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“Are you three just going to stand around watching?” Atlan demanded, looking bored as he circled some of the older kids. I had no idea how they kept from flinching when he tapped at their arms or legs to have them adjust. The man was pricklier than a cactus on a good day, much less when you’d disappointed him by messing up the position of your arms.
I hope you don’t write them as puppies when you get to this part. Ignore Reese. She’s going to try and lead you astray,I teased, delighted when Aria’s face darkened in embarrassment.
Hush. They’re just big softies!
That word didn’t carry much weight when both twins barked at the kids to get into a different pose. I prayed that they never found out I hadn’t taken their beginner’s course.
None of what they were doing was familiar, even as experienced as I was. I was nearly positive it was some ancient technique they were teaching, or maybe something from their fae studies that I’d missed while everyone else was getting the shit beat out of them.
“We’re supervising,” Aria called back, smirking when Atlan scowled and rolled his eyes.
“Of course you are.”
His grumbled words made Reese giggle, and the two women went back to whispering amongst each other as I turned to sneak away from the scene. I was technically still meant to be patrolling the grounds; Elias would probably have a stroke if he caught me slacking off.
I wasn’t sure how Auren was feeling about the Alphas barging into our territory and trying to swing their weight around, but I’d about had it. The Councilman was one thing, as he had some sort of shadowy history with the Resistance that gave him some leeway, but there were a few other men toting about being Alphas who wanted a say-so in everything. Tyler’s pack was notably well-behaved, but they weren’t the only ones we’d let into the compound.
Packs Davino and Marciano were small, but their Alphas were very vocal about making sure they were represented. I’d bitten my tongue because, technically, Elias was meant to be the wolves’ elected official, so they didn’t need to be representing anything if he was in the room. Alpha Homer wasn’t as bad, though; a grouch, sure, but he was willing to stand aside and let Elias do his job, which earned him a few brownie points. As long as I tried not to let myself remember how he’d turned on Aria so fast, the two of us got along great.
The few witches were content as they were, letting Jack step in where one of them was needed. While I was sure he thought he was being subtle about gathering support from his peers, it annoyed Zuzanna. She tried to hide it, naturally, but she never failed to get a weird look on her face whenever the man started speaking for the newer covens. Even though Auren said it was just growing pains, and they’d sort themselves out, I wasn’t as sure.
Things were bound to get messy if we didn’t get a handle on them early. There were too many new faces and voices roaming about.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t immediately realize that the one I’d stumbled upon was my sister-in-law.
Rebecca realized who I was the exact moment I recognized her, and a sheepish smile pulled onto her lips. “Do you think you could help me?” she asked.
“Of course.” I wondered if it was too early to make jokes about her being my in-law. “What’s going on?”
She let out a long sigh, hands coming up to rest on her cheeks for a second before dropping. “I’m so turned around. Harry was going to take the girls up to the training field so we could see if… oh, I can’t remember his name, but we wanted to ask if he thought they were too little to take his class.”
It only took me a second to realize she was asking about putting them into the self-defense class I’d just left, and I didn’t know if I should be relieved she was so proactive or sad they had to consider throwing a pair of toddlers into it in the first place.
A protectiveness that I usually associated with Aria hit me then. I knew Kiran and Atlan were taskmasters, but I didn’t know if I could cope with them barking at the adorable little angels Aria had introduced me to the other day. According to my wolf, they were ours, and no bullying would be tolerated.
I was more amused when my angel let me know he agreed with the sentiment.
“Yeah, it’s just up that hill,” I answered, gesturing. “Aria is already up there, but I didn’t see your husband on my way down. Just follow the path there.”
She smiled, looking like she wanted to say more, but settled for a quick thanks and followed my directions.
Your sister is coming up,I warned my mate. Her immediate joy lit me up from the inside.
I know! Harry just showed up with the twins. I can’t wait for them to get a hold of Atlan.
Personally, I was worried about him hurting their feelings and us losing one of our strongest to the rage of their mother, but she seemed thrilled at the prospect. I wasn’t really in the habit of killing her dreams anymore.
Let me know how it goes.
Aria promised she would, practically vibrating as our connection dimmed, and she returned to chattering with her family, so I left it at that.
Rubbing the sudden ache in my chest, I tried not to think of my own family, scattered and in the wind. Lucy and Credence were hopefully somewhere safe from all of this, but Mikey was never far from my thoughts—or Grel, for that matter, ever since he’d made a point of trying to bond with me that day.
It’s not for forever.
Reminding myself didn’t ease the discomfort, so I just decided to block it out and focus on my route instead. That was easy enough to do when I was also trying to block out thoughts of how fucked my entire family was because of Azazel Ambrose and his insanity. It made no sense why nobody had put him down like the feral animal he was yet; the fact that he was roaming around, ruining so many lives, made me sick.
I forced those thoughts away, too, because he didn’t deserve a second of my time unless it was for plotting his demise.
