Adira
Sitting in the makeshift bleachers I watch as everyone trains, Daniel at my side. Explaining why I can't train with them. That Ally will need to train me. How he couldn't risk me hurting the wolves in his pack. That's why he won't let me train with the guys, because they could hurt me.
It sounded a bit sexist to me. Ally being the one to train me because the guys could hurt me accidentally. That girls should train with girls. I'd heard how badass Ally was. She was strong. Possibly stronger than anyone here. Accidents could happen with Ally too. She could hurt me just as easily as the guys could.
I went along with it anyways. Nodding along because if I wanted to train with anyone it would be her. Hearing how amazing she was made me want to be her. I guess that's normal for a daughter to idolize their mother. Ally was my mom and she was fierce, confident, a hero in her own right. She'd saved her whole pack, she'd saved herself. Ally had the strength I wished I'd some day have.
She'd be the only one here to teach me how to become the person I want to be. Someone strong enough and smart enough to save everyone. If my father did come here I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I wanted to save them all and my dad. I didn't want anyone to die.
Watching Noal and Evan play with Conal, chasing him around. Ally and May having kicked us all out while they prepared with some omegas. I'd offered help but Daniel had convinced us all I should join them. I felt guilty for not helping, but I was also enjoying sitting with Daniel. After everyone had quit running with us we'd linked for a couple hours. Joking back and forth, mostly about each other.
It was nice not fighting with him anymore. I felt closer with him now. He was still a little edgy with Noal but they'd need to figure that out themselves. It was better today than yesterday, it would just take time. Two strong willed males will always butt heads.
"Your brothers are so much happier with you here." Daniel sighs, leaning forward. "I hope you plan on staying."
Staring at Conal running, Evan and Noal on his trail. I bounce my head up and down a few times. "I don't really have anywhere else to go. Even if I did I'd like to stay. I'm starting to really like it here. I don't feel afraid. I'll stay as long as everyone else does too. If Evan wants to leave I'll have to go with him."
"You talk about Evan as if he's your mate. Even though you wear Noal's mark." Daniel glances back at me over his shoulder.
Pulling my legs up I cross my ankles, wrapping my arms around the calves. Looking at Daniel then at Noal, Evan and Conal. "You don't care for anyone as much as you care for Ally? Evan's the whole reason I found out the truth. He protected me and took care of me. He left his family for me. How could I treat him like anything less than someone I love? He's the reason I'm still here. My dad.. well, you know, and it was Evan that saved me. He's put me first before everything in his life. I plan on always doing the same for him."
"And how's Noal feel about that?"
Squinting against the sunlight I watch Conal run our way. Noal and Evan right behind him. "Evan's the only other male aside from himself, you and Xale he's comfortable with letting touch me. So I guess he's fine with it."
Snorting, Daniel sits up and places his hand on my knee. "To answer your question, no. No, there isn't a single person in this world I care for like your mother. Noal's a better man than I am. If Ally had someone she loved the same way she loved me I don't know if I'd be comfortable with any relationship. Ally's all mine, and I'm all hers. You should talk to Febris and Feronia." Standing up he walks away to catch Conal in his arms. Spinning him around while he giggles.
Noal and Evan running my way. I drop my feet down into the grass. Pick up my white flats Ally had lent me, and push myself off the bench. "I need to talk to Evan alone before your parents get here." I smile at Noal.
"About what? They could arrive anytime now." Noal murmurs. Picking me up and planting my feet on the bench, he nuzzles into my neck, his scruff tickling me.
"We could go to the lake to talk." Evan offers up an idea. "We'll still be close enough that if they show up early we can get back to the house quick." Avoiding answering what the conversation is about.
Noal turns his attention to Evan, his hands running up and down my sides. "What are you guys going to talk about?"
"Just come with us. You should probably know too. I just don't want to talk about it with.." Evan stops talking, looking around at everyone still training. "An audience."
Noal grasping what Evan's saying tugs me off the bleachers and laces his fingers with mine. "Lead the way." Noal spoke, peeking back down at me and smirking. "Want to tell me what this is about?" Noal Links.
"I don't know, not for sure. It's about the other family Warriors we went to see. I think ones his mate, but he's acting weird. When we went swimming yesterday Xale brought the two sisters. They wanted to speak to him, they were looking for him. When Trevor brought up that they wanted to talk to Evan, he said they could join us but they couldn't bring it up." I link back.
Noal's eyebrows pull together and he stares up at Evan's back. The three of us trudging through the forest towards the lake. My ears hyper sensitive to the noises around us making sure we're alone.
"Can you start talking now? What's going on Evan?" I reach forward laying my fingers on his back.
"They're my parents." Evan mumbles. "They're my biological parents and they've got four other kids they didn't leave behind."
Gwen and Warren are his parents? Gwen and Warren are his parents I repeat to myself, believing it a little more the second time. Gwen and Sofia did have the same turquoise eyes as him.
"How do you know they're your parents?" Noal asks, shifting on his feet and moving me between them. His arms coming up over my shoulders, wrapping around me.
Sighing, Evan runs his fingers through his slicked back hair. "In the letter they'd written for me when I got older they included a photo of themselves. That and the fact that they haven't stopped begging me to come stay with them.. I've told them a dozen times I'm not going to. Now they've got those two little girls pleading there case." He grumbles.
"Want me to scare off the dad, get him to stop bugging you and tell his family to back off?" Noal offers and I pout my bottom lip. Noal was being nice, in his own way. It warmed my heart that Noal and Evan were getting along better now.
Snorting, Evan rolls his eyes. "No, I just wanted Little one here to know." Evan glances down at me. "I didn't want one of them coming to you with it. I don't need them. I've got the family that raised me, and the one I've got with you."
Ripping from Noal's arms I jump into Evan's. Koalaing myself around him, holding him tight. "You've always got me. Whatever you want to do I'll stand by you." I murmur against his shoulder.
Rubbing a hand up and down my back he kisses my ear. "I'm fine with getting to know them. If they turn out to be decent people I wouldn't mind talking to them. Emma seemed cool, Sofia's a little weird." Evan chuckles. "I'm just not looking to call them mom or dad and form that kind of relationship."
Laughing with him I wiggle myself out of his arms. "She's just modest, she reminds me a little about Faith."
Standing on my own two feet I slide my hands into both of theirs. Evan on one side Noal on the other. I always feel safest like this. Like with the two of them at my side nothing could get to me. I just hoped I was right.
"Owen said she won't even sit in the same room as him alone." Noal grins.
Shaking my head, I stop myself from laughing. "When she starts feeling her heat she will. The longer she goes without completing the bond the worse it's going to get for her. Every unmated male will want to mark her. They will tear each other apart to get to her. Her wolf won't be strong enough to hold them all off. Someone else could end up marking her and then she's going to regret it." It was serious. I'd seen it happen before. Men savagely attacking a woman because her heat grew too strong. There wasn't a pair of headphones in the world that could have masked the sounds those men made chasing after her. It was terrifying. She'd screamed so loud the whole pack had woken up.
The next day Alpha Anderson had called for everyone to meet in front of his home. A toothy grin on his face as he used the events to draw up new rules. Announcing any unmated wolf going through a heat wouldn't be protected. From then on they were on their own. For the good of the pack, he had said. What he meant was the growth of his pack.
"I'm going to make sure Ally knows. See if she can do anything to ensure Sofia stays safe until Owen marks her." I conclude, voicing my decision out loud.
"Phillips already on it. He's going over there every night a few times. Making sure Owen doesn't lose control of his wolf, and that nobody's sniffing around." Evan informs us.
Noal and I both shocked by the information. "How'd you know that?" Noal asks.
Squeezing my hand, Evan winks down at me. "He told me I could take the bed. Owens been sleeping on their couch. Phillip said he spent most the night over there last night. When he came back this morning he said it wasn't fair I was stuck on the couch when both of them were barely sleeping in it."
"If we're going to keep staying here maybe you should ask for your own room." I giggle.
"Do you want to stay?" Evan stares down at me. The three of us stepping into the sand, the forest at our backs, the beach in front of us.
Dropping both their hands I turn around the face them. Hands on my hips I stare up at them. "Do you guys want to stay?"
Noal and Evan share a look and then shrug at the same time. "It's really up to you, Mo Mhuirnin." Noal answers for the both of them.
Chewing the inside of my cheek I take in everything around us. Daniel and Ally want me to stay, and I'd like to stay. I don't want Evan or Noal to hate me for making them stay here if they don't actually want to. "I only want to stay as long as you guys do." I mumble, digging my toes into the sand.
"Then it's decided. After we figure out how to stop your father we stay. You need to help us, Adira. We can't stop him without his name. How's Ally supposed to know why he wants revenge if she doesn't even know who he is?" Noal reaches out for me.
Backing up a small bit I avoid his grasp, sighing. "But you all want to kill him. Can't we figure out a plan that doesn't involve him dying? He raised me. I know it sounds stupid, ridiculous even, but I still love him."
Evan's quicker than Noal, grabbing onto my hand and pulling me into him. Placing a feather light kiss on the top of my head. "Okay, so we get everyone on board with keeping him alive. If everyone agrees you'll tell them everything you know, alright? We need to figure this out. Sooner rather then later. He's close, Shorty, he's just waiting for the right opportunity. None of us want to see you hurt."
Taking a deep breath I hold my hand out for Noal. Noal's fingers covering mine, he comes closer. "Okay." I whisper, defeated.