Page 32 of His Sunshine Baby

“About twenty miles, I’d say. We never crossed the river, even when hunting. Clark won’t allow it, and it’s too far from our territory. Besides, it’s only snow most of the time, nothing much to hunt.”

I just nod. His answer is as I expected. I’ve never been past the river, either. In winter, the snow progresses past it and the cold freezes the river enough for someone to cross it, but as Levi said, there probably isn’t much life past that border.

“Still thinking about it, huh?”

As always, Levi knows what I’m thinking about. He gives me a gentle push with his head against my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, beautiful. One day you’ll find your answers. Reagan is just one stubborn old lady. Want to come with me? We could run to the river, see if, well, we find anything.”

“Thanks, Levi, but we already did that about ten times, and never found anything. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble. I just… Reagan is the only one who knows what I should look for. As long as she isn’t willing to talk, I have no answers.”

I sigh, a bit depressed by that thought, but it’s the truth. No matter how many times Daniel, his siblings, and I ran through that forest, we never found a single clue about my past. We didn’t have any, to begin with. The only thing we ever learned from Reagan was that I came from the North and that was it.

Levi sighs too, next to me.

“I’m sure she’s got her reasons, Elena. Reagan is a smart kickass oldie. She’ll tell you when the time is right. And anyway, you’ve got us, okay?”

I nod. I’m so grateful to Daniel’s family. Ever since I was young, they treated me like family, all his siblings, and his parents. After my parent’s accident, they supported me all the way, even if I was an emotional mess.

Levi pushes me playfully, and I growl back, playing along. We play fight for a few minutes, then we both start running and chasing each other. Our race takes us to another group of patrollers from our pack, and I end up spending the rest of my morning with them, catching up with those I haven’t seen in a while, playing tag, or patrolling with them.

When we get back to the White Moon territory, I follow Levi to the main house. It’s an old building, sitting on a high hill in the Hispanic neighborhood. The colors on the building have faded away, leaving a reddish clay appearance, though one of the regular punishments for the young ones is to paint the shutters, leaving them always perfectly white. It’s a nice contrast and makes the house really visible from anywhere around. When Levi and I step in, back to our human appearances after we fetched our clothes, a teenager is busy painting them again with a grumpy face.

We walk in casually and get a warm welcome from everyone in the room.

“Elena, mi amor,it’s been a while! You’re so pretty,mi cariña!”

“Look at her!Que hermosa eres!Come here, say hi to this old uncle!”

I hug and say hi to everyone there, mostly adults who saw me grow up, friends or family to the Alpha. I feel a bit guilty for not coming more often, but this warm atmosphere reminds me a lot of my parents, and I feel a bit uncomfortable withit. Thankfully, Levi never leaves my side, even putting an arm casually around my shoulders to take me to the kitchen. There, we come across Ben, another one of the Lewis siblings.

“Hey, Levi, how was patrol? Anything new? Hi, Elena! You coming for brunch?”

“Hi, Ben. Yes, I am! Where is your other half?”

He smiles at me.

“Bonnie’s helping mom cook. They are both super excited since Rachel’s back. What about Danny?”

“He will probably join us there…”

I hope he does. It would be super awkward to have to explain to his mom and all five of his siblings he’s missing their traditional family brunch because of his love interest! But Benjamin doesn’t notice my hesitation and starts talking to his brother about his patrol. Meanwhile, I decide to mind-link Daniel, since it’s almost noon now.

“Danny? What about the brunch?”

“I’m coming, babe.”

“Are you okay?”

His inner voice seems a bit weaker than usual. Like he’s sad or something. But he brushes my question away.

“I’m fine. See you there.”

He doesn’t sound fine; I know my Danny. Did something happen with Bobo? Everything seemed alright when I left this morning.

“Elena?”

Ben and Levi noticed my expression, and the two redheads are staring at me with worried faces. I try not to give too much away and smile.

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