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I read some emails but then went to sleep when I couldn’t concentrate. Something always nagged me about my chats with Bells. I knew she wouldn’t outright lie to me. I would be able to know. But I could always tell when something more was bothering her. I knew she was lonely over there, and I really hoped that was all that was going on. Some days, I wondered why our Moon Goddess would send her so far away when our wolves said we needed to keep our bonds with our family and friends strong. I even asked Mom that once, but she said her gift didn’t show her our future often. She had the gift of foresight since she was a little girl, but when it came to us, it never cooperated.
When I finally fell asleep, some odd dreams plagued me. At one point, I thought I smelled my mate, and it was so familiar to me, but I woke up alone as usual. My room had no one’s scent but my own, and the other side of my bed was cold and empty. I sighed and got up, briefly wondering if I would ever find her at all.
The Moon Goddess wouldn’t be so cruel, Tenoch assured me as I got ready for the day.
It may not have been up to her. What if something happened to her? I argued.
The woman for us is out there. I can feel it. Sometimes I feel the pull so strongly, like she’s somewhere close, but I just can’t see it. I can’t smell her. I can’t tell which way the pull is going. It’s there, though. I promise you. Someone is waiting for us. He sounded so sure, and I wanted to believe him.
You’ve smelled her?
No. But I can feel there’s someone waiting for us.
Then I guess we’re back to hoping she shows up during the Alpha inauguration ceremony. I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I walked down to the first floor.
“Morning, Mom,” I greeted her, kissing her on the forehead and sitting beside Dad. “Morning, Dad.”
“You look sad. What’s wrong?” Ever the observant one, Mom looked at me with a bit of worry in her eyes.
“I’m fine. Just having a forever alone moment.” I tried to smile.
“What’s a forever-alone moment?” she asked, really making me smile this time.
“It’s when we start a pity party about being single. I’m okay. I gotta get to work, though. I’ll see you tonight,” I said, chugging my coffee and grabbing a bagel to go.
“Cory! Hey, are you still going into town today?” Areli, the youngest of all five children, called down from the second floor.
“Yeah, but I’m going to work. If I give you a ride, I can’t give you one back until late in the afternoon,” I warned her.
“That’s okay! I want to go to a movie with friends and then shop for your ceremony. My car is still in the shop and Dad won’t let me borrow another.” She pouted and I rolled my eyes.
“That’s probably because that’s the second one you broke, Areli.”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be changing the oil. Now I know, and it won’t happen again.” My baby sister was a smart, intelligent woman, but a good driver, she was not.
“Fine, but call Violet or Lucien if you need an early pickup.”
“Violet’s mad at me because I spoiled the ending of the book she was reading, and I’m not calling Lucien. He’s been holed up in his house with his mate. Last time I tried to get him to help, I thought he was going to strangle me for interrupting his ‘activities.’” She gagged.
I laughed, but a pang of wistfulness went through my heart. Lucien found his mate three months ago when he went on a mission to Mexico with Uncle Helios. Before he found his mate, he’d been one of the people that spoiled Areli the most. Now that she was almost twenty-one and he found his mate, she was realizing she needed to figure some things out herself that he always took care of. She was struggling a little, but she was a good kid and good at her studies. We all had a soft spot for her.
“Fine, but I am not running to get you, and you’ll have to sit in my office until I’m done working. Deal?”
“Deal!” She hugged me. “Wait here. I’m going to get my biology textbook. I have a final on Monday, and I can study at your office.”
‘Thank you. I hate being the bad guy, but she needs to be more responsible,’ Dad’s mind-link made me chuckle.
‘How close were you to caving?’ I asked him.
‘Respect your elders, and don’t ask questions that will embarrass them,’ he admonished, making me chuckle.
‘Dad, you have like two gray hairs. That hardly qualifies you as an elder.’ Aside from werewolves aging slower than normal humans, Dad was also graced with good genetics. Grandpa barely looked fifty when he was almost eighty.
‘It counts,’ he insisted.
I rolled my eyes because I knew he couldn’t see me and waited for Areli to arrive so we could head out.
Chapter Three
