Chapter 84: 85: Childhood Home

ARIEL

I blow lightly on the kindling of a small fire, the orange glow of embers flaring up in the darkness of the night.

At first, I managed to catch on to Natalia’s scent pretty easily—it’s not like she knows how to hide it or cover her tracks.

But now it’s the middle of the night, and I am definitely getting more and more worried about her.

Her scent has suddenly disappeared, and without a clear scent trail or the ability to spot her tracks in the dark, I have no choice but to wait here.

Which is bad news because we’re deep into Hunter territory now.

If Natalia is wandering through this forest alone, she won’t stand a chance of protecting herself against any of those creeps.

“They would eat a princess like her alive.”

Shuddering at the thought, I glance at my sword lying next to me, glinting in the firelight.

When we were younger, Natalia would make fun of me relentlessly for always practicing with my sword.

Back then, I resented her for teasing me about it. But now I just wish I could’ve shown her a few things about self-defense.

I hate the realization that there’s nothing I can do to protect her right now.

And that it’s my fault that she’s out here in the first place.

“Goddess.”

“How did I let it come to this?”

On the motorcycle ride out here, I had some time to reflect.

I hadn’t realized how badly I’d wanted my mom’s approval, how starved I’d been for her love.

The more attention she gave me, the more I let myself change in order to keep her happy.

And when I became the favorite, I completely ignored that Natalia was falling apart at the seams right in front of us.

I know now that I was wrong to blame her for that. And I hope to the Goddess that it’s not too late to fix those mistakes.

“You must close the rift of the past if you want to open a new path forward, my child.”

The Moon Goddess’s words echo in my head, and suddenly the wind picks up. Strong gusts snuff out my campfire, whip my hair across my face, and rustle the leaves in the trees above me.

As if Selene herself has heard my prayers, a new wave of scents hits my nose.

And out of them, one is familiar:

Wild strawberry and brown sugar.

Natalia’s unmistakable scent.

And judging by the direction of the wind, it seems like it’s coming from the south.

I frown. That’s the direction of the Crescent Moon Pack.

~Has Natalia decided to go back home?~

I rush to my motorcycle, roaring the engine to life and skidding back onto the road.

~I guess there’s only one way to find out.~

***

I’m definitely heading in the right direction. The closer I get to the Crescent Moon Pack, the stronger my sister’s scent becomes.

Everyone else has always loved her scent, but Goddess, for most of my life I’ve hated that smell and everything it represents.

Usually it reminds me of fake sweetener, not real sugar.

But now that I’m tracking Natalia, I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

It’s still fresh in the air, which tells me she might actually be all right.

Driving onto pack territory, I’m expecting the trail to lead me to the alpha mansion, where she lived with Xavier.

But it doesn’t.

No, the trail leads me into town, through the streets I know by heart that hold a mix of painful and beautiful memories, down a cul-de-sac to a place that I never thought I’d see again.

My childhood home.

I pull up to the curb, staring at the front of the house. All the lights are off, the lawn is overgrown and full of weeds, and a fading “For Sale” sign swings in the wind.

If I didn’t smell Natalia’s lingering scent inside, I would never guess anyone had been inside for months.

I approach the door, testing the handle.

Unlocked.

I enter the creaky, dark living room. Natalia and I always watched TV in here, fighting over whether or not we would watch ~Royal Pack’s Next Top Model~.

But after we fought, we would stop grumbling and lie together, our heads on pillows and feet pointed in the air.

I follow her scent upstairs, moving down the dark hallway where our grinning family photos used to hang.

As I approach Natalia’s old room at the end, I feel the same anxiety I would always feel when I passed in front of her door and heard her giggling with her friends.

All they did back then was do their makeup and talk about boys, and when I came home from warrior practice, they would open the door and tease me relentlessly.

But now, the room is silent.

I slowly push open the door and see my sister lying on the bed in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes are glazed over, and she doesn’t even react to seeing me standing in the doorway.

“How did you find me?” she sighs.

“Just because I gave up being a warrior doesn’t mean I forgot how to track like one.”

She rolls over in bed, away from me.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. There’s nothing else you need to say.”

I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed.

“No, Natalia, there is. I was ~wrong~. I’m so sorry. I never should have banished you, and I’m here to bring you home.”

“I am home now.”

“No, Natalia. Home is where your family is. With Xavi, and Dad, and me.”

“Yeah, and what about Mom? She hates me.”

“Just like she used to hate me. But that’s a problem with Mom, not with us. We can figure out how to deal with her together.”

“Together? We’ve never done one thing together, Ariel.”

I pause, sensing the venom in her voice. She’s angry, and she has a right to be.

“I accused you of things you didn’t do, Natalia,” I say. “And I’m sorry. It was actually ~Mom~ who told the press.”

She turns over and looks at me, a pained expression on her face. “It always comes back to Mom, doesn’t it?” she says.

I nod, lying down next to her, and we both stare up at the ceiling. “With her, it’s either getting shamed for being who you are, or getting love for becoming who you aren’t.”

We’re silent for a moment, letting the truth of that sink in.

“I didn’t actually want to be with Xavier at first,” she says finally. “Did you know that?”

I shake my head. The look on her face tells me she’s finally going to admit something she’s kept buried for a long time.

“I didn’t really ~want~ to become a luna.”

“Well, I don’t blame you,” I say. “It kinda sucks.”

She smiles, allowing herself a little laugh.

“Right before I got mated to Xavier, I found my destined mate. I saw him at the grocery store, but he didn’t see me. He was just a bag boy. And I...”

Her voice cracks a bit. “I just left. I deprived him of ever even knowing who his destined mate was because I was so concerned with status. And I never saw him again after that.”

I suddenly remember who she’s talking about. He was a shy, dark-haired boy who was around the same age as me. Not Natalia’s type at all.

But the Goddess works in mysterious ways…

“But when Xavier became alpha, I became his luna because it was the one thing in the world that I ~knew~ would make Mom proud.”

I nod in understanding.

“And...I’m sorry too,” she says.

“For what?”

She looks at me like I’m crazy.

“Do I really need to answer that? You could fill the shelves in the Royal Pack library by listing all the times I’ve been horrible to you.”

Now I laugh. It feels amazing to hear that from her.

“It wasn’t just you. You were only trying to make Dianne happy. She’s the one who divided us,” I say.

She pokes me in the ribs. “Seriously? Ariel, you’re ~way~ too nice. Like, yell at me, be mad or something! I’ve been a bitch!”

Even though the room is coated in darkness, I finally feel like I’m ~seeing~ my sister.

I turn to Natalia. “I…I just can’t hate someone who’s been through the same pain as me.”

She looks like she’s trying to hold back tears, but she’s failing. I feel my own wet tears stream down my cheeks.

“But…we don’t need to be like that anymore, right?” she says. “We don’t have to be like Mom.”

“That shit stops with us.”

She starts to sob now, hard. “But I’ve already been a terrible mom to Xavi…”

I put my arms around her, pulling her close. “No, you’re a great mother, and I’ve always thought so.”

“Thank you,” she says, hugging me back.

At this moment, I realize I can’t remember another time Natalia and I have hugged.

She’s my sister.

How is that even possible?

All I can do is thank the Goddess that it’s happening now.

The tears leave me feeling lighter than I’ve felt in a long time, and I sense a great weight lifting off my chest.

~Something~ is happening.

What is this feeling?

Deep inside me, something is getting mended.

An unseen crack, fixed.

The Moon Goddess’s words echo in my head: ~You must close the rift of the past if you want to open a new path forward.~

I finally ~understand~.

You might be able to change packs, but you can never change family.

Just as my sister and I are sharing a loving smile, another scent hits my nose.

A familiar, powerful scent.

A scent I’ve come to dread above almost everything else, and I instantly regret coming here alone.

~Firewood and clover.~

Heavy footsteps thud up the creaky stairs, one by one.

~Xavier.~

“Would you look at this?” he says, appearing in the doorway. His eyes are wild, his beard is scraggly and unkempt, and it looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks.

A sinister smile spreads across his face.

“My two favorite mates, right here in the same place.”