I shrugged saying, “I go to Faerie to see Aiylee and Beagan a lot. You guys don’t go as often.” Beagan and JP went there a lot and stayed in a house Uncle Aiden owned but had set aside for them to use whenever they wanted.
Alexander asked, “How are our cousins doing?” I smiled, “They are great. They are so cute with their mates!” EJ asked, “Have they shared their lights with their mates?” I winked, “I can’t tell you that. That’s between them.” They both had though. Aiylee was all about Exsis and he was all in on her. Beagan was all about JP and vice versa.
Alexander snorted, “They both definitely have, brother. You’ve seen how happy they are together. That type of happiness among the Fae is with those who have shared their light. Aiylee and Bea have even stopped talking about how hot guys are.”
He paused then added, “They don’t even look. It’s very un-Fairy of them.” I laughed, “That’s not a fair analysis. The Fae are changing and evolving as a people. Those that are our age share their light. Even if they are mated with older Fairies. The resistant ones are the older Earth and Sky Fairies. Fire and Water are on board. Even the Sky and Earth Fairies are coming around.” Plus, Beagan and JP split their time between Faerie and the Hackura realm. She loved it in both places.
Max cut in, “I really can’t talk about Fairies right now. Or I may just go hunting for Sky and Earth Fairies with a stick up their ass.” I bit my lip. Alexander linked me, “Would it even be the worst thing if he did?” I snorted, “As long as you are with him, no.”
Alexander winked teasing, “As if someone gets to have an outdated backwards ass Fairy hunting party without me.” I chuckled, “Never. I’d take you on any hunt I had.” Alexander replied, “You’d better, little sister.” I rolled my eyes at him.
EJ linked me, “Whatever you and Alexander are plotting stop it.” I teased, “Technically we were discussing Max’s wannabe Fairy hunt. Alexander was going to join him.” EJ admitted, “I’d join them too.” I rolled my eyes, “Then you’d need me to join too. You all have no subtlety. That’s why you have me.” I flipped my hair. EJ smiled and kissed my head.
Wesley asked, “What did I miss?” I laughed. EJ said, “There is no Fairy hunting party, but if we had one, we’d need Cass. Mostly because she’s stealthy and we aren't subtle.” Alexander laughed, “Who needs to be subtle? Showing up and killing people is always effective.”
I snorted, “If you only want to kill that one group of people, that’s true. You are talking about multiple people in different groups. You can’t just show up and murder everyone. The other group would run. There is stealth that needs to be involved. Honestly, you all are lost without me.”
Alexander walked over, picked me up and spun me around. He put me down, “You’re right, little sister. We would be lost without you.” He kissed the top of my forehead. Wesley sighed, “Your mate had better be awesome.” I rolled my eyes, “He’s taking his sweet time showing up.” Max and Alexander huffed.
My gaze narrowed on the latter. Alexander had something going on he wasn’t sharing. I had a theory that it involved the invisible, possibly imaginary, Melanie McAlister. Rain snorted, “It definitely involves her. Oden purrs when I say her name.”
Yeah, well what was NOT imaginary about Melanie was her stuffed wolf. I’d asked a Red Run pack member about the wolf that was in all the family photos at the McAlister’s anniversary party. They’d looked at me like I was crazy and said it was Ladybug’s stuffed wolf toy.
I still didn’t get why I was the crazy one when they were the ones who showed up with a million pictures without ONE of her in it. Just her toy wolf. Yet we were all acting like that was perfectly normal. It was not normal. What was their deal? We kept missing out on meeting her. It was weird enough we hadn’t seen her, but now she’s not in any pictures she’s clearly in they just removed her. Rain agreed, “It was weird. We should tell someone that.” We should.
My thoughts drifted back to those pictures. Melanie’s wolf looked just like Oden. I’d caught my brother studying those pictures. He got prouder with every picture he saw with the stuffed wolf. He liked that the imaginary Melanie had a stuffed animal that looked like his wolf. I was the only one who’d noticed him doing that though. Well, besides my dad but he noticed everything.
I shook myself. EJ said, “Wes, go see Buttercup and settle yourself.” Wesley told him, “I’m going to see Uncle Aiden with Max. Then I’ll go see her.” EJ nodded. I told them, “I’ll go with you. I want to see Aiylee.” Beagan was in the Hackura realm right now so she wouldn’t be in Faerie for me to catch up with.
EJ snorted, “I’m going to the Hackura realm. Alexander and I are sparring with Cayden.” My heart jumped. I nearly shouted, “You didn’t tell me that! I’m the only one who hasn’t met him! Then you make plans and don’t even tell me.” Alexander laughed, “He’s a busy man.”
Rain purred, “Our brother forgot an adjective. He’s a sexy, busy man.” I reasoned, “We’ve never seen him.” I’d made it a point not to look up a picture of him. Rain snorted, “He sounds sexy, and I know you agree.” She was right. The mere mention of his name had me wanting to drool.
I’d been crushed when he was delayed on a mission at my Uncle Bjourn’s coronation that delayed my Aunt Astrid’s crowing as Queen. I was embarrassed because the fact that I’d missed meeting him was what I was most upset about. Uncle Gunner set up a feed for me to watch her coronation, but Cayden hadn’t been in the frame.
I pouted, “I could’ve trained with him too.” Alexander shrugged, “Sorry sis. It came up at the last minute. He texted us an hour ago that he was back.” I asked, “How long is he back for this time?” EJ shrugged, “We didn’t ask. Why?” I sighed, “Men. Are you incapable of asking the pertinent questions?” Max snorted, “I think Cass has her eyes set on a new boyfriend since her and Jason broke up.”
I rolled my eyes stating, “Broke up is a strong word. We weren’t really dating. We are friends.” Wesley raised an eyebrow, “Friends who kissed.” I explained, “We knew we weren’t mates. I can havefriends that I kiss if I want. I like Jase, he’s a great person. Even if he does have a weird imaginary little sister he talks about that no one has seen.”
EJ interjected, “Uhhh excuse me, I’ve seen her.” I smirked, “So you say. Where is our picture proof, big brother? Maybe they spelled you to go along with this long running gag. Or hired a pup actress to keep the ruse alive.” EJ laughed, “Ladybug is the worst liar of all time.”
I argued, “She can’t be that bad. She insists she doesn’t cross the border, but they keep catching her.” Alexander growled. Oh, did I strike a nerve? Rain snorted, “You know you did.” Yes, well sometimes one had to rile my brothers to get answers out of them. I raised an eyebrow at Alexander.
EJ told me, “I don’t know what’s going on with that, but I believe her about it. She’s not crossing the border.” Now I was intrigued because EJ was a good judge of character. He had to be instinctually, and he’d definitely inherited that trait from our dad.
I nodded, “Ok, if you need me to talk to her or the Red Run Warriors you know I will.” EJ smiled saying, “Thanks, Cass.” I replied, “Of course. You guys know all you have to do is ask. I’ve got the stealth and the right questions to make people spill their secrets.” Alexander laughed, “We know.” And yet, he was keeping things from me about Melanie McAlister. Was he embarrassed because she was only twelve? That didn’t make sense because age didn’t matter to us since we were not humans. I shrugged it off knowing he’d tell us eventually.
I grabbed my little brothers and popped to Faerie. My Uncle Aiden raised an eyebrow, “Cassie, I did not expect to see you.” I smiled explaining, “I’m just dropping them off.” I kissed his cheek and whispered, “Own da. Point Megroup falhing own. Cuz group orto. Own da canbe sper point (You are a good man, uncle. Never forget that please. We all love you. Even if they are upset for now, you are a good man, your past is just that. The past).”
My Uncle smiled, “Own mene da sper canis Cassie. Own addto own so. Meself own (You have a heart just like your mother Cassie. You are kind and you love so deeply. I love you).” I replied, “Meself own, addto so act group (I love you too, and so do they).” I kissed his cheek and sent my brothers my support in our connection before I popped to Aiylee.
When I popped to her, I saw she was fuming mad. She was pacing and her hands were thrown up in the air. She ranted, “Exsis, I swear I’m going to start having people’s heads CHOPPED OFF! How DARE they do this to my father! He had one more year to prepare for this again and those unable to KEEP their mouths shut shits had to push this conversation up. How hard is that?”
She nearly snarled, “They kept their mouths shut while it happened to my aunt. NOW, suddenly they have to SHOUT about it in front of my cousins! How DARE they do this to my family! They choose my cousins! To Max of all people! Honestly, it’s like they try to annoy me.”
Exsis sighed, “My love, I do not think that’s why. Your aunt is a popular topic to gossip about here. Her past is something that baffles everyone. Those that knew her didn’t bother to look closely at her to see she was clearly hiding something. Then there are those who are stunned and surprised she managed to survive. Let alone be the functioning, fun version of her we see now.”
Aiylee shrieked, “SO? They couldn’t have spread their gossiping whispers when my aunt was young? They couldn't have whispered where Uncle Arion or my dad could’ve heard them? Maybe my mom would’ve never fled with me if they had!”
