Siren -Editing-

chapter thirteen

There was the rare peaceful silence, the rare moment that usually only happened at night when no one was awake, was suddenly in the middle of the day on a beautiful sunny day, as Jes and I curled up in a field we never could have picnicked on back in the pack.

It had been days since we left, and I had never been happier.

Within days, we fell into a routine. We went wherever we wanted, saw things we never would have seen if we had stayed pack wolves, and ate as much as we could handle. It was days of bliss with no sign of homesickness on the horizon.

Jes struggled with regret throughout the first day, but ever since then, there has been nothing but the excitement of a future we suddenly had.

I stretched out on the long green grass as Jes wove a flower crown from daisies she had found.

"I've never seen you so happy, Lil."

I've never been so happy, and it's all thanks to you.

____________________

The next few days of preparation to receive the extra wolves blew by in a blur. I helped the Luna with everything she did, at her request. I took stock of what we had and listened to the pack's concerns about outsiders staying here so long, which was weird to hear as the most recent outsider to come.

But the day Alec and his patrol were due to arrive dragged on. Every moment felt like walking on broken glass and trying not to wake a sleeping baby. I didn't see him that day, or the next, but his presence was felt.

He was everywhere I could go, in everything I could see, strung every word I heard. He had a part to play in every part of the pack, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Not until his jobs were done.

I spent weeks trying to avoid directly interacting with him, with varying degrees of success. I kept every interaction I was forced to have as short and professional as I could, much to his annoyance.

I did like the others he brought with him; they kept to themselves and did their jobs as quickly as they possibly could so they could leave. Alec was the only thing keeping them back longer than they thought was necessary.

But once they did finally leave, and Alec stayed for every other job he had, he was somehow more my problem than he ever was before.

"Lily," Blake's voice cut through my brooding, "You're red again, you wanna talk about it?"

"Alec,"

"He's been quiet today. Can't you let yourself breathe, too?"

"I don't trust the quiet, you don't know him like I do. He's plotting, he sees me cutting out his jobs, and he doesn't like it."

"Your Dad still has a few left, and he seems to be enjoying the free time."

I sighed. I didn't expect him to understand what that man was like, or how good he was at hiding it. I did wish he'd default to believing me, though, but that would make him a bad Alpha to blindly trust the word of one person.

He took my hands in his, "We have free time too, why don't we go out and do something? We still haven't had a date yet."

"...What would we do on a date?"

"Have you ever been on one?" I shook me head, meeting his pleading gaze, "Well, it's a nice day out. We could go out for a picnic and walk the garden, talk until we have nothing to talk about anymore, then we could see where the night takes us?"

"That sounds nice." I bit my lip as he seemed to explode with excitement.

"Give me an hour, I'll get everything set up." He rushed to the door and flung it open, "you're not allergic to anything are you?"

"Strawberries,"

"Damn,"

He rushed out, heading straight to the kitchen, as I giggled. Maybe I did need a break. I had spent nearly every waking moment I had working on getting Alec out and helping the pack heal without his grubby hands on everything that mattered, but even I had to admit when I was in over my head.

Or I could become just as bad as that man was.

I quickly changed into a more casual outfit, just shorts and a t-shirt instead of the uniform Blake's mom was insisting I wear with a skirt and plain long sleeved shirt, and left the room almost as excited as Blake had been minutes before.

With a slight skip to my step, I walked down the hall and the steps toward the main room.

Alec was only here two more weeks, maybe I'll come out of them better than I thought. Maybe Jes will bounce back from his presence like she had before when we first left.

Nothing would be the same, of course, he knew where we were. But now we weren't alone; we both had mates, we had the friends we made since arriving, and we had an entire pack behind us.

My excitement was cut short the moment I heard a whimper coming from the hall closet.

I immediately rushed to it and opened the door, remembering my own time spent in one. This had to be the product of the free time my Father was getting.

I expected the metallic scent of blood to hit me the moment I swung the door wide open, but there was none. Inside, curled up into herself, was a young pup I knew perfectly well was scared of the dark. I knelt to her, expecting the worst.

"Thea, what happened? Why are you in the closet?" I attempted the sweet voice that Blake's mom was teaching me so I could talk to kids without scaring them.

Her head popped up as she sniffled, "Tyler pushed me."

Her brother did it?

I felt stupid for assuming otherwise. Father hated unfinished projects. Starting a new one here was not going to be on his to-do list. If he was going to do anything like that, it would be to Daniel or me, not to some kid he had no claim to.

"Well then, let's get your momma." I reached out my hand for her to take and waited until she took it and uncurled herself before standing and leading her to her mom's station in the south wing of the pack. A wing I rarely went to due to my Father's heavy presence there.

~

Edited