Awoken

Chapter 7

Quiet chatter amongst the siblings of the McGregor clan rose Sky from her hazy rest on what felt like a couch. Her eyes blinked slowly, taking in her surroundings. The red and orange living room seemed to have been decorated by time with stacks of books and odd little pieces adorning shelves and coffee tables with no set theme. It felt like a home; lived in.

Sky remembered her home in the north. Aunt Allison would've never allowed 'such brick-a-brac' anywhere in a visible range of guests. She kept a clean and presentable space in case someone stopped by. A possible explanation would've been that they lived in the Pack House, an uncommon situation nowadays, for the Alpha family to live full time in the main house. Usually a family in this modern age would live in a town or city close enough to have quick access to the pack, but still allowed the joys of a mundane life. Sky would've loved to have that; to have grown up around people like her. She did, in a way, but not as she would've liked.

Propping herself up on her elbows, Sky's head began to throb in a single area above her left temple.

"Did I fall over?" The din had quieted at the sound of her voice and movement.

Nate all but jumped onto the couch as he held her hand in a death grip and placed the other on her face gently. "Yeah, you did sweetheart. Take it easy."

Sky sat up straighter after gently pulling Nate's hand from her face. His hand in hers, she made her way to stand up when she saw a mass of curly red hair in sweater vest asleep on the couch opposite her. She felt a familiarity almost instantly but yet couldn't recall who he was to her. The woman sitting above him with a hand on his chest, whispering things under her breath looked up at Sky briefly, then back to the male beneath her.

Nate called to her, "Alice, can you see anything?"

The young woman Sky now knew to be Nate's sister-in-law shook her head, "Not yet. But it might help if I tried her." Alice gestured to Sky. 

"Try what with me?" Sky's eyebrows furrowed as her feet drew her slightly backwards.

Nate placed his free hand on her back, "It's okay. Alice has a Gift."

"You mean like a Gift-gift or a present kind of gift?"

"I have the Gift of Spirit." Alice smiled, her straight white teeth contrasting with her dark complexion in a near ethereal way.

Sky nodded. "I've had very few experiences with the Gifted, please excuse my apprehension. What exactly do you need from me?"

"Gifted or not, I'm family now; in more ways than one if I'm right about this," Alice stood directly in front of Sky and placed her hands on Sky's chest, Alice's fingers grazing her collar bone lightly.

Her mouth began to move but this time Sky's ears rang with a soft low hum. Her chest and head felt light as the room got brighter. When Alice removed her hand the sensations disappeared and she saw what was illuminating the room.

Both Danny and Nate's eyes were shining a brilliant white.

They faded slowly once Alice broke whatever connection the light had to her, and by the look in everyone's faces, Sky's were the brightest.

At this moment Danny sat up and reached for Alice. Alice helped him up and that's when Sky felt it. Danny felt it too as they gazed dumbstruck at each other.

"Skylar?"

She nodded with newfound tears in her eyes, "Hey, Danny."

Sky looked to Alice and to find her smiling, rubbing Danny back softly. "We've been waiting a long time to meet you."

Before Sky could think of a response, Nate beat her to it, "What do you mean you've been waiting? You knew she was my mate? And you said nothing?" He had all but growled at them, one arm around Sky's middle.

Sky pressed her hand firmly into her mate's arm. He tightened and calmed.

Alice moved and placed herself beside Danny, "Their bond is rare. It's not like I could point her out from a crowd. We knew she would come to us, we just didn't know what form."

"What bond? I mean, all I've known of is the mate bond." Sky interjected.

"Danny is, in a way, your mate; but not in the way Nate is. Nate is the mate given to you by the Goddess, someone to live out life with, someone to love," Sky and Nate both began to blush though neither could see it, "while Danny is the mate of your soul. This happens only when two spirits have co-existed in a previous existence."

"Like reincarnation?" Nate asked, intrigued at the idea.

Danny responded this time, "Not really, not how you think. Every soul was once part of something else before it became each one of us."

"Some of us remained in the stars, along side the Goddess, but some, more specifically, the Gifted, had the most contact with with those already living, ushering the dead to their rest, or guiding those who sought aid from Her," Alice finished.

"I'm gonna sit down. This is a lot to process." Sky plopped herself back down on the couch, pulling Nate with her by the hand. " I started this week with a hole in my life and now I have two soul mates; one, who I used to chill with in the life before this, and the other is the mate I'm destined to love my whole life," Nate's grip on her hand tightened and she held fast. "Am I getting all this right?"

Danny walked over to the couch and sat down. "It's a lot, I know. But I knew there was a reason I felt so strongly for you. And, if you're cool with it, I'd love to have you as a little sister."

Sky took his hand in hers and looked at Nate and then back to Danny. "Even though I don't have a choice, I've always thought of you as a brother."

Nate's eyebrows furrowed, "I'm sorry; always?"

"It was a long time ago, just before I ran away. The night I was supposed to shift, I- well- I- I met Danny."

Danny's eyes met Sky's as he nodded his head, his silent reassurance was felt in the back of her mind.

Before any of them could really take in what was going on Karen jumped from her quiet, nervous fidgeting on the wall and ran to the kitchen yelling expletives regarding her roast.

A few family members raced to the commotion while Danny, Sky, Nate, and Alice remained seated in some way on the long red couch.  After a few beats of silence they all smiled and half laughed as they made their way to the kitchen. It took a solid two sniffs to decipher that all was well and Nate offered his and Sky's services in setting the table.

Once everything was set and the roast ham, potatoes, and steamed carrots were placed onto the long oak table with flare they all sat. Nate sat beside Sky who nearly fell head first into the delicious meal.

Questions came and were answered, all the while Nate kept a steady hand in Sky's sweaty one.

After dinner they retired to various parts of the house, some remained downstairs as the parents began putting children to bed. It seemed so natural- so normal.

Nate looked at Sky and grabbed her hand for the thousandth time that night. She looked into his eyes and felt her in her bones the warmth coming from them. She looked around the room to see everyone smiling and laughing, some arguing light-heartedly, the children playing with their food and poking and prodding their cousins.

 It reminded her of the Refuge; of home.