AFRAID OF THE DARK

CHAPTER 28

"More like a hot mess. Her face is covered in red blotches and she has drool running down her face." Beau laughs from behind him.

"Did you get into a fight with the covers? Your hair is like..." Adam does some kind of explosion motion around his own hair.

I react and reach for my hair. I can feel that it's a tangled mess and poofy. They laugh at my widened eyes. I run to the bathroom to wash up and finger comb my hair back down. I only look slightly better when I come back out. They are no longer smiling, but have serious looks on their faces. We turn towards the door when there's a knock, but it opens before anybody reaches it.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you. I thought you would have been in Jaivan's room." Luna Betty walks in and shuts the door behind her.

"She finds protection and comfort in Grizzly Adam when she can't run to her mate." Logan chuckles. "I'll never understand it."

"Don't give Adam a hard time. He's a big teddy bear when you get to know him." Luna pinches Adam's right cheek.

"I wish you females would stop referring to me as a teddy bear." Adam grumbles unhappily and sits down on an armchair.

"What are you guys doing here?" I twist my long blonde strands and drop them over my shoulder then flip my hair behind me again.

"We're here to, uh, check on you and to," Beau shifts. "Mediate."

"Mediate?" I ask.

"You need to talk with Jaivan, but the pack members have decided others should be in the room in case your anger picks up." Adam rolls his eyes.

I frown. "They think I'll hurt my mate?"

"No, dear. They're worried the mist had seeped into you when we saw it disappear." Luna Betty grabs my hand. "Come sit down. We'll talk before Jaivan returns.

"Nobody hates you, Cami. I know that is what you are worried about. You brought life back into their Alpha. Well, actually, in both of my boys. My sons have been in love with you for a long time, Camilla." Luna Betty's smile is saddened and one sided as she recalls something. "I've always kept my eyes open and watched over my sons. I've noticed Aidan's jealousy over Jaivan several times and we have had long talks. I also know he had been secretly dating Alyssa. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I guess I thought they would be mates, but we learned that was not the case. She was older and more mature, but Aidan also had a high level of maturity. He almost seemed to grow faster than Jaivan and Beau at times. Oh, when those two were together it was always trouble."

"But fun." Beau laughs and gets a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She shakes her head, but frowns once again. "Jaivan had been heartbroken when he learned Alyssa was his mate. It had not been for her rejection of him, but that it wasn't you. Then he lost his wolf, it broke him completely. Your grandfather had the gift to see the future. It came in spurts and he had foreseen the two of you as mates. Jaivan lost all hope when he knew the two of you can never be true mates without his wolf. It still breaks my heart to have seen life drain out of my son's body a day at a time."

"Jaivan never dated. He was saving himself for you. He was sure the two of you were going to be mates, so he turned everybody down. Not even after his birthday and he lost hope did he look at another girl. I know you heard rumors about him and Maisy, but they never dated. He was saving me from getting in trouble with my mate. Maisy took advantage of it and started spreading rumors of a secret love affair shw was having with Jaivan. That is until she realized she could be Luna if Aidan became Alpha."

"What about the girl?" I wipe a tear.

"Only she and Jaivan really know, but we have our suspicions." Beau looks up. "Jaivan had been bad after he lost his wolf. He looked about ready to give up on life. I don't know how many times I would get calls from the bars for me to pick him up after he binged on alcohol all night. He said he was trying to drown out his sorrows, but it never worked. He would disappear for days and sometimes weeks at a time." He points at me when my eyes widen. "Before you get any thoughts, I had asked him about it. You already know I had accidentally impregnated Maisy after a stupid party. I wanted to make sure he didn't do something stupid. I asked him if he was being safe, you know, using protection and such. He laughed and said he would be a virgin for life, because touching another girl is the last thing he will ever do. He had disappeared for another week after we had that conversation and we received another call."