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While smoking a cigarette on the back porch, Maria is staring at her phone. I pour two glasses of wine and step out to sit with her. I’m not sure what’s happening, but it feels gross. I can’t even imagine what she must be feeling. She looks up at me, eyes red and glossy. I offer her the glass and she takes it. I sit down next to her and take a sip of my own. I’m hoping it’s enough for her.
“It’s different here,” she says after a while.
“What do you mean?” I ask. “This is still your home.”
“I hated it here,” she smiles. “I was born and raised a pack wolf, and the isolation drove me crazy.”
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say. “What’s different about it?”
“The warmth. I guess. How happy my son is, finally. That’s all I ever wanted for him. I don’t know why he’s so attached to this place. The gating under the house is silver- enforced steel. I used to lock him up down there during the full moon when he couldn‘ t fight the command. That’s why the latch is there. This entire foundation, you’ll never find one more sturdy,” she takes a drag from her cigarette. “Sometimes I wish he had given in.
“The fucked up part about that is, my wolf has never accepted Freddy’s wolf as her alpha. It was always Maverik. She knows Freddy is our mate, but it was just an obligation. I had to love him for both of us.
“Being here, it’s liberating. It truly feels like coming home for the first time since I was mated. I don’t know when I made that leap. I love the pack and my place in it, but-”
“It was never enough.” I nod understanding. She smiles with tears streaming down her
face.
“Then why do I feel so guilty?”
“Because you love him.” I shrug. “How can you not. He’s your mate.”
“I’m so sorry he let that piece of shit in here” she flicks the cigarette butt away and reaches for me. She turns my head to inspect where my bruising used to be. “I never would have thought he would do something like that. He’s been so closed off since the incident. I just thought he was upset about me not trying to push Knight into coming here more.”
Midnight isn’t picking up anything malicious from her. I want to believe that she’s telling me the truth, but with everything we’ve been through recently, it’s not easy. I have nothing to say to that, so I just take another drink.
“What comes next?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she sighs.
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“Angel,” I look back at Knight and nod. She downs the entire glass of wine and offers it
to me. I take it and head back inside. “Everything okay?”
“Your mom is just-” I glance back at her and shrug. “Remorseful?”
“I was thinking-”
“Me too.” I cover his mouth. “Don’t hate me, but I don’t want to leave the kids with her.
Not in the state she’s in.” He stares at me momentarily, and I can see the battle in his eyes. “You don’t have to believe it with me, Baby, but humor me. Please?”
“Okay,” he agrees.
“Thank you,” I say, pushing up on my tiptoes. I kiss his cheek and head up the stairs to find the twins.
Ayrie is sitting at her desk, editing last night’s pictures on her laptop. She has a bowl of fruits and her favorite sippy cup beside her. Aizen is playing with his friends at his computer with his headset on. He’s laughing. Knight linked up their speakers, so Symphony No. 7 (2nd Movement) is playing. I turn the humidifier on with a timer and head out, leaving the door open a bit.
I check the back door and the windows before heading back down. I can see Maria through the glass door. Knight is on the phone in the living room, so I head into my study. I shut the door that leads to the kitchen and sit at my sketching table.
-You ok?- A text from Perry pops up on my phone.
-Ru spying?–
-Always.- I laugh and look over at the fireplace and shrug. -Tell me what
-Something is off- I send. -Idk what. I just have a feeling.-
-I’ll run a diagnostic on the house. Check all the cameras-
“Thank you,” I say out loud.
“I cancelled our reservations,” Knight says, sitting across from me.
“I’m sorry.” I place my phone on the charging pad.
“Don’t be. I trust you,” he dismisses it.
“How about we make dinner together? Where were we going?”
you feel-
“The same place we did last time. It’s the only place I like to eat at. The owner is my godfather.”
“Italian it is. We have everything we need for that. You want to?”
“Okay,” he smiles.
“So, did you take classes to cook as well as you do?”
“No, my Godfather taught me. He’s my only other living relative on my mom’s side.”
“Oh, that’s cute,” I say, washing my hands. “Her brother?”
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“Cousin.”
“Same thing,” I shrug, making him laugh. I take out some things I need, and he follows behind me.
“When we first went on the run, he hid us in his attic until my mom could get my transcripts so I could start school. But after my placement tests, we didn’t need them. Everyone wanted me to go to their schools here, just like Ayrie. Those are all school brochures,” he points at a pile of letters on the back counters we use for mail. “She was always out doing shit and I’d stay home with him.
“He was supposed to be my babysitter, but after what went down in my mom’s pack, he was never quite right again. I’d have to make sure he didn’t get hurt. He doesn’t speak. His mom was the chef in their pack house, and he watched her constantly, which became his life.”
“Your mother is from Sinaloa, right? Why Italian?”
“His mate is Italian. She’s the one who runs the restaurant. Her little brother is the
manager who attended to us the night we went. They have two kids. Ten and sixteen.”
“Aww.” I reach for a knife, and he kisses my shoulder before moving to the kitchen
island.
“How did you learn how to cook? Your French cuisine is amazing.”
“Books. I own lots of cookbooks.”
“I noticed,” he laughs.
“I didn’t start learning to cook until the twins were old enough to eat. It started with baby smoothies and stuff. And I tried my best to make things they would enjoy. We’ve tried a bit of everything. They love to eat. We all do.”
“I read the case from the academy in France that they went to. You packed their lunch?”
“Ayrie wouldn’t eat anything I didn’t inspect after the incident. Aizen complained that he didn’t get full. So, yeah. I started packing their lunches. That little boy was always picking on him. Aizen didn’t care. He was completely unbothered, and it didn’t become an issue until Aizen started fighting back.”
“He wore him down?”
“I honestly think the kid said something about Ayrie. They weren’t in the same classes because she’s-”
“More advanced?” he offers when I can’t say she’s smarter.
“She self–isolates more. She takes in more because she’s surrounded by less. Aizen is more social, He likes watching people–their movements, how they speak. I thought I was crazy or thinking too much about it, but I swear he memorized my walking patterns and their nanny’s as an infant. He would scream louder when it was her and start to settle when it was me.”
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