A/N- So just a clarification note for this chapter because I changed this: Skye and her family are related to Kye through Kye's father. Her Aunt Laura is her dad's older sister. This chapter introduces her mother's side of the family. Sorry for any confusion.
Andrea stood in front of us, her dark hair loose around her face. Her beautiful silver eyes burned with hate as she glared at her mother. Behind her Raiza moved closer. Seeing them all together Andrea definitely took after her father's side of her family. She looked a lot like Raiza, her father's older sister. However there was something about her face that inherently reminded me of Viviana. I'm sure Andrea would be repulsed to hear that she resembled her mother in any way.
"I...um well, how long has it been? How have you been? Has it really been 10 years it feels like it has been longer. You look beautiful." Viviana said. Her words were just falling out of her mouth. Andrea's gaze cut from her mother to me. "I don't know why you are with her Kye, but you should be careful of whose side you take. If you want to be on her side than leave now and never bother me again. Otherwise..." Andrea held out her hand to me her plea tangible. The pain I was experiencing doubled and I hunched over in agony. Viviana held me up gently. "Go." Viviana ordered and the pain I felt disappeared. I stood up weakly and stepped out of Viviana's arms. Raiza stepped forward blocking Andrea. "Kye you brought her, you're responsible for her. Viviana will stay with you and she better not leave your sight once. Go get settled we will talk after dinner." Raiza interrupted. She gabbed Andrea by her shoulder and pulled her away. For once Andrea didn't fight with her aunt and instead let herself be pulled away, but the look on her face as she was dragged away urged me forward even more than her outreached hand had. Pretending like everything was fine I grabbed my bag from the car and stalked off in the direction of the barracks. "Mistress." Tess' voice stopped me I had completely forgotten she was even here. "I need to return to the Coven. I haven't been feeding or sleeping properly, and Master will most likely want a full report before attending this meeting after dinner." She informed me. I nodded and with that she turned into a ashy-black feathered falcon with blood red eyes and a honed beak. Viviana and I watched in awe as she flew away.
I pushed open the door to my room and let out a sigh of relief. Everything was just how I had left it, though the room smelled kinda musty since it hadn't been used in a while. I tossed my bag on the messy neon deck-out bed and headed towards my bathroom. Clothes still lay littered on the floor and I picked my way through them. I really needed a hot shower. Nothing was as relaxing as having the scorching water trail down my back, and it was pure bliss to be entrenched in a steam filled room. A nice hot shower would wash off the road trip and relieve my stress. I didn't get through the bathroom door before Viviana wrecked my happiness by grabbing me and pinned me against the wall.
"Why didn't you warn me sooner?" She snarled. Pressing in close to me. "First of all I tried. Second have you ever felt the pain that comes from having two opposing orders placed on you? It felt like my body was trying to tear itself in two so that I could obey both of you. Third it honestly didn't even occur to me you wouldn't recognize your own daughter!" I told her. Viviana tensed and shot me her pained puppy dog look. "I haven't seen her in 10 years! How am I suppose to know what she looks like?" Viviana asked. "She still smells the same." I told her. The wounded look on Viviana's face deepened. "You're making me feel worse!" Viviana said. "It's not my fault she hates you!" I replied. "Can't you... Oh I don't know fix that?" She asked. "How am I suppose to do that? Short of telling her that the only reason y—" Viviana's free hand clamped down over my mouth. "Would you shut it! What if someone heard?" She said. I shook her hand away and shot her a glare. "I thought you were over this? Why beat a dead horse? You refuse to even try and explain things to Andrea. Stop emotionally beating yourself up over it when you do nothing to change the situation!" I said. Tears began to well up in her eyes and her expression seemed to fall in on itself. "Why'd you even come? You knew Andrea wouldn't want to see you, and Raiza's still pissed. Coming was a mistake." I said as gently as I could. "I had to come, I was worried about you and...even if she doesn't want to see me I had to see Andrea." Viviana finally explained. She buried her face in the crook of my neck and relaxed into me. Her grip on me loosened and instead of pushing her away I pulled her into a hug. The was when my door opened and Skye, Ember, Carson, and Ryan entered. "Um, sorry!" Skye said when she saw us and hurriedly tried to back out of the room. Unfortunately for her Ember had the opposite idea and charged into the room pushing Skye forward. Viviana released me the desperate look on her face was gone. In its place was a look of pure haughtiness. "What the hell are you doing?" Ember demanded. I cringed why did things always have to be so hard?
"Can't she leave?" Ember asked glaring at Viviana. "Raiza ordered me to keep Viviana in my sight at all times, where she goes I go." I said. Ember sat unhappily on my bed next to Carson. She was glaring at Viviana who was standing in the doorway of my bathroom, who was pretending like she wasn't being glared at. Though I doubt it bothered her much anyway. "Kye, you can't just go around leaving whenever... We were worried you know." Skye said. "Sorry..." I told her half hearted. I was sorry that I made them worry about me but I honestly wasn't sorry I left. "If we're done with the I-missed-yous can we move on to the funner topic of conversation?" Ryan chimed in. "And what is that?" I asked. "The topic in which I am referring to is none other than: Why you brought our lovely Sigma's deadbeat mother back with you?" He asked with a smile. Ember's mahogany head bobbed up and down. "Yes, and while you're at it please explain what you were even doing with her" Ember asked. Carson looked at his twin, a mischievous look on his face. "Are you talking about when Kye ran off or when we walked in on them?" Carson asked his twin. "Both preferably." Ember answered. I looked between the four of them with a growing sense of dread. Even Skye who was staring at Viviana through her pale blonde bangs seemed to want answers as well. 'Why did I have to get the third degree? I haven't even done anything wrong...technically'
"Look, nothing happened. As for why I went to Viviana in the first place is because...we have a bit of a history." I said. "What does that mean?" Ember asked as her emerald eyes tried to bore into my soul. "My dad's first posting after he joined the army was in Michigan. The Alpha had called in the army to deal with a black witch. He didn't want me involved so I spent the four months we were there bunking with the local pack, and I made some friends that I stayed in touch with. When we were posted in Michigan again when I was thirteen I opted to stay with the pack again. I ended up staying there for a year and a half." I explained. "That is the extent of your history with her?" Ember asked, incredulous. "Hardly, about a week after she arrived nearly every single pup in the pack started acting bizarre. They refused to listen to any orders and disobeyed pack hierarchy. It took me 3 months! The entire summer to figure out who was behind it. Once I did I was even more pissed off. Since she was a guest there was nothing I could do to punish her." Viviana added. "She found away around that by getting permission from Raiza and my father to make me a temporary member of the pack. For as long as my father was posted in Michigan I would be an honorary member of the Tempest pack. Basically that meant Viviana made my life a living hell for the next year." I said. "That is only after you spent the three months causing havoc! I had the worse end of that deal, I had to put up with you for a year and a half." Viviana said.
"So I don't see why that means you have to go running off to her or why she here now on our territory." Ember said coldly, "she's a traitor." Viviana moved from her place on the wall. She stalked towards Ember annunciating her words carefully. "I am many things and whether you and your pack like how it happened or not I am Epsilon. As such I have the right to go anywhere I please in the United States." Viviana said. I stood up from my spot on the couch and moved towards them. I was worried one of them would do something stupid so I moved closer just in case I had to pull them apart. Viviana had stopped in front of Ember and crouched down until she was eye level with her. "Now, listen and listen well: I am no traitor." Ember glowered at her and she looked ready to try and bite Viviana's head off. "What were you doing with Kye?" Ember asked changing the topic. "You really wanna know?" Viviana replied. Without warning she reached out and grabbed my arm. Startled I fell forward into her grasp. Her arms tightened around me and she pulled me down until I was level with her before she leaned into the embrace. She crushed her lips into mine forcing my mouth open. Her hands held me tight applying just enough pressure to make sure I couldn't escape her grasp. Struggling was pointless so I leaned into the kiss it was the only way to get her to back off. After a few seconds she was satisfied and pulled her mouth away from mine but didn't release me. Ember was so pissed her hands had half shifted and she had ripped a hole in my mattress. The look on her face was something caught between anger and shock. Carson looked as though his eyes were about to popped out of his head. I couldn't see the others face's but the emotions running through the pack bond were basically the same.
"Hot damn!" Ryan said breaking the silence. I ignored him and looked Viviana in the eyes. "If you are finished trying to get a raise out of them will you let me go? This really isn't a comfortable position." I told Viviana unaffected her antics. Her attention turned from Ember to me. "Awwww, but Kye—" Viviana started. A growl burst out form Ember and she started to stand. Viviana turned to look at her. Uninterested with Ember's outbreak she dismissed it. "Stop...Sit...Stay." Viviana commanded. Shaking with rage Ember stopped growling and sat back down on my bed. She was looking at Viviana with pure hate but she couldn't do anything but obey. Ember and Carson had their first shift back when I was living part time with the coven. Carson was a Gamma II like their older sister Aspen. Ember on the other had was a Beta like me. I think in this moment she hated having to follow a command from someone other than Raiza or Andrea more than she actually hated Viviana.
"All young pups must learn to respect their superiors." Viviana told her smugly. "Don't you mean our elders?" Ryan asked, "Speaking of which how old are you exactly? Isn't Kye like waaaaay too young for you? I mean to say she is even younger than your own daughter!" The look Viviana gave Ryan was probably cold enough to freeze hell over. She released me and stood. Her golden-orange eyes blazed to life. Her skin rippled and she let out a very low growl. "Enough!" I yelled sick of all the drama. Couldn't anything ever be easy. I leapt up from the floor and placed myself in front of Viviana blocking her path to Ryan. Ryan had a big mouth but he was still just an Omega. If he got in a fight with Viviana I didn't want to even imagine what would happen. I wrapped my arms around Viviana's neck and pulled her face to mine. Her gaze met and took her attention from Ryan. "Would you stop acting like such an irresponsible child! Don't go around purposely trying to piss people off and than try and kill them the second you succeed. Just because we have a history doesn't mean you can go around exploiting me as you please. I know you forget but I am a person and I do have feelings." I swung may gaze to Ember than the other three. "And you four, I don't want to hear one word against her. Not one. I don't care if it is well earned or not. You say one thing against her and I will take it as a personal insult. You don't like her I get that, but too bad. You need to deal with it for as long as she is here!"
Silence meet my outbreak and I didn't stick around long enough for it to break. I grabbed Viviana's arm and left my room. I was pissed and I wanted food, albeit going to the cafeteria would probably just be worse. At this point I didn't care. "Kye, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I don't know what I was thinking." Viviana said. "You weren't thinking. You're emotional and that makes you irrational." I said. I pushed open the door to the cafeteria and let go of Viviana. Just my luck the room was packed. I sighed in frustration. Today was Sunday, the entire pack got together and had a big family dinner on Sundays. The room slowly quieted as the wolves realized we had entered the room. Ignoring them I hurried over to the buffet to grab something to eat. Dinner was normally informal, meaning wolves could sit where they pleased instead of in order concurrent with the pack hierarchy. When I left the buffet and turned back to the room I noticed the two spots by Raiza and Andrea, and the unhappy glare Raiza was giving me. "Come" Raiza's voice ordered in my head. Steeling my nerves I moved toward the head table. I was only halfway there when Andrea stood from her spot and approached us. She walked straight over to me and knocked my tray out of my hands. The noise of the tray hitting the ground echoed through room before Andrea's hand came back around and smacked me across my face. I stared at her blankly. 'What the did I do wrong now?' Andrea answered my unasked question. "You're carrying her scent on your skin." She accused.
"It's not wha—" I started but Andrea didn't let me finish before smacking me again. With that she stalked out of the room. I raised a hand to my stinging cheek and watched her leave. My wolf seemed to press against the insides of my head, my other half was trying to tell me something but I had no idea what. Behind me Viviana sighed before shoving her tray into my hands. She knelt on the the floor and began cleaning up the mess Andrea had made.
***
"I am never going anywhere near you again." I told Viviana. We were in Raiza's office, currently alone. Raiza had come with us here only to disappear as soon as we entered the room. Nothing in here had changed much except for maybe a few new books added to the bookshelves around the room, and instead of the normal two chairs facing Raiza's desk there was a semi-circle made up of five chairs. On the bright side we were lucky because the large fire place behind Raiza's desk was in use. Without it the room would have been a meat locker. "That was not my fault!" Viviana insisted. "All of this is your fault." I accused. "Not all of it. I am not responsible for the poltergeist." She said. "That has nothing to do with what I am even referring to!" She looked away from my gaze and went back to her pacing. Viviana was not a patient person and we had been stuck here for a good half an hour.
Finally the door opened and a trail of people entered. In the lead was Raiza than Azarias, and Andrea, and behind her was a women I only knew from my memories. "Would you sit down?" Raiza asked Viviana. Viviana looked at the chairs around Raiza's desk, disgust evident on her face. Viviana absolutely detested sitting when she didn't have to. "Must I?" Viviana asked. "No, but it would be less nerve wracking if you weren't pacing and looming throughout the entire meeting." Raiza replied as she took her own seat behind her large desk. Viviana glared at the chairs again before she settled in the one closest to me.
The others settled down as well. Andrea had chosen the chair furthest from both me and Viviana. Everyone's attention seemed to turn to Raiza, well almost everyone's attention. "Viviana, it is a pleasure to see you again!" Azarais said breaking the ice. "The pleasure is mine Azarais." Viviana said genuinely, "I hear from Kye you are currently engaged, why ever did you let her go?" Azarais immediately looked at me, his ice blue eyes briefly sparked red and he looked away guiltily. "After Raiza agree to allow Kye to become my consort my need for revenge disappeared, and I realized the position I put Kylie in. I have my faults I know, but I do truly care for her. I wish I hadn't forced her into such a corner. When than I learned I couldn't undo my own selfishness I tried to give her as much freedom as I could." He explained. "Why can't you undo it if you truly don't wish to force her?" Viviana asked. "Andrea has ordered me to agree to be Azarias's mate through our Sevari bond." I explained. Viviana looked back and forth between me and Azarais.
"If you both wanted I could counteract the order on Kye." I flinched instinctively remembering the pain I had experienced when Andrea and Viviana had given me opposing orders earlier. "Would it be like in the clearing when you and Andrea gave me opposing orders? Because if that is the case than no thank you." I said hurriedly. Andrea glance at me curious before she returned to burning a whole in the wall with her glare. "It wouldn't be like that at all. I was just ordering you around as a more dominate wolf, not as Epsilon. As Epsilon I have the power to give or retract any order. However just like an Alpha doesn't go around using her command all the time I don't use the full extent of my dominance all the time." She explained. "If you could really do that than I would be grateful to you. I don't want to force Kylie into anything....not anymore at least." Azarais said. Viviana didn't look at me but instead looked at Andrea. "You're the one who gave Kye the order. Before I do anything I would like your permission to undo it." Viviana said. "Why so you can have Kye to yourself?" Andrea asked.
"Andrea, let me just be clear: There. Is. Nothing. Between. Viviana. And. Me." I said slowly. Andrea looked at me disbelievingly. "Than explain why you carry her scent on you?" She asked. "You really know nothing about your own mother." I said disapprovingly. "I know everything I need to about her. I know she was never around when I was a kid. I know it was my father who stayed home to take care of me by himself. I know that she murdered him! Her own mate! What else do I need to know? I want nothing to do with her. If I could I would tear her DNA out of myself along with anything else that connected me to her!" Andrea said.
I stood from my chair and glowered at her. "You know absolutely nothing! And what's worse is you don't even want to know. How can you just judge people with half—mhmhmn." Viviana stood and clapped her hand over my mouth. She sat down again with me on top of her. "Enough Kye, I don't need nor do I want you to defend me. Andrea is right I murdered her father she has every right to hate me. The consequences of my actions are my burden to bear. There is no reason for you to interfere." She said. "Now be a dear and be quiet." Viviana laced her last to words with a command and my voice refused to work. I pulled away from her and moved back to my own chair glaring at her the whole time. "Tell me Kye, what don't I know?" Andrea asked. I could only stare at her mutely and that seemed to be enough of an answer for her. Andrea looked at her mother.
"I ordered Kye to accept Azarias as her mat e for a reason. You can still retract it if you want but I do not want it retracted." Andrea said. The room as a whole seemed to gasp and turn to stare at Andrea. If I could have said something I probably would have been cussing her out. "Tell me, daughter, why do you wish the order stay in place? Is it because you fear there actually is something between me and Kye?" Viviana asked. Andrea flinched when Viviana called her daughter and her mouth opened and closed several times with no sound coming out. It looked like Viviana had stolen her voice as well, even without a command. Raiza interrupted the scene by clearing her throat reclaiming everyone's attention.
"We can return to this subject later as of right now we should focus on the bigger problem at hand which is the Poltergeist. Both the pack and the Coven have been targeted by the poltergeist and we both concur that the vengeful spirit is most likely Kye's mother." Raiza said. "If that is the case than we need the blood of a living descendent in order to banish her." Azarais said. "Speaking of I forgot introductions" Raiza said. She stood up from behind her desk and moved over to the women and her son. "This is Violet Powell. Violet is Aurelia's younger sister." I gave a start when Raiza said my mother's name. I hadn't heard it in so long because it was a taboo around my father.
"Alpha, I understand why you believe it is possibly my sisters spirit, and I know it is not my place however I believe you are mistaken. Poltergeists are believed only to occur when a supernatural dies harboring feelings of extreme hate. Instead of moving on they stay on this plane and try and resolve their hate." Aunt Violet said. "Aurelia was not the type of person who would hate, anyone or anything." Azarias shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I have heard from multiply people that your sister would not be one to hold a grudge, but considering the manner in which she was killed it is very likely she would hate me." Azarais said. Aunt Violet glanced at Azarais her expression unreadable. "Possibly. That does not explain though why she would target the pack." Violet said. "Obviously because they agreed to let Kye become my consort." Azarais said.
The others silently watched the conversation between the vampire and werewolf unfold. No one interrupted as they continued. "You may have killed her but you know nothing about her or werewolves. We don't target our pack because of a decision we disagree with. Especially if the decision was made for the packs best interest." Violet argued. "She is no longer a werewolf she is a poltergeist some washy-washy reason such as: it was the best for the pack no longer matter." Violet erupted from her chair. "It is not a wishy-washy reason!" She yelled. Sick of the conversation I stood and stalked over to Viviana. She still wasn't paying attention so I hit her upside the head. "Kye!" Raiza chided. At the same time Viviana said, "Owww! What was that for? I haven't done anything!" I pointed wordlessly at my throat. "Oh, that. And it was so peaceful without you chiming in."I reached out to smack her again but she dodged this time. "Okay...okay already I'll undo it! Just stop trying to give me a concussion!" She yelled. She moved away warily before undoing the command. "Speak as you will."
"...dumbasses like you shouldn't be able to order people around. You're always giving out orders and never undoing them." I said. Viviana pouted but didn't argue. I moved back to my seat before addressing my aunt and Azarias. "Your both right. My mother wasn't one to hold a grudge. At the same time poltergeists are no longer truly a part of this world . A poltergeist is the left over impression of emotions of a dead supernatural, not the actual person's spirit. When the coven and the pack made peace if the poltergeist had a grudge against the coven it could have easily been transferred to the pack as well." I explained. "There is one point that no one is mentioning however. It has been eight years since mom died why would she start haunting us now?" No one had an explanation and the conversation went even further downhill after that.
***
Once the meeting finished nothing had been decided. Raiza wanted to put off exorcising the poltergeist because once the ritual started it couldn't be stopped, and was extremely dangerous because poltergeists always tried to kill anyone in the banishing or sealing circle. Azarais didn't wait around after the meeting and he quickly flashed out of the room. Aunt Violet stood up ready to leave. "Um...Aunt Violet?" I asked hesitantly. She smiled at me. "Alpha if you would excuse me, can I borrow Kylie for a moment? I know you still have something to discuss with her, but I'll be quick." She said. "It's fine." Raiza said dismissing us. Aunt Violet nodded and moved across the room and out into the hall. I followed after her. She walked down the hall always before turning into an empty room. She closed the door behind me before she said anything.
Her pale blonde hair fell in her face slightly blocking my view. "Kylie, I owe you and your father an apology. After your mother died I blamed Carver. I'm sure I was one of the reasons he had such a hard time moving on afterwards." She paused hesitating. "I should have kept in touch or came to see you when you returned....I...just...I..." She trailed off. She looked up at me causing her hair to fall away, tears were lining her eyes and I shifted uncomfortably. I had no idea what to do. What was someone suppose to do in a situation like this? "I—" I started. Aunt Violet shook her head causing her hair to flail about wildly. "I'm sorry. I thought I had moved past this. I was close with your mother and when she died I moved away from the compound. Much like your father it was easier not being around constant reminders of her. Which is what I saw you as, a reminder of her." She looked up at me a sad smile on her face. "I hope we can start over and get to know each other better in time. I'll be leaving again as soon as this poltergeist is taken care of but I would like to stay in touch if that's alright?" She asked. Wordlessly I nodded. She smiled through her tears and gave me a quick hug before exiting the room.
I didn't return to Raiza's office right away instead I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. I breathed in deeply and let myself relax against the smooth surface of the wooden wall. All werewolves have improved senses compared to humans but just like with humans he strength varied. For me my sense of smell had always been the strongest and using it it pick out linger scents in the air always calmed me down. The scents in the air descended on me and I took them all in. The husky scent of the wood, the musty scent of dust. The various arrays of scents lingering from wolves that had walked the halls of the building. I was able to pick out Raiza's cool sharp peppermint scent, and Corrigan's fiery juniper. Mixed in was the unwavering scent of Sandalwood. It was an intriguing scent that was easy to drown myself in. It was sweet and calming yet spicy and independent. I sighed as a picture of who it belonged to formed in my mind. Why did Andrea have to be so pig headed and stubborn. I didn't want to have to return to that room and deal with her along with her mother and aunt alone. Their personalities varied widely but one trait they all had in common was in how bloody difficult they could be. 'I wonder if it was due to them all being Alpha?'