"Ready?" Mom asked me when Xavier and I arrived at the front of the house. "Your things are already in the car. Dad's out of the meeting and the enforcers are all ready."
Wow. Go for a walk in the gardens and you miss everything!
"Where are you guys headed next?" Xavier asked, his curiosity clearly getting the best of him. Suddenly he had reverted back to the puerile kid I had seen sitting at the dining table. In a weird way, I could picture glasses on his face that needed to be pushed up his nose all the time. I knew it was just because he was pre-shift pubertal.
"Crescent Moon Pack." Dad announced, entering the foyer from a side hallway. He placed his hands on Mom's shoulders and gave them a quick squeeze. "Just a short, thirty minutes or so away."
I widened my eyes. I hadn't realized two packs lived in such proximity to each other. It was a good thing they seemed to be friendly allies with each other, otherwise the lack of distance could turn out disastrous.
We said quick goodbyes, and I sent a quick wink to Xavier—to make him feel better about what I said—and then we were piling into our vehicles and driving off. The tires kicked up a giant dust cloud from the gravel as they spun.
Cole was asleep within five minutes of the ride. I rolled my eyes, he must not have slept that well, either. Working up some courage, I spoke to my parents.
"The Menai Moon Pack is pretty close, too, isn't it?"
Dad answered. "Yes. About two hours from Crescent Moon."
I chose my next words carefully. "Why don't you ever stop in there when you visit these two packs. Since they're so close."
My parents shared a quick look over the center console. My heart pounded in anticipation for answers. Anything, really, that could clue me in on what created the fall-out between Mom and her family. At least her mother. Tally was still friendly, even if she didn't come around anymore.
I dared to continue, "When Tally comes, she always visits us, but we never visit her."
"We just. . . don't want reminders." Mom said softly. Dad placed his hand in hers, and they clung to each other, their entwined fingers resting on Mom's leg.
"Shouldn't I know?" I whispered, staring out the window. "I'm going to be alpha soon. Sometimes I think you guys forget that."
"We don't forget." Dad told me, and I turned to meet his eyes through the rear view mirror.
"You're right. You should know." My ears perked up at my mother's agreement. "Just not right now. Come ask me in a more private setting some time."
Glancing at Cole—who was slumped against the interior of the truck door, his head on the window, definitely out cold—I wondered when I'd get them in a more private setting. They were busy, I was busy, it just went in circles.
"Okay." I said finally, making a mental note to try and remember. I didn't want to go to Sydney or Jaycee over my mother's history, but I was starting to think I might have to.
The thirty minutes were gone in a blink, and suddenly we were turning into a wide, brick driveway. It was short, so the house was in full view from the road, and it was. . .different.
Beautiful, of course, but the style leaned more towards Mediterranean, with its creamy stucco exterior and brown accents and tiled roof. For a moment, I forgot we were still in northwestern Virginia, not Florida. The house, it seemed, would be better suited surrounded by palm trees, not firs and maples and oaks.
A small fountain sat to the side, turned on and spurting clear water from the top where it then poured down a tier into the shallow pool below. Next to it, the wooden front door was a double, and each had windows placed into them and as we came to a stop in front of the large, brown garage doors, I could identify thin black weaving of design printed into the windows. Above the front doors was a large arched window, crystal clear glass with no lined panes. The tiny porch was enclosed with a wall, the arch in front of the door high and open, welcoming. On either side of it, the house was shaped into curves I assumed created round rooms inside. The curved walls were lined with arched windows, split into simple panes.
I punched Cole in the shoulder to let him know we were here and he groaned as his eyes opened.
"Kota tell your daughter it's not okay to punch people awake."
"No." Dad replied, laughing as Cole rubbed the totally-not-even-sore spot on his upper arm.
"I didn't even hit you that hard!" I said as I climbed out of the truck. The gamma only muttered something under his breath. But I knew Sydney or one of their sons would have woken him the same way, so there was no remorse from me.
No omegas appeared from the back of the house to take our things like they had at Rising Moon. But within moments of us stepping out of vehicles and onto the driveway, the double front doors opened up and a man stepped out. Tilting my head slightly, I studied him.
He was dressed down in a black t-shirt and denim pants, and his medium brown hair was short on the sides, but longer on top, styled so that it flipped up almost like it was slightly wind blown. He was lean, and he was tall, but he wasn't huge. Seriously, he looked too young to be alpha and that told me he was probably eighteen. Newly titled.
He jogged down the three steps that separated the brick driveway from the clean concrete porch to meet us and stopped about ten feet from where we all stood. My forehead burned from where he seemed to be looking right through me. I tried to burn a hole in my shoes with my own eyes.
Shimmying to the side, I placed myself partly behind my father to show that I was not the one with authority and he should not be staring as if waiting for me to speak.
"Alpha Anderson!" The man exclaimed, his voice richer than I was expecting based on his appearance alone. For some reason, the sound sent a shudder from my shoulders to my ankles. I gritted my teeth and tried to push it away.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Dad dip his head with respect. But he didn't call the man by his probable title. "River," he said instead. "Your father should be expecting me."
Finally raising my eyes, I watched River's face break into a grin. Somehow that made his jawline sharper. My eyes flicked higher and that was when I stopped breathing.
His grey eyes hadn't moved off of me. I barely registered his smile widen as I tried to get air back into my lungs.
I knew what that pull meant, that tug on my heart and mind. On my wolf. I knew it, but I didn't want to know it. I wanted it shoved as far away from me as possible.
Oh no. I thought to myself.
River's eyes stayed on mine as he answered my father. "Yes, he told me. But you should know that I claimed the title as alpha in January."
"Congratulations." Dad told him, but his voice sounded weird, distant almost. Then I realized that was because he had followed River's line of sight to me, and I was still trying not to cough out loud and interrupt because my lungs did not want to cooperate all of the sudden. "You okay?"
Cole reached a hand out and patted my back, as if that would solve it. "Breathe, kid."
I wanted to tell him to shut up, I was trying! But I just coughed once and sucked in the breath I desperately needed. One look at the guy and my body acted as if I had just jumped out of a plane and I was still falling. That feeling when you drop and your heart gets caught in your throat and the thrill winds you and breathing doesn't feel normal. That was what I felt like. Except without the thrill, and more dread in the pit of my stomach like a hard rock.
"I'm fine." I finally choked out. "Promise."
Mom eyed me strangely for a moment and then the conversation went back to River. I could tell he was trying not to stare at me, but every time his eyes drifted back, I could feel the burn as if there was actually a beam pointed right at me.
"Thank you." He told Dad, referring back to his congratulant.
"Your father didn't. . ." Mom's voice fell away, trying not to say it in case it was rude to assume.
"No! No, nothing like that. I turned eighteen and my father decided I was as ready as I'd ever be."
She breathed her relief. "That's good, then."
River grinned again, his eyes back on me. "Why don't you all follow me inside? I'll send a few omegas out for your belongings and they'll put them in guest rooms for you."
"Thank you." Dad said, waving a hand to his enforcers to follow behind us. "I apologize in advance for our short visit. I wanted to discuss a few things with you, and maybe your father as well because of our pack history, but we didn't want to impose too long on the Memorial Day weekend."
River's back was turned to lead us through the front doors. I caught myself admiring his back muscles through his t-shirt and shook my head out of it.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "You're all very welcome to stay for the the cookout we have planned."
Neither of my parents said anything, because we weren't really sure when we would be leaving to return to our pack. I had to get back to school to finish off the year. But the thought that my parents would waive that once they discovered who River was to me definitely crossed my mind.
I also wondered if that was why River was so perky while he spoke to us. Maybe it was his nature, but maybe he was just giddy over seeing me for the first time. A sense of pride and satisfaction surged through me for myself that I didn't immediately get weak-kneed and giddy when I made eye contact with him. I mean, my lungs stopped functioning, but that was really out of my control.
Inside, we were met with dark wood flooring and creamy white walls—battling it inside my head, I couldn't decide whether the paint was actually cream or actually white. Above us hung a chandelier that was designed so the crystals and lights formed a cone shape, with its point towards the floor.
To the left was a wide walkway, the arch in the wall only a slight curve, and the area it opened to appeared to be a formal sitting room. And to the right was a smaller doorway, the dark wooden door opened to let me see that it led to a corridor lined with a series of more wooden doors as far as I could see without walking down there. In front of the open doorway—on the left side of it—was a staircase that gradually curved at the bottom and then continued straight to the second floor. Both the steps and the banister were fashioned out of the same wood as the floors.
River stood in front of the steps as we gathered in front of him, several of the enforcers were pushed to the edge of the sitting room to fit. The edges of his smile dropped a little when he took his eyes off of me and spoke directly to my father.
"I assume there's a valid reason you decided to bring your entire collection of enforcers with you today."
Cole covered a snort with a fake sneeze. I pressed my lips together to hide my own smile.
Dad defended himself, "It's not our entire force." I realized it was smart too. That single sentence opposed River's assumption as well as told him that our pack wasn't left defenseless and that we had a larger number of wolves in our pack than some.
"But yes." He told the young alpha. "They are here as a precaution."
"Uh oh," River chuckled. At least he was light hearted about the potential situation.
"Nothing we should worry about yet." Dad reassured him. "But it does have to do with the conversation I hope to have with you."
The younger alpha nodded in thought. "Alright. We have more than enough room for all of you. Why don't you follow Omega Sadie down the hallway and she will show you where you'll be staying."
Mom nodded, and she and Dad let the enforcers follow the tall brunette omega through the smaller doorway on our right, next to the stairs. They followed soon after. I happily went to join them, but accidentally caught River's eye again and the look he had in them told me I shouldn't just leave without saying anything, even though that was exactly what I had had in mind. Besides, this was his house, and he could easily just follow me right to my guest room.
When I paused in the doorway, Mom looked over her shoulder with concern. "Em?"
"I'll be right there, Mom." I waved her on. "I need to, um, use the bathroom first." Mentally, I scolded myself for that excuse when he was standing just over there. For some reason, it made me embarrassed.
"Em?" River's deep voice spun me around and I found that he wasn't over there he was right in front of me. He towered over, taller than even my father, and his grey eyes seemed to sparkle with interest as he found my green ones. "That short for Emma, or something? Emerson? Emily?"
I let him guess until he ran out of ideas, not even steering him the right way as he moved on to names that started with the letter M. When he stopped, I smirked up at him, trying to focus on his straight nose and not his grey eyes—though now that he was so close I could see that they were actually bordering blue and green, depending on the angle of the sunlight shining in the massive windows—so that I wouldn't forget how to breathe again. It sucked last time.
"Emerald." I finally told him. His eyelids closed and I heard him whisper my name through a slight exhale. It made me shiver. I wish his voice would stop doing that to me.
"River." I said back, but I said it aloud, not in a breathed sigh. He smirked. I kept my face stony.
He turned and walked the few steps back to the foot of the stairs. I took it as a cue to follow him, but I stayed put. When he faced me again, his eyebrows arched, surprised to find me still over here. I matched his expression, with less alarm to it. I wanted to make it clear right from the start: I wasn't someone who was going to just sit in his shadow.
The alpha's stun melted into another smile. He beckoned my forward with one finger, his left foot on the bottom step. "Come on."
I folded my arms and leaned against the doorway. While I appreciated him not announcing to my pack that he was my mate, I wasn't about to just disappear with him.
For some reason, his smile remained at my antics. "You're not going to find your stuff in a guest room."
My heart thudded in my chest. "Why not?"
He beckoned my forward again, climbing three more steps. "Just come on. I'm willing to bet you don't want to talk out here in the open, where anyone could listen or walk into the conversation."
I was slightly flabbergasted. We just met; he hadn't even touched me yet! How did he already get that part of me. Was I that much of an open book? Was that how he knew to stay silent in front of my parents? Mom would throw a party if she discovered I found my mate—something I've voiced not wanting—on the very trip I begged to go on. Karma was an ass.
In the end, curiosity won, and I finally followed behind him as we climbed the stairs. The second floor seemed shallow at first, but as we walked along a corridor, I realized just how many rooms were here. We turned, and I thought there had to be a courtyard or something in the middle to make this layout make sense. Eventually he stopped in front of a door with dark wood paneling, like all the others we had passed. He swung it open and then shut it when we were both inside.
His scent wafted around me like a hug, and instantly I knew we were in his room. That's when I finally panicked.