12.2

Neo

I stared at the closed door, the key to unlock it clutched in my hand so tightly I could feel the bite of the metal as it dug into my skin. I hadn’t been back here since my mother told me she hated me, and now it was up to me and the twins to sort through the life our parents had cultivated for over twenty years, I felt one of my sisters take my hand; I hadn’t even realized it was shaking and she gently eased the key from my grip and unlocked the door.

The apartment was dark…and cold. Swallowing my fear I stepped into the darkness and flipped on the lights. Nothing had really changed since I moved out, pictures still hung on the walls, shoes still were haphazardly arranged in the hall but they only belonged to our parents. The shoes would probably go to the burn pile, who would ever want to wear a dead person’s shoes? I made a mental note of that decision and walked deeper into the childhood home that still haunted my dreams.

“Where should we start? Our rooms are already emptied…only the furniture is left.”

“We’ll donate the furniture or I’ll see if Ness wants any of it.”

“Why would Ness want our furniture when she lives in Purple Moon? Oh…oh my Goddess is this the surprise you’ve been working on? Is Ness transferring here?!”

“Shut up! And yes she is but Nate doesn’t know and I want to keep that way until Ness is settled in. She will be here during the funeral tomorrow.”

“So let's get to work.” Luce said, “I have a date with my N.I.P later anyway.”

“Are you ever going to tell us why you call Arlo your N.I.P?” Lilah asked as she began sorting through envelopes on the kitchen counter.

“On our first date, I asked Arlo what they wanted to be referred as since they didn’t want to be called a boyfriend or girlfriend and they replied with ‘nothing in particular’ so now they are my N.I.P, I even got them a t-shirt that says ‘#1 N.I.P’ on it for our one month anniversary coming up.”

“That is sickeningly adorable.” Lilah replied, 

“You asked.”

We worked in silence for a while, all three of us wrapped up in whatever memory an object brought out, soon we had three distinct piles. Keep, Donate, and Burn. When all the rooms were sorted through, there was only one room left. Dad’s home office, we had been barred from the room for as long as I could remember. Not even mom was allowed inside; who knew what dad could have been hiding behind this door. After he died, mom refused to let us inside to sort through his things…and now there was no one left to stop us. The only thing stopping us is the fear of getting into trouble, but that was our inner child and we were adults now or rather I was an adult now and Luce and Lilah were almost there.

“We can do this.” I whispered, more to myself than to my sisters,

The two of them exchanged a look that read that they didn’t quite believe it. I turned the knob of the imposing door, I pushed and the door gave way to a dark room…shelves lined the wall and reached the ceiling; I fumbled around for the light switch, and when the lights flickered on, I let out a relieved breath. It was just a room.

The walls were painted an unsightly brown, and the furniture was almost the same shade. It looked like we were standing in the depths of a mud puddle. Dad definitely wasn’t known for his interior design skills, but this was ridiculous. 

“No wonder he didn’t let us in here. He was probably worried we’d roast the shit out of him for his taste.”

I humored Lilah’s remark with a soft chuckle as I went deeper into the room, the desk was neatly organized; but Dad had left some books open, a pen prevented one from closing and I noticed that it was plans to mate off my sisters to the sons of nearby packs. I growled and ripped that to shreds. I’d deal with the repercussions of that shitty idea later. But no Alpha had approached me at the Summit to discuss such an outdated idea so maybe it was just something dad was thinking about doing. I’d never been so glad to have murdered him than I was at that moment.

“Hey are you okay?”

“Just happy I killed dad when I did.”

I threw the remains of the notebook in the trash bag I had thought to bring along. I doubted I wanted to keep anything in this room. It wasn’t until I opened the middle drawer of the desk that I was hit with the reality that both my parents were gone. Dad kept a family picture there, it wasn’t framed and judging by the frayed edges, he held it often. The picture was a candid probably taken by Jonah, dad’s old beta…and I remembered that day. Dad was busy with something so mom had taken us to Lake Luna to swim and let out some of our toddler energy; it was the most fun we had growing up, because mom was paying attention to us…and dad was busy. Even at that age I knew I’d never be what my dad wanted. I put the picture in my jeans pocket and moved on. If my sisters noticed me crying, they didn’t show it.

We made quick work of sorting through dad’s things and we didn’t find anything else we wanted. His books were just hiding places for weapons, all of them were hollowed out with shapes correlating to his favorites. Mostly blades. I bagged up the burn pile quickly in paper bags, and the donate pile in suitcases we had found. The trash pile was already bagged in plastic trash bags. Luce and Lilah held the treasures they didn’t want to part with. Luce decided on mom’s Luna jewelry, the one’s she’d wear to ceremonies and Pack events. Lilah kept her locket, it had three compartments in the shape of moons. Two crescents and the full moon; inside each was a picture. One of the twins, one of me, and then one of dad. I knew that locket well…mom used to sing to us at night while showing us the pictures inside. A shame that when we turned out to be gay or just different that we were no longer her moon and stars.

We all kept one of dad’s flannels. He was an ass, but he was our dad and these flannels were warm and soft; and brought back memories of when he wasn’t always an abusive monster. When he wore these he was in a good mood and the only physical touch we received were hugs. Lilah kept a purple one, Luce kept a red one, and I kept a golden yellow one, it reminded me of Nate’s eyes.

I took one last look around, and walked out. I have a new home now. I have a new family, and I have a daughter now. When Briar was older, and if she asked we would tell her where she came from, but for now…she was just my daughter.

“Get going to your date with Arlo, I’ll send some lower-ranks to clean the rest of the apartment out.”

“See you guys later.” Luce said, and rushed off.

We were all glad to put some distance between us and the childhood home that haunted us, and probably would for the rest of our lives. Lilah was quiet as we walked, she clutched her treasures close to her chest and then she looked at me sharply,

“What did that notebook say?”

“You don’t want to know Lilah.”

“Tell me.”

“Dad was planning to sell you and Luce off to the highest bidder. He didn’t broach the subject before he died, otherwise those sleazeballs would’ve approached me at the Summit.”

“What an asshat. Selling off your own kids.”

“He’s gone now, and if you want to sit around and do nothing but read and eat bonbons you can. I won’t make you do anything.”

“Thanks for the thought, but I have plans. I’m pretty decent at hand to hand you know? I want to try being a warrior after graduation.”

“That’ll be a nice change. Pacifica doesn’t have any female warriors at the moment.”

We entered the Packhouse a little while later, now just joking around like we used to, this felt nice. I almost forgot we had to bury our mother tomorrow, or that I was the Alpha of the largest pack in the country. That is, until Malcolm came running down the stairs, pale as a sheet, gasping for air,

“Rogues have been spotted on our west border…they’re being led by Jonah.”

Nate

Everything was fine, until it wasn’t. I happened to be at the medical center with Briar when things went to shit. The mindlink I shared with the entire pack was in a frenzy, I wanted to tune it out and focus on Briar’s one week check up but it sounded serious and I was the Luna, I was the mother er…father of this pack not just Briar’s. I turned to my mother and handed her Briar,

“I have to go.”

“He’s never going to let you go to the front lines.”

“This is what I’ve trained for. Like hell am I going to let him fight without me. Stay here with Briar, I’ll be back soon.”

My mom made a noise of protest but swallowed it, she knew I was a stubborn, dramatic, asshole when I wanted to be. Birds of a feather, right? I ran out of the medical center and shifted midair, Dixon was quick to take over; he scanned the area and we could hear Deaton trying to get through the mental barrier, Dixon allowed him access to our mind and I chuckled at his dramatics,

Why aren’t you with Briar? Why the hell are you shifted?

Relax Alpha, I heard the distress in the pack mindlink and left Briar with my mother. 

There’s no chance stopping you from joining this fight is there?

None.

West border.

Thank you babe.

Deaton didn’t answer but I could hear Nexus’ wolfish chuckle about him being whipped. Nexus was Malcolm’s wolf, and he was just as much a pain in the ass as his human. I ran through the woods towards the west border, this was our weakest area, very little homes, just farmland. I burst into a clearing and saw the old beta of Pacifica in human form, staring down at my mate’s wolf form a sneer on his face.

“It seems your bitch arrived.” 

I snarled at the insult, hadn’t he learned anything? I approached my alpha and beta, and only then did Deaton become Neo. Jonah had the decency to look apprehensive, in the months that followed Neo taking over Pacifica, his private lessons with me and my father had paid off. His body held no traces of baby fat, he was toned, and his muscles had muscles. His hulked out form was one of many reasons Pacifica was so peaceful and calm. No one was willing to start shit and get their asses handed to them. 

“What do you want Jonah?”

“Your mother, I want her.”

“Why?”

“We were lovers, I want her by my side. It’s been long enough that the pain of losing Joseph should’ve subsided.”

“How did you keep it secret? Dad must’ve known.”

“Of course he did. We shared a mate.”

“What?”

“It’s not unheard of, just rare.”

“If my parents were in a polycule , why were they so against me being gay?”

“Your father and I weren’t mates. We weren’t gay. Just because we shared a woman doesn’t make us part of your rainbow brigade.”

“If you were my mom’s mate, how come you didn’t feel it when she died?”

“Johanna is dead? How?”

“Childbirth, and a broken heart, now how didn’t you feel it?”

“I never marked her…we thought it would be too confusing for the pack if the Luna had two marks…I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“That’s why you came now, just because you didn’t mark her, your soul still felt it went, its mate left this plane of existence.”

“Yes…what of Lilah and Lucilla? Are they okay?”

“Why do you care?”

“I care about all of you. I helped raise you, are they okay?”

“Mom kicked them out shortly before she died. They’re confused.”

“Kicked…what…Johanna wouldn’t--”

“I’m gay. Luce is Pan, and Lilah is aromantic and asexual. What did you expect she would do?”

“Ironic that you came from two homophobic wolves, isn’t it?”

“You’ve no idea…why are you leading rogues? And if you cared so much why did you leave?”

“Your father was a homophobic asshole, but I loved him and it was hard for me to look at you after you killed him.”

“But you said you weren’t gay.”

“I’m not, I’m bisexual. There’s a difference.”

“I’m sorry you were paired with two bigots. That must’ve been hard.”

“Sometimes, but I loved them anyway.”

“Do…do you want to come to the funeral?”

“I would, but then I need to return to the pack I started.”

“Taking in rogues?”

“Their families turned them away. They’ve got nowhere else to go.”

“Okay, I grant you Alpha Jonah access to my packlands, along with your packmates.”

“Thank you, Alpha Neo.”

***

I stayed in wolf form as I trotted beside Neo in human form, I didn’t trust this Jonah person, and neither did Malcolm judging by the fact he didn’t take his eyes off the rogues he was tailing. My ears perked up when I heard Jonah mention me,

“I’m sorry for insulting you, Luna.”

I huffed and rolled my eyes. Pack decorum be damned. I was tired of being judged for my sexuality. Neo ruffled the fur on my head, and his touch calmed me enough for the fur on my hackles to smooth out, 

“You’re lucky he’s in a good mood. Love, why don’t you go see how your mom is doing?”

I glared at him enough to say, ‘You gotta be joking.’ 

Neo didn’t push it, and left his hand on my head, like that would be enough to stop me from tearing off this guy’s head. Jonah glanced at me apprehensively, and Dixon let out a low growl. Jonah got the message and averted his gaze.

“I forgot how uh, feisty he is.”

“Careful, he’s started fights for less.”

We finally arrived at the Packhouse and Neo instructed one of the house attendants to prepare rooms for our ‘guests’ . Some passing wolves recognized Jonah, some were nervous, while others seemed pleased to see him again. I didn’t leave Neo’s side until all the visitors were inside their rooms and we were safely in our own apartment. I shifted as soon as the door closed and I turned to Neo,

“Do you trust him?”

“As far as I can throw him.”

“Do you believe his story about being your mom’s mate and being in love with your asshat dad?”

“I don’t have a plausible reason not to. Not like I can ask them myself.”

“Why do you really think he’s here?”

“To challenge me? I don’t know.”

I sighed and entered our room, I pulled on a pair of pants before reappearing in the living room where Neo was pacing.

“My mom still has Briar, do you want me to tell her to keep her for the night?”

“What would we do without a baby in the house?” Neo asked,

“I can think of a few things…” 

I kissed him, and pushed him backwards until we both fell onto the couch, 

“Let me make you feel better, my Alpha.”

Neo’s eyes darkened and he pulled me to him, his mouth met the sensitive skin of my mark and I let out a moan; his hands ventured down my back until they cupped my ass and squeezed, my head fell back and I lost myself to the pleasure that Neo always brought me and hopefully the pleasure I brought him would make some of his stress disappear.