A Fate Foretold (formerly: A World Gone Mad)

A Fate Foretold 16

           On Tuesday morning, the foursome packed up the cars, closed the cabin, and drove back to headquarters. Neither car spoke much, although for different reasons. Christian and Ally didn’t need to say much, although Christian kept one hand lightly resting on his nat amatra’s thigh throughout the journey. Once they arrived back at headquarters, they wouldn’t be able to touch in public, however casually. Christian wasn’t sure how that rule had come into being, but rightly assumed it was a measure that Ally had introduced to make his affection for her as imperceptible as possible.

            In the other car, Tim and Sara sat in silence while each turned over matters in their heads. Tim was busy mulling over how his best friend and his nat amatra acted around one another in private, which he had caught glimpses of in the past, but had never fully gotten such a show of. He reached no conclusions, but could only hope that Sara had revised her sentiments towards Ally. She obviously made Christian happy, happier than Tim had ever seen him. Christian had certainly grown as both a person and a leader under Ally’s influence.

            Sara had done just that, but was unsure how to factor Kate into the relationship she had seen displayed at the cabin. She suspected that Ally did take the time to consider Kate in both the superficial aspects of her interaction with Christian and the emotional undercurrents that ran deep in their connection. Christian, on the other hand, seemed to only think about his wife as she factored into the exterior interaction that the triangular relationship dealt with. While he stood next to Kate and dutifully pecked her on the lips in an outward show of affection, he seemed perfectly content to bestow all his love only on his nat amatra. Eventually one of the three would become dissatisfied with the arrangement.

            When they arrived back at the pack unit’s headquarters, they all slipped back into the roles they had assumed for months. Sara decided not to tell Kate what she had witnessed. It was too delicate and nuanced a situation to disclose to just anyone, and Sara knew that Kate would not be appeased by her husband’s eternal exterior display of affection with no deeper feeling. Like any wife, Kate hoped to be loved by her husband, and barring that, at least didn’t want her husband to be demonstrably in love with another woman right under her nose. Ally, of all people, seemed to understand this best, and hid her relationship with Christian from the world as best she could.

          Kate would be returning in a few days. The entire pack unit formed a silent agreement that no one would discuss the trip to the cabin unless directly asked about it. Even Michael, Kate’s cousin, seemed to accept that no good would come from informing her of an example of how close her husband and his nat amatra were.

            The remainder of Kate, Avery, and Elsa’s absence passed relatively quietly. Some work piled up that required the attention of the pack unit, particularly in connection to the Tsolmon territory matter. While they were in a lull, the Sullivan headquarters in California had been dealing with negotiations with the top diplomats of the First Pack, who represented the interests of the Tsolmon pack and acted as final judge on the matter.

            Kate and her friends were expected back on Saturday morning, but when their Jeep pulled up outside, eyebrows raised at the full capacity of passengers riding in the car. Drawing their gazes from the window, Caleb and Gavin went to tell their future alpha that they had some unexpected guests.

            On hearing the news, which spread through the house like wildfire, most of the pack unit assembled in the living room while Mark and Colin went out to help with the copious amount of luggage being brought back. Along with Kate, Avery, and Elsa, a middle-aged woman and a man in his late twenties, both of whom looked vaguely familiar, entered the house.