Book 1: Chapter 33

I sat at the outside picnic tables behind The Wayward Tap. Finn was manning the grill while Aelia was sitting with me. Noah was grabbing some ice and a small cooler. I had a beer in my hand and she was finishing off her drink. It was sunny but not too warm. Sam had tried to pin me down for work today but I snuck out early and headed into town. After running a couple errands, I stopped by to see Aelia. The bar was closed because she had found a good deal on some meat and requested Finn to barbecue it, which apparently was an all day sort of thing. After a couple beers, I now was involved with the process. Plus, Aelia said she would show me up since I was so quick to say I was stronger than her.

She leaned back, stretching and closed her eyes. “It’s such a nice day out. Why can’t it always be like this?”

“We would take it for granted if it happened every day.” Finn answered her over the flames he was stoking.

I chuckled as she growled. “Finn, you suck. No one actually believes that shit.”

“You don’t believe it?” I asked her, curious.

She opened her eyes and rolled them. “People say that because they want to make themselves feel better about complaining on the days that doesn’t fit into their mold of a good day or good thing. If a good day happened every day, it’s not something someone would take for granted. In fact, they probably would actually just be thankful for every day. Just knowing it could have been worse without it actually happening. Plus, as much as I love sunny days, I love the thunderstorms too.”

Smiling, I took a sip of my beer. “People complain when it’s a good day too.”

“Yeah, because they are trying to bury something else. Something else that isn’t good. So if they complain it’s too sunny or that the bugs come out in this weather, it’s because something else is weighing on their mind. Making it so that they can’t enjoy the day.”

“Now who’s the one that sucks, pointing that out?” Noah came out with some chips and dip, setting it on the table before sitting next to Aelia.

She scoffed and shook her head. “I’m just saying. There are so many things we say that we try to convince ourselves is true as adults.”

“Oh? Such as?” I reached out and grabbed a couple chips.

Finn leaned turned, laughing. “I got one. Money can’t buy happiness.”

All three of them laughed but I cocked my head to side. “You can’t?”

Noah threw his arm over Aelia’s shoulder and pointed to me with the beer bottle he just opened. “Your brother is so cute.”

She shook her head. “No, he’s an idiot.”

“It’s true though…” I looked at the three of them, but they were still smiling.

Aelia grabbed a chip, dipped it, but stared at it without eating it. “In the literal sense, you can’t buy an emotion, you are correct. But no one ever means that saying in the literal sense.” She shoved the chip in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before continuing. “But you can buy things that provide you with that emotion. Happiness isn’t as simple as rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes it’s security. It’s having a roof over your head and protecting your family. Money can buy you that. You can build a business, a legacy, with money. You can buy someone else something they have always wanted. Whether that be as big as a car or house, down to a jacket or game. Sometimes you can buy yourself or someone else the opportunity you might not normally have had, allowing you to be happy and enjoy that moment.”

“Money can absolutely by you happiness. If you don’t think so, it means you either are making yourself feel better because you have no money, are naive enough to actually think your parents weren’t lying to you, or you’ve never had an issue with money that you don’t even realize what you’re actually saying.” Noah followed up.

My eyes narrowed as I wrapped my head around what was being said. “But you can’t buy friendship or family…”

“And we aren’t saying that it can. We are talking about happiness. Though, I feel like you can buy friendship and family.” Noah smiled.

“What…”

Aelia laughed. “He’s saying adoption for family. A lot of times you have to pay for adoption and they become your family. So technically you can buy your own family. You can also buy friendship. You can bring someone in with money, give them gifts, buy them things and you build a friendship over time. Whether or not that friendship is shallow enough to end once you no longer give them things is a different story but they could just be grateful for the things they did get and still continue to be friends.”

“I…” I tapped the mouth of the bottle against my lips before I took a sip. “Shit.”

All three of them laughed and I shook my head. “What’s another one?”

“Um…there is only one person out there for you?”

Aelia snorted and shook her head. “Too deep, Noah. I’m not digging into that one.”

“Coming from the person who see those connections.” I smiled.

She tapped her left side. “Only with one eye now. That’s only half the connections.”

I laughed and Finn snorted.

“Come on, Sil. Show me what you’ve got before these two loop you into their tin hat conspiracy theories. Cause that’s what this is headed.”

Shaking his head, Noah took a sip of his beer. “All I’m saying is that there is another supernatural race that is born solely to live under your bed.”

“He’s right. There have been…” Finn filled him up but Aelia threw a chip at him.

“Shut it, both of you. Crazy fucking wolves.”

My smile was wide as I got up, following after her. She was wearing some lounge shorts that came to just above her knee, with a tank top. Her muscle mass had definitely declined since I first saw her pull up into the The Wayward Tap months ago. However, Aelia was still a beast even with that. I’d gone to run errands in a plain shirt and some pants but Finn lent me one of his pairs of basketball shorts and a tank top. The shorts were okay but the tank top was big considering his size.

“Alright Sil, show me what you got.”

Aelia turned around once she walked onto the grassy space. It was next to the tree line but it was a big enough space that you could have a decent fight. From the marks on the ground and the nearby trees, I figured that’s what they used this space for as well. I’d seen their gym setup and it was to be envied for sure but there was no real space to spar. Not like this back clearing.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smirked but it was Finn and Noah who burst out laughing. I shook my head and rolled my shoulders. Nate might be more in-tuned with his body but I still trained and had the Alpha in me to make up for the amount of time I spent at my desk.

“Honestly, I’ll need to handicap myself. I won’t use magic or my Alpha aura. I also won’t shift. That’s more of a personal ‘I don’t want to bleed all over the ground’ choice right now.”

I nodded and dropped into a more attack position. “And me?”

“You? You need to come at me with everything you got. I want your full aura, full power, if you want to shift, do so. I want to see you at your best, Sil. Show me your strength as an Alpha.”

Growling, Eros was chomping at the bit but I held him back. I did, however, let loose my full aura. Peaking over at Noah and Finn, neither of them seemed phased and my annoyance grew. Aelia took more of a defensive stance and I took advantage of it, coming at her with claws. I swiped left then right, throwing my foot to catch her and drop her.

She seemed to see every single move I made. Inches were all she moved away from my hands, stepping lightly out of the way of anything I tried to use my leg for. Bringing my knee up, I tried to faint kneeing her in the stomach, only to extend fully and catch her in the ribs but even then, she slipped to my right, out of my flexibility to hit her.

“Come on, Sil. You can do better than that.”

My growl reverberated through the trees and I swiped at her again. Pushing myself faster, letting Eros also slip forward, us working in tandem. He was just as irritated as I was. She hadn’t made a single step towards up. Hadn’t touched us a single time. Minute after minute, I grew more irate. More of my wolf was showing as I just simply tried to hit her.

“Sol…”

She smirked at Noah’s chastising tone. I didn’t know what it meant but when I came up for another hit. For the first time, Aelia stepped towards me but her entire body disappeared from my eyes. As my foot came down, I was rocketed to the side as one of these strongest forces I had ever felt hit me in the ribs. Coughing, I was unable to even stand up fully. Down on one knee, I barely had time to register the fist coming toward my face. I was able to drop further but as I was bringing my head down, a knee connected with my eye. Eros took over completely, livid at the turn in the fight. He rolled to the left, getting up and straight ignored the pain of what was probably multiple broken ribs. His eyes zeroed in on the still defensive stance Aelia was taking.

“I am no fool, little one.” His deep voice ringing out.

“You may not be a fool, but you aren’t a very good fighter.”

Her taunt worked as Eros growled, running towards her at full speed. He went to throw a combination punch kick when he shifted just as he got close enough. His canines elongating, claws ready to shred her face. However, as he was coming down, her entire body disappeared from view. Eros landed in the now empty spot. He was about to turn when he froze.

“Nice try, Eros. But it’s not good enough.” Her voice was a whisper in our right ear.

Suddenly, we were being thrown. Eros yelped as our body hit a tree, cracking the tree and it fell behind us. I stepped forward, Eros almost limping away in the back of my mind. Shifting, I was on all fours, coughing up blood while trying to regain the air that had been knocked out of my lungs.

Finn put his hand one my shoulder but I couldn’t even react. He handed me some water and after finally catching my breath, I sat up on my knees and took the glass with a shaky hand.

“Thanks.”

He smiled and nodded. Looking at Aelia, she had completely dropped out of any stance, except now her arms were crossed over her chest.

“I think you went a little hard, Sol. He’s not going to heal until tomorrow at the earliest.”

She huffed. “I wasn’t!”