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“You’re back?” he states, glancing over his shoulder toward the pack.
“If Rose will have me back,” I tell him.
Malik glances over my shoulder and his eyes dart around. “Eziah?” he questions.
“Heading to his sister’s,” I answer. Yet his next words startle me.
“You shouldn’t have come here, at least not without seeing Kat or speaking to Andrei first,” he tells me. My brows furrow in confusion.
“Well, I am. So I want to see my mate.”
Malik shakes his head and nudges me toward the road.
“No, go Casen. It’s not a good idea you being here. You shouldn’t have come back.” I stare at the man that was like a father to me. How easily he could shun me all over again.
“Malik, step aside, I will speak with Andrei before going to see her.”
“I can’t let you do that, not after what you did.”
I press my lips in a line and shove past him, the wolves surrounding us instantly stepping into my path.
“Tell them to stand down, Malik, or I will go through them!” I snarl, and Zyan presses forward, my skin ripples at the challenge when Malik speaks behind me.
“She doesn’t want you, Casen, she’s moved on. You need to too,” he says, and my entire body tenses, I swallow turning to face him.
“I’m not leaving without speaking with her,” I tell him. If she tells me to go, I will but until then, I am not leaving. Turning back, I move toward the training grounds only to be blocked off once again.
“We know it wasn’t Vince,” Malik states, and my hands fist at my sides.
“Is that what Rose said?” I ask him. I knew she hated me, I don’t blame her, I hate myself for what I did.
“You lied to me. When I asked what happened between you and Vince, I asked and you lied.” I grit my teeth. How long were they going to hold this over me? I admitted it to Rose. I told her, I tried to make up for my mistakes, she wouldn’t let me.
“You go in there, I won’t intervene, you’ll be on your own,” Malik tells me. I nod once. “Let him through, I’ve alerted Andrei already,” Malik says, and I take a step forward.
“She lives in the same house,” Malik says, nodding to a house in the distance. The other pack members begrudge him and step aside, snarling and growling but I pay them no mind. Walking across the training grounds, the houses come into view as I reach the crest of the hill.
Home.
Although there are a few minor changes. For one, there are more houses now, a park built out the front of the packhouse that Alpha Andrei shared with his mate Luna Sage. However, my eyes move to the house at the far end where Rose moved into after she and mother had a falling out when she was seventeen. It wasn’t long after her 17th Birthday, and for a while, I lived there with her. Kept watch over her until everything turned to shit. I never should have told her. Yet the guilt would not leave; it gnawed at me.
However, as I move past the packhouse, nervous glances follow me. The packhouse opens. I glance at them and curse when I see Andrei step out of the house. It was more like a fort, huge and industrial looking. Rose hated it, it's why even after she took over after her father, she never moved into the packhouse. She said it was like living in a prison.
Andrei storms out of the house and his imposing aura hits me. But I’m so used to Eziah’s that I find it has barely any effect on me at all. Sage is quickly behind him, and I pause before I reach her porch steps. Glancing around, I see pack members stepping out of their homes; faces I haven’t seen in years.
“You need to leave, you’re not welcome here!” Andrei snarls, storming toward me. I place my hands in the air, stepping back.
“I just want to see Rose, I am not here to cause any trouble, Andrei. I just want to see my mate,” I tell him.
“No, you leave!” he bellows at me, and I glance at the house and grit my teeth. Zyan shoves forward and a furious growl escapes me as pack members murmur and move closer to see if I will challenge my old Alpha. I stare into his eyes when I hear a child's voice, followed by a small girl who comes rushing out behind Sage.
“Poppy, poppy,” the little girl says, and I see Sage gasp, rushing toward her, but the little girl ducks. I blink at her, staring at the child, her long blonde hair hanging to her shoulders, and she reminds me of Rose when she was a child.
“Casey, inside now!” Andrei bellows, turning on his granddaughter, while all I can do is gape at her. She stops, looking at him in shock and Sage rushes to grab her hand when she looks at me. She appears to be about three to four years old, and it takes me only a second to realize she is mine.
“Daddy?” the little girl squeals, rushing toward me. Andrei moves to intervene, but I scoop her up, only when I do she pulls away from me.
“Where is mommy? Is she back from greenery?” she asks me, and I look at Andrei, who has his hands held out for her.
