Out of the Darkness
Three
Valerio
When my eyes spring open after about four hours of sleep, I know I won't be getting anymore. It took three hours in the gym late last night to even get me to the point of wanting sleep. Eventually, probably when my body shuts down, I will get a full night's rest again.
But for now, coffee and energy drinks seem to be the only things keeping me going during the day. At least the sun has already begun to come up, so being up and about at this time doesn't look weird.
Once I've dressed for the day, I start making my way down the maze of hallways leading downstairs. As soon as I get to the top of the main stairs, I can hear Luke and Keegan talking. I haven't seen much of my Uncle, nor Keegan, since coming back to life. Other than Lexie, I really haven't seen anyone. She's the only one who I even want around me.
"Go get Aemilia!" Luke shouts with anger, disgust, and a little bit of horror in his voice.
"And what do you think she's going to be able to do?" Keegan challenges him.
"What's going on?" I ask as I come down the stairs more. "And watch your tone with Keegan, Luke."
For the life of me, I can't understand why everyone feels they can treat Keegan differently than they did Septimus. People didn't raise their voices to him, so what is it about Keegan that they feel they can? I get it; he's a new werewolf and doesn't quite understand how everything works, but everyone knows he's Second. I might just have to tell Keegan to use his Guild Leader powers on everyone until they learn that he's supposed to be heard.
Luke huffs, and I can see a little relief in his eyes, but then I see Elena standing next to him. Her eyes are sad, but with everything that's happened, that's not surprising. I know Elena, and her now deceased mate Noah, found each other at the very first gathering Mom and Dad ever held. I didn't know either of them personally, but like with any mates, I know their bond was strong.
"Aemilia is trying to play matchmaker," Luke replies, his voice rising again. He points to Elena, and continues, "I went to tell her that it's time to take her and her packs to the airport, and my wolf demanded that I claim her."
My mouth falls open as my eyes widen. Every werewolf knows what it means for your wolf to want something. The need to complete whatever the task is is almost impossible to handle.
But I've never heard of one wolf having multiple mates. I didn't know that was plausible.
"Uh," I brilliantly say. I look to Keegan, and both of us are just as dumbfounded as the other. The only thing I can really think to say in return is, "Did you claim her?"
Luke's mouth falls open as if what I asked is something preposterous. His reaction isn't surprising. Both Luke and Elena have lost their mate recently. Aunt Nikiya died barely two weeks ago, and Noah died in the bombing not even a week ago.
But everyone knows what happens if mates reject the other. Regardless of if Luke refuses to mate with her, or if Elena chooses not to mate with him, they will both die.
I raise an eyebrow at Luke, who then looks to Elena. "I mean," he stammers a little, "no I didn't."
Chewing on the inside of my cheek a little, I tell him, "Then you two need to discuss what you're going to do. I can't tell you to claim her; it has to be your own freewill."
Luke just looks between Elena and myself, clearly not sure what to do. I know my Uncle's heart still belongs to Aunt Nikiya, and I'm sure Elena still feels the same for her mate, but this is something they have to work through together. It's an impossible situation, and one I'm almost grateful I don't have to handle myself.
"You have some time," I continue, trying to soften my voice to show sympathy. "You don't have to claim her right this second, but I would seriously consider your options."
"Elena was one of Nikiya's closest friends, Valerio," Luke tells me, his eyes pleading with me for some reason.
I don't know why he thinks I can get him out of this mess. I don't know how finding your mate works, nor did I even know you could have more than one. I'm no help to him.
Giving him a small, sad, smile, I reply, "I get it, Uncle Luke, but you know what happens if either of you refuses the other."
Uncle Luke and Aunt Nikiya did spend a lot of time in Australia, so I'm sure Elena and Luke are better acquainted with each other than normal new mates would be. Aunt Nikiya would often talk about Elena, and she always had good things to say about her. Elena isn't a bad person; this is just an impossible situation.
"I need to talk to Holden about this," Elena says in a small voice.
Uncle Luke snaps his head to her, like he did whenever Aunt Nikiya talked, and the action makes me have a pain in my chest for him. The connection between them is definitely there, but I can also see that he's fighting it.
"And I should take to Sophie and Gavin too," he replies, his voice still rough, and then turns his head to me. "But I haven't seen either of them all week."
I nod my head at him. "I'll get both of them back here," I tell him. I look to Elena, and say to her, "Go talk with your son." Looking at Keegan, who still has a stumped look on his face, I say, "I'm going to my office."
Once he's nodded his head, I curl my fingers. I take a deep breath when I land, and then open my mind to find Sophie. "You need to come home," I tell her. "Where are you?"
It takes a minute for her to respond, and for a second I start to panic. "I'm in New Orleans," she replies. "Is everything okay?"
"You just need to come home, and bring Gavin with you too."
"Gavin isn't with us."
Then where the hell is he? I assumed since Sophie, Gavin, Pascale and Dubois are all away, that they were together.
"Just come home and we'll figure out where Gavin is," I order her.
I don't like not knowing where members of my family are. With Spencer still out there somewhere, it makes me nervous not having everyone accounted for. What if he's taken Gavin for some reason?
The air in my office begins to rustle, and after a moment, Sophie is standing in front of me. Her face is pale, and I can tell she's nervous too.
"Let's not suspect the worse," I say to her. "I'm sure Gavin is fine, but you need to go talk with your Dad in the meantime. I will find Gavin. We'll discuss why you haven't been here all week later."
Under normal circumstances, I don't care if everyone is off doing their own thing. But things aren't normal right now. What was so important to Sophie that she hasn't been here? She missed me coming back to life, which I really don't care about, but it's weird for her to not have been here while I was dead. She is my best friend after all. She also missed Dad's funeral, and that will need an explanation.
My gloved fist flies through the air, connecting with the punching bag with a unfulfilled smack. That's how every hit is. Doesn't matter how hard I hit, nor how many times I come back to the gym, I'm never happy with my workouts anymore. Every time I do a workout, whether it be weights, cardio, core or legs, my workouts just aren't enough.
I always leave this room more pissed off than when I came in. I don't know how my anger keeps rising, but with each passing second, I can feel it climbing to the point of boiling over. Taking deep breathes to calm myself stopped working days ago, and it would appear that even physically exerting myself to my breaking point doesn't do anything now either. I need to get some kind of handle over my emotions before I do something I can't take back.
Sweat drips down my temple, and I wipe it away with my forearm as the door to the gym opens. My breathing is heavy while I pant. Just because I feel my workouts aren't helping my pent up anger doesn't mean their not as brutal. I look at the clock on the wall, and see that I've been in here for nearly four hours. This whole time I've been swinging at the punching bag. My arms are sore, my back hurts, but I feel like I could still go another four hours.
Turning my head towards the door, I see Lexie and Uncle Septimus enter the room.
"The last of the packs have just left for the airport," Lexie informs me, "and the only wolves still mingling around are the Roamers."
Trying to catch my breath, I simply nod my head at her in response as my chest rises and falls rapidly. Having the packs leave is for their own good. They might not be safer scattered across the world, but with Spencer out there still, there's no telling.
"You plan on staying in here all day?" Uncle Septimus asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
I shrug, and reply, "Maybe."
I see Lexie's face fall a little, but she quickly puts a small smile over her disappointed look's place. The two of us haven't spent much time together, just the two of us, since I came back to life. I don't feel like I'm ignoring her, but maybe she feels like I am? That's not my intention. My feelings towards Lexie haven't changed in the slightest, but there are so many other emotions running through me that I don't have the patience to placate her every whim nor desire.
Lexie is a grown woman. She can entertain herself.
Lexie
My heart breaks for Valerio; a feeling I'm becoming all to quickly accustomed to. The nearly constant feeling of my heart plummeting into the deep depths of my stomach has my life turning upside down. I don't know how to be there for him. Does he want space? Is he needing me next to him? I just can't tell what he's thinking. He's barely talked to me in two days, but I don't want to force myself on him. I feel like I should let him come to me, but the ever present look of shame and despair on his face that has turned him into a ghost makes me stop anytime I try to reach out to him.
I know he believes being in the gym is helping him in some way, but I can tell it's not doing a damn thing. In my opinion, it's making him worse. I've seen Valerio pissed off, and I know with losing Uncle Cauis that he's not going to be okay, but what I'm seeing from him right now is a man I don't recognize.
The Valerio I know would never not handle a situation directly. Nor would he sit idle.
The Warlock may be locked away in a prison world Aemilia, Brianna and I constructed seconds before he attacked Valerio, but it won't hold him. My Second, my sister in-law and myself made it so The Warlock can't practice magic, but he has so much power right now that there's no telling if the spell is strong enough to hold the seal. And since Spencer is still alive, he could be looking for a way to get The Warlock back.
Valerio may not know what to do with him, but that just further proves my point that he's not the same man I married. Allowing even one day to pass since coming back to life without an answer to our biggest problem is just not Valerio. I know he's hurting deeply because of Uncle Caius, we all are, and it's completely understandable, but Uncle Cauis taught Valerio to act, no matter how bad things get.
And we need a final solution to The Warlock and his remaining coven member.
Just as I'm about to open my mouth to ask him if he's hungry, just to get him out of the gym and actually catch his breath, the air begins to move in the room. I snap my mouth closed as Sophie manifests next to me, and then her eyes widen significantly when she sees Uncle Septimus.
She swallows, and then looks to Valerio, and says, "My Dad wants to talk to you."
Valerio sighs, and then starts to rip off his boxing gloves. "I told him that he needs to figure this out with Elena, you and Gavin."
"We have," she replies in a snarky tone.
Mine, along with Valerio's, eyebrows shoot up. Sophie has always been a little bit of a bitch, but I've never seen her jump to being one so fast before.
I look to Valerio, expecting him to say something about her tone, but instead he throws his gloves down onto the mat, and then says to me, "Find out where she's been these last few days," before curling his fingers. My eyebrows are still raised as he completely leaves the room.
Clearing my throat, I turn my head to Sophie. We look at each other for a second, and I may not know Sophie as well as Valerio does, but I'm pretty sure she's terrified. Her face is pale, and her jaw is trembling slightly.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, reaching a comforting hand towards her.
She looks behind me to Uncle Septimus, and then I can tell she's actually frightened. Quickly looking back to me, Sophie asks, "Can we talk in private?"
I look at her confused, and then over my shoulder to Uncle Septimus. He shrugs at me, and then starts walking towards the door. When he's out of the room, I look back to Sophie. She relaxes as the door closes behind him, but only a little bit.
Keeping my hand on her upper arm, I slowly move it up and down gently. Sophie swallows, closes her eyes, and then takes a deep breath. When she looks at me, she pleads, "Please understand I had to do this."
My head cocks to one side as my hand drops from her. Just by her words, I can already tell that I'm going to hate what she has to say.
Sophie takes another deep breath, and then rushes out, "I brought Logan back to life, and when Valerio died, he used the distraction to escape. Pascale, Dubious and I have been trying to find him the last five days."
As my jaw locks, I know Valerio won't take this well. Nobody is going to take this well.
Valerio
I grind my teeth together as I feel my anger set in even more. With how much I've been clamping my jaw lately, I'll need to see a dentist soon. Sophie's attitude is becoming just as bad as Braelyn's was, and although I know Sophie has been through a lot recently, I won't stand for any disrespect. She's not the only person who has lost someone important in the last month.
As I settle beside Uncle Luke just outside the pool's gate, I take a deep breath. I have to do something about this rage I've been feeling. Letting it simmer just under the surface as I have been is only going to be catastrophic in the end. Something someone is going to say or do will surely send me over the already teetering edge. Honestly, it's only a matter of time.
Before I just open my mouth to Luke, I see that Elena and Holden are a decent distance away from Keegan, Uncle Luke and I. Elena has her arms around Holden, and it's obvious she's trying to comfort him, but with the height difference between the two, it looks like he's comforting his Mom.
I look to Uncle Luke, whose eyes I'm just now seeing are wet, and then I look towards Keegan. He shakes his head slightly, giving me a sad look.
"You're not going to claim her?" I ask, but from the atmosphere around the area, I don't need an answer. When Uncle Luke nods his head, I almost shout, "But you'll die!" Elena looks over at us, and then I swallow the lump that forms in the middle of my throat.
"Valerio," Uncle Luke whispers, taking a step up to me and putting his hand on my shoulder. "I can't be with another woman after Nikiya; regardless of if their my new mate or not." He takes a deep breath, and continues, taking his hand off of me, "What Nikiya and I had is something that can't be mimicked or duplicated. Not to mention Elena just lost her own mate as well. It would be like if Lexie died and you found a new mate shortly after. It's just not right to get involved with someone else. Elena and I understand that the consequences of not mating is dying, and we'd both rather die than be with someone else."
My mouth hangs open in complete shock. I look to Keegan, who nods his head again, but I can see that just under the surface, he's surprised by their choice as well. Sophie and Gavin lost their Mom just weeks ago, while Holden lost his Dad days ago. Now, all three of them will be losing their last parent too? And all because they'd rather honor the memory of their last mate.
Part of me understands it. Uncle Luke's right. If Lexie were to die permanently, and I found a new mate, I would probably choose the same thing as Uncle Luke and Elena have. But, if Lexie and I had kids, I wouldn't be able to leave them because I didn't want to be with someone else.
It takes a couple of months for a wolf to die if their mate rejects them. It's slow, and painful, and I honestly can't believe that Uncle Luke is willing to put Sophie and Gavin through that kind of torment. Plus, Elena will be forcing Holden into his role as Regional Alpha before he's ready. And surely Uncle Luke will wait to actually deny her, or vice versa, until we find Gavin. Luckily, Uncle Luke and Elena have about a year before their wolf forces one of them to make a choice. It shouldn't take us that long to figure out where he is.
Just as I'm about to, awkwardly, accept Uncle Luke's decision, the air begins to move gently beside me. When I look to my right, Lexie and Sophie are standing there. I understand now why Sophie had an attitude when she came into the gym. For now, I will let it slide, but I won't have another Braelyn in our ranks.
"We need to talk," Lexie says, her voice stern and slightly nervous. She doesn't wait for me to reply before she spills out, "Sophie brought Zombie back to life, and when you died, he escaped."
When Lexie's words register, the rage that has been simmering for days finally boils over, and I feel something inside my mind snap before I shift.
Thanks for reading!
~Stefanie