Chapter 9

I looked at this man before me, emotionally stunned and silenced by what he had just confessed. I have always seen him as a father, and he has always treated me as such. It was a huge step in taking this leap, but I think that after eighteen years, that I am ready for it. He has always been there for me, and I have never felt the need to protect myself from him.

“Dad.” I said the word, testing how it would feel to say. It rolled off my tongue easier than I thought that it would. His nerve-riddled face melted and morphed into a smile, tears filling his eyes yet again, just as mine had filled.

A gruff cough sounded from behind us, trying to draw our attention. I turned and saw that it had come from Beta Pete. I growled at him to let him know my displeasure of the interruption and so did my dad, our tempers obviously being something which we had in common. Strange, isn’t it? Thinking of him in that way is very different to being more direct and open about it.

“This moment is lovely and all that, but we have more to still talk to the girls about?” The Beta spoke to his Alpha, reminding him of why we were even here in the first place.

Dad coughed a few times, trying to clear the build-up of emotion from his throat, before speaking to us all. I stayed standing next to him, feeling the need to be close to him because of what we had finally opened up to each other about after so long.

“Right, so, umm...” He could not remember what the fuck he was meant to be saying. The moments before mentally blocking him. I giggled at him, earning me a scowl.

“The trackers?” Beta Pete suggestively reminded him.

“Oh, right, yes. The trackers, they did not find anything out in the woods.” Dad spat out, making my blood instantly run cold. I looked at Pops to see her reaction was just the same. He looked between me and Poppy before he continued, “Don’t worry, we do believe that there was something or someone out there, it is just that the trackers could not find any evidence of them. So, I think that you are right Olivia, they are using magic.”

I shuffled impossibly closer to my now dad, nearly close enough to be tucked away in his underarm, searching for the sense of safety once again and knowing that he would always be my biggest protector.

“It does not mean that there is nothing there, it just means that we need to be careful from now on. We have upped the patrols, meaning that we have got more wolves out so that almost every inch of the territory is covered at every second. They are gunna be in wolf and human form, a bit of extra protection, y’know?” Beta Pete tried his hand at comforting us by informing us of what they were going to do going forward from this, his professionalism making it a bit harder to do though.

I looked to Pops who had begun to withdraw yet again. The fear from just an hour ago returning to us both like a memory that was unable to be forgotten.

“I’ll tell you what we could do.” Dad spun on the spot to look directly at me, clutching at my upper arms to keep my focus on him. “I will have someone stay with you, both of you. What do you think? Just for peace of mind for you and me, until we figure out what the fuck is going on.”

“Umm, uh, yeh I suppose so.” I felt lost, guessing that Pops did too. The scary part was that we had no idea how much of a threat there was and what would even keep us safe.

“You two go upstairs, shower and change. It may make you guys feel a bit better.” Dad suggested something distracting to us, but whatever we did was only a temporary fix to it all.

I watched as dad's eyes glazed over fleetingly, mindlinking someone, presumably a couple of warriors. As his eyes focused back on me and he opened his mouth to speak, his eyes glazed over again and he growled in irritation to whoever had interrupted him, his eyebrows furrowed showing his annoyance.

When he finished bollocking the poor sod, he huffed and snarled before trying to speak to me again. “Sorry about that, it was just some fuckers that want a foot up their arses.”

“Elijah and Elliot.” The two names echoed around the room, producing chuckles amongst us all.

“Yup, is it even possible for it to be anyone else that I'm talking about having a foot up their arse from me?” Dad confirmed our guesses with a hypothetical question, sarcasm lacing his voice and eliciting more sniggers from the rest of us.

“Righty-ho, you two get a shift on. Olivia, I'm sure losing your shit on some wolves in the ballroom will do you some good. And Poppy, Marthe has been mithering everyone trying to find you. She seems a tad desperate to get her hands on you.” Beta Pete spoke out, proposing to us to shake a tail- figuratively. Also reminding Poppy of her unspent punishment with the decrepit ballbag just down the hall, who was probably on the warpath by now.

“Oh fuck, bollocks, wanker, shit. Fucking she-devil is worse than whatever was in the woods.” Pops’ outspoken ways have always shifted moods of those around her, now being no different. Dad and Beta Pete were roaring with laughter; I was no different either.

I could not wait to witness Marthe finally tracking her down. I grabbed Pops’ hand and started dragging her towards the office doors. She was quite literally dragging her heels like a grumpy little shit of a pup. I only got so far before dad shouted out and I turned to look.

“Oi! Where's my hug, you little shit?” He stood there trying to pull an angry face at me, until he outstretched his arms and smiled like a proud father about to embrace his beloved daughter.

I went running over to him, I never wanted anything more than this right now. With his arms locked around me, he whispered into my ear, “Kae wants to have a word with you when you are ready to.” I pulled back and nodded to acknowledge that I had heard him. I reached up on my tippy-toes and pecked him on his cheek. I was about to pull away when another two sets of arms went around the pair of us.

“Our turn!” Pops bellowed out as she practically strangled me trying to reach upwards of dad.

It was strange to see this side of Beta Pete, but it felt amazing, it all felt like I had found a true home and that I did not need anything else.

We all pulled away from each other after a minute or two, it was unquestionably something that I had needed. Family.

Pops and I eventually left the office after plenty of mushy crap and went upstairs. But not in your straight-forward fashion; we still had to avoid Marthe and get upstairs undetected. Sneaking down corridors, peering around corners and such to prevent detection. We looked like a right pair of idiotic arseholes.

It was not until we had got to the top of stairs and started sprinting the rest of the distance to my room that we remembered that we had warriors following us. When I looked back to see them, they were walking casually behind us and shaking their heads at our idiocy.

In a usual Pops fashion, she sticks her tongue out and flipped them the bird before dashing into my bedroom and slamming the door closed, pulling me through just a split-second before. Both of us ran to my walk-in wardrobe and went straight for the comfy stuff; an oversized hoodie and baggy lounge pants for each of us. Today's mood now called for pulling out all the comfy stops. If it was not so warm, I would be in my oodie as well.

We both ran for my bathroom, each of us taking it in turns to use the shower, brush our teeth and everything else that we needed to do to feel some semblance of clean once again, whilst we chatted about shit. But mostly digesting and discussing our feelings about all that was exposed in the office just minutes before.

Once we were finished, we both stood in my bedroom behind the door, unable to take that last step out into the big bad world. Being here together, shut away from everyone felt the safest thing to do and neither of us had to say it to the other, we just knew that was how we both felt.

At the same time, we both reached for the others hand and grasped tightly, scared that one of us may slip away if we did not. After taking a deep breath in, I reached for the door handle and opened the door.

“Fuck me sideways with a pole!” Pops screeched out, letting go of my hand as she jumped backwards into the air, scared shitless after seeing the long-forgotten hulked out warriors stationed right outside of the door.

My heart went into my throat. I also flinched but I think it was more because of Pops’ sudden outburst and not the unexpected blockage in my doorway.

The door guards were humoured by our reactions, and I am not surprised, I would be too if it was me in their positions.

“You good?” I looked at Poppy to see her doubled over and panting, trying to bring her heart rate back down to normal and get her stomach back up her arsehole.

“Nope, I think I just had a fucking heart attack.” She huffed out, trying to catch her breath.

“Oh well, you’ll live. Let's just get downstairs and get this over with.” I looped my arm through Pops’, pulling her up straight in the process and marched us to the stairs. I started to descend, Pops still lagging and stumbling as she tried to catch herself, dropping down the first few steps before eventually correcting herself and finishing the rest of the stairs in one piece.

“Bitch.”

“I love you too.” I replied to her whilst giggling. That is the thing about her, I know she does not mean it.

After reaching the bottom of the stairs together, we strolled on towards our separate destinations of torture. Pops left me after reaching the doors to the kitchen for the second time today and I continued through the madness in the main hallway to the ballroom.

It had only been about two hours since I last came through here, but what a difference. It was still extremely busy with this and that laying around and wolves continuing to drive themselves to perfection in time for the ball, but so much had been done. Almost all of the deliveries had been cleared, if not, then they were arranged neatly and ready to go to where each one was needed. Decorations had started being placed and there were wolves going about attempting to clean up as much as they could.

I paused at the extravagant double doors to the ballroom, just mindlessly looking at the detailed trimmings of the aged wood.

Deep breath in the nose, slow breath out of the mouth and repeat several times. I tried calming my nerves before entering the bowels of hell. I knew that once I entered that my temper was going to flare pretty fucking quickly.

I drew in a breath, held it and took the plunge. I opened just a single heavy door and basically fell through trying to get through it so quickly, before I chickened out and ran like the clappers back to my room.

I corrected my stance and stood straight, looking around and taking in the sight of the ballroom. A lot had changed since I had run out at lunchtime not so long ago.

The floor had been cleared, and wolves were in the middle of scrubbing and polishing it. The napkins had been finished and seemed to look like they were in a much better state, thank fuck. The DJ had finished setting up all his gear and speakers and had since disappeared out of the way. There were wolves just starting to put the flowers out on the tables and right in the centre was the reason for the long-gone and forgotten chaos; Luna Kae.

Her beauty and grace stood out from the diverse array of colours and gorgeous scents of the flowers that she was currently helping to arrange. The dress she was wearing also helped; a long and flowing, light pink high neck and short sleeved dress that complimented her in so many ways. The fresh spring zephyr coming in from the open doors that led to a gigantic stone patio, let in a breeze that saw to just the right amount to make the very few stray hairs on her head and the loose materials of her garments dance ever so slightly. A stark contrast to us worker bees that surrounded her, especially me in my oversized loungewear. I suddenly felt way too under-dressed to be in this powerful woman's presence.

I saw her nose twitch as she caught the scent of something, her head whipping around to gaze at me and a genuine smile spreading massively upon her face. She turned and practically ran at me with her arms outspread. She wrapped me in a bone crushing hug, leaving me temporarily unable to breathe or move.

“Oh shit, crap, I’m sorry.” The Luna of all people was flustered. After realising that she had reduced me to just a few squeaks and gasps she loosened her grip just a tad but not completely. It seemed I was not allowed to get away just yet. But now that I was able to move just a fraction and my arms were no longer pinned to my sides, I raised them to return her affections and embraced her, just not with quite so much strength thrown in as her.

I eventually managed to get the Luna to release me so I could speak, “Wow, we really needed you in here. It was nothing but a massive shitstorm in here this morning.” I breathlessly spoke of this morning's frustrations as I took another look around at all the changes, noticing that all the tables now had vases; the three that were missing had been found! Thank fuck for that.

The Luna noticed where I was looking and spoke, “They’re not the ones that went missing, I think that those ones are loooong gone.” She drew out the word ‘long’ to emphasise the inability of the fucktards to keep track of some simple fucking vases.

“Where did you get those ones from then? They look so similar to the others.” I could already feel my temper from earlier rapidly returning, the spanners still had not managed to pull their fingers out and locate the vases that they had somehow fucking lost. It should not have even been a possibility.

“I got them from the Alpha suite. I’ve got loads up there and I am sure I can spare a few just for tonight.” Luna Kae looked at me and seen how bothered I was, clutching my hands she tried to soothe me. “It’s ok Olivia, we have sorted it. You do not need to worry about it anymore. I’m here to help you for the rest of the day as well. It seems like these prats don’t know how to follow a direct instruction, so I thought that I would help you out a bit.”

My anxiety and whatever else I felt, eased a bit. That was why this woman was Luna; she had this ability to really connect with everyone on whatever level they needed her to be. Like right now, I needed her support and reassurance and that is exactly what she gave me.

“Thank you, Luna. I really appreciate you helping me with this. After this afternoon, I’m not sure how much more I can manage. I’m guessing Dad, I mean, Alpha Brock told you all that has happened.” I lowered my head in anticipation of a bollocking for not being more careful. Luna Kae was like a mother to us all, in the sense of concern for our safety and making sure we had full bellies and such.

“It’s ok my lovely, he told me everything. And I mean everything.” I whipped my head up to look her in the face. She smirked at my realisation of her insinuation, knowing about the conversation Dad and I had about being family.

I did not know what to say. My mouth had dropped open, unable to do anything but.

She whispered to me, “but feel free to call me whatever you choose. I’m ok, but only if you are.”