Chapter 18 - Mama

"Where are you, my darlings?"

Erin giggled softly and I quickly covered his mouth. He always made us lose because he couldn't stop laughing! Well, not today. He glared at me and licked my hand. I stuck my tongue out in disgust but kept my hand over his mouth. I could handle him being gross if it meant winning.

"I know you're around here somewhere. I'm going to find you," she sang.

She stopped right in front of our hiding spot and I paused, remaining very still. I thought we were in the clear, but her hands suddenly reached through and grabbed us both. We squealed when she pulled us out of the cabinet and into her arms. She pretended to eat us by kissing our faces and arms.

"Mama, Mama, stop," I yelled while laughing.

She laughed along with us, coming to a stop. She had us seated in her lap on the kitchen floor, a beautiful smile on her face. "Ah, that was fun, boys. Now, who wants to help me make some cookies?"

"I do, I do," Erin shouted, scrambling out of Mama's lap and running to get the pan.

Before we got up, I leaned in and smacked a kiss on her cheek with a smile. She laughed gently, doing the same on my cheek. "I love you, my sweet Aaron."

"I love you, too, Mama."

"Aaron."

I turned to look at my mother, but she was fading away. No, please don't go yet. Don't go-

"Aaron."

My eyes popped open and I looked around in confusion. I looked up only to find Evander's face staring down at me. He had a worried frown on his face. Aubrey's face popped into view a moment later. He looked just as worried. "What's going on?" I asked.

"You fell asleep, so I let you rest your head in my lap. You were crying in your sleep just now...are you alright?" Evander explained.

My face heated up as I realized my mates saw me crying like a baby in my sleep. But, I still felt like crying. Goddess, I haven't dreamt about her in so long. Yuki had caught me off-guard and now the walls I'd worked so hard to build in my mind were crumbling. And my mates were witness to it.

"Woah."

I quickly sat up to look at everyone else. They were all looking at our surroundings wearily. I followed suit and internally groaned. The once-blue sky was slowly bleeding into dark red as we flew. Below us, the ground became barren and scarred with tons of large rock structures. Some of them looked like the one Rin was attached to, but others looked like naturally occurring cliffs, canyons, and mountains. The sound of distant roars and ominous screeches sent shivers down my spine. Cursed Plain huh...aptly named. We began our descent and I became increasingly nervous. What would we face? Goddess, I wasn't even sure if I preferred this to be too easy or incredibly hard. If it was too easy, was it a trap? What if we just couldn't get to them?

As soon as Minori touched the ground, we all hurried off. We'd stopped in front of a cave. Minori shifted back and walked into the cave. "This will be our shelter when night falls," they announced.

Erin handed them a blanket and Minori took it with a raised eyebrow. "I forget how bashful people from the human realm are," they commented.

"Sorry, I just wasn't sure if you needed it or not," Erin said awkwardly.

The dragon waved him off and began carrying our supplies into the cave. "It's best not to travel in large groups. We can leave some people to hide here and protect the supplies while the rest of us search for Rin," Minori told us.

I was glad they were taking charge because I was certain none of us knew what to do now. "I'll join the group that's searching," I said.

"Then I'll join you," Evander said, but I shook my head.

"No, you and Aubrey should stay here. You're a vampire, Evander. Much harder to kill than most of us. You can protect whoever stays here while Minori joins the other party," I pointed out.

"Alright, but be careful," he said carefully.

"I will."

"I'll join, too," Erin piped up.

We quickly had our groups formed. Minori, Erin, me, Alpha Lorence, and one of the warriors that came with us would be searching for Rin, while the rest stayed behind. After quick goodbyes and grabbing some emergency supplies - you never knew when disaster might strike, Minori shifted again and we were flying once more over the dark landscape.

"This is crazy, isn't it?" Erin said from beside me.

"It is," I agreed, warily glancing down at the ground.

I froze when I saw a pack of what looked like pure shadow creatures following our flight path. "Um, what the heck are those?" I asked.

Since Minori didn't seem to be very worried, I figured it was okay to ignore them too. Then again, I wasn't exactly sure they could just speak in dragon form. I glanced over at Erin and he shrugged. "This is the Cursed Plain, Aaron. Danger around every corner," he said with a hint of a teasing tone.

"Yeah, I know that idiot," I grumbled. "Doesn't hurt to be cautious."

"You're right," he agreed with a laugh.

We continued to fly around for a while. We never landed again, and I was glad. Whatever was down there, I didn't want to deal with. We kept searching until Minori suddenly turned us around mid-flight back towards the way we came from. I glanced up at the sky to notice it was becoming an even deeper red. Nightfall? Probably. The sudden turn made Erin lean into me and almost knock me off. With a glare, I reached out and shoved him lightly. "Keep your damn balance unless you want to find a beta replacement."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he laughed nervously and held up one of his hands in a gesture of apology.

My eyes widened when I realized I was missing something right in front of me. Because I saw fated bonds daily, it had become easy to ignore them. Sometimes, I forgot they were even there until I focused on them again. And when I focused on Erin's hand, I realized that his string was leading in the way we just turned from. Shit. The worst part was that I could see where it ended. As in, the string slowly dipped down into a canyon and stopped there. Shit, shit, shit.

"We have to keep going," I suddenly blurted out.

Minori paused mid-air and glanced around. They found a cliff to land on. After shifting, they turned to look at me with their arms crossed over their chest. "Why would we keep going? It will be night soon. We cannot be out in the open searching aimlessly."

You absolute idiot, Aaron. Think, think, think. "I saw something that...Kit pointed out to Wren," I lied.

"Really?" Minori questioned, their eyes narrowed. "And what exactly was this something?"

"The rock structure looked really familiar. We were on the path to encounter it. It was a canyon," I said, trying to sound convincing.

How the hell did I explain that Erin's string was leading into a canyon and I was willing to put the mission on pause just so he could meet his mate? Goddess, that was such a horrible reason, but what other chance would I have to help Erin out in my own way? He was so close.

"Don't canyons have caves? Maybe we can hide out there until morning to look," Erin suggested.

"They do, but those caves are often occupied by the creatures that roam this plain. We don't want to be near them," Minori said. "But, if we are already close by, perhaps we can take a look. Nightfall would also lessen the chances of being spotted by any possible guards."

Whew. Erin, you owe me one.

Minori shifted back and we all climbed on again. We headed back in the direction we came from. I briefly heard Alpha Lorence grumbling about how cold it was and how tired he was. You didn't have to come, old man. Erin kept fidgeting around beside me and I rolled my eyes. "What's wrong with you?" I asked quietly.

"I'm getting nervous. We've never dealt with threats from another freaking realm before. What if one of us gets really hurt? What if one of us dies? You can't die. Evander and Aubrey would be heartbroken."

"And you can't die either. The entire pack would be heartbroken," I countered.

"Aww, I knew you cared," he teased, so I shoved his shoulder lightly.

"I did care, but now I'm rethinking it," I threatened halfheartedly.

He chuckled at my weak attempt at anger when we both went quiet at the sound of a piercing screech. Minori slowed down as we passed right over the canyon. Erin's string had moved to take into account his new position. It led to the left, but Minori flew to the right. Okay, I'd just have to find a way to steer Erin in that general direction and hope the mate bond took over from there. It was fated for a reason.

Goddess, I can't believe I'm actually doing this for Erin. We flew for a bit before Minori found a cave. We descended into the dark canyon and they peered into a decent-sized cave. Since there seemed to be nothing in there, they found a ledge to land on and shifted quickly. "This will be our hideout for the night. We can search the canyon in the morning," they announced.

We entered the cave and we all worked to make a fire. I almost wanted to ask why Minori couldn't breathe fire - that's what dragons did, right? - but they spoke up before I could ask. "No, I cannot breathe fire. That is not what my clan does."

Clan? Minori walked over to the entrance to the cave and felt up the rocks for a moment before pressing their hand to something. After a moment, I watched in awe as moss began to spread across the entrance, blocking us from the rest of the canyon. "This moss is common in the canyon. It is also known to be a repellant to some creatures that roam the Cursed Plain. We should be safe until morning, but I suggest we have a guard rotation."

We figured out a guard rotation that had Minori watching first. After we got a small fire going, we all huddled by it. Erin and I sat against one of the cave walls and stared at the fire. "I had a dream about my mom," I whispered, keeping my eyes on the flames.

I felt his eyes on me, but I ignored it. "When?" He asked.

"After we left Yuki. She caught me off-guard," I explained, knowing he'd understand. "It was a memory. We were playing hide and seek with her."

Erin hummed. "She always found us so quickly."

"That's because you could never stop laughing," I countered.

"I'm guessing this isn't a good thing, dreaming about her?"

"No," I answered, looking at him. "I haven't dreamt about her in years. I cried in front of my mates about it, but I don't know how to tell them."

"The same way you're going to have to tell them about your other secret," he said with a shrug.

Secrets, actually. Sorry, Erin. With a groan, I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on top. "Goddess, I don't want to tell them about any of this. I haven't talked about her in so long," I whispered.

"You're going to have to at some point, Aaron. It's been what? Almost seven years? You can't keep burying your feelings down like I know you do. You and that man are so alike it's sad."

"I'm nothing like him."

Erin went silent. He and I both knew I was wrong. I was like him in all the worst ways. Not enough for him, but still just like him. I hated it. If only he'd step down already so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I felt a weight on my shoulder and realized Erin had rested his head on it. "You are, but you're also Aaron. You're much better than he could ever hope to be."

"Thank you."

I don't know when I fell asleep, but luckily, I didn't dream about my mother, nor was I summoned to any dreamscapes. Instead, I slept peacefully with my best friend since, in a few hours, I'd be guiding him to his mate.

Goddess, you're so stupid, Aaron.

~~~

Sooo, Erin might be getting his mate soon! Yay. Have any ideas about what's going to happen next?

Aaron's past is veerrrryyy slowly being revealed haha. Y'all are gonna have to stick around to see how it progresses.

Would you believe me if I said I had up to chapter 20 written already? I've been writing to avoid dealing with my stress and before I knew it I had three chapters written. Chapter 20 is super long too and I think I might need to split it :/

The only reason why I didn't publish this yesterday was that I was busy doing homework until midnight. But, it's here! Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate it today!

Stay tuned for more insanity and thank you so much for reading!

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