Come and gone (#3 of the Grey pack)

something I would never have

Sami’s P.O.V.

“Adam, I hate you.” I whined, walking next to him.

“Don’t be such a baby.” He just answered me, even though I could still see the smirk on his face after his evil plan on me had worked. Asking me to bake cupcakes for the pack members living inside the pack house was absolutely fine by me. But me having to carry them over there, seeing those guards and warriors with my own eyes and being forced to talk to them, was all a bit too intense for me. Especially when I knew who was living in that house as well.

Jaw dropping Jason…

the asshole who broke my heart all those years ago…

“I don’t give a rat’s ass that you want to make new friends, Adam, but throwing your sister into the mix is not what I signed up for.” I added, seeing my brother roll his eyes at me.

“Jesus Christ, Sami. Stop whining already. I brought you here because you need to make some new friends as well. If I don’t take matters into my own hands, you’ll probably end up being the crazy cat lady of this pack.” He told me, to which I sighed overly dramatically.

“This is a pack of wolves, I highly doubt there will be any cats living around here.” I answered him at the point where we had made it to the back of the pack house and Adam opened the kitchen door, walking into a massive dining room with a kitchen built into the far corner. The kitchen was still as I remembered it from the past. Massive and right now, for me as a baker, it looked like a damn dream coming true. Top notch appliances, tons of working space, three freaking ovens… three! I could run a business from this place if I wanted to.

“Come on, just place them down and be nice to everyone.” Adam told me, to which the fridge door closed, showing me a blonde woman with brown eyes, who smiled friendly as she saw both Adam and me walking up to her, boxes filled with cupcakes in our hands.

“Hi! You must be Sami.” She smiled, looking directly at me.

“I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet. My name is Bec. I am Archer’s mate.” She smiled, reaching out her hand to me. And my mouth dropped as I quickly placed the boxes on the kitchen counter, understanding immediately that by Archer, she meant the Alpha, which also made her the new Luna of the Grey pack. It was surprising for me to hear how she didn’t use her title but her name to introduce herself to me, as if, somehow, she didn’t place herself above us like most highly ranked wolves I had ever met would do.

“Oh… it is nice to meet you, Luna.” I told her, shaking her hand and feeling how my cheeks flushed since I had never talked to a Luna personally in my life, ever before. She giggled, which only made my cheeks burn harder.

“My name is Bec, Samantha. Please use it.” She winked at me. To which I nodded.

“Please, call me Sami.” I added, seeing how her smile warmed up as she nodded at me.

“I believe I will, Sami. And seeing what you brought with you, I believe I already love you.” She grinned as she looked at the boxes.

“I have been craving sweets lately.” She sighed, her hand coming down to rub her baby belly. And I gasped, seeing that the Luna was with child.

“Congratulations, Luna… I mean, Bec.” I choked out, seeing how she just smiled, a love in her eyes for the child she did not have the chance to meet yet.

“Thank you. And I am happy to know that we finally have a good baker in our pack because that smells amazing and I believe that from now on, whenever we need to have a celebration, you will be in charge of the cake.” She smiled, lifting up one of the boxed lids and seeing how her mouth basically started to water as she saw the cupcakes standing inside them.

“OK. Let me call the guys in, just make sure that there is one left for me.” She told me as she playfully winked, before she turned around and started to walk towards the door that I knew led the way to the main living room.

“And welcome back home, both of you.” She added, before she opened the door and left. Making me turn to Adam, eyes wide open.

“What the hell?” I asked him, to which he chuckled.

“I know, they are amazing, aren’t they?” My brother answered me, as we heard some male cheers coming from the living room, and exactly three seconds later, the door burst open and guys kept walking inside, all leaning over the boxes as I saw my cupcakes disappear, which made me unable to hide my smile, seeing how my food was making other people happy, even if it were just for a couple of seconds out of their day. Little did I know that by the time most men had arrived inside the kitchen, most of the cupcakes were already eaten and the Luna had asked me to bake some extra on the spot. Luckily for me, the kitchen held all the ingredients that I needed, and there I was again, leaning into the oven as I had just placed a fresh batch in it. The smell of the dough floating through the air.

“Hi!” I heard someone call out to me. Looking over my shoulder and seeing another young girl standing there. And I was surprised because I immediately sensed that, like everyone else inside the room, she wasn’t a wolf either. She was simply a human. Much like Adam and myself. She was beautiful with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She had this aura around her that made me understand that she loved to be the center of attention, or as if she was just used to being that because her job or something like that required her to be. But the way she greeted me in such a friendly manner surely intrigued me.

“Hi.” I smiled at her, taking off an oven mitt as I reached out my hand towards the young woman, just like the Luna had done with me only a while back.

“I heard you just got marked and mated last night. Congratulations.” I told her as I remembered picking up some men talking and now seeing the fresh claiming mark on her neck. Which now made me understand why she was here, as a human in the middle of a wolf pack. Her mate was a wolf, and she had just been marked by her mate.

Lucky girl…

“s**t, word does go around pretty fast around here. Well, my name is Taylor, Just-marked-and-mated-singer-Taylor, I guess. Nice to meet you.” She smiled at me, taking my hand as we shook.

“Nice to meet you too, Taylor. My name is Samantha but my friends all call me Sami, Just-arrived-baker-s***h-witch-Sami, I full-out grinned at her as I introduced myself to her as well.

“Whow! You are a witch?” She asked me, her eyes growing into the size of saucers.

“I prefer the baker part, though,” I answered her. Because the baker was who I had chosen to be. The witch part of me was just genes and DNA, they did not truly represent me, they were just there since I had been born. My magical powers were a part of me, but they did not define me.

“ OK, so baker-Sami it is.” She grinned at me. And it honestly made me like her immensely. She looked over at the kitchen counter where the remaining cupcakes were lined up. I could see she wanted to taste one but she seemed nervous to just grab one and just dig in.

“Why do you bake? Seeing how amazing they look, I can tell that you have been baking for a long time, but what drives you?” She asked me, to which I shrugged, thinking about a response because nobody had ever asked me this question before.

“I don’t know, why do you sing, Taylor the singer?” I asked her in return, to which she smiled at me as if I had just asked her about her newborn baby. And I could already see how much she loved her profession.

“I couldn’t stop singing even if I tried. Singing is a massive part of who I am as a person. Whenever I am down, I sing my tears away, and when I am happy, I sing because it makes me feel even better. It calms me, and in these last couple of weeks, I honestly believe that singing has made sure that I haven’t lost my damn mind in the process.” She chuckled at me as I threw my kitchen mitts on the counter in order to stop baking and talk to this girl some more. She was so fascinating to me, the way she spoke from the heart about her passion, the things she loved. And for some weird reason, I hoped that we could be friends. Lord only knew I could use one like her in my corner right now.

“I guess I bake, because I need to use my mind in order to not screw up whatever it is that I am baking at that time. It helps to distract me. When there is something on my mind that I do not want to think about at that point in time, I bake in order to keep

myself occupied. And over the years, I guess that I have learned to love it as well.” I confessed to Taylor, making her nod back at me.

“If you would ever need a friend, I would be happy to be that for you. Often, it is better to talk about whatever is troubling you, instead of trying to look the other way. You can bake and forget about your troubles for a while, but at the end of the day, the problem would still be there, coming back to bite you in the ass.” She told me softly, as if she had just read my mind. It warmed my heart and probably for the very first time, made me feel incredibly welcome back in this pack.

“Ain’t that the truth.” I sighed, sending her a smile.

“And honestly, I am rather new in this pack myself, so I still have some open spots for new friends, if you are interested? I wouldn’t wait too long though, the spots are filling up fast.” She added, grinning at me as I giggled back at her. God, I really liked this

Taylor-singer-girl.

“It’s not that I am new here, but a lot has changed over the last few years since I left. The world kept on turning, time kept on ticking.

Things changed, people changed.” I answered Taylor as I remembered a young boy from all those years ago who had held my heart one second and had crushed it the next. Taylor nodded understandingly, even though she had no idea what I was actually talking about, let alone knowing about who I was talking about. Thank God, at that point, she looked over at a chocolate chip cupcake, so I took it and reached it over to her. She grabbed it as she smiled at me gratefully, before she took a bite, and moaned as she tasted it.

“Oh my God, this is so good!” She told me, to which my own smile only grew bigger.

“OK, that’s it, you can never leave this place again because I will need you to bake me something at every celebration I can possibly think of, starting now.” She added, taking a second bite.

“And with those cooking skills, you just got promoted to being my bestie if you want to!” She moaned as she swallowed her cupcake down, her eyes roaming over the remaining ones as if she was already trying to figure out which one she was going for next.

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” I smiled at her, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Whenever you need some girl time, I’m right here. If you need to talk, or shop, or have someone to keep you company while you bake. I am your girl, the only thing I can’t do is go wolf running with you.” She told me, and from that second on, I knew this girl was officially my new friend. Because in some weird way, she was just like me. The odd one out, the freak. Only… she didn’t seem to know that about me just yet.

“Wolf running?” I laughed at her, hard. Trying to come off as if I didn’t care, while I did.

“Yeah, I’m a human, so no wolf for me.” Taylor shrugged.

“But you are marked now. If you would one day want to become a wolf, it is possible. All you have to do is get your blood mixed with that of your mate.” I smiled at her, knowing that it was the truth, as far as I knew it, even though I had lived inside a werewolf

pack my entire life, this human girl would probably end up being a wolf faster than me. She at least had herself a mate, a true mate. While I had my cupcakes…

Damn…

How sad did that just sound?

“And besides,” I added, hoping to put my own mind on other things.

“I don’t have a wolf either.” I winked at Taylor, seeing how her mouth dropped open as she kept looking at me in full surprise.

“You don’t have a wolf?” She gasped at me.

“No, never had one.” I told her as I shook my head, pressing my lips into a thin line.

“How? Why? I mean… you lived in a pack before this, right?” She asked me, to which I smiled at her and nodded.

“My father is a wizard, my mother was a witch. They used to live in a coven but it didn’t work out the way they both wanted, so instead of moving to another coven, my father came into contact with the previous Alpha who ruled the Grey pack, and my parents got the chance to settle down here. My brother and I were born here, so besides knowing werewolves and living with them my entire life, I am not one of them. Let’s just say we were the 'freaks' out of the bunch while growing up.” I told Taylor, a frown forming on her forehead as she listened to me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know… I just assumed that you were…” She swallowed, looking ashamed about what she had just said.

“It’s OK.” I nodded to let her know that it was fine.

“I’ve learned to live with it over time, being the odd one out, I mean. High school wasn’t always a field trip for me, but I’ve grown out of it by now, and luckily, I had a big brother to protect me while growing up as well.” I smiled at her. Knowing that my brother Adam had been my rock throughout my life. And I was a lucky girl, I knew a lot of people did not connect with their siblings as well as we did.

“And then, when my mom died, my life was a mess for a while.” I sighed, reliving it as if it had only happened yesterday. The pain I felt over her death still made it feel like that.

“I know, I lost my father when I was young as well. It is never easy to lose a parent.” She answered me, shaking her head, and as I swallowed, I was once again grateful to have met this girl. Because finally, it felt as if someone in the world actually did understand what I had lived through.

“How did he die, your father, if I may ask?” I asked her, to which she pulled up her nose as if the reason somehow made her feel ashamed.

“He overdosed on drugs, he was an old school rock star, that one.” She sighed, to which I nodded. It didn’t matter what the cause of his death was. The endgame had been the same for the both of us, ending up without a parent. With grief and pain and sadness.

“And your mom?” She asked me in return.

“Cancer.” I sighed as I remembered my dear mother.

“Which is ironic as f**k for her to have died of cancer, because it was her job to take care of the sick wolves here while we still lived in this pack. I mean… the witch who got sick and wasn’t even powerful enough to save herself using her own magic and the magic from my dad, while she had taken her whole life to save and take care of everybody else living here.” I spoke as I shook my head in disbelief. The irony… f*****g hell.

“After my mother’s death, my father met my stepmother. She is a wolf, actually.” I told Taylor, unable to look at her for the remainder of the story, maybe because a part of me was still mourning the loss of my mother. The pain after all these years still felt

too raw. too fresh.

“Me and my brother were still too young to live on our own, so we had to move along with my father. They say the mate bond is a hard thing to walk away from, so we didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter at that time.” I told her, seeing how she

listened to my every word.

“I’m happy you were willing to share that with me.” She smiled at me like a true friend, leaning over as she took my hand and squeezed it gently. And for once, I didn’t feel alone in this mess called my everyday life.

“Well, if you ever need me, I’m still living right here. Don’t become a stranger.” She told me, to which I smiled and nodded. Knowing that if I wanted this friendship to last, I needed to make an effort on my part as well.

“Thank you, Taylor the singer.” I grinned at her, to which she winked back at me in a response.

“You’re very welcome, Sami the baker.” she smiled back at me, as a man walked over towards her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he leaned in and kissed her on her temple. And I couldn’t help but smile, seeing how happy these two looked, while deep down… my heart ached and broke, knowing that these two shared something that I would never have.