Chapter 73: Chapter 11

HALEY

I make sure to call Virgil on his birthday, which falls at the beginning of June.

“Hey, troublemaker,” he answers.

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” I shake my head and kick my bare feet in the comfort of my room.

“I’ll stop. What’s up?”

“I wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Are you doing anything special?”

“Thank you. Not really. Miss Regina is making a cake big enough for all the strays. I got my license yesterday. Alpha Redd taught me to drive.”

“That’s awesome. Congrats. Who is Miss Regina?”

“She’s Alpha Redd’s mom. She runs the pack house.” I close my eyes and I can picture Virgil talking to an older, but very pretty lady and a very serious looking older man.

“I’m going to be at the camp all day tomorrow. I’m delivering supplies with Jason. You should see if you can go. Martha asks about you every now and then.”

“I’ve been wanting to get over there. I’ll ask. It’s not a guarantee, though.”

“Great. I hope to see your pretty face. I miss you.”

My cheeks warm up, but honestly, I miss him too. “If I don’t see you, try not to be too disappointed.”

Virgil laughs. “I’ll definitely be disappointed.”

“Happy birthday. I have to go find my uncle to see if I can go.”

“All right. Good luck. Thanks for calling.”

Uncle Ryan is in his office with the door open, so I knock on the frame. He looks up. “Hey. Come on in.”

I take a seat and muster up the courage to ask. “I was wondering if it would be possible to visit the camp tomorrow?”

“You haven’t been there in over a year.”

“I know, and I feel bad. Martha took care of us, the least I could do is say thank you.”

“Kenneth and I have some fortifications to work on. I can have Xavier take you. He has business in no-man’s-land. Is Glory going?”

“I haven’t asked her.”

“Please do. I don’t want you going alone.”

“I’ll do that now.” Uncle Ryan nods and I get up to leave, but look back at him again.

He’s facing off against another alpha and they’re pretty evenly matched. The rest goes into a white light, kind of how Virgil’s future looks. Oh, Goddess, what does that mean?

“Your crescent was showing just now,” he tells me as I blink back to the present.

I rub at my forehead. “Is it bad?”

“If I were human, I wouldn’t see it at all.” I know he has questions, but he doesn’t press the issue.

I knock on Glory’s door, but her music is on so I crack the door open. She’s pouring over a magazine and bobbing her head to the music. “Glory,” I yell over the music as I walk in.

She pauses the music. “What?”

“I want to go to the camp tomorrow. Uncle Ryan said I could but you have to come too. He doesn’t want me going alone.”

She sits up on her knees. “Yeah, sure. I want to see Martha.”

“Great. We’re riding with Xavier.”

Preparations are made and I call Virgil to let him know we’re coming. After a quick breakfast, I wait by the door for Xavier to show up. Ten minutes later, we’re in his truck and headed to the camp.

Virgil texts me that he’s there and I get even more excited.

Xavier drops us off and promises to be back by 3 p.m. Glory and I rush to the camp then remember the rule of no running while inside the camp because it stirs up dust.

Martha smiles as soon as she sees us. “If it isn’t my favorite set of twins.” Her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail and her clothes are clean. She wraps us both into a big hug.

“Sorry we haven’t been by sooner,” Glory tells her.

She waves her hand at the thought. “Oh, don’t be. I miss you, but I’m happy for you. I hear you found your uncle.”

“Mhmm. He’s great. He brought us into his pack as soon as he saw us, no questions asked. We even have our own rooms. Here, I made you this.” Glory pulls a leather cord from her pocket. A round bark blue and gold glass charm hangs from an intricate braid I didn’t even know she could do.

“Oh, it’s beautiful. Thank you.” Martha ties it around her neck then adjusts it so it hangs straight. “Walk with me. We’re unloading supplies from Jason’s truck.” Glory’s face lights up and I shake my head at her. “Are you two staying out of trouble?”

“We’re trying to,” I answer.

“Don’t believe a word she says, they’re nothing but trouble,” Virgil jokes and pulls me in for an unexpected hug. He hugs Glory too, but looks at me and gives me a wink. “You mind helping out?”

“Of course not,” Glory says and reaches for a bag. It rips and apples go tumbling all over. Her face turns as red as the apples.

“I should’ve warned you about that bag,” Jason says. He finds a bucket and we all start filling it with the apples. Huh, he didn’t blame her.

After the truck is emptied, we head back toward Martha’s little spot. She has lounge chairs around a fire pit. It’s not lit, but come nightfall, I’m sure it will be.

Virgil grabs my hand. “Take a walk with me?” I nod and look to Martha. She gives me a half smile and Virgil leads us away.

The woods are so pretty and green here, I almost miss this place. Almost. “I’m glad you came.” I look up at Virgil. Goddess, he’s gorgeous. He looks even better than the last time I saw him.

He’s got to be pushing 6’2”. His hair has grown out, but it’s styled nicely and his face is even clearer. “You’re staring.”

I blush and look away. “I wasn’t staring, I was thinking.” He gives me a look that says ‘yeah right’. “Okay, I was staring. You just look so different.”

“Is that good or bad?”

We stop at a tree and I lean against it. “I don’t know…bad. She-wolves are going to start hitting on you twice as much now.”

Virgil laughs. “Twice as much as zero?”

“That’s not true. You just don’t pay attention enough to see it.”

Virgil shrugs. “I guess I don’t. There’s only one that I care about.” I look away and my cheeks warm up again. “Haley, I know you said you don’t want to date, but I still like you. A lot. I just want you to know that.”

I reach out and take his hand. “I don’t know what my uncle would say about me dating. My reasons haven’t changed, but I really like you, Virgil. I always have.”

His lips twitch up into a gentle smile. He pulls my hand up and places a gentle kiss on the back, making my heart race. “So what should we do?”

He rubs his cheek against the back of my hand and hums. “I don’t know,” I whisper.

Virgil smiles at me and steps closer. “You always know.”

I shake my head. “Not this time,” I tell him, looking into his soft brown eyes. Eyes that are mere inches from my face.

I’m not sure when it happened, but my free hand reached out to grip his arm, just above the elbow. That same arm has wrapped around my waist. “Tell me no,” he whispers.

I shake my head. “I don’t want to.” Virgil closes the distance and presses his lips to mine.

I reach up on my toes and my arm climbs higher to keep him close. His kiss is gentle and soft, then his tongue traces my lips and I welcome it. My lips slightly part and his tongue caresses just the opening.

His arm tightens around me, bringing me closer. He lets go of my hand to cup my face. My hand goes to his strong shoulder and I kiss him even more deeply.

Virgil pulls back, breaking our kiss, but he has yet to let me go. “Haley. Will you be my girlfriend? You’re all I think about, when I have time to think, that is.”

“All that studying and training?” Virgil nods. I nod. “I will, but I don’t want people to know. Everyone thinks badly of me and my sister. I would hate to tarnish you.”

“I don’t care what people think of me. Anyone says anything bad about you and Glory will have to answer to me. But if secret is how you want it, we’ll keep it secret.”

I reach up and throw my arms around him into a tight hug. “Thank you, Virgil.” He hums and runs his nose up my neck.

“Haley!” Glory calls as she gets closer. I pull away from Virgil, but he still holds my hand. He plants another kiss on the back then heads back to the camp.

Glory watches him as he walks by. “Oh, there you are. Damn, he’s gotten big. And hot. When did that happen?”

“While you were too busy drooling after Jason. Virgil has always been hot.” I start heading back to the camp and Glory joins me.

“What did he want?”

“Nothing much. We were just taking a walk and talking. We do that sometimes, you know.”

“I know you talk to him, you two have always been friends. What do you guys talk about? I wouldn’t know what to say if a guy started talking to me.”

“You just talk about whatever. It’s no different than talking to me or Uncle Ryan. Virgil’s birthday was yesterday. He just got his license.”

“Ooh. Maybe he can visit us once in a while. Then he could bring Jason with him.”

I roll my eyes and we make it back to the edge of the camp where our conversation dies. We take the two chairs between the guys and Virgil gives me a smirk as I sit down beside him.

He gives us both an apple to munch on while we chat with Martha. She eyes us knowingly. Other than my cheeks warming up, I give nothing away.

Xavier meets us at three o’clock as promised, but stops before he gets to us. He sniffs the air then starts walking a different direction into the camp. We all stand to watch him and Virgil casually takes a step closer to me.

Xavier hunts down the scent he’s looking for and stops in front of a tent. “Oh, shit,” Martha blurts out. I turn to look at her.

“That’s Paulina’s tent.” I knit my brows at her, wondering why that matters. We’ve known Paulina for a while. She’s beautiful and really nice.

“She’s pregnant.”

“Oh, shit.” Glory smacks at me, reminding me not to curse, even though she still does.

We all just stand and watch as Paulina emerges from her tent, heavily pregnant. Xavier looks her over then begins speaking. We can’t hear from this distance, but Paulina slaps him.

He growls then steps closer to her. Virgil and Jason tense up, but Martha tells them to stay out of it. Xavier speaks, then Paulina.

I bite my lip, wondering what to do, but Virgil places his hand on my shoulder and I relax. Paulina gets into Xavier’s face and speaks animatedly. Xavier inches closer. Paulina inches closer.

Xavier grabs the she-wolf’s face and kisses her. Paulina is stiff at first but begins to relax. She pushes him away, says something, then kisses him again.

~Holy cannoli, the mate bond is a powerful thing. Am I going to be able to resist it when the time comes?~ Virgil’s thumb caresses my collarbone and I close my eyes. I’m having a hard time resisting him and he’s just a high school crush.

The mate bond is going to kick my ass. I turn away from Xavier and Paulina and look up at Virgil. He doesn’t say anything, but I know he’s concerned for me.

We take our seats while Xavier gets Paulina packed up. I don’t say anything while everyone else gets back to chatting. Uncle Ryan said he was looking into it, maybe he can find an answer.

Maybe there’s a chance I’ll get to have a mate. ~Who am I kidding? There’s no hope for me. And if I die, Glory will likely follow.

Unless she has her mate. I’ve seen him, I know he’s out there. Screw it, if I can’t have a mate, I’m going to enjoy at least having a boyfriend. A gorgeous giant boyfriend that thinks about me every chance he gets.~

I look up at Virgil. He feels my eyes on him and looks at me. He gives me a wink then gets back to the conversation.

Martha half smiles at me, but I ignore it. Once Paulina is all packed, we load into Xavier’s truck and head back home.