Ch. 120: Got It Bad

CHAPTER 120
Ally~
It’s a miracle I got any sleep at all. My mom had of course been very upset about everything. And things might have blown so out of proportion that we’d raised our voices and argued for over two hours. The summary of it all - I have to fulfill my calling and I will always protect my mate and his family, while my mom wants me to stay away from any fighting and stick to visions to help them out.
That’s not happening.
When Nick arrived early this morning my mom blocked the door and had a stare down with him. He, of course, was not angry at her for anything so it ended up just being my mom blocking him from entering, glaring at him, while Nick just stood there, hands in his pockets, head slightly down. Like a good docile puppy.
After a few minutes I’d had enough and walked over, reaching past her to grab Nick’s hand and she let him pass. He had enough good sense to not ask me what that was all about.
Kyle, of course, had slept through the whole encounter. He woke up about five minutes after Nick and I sat down at the breakfast table. He was whistling some tune, in a totally upbeat mood, a total contrast to the silent argument my mom and I were still having across the kitchen.
In typical mom behavior, she made us a Sunday breakfast, full of pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and english muffins. It was almost funny, watching her finish everything and angrily stack it all across the counter so we could serve ourselves in a buffet style. She went first and moved along quickly. Once she sat down with her plate and Kyle came around the corner with a freshly-showered wet mop of hair, smiling like we were one big happy family - that’s when she broke the tension.
“Well are you going to eat something or just look at it?” she snapped.
Kyle’s eyes went back and forth between us once, but he just shrugged it off and loaded up his plate. Nick and I went after, and Kyle started offering to serve drinks, his face inside the fridge.
“Uh, orange juice okay with everyone? Or does someone prefer water?” he said, shuffling things around in there.
My mom and I looked at each other and both said, “OJ please.”
It broke her mad face and she smiled just a tad. Which of course broke my serious glare too. The room finally breathed.
“Well, what’s the plan for today?” my mom asked us after some quiet with everyone stuffing their faces.
“I think I’ll go to Melbourne. Rachel wants my help trying to grow her abilities,” I said.
Nick arched a brow at that.
Kyle didn’t look up as he shoveled in more food. It was almost intelligible when he said, “I can help with that too.”
“Alright, Melbourne it is,” Nick concluded.
My mom’s head snapped to him but she just pursed her lips and breathed out.
Nick’s eyes went blank, meaning he was linking with someone. I took that moment to give my mom a ‘back off’ look, which she did. But not without grumbling.
“You think Rachel would be okay if we picked her up and went to the packhouse?” Nick asked me.
I nodded. “I’m sure that’s what she’d prefer to do too.”
The look in Nick’s eyes told me something was going on. Likely Jake was losing his mind being so far from Rachel. I continued to eat my pancakes while trying to map out how we were going to do all this.
We were going to have to pretend everything is normal for Rachel’s family - which meant going to school. Which meant losing out on time we could spend training, and time Kyle and I could be searching for The Collective. What if they attack again and we’re not there? What if they attack before we’re really ready?
My mind wandered and I hadn’t noticed I’d been spacing out until Nick taps my plate with his finger. I blink a bit to refocus.
“Let me take that?” he asks, already standing.
I nod and he walks everyone’s stuff over to the sink. He turns on the water and I watch my mom as she watches him. He scrapes some things into the trash can, and loads the dishes into the dishwasher. My mom’s twisted unimpressed look lightens.
She can’t stay mad at him for long. Especially since her anger is totally misplaced. It's me putting myself in danger. Nick would gladly have me hide away too if that’s what I wanted. I glance at him, he’s looking at me with such love as he walks back and sits to my left, immediately reaching for my hand. The tingles go up my arm and I’m warm all over.
Kyle clears his throat and declares, “I’ll go grab my jacket and we’ll head out?”
“Kay,” I say, barely hearing him.
I know what I probably look like to outsiders. Goo-goo-gaa-gaa in puppy love. But I don’t care. I love this guy so much. The other chair scrapes and I hear my mom walking away.
Nick leans forward and pulls my chair right next to his, removing the space between. Then he pulls my hand up and kisses it. Opens my palm and kisses there. Pulls me forward and-
“Oh yikes! Please put a sock on the door or something!” Kyle exclaims from the doorway to the kitchen.
“We weren’t doing anything!” I pick up my unused napkin, ball it up and throw it at him.
“Weren’t doing what?” my mom says as she rounds the corner.
“Oh come on!” I whine loudly.

Jake~
I got a call from Elise, the tracker from Dark Mountains. She wanted to know more about the attack from yesterday. It seems that it was in fact the same group who had attacked them weeks ago, at least as far as we can tell.
“Alpha Jake,” she says after a moment, “I’m ready to jump back in if you need us. We only have a fraction of the wolves we used to have, but we would all be more than willing to help you fight these bastards.”
“We’re here for you all as well. You need backup or a place to stay, we’re here. Count on that,” I reply.
And I mean it. Dark Mountains was one of the only packs in the area to not only help look for my parents, but offered early on to help me navigate my role if I needed another perspective. Their Alpha is an admirable man.
“How is… everyone after the attack?” she asked.
I know what she’s really asking, and I can’t be the one to tell her that Nick has found his mate. It’s not my place, and with Ally being who she is…
“We’re managing. We lost a few good people. We’re holding a memorial for them later today. Thankfully we had some friends in the area and with their help we had way more injuries than casualties,” I say all I can without giving anything private away.
“Good. Well that proves right there that friends can be invaluable,” she pauses. “Listen, I’ll let you go. I know you’ve got to be swamped. Just let us know if we can help. In the meantime I’ll let you know if I’m able to uncover anything. I may have a new ‘in’ with the Fae.”
“Thank you. Take care,” I say as I hit ‘end call.’
‘We should be boasting about our mate’ Aamon demands.
‘I don’t know if we can,’ I retort.
Because we don’t know. While I wouldn’t need permission from anyone to be with Rachel, I can’t exactly afford to create any divisions in the pack right now. We need to be unified, ready to have each other’s backs for the next attack. ‘
So maybe I won’t broadcast it. But there’s no reason to hide it. Not completely. Let them think what they want.
Maybe that’s selfish. But I could barely sleep last night just thinking about her. I had dropped her off at home, and we’d shared another all-encompassing kiss. While the increase in contact has helped cool me down in so many ways - like having actual control of my shifting - in other ways it has made it worse. I know what it’s like to have her here, so when she’s not, the lack feels stronger. It’s a bigger, more obvious hole.
So when Nick reports that he’s going to take Ally and Kyle to Melbourne to meet with Rachel, I ask if they could change their plans a bit.
‘It’s safer to practice that stuff here anyway, away from humans,’ I point out to Aamon.
‘Safer here with us,’ he corrects.
And I’m not against the point. It’s safer for her, for me, and probably everyone in the pack if I’m not running around like an emotional loose cannon. The sense of peace she brought me after wailing on that guard last night… It was like going from a scalding pot of water to a bed of aloe vera.
<<From Rachel to Jake>>: Of course I’d love to come over. Count me in
Her message alone relaxes me. They must have asked her about the change in plans and she knew I’d be going stir crazy.
How am I going to manage with her regularly so far away?
‘Move mate into the packhouse,’ Aamon says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
‘There’s no way her mom will allow that. We can’t explain this to run of the mill humans,’ I point out.
Aamon just huffs. Super helpful.
<<From Jake to Rachel>>: See you soon
I write it out and before I send it I add a winky face. Then delete it. Then put a heart. Then delete it. I settle on a smiley face.
‘So pathetic,’ Aamon comments.
I wish I could pull him out of my mind and punch him.
My phone vibrates again. It’s Rachel, she’s sent back a heart.
I hold the phone to my chest. Goddess, I’ve got it bad.