© 2014 SilverStream22. All Rights Reserved.
The reunion with Iris was slighty awkward. Probably because it was right before dinner and the Moon Goddess came early and decided to lecture Lorena on how to make the perfect moon cakes for desert before relinquishing her hold on Iris.
She was still the same old Iris and we both burst into tears when we saw each other. Lorena got a little teary eyed as well. We had a long talk about what the Moon Goddess was doing over rabbit stew and her epic tale of her nightly activities continued on until the mooncakes were ready.
Lorena passed each one out to us just as the break of dawn filtered through the wooden shutters.
"It was strange." Iris recalled, cupping her chin. "To only remember fragments. I mean, either way we didn't do anything. She was merely getting me used to her body. She explained how her eternal life force replaced mine, even after she leaves my body in the morning, the life force left over is enough to sustain my physical body for a week."
I smiled, "That's amazing."
"Why is no one thinking about what's going to happen when the Moon Goddess finds her true vessel?" Castor growled low.
"It's probably because no one wants to accept that just yet." Draver put in. "Besides, we should be grateful that Iris is alive through the Moon Goddess."
"And what? Just guess when the Moon Goddess finds a new vessel and ditches Iris' body? No. I refuse to let that happen."
To my surprise, Jazz pushed himself off the wall, his golden hair shimmering when the sunlight hit his head. "Neither will I."
Kendra sighed heavily. "Honestly, boys- the testosterone levels in my kitchen don't need to go up anymore. Goddess, I feel like one of us girls are gonna start growing beards with the amount of time we spend with you."
Alric stole Stark's mooncakes, "Guys. Dead person appearing at the front door pretty soon. Or at least someone who reeks of the dead."
I quickly stood up, peeking out of the window just as Evgeny's form blurred away in the trees. The doorbell rang a second after. Was he so fast that he left before the doorbell had a chance to ring? That was insane. That was like...Castor insane.
Kendra opened the door down the hallway as we waited in anticipation. She came back with a letter in between her forefinger and middle finger. She flicked it to me, "For you, Ms.Anosova."
Stark's arms darted out to catch the letter, and for the first time I got to see him use his vision affinity properly. His entire eye turned a light shade of purple as he scanned the letter front and back before blinking twice, switching back to his normal eagle eye vision. He handed the letter to me, "It's safe."
"Of course it is." I muttered, snatching it from the tips of his fingers. "Why would they kill their long lost daughter?"
Jazz cupped his chin in thought, "Perhaps...perhaps they wanted to you remain as their long lost daughter."
"That wouldn't explain why Evgeny was so happy-go-lucky when he saw me."
"Acting can go a long way, Katya." Draver put in, gesturing to Stark. "Take him for example. He has so many masks it's hard to distinguish which one is the real him."
Iris crossed her arms as she smiled. "I'm pretty sure the one afraid of kids is the real him."
"Anyways, open the letter." Alric grumbled. "I'm starting to get antsy. I hate suspense."
Doing as he told, I slid my tumb under the opening, avoiding my eyes from the red seal wax that held the family crest. I didn't need another round of intense nausea. I tucked the torn envelope under my arm and unfolded the letter. The writing was beautiful and flawless, nearly making me believe that it was typed. But I knew that it couldn't be true the second I saw smeared ink near my name- a teardrop.
"Read it out loud, will you?" Lorena prompted.
I hesitated before glancing back down. I wasn't exactly the best at reading cursive, but I cleared my throat before beginning. "My dearest daughter. It's been too long. Over 17 years have passed since you were taken from my arms. I miss you, my precious Katya, with all my heart. I wonder- do you still have cherub cheeks? And the brightest smile? The most musical giggle? I hope you'll help me find the answers to that question tonight at nine. You may bring your friends as well, though no more than three considering that the amount of servants I brought with me was only meant to sustain the five of us back in our villa. Please, I beg of you to come and meet me. Love, your mother."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Do you want to go?" Stark said quietly.
I took a moment to scan over the letter, my eyes narrowing. "She's not my mother." I said stiffly. "I don't see why I have to go just because she asks nicely."
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Stark was fast asleep taking an afternoon nap in our bed - his bed, really - with his head on my stomach and arms wrapped around my waist. His ruffled sandy blond, yet almost the lighest shade of brown hair shone in the filtered moonlight. I combed my fingers through his hair, noticing the slighest shift he made as he moved closer to me. For the first time, I was the one who was awake instead of him.
"You're so fat." I whispered, smiling when a crease between his brow formed.
A steady knock on the door had me snap my head to the side. "Just give me a second."
Seconds turned into minutes as I tried to wriggle out of Stark's vice like grasp. After doing a variety of awkward dance moves to slip out of his arms, I walked to the door, opening it slowly. To my surprise, Draver was standing there.
Draver and I didn't talk much. It was like we weren't comfortable around each other. His silver eyes avoided mine as he cupped the back of his neck. "Um, do we mind if we talked?"
I closed the door lightly behind me. "What is it?"
He tilted his head to the back door that lead to the almond tree forest. I nodded swiftly and followed him out of the door. We sat down on the edge of the patio and I made lay my legs flat. Kendra's nightgowns were short- hussy short. If it wasn't for Stark's shirt, that I wore over it, I wouldn't be sitting down in the first place.
"So." I breathed as we watched the sunset through the forest.
"You know back when we were at Iris' place?"
I hummed in response.
"And you know how you met my- our- cousin, Faye?"
"Yes. The one with the bear, or bunny. I can't remember. And she ate too many cookies and you and Jazz scolded her."
"Yeah." he said softly. "Well, her parents aren't her real ones."
"Didn't Lorena say that all the kids came from a daycare?"
"She did. Faye came from there too. There wasn't a near by foster care home so they dropped her off at a daycare and they've been taking care of her ever since. Jazz and I check up on her often seeing as she's the only, uh, family we have. We've been searching for her real parents ever since she was left there and we did. They were in Las Vegas, doing Goddess knows what, completely forgetting about Faye. We called the daycare whose all like Faye's parents and told them to put Faye on the phone. We told her about her parents and about how we could get them to come to the daycare to take her back however before we could finish, she had yelled at us and said no. She told me that those people left her because they didn't love her and then she hanged up. But...last week we got a call from one of our contacts in Las Vegas who was keeping an eye on Faye's real parents and we found out that they had died in a car accident."
He paused after that, tilting his head up as we looked at the starry sky that pushed back the fading sun. "Jazz wasn't with me, he was in Canada. I called him and told him about what happened and he warned me not to tell Faye. So I didn't. I told the daycare. But I didn't know they'd be stupid enough to tell Faye what happened. She called me later on that day and begged me to tell her that they were lying. The truth was, she wanted to meet her real parents. She was just scared that they wouldn't approve of how she was now." His eyes slid over to mine. "I saw your face fall and your emotions ride a rollercoaster when the Anosova butler questioned you on your upbringing. With every criticizing word he raised down on you, your confidence broke a little. Now that you know of their expectations through Evgeny, you're hesistant to meet your biological mother."
"I'm not-"
"You are." he cut in. "Don't lie to me, Katya. Even though we don't speak as much as the others, I know you. You're like an open book to us Lycans. Except for Stark, of course."
I grinned, "Of course."
"My point is, don't make the same mistake Faye did. You meet them now, if you like them you can come again and get to know them. If you don't, then you can leave and never look back. Don't toss away the opportunity before you get the chance to take advantage of it."
He pulled out a cell phone from his back pocket, and before I could stop myself from doing so, I was laughing.
"What?"
"You- you have a cell phone!"
"Im glad we've established that, now can you tell me what's so funny?"
I wiped the forming tear from the corner of my eye. "No it's just that as werewolves, I can communicate through mindlinks with my pack...well, if I had one anymore."
"See?" Draver murmured softly. ":You've already lost one family. Why risk losing another?"
I nodded. "I get it."
He checked his phone and I laughed again, clutching my stomach.
"What now?" he muttered under his breath, clearly annoyed.
"It's a goddamn flip phone, that's what."
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