Chapter 66: Chapter 4

HALEY

I sense Alpha Redd before he reaches the door. “Glory, wake up,” I whisper. She hums in response, and a knock sounds on the door before it swings open.

Alpha Redd pulls a chair between the beds and sits down. Glory rubs the sleep out of her eyes and sits up. Alpha Redd looks straight at her and asks, “Why did your sister tell me you two are from the Weston pack?”

~He can tell us apart?~

I almost roll my eyes, but refrain. ~He is an alpha. I’m sure he can see that my face is more round than yours and that your nose is more pointed.~

Alpha Redd hasn’t looked away from Glory for one second. “We, we, our mom is from the Weston pack. We wanted to go there, but we could never find out where it is,” she stutters out.

He pulls a cell phone from his pocket. “What was your mother’s name?” he asks, not directing the question to either of us in particular.

“Karen Weston,” I respond. He looks me in the eye, probably to see if I’m lying again. Not this time, big fella.

I can hear Uncle Ryan’s voice from the other side of the phone and gasp. He called him! “Alpha Redd. Hey, man. What’s going on?”

He leans back comfortably in the chair. “Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Karen?”

“Um, yeah. My sister. She died a few years back.”

Alpha Redd nods his head as if he’s relieved to be getting rid of us. “I have her daughters in my infirmary.”

“What!” Uncle Ryan growls through the phone.

“They’re not hurt. They just needed a rest.” Alpha Redd doesn’t appear phased at all by Uncle Ryan’s reaction.

“I’ll send someone right away. Where have they been? And how did they end up in your territory?”

Alpha Redd tells him that we trespassed into his territory and Uncle Ryan growls again. I hope he’s not too angry with us. Goddess, I hope this wasn’t a bad idea.

I know not every alpha is good, Alpha Roberts for example… Uncle Ryan is family and loved us when we were kids, I’m sure he’ll be good to us.

A nurse brings food in for us. “Your uncle is sending someone to pick you both up,” Alpha Redd tells us after he hangs up his phone.

~I told you this was the way to find him~.

~Oh shut up, you always know everything~.

I almost growl at her, but I know she’s just jealous. “Thank you, Alpha Redd. We’re sorry for causing trouble for your guards,” I tell him. Glory nods in agreement.

Alpha Redd nods to us both and leaves the room.

I pull the cover from my tray and my stomach begins to growl in excitement at the sight of the food. Fried eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, and a biscuit with country gravy. Glory does growl when she takes the first bite.

After eating about half the food on the tray, I start running the brush through my hair. Alpha Redd comes back in and Glory rushes to the bathroom.

“Your sister said you two are a handful. Other than trespassing and switching places, what more trouble do you tend to get into?”

“It’s not on purpose. Glory is clumsy and I just laid in that bed because I was the first one out of the shower.”

“Clumsy? You’re werewolves. We have stellar reflexes.”

“There’s more to being clumsy than dropping things. She tends to injure herself.”

As if on cue, Glory stubs her toe on the tray table. “Son of a bitch!” Yeah, that’s gotta hurt. She hisses in pain and sits in the bed while the throbbing subsides.

I bite my lip and look to Alpha Redd. He hums and catches my eye.

Alpha Redd continues to chat with us until the doctor from last night comes in our room with Uncle Ryan and his beta, whose name I’ve forgotten. I’m about to jump up to hug him when Alpha Redd growls, stopping me in my tracks.

“Ryan. You didn’t tell me you’re personally coming to my territory.”

Uncle Ryan stays completely calm, he’s not afraid of Alpha Redd. He reaches his hand out to shake. “My apologies, Declan. I just felt that I needed to be the one to get them. After all, they are my nieces and I haven’t seen them in years.”

Alpha Redd doesn’t say anything then nods and follows the doctor out the door.

Uncle Ryan crosses his arms as he looks to both of us. His black hair is styled to the side and he’s clean shaven. His arms are even bigger than I remember and he’s about an inch taller than alpha Redd. “So you thought it would be a good idea to trespass into the territory of Alpha Redd.”

Glory throws me under the bus. “That was all Haley and she dragged me along. I told her it was a bad idea.” I just roll my eyes.

Uncle Ryan’s severe face cracks and he lets out a soft laugh. “He was probably the only one that wouldn’t kill you, I’m glad you didn’t go to any other territory. Goddess, I’ve missed you girls. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

He opens his arms and we both rush to hug him. He holds us so tight and sniffles, causing both of us to cry. He lifts our chins and takes the time to really look at us. “You’re both so pretty, just like Karen.”

He pulls a pocket knife out and cuts his hand. “Lick your finger and swipe it across the cut. Hurry before it closes.”

We both do as told and as the cut heals, a link to his pack is established. We can no longer hold it in and we cry even harder. We’re part of a pack and we have family again!

He looks over his shoulder. “You girls remember my beta, Kenneth?”

He gives us a polite nod and damn he’s hot! His blond hair reaches his shoulders and his snug sleeveless T-shirt shows off his incredibly fit body. “Do you have bags or anything?”

We shake our heads. “Just the stuff the nurse gave us,” Glory answers since I’m too busy drooling. He grabs the items and stuffs everything into a bag.

Alpha Redd is outside the door. Uncle Ryan shakes his hand again. “Thanks, Declan. If you ever need anything, you let me know. I owe you one.”

Uncle Ryan leads us out and I look back over my shoulder. Alpha Redd is a good guy; he saved our lives and returned us to our uncle. I think I’ll keep an eye out for him.

He gives me a subtle nod. I smile then rush to catch up to everyone.

Kenneth opens the back door to the largest truck I’ve ever seen. Given Uncle Ryan’s size, it makes sense that his vehicle would need to be equally large.

Kenneth helps us up and we buckle in.

Uncle Ryan drives us to a place that feels like no-man’s-land. He leads us to get shoes, then clothes, and even provides us with cell phones.

Next, we acquire toiletries and hair accessories. He even purchases a hair dryer and a curling wand for us, though we have no idea how to use them.

“You can YouTube it,” he advises us as we stop for lunch.

Kenneth then explains what YouTube is.

We pull into the school parking lot and all go inside to get registered.

“Girls, this is Mr. Newman. He’s the principal and he’s in our pack. If you need anything, let him know. Jeremiah, these are my nieces Haley and Glory Summers. They’ll start Monday. I want them to have time to get accustomed to the pack.”

“You finally found them. I’m so happy to hear it, alpha.”

“Alpha Redd found them and contacted me.”

I can tell Uncle Ryan is speaking to him through the link as Principal Newman gives him a subtle nod. He gets everything ready for us then hands us our schedules.

Glory starts to feel nervous about the idea of going back to school.

~We’ve done this before, you know,~ I remind her.

~Yeah, when we were ten. We were only in the fourth grade. We’ve missed a lot since then.~

~We’ll work together and catch up. Look, we have the same classes. We got this.~

~I guess you’re right.~

I link arms with her and we follow Uncle Ryan and Kenneth back to the truck.

“School gets out soon. We’re just waiting for Blaine,” he informs us.

So Glory and I start familiarizing ourselves with the phones. I’m excited to see Blaine. He’s only seven and we haven’t seen him since before our dad went rogue. He was the cutest little boy.

“I have Louisa setting up your rooms, unless you want to share a room?”

“Louisa?” Glory asks.

“She’s Blaine’s Grammy.”

“Oh. I would love my own room, if that’s all right,” I timidly say, hoping not to hurt Glory’s feelings.

“Yeah, we’ve never really had our own space.”

“Of course it’s all right. What color bedding would you like? You can decorate your rooms however you want later.”

“Can I have navy blue, please?”

I already have a plan for a night theme complete with glow-in-the-dark stars or twinkle lights. I’m not sure which yet.

“I like light purple, please,” Glory whispers.

“You got it.”

The bell rings and a throng of kids rush from the building. But one little blue-eyed, black-haired boy runs faster than the rest of the crowd.

Kenneth steps out of the truck to open the door and Blaine flies straight into the back seat with me and Glory.

“You’re here! Oh holy Goddess, you’re here!” He lays across my lap and pulls us both into hugs.

“Language, Blaine.”

“Sorry, Dad, but they’re finally here!”

“I know, son, and they’re going to stay with us. We’re their family.”

Uncle Ryan winks at us and we both smile. Blaine buckles into the middle seat and holds both our hands the whole trip to our new home.