229
A week went by and I felt bad for Margot but had to give her points for not even sending me a text. I missed her but I also couldn’t give her more. She wouldn’t understand my predicament because wolves could bond with humans.
It was Friday night and I’d just put Riley in bed and read five stories before she finally fell asleep. There was something different in the air and I felt that dreaded feeling creep back into my soul. My phone rang on the kitchen counter and I answered Chandra’s call just in time.
“Hey.”
“Why are you out of breath? Did I catch you in the shower?” Chandra laughed as I chuckled.
“I was upstairs, phone downstairs. What do you want?”
“Someone’s not getting any.” Lauren laughed from behind her and I smiled at her straight forwardness. She could be lucky that I loved her. “I wanted to invite you over for dessert and introduce you to my friend that’s visiting for a few weeks. She’s fae too and might just give you a whole new fantasy for the shower.”
I laughed out loud and sat down at the counter. “I’ll add it to your IOU’s on my cupboard raiding and thanks for the invite but I just put Riley down for the night.”
“Are you wearing underwear?” Her voice was much softer now.
“No.”
“Good, I’ll send my friend over with some dessert. Bye!”
Before I could say anything the line went dead and I shook my head at her antics. I had lied, I was wearing underwear but she didn’t need to know that because the teasing between us would never stop. I switched the kettle on and heard a knock at the front door.
I put my best smile on my face because I knew they’d be watching from their side and would give me hell if I appeared rude and not on my best behaviour. I pulled the door open and froze. Literally everything inside me froze.
My eyes had to be deceiving me but even Echo had jumped up at her scent and his tail thumped up and down so fast it was almost giving me whiplash. The bond that had been there came at me with full force, knocking everything down in its path.
“Wynter?” The pie dish crashed to the floor but I didn’t even register it.
Her hands were on my t-shirt, fisting the material in her hands as Echo pushed forward and my mouth crashed down on hers. She kissed me back feverishly, our tongues colliding and dueling. My hands went down her back, cupping her ass and pulling her closer against me.
She seemed to snap out of the haze the bond had pushed us into and pushed me away suddenly. I was trying to catch my breath as tears streaked down her face. The hand that slapped me left a red mark on my cheek and for the first time in my life I felt physical pain. My cheek stung as she looked at me with hurt in her eyes.
“We thought you were dead.”
She turned on her heel and ran back to Chandra’s house as they stood there with big eyes having seen us kiss and then the slap that had followed. “What in the hell just happened?”
Echo urged me to go after her but I knew that I wouldn’t. He kept chanting her name in my head. “Ally. Ally. Ally.”
Chandra and Lauren ran after Ally as she sank down to her knees in the living room with her hands covering her face. Her shoulders shook as she cried and Chandra’s arm came around her shoulder. They let Ally cry and when she had mostly composed herself she sat down on the couch with a cup of tea and they demanded answers.
“I’m so confused right now.”
“How do you know Ethan?” Lauren looked even more confused than Chandra and Ally put together.
“His name’s not Ethan, it’s Wynter and he’s my brother.”
“The way you two kissed each other there’s no chance in hell Ethan’s your brother.”
“Stepbrother.”
“Oh.”
Lauren opened and closed her mouth two times before finally speaking. “I’m confused, so Ethan’s not Ethan?”
“Oh for the love of everything magical! He’s the brother you told me that died?” Everything clicked into place for Chandra as Ally nodded.
“But he’s lived here for three years!”
“Lauren! Ethan’s name is Wynter Grey and they all thought he was dead but he’s not obviously.”
“Oh … the Wynter Grey that killed the Dragon King?” Lauren’s eyes had widened.
“The one and only.” Ally’s hands shook and she was still pale.
“Wait … if he’s your stepbrother then why does Hunter look like him? It puzzled me the whole time, since you arrived but then I thought that maybe … I don’t know what I thought.”
Ally looked at Lauren with wide eyes, not having thought about that, the shock of finding out Wynter was alive had been too much. “Oh shit.”
“You slept with your brother, got knocked up and then lied about it?” Chandra sat down on the couch as well and the wheels in her head was turning at a rapid speed. “You have to tell him.”
“We bonded and then I rejected him because he got married to some princess and knocked her up too.”
“Your family’s a bit more than complicated.”
“He doesn’t even know that Milo and Abby got married.”
“Who’s Milo and Abby?” Lauren was still trying to make out heads and tails about this whole situation.
“My brother and sister.”
Chandra started laughing and Lauren looked ready to pass out. “Milo’s the adopted brother and Abby is Wynter’s blood sister but they’re not actually related to each other, Lauren.”
“Oh thank goodness. I wasn’t sure how to handle it if they were.”
“I need a moment.” Abby stood up and ran up the stairs to the guest bedroom and picked up her phone with shaky hands and dialed Ryder’s number.
“Grey.”
“Dad ….”
“Ally? What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“It’s Wynter …”
“Breathe baby … I miss him too, every day.”
“No, Dad, you don’t understand. He’s here, I just saw him!”
“What? Where?”
“In Chehalis. I came to visit some friends and he lives right next door! Three years, Dad! He’s been living here all this time with a new name and everything!”
“I’m on my way. Send me your location.”
The line went dead and the phone dropped from Ally’s hand. “Wynter’s alive,” she murmured.
“Mommy?” Ally turned her head and looked at her son, Hunter.
“You should be asleep, Mister.” She put a smile on her face and opened her arms as he walked towards her and picked him up into her lap.
“Who’s Wynter and why are you crying?”
“He’s someone I thought I’d never see again.” She kissed the top of his head as his green eyes sought out her blue ones.
She sat with Hunter, who was a miniature version of Wynter, and rocked him back to sleep. She left him in her bed and headed downstairs again. She could still remember the backlash she got when Ryder and Nova arrived on her doorstep and Ryder chewed her out for lying to them.
As a baby Hunter hadn’t looked like Wynter at all but as he grew into a little boy, the evidence stared her in the face every single day. She’d lied to protect her own heart and to allow Wynter to follow his destiny. She wasn’t going to be the cause of him not following the path his life was meant to take.
Across the driveway, I sat with my back against the front door, feelings of confusion consuming me. The bond was still alive even though she’d rejected me, I was more surprised however that I had felt Ally’s slap.
“Why did she say they all thought we were dead?” Echo’s tail thumping had finally stopped and he seemed confused as well.
“When Typhon snapped the bonds, it must’ve felt like we’d died.”
“Oh shit. You know she’s calling Dad right.”
“All this time I never once realized that that’s what they were thinking.”
I stood up from the floor and started pacing up and down. My father had written me off, thrown me away and I'd taken on the new identity solely to be at peace and to give Riley a new life, a life away from Romania and the memories of Luciana.
I thought that if they wanted to talk to me they’d find me. I wasn’t actively trying to hide, not from them in any way. I just didn’t want to get sucked in to the lifestyle of being a hunter or an assassin as Sorin had wanted.
I stood in Riley’s doorway and watched the slight rise and fall of her chest as she slept. This was her home, where she felt safe and I had made a life here. I knew Ryder would be on the first flight to Chehalis the moment Ally called him.
“Do you think Milo will be with him?” Echo sounded hopeful but I was less so.
“I doubt it, Echo, none of us parted on good terms and even if Ryder shows up here, what is there to say?”
“Don’t be an idiot, Wynter.”
“I’m not. He broke our bond first! He decided what was the truth and his eyes showed me that he wanted to kill me. There’s nothing to say. It’s me, you and Riley. This is our family!”
“Yeah but Ally …”
“Ally nothing! She rejected me Echo! Stop believing that life works out in the end. This is our life, here, right now. We have a good life too and Riley’s happy, that’s all that matters. I can endure anything as long as she’s happy.”
“That’s true but …”
“How many times did Abeloth reach out to you after Ryder left Mintia?”
“Not once.”
“Exactly my point, Echo, get on board with this because us arguing about this shit isn’t going to work.”
I could feel Echo hardening his feelings and his heart. It felt like nothing could penetrate it and that’s what I wanted. It’s what I'd need if and when Ryder showed up in Chehalis. I wouldn’t apologize for giving my daughter what she needed, not to anyone.
I tucked Riley in again as she sighed and smiled in her sleep. That right there made everything in my life worth it. I left the hall light on for her and finally retreated to my own bedroom. My thoughts were still in turmoil though because that kiss with Ally …. it had opened the lid on my memories and I could still remember exactly the way I'd felt about her.
Sleep came swiftly and when I woke up at five am I felt like myself again. The cold, strong façade of the hunter was firmly back in place.
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