Chapter 27

A/N: I'm trying to make some graphics for this book and the series, but darn, do I suck at drawing!

*****

"Are you sure we have everything we need?" My gaze swept through the room once again.

"We have enough food to feed three families so I think we are good," mom replied. "Although it would've helped if you'd asked Riley what he likes."

"Tart cherry juice," I said, glad that he would at least enjoy his drink and worried that maybe he'd find something wrong with the food. It was probably silly though; mom was pretty handy in the kitchen.

"So, you've told me." She nodded, slicing up the tomatoes.

"Do we have enough of that?" I wiped my sweaty palms against my jeans.

Should I change my jeans?

I was wearing my best pair, but was it good enough?

"Four bottles." Mom tilted her head towards the wooden table and a strand of her hair - a mix of grey and light brown - fell from her bun.

I tucked it behind her year and kissed her on her cheek.

"I should get going," I noted.

"I'm surprised you haven't already." Kennedy ran into the kitchen - his sport shorts covered in grass stains - and turned on the sink to wash his hands. "I'm starving," he announced afterwards, reaching for the plate with the ham slices.

"We are having dinner in about an hour so don't eat too much," mom ordered. "And take a shower. We are having Riley over."

"You know I always take a shower after soccer anyway," he spoke while chewing.

"Yeah, I should get going," I said - more to me than to them - and wiped my clammy hands again, this time on a paper napkin I then threw in the trash bin.

"What are you waiting for?" My baby brother stuffed more food into his mouth.

"What if Riley changed his mind? Or if I mixed up the day... I told you we agreed about Saturday, right?" I babbled on as I took out my phone to look at the date. "And today is Saturday..."

"Oh, just go already!" Kennedy pushed me towards the door with his ham-free hand.

"You'll be fine, Rhys, just breathe," mom reassured me with a smile, having moved to slicing cucumbers to add to the salad.

I took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Yeah, just breathe." Kennedy agreed. "If you are anxious, you'll only get Riley more nervous, you know. Don't you want him to relax and have fun with us?"

I looked down at my wise guru of a brother and sighed.

He was right; of course he was!

If I wanted Riley to be calm - and I did so with all my heart - I had to set an example. Be cool, be collected, be the...

"You are going to be late," Kennedy pointed out and with a hasty 'I'll see you soon' I dashed towards my car to pick up my mate.

*****

It wasn't working.

I tried to appear calm and I think I succeeded - my mate not changing his mind in the last minute definitely helped - but Riley was anything but relaxed.

"Do I have anything between my teeth?" He asked for at least the fourth time, pulling his lips up and backwards to reveal his pearly whites.

"The answer is still no, Riley; you haven't eaten anything since you last asked me five minutes ago," I replied before aiming my attention at the street light which still shone red.

"What about my hair?" He pulled the visor down so he could check himself in the mirror. "Does it..."

"Your hair looks amazing, your clothes look amazing, you are amazing." I grasped his chin and turned his face towars me giving him just a quick peck as I knew we didn't have time for more. The light turned green and I drove off.

"Did we take the wine?" He swiveled in his seat to look at the back of the car.

"Get back to your seat, Riley," I ordered, my right hand momentarily releasing the steering wheel to push him down. He turned away from me, his lips pressed tight, but I wasn't going to apologize. I'd rather him be irritated then having an accident in case I had to suddenly push the breaks or - God forbid! - another car crashed into us.

"I have some good news," I said after a while, hoping to cheer him up. "The Hunter left town early this morning."

His neck cracked at the speed with which he turned to face me.

"That is good news," he exclaimed excitedly, but his smile quickly fell from his lips.

"That is good news, Rhys, so why aren't you happy?"

"I am." I licked my lips, trying to ignore the image of an angry Aiden and an annoyed Sasha - their expressions when they'd stopped by to announce that Ace was gone. They didn't give us the details, but with all the tension in the air, I was pretty sure the redhead had done something that her partner did not approve of.

"I am happy," I repeated, but after a couple of minutes of Riley staring at me in disbelief, I knew I had to give him a reason for my worries.

There were three things on my mind at that point: something bad happening during dinner, Sasha getting in trouble - I liked her and she got the job done so I didn't want that - and Everett going crazy over his son's latest AWOL. If I spoke about the first of those, I'd make Riley nervous again; if I spoke about the second, I'd have to bring up Adrian and Sasha and maybe have my mate pose some questions about them, questions that I wouldn't be able to honestly answer; in the end, I decided to tell him about problem number three.

"Alec has gone missing."

Again, I added in my head.

All too late, I remembered how much Riley feared my nephew. His body tensed up and he took a slow, deep breath to relax before attempting to look sympathetic at my trouble.

"You think that might have something to do with the bounty hunter?" He asked.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

My nephew's timing couldn't have been worse as the Sentinels had wanted to question him about the same thing Riley was wondering.

"Does Alec have any reason to start trouble with that guy?"

"Boredom," I replied and he gaped at me.

"Boredom?" He repeated, incredulous, and I nodded.

"You'd be surprised at what lengths that boy would go through to add a little excitement to his life. Maybe Alec got bored with us and that's why he left... Those guys who were keeping an eye on the Hunter said they hadn't seen the boy around. Then again, he's good at not being seen; stealth is very important to them..."

I pursed my lips after my slip-up and thankfully Riley got the hint and didn't inquire who I meant by 'them'. I haven't even told him about the existence of my own species; I was not about to talk about vampires.

"At least Alec got off Keri's case. He'd been giving her a hard time."

I slowed down the car to catch another red light and take advantage of us stopping by taking my mate's hand in mine.

"That's one more reason why I want you to meet my parents, Riley," I told him as I caressed him with my thumb. "I want you to get to know all of us as a community and to trust us and I want for my friends to trust you in turn. I won't have to hide things from you then; I will be able to tell you everything."

Everything about shifters, vampires, Sentinels and Hunters, everything that went on in our pack, what exactly was Alec doing that caused us to worry, how it reflected us as his family and on Keri as our Alpha and the person who'd allowed the boy to stay over with his father on pack ground. Technically, the Council had voted on that matter, but Keri's authority had influenced them, something Jasper never forgot to remind her.

My mate smiled at me and brought my hand to his lips, placing the sweetest, most heart-warming kiss that left tingles on my skin. I squeezed his hand and drove off, my smile reflecting his.

We spend the rest of the trip in silence. I felt happy and supported, and cared for, as well as relieved: Riley no longer looked anxious. At least not until I stopped the car in front of my parents' home and announced:

"We are here."

*****

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter; please support it with a VOTE if you did!

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Your comments make me laugh and they inspire me to write more. Thank you so much for that! ❤

PS: Do you think Alec went AWOL to avoid the Sentinels or was his timing just a coincidence?