His Little Ember • BOOK III

Chapter XVIII

"Aunt...Aunt Ariella?" Mila breathed.

Despite it being ten years since I had last seen her, I knew it was her. "Hey kid, it's been a while."

I saw Mallory and West out of the corner of my eye but they didn't move. Tears began to flow down her face and she threw her arms around me. "I wish you took me with you when you left." She whispered.

Flailing my arms, not sure what to do with a crying person, I then awkwardly patted her back. "You were too young. Look, let's go outside."

She stood up and her eyes widened. "Aunt Mallory? W-West? Wait...does that mean..?" She clutched the brown leather satchel that was slung across her body and I put a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll be causing a commotion. Either you come with us or stay."

The girl bit her lip then nodded. "Alright, I'll come, but only for a bit."

As soon as we stepped outside, I felt Isla hug me quickly. "Thank the Goddess you came back, I thought we would have to leave. What took you so long--" She suddenly stopped, when she saw the other person that came with us.

Mila took off her hood and that was when Isla caught sight of her sister. Instantly she ran towards her and hugged her tight, kissing her forehead and cheeks repeatedly as she cried. "Where have you been? It's been three years since you left!"

Rolling her eyes, Mila moved back. "I'm fine. I've been wandering, making money by hunting, then getting food in human towns. Life isn't so bad."

"Hunting...did you make contact with your wolf?"

"Yeah, earlier than expected...just like Dyna." Mila glanced down at Isla's belly. "I see you're pregnant again."

She nodded. "Yes. Chase is still at the pack along with your other two siblings."

The girl stiffened. "You mean your children. Chase is my only family now."

Isla looked taken aback but she said, "I will always be your family whether you despise me or not. I want to be there for you to tuck you into bed or have a movie night. I know you're older now and it'll be hard for me to grasp that you're not the little girl with pigtails anymore but please remember that I love you with all my heart."

There was a huge silence between the two in which I held my breath. It broke my heart to see the female Alpha who always looked so strong now look like she would do anything for her sister.

"No." Was the single reply Mila gave before shifting into a brown wolf, taking her coat in her mouth, and darted into the night.

↠ ⋆ ↠ ⋆ ↠ ⋆ ↠ ⋆ ↠

The mood while going up the hill was more than tense. It seemed as though the Alpha was trying to get a grasp on what had just happened as she bit her fingernail in thought.

Finally when we reached the top a sudden bright smile came on her face which made us all step back in surprise.

"Let's catch up on some sleep before we head off. I'm sure once we get a glimpse of where we are, Fay can find us back on the original trail, right?"

The pixie slowly nodded flying behind my back almost as if she was afraid. I had to admit though, I understood her.

When Isla went away to sleep along with her mate, I whispered to Mallory, "So, uh, she seems abnormally cheerful."

The Goddess nodded. "You know her, Alpha is never like that. Perhaps nervous-ness?"

Dion shivered sitting down on the ground. "I had never felt more creeped out in my life just from that smile." His mate smacked him upside the head.

"If my little brother did that to me, I would probably never forgive myself, even if I never did anything wrong." Kain muttered as he lay on the grass beside me.

"You have a little brother?" I smiled at him. I thought that was adorable.

"Yeah. He's back at home, waiting for me."

Oh. Did I make him go all the way out here looking for me while his sibling was there just waiting for him to come back?

Realizing what I was most likely thinking, Kain sat up, looking down at me and poked me with a grass strand. "Don't worry, my brother knew I would come looking for my soulmate soon. He's old enough to understand that."

"So I'm guessing you don't have a very large territory like most werewolves?"

"No. While you guys are like family, you seem more spread out. We're a compacted family in the mountains. You'll love it."

I was barely listening to his words and was more in awe of how he spoke of his home and how his green eyes lit up when he spoke of it. Kain was most definitely part of the vampires and his family and there would be no stopping that.

What would happen to us though?

Despite us fighting all the time, I opened up to him bit by bit as he did to me. Tearing myself away from the werewolf community would never happen. I needed to somehow be a link to help them come together but how? Would they listen?