The ride to the pack house isn't long, maybe a 10-minute drive. I only have 10 minutes in order to prepare myself for all hell to break loose...
On one hand, I am very excited to see Marley. She has been my best friend for as long as we could shift. I wonder what her life was like while I was gone...
But on the other hand, I am very nervous to see the rest of my friends. I don't know how they'll react to me coming back. Will they welcome me with open arms, or will they resent me for those false rumors of infidelity. Sure they weren't the ones to create the rumors of me cheating, but did they believe them? Did they believe Ryder?
We soon pull up to the pack house, and Ryder turns off the car and glances at me, "You ready?"
"Nope, but as you said before, this is what I signed up for..." I say, unbuckling my seat belt and stepping out of the car.
Ryder helps Carter out, but he soon runs to me to hold my hand as we walk away from the car. We make our way up to the door and Ryder turns the door handle before I even have a chance to back out.
As soon as Ryder opens the door, everybody looks to see who it is. I instinctively stand behind Ryder, who hides mine and Carter's body completely.
"Ryder! We thought you wouldn't make it! Hurry up, I'm hungry!", a voice says, who I instantly recognize as Jacob, Ryder's beta.
Jacob walks up to Ryder and does that man-hug thing that every guy knows. I stiffen as he gets near, and don't breathe when I hear him smelling.
He looks behind Ryder and his eyes lock with mine.
"Kara? Is that really you?" He asks, his eyes going wide.
"Hey Jake, it's been a long time," I say with a small smile.
At first, he looks a little hesitant, but that looks quickly disappears and the face of joy replaces it. He runs up to me and engulfs me in a big hug, lifting my toes off the ground.
"I can't believe you're here! What are you doing here!" He says, stilling squeezing the life out of me.
"Um...Jake...can't...breathe..." I say, strained against his chest.
"Oh sorry," He says, putting me down. "But for real, what are you doing her-"
"Kara?" A feminine voice calls, and my heart suddenly jumps in my chest.
A girl with brown hair and deep brown eyes rushed toward the door and stops when she sees me, "Marley?" I say, tears already in my eyes.
"Kara!!" She yells excitedly as she pushes past Ryder and runs to hug me. I hug her back, "I missed you so much!" She says.
"I missed you too Marley," I say, a single tear falling from my eyes.
As soon as she lets me go, she becomes aware of the small boy holding my hand. She smiles at me before squatting down to be eye-level with Carter.
"Hi! I'm Aunty Marley, what's your name?" She asks with a big smile on her face.
"I'm Carter," He says with his shy voice.
"Well Carter, I have a little girl who has been waiting a long time for a playmate. Would you like to meet her?" She asks him.
Carter looks up at me with his big eyes, almost asking for permission. I give him a smile and a head-nod before he smiles at Marley, "Sure"
Marley stands up and grabs Carter's hand from mine as she leads him over to the backyard.
Justus and Colten, Ryder's Delta and Gamma also come up to me and give me a hug before turning back to Ryder.
Suddenly I feel very awkward standing right in the doorway. However, Marley comes to my rescue and returns, without my son.
"Oh my god I cannot believe you're back, we have so much to catch up on!" She says, taking and hand and practically dragging me to the couch to sit down.
"I also just want to let you know that when I found out that Ryder rejected you, I didn't talk to him for like 6 months. Jake had to stop me from choking Ryder out in his sleep, like twice!" She says and I laugh. God, I missed my friend.
"So what was it like, you know after I left?" I ask.
"Honestly, it kind of sucked. Ryder was moody all the time. I was always walking around with a bitch face, begging for someone to talk about you so I could punch their face in." She says and I smile.
"I knew you didn't cheat, Kara. I tried and tried to get Ryder to go after you, but you know him and his ego the size of New York. Hell, I even tried going through the normal pack members to see who started it, but everyone just heard it from someone else..." She says, a tear falling from her eye.
"Sister, why are you crying?" I ask, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Because maybe if I just tried a little harder, Ryder would've realized his mistake and go get you and bring you back," she says, tears still falling.
"Oh Marley," I say as I wrap her up in a hug, "It's not your fault I didn't come back. It's mine...
We talk for another 20 minutes before Jacob calls us over to the kitchen to eat lunch. Apparently, while we were talking, the boys were outside grilling up some burgers and hotdogs. I hear little feet come running down the stairs as Carter and a little girl come to sit on the smaller table in the kitchen.
"Who's that?" I ask, taking a bite of my burger as I watch Ryder place two plates in front of the children while Jacob walks over to hand them juice boxes.
"That's my daughter, Karly." She says, smiling at the two kids.
"Oh my god Marley, you had a kid?" I say, surprised. But all she does is laugh, "I could be asking you the same question..." She replies to me, sticking her tongue out.
After about 30 minutes, Ryder walks over to us with his hands in his pockets, "Hey girls, hate to break up the reunion, but it's time to have that talk, Kara" He says and I sigh.
Marley and I stand up, throwing our plates into the sink and following Ryder into the Conference Room. The room isn't large. It's just a table with 10 chairs surrounding it. It's meant the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, and their mates to conduct their meetings in. The seats are assigned according to rank, with the Alpha at the head of the table and his Luna to his right, followed by the beta and his mate to his right as so on and so forth.
Ryder takes his natural place at the head of the table and points for me to sit in the Luna chair, but I shake my head. "Ryder I can't sit there," I say softly. I take a glance at the chair meant for the Luna, you can tell that chair hasn't been used in years. The paint looks newer, probably because it was used less, a lot less in recent years.
"Why not?" He says confused.
"I'm not the Luna of this pack. That seat belongs to the Luna." I reply, looking at the ground.
He sighs, looking at me, "Kara, that is your chair, it was yours when you left, and it is still yours now. Please, take your seat." He replies, his point not up for debate.
I sigh, not in the mood to argue at this point, and take my seat in the luna chair. It feels weird to sit here, but my wolf is howling with utter content on the inside.
Ryder clears his throat to get the meeting started.
"I know it's weird that I called you all in on a Thursday, but it was urgent. As you are all aware, Kara is back on pack territory along with our son, Carter. She left 6 years ago and was living a human life until last night." He says, looking at me to finally tell my story.
"I went grocery shopping yesterday during Carter's baseball practice, something I usually never do. Anyways, while I was shopping, I smelt the scent of a rogue. I left as soon as I could but he cornered me when I got to my car. At first, he said something about the alpha wanting me, so I originally thought it was Ryder having a meltdown, but then he said another name, Rico."
At the sound of Rico's name, Ryder growls, his eyes already flashing between his normal hazel eyes to the icy blue eyes of his wolf.
"The rogue said that Rico was supposed to come to get me at my house at midnight, but that I had to get rid of Carter because he wasn't going to raise a child that wasn't his. That's when I called Ryder. I don't know who the hell is Rico guy is, but I can't let him get close to Carter... I need your help" I say as the tears start flowing down my face.
I feel Ryder's hand shoot out to wipe the tears away from my face, but I don't have the energy to stop him.
The rest of the meeting was kind of a blur. Soon after I compose myself, Marley and I got up to leave to let the boys do their job. Well, that wasn't too bad.