Hey, Em, are you hungry?  We'll be stopping off for dinner shortly."  She groaned and brought a fist to her eyes, and slowly sat up while rubbing them.  "I could eat." She responded with a huge yawn and an awkward stretch in the confined space.  As she got her bearing she sighed and leaned her head on her arm as she gazed out the window at all the rows of corn passing by as we drove.  I linked mom 'we should be stopping for dinner soon, how are you feeling?  Are you nervous to go back?' I questioned, she responded a while later with 'you are a good son Chase, I am hungry, so thank the goddess, and I am a bit nervous but Blister is excited to walk amongst the pack she led' I sighed, mom was always fighting Blister on emotions. 
    After driving about another fifteen minutes, Jake popped the turn signal on and led the other car off the ramp.  "There's a good Steakhouse we ate at on the way up here boss." Jake said, which earned a nod from Clyde and at the mention of steak Emerald's stomached growled loudly.  She blushed as we all held back a laugh, and turned away watching the world as we pulled off into a parking lot, there we saw three shops.  Jake stopped and parked in front of one by the name of Killer Steaks, Blade let out a sigh at the thought of digging into a medium rare hunk of meat, I chuckled to myself as I unbuckled and opened my door.  I made my way to Emerald's side to open her door only to find that Clyde had beat me to it, "thanks." she whispered as she exited the vehicle and made her way over the curb towards the steakhouse.  I scanned the parking lot and found mom and Elka's car parked a few spots down, I jogged over as mom and Elka climbed out of the car laughing at something one of them said.  "Chase! We're getting steak!" Elka squealed, I chuckled, as much as it was out of character for her, I was glad to see her relaxed and with a smile on her face, ever since the report of Eli's death, she'd been tense and polite, but I think the idea of being surrounded by a pack brought back something in her.  I led the women and another of dad's pack members to the door and held it open for everyone, "Thank you son." mom said and patted my arm as she passed by.  When we all got through the door I was surprised to see that the interior of the place was way better than what I was expecting, there was a Bison head mounted on the wall above the menu and a beautiful chandelier hung above the center of the room.  The paint was Black walls with accents of red scattered about the room, the tables and chairs all matching.  "Wow." I heard Emerald suck in her breath as she stared at the beautiful fixture in the center, it's arms holding the lights reaching out towards the edges of the room like tree branches, with little leaves and metal flowers scattered throughout.  On the walls there were some newspaper clippings about the place and it's history, and there was a wall with sticky notes scattered about.
    Jake chuckled as we all took in the interior of the place starry eyed and said, "If you think the setup is cool wait til you taste the food." Which got us all moving to look at the menu, I scanned the huge board in front of me and decided to order a T-bone steak with loaded mashed potatoes, a side of macaroni and a plate of steak fries, Blade was internally drooling with anticipation.  After we all ordered, the hostess led us to a more private round booth around the corner that looked like it could fit more people than we had with us, but none of us complained as we all happily slid around the massive table.  "So how's everyone getting on?" Mom asked as the waitress brought us all waters.  "We're still working on that Maihra dear, the kids are a bit shy and Jake here doesn't do a lot of talking"which earned a chuckle from the other wolf who was driving mom and Elka, "makes sense, he doesn't much like anyone except for Chance, those two are closer than brother's" he said, "by the way I'm Riley." the young man smiled as he introduced himself, I looked at the raven haired guy and said, "Yeah, I had a friend like that once, I'm Chase, and this here is my twin sister Emerald." I smiled and pointed at her as she tried to duck behind mom.  "She may look shy now Riley, but she'll rip you to shreds if you're not careful, when I first met her she was planning on killing me with a knife and her bare hands, no fear that one." Clyde chuckled.  Just then three waitresses arrived at the table sporting trays filled with food, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, the smells were heavenly, as the waitresses passed out the food to all of us, I linked Em 'you okay sister? You seem a bit razzled, I know you're not used to all of this, do you need me to step outside with you for a breather?'  She visually responded to my question by shaking her head and sitting up straight when the waitress placed a plate with fettuccini Alfredo with broccoli scattered about, along with a strawberry milkshake and a pile of curly fries in front of her, I could already picture Moon drooling which made me chuckle as I turned my attention to my steak fries.  I picked on up and took a big bite, "Mmmmm, these are good steak fries, mom usually only gets the frozen ones from town, no offense mom, but these are so much better." Which earned me chuckles from all around the table, I dig into my macaroni and Blade spun circles in my head, then I got the bright idea to pile some macaroni on top of my T-bone and cut a bite sized piece, which earned me a funny look from mom, but she shrugged and continued chowing down on her meal.  There wasn't much conversation during the meal except the occasional "can you pass the napkins" or "pepper please", we must've all been starving.  When everyone finished and everyone looked like they'd eaten themselves into a coma, Clyde pulled two one hundred dollar bills out of his wallet and left it in the middle of the table.  We all piled out of the booth and thanked the staff as we made our way outside, "That was sooooo good, thanks for the recommendation Jake!"  Emerald said cheerfully as she climbed in the backseat with me, "Uh, yeah, no problem." He awkwardly responded as he shut the door for her. 'So he's shy around girls as well' Blade snorted, 'I don't do well either, cut him some slack, besides he's never met a girl like Em' I scolded my wolf as I internally chuckled.  The rest of the ride to the hotel was mostly quiet with the occasional "are we there yet?" from Em.  When we finally pulled over for the night, I stretched as I got out the car and a massive yawn escaped my tired body.  "I'll go get the rooms, you guys grab pajamas and toiletries for the night from your bags" Clyde stated as he walked towards the building sporting the words "Check-In" I didn't hesitate as Jake popped open the trunk of the car, me and Em dug through our bags and found what we needed, after I shut the trunk I turned only to catch a scent as the wind shifted.  My pupils grew huge as I recognized who it belonged to, but it was impossible, he was dead.