Ever Lasting

XLIV

Chapter XLIV

"Dinner is on the table everyone!" my mother calls from the kitchen.

We had landed in Tennessee around 6 p.m. and are now settling into my childhood bedroom. Endora practically kicked us out of the pack along with Josh, Willow, my mom and dad.

Atlas still had knife up his ass about Declan so he left Leo in charge as acting Alpha.

We still have no clue why we are here or what we were suppose to be looking for but tonight I refuse to worry about it.

"How has everything been, Everly?" My mom asks as everyone gets settled in to our seats.

I give a small shrug while passing along the food after taking some for myself. "I'm fine. I just want to figure out what we are doing here so we can go back home."

"Ouch," my dad laughs and shakes his head with a hand over his heart.

I shake my head with a roll of my eyes, "I miss you guys and I love you all but California has definitely grown on me."

A small smile comes to Atlas's face as he quietly eats his food.

"Well, hopefully we can find answers soon honey." My mom says.

Josh and Willow opted out of dinner tonight so he could show her the pack as this was going to be her home soon. I couldn't imagine coming from Phoenix Moon and living here for the rest of your life. The pack was nice and Tennessee is beautiful but California was just a dreamland to me.

I pushed away the thoughts in my head and reached for my water on the table. The instant I looked at it, I was reminded of what I saw while I was in my exhaustion coma. I must've been a long daze because Atlas grabbed my shoulder making me slam down the glass.

Every one stopped what they were doing and looked to me.

"Sorry," I apologized for the random behavior and cleared my throat, "I just remembered something."

"What?" Atlas questioned me softly with concerned eyes.

I didn't even want to talk about it because it would sound crazy but I knew he wouldn't let it go until I did.

"When I was..." I paused for a moment, "asleep? I had a weird dream. I was in this bed in the middle of the forest and when I got up I was drawn to a creek. After I reached it this lady showed up. She said her name was Adira. She said "you are exactly where you need to be, but not where you belong. You remind me so much of your father"" I quoted her words with my fingers.

My mother and father's faces were ghostly white after I explained so I just laughed and waved it off, "I'm losing it. I know. Stress dreams can be crazy."

"Everly," my mom spoke first with a tone that sent a chill down my spine, "we need to tell you something."

Atlas was at full attention at that and as was I. My entire stomach rolled with nausea as my parents exchanged worried looks.

My dad cleared his throat and interlocked his fingers together on top of the table, "Well, I guess the talk I've played over in my head a million of times is about to happen, huh?"

"What is it?" I couldn't hardly wait anymore with how tense they had became.

Atlas could sense my distress and grabbed my hand to give me some type of comfort.

My dad shook his head and then started "one day I was patrolling the west side of the territory, where the pack land splits off by the lake, and there was this woman. She didn't smell like a rouge or a pack member. She was weeping and she had this blanket in her arms. Something in me told me to help her and ask questions later so I did. When I approached her, I noticed she was covered in blood. Her feet were covered in gashes and her arms had thorns covering them. She had clearly been running from something. She kept going on about protecting her people and that she needed to help them, I tried to get her to stay so we could tend to her wounds and then help with whatever had her so scared. She said she had a responsibility to her people and that she couldn't stay. That's when she shoved the blanket into my arms."

At this point my mom had tears running down her face, Atlas was squeezing my hand so tightly our fingers were white. My dad tore his eyes from the wall in front of him and looked directly at me.

"What was in the blanket?" I brought myself to ask.

He smiled so sadly at me before reaching across the table and grabbing my other hand, "you."

Shock swarmed me as my mom let out a soft cry and excused herself from the table.

I felt Atlas shift in his seat and place his eyes on the side of my face.

I couldn't do anything but stare back at the man that had raised me. He tucked his bottom lip into his mouth before releasing it.

"When I realized she handed me you, I just asked her why? Why would she give this perfect little girl to a complete stranger? She let out a small whimper and said "you are not a stranger Frank Ford. I have been preparing for this moment since I first seen her beautiful green eyes. I knew she does not belong in my world as it is now. She's too pure for the evil coming. Protect her, love her, and most of all let her sing."" He let out a sniffle as now he was on the verge of tears. "And then she started to walk away from us. I called after her and asked her yours and her names. She held the sweetest smile that you carry with you today and replied Everly after her people and that her name was-"

"Adira." I finished for him and took my hand away from his while Atlas continued to sit in silence.

"I looked down at you for a split second and when I looked back up to ask her more questions, she was gone. We looked everywhere for her but there was no trace. Your mom and I took you to the pack doctor immediately. They told us you were three weeks old and were a werewolf with a high ranking bloodline like ours. So we took you in and have never stopped loving you."

"Did no one question you all about this?" Atlas asked as I couldn't find the words to even attempt to.

"No, our Alpha and the Elders knew what had happened but everyone else knew that Julie and I were having trouble conceiving our second child. Every one assumed that we kept the pregnancy a secret because how depressed Julie was the months leading up to Everly's arrival. She hardly left the house and no one asked for updates on if we were expecting or not for obvious reasons."

Something flipped in my stomach finally and I was up in a flash running to the nearest bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before my stomach emptied in it. Atlas was there in seconds holding my hair and rubbing my back.

"It's okay baby, let it out." He said as I finally felt my stomach calm and then I was a mess. 

Nothing made sense. It felt like my entire life had just been uprooted and I had no idea how to replant it.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾Please Vote and Comment☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙