Chapter 38

Axel

We didn’t see Alpha Blake for the rest of the afternoon and soon after Lily broke the happy news, Luna Enola ordered three bottles of sparkling wine. Two alcoholic and one non-alcoholic for the glowing mother to be.

All worries had been forgotten by then and pushed to the side as our two households celebrated Shadow Creek’s wonderful news.

Dorian, Dire Mountain’s Delta also came to celebrate with us, as did Pamela.

Everyone was genuinely excited for the happy couple and Ray couldn’t look prouder as he basked in the glorious prospects of becoming a father and having the love of his life carry his pup, just like she carried his heart in the depth of her chest. He hugged and kissed my sister every so often, silently reassuring her of his love and support.

When the bottles were finally empty, Dire Mountain’s members politely excused themselves and the three of us were left to catch up. It took about another hour or so to learn of all Shadow Creek’s new gossip and recent happenings.

The biggest talk of the town was apparently that I had been sent away by my sister, their Luna, for exposing myself to a minor. It was absolute bullshit. And to say that I was shocked to learn about it was the understatement of the year. Ray seemed to love sharing the story with me. His eyes grew brighter with every sentence while my brows furrowed more and more, deep wrinkles forming on my forehead.

“I have never exposed myself to a minor in my life!” I had exclaimed, outraged by the unexpected false accusation.

One of the waiters who had come in to clear some of the glasses and bottles away stopped abruptly and her mouth fell wide open. She quickly realized what she had done though and scurried away so quickly; she left her entire tray behind with everything still on it.

Both Lily and Ray had chuckled at that, and my dear sister did the honours of informing me that one of the cleaning girls I had encountered on my last morning in Shadow Creek hadn’t exactly turned sixteen yet, which technically made her a minor.

I had to dig ridiculously hard through my memories to pull up the incident since the last few weeks I had spent in Shadow Creek had warped together into one big blurry mess. I did however remember two blushing, slightly young girls coming in to clean up after my outburst where I had smashed a mirror and maybe a few other things the night before.

“I would hardly call that exposing myself,” I grumbled as Lily went on and on about how the girls kept streaming to her office begging that she should just forgive me and bring me back. Even the alleged underage girl had gone begging to Lily, claiming that she had forgiven me. FORGIVEN ME!

Raiden and Lily seemed to think the whole thing was very funny, but I didn’t.

I couldn’t wrap my head around how quickly such an outrageous story had started, spread and was now taken for the truth in such a short amount of time.

“Well, I do believe she had seen your entire ass,” Ray had argued in between his laughing. I must have been pulling some kind of face, because every time he looked up at me, his laughing increased. And to make matters worse, the prick had such contagious laughter that it soon sent Lily into a fit of laughter too, and she couldn’t even see the pathetic look on my face.

“Yeah, you really have quite a few fans back home,” she said, at last, wiping tears of laughter from her cheeks.

Home.

I visibly cringed at that last part, but my blind sister, luckily, couldn’t see it. Ray did though and something in his eyes changed. Shadow Creek wasn’t my home, have never been, and he knew it too.

A saturated, uncomfortable silence fell after that, but Lily never even noticed the shift in the atmosphere since she couldn’t see my sagging shoulders, the absence of light from my eyes and the broken smile, pulling my lips down until it had faded completely.

I had no place to call my home. Not anymore. Not Shadow Creek and definitely not Hollow Stone either.

“Speaking of ladies,” Ray tried to steer the conversation into a new direction, “you defended Gabrielle’s honour?” It was a question based on pure curiosity. He wanted to know what had really happened earlier that day.

“It was nothing,” I mumbled, sitting back in my chair and crossing my legs at the ankles.

“Well, whatever it was, I am glad to hear you finally picked the right lady to stand up for,” Lily said with a new sparkle in her pale, lifeless eyes.

She looked so incredibly happy, content, peaceful. I didn’t want to spoil any of it by informing her that there was nothing going on between me and Gabrielle. I wanted her to remain happy. Stay that way forever. Boy, if I had only one wish.

“Axel, please can I spend some time with her alone?” She suddenly asked, catching me completely off guard.

“Why?” I found myself asking.

“To get to know my future sister-in-law better, of course” she replied with a wink.

Ray’s eyes snapped towards me, waiting for me to shoot a dagger into his sweet, pregnant wife’s heart.

I studied her intently. Contemplated it. And found that I couldn’t do it.

“Ok.”

“Awe, thank you so much, Axe,” she squealed excitedly, “I promise, I won’t tell her anything embarrassing about you. Well, not yet anyway.”

My sister truly glowed. Whether it was the pregnancy or thinking that her waste-of-a-brother was somehow making something of his life, I couldn’t say. But an all too familiar dull ache pressed along the walls of my chest.

I felt like I had to get out of there. Like I couldn’t breathe.

“Will you please inform her to come and meet me for a sundowner tonight? Let’s say about 18h00?”

Ray examined me again.

“Sure,” I replied while getting up, keeping my voice as neutral and unreadable as I possibly could.

Raiden’s eyes softened in understanding and he mouthed the words, “thank you” to me as he pulled Lily into his side again for another peck on her forehead.

She was still smiling as I walked away.