Gamma's Energy Attracts

Part 5

Caly’s POV

“You’re here early today,” I give her a welcoming smile. Julia usually puts off her school work until after dinner, but she’s here now with a book and a laptop in hand and it isn’t even 2 pm.

“My wolf was itchy, Mrs. Alpha,” she says flatly. She’s a bit hard to read sometimes and has a whole host of odd habits. Julia has a wolf inside her, a strong and commanding one, but she hasn’t shifted yet. She’s either a really late-bloomer, or her gift is somehow blocking it. Seeking is definitely a mental ability, maybe the physical transformation is lacking somehow, or the lack of care she received when she was young has hampered it. It’s just one of those mysteries we may never have an answer to. What we do know is that Julia’s wolf is an old-soul juxtaposed in a child-like young she-wolf.

“Itchy because she wants to seek something? Or because you can feel us seeking something?” I try to figure out her clues. I’m not nearly as accurate in deciphering Julia as Colin is, but she spends far more time with him than anyone else. I’m surprised she didn’t go have coffee with him, but maybe she tapped into our discussion about the Council’s missing she-wolves. We’ve already upset Tabitha, and Julia is bound to be ten times more anxious about anything related to gifted she-wolves.

“Everyone is seeking something,” she lets out in an angry huff and slams her things onto the kitchen table. Alrighty then, asking her to seek something will have to wait. I start to brew a pot of coffee. I have a fancy coffee machine that makes a pot on one side or can make a single cup on the other. It does both jobs half-assed in my opinion, but Stav thought it was a brilliant gift and he thought of it all on his own without Colin’s help. The single-cupper is still down in the office, Colin got used to its convenience and he needs to keep Julia happy, I don’t think he trusts Jules to regulate herself.

“Were you able to finish the book? Did you get stuck somewhere on the questions?” I look a the cover of her book, I have never heard of it or the Author, which is odd for me. Usually, we can discuss the books together. I load the title onto my reading app to read the summary. I add it onto the endless list of ‘To Be Read’. 

“I like the book, I’m one-third the way through. I hate the questions. Why do they have to ruin it by asking stupid stuff like: ‘What social commentary is the writer trying to portray in chapter 13?” she says mockingly as she stares directly at the powder blue box on the table. She’s losing focus already. 

I put the coffee in front of her, preloaded with cream and sugar or because if I hand over the sugar bowl she’ll keep adding it in until it’s thick like a syrup. It occurs to me that I don't trust her to regulate herself either.  “I’ll try and get caught up to you tonight. Here, have a treat. It will make you feel better,” the box is in her hands before I finish speaking, so I quickly add, “The cupcakes are for the pups!” Julia is drawn to brightly coloured sprinkles and frosting like a big kid. She pouts and picks a piece of cake. I share a look with Terri, I know she’s thinking the same thing right now. 

“Let’s talk about something else,” Terri says intent on changing the subject. Terri doesn’t want to play book club with me and Julia. The last book Terri read cover-to-cover was probably a technical manual. “Have you thought about the Mating Ball? I can take you and the Luna out dress shopping tomorrow.” 

“I don’t wanna. It’s not as though I will find what I seek.” She scowls at Terri, but we already knew this would be a hard sell so Terri lets it roll right off her back.

Terri musters up some fake enthusiasm, “You don’t know that, Jules. You’re a young she-wolf, it might be good to hang out with people your own age. Alpha Tucker knows how to have a good time, you’ve been there before.”

“Are you going?” She sasses Terri.

“I have an important job right now, and I am a bit too old for…” Terri starts but I cut her off.

“Of course, Terri is going. She knows you’ll be more comfortable if you can have your own bodyguard,” I smile sweetly at Terri who is ready to blow her top. She just wants to avoid the possible disappointment of being the only ‘spinster’ at one of these gatherings.

I have already received a lovely handwritten letter from Nonna Mary begging me to command Terri to attend this year’s Ball. Nonna added a heavy dose of guilt about the Luna being responsible for Pack members finding their happiness, including her granddaughter, who works overtime for this Pack. She reminded me that being a Luna is all about tough love and maintaining the peace. That she-wolf is a wily old vet who is still at the top of her Mom-game. Mary topped it off by threatening to cut off the homemade mac and cheese supply coming into my house. I can’t give up mac and cheese cold-turkey, and I absolutely couldn’t disappoint my pups, now can I? 

“I’ll even come dress shopping with you!” It’s my turn to fake a happy face. I loathe shopping, but Terri loves it and likes to dress me up as her own personal fashion doll.

I hear both of them grumble out a “Fine.” We all sit and eat in silence. Terri excuses herself to the living room to call Elder Darryl about getting the needed files, while Julia and I go over her other homework. Soon it’s 4:30, the time I usually pick up the kids from the Den Mother’s, and Julia offers to go so I can keep working. I mind-link Conner, asking him to meet Julia at the door. She never goes out alone, and she and Conner are close friends. We had all secretly hoped they would be Mates, but no such luck.

I check on Terri who’s typing away on a laptop that isn’t her own and suspiciously looks like Stav’s. “Did Elder Darryl send you the files?”

“Some of them. The dinosaurs at the Council only started using computer databases like 15 years ago. Which means, we have 25 years' worth of files in dusty old boxes to go through. Most of it is handwritten, I hope to hell we can even decipher the scribbles. He’s going to load up a van and bring them to the Packhouse at Blue Moon’s Bite. He wanted to know if you and I could show up a day or two early for the Mating Ball that you scammed me into going to.” She narrows her angry glare at me, which I ignore. I am a Mom myself now, I am immune to that kind of petulant nonsense. 

“See, fate at work! I’ll convince Stav that you and I should head up on Wednesday, everyone else can leave Friday afternoon as planned.”

The doorbell rings and the panel lights up with a new picture, I see my kids in Conner’s arms making silly faces for the camera. I open the door and first through is Atlas who hugs my leg and waits for me to kiss the top of his head before running to the kitchen. I know he missed me, but the cupcakes come first. Priorities. No, I don’t worry about him spoiling his dinner. As my own Momma used to say, “That pup has a hollow leg!” 

Speaking of bottomless stomachs, “There’s treats from Leo’s in the kitchen, Conner.”

“Don’t mind if I do. Thank you All-Mother.” He puts Clarissa down to find Atlas and the goodies.

 My sweet girl lets me pick her up for a proper hug and kiss on the cheek. “Hi, Momma. We made leaf pictures!” She shows me both their artwork, they made rubbings with crayons by placing the paper over real leaves. I’m running out of fridge magnets, I need to clear off the fridge again. “Momma, you cut it, I splitsy with Julie.” The gloom lifts off Julia like a fog at the thought of trying the cupcake, so I grab a butter knife. 

I look around the table with all the happy eaters. My son is especially happy, he has frosting on his hands, cheeks and up his nose. I move to get a facecloth and run it under warm water. I slowly approach him from behind, Conner sees what I am doing and waits for me to make my move.  In a coordinated attack, Conner grabs his wrists and I grip Atlas’s chin and with two gentle strokes of the cloth, I have his face clean. Conner holds up one pudgy hand at a time, and we have successfully managed to clean the boy without any squawking. Today is a good day! 

My front door opens and my husband appears. He looks around the full kitchen, “You are NOT all staying for dinner are you?” The kids rush over to him and latch onto his legs, he drags them into the kitchen as he exaggerates taking big stomping footfalls while they giggle.

“Rude, My One and Only. Don’t be such a grump,” I tell him. I give him a quick chaste kiss and touch my forehead to his.

“I was just bringing the pups home, Alpha. Have a good evening everyone!” Conner says and then escapes before Grumpypants can send him on extra patrol or something.

“You been hiding up here all day, Terr?” He asks.

“Just this afternoon, I’m trying to convince the Queen us she-wolves need a slick office of our own. Black leather couches and chrome accessories, what d’ya think?” She gives him an evil grin.

“Where are you planning to put this office, ‘cause you’re not turning my apartment into a biker bar.”

“Why not?! It will look sweet! We were thinking in the nursery,” she tells him.

Stavros’s eyes go dark, a beautiful blue like sapphires as his wolf comes forward. “NO,” Zeus says firmly. Then he turns to me, “One more, please?” We haven’t discussed having another pup yet, I was adamant I wasn’t having another until I had the twins potty trained (at least during the day) but we have reached that milestone. I wonder whether Stav’s onboard or if this is just Zeus. Wolves, especially Alpha wolves, tend to just want pop out as many pups as their Mate can handle.

“See, Terri, we can’t have an office. The kids each need their own rooms now and I can’t convert the nursery just yet. We just can't have nice things.” I joke.

“No Mumma,” Atlas and Carissa detach themselves from their Daddy, and my little man gives me an unhappy look. His brows turn down and his lips pinch together in the cutest little pout. Goddess, he is so serious and he looks like his Dad when he does that.

“No what, Baby?” 

“Rissy stay in my room,” he says with authority.

“You each need your own space. Listen, I’ll let you pick out all the colours. We will paint the walls and we’ll get you nice big beds, and decorate them however you like. You can still play in each other’s rooms whenever you want."

“NO, Mumma!” He grabs Carissa’s hand and tugs her to his side.

“Bia doesn’t want to have her own room, Momma. I stay with Attly.” Here we go again. I rub my temples. Stav sees my tension, and tells the kids to go play. Atlas drags Carissa to the nursery to find some toys.

“Why can’t they keep sharing?” My Mate is questioning my decision.

I shoot him an incredulous look, “Because they are old enough to have their own rooms. They are going to need privacy as they get older.”

“That’s when they are older. They are still little, Caly. Lots of twins share everything.”

“Atlas carries on like he owns Rissa, that can’t be healthy. You want them to grow up co-dependant? Or worse, where she thinks she needs to rely on a male for everything. She already has an imaginary friend!”

‘Bia is not imaginary,’ my wolf says as she wakes from her afternoon nap.

‘She’s talking to someone who is only in her head.’ 

‘You’re pretty dumb for a smart girl, Babe. You are doing the same thing right now,’ she huffs at me indignantly. I don’t have time to argue with Athena about it right now.

“You’re psycho-analyzing two-year-olds, Caly. Shouldn’t we be thankful that they get along with their sibling? You and I were only children, didn’t you ever feel lonely? They have a built-in friend as twins. Separating them might make Bia a more permanent thing. Besides, I thought we didn’t want them to grow up competing with each other? This is prime bonding and learning time. Just let them be pups for a while longer.”

Colin comes in his using his own keycard, he’s changed out of his classy suit and into track pants and a t-shirt. He looks between Stav and I and frowns. He’s probably trying to assess the damage and figure out how he can fix this, he doesn’t even know what we are arguing about yet.

“Two and a half. Maybe we should talk to Doc about…” I start to say, but Stav cuts me off again. 

He pulls me into his embrace and seals my lips with a kiss. “There’s nothing wrong with them being kids, we will try again once they are in school full time.” He rocks me slowly from side to side trying to help ease my worries.

“What are we discussing?” Colin asks softly. 

“The kids want to keep sharing a room,” I look at Colin around Stav’s huge body. He’s taken his don’t poke the bear stance, arms folded over his chest, leaning in the doorway of the kitchen. He’s trying hard to look casual when he’s actually ready to referee at a moment's notice. Colin will be practical, he’ll tell me the truth if I am overreacting. Overreacting is his job.

“I can ask Caro, if you like, but I am sure she will say the same as me. Let them be kids as long as they can.” It seems I’m the only one who thinks this is an issue, so I’ll drop it for now.

“Can I paint the room?” Julia suddenly asks. She was so quiet I honestly forgot she was still writing at the table.

“I’m not sure we will be able to convince them to pick the same colour,” I chuckle softly. “We might have to literally paint a stripe down the center of the room.”

“I have to do a large piece for my final art project. I’ll let them pick a theme and I can paint a mural! Pretty please,” she begs

“Sure, why not,” I concede, I’m clearly out-voted. She did mention she needed something big to do for art. “I'd like to see a sketch before we go buy paints.”

“I have to do a concept drawing anyways,” Julia skips off to find the kids.

“Caly, it isn’t like you to stress so much over the kids,” Colin’s voice is still soft and soothing as he stops leaning and prepares me another cup of coffee.

“The Council files are in paper and need to be uploaded manually. Terri and I thought we might head up to Blue Moon’s Bite early.”

“Early? How early?” My Mate tenses up and holds me slightly tighter, he doesn’t like to be away from me. Even when I visit Moon’s heart he usually comes with me.

“We leave Wednesday, so just two days.” He curses under his breath.

“You'll be fine. We need to figure out what is going on. Terri’s only looked at one file and there’s no information on Rocco, like he didn’t even exist. There’s something wrong about these cases. They are hiding or not meant to be found. Maybe their identities were changed.”

“Do you think the Council put them in witness protection?” Colin asks. I didn’t think of it that way. I didn’t think of any positive reasons.

“Honestly, that would be the best outcome, my thoughts were...much darker,” I admit. My own Father had given the Council so much money and favours over the years, he practically paid for me three times over. 

“Momma! Mom! Mom! Can we have a tree in our room?” Carissa hollers down the hall, pulling me from those dark thoughts.

“A tree wouldn’t fit, Munchkin. Maybe a smaller plant.” She rolls her eyes at me and Stav clears his throat. He doesn’t allow them to disrespect their Momma.

“Sorry, Mom. Not a tree, a painted tree. I can paint leaves!” She says extra syrupy sweet because her Daddy is listening.

Oh! I wasn’t thinking about the painting anymore. “Sure what colour are we painting the room?”

I get “Pink!” and “Blue!” at the same time. I sigh out loud.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Alpha, I have a great idea. We’ll have pinks, blues and trees. I’ll sketch it for you tonight.”

“There’s no rush Julia, I’m heading to Blue a few days early.” 

Just then Rosemary mind-links me, asking how many I am feeding for dinner tonight. I hear Atlas say, “Cool!” while I’m preoccupied.

I look down to Atlas, he’s staring at Julia and her eyes which are green and glowing, so bright she’s casting a green tint on the skin of her cheeks and the top of her nose. Her eyes are like nothing we have seen before, and every time they glow like that her wolf is taking over. She starts looking vacantly straight ahead, then her pupils start darting back and forth. We all wait to see what she might say.

“You’re seeking something?” Julia asks in her timid child-like manner, tilting her head to the side like a curious pup.

“Yeah, Jules. We are trying to find out what happened to some she-wolves the Council fudged over,” Terri tells her, making sure not to cuss in front of the kids. Fudging fudgesicles is her new favourite phrase.

“It feels so far away. This feels as if it's the furthest thing I have ever seeked,” she says in practically a baby voice. “I want to go with you,” she whimpers.

“What’s your wolf saying about all this, Baby Girl?” Terri presses.

“Dance with the old files and trip over the things you seek, and the one thing you do not.” The rich voice of her wolf smoothly speaks from Julia’s lips. She’s got a motherly aura about her, and she’s staring directly at Terri while she speaks. 

Terri whips out her cell phone at lightning speed and starts to furiously tap away at the keyboard. Terri always writes down what Julia predicts or gives out in riddles, whatever you want to call this. Sometimes the predictions evolve over time, become clearer, or we figure out part of the solution at different times. Terri tries to keep track of the clues and our ideas about what they actually mean.

Looks like we got our first crack in the case.