His Beloved

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXIV

"Oh Ashia!" my mother cried as she threw her arms around my neck, holding onto me tightly. "How I have missed seeing your beautiful face, and never again did I think I would ever see you in this house! What an exciting day – regardless of the circumstances that bring you here, your father and I are so pleased to see you."

"I missed you too mom," I murmured as I disentangled myself. "You remember Josie..." I trailed off as the two women embraced.

"How are you?" Josie asked my mother.

"Today? I am splendid. Come on inside girls, your bags will be taken up to your old room Ashia. You won't mind sleeping in Willa's old single would you Josie?"

Josie shrugged and followed mom inside the house, inspecting everything with an inquisitive stare. I took the home in, breathing deeply as the familiar scents of sage and lavender assaulted my nose and the smell of my father's pipe tobacco. You could smell the old wood and I found myself still being able to walk on the hardwood floor and avoid all the creaking boards. Josie hit every one.

Muscle memory, I thought.

"Have you heard from Willa?" I asked as we settled in the kitchen for some tea.

"She wants nothing more than to be here," mom sighed. "Unfortunately her mate won't let her leave without him and seeing as no wolves are allowed on the territory..."

"I wouldn't put it past Willa to find a way here," Josie scoffed. "She did that for the wedding."

"I think her mate, Luca; I think he's getting too smart for her these days." Mom set a tea in front of me and Josie. "It's good for her, she needs her wings clipped. She can get a little too cocky for her own good."

"That she can," Josie murmured.

"How are you Ashia?" Mom asked me softly. "Since everything happened, how are you holding up?"

I thought about my answer, because truth be told I wasn't sure how I felt. The pain I had gone through at Clara's hands had been excruciating and I thought it was all over once Aron had me...but to know she was still seeking revenge made me feel sick to my stomach and my insides twisted with a ferocious anxiety.

"I'm fine," I settled on saying. "I'm happy to be home for a while...with the sun. It's lovely."

"Your father can't wait to see you," mom clapped excitedly. "We have a lovely dinner planned tonight."

Conversation flowed as if I had never left. It was exactly like life before I had moved away, except instead of Willa sitting beside me instead was Josie who held her tea rather than drank it. Conversation didn't focus on my lack of magical talent but instead on my life with Aron and my marriage, my school and my new friends (or friend being the word). Once life got back to normal I would have to work so hard to catch up and I wondered if it was even worth going back to school.

The familiar sound of my father arriving home echoed through the house, the way his keys jingled as he threw them into the bowl near the door and the way he kicked off his boots and groaned loudly as he shut the screen door with that familiar bang. I leapt off my chair and ran into the foyer.

"Ashia!" He exclaimed and I ran into his open arms, sighing in relief at his familiar smell. I had missed him so much. "How are you my poor girl?"

"Surviving," I muttered. "How are you?"

"Trying to contain mini heart attacks," he grumbled. "You girls will be the death of me. First I have Willa, gallivanting across the country without her mate's knowledge and then I have you, being kidnapped by some crazed devil woman."

"Mine was not deliberate," I defended and he nodded with a half-smile.

"It's good to have you home Ashia," he told me. "You look different."

"Different?" I asked.

He nodded thoughtfully. "A good different, not a bad different. Grown up, you don't look so much like Willa anymore."

I found myself smiling wildly. That was the biggest compliment I had ever gotten from my father. I had always blended into Willa, been her shadow but I knew I had been coming into my own and I knew I still had more changes to make and become a more active participant in my life, but the changes were there and the fact my father noticed? It felt amazing.

-

"So no progress?" I asked Aron down the line as I shuffled my toes in the sand outside. I had been home for four days now and they still hadn't tracked Clara.

"Nothing," Aron grumbled "It's as if she's completely vanished off the face of the earth. Maybe someone took care of her for me – but I know my sister and her silence is deadly. You are protected where you are, the only time I worry for you is at night."

"My parents have done protective spells," I soothed him. "No vampire can get past what they have conjured."

"Let's hope," Aron sighed. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of my stupid actions."

"Don't think like that," I hushed him. "Thinking like that will make you go crazy and I need you sane. I'm the only one with a good enough excuse to lose it."

"I assume Josephine is on your last nerve?" I was happy to hear him chuckle.

"How does someone so old have so much energy?" I whispered down the line, hoping Josie wouldn't hear me and get offended. "She could give a toddler a run for their money. She wants to see everything, touch everything and do everything... except for chores that is."

"That sounds like her," he mused. There was another voice down his line and I frowned at how frantic it sounded. "Ashia I need to go. I think we have a lead."

"Okay," I stammered. "Be careful. I love you."

"I love you too."

The line went dead and I stared at the phone as my mouth dried, wondering what the lead could be. Had the directly found her or did someone only know of her possible whereabouts? How long could this possibly go on for?

As I was about to head inside, a shadow floating around the bushes caught my attention and I frowned, trying to focus on the figure. Everything in my mind was screaming at me go back inside, but it was as if my feet were glued to the ground. It couldn't be Clara...she had no way of getting in...Until the figure emerged and I shouted loudly.

"Willa!"

A/N

His Beloved won the update vote. Every week I'm going to post a status on my Facebook page for a story of your choosing to be updated. The story with the most requests will get the update. My life has gotten so busy this is the only way I could do it. I'm also looking at rounding this book off and completing it to make more time for Jaxton Pack, Mr Mate and The Cheyenne.

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