ROWAN.
“You are back!”
Rina’s head splitting aceea reacwhamy wars moments before the woman herself flings her self onto me.
“Oof, Rina. Easy on me,” I grunt as I stumble back into the car, my arms going round her body to embrace her.
“Is that the way to fewer your friend that you haven’t seen in over two weeks?!” She demnds with a pout as she leans away from me.
“We had a video call this morning,” I remind her.
“That was a video call,” she retorts. “It is not the same as seeing you in person. Oh, man. How am I even going to live without seeing either you or Lisa or even my pretty Jhenelle every day?” She whines as she leans down and plucks my daughter off the floor, twirling her around and elicting delighted squeals from her.
“You will survive,” I say as I walk into the mansion.
“Your mumy is a mean person, do you know that princess?”
“Not true,” Jhenelle corrects her. “Mama is nice.”
“Hmph! You are just saying that because she is your mummy!”
“No! I am saying that because it is true!”
“No, it is not!”
“Yes, it is!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No…”
Their voices fade out as I walk into the mansion, my gaze instantly caught by Lisa and Andre as they hurry down the stairs both of them in varying degrees of undress while still trying to appear presentable.
“Rowan!” Lisa exclaims. “You are back! Welcome home!”
“You knew I was coming back today,” I tell her with an eye roll as I walk past her. We discussed that this morning. You knew the estimated time I would be arriving and yet …”
“We… I …”
“Something unplanned came up!” Andre says with a blushing face.
“Oh, I am sure it did,” I reply in a dry tone. “Your fly is open by the way.”
“What?!” He exclaims as he looks down and I watch as his face flushes, seconds before he turns around to adjust it.
“Oh, come on, Ro!” Lisa whines. “You could have told him that the moment you saw it. There was no need to wait that long.”
“Hmm. You are right. Your breast is coming out of your bra,” I say.
“Rowan!” She snaps as she too truns around to fix it and I just chuckle as I turn to walk away
“I am heading to my room,” I call out as I head up the stairs. “A good nap would do me wonders.”
“Whatever,” I hear her mutter before her voice picks up volume. “We are having a bonfire later this evening, don’t miss it.”
“A bonfire?” I ask as I stop to turn to her. “Why?”
“The wolves wanted to throw it for you. Don’t miss it.”
“Hmm,” I hum as I continue on my way. “Sure, why not?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sounds of rowdy laughter and a squealing Jhenelle somewhere in the crowd is what freets me as I walk into the clearing.
It is good to be back home.
So good.
I hadn’t realized how much I missed This place until I actually started the journey back.
And I am still going to have to leave.
For good.
To become the Luna of an actual pack
Me.
The leader of a rogue coalition.
How did my life turn out this way?
Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder if the goddess is just jerking chain or if she feels bad for setting me up with Dominic in the first place.
“If it is the first place,” I whisper to the sky. “You can just go right ahead and have him fall into a vat of highly corrosive acid.”
“What are you talking about?” Lisa asks and I turned around to see both Andre and Rina, as well as Alden walking up to me.
“Nothing much,” I say as I accept the drink she offers me. “I was just telling the moon goddess my thoughts about Dominic and offering suggestions on how she can handle him.”
“Hmm. Speaking of Dominic,” Rina says. “The man is fucking relentless.”
“He came back?”
“Oh, yeah,” Andre answers.
“Right after your call yesterday,” Lisa adds. “He showed up again. Demanding to see you and threatening fire and brimstone on us if we do not open the gates.”
“He also went on and on about how we had no idea who he was and how he was going to deal with all of us,” Rina continues. “For a moment there , I was actually curious if he was some kind of king or something.”
“No,” I mutter. “Not a king. Just a deranged, rabid wolf who thinks the world should bow down to him.”
“Rabid?” Alden picks up.
“How do you know that?” Andre asks
“Ah, right. A few weeks back, he came to the pack,” I tell him. “And Viktor, that sweet reckless man decided to have a fight with him despite the signs that he was rabid.”
“Oh, my goddess,” Lisa exclaims.
“Is he all right?!” Andre demands. “Why didn’t he say anything?! Why did he not tell me?!”
“He is fine,” I calm him down. “And he didn’t tell you probably because he didn’t want to worry you.”
“Damn it! Why would he fight him if he saw that he was rabid?” He grumbled.
“Same question I asked,” I mutter with a sigh.
“This is… worrying,” Lisa comments
“Hmm,” Alden adds. “If he is rabid… then his threats… they should be taken quite seriously. Rabid wolves not known for their sanity.”
“Are we safe Rowan?” please tell us if we are or to start getting ready for war.
“Of course, we are,” I mutter. “We are not some weak, defenseless rogues that can be oppressed by anyone. We are a coalition. And if what I have seen, if the Obsidian pack so far is true, then they are not much of a threat as we thought.”
“Still,” Lisa adds. “We shouldn’t be lax. He is vindictive and powerful. Two bad traits to be mixed.”
“I know. And I -”
“Louisa?!”