Page 9 of Stargazer

Zander made to grab a piece of bacon but I swatted his hand away. “We should wait for Sky.”

The lovable oaf grumbled a few unintelligent things under his breath before snatching and chugging down a whole glass of juice instead.

“Wait for Sky for what?”

Her light, airy voice travelled through the open kitchen and my head snapped in her direction as I instantly stood from my seat, locking eyes with her piercing sky-blue ones. Her smile was wide and toothy as she took me in.

I rushed towards her.

“Veeee!” She all but squealed as she held her arms out for me and I slammed into them, knocking her back a few steps as we both giggled.

“Sky,” her voice was a plea in my mouth. An unsaid question of whether she could ever forgive me that she seemed to immediately understand, holding me tighter and rubbing my back. But nevertheless, I needed to voice my guilt. “Skylar, I don’t know how I could ever make it up to you. I’m so incredibly sorry. I should have known better. But I was a complete and utter idiot. I should have known. And I’m just so sorry. Please give me a second chance.”

By the time I had gotten it out, I was crying again. I had a feeling there was going to be lots of that while I tried to overcome the guilt that plagued me. I felt like the worst person who didn’t deserve their forgiveness, but I hoped and prayed they would give it to me anyway.

Skylar was always an angel. And me ditching her and assuming she was part of a band of killers didn’t change that. She immediately forgave me with kindness and loving grace.

“Vee, don’t be silly. It’s in the past. We weren’t blameless either. I wish I could have been more open to you and for that I’m sorry. You were my friend, and I should have done a better job at easing your doubts at least. I don’t blame you for reacting the way you did. It was a scary situation and I can’t imagine how you must have felt. How it all looked. I missed you though. And I was so sad thinking we had lost you forever. I wanted to come find you and explain. I wish I had done so earlier. I probably could have saved us all a little heartache,” she whispered the next part so only I would hear, “Especially a certain Alpha.” She looked between River and myself and then gave me her usual bubbly grin. I’d missed that contagious smile of hers.

She continued, “I’m so happy that fate brought you back here. Let’s make sure we never let this happen again, okay? Honesty from all sides going forward. And communication! Even if it means I have to kick the Alpha’s butt every now and again.”

“That sounds like perfection,” I nodded eagerly, taking a moment to memorise her familiar features as we held each other. Her medium brown hair was half up, the top half tied behind her head in a messy bun while the lower remained out and tousled. A few face framing pieces had been left out and the natural highlights brought out the blue in her eyes. She wore a Nirvana band tee, the front tucked into denim cut-off shorts, and finished the look with her signature converse. I missed this girl.

I understood that if River didn’t want them to tell me anything, they had to obey. He was their Alpha. And I also understood that they all thought they were protecting me in their own way. But there were still a few things I needed to discuss with Riv.

By the time we had finished our moment and looked back at the boys, Zander’s plate was full and a piece of toast loaded with eggs was halfway down his mouth, being devoured like the guy had been starved for days. Clearly, he had given up on waiting and I couldn’t help but laugh at how Zander that was. Axel and River had also plated up but seemed to be waiting for us to dig in. They talked quietly among themselves, trying to give us a slither of privacy, even though with their heightened senses they could likely hear everything we’d said. It was nice to know they were trying though.

I squeezed Sky’s hand and offered her a smile. “After we eat, can we find somewhere to just chill together and catch up? I have so much I want to update you on.” I know we had just promised honesty, but I wondered how much I should tell her about Griffin and how she would react knowing that I was even considering not falling back into our old normal.

“I wouldn’t have let you do anything else! I don’t care what Riv had in store for you. It’s bad enough he made us stay away last night!” She grinned, her eyes dancing in the light. I had a feeling that after going through all this, we could be so much closer, now that those barriers had been broken down. I liked the possibilities this created for us—as a team. A mismatched, unusual pack.

We talked as we ate, passing around plates of food and filling our bellies, just like old times. Axel and Sky filled me in on all the stupid Zander moments I’d missed, and Zander updated me on all the pranks he had pulled that he was clearly very proud of. They asked me about the training I had undertaken and were more than a little surprised to hear about the powers that I now held.

“Tiny Vee ain't so tiny anymore,” Zander snickered with a wide set grin.

“You better not get on her bad side, Zan,” Skylar threatened with a laugh.

But even though we were discussing a moment in time where we were on opposite sides, every single one of them was proud of me and showed nothing but adoration for the person I was becoming and the sense of purpose I had found. I may have grown up without a proper sense of familial stability, but boy had I been blessed with an abundance of family now. So much so that I was almost torn between the two. But whichever way it went with the men in my life, I would try my hardest to hold onto both families.

I couldn’t bear the thought of losing either.

CHAPTER 4

VENUS

Ihad to go home. Like home, home. My mother and Celeste were waiting for me and now that my urgent task of finding, explaining and apologising to River had been done, I had no more excuses. I needed to patch things up with them too and make sure there were no hard feelings. I knew Celeste and I were fine, but I desperately missed my mother. And the few phone calls and occasional texts were nowhere near enough to mend the bond between us.

I was so grateful that the relationship between Sky and myself seemed to be intact.

After breakfast, we took a stroll through the back of the property to a pair of swings that hung from the pine trees along the border of the forest. Far enough away from the house that we’d be able to catch up without the supernatural ears of our wolf friends’ picking up on parts of our conversation.

Things felt so natural with Sky—another reminder of how easily I could slide back into my old life.

She told me how things had been since I was gone. How they’d really been. From River’s sullen moods to his stress over the rogues. She’d explained that he never wanted to push his luck by visiting my mother and asking where I was. That he’d felt responsible and didn’t feel like he deserved to come after me. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to know where I was. From wanting to know that I was safe and unharmed and hopefully happier somewhere, hence his questions to Maxine and TJ at the diner, and to anyone else in town who had any idea where I’d gone. He’d tried his best while being conscious of coming across as suspicious.

He wasn’t playing the part of ‘grief-stricken lover’ like my sister thought. He was the grief-stricken lover. Grief-stricken and heart broken.

It was the rest of the pack, out one day without their Alpha, that had wanted to take things into their own hands for his sake and confront Celeste for answers. Zander had been an initiator, never one to shy away or back down from an awkward or uncomfortable situation. They’d had enough of his sulking and wanted to help him in some way—any way. The thought of which severely hurt my heart.

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