Chapter Darby
Darby
Ember asking to talk to me shouldn't be as nerve-racking as I currently feel. She’s my mate, but I’ve not spoken to her yet. I tried to talk to Devin about it, but he shuts down like he did when we were kids in the group home. My breath catching as she smiles at me.
“I just need to grab some stuff. Can you meet me in the seating nook on our floor?” I give her an affirmative nod and look back at my plate, knowing the guys are looking at me for answers.
I finish up and pat Devin on the shoulder; as I pass, I don’t rush, even though part of me wants to run.
I take the stairs and focus on calming myself and my Dragon as I go to meet Ember without looking at anyone else.
I can't answer their questions as I have no idea what she wants to talk to me about. I reach the nook, and she’s sitting on the floor with stacks of papers all over the coffee table.
“Hey, so you remember Nic announced that anyone submitting contract requests for mating to anyone in the pack house will be named and shamed?” She finally looks up at me, done sorting her piles; I have no idea how she knew it was me. I perch on the pouffe next to her.
“Yeah, has this all been since then? It’s been two days!” I ask, shocked at the amount there
“Erm, yeah, these are just mine, not the rest, but I glimpsed the pile and will ask Nic for those once I’ve done these, but the other pile isn't even half this size” She looks uncomfortable, but I can't get over the idiots here; I notice with my silence that she’s getting embarrassed.
I’m just feeling angry on her behalf. I stare at her, stunned, and she looks down and continues.
“I want to set up a projector screen with photos of the person or persons stated in the contract and a copy of the demands, start with mine and then have the others mixed in too if we can get this chunk set up and then have it so Nic just has to scan new ones in when they pass his desk, with the amount here already it’s going to take too long during the next pack meet” she finishes then seems to start second-guessing herself, then she looks at her hands
“Are you aware of your heritage at all?” The question made me jolt a little. My Ma had me, then left me with my Da. I ended up in the system when he died, but I ignore that for now and focus on her project.
“There is already a projector set up in the community picnic area, as we had some outdoor movies once, so that we can link it up to that. I will ask Kodi to set up the screen as we’ll need something more sturdy than the roll-out one; I’m guessing from the piles you have broken it all into sections” I pick up one from a pile closest to me; it's from Stacey’s Mom, Gloria, she wants Stacey’s younger brother Jalen, who just turned sixteen, mated to Ember, and Stacey mated to Brayden as compensation of a weak mate for her son, Gloria is to raise all the children with a stipend of ten million a year to care for said kids, I look at Ember with wide eyes as I put it back down.
“These are the ones that include Brayden and or Miles,” She points to each pile in turn.
“These are Declan, these are Bastille, these are Dad and my uncles, even one for Grumps” She lets a small chuckle out.
“These are for money and properties, these are for my unnamed mates, and these are for Ren!” she points at the last pile and seems to deflate.
“Right, I’ll get a laptop and a scanner and start getting stuff loaded up; you finish sorting the last of them and text Nic for the other stuff” She nods and grabs her phone.
“My Ma had me and left. I was a weekend fancy, but she didn’t believe in abortion. Da raised me until he was killed, he was raised in the system, and Ma’s name isn’t on my birth certificate” I get another nod. As I walk to my room, I start the ball rolling with the screen.
DARBY: Can you set up a permanent
screen for the projector in the
outdoor seating area
KODIAK: Sure, I can use some
leftover plasterboard; what’s up?
DARBY: Ember has asked for help naming
and shaming those who think they have
a right to bid/demand her as a mate!
KODIAK: W.T.F??????????
I leave the text at that, as I have no answer that won’t incur a full-on rant; I always thought the people of this pack were above such things, but obviously not.
I head back to Ember with three laptops and a scanner, setting them up so they are all linked.
Scanned items go to all three, and the scanned files go into a file that needs action; once opened, it goes into a file saying processing, and then when all items are added, it goes into the finished file, which will play it all in shuffle but on a loop.
She lets out a sigh, winces and then sighs again
“I’m sorry I need to explain, it’s then up to you what you do with it, Your dragon has Gold scales, Only Dragons of a certain royal line has them, Dan who I was Fostered by, was thought to be the last, there are a few who have odd gold scales but to inherit the title you need more than 1000 gold scales, which at a guess you have” I give a slow nod and she continues
“I have a book that should be part of the family horde, but Dan wrote it himself, so it was deemed his. It is a full family history. When I turn eighteen, I will gift it to you” I give her another nod and then focus back on what I’m doing.
After half an hour, without looking up from what I’m doing, I voice the elephant in the room.
“Ren showed us your marks! Mine is among them!” as I finish, I hear footsteps, but they stop; Ember doesn't stop scanning through the files she is still sorting occasionally; chuckles, tuts, and eye rolls come from her.
“It's okay, Darby. I always expected all 10 to reject me. You and Devin are together, and I will never get in between that; I hope we can still be friends” She smiles at me and then goes back to sorting; I see Devin appear around the corner, explaining the footsteps.