Chapter 23

I breath a sigh of relief as I'm finally past airport security.

Ransom takes my free hand, and squeezes it out of reassurance. My other hand clenched around my suitcase handle.

Jaden and Berkeley decided not to come, but that's alright. They have lives that I can't just rob them of in New Mexico.

"Whew. Glad that's over. Who's ready to find the gate?" Arina walks home next to me, and looks down at our plane tickets.

I don't say anything as time quickly flies, and I'm on the plane with Ransom next to me.

"Thank you. For helping me and coming with me." I tell him.

He smiles, and lifts my hand and kisses the back of it. "I'm always going to be here."

I rest my head on his shoulder, watching the movie with him on his screen in front of him.

———

As soon as I step off the plane, I breathe in the nostalgic air of my hometown.

I spot Ransom looking around curiously.

"Never been to Ohio?" I snicker. He turns to face me and shakes his head.

"I've been to a lot of places, but Ohio wasn't one of them until now." He looks back at me.

I shake my head, amused.

As soon as Arina comes off the plane, we all go to baggage claim to get our luggage that we couldn't carry on.

After all three of us are satisfied, Arina leads us to a parking lot and navigates her way through the very confusing place. Honestly I have no idea how people remember where they park their cars.

We stop on a sidewalk area, and a black van pulls up.

My jaw drops when I see Liam quickly run out and I barely have time to wrap my mind around him being here until he is engulfing me in a hug.

"You actually came back!" He cheers in my ear.

Yup. Still not used to his Italian accent.

I awkwardly pat his back, and that's when he got the signal that I was uncomfortable. He pulls away and looks over at Ransom.

"Who's this?" He points to him.

"I'm Ransom." I hear my mate announce, and he wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me into his side protectively.

Liam looks at Ransom, then back at me, then back at Ransom, and it seems to go on and on until finally it clicks in his mind.

"You have another mate?!" Liam practically shouts, and I try to press myself deeper into Ransom.

"It's a long story. Maybe we can explain it to you on the ride back and not out in public?" I stare down Liam, who nods with satisfaction.

Arina takes her and my bags as Liam grabs Ransoms things to put in the trunk. While they do that, I turn to face Ransom.

"Calm down. He's married with twins. You do not need to be as protective as you are now." I place my hands on his chest reassuringly, and I feel him relax.

"Good. Because I'm not planning on sharing." He leans down and quickly plants a soft kiss on my lips.

This stirred butterflies in my stomach and a weird feeling in my chest.

That terrified me. That feeling.

We all climb into the black van as I begin explaining a not so dramatic and summed up version of Ransom and I to Liam, who was enjoying every second of it.

———

Pulling up to the pack house I had once previously called home was weird as hell and I don't ever want to experience that feeling again.

I stepped out of the car once it stopped, and tried to take everything in, which was hard because this entire situation is so overwhelming. And hours of previous travel did not help how anxious my body was reacting.

I don't notice ransom behind me until he gently turns me around after placing one of his hands on my shoulders and pulling me in a hug.

"Everything's going to be alright. One step at a time Deer." He whispers into my ear.

I feel myself start to panic and I shake my head, burying my face into his shirt. "I'm already regretting everything." I mumble.

"You're already here. You should at least try. I have a feeling you'll regret that more."

I don't say anything after he told me that. Right now I don't think he's right, but I'm the long run I know he is.

I break off from the hug after I calmed down. I slowly make my way into the house, and not that many things have changed.

The house is bustling with life, people moving everywhere constantly, trying to find things to do or doing things that they found to do.

I stop when I see my parents in the room in front of me. They were both keeping a little boy very entertained.

I don't say anything as I just watch them. Thinking on how good of parents they have always been to me, never doing anything wrong or trying to ever put me in harms way intentionally.

"Kyle?" I snap out of my train of thoughts when I hear my dad.

My mom quickly looks up, as if he needed to see what he was hearing.

"Hi." I barely manage to say, my throat suddenly dry.

Both of my parents get up and walk over to me carefully, as if they were cautious that I was fake or just a figment if their imagination.

My dad hugs me quickly, and my mom joins in.

"We missed you so much." I hear my dad say.

I don't say anything. I probably should have, and I probably seem like a jerk for saying nothing back, but again, I was just so overwhelmed.

Eventually they both pull away, and that's when my mom whacks my arm.

"Ow!" I cry out, rubbing the spot he had hit me.

"Where in the hell have you been? Are you kidding me Kyle?" He scolded.

I look between my parents, now noticing just how tired they looked. Both pairs of those brown eyes showed how much older they were, and their hair is a lot grayer.

"New Mexico." I simply tell them. What else can I say?

Sorry mom and dad, I ran away after I saw my mate murdered in front of my eyes and I'm too much of a coward to stay with my pack and continue with Beta duties.

"Deer, where do you want to put our things?" I hear Ransom come into the house behind me, putting down our luggage for a quick break.

"Who's this?" My dad chimes in, giving Ransom a confused look.

"Mom, Dad, this is Ransom," I pause, careful not to shock them to death with what I'm about to tell them next. "My mate."

My moms eyes widened, and my dad straightened up, as if to appear more tough and strong to Ransom. I inwardly chuckled, because even though my dad was tall, Ransom still has his height beat by three inches, standing at a great 6 foot 6.

"I'm kinda mentally freaking out at the moment, so I would really like it if I can take some time away from all of this for a few minutes while I find a place to put my things." I sigh.

Mom nods. "Your room has been untouched. You guys can settle there. Would you like any help?" He offers, giving Ransom a welcoming smile.

"We're good. We got it, thank you though." I dismiss their offer, and grabbed my things.

I lead Ransom up to my old room, and when I walked in for the first time in many years, I was shocked to still see it near and clean. The pack has definitely been up-keeping this bedroom.

I set my things down and plop down onto my old bed, still as comfy as I had left it.

This was going to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

———

(Hey guys! I have a little announcement to make, and a question to ask.

I started writing a new book! I'm not going to be releasing it anytime soon though. Things are still kinda a work in progress with it.

And this is really important because I love hearing feedback from you all. Would you prefer another Werewolf story, Mpreg, or just a normal BxB romance type book? I have a few plot ideas in mind but I really value what you guys would like to see.

Anyways, thanks for reading this update! I love you all 💛 stay healthy!)