The Liar, The Wolf, and the Songbird

Chapter 3

Alec

Adam insisted we go over to her house and wait in the woods to watch her until she fell asleep. He said it would give him the opportunity to talk to Athena and make sure she would be in on it.

So here I was. Spying on my little sister like a crazy stalker. Adam was beside me giggling like a schoolgirl at his good fortune.

“Athena says she’ll play along. This is gonna be fuckin’ great!” He rubbed his hands together like a supervillain from a cartoon. It was hard not to feel a little excited. It was around three when Athena opened up the mind-link.

“Hey big brothers, she’s well asleep. Be quiet though. There’s an extra key hidden under the bricks lining the flower bed. Fourth one on the left.” She said. I missed Athena. She was a good wolf. We crept like wraiths through the night and found the spare key exactly where Athena had said it would be. We tip-toed quietly through the house. Suddenly, Addy’s sleepy voice broke through the night.

"What? Where?" she muttered. “Who’s there?” She said with more alertness. Adam snickered and I elbowed him hard in the ribs. He looked at me in anger and I put a finger to my lips.

“Athena, shift! We have to attack who’s ever in the house!” Addy said frantically. Why was she talking out loud to her wolf?

“What the hell, Athena!” She snapped before muttering, “Stupid mutt.” We got to the door, and I poked Adam.

“Hey, I’ll turn the light on, you get the door.” I said through the mind-link. He grinned broadly before nodding.

“On three. One… two… THREE!” Adam threw the door open, and it bounced loudly off the wall while I flicked the light switch, blinding her. She let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Little sister! Oh how we've missed you!" Adam said as he jumped on her bed. She looked confused for a minute, so I took that opportunity to pounce on her other side and rip the blanket from her body, which in hindsight was a terrible idea. Underneath her mess of blankets was my sister’s naked body. I recoiled at the sight.

"Gross Addy! Why are you naked!" I said in disgust as I shielded my eyes.

"f**k you, Alec! You two scared the life out of me!" she barked out. "What are you two doing here?" She hatefully jerked her blankets back up, concealing her nudity once more.

"Oh what? We can't visit our little Addykins?" Adam crooned.

"f**k you, Adam! And no. You can't when you come barging into my house at..." She scanned her room before her eyes landed on her clock. Her eyes bulged at the time. "What the actual f**k! It's three in the morning!" I growl. Little snot.

"Maybe if you answered the damn phone, we wouldn't have had to come all this way to drag your snooty ass home!" I hardened my expression as I gazed down at her with contempt.

"There hasn't been a call, you are f*****g Neanderthals!" she bellowed. Adam chuckled.

"Oh, Addykins, I've missed your little sassy self." Adam said affectionately. He always had a soft spot for our little sister, but I could see through her lies. She sighed deeply before she turned to Adam.

"I really didn't receive any calls, Adam. Grab my phone and look." He reached over and took the phone, scrolling through it.

"She really didn't get the calls, man. She's not lying." Adam tossed me the phone and I started scrolling through it. Nothing but patient bullshit. No calls from our mother, weird. I sighed

"Fine. At least Mom won't think you were just ignoring her, but you need to call her." I said with irritation.

"I will. Now, if you two will excuse me, I'm going back to sleep." She started to snuggle back into her little cocoon of blankets. Without thinking, I jerked the covers back again, immediately regretting the decision.

"Dammit Alec! She's fuckin naked and it's not something I want to see!" Adam yelled, snatching the blanket from me and wrapping tucking it in around Addy.

"You baby her! Adeline, you need to call Mom now!" I snapped.

"Why? What's wrong?" She said, her voice laced with concern.

"Just call Mom, Addykins." Adam gave her a pleading look and she snatched up her phone and called our mother.

"Adeline! Oh thank God! I've been trying to reach you for weeks!" My mother's soft country rippled through the room.

"I'm sorry, Momma. I didn't get any of the calls." She said apologetically.

"She really didn't Ma!" Adam added. I glared at him.

"Well, that's alright. Addy, you need to come home. It's your Grand daddy." Addy’s face paled.

"What's wrong with Poppy?" She said fearfully.

"He's got stage five colon cancer. It's spread to his kidneys and liver. He ain't got much time." My mothers voice said gently.

"I just talked to him. He sounded fine." She said as tears started running down her cheeks. I didn’t like my sister, but it still hurt me to see her so vulnerable.

"He probably didn't want you to worry. I know you have work but-"

"I'm coming home. I'll call my boss at the airport." She said instantly. Adam wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Good girl. Me and Daddy will meet y’all at the landing strip."

"The landing strip?" she said curiously.

"You didn't think we rode commercial, did you Addykins?" Adam gave her a weak smile.

"Your brothers took the pack jet. Now pack up and we'll see y’all shortly. I love you, sweet girl." With that the phone disconnected. Addy sat quietly as she stared down at the black screen of her phone, wild tears falling from her eyes in big drops. She was the closest to our grandfather. I imagine she would feel his loss the most. Without giving it much thought, I scooted closer to her and intertwined my arms with Adam’s so we could encircle her in our arms while thunderous sobs racked her tiny, little body.

We fell asleep like that. Just stacked in a pile on Addy’s large bed. I held on to my sister. I was afraid to let her go, afraid she would fall apart in a puddle of misery. I hadn’t felt this protective over her in years.

“Our sister is hurting. Comfort her, human.” Gentry ordered. I rolled my eyes. Even my stupid wolf was soft on my sister. I disentangled myself from our group and sat up. I looked at the time,7:45. We needed to get up, and get going. I shook Adam who groaned groggily.

“Five more minutes, Tawn. I promise I’ll get up.” He muttered sleepily. I growled in frustration.

“Get up, jackass! We have to go!” I spit out. Adam peaked an eye open at me and frowned.

“You’re such a hateful prick in the mornin’. You know that?” He yawned and gently shook Addy.

“Addykins, it’s time to get up. We gotta get movin’.” He said sweetly to her. She opened her eyes slowly and peered up at us.

“I guess it wasn’t a nightmare, was it?” She said sadly.

“No, it wasn’t. Now get up. We’ve gotta go.” I said sharply as I got out of the bed and went into the bathroom.

“Sister is hurting. Stop being a d**k to her.” Gentry growled.

“If you and Adam want to baby her, be my guest! But I have obligations to fulfill and waiting around for them to get their asses moving isn’t one of them!” I snapped as I put up a wall between me and my wolf. I relieved myself and went back into the room. Adeline was in her closet throwing clothes out to put in her suitcase. Adam came over to me and punched me hard in the arm.

“Stop bein’ a fuckin’ prick! She ain’t done a God damn thing to you!” He whisper yelled at me. I growled lowly at him, but he wasn’t fazed as he jabbed his shoulder into mine and went into the bathroom.

“Alec, do you mind helping me get this little suitcase down? I need to put my toiletries in it.” She asked cautiously. I sighed in agitation but complied with her request. By 8:30 we were in the car on the way to the airstrip. I looked down at my phone to see thirty-six missed calls. Only two were from Zeke, the rest were from Cassandra. I flipped to the messages and only read through a couple. Most were just Cassandra’s bipolar ramblings. She went from calling me every name known to man, to apologizing and saying how much she loved me. There was no middle ground with the woman. I feared what awaited me when I got home.