Chapter 86

It’s been two weeks already, as getting everything organized at the other safe houses had taken longer than any of them had expected, but in a way, Sophia was maybe a little thankful for the slight delay.

It had given her and Neil a proper chance, and the time they needed to just be – and be together without any other distractions. Sophia saw it as a honeymoon of sorts, and what a honeymoon it had been.

Just thinking about – what they’d done, everything – where they’d done it, everywhere – how much, many, many times – just made her feel flustered all over again. Or maybe it was the sun beating down on them as she and Leo were walking alongside one another, which also meant that it was hardly an appropriate time to be daydreaming of the things she and her mate had been doing in the two weeks they’d waited for everything to get sorted and for the real preparations to begin.

Sophia and her little brother, well maybe not so little anymore, as he’d grown past her height already within a few months. He’d clearly had the growth spurt of growth spurts, and he’d matured as well in not only the few months she’d been gone, but within these two weeks as well. He was walking taller, prouder, and even with more confidence now.

The time away from their father had done him good too, but she knew it was due to something else. He had a shadow looming in his eyes as well, one that made him more serious, more mature. Most likely because of what he’d been through with Bella. What those sick fucks did to her and made him watch. And he had also been responsible for her recovery, same as Neil had been for hers. And Scott.

Poor Scott, Sophia thought, feeling her heart ache for him.

When they’d arrived on Whale Island a few hours ago, she’d overheard Scott telling Neil that the night everything had gone to hell in that courtroom, he’d spotted the silver crescent moon mark on Benson’s throat, and to her, he’d sounded pretty banged up about it.

No wonder he’d seemed a bit off that night they’d said goodbye at the apartment before each went to their respective safe houses. Even the drive there he’d been quiet, but Sophia had been so caught up with her own thoughts and concerns that she’d never thought to ask, even though she’d noticed.

Neil had asked him why he hadn’t said anything earlier, and Scott had just shrugged and confessed that he was kind of still shocked about it himself, and had needed time to process it all.

It was truly a tough pill to swallow, especially since no one really knew whether Benson was to be considered a friend or foe. She did try to reestablish order inside the pack, but Sophia knew she had other agendas in doing it. Being good was just a means to an evil end, though she still couldn’t get to the fruit of that end, no matter how much she’d thought about it.

She kept thinking that Benson wanted to kill her because she was a Lycan, which according to Neil and Scott she’d also been hunting while they’d still been in the military. But that didn’t make sense either. She would have killed Sophia then, and not made her go through a trial.

And why had she seemed to be working with Matthew? Or had she simply planned to use him for something? And why had Benson wanted to take her back to her father, when she was the one that had him imprisoned?

So many controversies. So many questions. So many suspicions. But no freaking answers. It was just giving her a headache again, so instead, she dropped the subject of the mysterious Alpha of the Moon Walker pack for the time being. But she still couldn’t quite get over the fact that she was Scott’s mate too now!

The Goddess and her ironic sense of humor were hard at work in Scott’s life as well it seemed…

Other than that, when Scott, Leo, Bella, and Connor had arrived earlier, they’d announced that Vlad, Rudolph, and Sam had things under control with the other safe houses, and were training like there was no tomorrow.

It was time for them to get to it as well. No one knew what lay ahead of them. All they knew was they were willing to prepare for anything. Every single one of them was ready to fight and give it everything they’ve got for this cause. The cause of freedom and democracy within the Lucian pack.

She and Neil had also been training together in the two weeks here, but Sophia wasn’t ashamed to say that most of those training sessions had just ended up with them tangled up in bed instead of on the training mat. It was like a single touch or gaze would send them into a spiral of fire and lust. Not that she was complaining. At. All.

It was quite disconcerting though, that no one had been able to find where Thorin had been hiding all this time. Apparently, they’ve scoured the whole territory top to bottom and back. Still nothing as of yet. One would think that the Lucian territory wasn’t all that big that an entire army could go unnoticed.

It made Sophia wonder whether her father might be somewhere in the Moon Walker territory. She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that Benson was harboring and keeping him safe all this time. That was a very troubling thought, one she’d voiced to Neil, but he’d asked her not to tell Scott just yet. If that was the case, they might have an even more arduous fight ahead of them…

“You look good,” Leo said, after they’d been swimming in the ocean and now walking down the beach. They’d already exchanged the general pleasantries of how they were doing and what they’d been up to, but they had fallen into a silence for a while as they’d walked, and Sophia was glad that he’d spoken first. “Not only the complete makeover and clearly a better diet, but you yourself – you look happy. I thank the Goddess each day that you and Neil were given a second chance.”

Sophia felt her heart swell. He was just the sweetest person on earth, and she had no doubt that he was going to grow up to be a real gentleman, and the fairest and compassionate Alpha of the Lucian pack, if that was still something on the table for him in the future.

“Thank you, little bro,” she said, giving him a side hug as they walked. “I could say the same about you. What has Vlad been feeding you? I swear you’ve grown five inches in two weeks!”

Leo laughed, but stopped and looked at her more seriously. “No, really,” he said, scanning her face. “You remind me of mom. You look so much like her. You even have that glow about you that she always had.”

Sophia smiled at him sadly, also remembering how their mother had always been so joyful and good-natured, which only reminded them that there had been a time when Thorin and she had been happy together. Until he must have found out what she was…

“Neil found out where mom grew up – where she was from,” Sophia blurted out. She hadn’t been sure she wanted to tell him about it until she’d made sure of it, but figured that he deserved to know. “Her pack is still there.”

“Where?” he asked, his multi-colored eyes lighting up with a glimmer of hope and excitement. “Can we go and visit them?”

She laughed in admiration of his optimistic spirit. “They’re all the way up north, their territory a large area along the Canadian Rockies. According to what Neil was able to discover, their main settlement is alongside a lake called Moraine Lake, next to a mountain peak called Tower of Babel – can you believe it?”

“Tower of Babel?” his face wrinkled in confusion. “Isn’t that like part of a story where people were separated by race and language, or something like that?”

“Something like that,” Sophia laughed, pushing down the urge to give his cheek a good squeeze. “Isn’t it funny how we are also species separated now, same as that story? They even have their own language and belief system … And when they shift, they’re these large and completely white-as-snow wolves – How cool is that?”

“Just like you,” he said, looking at her with wonderment in his eyes. “I hope I will be one too when I have my first shift one day.”

“I’m sure you will be,” Sophia said reassuringly, then pushing him playfully into a wave that had come a bit further than the previous ones onto the beach. “Even if you’re a bit grayer, you’re still a Lycan.”

“When can we go to meet them?”

She then felt a stab of guilt. “They are very overprotective shifters, and the kind that shoots first ask questions later, but Neil thinks that when they see me, because I look so much like mom did, that they would hesitate long enough for us to speak to them. So, I’d rather not put you at risk, but once everything is fine, we’ll take you there too. But first, Neil and I will make the journey alone, and establish communication, and make sure it’s safe for you to meet them as well.”

He seemed to accept the conditions, reluctantly, but said, “Then I don’t want you to take that risk. Rather just leave it, Soph. I mean, is just seeing where mom grew up worth getting shot over?”

“It’s a risk I feel I need to take, Leo,” Sophia said sincerely, hoping he understood the deep-seated urge to see her origins, their mother’s, and get answers about her, about their abilities, about everything. “Besides, it turns out mom was the Alpha’s daughter of their pack, so I would think someone that looks like her would give them pause.”

“Holy shit – What?” His eyes widened in shock. “Why the hell would she have come all this way south just to mate with Thorin?”

“We don’t know,” Sophia admitted, not failing to notice how Leo had stopped calling their father ‘dad’ again. “We don’t even know if they were actual mates, or if it was maybe an arranged mating. I think mom might have been sent here…”

“Why? By who?”

“That’s what I want to go and find out,” Sophia said, feeling that tingle of adventure, that prickling sense of purpose. She just knew that it was something she needed to do – there was just no other way to explain it. “There must have been a freaking good reason for it though.”

“Wow,” Leo breathed, his eyes stiff with him trying to come to terms with what she’d just told him. “When will you go?”

“Not any time soon I think,” Sophia admitted, feeling that disappointment that usually settled in her chest the moment she realized the same thing each time after getting excited about the prospect of going to those mountains where her origins were singing and calling to her with an icy wind of potential and a new life. “We still have a lot to do here.”

He nodded soberly, as though he’d also almost forgotten about what they were currently facing, and might still be for a while. “Well, I’m off,” he announced as they got back to the spot on the beach where their towels and drinks were still awaiting their return. “I promised Bella that I would watch a movie with her. I’ll see you later.”

“Have fun,” Sophia said smiling, pulling him in for another hug, something they had never really been able to do before. She wanted to do it all the time now, and didn’t care if it made him uncomfortable, though he seemed just as happy to in any case. “Would you call Neil here for me while you’re at it? I know he would most likely be too busy, but tell him that I have a surprise for him and to come and find me here. Alone.”

He smiled at her slyly. “Yes, ma’am.” He saluted her humorously before he ran off.

“Hey! Just because I’m mated now doesn’t mean I’m a ma’am. I’ll get you for that!”

He just laughed at her over his shoulder as he ran toward the underground base entrance.

Sophia smiled to herself. Despite things still being tense and uncertain with the civil war brewing, things felt right. More than right. Especially now that she and her brother could have a real sibling relationship, and she could be with Neil without walls or situations keeping them apart.

She practically grinned thinking about why she’d asked Leo to send Neil her way. Not that their time together each night had been boring in the least – Hell, would that ever be a possibility even? The man was insatiable! – She wanted to surprise him with a sex-on-the-beach suggestion. The sun was setting already, so she knew everyone would be at dinner and wouldn’t bother to search for them for a while.

Smiling to herself, already imagining what she wanted to do with him, already feeling his hot touches on her skin, his deep kisses in her mouth, and his carnal groans of pleasure in her ears, she took a sip of the granadilla flavored fizzy drink she’d brought with to the beach, and had only drunk half of.

It was warm as it went down her throat after sitting in the sun for too long, but she was thirsty so she gulped everything down in one big swig. It had a funny aftertaste, but she ignored it.

She let out a very contented sigh as she laid down on her back on her towel and threw an arm over her eyes, feeling tiredness seeping in. Maybe she could just nap for a few minutes until Neil got there, she thought.

She was going to need all the quick rest she could get if she wanted the required energy to do everything she planned to do with her mate the moment he got there after all.

Yes, just a few minutes…