Cliff and I ended up discussing work while we enjoyed the fresh fruit and warm hickory smoked mini sausages that Cecilia had cut into octopi. It was something she always did for Scott and I when we were incredibly young, so it was like a comfort food for me, and for her. Usually she only made them when she was thinking about Scott, so I felt a little worried and wanted to ask her if she was all right, but Cliff was right there, and evidently discussing the upcoming of-age feast was important.

It did make me smile, though. It would be the nine-year anniversary of Scott and I sleeping together. The nine-year anniversary of him leaving for the Paige Clan. Ah, it made sense now. My mother was thinking of Scott because it was almost the nine-year anniversary of him going away. No wonder she was making his favorite dinner and his favorite snacks.

“Pardon the interruption, Luna,” I looked over Cliff’s head to see Darius standing in the doorway with a handful of letters, “Mail call.”

“You’re not interrupting anything, come on in,” Cecilia cleaned her hands on the apron around her waist and turned to Darius as he stepped into the room, holding the stack of letters out for her to take, “Are you hungry? I made sausage squids.”

Darius wrinkled his nose and turned to look at me as I held up one of the mini sausages, “They taste awesome.”

“No thank you, alpha.”

Cecilia let out a startled gasp, dropping all but one letter to the floor, her hand covering her mouth and her blue eyes wide and growing glassy. I set my fork down as Cliff stood up and Darius turned fully to her, but she just pressed the letter against her chest and shut her eyes, taking a shaky breath in.

“Mom, what happened?” I asked, and she opened her eyes, forcing a smile onto her lips as she looked at me.

“Do you know where your father is? He has a letter.”

“He should be in his study,” Darius was the one to answer, looking uncertain as Cecilia nodded and stepped past him.

“Make sure the food doesn’t burn. Malcolm, come with me.”

“What happened?” I asked again, standing up and walking around the counter to stand with her, a little stunned when she took my hand and started dragging me out of the room.

We made our way down the halls and to my father’s study, and I opened the door for my mother before following, feeling the need to snort in amusement when I saw the former alpha hunched over his desk with glasses on his nose and a half-built plane model sitting on the desk in front of him.

His dark gold eyes lifted when the door opened, a smile forming on his lips when he saw us and sitting straighter, “To what do I owe the honor of this rare visit from my alpha?”

“Dad, please,” I rolled my eyes as my mother hurried forward and held the letter out.

“This is why,” she said breathlessly, and Wade frowned a little as he reached out to take the letter, his eyes growing wide and lifting back to his wife, who nodded furiously, “Open it.”

Wade grabbed the letter opener from his desk and tore the envelope open, pulling out the folded letter inside and setting the envelope down with the opener. I took the envelope while he unfolded thee letter, my breath catching in my throat when I read the return address and the name above it.

“This is from Scott?” I whispered, and Cecilia beamed, hands folded over her chest.

“What does it say?”

Wade held a hand up to keep us quiet as his eyes panned over the page, his face tight, and my heart raced as I squeezed the envelope, one hand lifting to touch the pocket on my chest where his letter to me always stayed.

“Why didn’t he write to me?” I asked aloud, and Wade lifted his hand again to shut me up.

I kept my mouth closed out of respect, but I felt incredibly panicked. What was going on? Scott hadn’t written in so long, and now this? A letter to my dad? What about me? Okay, I sounded like a selfish brat, but it had been so long since I’d last heard from him, no doubt my mother was wondering the same thing.

Wade let a soft laugh fall from his lips, running a hand up his face and pushing his glasses onto his head so he could rub his eyes, and I leaned my hands against the desk to get closer to him.

“So? What does it say?” I asked, and he smiled, lifting the letter up, “The Paige and Kerry Clan’s will be uniting on the day of the of-age ceremony,” he said, and it took me a moment to realize what that meant.

“He’s coming home?” I grinned so wide my face started to hurt, and Wade nodded.

Cecilia made an excited noise from beside me, covering her mouth with both hands as tears fell from her eyes, “I can have both my boys back!”

“Yes ma’am,” Wade chuckled, shaking his head, “You’ll never believe me if you don’t read for yourself.”

I took the letter when he handed it to me, grinning for all of three sentences before my lips started to fall, “Alpha Amos is dead?” I looked up at Wade, who nodded, and I looked back at the letter, my eyes growing wide, “Scott took over as alpha of the Paige Clan….?” I looked up, “Why would he pass that to Scott?”

“Scott was his apprentice,” Wade pointed out, “His daughter couldn’t take over due to being beta born, but Scott was taken under his wing and started to train with him almost hours after arriving.”

“He never mentioned being trained to take over as alpha in his other letters,” I argued, and Wade pointed at the letter.

“Later in the letter he explains it was a death bed decision on Amos’ part.”

“Are you upset about him being an alpha?” Cecilia asked, and I shook my head.

“Of course not, I’m just… put out he never told me it was a possibility…”

“Don’t feel too sad, sweetheart,” Cecilia squeezed my arm and smiled brilliantly at me, “It was probably exhausting work for him, maybe he was scared to talk about it. You know how Scott is.”

“Yea,” I breathed, closing the letter and handing it back to Wade, “How long until they get here?”

“Well, this letter was sent a four days ago,” Wade said, slipping the letter back into the envelope, “Scott said they were leaving after the funeral, so give it one or two weeks. We’ll have to prepare several unoccupied houses and cabins for our new pack members.”

“Scott can just stay with us,” I said in excitement, and Wade hummed.

“I think we’ll give him the decision of whether he wants to move back in with us or not.”

I felt myself scoff a little, “How is that a decision, of course he’ll want to. We’re his family!”

“It’s been almost nine years, though,” Cecilia said softly, “Who knows how he’s changed.”

“There’s no way!” I laughed, but it felt forced, and I turned, “I’ll get Cliff to help start with the preparations and inform the rest of the pack, and I’ll start getting Scott’s room ready tomorrow.”

Cecilia seemed like she wanted to argue with me, but decided against it and nodded, watching me leave the room. Scott wanting to live somewhere other than with us? With me? As if. Even if he had changed, he swore he’d never forget me, that he’d always remember me and love me. Why would he want to be anywhere else if it’s not with me?