Chapter 19 Aunt Daisy

*Ethan*

"Bye, Diana. I'll come pick you up at your house for school tomorrow ok? Here, I haven't paid for my bill." I put a hundred dollar bill on the counter. "I'll be at your house early to pick you up." I try and exit the diner quickly, resisting the need to take her in my arms, so she wouldn't have the chance to say no.

"Wait, your change!" She opens the register, trying to get me my change.

"Keep it. You give so many people free food. It's the least I could do. Tomorrow ok?" I silently prayed she would agree.

"Okay." I smiled at that one word. I think she said it without thinking because she opened her mouth in an attempt to say something else.

"See you, bye." I exit the diner without looking back. If I did, I wouldn't be able to leave her. The need for her to be by my side was certainly growing. I had to play my cards right for her to want me as much as wanted her.

It was still snowing. I walk to my dirty pickup which was parked right beside the jalopy. I needed to go to the car wash if I was going to pick her up with my truck.

"You forgot to ask her for her number, Ethan." Howl seemed to know more about dating than me, apparently.

"I'll get it tomorrow when I pick her up for school. Her father won't like it, but she's my mate." I tell him.

"The father has held many secrets from her. I felt her wolf, she is strong. Incredibly strong."

"That's interesting to know, Howl. What else did you sense?"

"Vengeance. I sensed the need for retribution." That made sense. She was almost killed when she was a baby. Contrary to thought, newborn pups were very perceptive. If there was a need to avenge herself, it meant she knew more than she thought she did.

I drive trying to find the street where my aunt lived. Yes, I was driving for days not knowing where to go when her face popped into my head. And now, I was extremely happy it happened when it did. I was meaning to come visit her and tell her to come back to the pack, something my mother couldn't do herself. She and I were close when we all lived together until she broke the news she was pregnant.

My aunt became pregnant with a human several years ago. I was a teenager then and didn't yet have the power to go against my father's wishes. The human, a poor excuse for a man, left her pregnant and alone. Back then, it was a disgrace for a she-wolf to become pregnant without a mate, moreso with a human. My aunt was banished from the pack, alone to fend for herself, while we were forbidden to have any ties with her. We never heard from her once she left the territory with only the clothes on her back, but I knew my mother was in contact with her somehow. I had caught her sending money to her and I never said anything because I felt it was wrong to turn your back on family.

We received a postcard from my aunt several years back. Before any one of us had the chance to read it, my father tossed it into the trash. I had waited until everyone was asleep to fish out the postcard from the bin. It said my aunt was happy and was living in Portland, Maine with a family of wolves who were in the same predicament as she was. I kept the postcard hoping one day when I became Alpha, I could bring her back home.

I stopped at a red light and my thoughts wandered back to Diana. I didn't agree with her father, he wanted to keep her in the dark.

"When will you tell Diana she is wolf?" I asked Lucas, hoping he would give me a concrete answer.

"When the time is right," he answered. I rolled my eyes at him.

"She will be 18 soon. Clearly right now is as good a time as any to tell her. She will become furious you have kept secrets from her. She deserves the truth even if it means you will become the villain in her story. We all make decisions and we all make a choice. The question now is, can you live with your mistakes?" I look at him, alpha to alpha.

"I'll take that as a rhetorical question. I have been making up for my mistakes all these years hoping when the day comes, Diana will forgive me." Lucas paused, looking at a small picture frame which housed a photo of Diana when she was a little girl. She was beautiful even as a child. "You speak as if you know the whole story. You don't know half of it."

"You're right. All I know are rumors which have pegged out to be true nonetheless. What I do know is you have to tell her. If you don't, I will. I will allow you three days, after which, I will proceed to tell her myself. It is my duty as her fated mate. We still have 5 days until the full lunar eclipse." Michael had nodded his head in agreement to the ultimatum I had just delivered to Lucas. What I didn't expect was the forlorn expression on Lucas' face. Did he really believe he would lose Diana if she was told the truth? What had happened all those years ago? Who was Diana's mother? I made a mental note I would contact my private investigator to get to the bottom of the nitty-gritty details of Alpha Lucas Lockwood and Diana, his only daughter, heir apparent of the Lotus Pack.

I finally find the street my aunt lived on. For a moment there I thought I was driving on circles. Now all I had to do was find the house. All the houses on the street looked alike, some had Christmas lights on outside flashing. I slowly drove by each house looking for the right house number. I could tell my aunt has done well to provide for herself. I was truly happy for her.

I find the house with the right house number. There was a light on inside. I get out of the pickup, walk up to the door and ring the doorbell. I hoped it wasn't too late to make a house call.

A little boy opens the door, around the age of 10. He had sandy brown hair just like mine. This must be my cousin.

"Mommy, a man is at the door." He cries out to his mother.

"Who could be calling at this time of night?" A woman approaches the door. "Oh my Goddess! Ethan is that you?" I smiled at her. My aunt was able to recognize me even if I was a bit scruffy.

"Yes, Aunt Daisy. It's me." I smile at her. I saw her uneasiness. It's been a while she saw someone from the pack.

"Harley, go and finish the Christmas tree. I need to talk with my, uhm, friend." The boy waves goodbye at me and runs off to the Christmas tree at the side of the living room.

"Ethan, what are you doing here? You know your father won't like knowing you came to visit me."

"Aunt Daisy, I am now Alpha of the pack. My father no longer has any say in this issue." I explain to her. "I...I have come to bring you home." Her eyes flew wide open, shocked I would insinuate she still needed to be part of the pack.

"Now what makes you think I'll come home after what I've been through? I'm happy here. I work for a former Alpha who has a daughter who is a half-breed just like Harley. He's good to me. He gave me this house when I had no place to go, a job, security." I understood. Someone took her in when she needed it the most. Her loyalty was now with Lucas.

"I have met Alpha Lucas Lockwood, his Beta Michael and my soon to be Luna, Diana at the diner a while ago." I tell her.

"Hold on. Diana? Is your fated mate?!" She almost screamed. "You didn't go to the diner looking like that, did you?" She looks me up and down and I knew she was talking about my dirty clothes and my appearance.

"I did and I was well received. Diana doesn't look down her nose on other people. She even gave me a free cup of coffee."

"Yes, she's a well-grounded young lady. Oh my Goddess, my nephew and Diana." She shrieked in happiness. "The changes that will happen once Diana is Luna." She started jumping up and down for joy. "I'll come home with you if you can get Diana to come with you. And since I am on your side nephew, come in. You need to take a shower and shave your face. I have an extra room you can use upstairs." She opens the door wide so I could enter.

"Will I be a bother? I can get a room at a hotel or rent a house." I felt bad imposing on my aunt after all she has been through.

"Of course not. You won't be a bother. Actually, I want you to stay with me so I can coach you. Diana doesn't know she's a wolf yet, not until the 21st. So you have to date her like a human. She's like a daughter to me so, I'll tell you everything you need to know about Diana Sullivan."

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*Diana*

I left the jalopy at the diner and rode home with my dad. Ethan told me he would be picking me up to drive me to school tomorrow. I just couldn't figure it out, I was just so drawn to him.

When he sat down in front of me at the counter of the diner and broke my concentration from schoolwork, I felt a sudden tingle down my spine. Not from being scared, no. It was more of me waking up and finally realizing I was a woman. A breathing, warm blooded, sensual woman. I put my fist in my mouth and bit down on it so I wouldn't squeal. My dad was right beside me.

I turned to look at my dad. He was deep in thought with a sad look on his face. I place a hand on his arm. I didn't like seeing my dad sad. He shakes his head immediately when he felt my hand on his arm.

"Sorry, pumpkin. I was just thinking." He smiled at me to give me some reassurance.

"Thinking of what, Dad? You've been awfully quiet since Ethan left the diner. I didn't know you both knew each other."

"We don't know each other, pumpkin. I know his mother. She's an old friend of mine back when we were kids."

"Neat. It must feel good then that both of you have reconnected."

"It does feel good in a way." He lets out a sigh. There was something troubling him. He opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped and just kept on driving.

"Dad, is there something you want to tell me? I thought we don't keep secrets from each other."

"Diana, sweetheart, you do know I love you right? That everything I do was for you?" He was starting to scare me.

"Dad, are you going to tell me you're a serial killer or maybe a mobster? Or better yet, a vampire? That you bit me too and now I have to live my life as a vampire too?" He chuckles. He always laughs at my jokes. Then his face turns serious.

"I need to have a long talk with you, Diana. Please prepare yourself for what I have to say. When we get home, I'll make us some hot chocolate and I'll tell you what I have been meaning to tell you all these years."

I nod and look out the window. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of my father.