Alpha's Blind Luna novel Chapter 86

Reaching out, I took Reagan as well. Walking into the nursery, I laid them both down in the crib. Within a couple minutes they were snoozing. Brushing the back of my finger over both their chubby cheek, I smiled letting my mind focus solely on them for a moment. I turned on the mobile above, made up of little wolves that played soft music and the sound of rain. Another flick of the switch and stars reflected on the ceiling, illuminating the room just a little.

“Sleep. I’m watching. Don’t you worry.”

Silently, I stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving just a crack. Hector was downstairs, leaning against the doorframe of the back door. Walking into the kitchen, I set up the baby monitor on my tablet and started to pull out food for dinner.

“You’re really good with them.” Hector leaned back to look at me, a wry smile on his face. “Imagine, all your worrying for nothing.”

I scoffed. “I think they like Vale better.”

He laughed. “No, they like me better. They tolerate you and Vale.”

I failed to stop the smile to come over my face. Hector chuckled and turned back to look out the door. The sound of the waves were loud enough that it filled the otherwise quiet house. My clanging around the kitchen added to it but for the most part, even that couldn’t quiet the crashing sound.

“You need to help Vale, Zeke.”

Humming, I glanced at Hector’s back. “With what?”

“If he starts a war with his mom, he’ll lose. You have to help him come to his senses. Maybe not immediately, don’t force him, but he needs to see that there is always a reason behind her actions. She doesn’t take them lightly. Not anymore. It’s always to protect someone, usually her kids. He needs to give her a chance to tell her side. Not just believe what he sees from the outside. That’s not the whole picture.”

“I’m not sure I can do that. He’s been so much better lately. I don’t want to push him.”

Hector reached back and grabbed the packet of cigarettes that now stayed above the beam framing the door. “Then you’ll lose him.”

Before I could ask what he meant, the door shut behind him and I watched through the glass as he walked down to the water and stood, smoking. I wanted to ask, but there was a trepidation to my thoughts. That maybe I really didn’t want to know what he meant.

For a moment I stared at the salmon on the counter, thinking maybe it could give me the answers. How to talk to Vale. How to be a wise Alpha. How to be a good father. How to navigate this world that for so long I’d never been apart of. This fish was holding the answers in its bones and I needed to pick them out.

It was slow, but I was methodical in the picking out of the bones with tweezers. For the first time in a while, my thoughts fell back to Rose and to my pack. There wasn’t any news, so that was at least good. Any news that came across our desks was bad. Her pup would be five…going on six, if I remembered correctly. I wondered if they had had more or if Owen finally introduced his mate to the pack. My hand stopped over the fish, staring it down. So much had changed.

Glancing at the monitor, I smiled. It was hard. The chaos and unknown was scary. Would I change it though? Would I go back to my old pack? No. Absolutely not.

“What’s for dinner?”

I was startled by Jax, as he sat on one of the stools. “Goddess, when did you get in?”

“You and Vale. I swear. You’re the only two werewolves that can be startled when you’re focusing on tasks.”

Chuckling, I ran my finger along the salmon, feeling for any bones I may have missed. “That’s not a bad thing.”

Jax hummed, shaking his head. “What’s with Sir Stress-Smoke out there?”

“Vale put a bounty on Auri. Apparently, she killed High Councilor Mark.”

He snorted. “Dude, was an asshole. I’m sure he deserved it.”

The pan I was holding slipped, clanging onto the oven. “Jax!”

“What? It’s true.”

“He died!”

Jax shrugged. “So? Mom had a reason for it. She always does.”

I looked at him for a second, trying to see if there was any doubt but there wasn’t. He, unaware of my stare, reached over and grabbed a couple carrots from the counter I set out.

“Why is Vale putting a bounty on her? Goddess knows he’s just sending people to their untimely demise. She hasn’t come back for a reason. You force her back and there will be hell to pay.”

Shrugging, I sighed. “I genuinely don’t know. I really don’t…”

-

I jolted awake and whipped my head to look at the monitor. The twins were sleeping soundly in the crib and I sighed, flopping back into the pillow. My eyes caught movement in the room and I saw Vale, wrapped in a towel, rummaging through the closet.

“Vale?” My voice cracked and sounding groggy.

“Zeke, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”

“About three. Go back to sleep.”

My eyes dropped for a moment and I felt sleep start to take me until my head fell forward. “Where were you? It’s been weeks.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” He turned off the light in the closet and came out in a pair of boxers with a white shirt. “We were following a few leads of where my mother was. They turned up outdated. Or she was a step ahead of us. Either way, I’ve left Peter in change.”

He climbed into bed and slipped under the covers. Pulling me down, he rested my head on his chest and took my hand. Intertwining our fingers, he sighed and ran his other hand down my back.

“I can feel what you’re thinking, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you think I’m going to ask?”

“Nice try, Zeke. Just go back to sleep. I’m exhausted.”

I hummed, closing my eyes. “We’ll talk about it when you’re ready. But…” Nuzzling closer to him, I threw my leg over his. “…for the record, not that it means much, but I think you’re wrong in doing this.”

His chest rose a bit higher and fell, in a deep sigh. The darkness and silence came over us for a bit until I thought I heard the soft snores. I chuckled, knowing it was him trying to fake asleep.

“How do you have so much faith in her?”

“How do you not?”

His chest rose and fell again. He shifted slightly under the blankets and his arm tightened around me. Vale’s voice sounded like he was in pain.

Huffing, I turned back and flipped the grilled cheese over.

“Chaos, as usual. We finished up the Delgado, Avis, and Renaldo business. They are handling the building of their houses themselves. I’ve been mapping out an entirely new residential area. I negotiated one of the larger markets to set up a shop but their stipulations were…ridiculous. It needs to be this big, this long, this color, this far away from town, this close to the road. If they weren’t convenient, I’d just have everyone continue to get groceries in the town over.” I grumbled, thinking over the list of things that still needed to be done.

AJ laughed. “Oh man, I missed being home. I don’t know how long it will be, but I’m happy to help.”

Setting down the bowls of soup and the cut grilled cheeses in front of him, I sat next to him on the bar. “I can have Jax go with Vale a few times. You’ve been running around with him this whole time…”

“I don’t mind. Plus, I’m not sure if Jax could take it. Vale has a tendency to be like Mom, whether he would admit it or not. Head first, no plans, figure it out as we go. It would drive Jax crazy. He may complain, but he loves the paperwork and shit that builds a pack.”

AJ took a moment to take a bite of sandwich before continuing. “Jax was the eldest out of everyone. I was closer to Tyr in age and so it was easier for us to hang out. Jax took our mother’s death harder and he blamed himself for a long time after our father committed suicide.”

“How…how could…”

Shaking his head, he seemed to pause for a moment before shrugging. “He lost his will once his mate died. They didn’t always see eye to eye but they still loved each other. When she died, nothing could have bound him to this world. So when Mom took us in, it was hard for Jax to find a place with the kids.”

“I didn’t realize…I know Auri took you guys in, but not the details behind it.”

“We don’t really say much. Auri is our mom. She loved our mother and was really close to her for years. Our mother died protecting us, protecting Auri. Even though technically Auri died as well. But they were able to save her.”

My eyes widened. “Your mom died when Auri lost her voice?”

He nodded. “She took us in even when she was still recovering. But Mom used the excuse of her recovering to rope Jax into the office. He would sit with her for hours, reading to her and helping her fill out paperwork. After a while, he did it because he felt like he belonged at her side. Now, he’s more comfortable with the paperwork side of everything.”

Dipping the end of my grilled cheese into the soup, I chewed slowly. “She liked to gather people.”

AJ chuckled. “She did. But she was gathering people much earlier. Sadly, it was at the cost of her half-brother and half-sister. Their relationship was rocky at best over the years. They were civil and we got to hang out with our cousins a few times. Jax actually was pretty close in age with their eldest, I think. But more wedges kept getting between them. I know Mom was sad about it. She blamed herself a lot, that it wasn’t just because she disappeared for years. But you’d never know, she wouldn’t tell you. It was just written on her face sometimes.”

“Her parents abused her though. Wouldn’t she want to cut ties with her family completely?” My curiosity getting the better of me.

He looked at me, surprised. “She told you about that?”

A flush came over my cheeks and I nodded. “Inadvertently. She was training me and it happened to come up.”

“I, honestly, don’t know too much about it. Logan used to say stuff about it. Mom said he saved her, multiple times. She’d always go on about how much he loved her, wanted to keep her safe. None of us believed it after a while. I think she was the only one who did.”

Looking down at my soup, I moved the spoon around in it to create ripples. Between her journals and her memories, I knew what he meant.

AJ sighed. “You might be able up convince him to stop this. That this is just not going to go his way. But I have to be there to stop him if he goes too far. Do my best to support him as Beta but also call him out on his shit. Like Bryan used to do with Logan.” At the end, AJ chuckled.

“Because we don’t have our hand full enough as it is.”

“Of course not! You were getting the hang of those munchkins too quick. Brought this on yourself!” He laughed and took a bite of the grilled cheese.

I shook my head. “Jinx us why don’t you.” Elbowing him, we both laughed. It was nice to have him back.