Fractured

Chapter Fourteen

Hey guys! Soooo lots of new names in this chapter, I promise it will get less confusing soon? Maybe? Hopefully? I'm also considering reworking the first part of the story, but I haven't decided yet. I think I'll let it play out for now, possibly rework it after it's finished. 

Also! New title! What are everyone's thoughts????

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A door somewhere down the hall burst open, and a tornado of a tiny old woman swept into the room. Her arms immediately went around Nathan, who was still sitting down and looked somewhat like a dear in the headlights.

"Nathan! Oh, we thought you were dead!" Tears fell freely from her eyes as she continued to sob.

Nathan froze, his fists still up towards his chin in a defensive pose, and looked at the elderly woman with incredulity and near panic. He turned his head to Sophie as if entreating her for help. She looked just as helpless as him.

"Nathan, you remember Betsey, our great aunt," Daniel gestured to the woman currently soaking Nathan's shirt.

The woman in question, Betsey, raised her head from the crevice she'd found in his physique with a confused expression. "Of course he remembers me! Why wouldn't he?"

Ian shuffled from one foot to the other guiltily when Daniel gave him a pointed glance. "I didn't exactly have a chance to explain the situation."

Betsey's hands fisted in Nathan's shirt protectively as she realized this wasn't the happy reunion she'd expected. She narrowed her eyes at the alpha. "Then explain the situation, Daniel."

Daniel turned back to Ian. "Sebastian, we might as well tell everyone at once. Please go gather the rest of the pack and bring them here. We need to settle this tonight."

His last words had an ominous ring to them. Worried, I turned my head to Garrett. "What needs to be settled?" I whispered. It didn't help that Garrett was also showing clear signs of anxiety at the situation. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I wasn't sure if he was trying to calm me or protect me from his own pack. I tried not to focus on how good the pressure of his hand felt. Even so, I leaned into his embrace and tried to let it calm me.

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Ian returned after a few minutes with six others; four women and two men. They were all relatively young, most of the people in the pack were, I realized. Aside from Betsey, I would have guessed everyone else to be in their early thirties, if not younger. Garrett introduced the two holding hands as April and Terrence, the other man as Cedric, and the three remaining women as Erika, Alina, and Holly. I focused on each person as Garrett spoke because I knew I'd undoubtedly forget their names otherwise.

Erika gasped when she saw Nathan and cupped her hands over his face in shock. She was tall and willowy, and her dark brown hair fell in waves that perfectly framed her face. One look at her face told me that she and Nathan used to be involved. She made no move towards him, however, and stood stock still in between Alina and Holly.

Daniel motioned for everyone in the room to sit and poured himself another drink. He then offered the decanter to the enforcer closest to him, Theodore. "As we all know, Nathan disappeared under... unusual circumstances five years ago, shortly before I became alpha. Wherever he was, and whatever the people who took him did, he now has little to no memory of his past. He was also likely planted near our borders for Garrett to find, as were two women who just happened to be their respective mates."

Betsey, who I'd forgotten about, cast a discerning eye on Nathan, as if pondering something. She seemed to reach some sort of conclusion in her mind, nodded briefly, and addressed the room. "Nathan is back, that's all that matters right now. And two new members of the pack. And Nathan and Garrett's mates, no less." She sent us a genuine, if tight, smile.

The responses from the rest of the pack ranged from open-mouthed awe to outright hostility, and I was suddenly much more grateful for Garrett's arm around my waist. Erika let out a strangled noise but quickly turned to eye Sophie and me with animosity and just a hint of fear. That anyone could look at Sophie Harland and be afraid was almost comical to me. I didn't bother gauging other individual reactions, the general consensus seemed to be that we were trouble. And decidedly not wanted. That didn't hurt at all, or so I told myself.

"What do we do?" Holly asked.

"They're pack," Cole, one of the enforcers, stated. As if that was enough of an answer in itself.

Holly's eyes widened, but Erika spoke up. "What?! They can't stay here! They're obviously part of some kind of plot. What if a rival pack has had Nathan the whole time? And now they're going to use him and a couple of chicks to take us down?"

"It could be the government," Holly interjected.

"More likely a rival pack," Terrence said.

"How would they know where to find both Nathan and Garrett's mates?" Alina asked.

"Witchcraft," Ian supplied. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Alina narrowed her eyes. "Witchcraft isn't real." Ian shrugged as if she made a perfectly sound argument. So were witches real, too?

The room erupted in conversation. Erika, Holly, and Cedric were openly hostile, while Terrence was reserved and untrusting. His wife, April, just looked concerned, and Alina just looked confused. The enforcers were harder to read, but they seemed to mostly be waiting on word from their alpha, who watched the pack quietly.

"Enough," he intoned after several minutes. "They're ours. Regardless of how they got here or where they came from, they are pack and deserve to be treated as such." He paused. "Nathan and Sophie will stay here with me until we get things figured out. Caroline can go with Garrett."

I almost wanted to protest spending another night alone with Garrett, but quickly changed my mind. I knew I was safe with Garrett, so did my wolf. I wasn't so sure about the rest of the pack, who apparently thought I was part of some werewolfy plan to kill them all.