Page 120 of The Alpha and His Childhood Sweetheart

I did several rounds of body scrub on myself. Eventually, I was satisfied that I didn’t smell god awful and stepped out of the shower to start on my teeth. Lord knows how many times I brushed them, but I was making up for lost time. Then I went to use the mouthwash until I knew my mouth was cleansed.

EJ snapped us food. I told Rhea, “I don’t know what I did for the Goddess to pair me with him, but I want to thank her from the bottom of my soul. Did you SEE my hair? He was even going to kiss me instead of getting a hazmat suit.” She purred, “He is the most amazing man.”

My mouth was watering over the scent of the food he’d snapped me. He teased me about his clothes. I asked my wolf, “Does he really not see how hot he is?” Rhea growled in myhead, “He doesn’t see all those who want him. We have to work overtime because he’s so sexy. It is worth it, but that he doesn’t see it makes me worried about him. He’s lucky he knew us our whole life. The poor sap would be a fish out of water in the dating pool.” I nearly laughed out loud, but she was right.

EJ brought up the fights from the Summit. He had no idea how much it set my wolf off. Rhea snorted, “Because they were bitches. Those she wolf bitches wanted what was ours! They planned to flirt with him in front of us. What were we supposed to do? Smile at them?! NO! My way is better, and you listened. Which I cannot overstate how much I love you for.”

I snorted, “We compromised at kicking their asses. Killing them was one of the original plans. So, we were kind really. I would just like to state that for the record.” Rhea agreed, “A Hackura definitely would’ve killed them.” I replied, “Not our mother in law.”

She cackled in reply which told me I missed something about how Haley handles things. She was stealthy. I needed to consult Cassie about the she bitches since she was the stealthiest out of all her siblings.

We got on the subject of his other sister, Angela. I asked Rhea, “How on earth does one test with sight?” She replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never been paired with a partial Fairy.” That was fair. I was inclined to let Angela do her thing where Alexander and Melanie were concerned and told him so. That thought didn’t actually give me a headache. Thank god. I was all for Angela figuring this shit out.

Honestly, however those two met at this point was just fine by me. If that was through Angela, great. If not, then it would be another way. I was just tired of all this. My head started to hurt. My brain whispered she was living her dream. I was so sick to death of this feeling.

I wished I could punch myself in the head so that it would stop whispering those words to me. It doesn't make sense. Rhea agreed, “It hurts but we need to ask. Why does living her dream mean us not seeing her?” I felt that with my soul. Why was that a thing? Was this just going to continue once she got into Julliard?

We switched subjects which eased the pain in my head. We were back on having pups. I knew I loved pups, and I loved babysitting Kai. Rhea agreed, “And we have a good handle on the pack.” Yeah, then there was the whole image I had in my mine of little mini EJ running around. I didn’t care if we had a boy or girl; I just wanted a healthy pup.

I didn’t deserve him, but I loved him with my entire being. Rhea squealed, “Mate’s hand is starting to glow.” I stared at him in shock when he put his hand on my chest. A euphoria shot through me. I couldn’t stop myself from lowering onto him.

This time was slow and unrushed without my heat haze. I knew we were now twice light bound now. Rhea teased, “Seeing another us in the Ribbon would be trippy but fun.” I agreed, “We know it’s not a guarantee though. Not all twice light bound couples enter the Ribbon.” Rhea chuckled, “I doubt we will be. I’d be surprised, but it would be cool.” Yeah, it would.

At the same time, I kind of hoped we didn’t go in since EJ could end up there without me. The non Fairy didn’t always get pulled with the Fairy from what I’d seen with his parents. I’d worry about him. Rhea pointed out, “Mate has a good thought. We could fix things for Melaine and Alexander.” I replied, “Yes, but that would be a reason for them to be in it, not us.” She conceded my point.

I told her, “I’m a little shocked EJ shared his light again. We both know his Fairy side isn’t his dominant side.” She purred, “I know. His wolf side is, and Brutus is so powerful.” She was right. It wasn’t that I doubted my mate’s love for me; I just never thought his Fairy side would really get around to how EJ himselffelt about me. I still wondered if Cassandra had something to do with him sharing his light. I bothered me sometimes when I was certain she did.

He was always more serious than his siblings, needing them or me to tap into his fun side. That even that side of him was in him enough to do this made me feel giddy. Fairies shared their light with their mate more often now, but rarely twice.

We popped to the beach, and I found myself feeling grateful for the balance we’d found working with his brothers and their mates. We had breaks knowing they were important, so no one got burnt out. I asked Rhea, “Did you have a thought on how many pups you want to have?” She answered, “I’m more than willing to push out as many as Brutus wants.” Yeah, well we’d find a balance between that insanity and reality. She huffed at me.

I was open to a big family. Not twenty like EJ’s though. Rhea teased, “Never say never. We are going to live for SUCH a long time. Twenty won’t seem so crazy in two centuries.” She needed to stop with her insights. She cackled knowing my thoughts.

I jolted with Rhea when EJ confessed he’d read the Ribbon journal and learned more about other realities. Rhea groaned, “I know those realities suck, I do. Doesn’t it feel like ours could be the worst one? Like not that everything is bad, just a lot of bad things happen.” I agreed, “Yes, but not for a long time here.” She didn’t feel like she agreed, and I wasn’t so sure I did either. But I was right, wasn’t I?

Rhea told me, “I agree with mate. We are on the cusp of something, and I feel it’s going to rock the allies.” I asked, “Good or bad?” She sighed, “Maybe I’m pessimistic from my last human, but I just feel something bad is going to happen.” Goodie.

We totally needed an impending sense of doom with our headaches. She snorted, “That doesn’t put our pain in the bond.EJ would’ve asked us. Brutus doesn’t even hint that he knows.” Yeah, so that wasn’t great. Was I sick? Rhea scoffed, “No.”

I told her, “I hope whatever is coming isn’t something that would haunt us once we DID figure it out.” Rhea didn’t have a response for me. We ended up just holding each other listening to the waves before EJ popped us home.

The second we were back I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. I asked, “Rhea, is this it? What we felt?” She replied, “I doubt it.” When we walked into his office several of EJ’s brothers and his dad were in the waiting. Buttercup ran up to me.

She linked, “Are you ok?” I answered, “Of course. What’s going on?” She replied, “You’re not going to like it, but everything is ok.” I told my wolf, “That seems ominous.” She replied, “Not enough for the feeling we have. Everyone is ok.” UGH! I could not do doom and gloom. I hated feeling that way.

Were we attacked while EJ and I were gone? My knees nearly gave way when Alexander said Red Run was attacked by rogues. Rhea linked, “Our family is ok. I would’ve felt a break with the wolves.” It had been so long since there’d been a rogue attack in my home pack, perhaps we’d become complacent.

The first one was a few months after Melanie left and truth be told the pack wasn’t prepared. Some of the pups had never even seen a rogue attack. I knew my parents would’ve been at the cabin, but my brothers would’ve been in the pack lands.

Rhea reminded me, “Alexander said everyone was ok and he can’t lie. Oden confirmed it too.” I snarked, “Well, thank God Jase called declaring the attack an emergency. If he had, it obviously was. Stupid ass rule. We need to talk to our mate about that. Why haven’t we?”

Pain hit my head so hard I let that thought go for later. I grabbed a cookie that was sitting there on a platter. Karina’s cookies always seemed to make everything feel better, she was agod send. Then I asked my wolf, “Why were the Conners all still in here then? What were they trying to figure out?” She replied, “Because it’s not all that happened.” She was right.

My parents had been attacked at their cabin. That felt like something had been taken from me. The cabin was our family’s safe space. My heart raced at the thought of Hunters finding my parents. They had all better be dead. Or Rhea and I were going hunting ourselves. How did my parents escape? Rhea said, “The answer is obvious. Our sniper. She got them out.”

Alexander confirmed it was her and her team. I linked Buttercup asking, “What isn’t he saying?” Buttercup sighed, “The sniper is angry with your dad. Like, really angry.” I faltered, “Why?” Buttercup admitted, “We don’t know, but I don’t think she saved his life for him. Well, Haley thinks she did. She thinks that the sniper feels betrayed by your dad, but also loves him. She also said that she thinks the sniper sees herself as weak for that.” Something pricked in my head about that wording.

EJ took me to my parents because I needed to see them. I threw myself at my mom the second I saw her. She linked me, “Calm down, sweetie. We are fine.” It still brought tears to my eyes. They could've been gone.

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