Mates: Revenge

Chapter 20

~Jayden~

“So Melanie’s awake?” My mom’s voice breaks me out of my trance. I have been sitting in my office thinking about Brooklyn and Kehlani. Brooklyn still has not spoken, and Kehlani and I never had a chance to fix what went wrong between us before Brooklyn and Melanie disappeared. I look up at my mom and nod. “Will you be taking Brooklyn to see her soon?” I let out a loud sigh. Kehlani, Jax, and I have discussed this since Melanie woke up. Would it be good for Brooklyn to see Melanie right now? Melanie has asked about her, and they do share a unique bond. The issue is that Brooklyn is mute due to what she experienced, and Melanie doesn’t remember what happened. It could prove to be more detrimental than necessary at this point.

“We talked about it and…….” I run a hand through my hair. “We feel like it may be better for Brooklyn and Melanie not to see each other until Melanie knows everything that happened.” Mom looks thoughtful for a minute before she nods. She sits in front of me and covers her mouth with a hand while looking at me. I don’t know how much time has passed, but her stare is starting to unnerve me. “What is it mom?”

“What’s going on with you and Kehlani?” She says through her fingers. I thought this may be brought up at some point, but as time passed, I figured we were covering it well. Truth be told, we haven’t really been ‘us’ since before Brooklyn disappeared. We have spent time with Brooklyn since she has been back, sitting as a family, and that has gone well. We haven’t exactly been together, just the two of us. We sleep in the same bed, but we haven’t touched each other in a while. I can feel the distance between us every day, but I don’t know what to do about it. I feel like it would be wrong to take the focus off of Brooklyn, but then again, we don’t know how long this silence will last. Kehlani and I can only be distant for so long before it affects our wolves and us negatively.

“It happened before Brooklyn disappeared.” Mom gave me her famous look. It is a look that makes it clear that no one is moving from their spot until every bit of information is spilled. It was how my sister and I always ended up telling on ourselves and each other. I’m not sure if it’s a skill you get when you have a kid or if it’s one that is practiced, but mom is an expert. I sigh and tell her all about the dinner and the resulting argument. Her eyes went big when I got to the part…where I said what I said. I still can’t believe I let that come out of my mouth. I truly wasn’t thinking and would never purposefully be so insensitive, but once words are said, you can’t take them back.

Mom puts her hand down and stares at me. “How do you plan to fix this? You can’t expect to be able to help Brooklyn if you and your mate are at odds. She needs both of you and she needs your bond to be strong. That strength is going to help all of you through this trauma.” Mom is right, I need to figure this out and fast. I was planning to apologize to her before we found out Brooklyn was missing, so it’s probably time to revisit that plan.

~Kehlani~

It has been a long day, and I’m so happy to be home. I walk up the stairs to the door, and a hear giggling off to the side. I turn my head and see one of my young pack members standing with a bouquet of flowers in her hands. “Hey, Maci. What are you doing out here by yourself?”

“I was waiting for you.” She is out here waiting for me with flowers? That seems very weird, but I will go with it.

“Waiting for me huh? Who are the flowers for?” Maci giggles again and steps forward. She extends the bouquet towards me and waits. I look at the flowers and back at her before taking them from her. “Thank you, these are beautiful.” Maci smiles.

“Alpha J says to go inside, Alpha.” Alpha J, huh? The kids have taken to referring to Jayden as Alpha J, and I think it’s pretty adorable. I turn from Maci as a warrior walks up to her, my guess is to take her home. I open the front door and step through, only to see a gorgeous boy with the biggest smile on his face. I step up to the boy and kneel in front of him.

“Hi Ernest. What’s going on?” Ernest starts to grin wider, exposing his snaggletooth look. It is too adorable on him, and I think he knows it. Ernest pulls his hand from behind his back and hands me a bag of sour gummy worms. This is one of my favorite types of candy. I take the bag from Ernest and stand up.

“Alpha J said to give these to you and that you should go to the kitchen.” I nod at Ernest and head toward the kitchen. I’m not sure what all this is about, but it is becoming pretty interesting. When I enter the kitchen, I see a group of kids sitting at the island. They have pieces of paper in their hands, and they seem to be waiting for a cue. I step into the room, and they greet me in unison.

“Alpha J wanted us to read this poem to you,” Nancy says. Brent nudges her, and her smile turns to a frown. “Ow Brent. What did you do that for?” Brent leans over and whispers to her. Her eyes get big, and she nods vigorously. “I forgot to tell you that Alpha J wrote this himself.” I nod and lean in the doorway, waiting to hear what they have to say.

~Jayden~

I walk up to the warrior that is escorting Maci off of the porch. “How’d it go, little one?” Maci looks up at me with a huge smile.

“Alpha loved the flowers Alpha J. She said they were bootiful.” I chuckle. I love the way she says that. I pat Maci on the head and nod to the warrior to continue. I walk into the packhouse and run into Ernest.

“Alpha J, Alpha J……I think Alpha really liked the candy. I like that kind of candy too, but mom says that I can’t eat too much candy because it isn’t good for my teeth.” I grin at Ernest and pull a smaller bag of sour gummy worms out of my pocket.

“Mom said that I could pay you for your services. These are for you, just make sure that you brush your teeth very well after.” Ernest nods and rushes off. I laugh and quietly walk toward the kitchen. I tried to time this right so that I don’t miss the kids reading the poem. They haven’t started yet, so I stay far enough away from Kehlani that she shouldn’t detect me. I need to wait for my cue.