Chapter Fourteen #3
Of the alphas, only Justin and Kirk would remain.
I’d considered inviting other alphas who I considered friends but came to the conclusion that if I wanted something small, I needed to keep it small.
All fifty-something Boston wolves would be here, because I considered both packs to be my family, and I wanted my family present.
I wished my biological family could see the wedding.
At least my mother and sisters, if my mother was even still alive by now.
I was born in 1965, when she was in her mid-twenties, so it was possible she’d already passed away.
Amber, the older of my sisters, was autistic and might not handle a wedding well, but then again, she might have been okay.
Who knew how much she’d learned and changed over the decades.
My younger sister, Peri, would have probably wanted to help decorate the house, assuming she hadn’t lost her childhood excitement and joy about pretty things.
They couldn’t be here. I hadn’t seen them since shortly before Christmas the year I was fifteen, when Harok and I sneaked out to the house I’d grown up in to watch my parents and sisters leave for the last time as they moved to a new city.
I could have tracked them down, but our laws were clear.
Humans who had known us before we were changed would, if we stayed in contact with them, notice that we didn’t age.
They would see or suspect something that might lead them to finding out that werewolves existed, and that simply couldn’t be permitted.
At this point, even though I physically looked older than I had even a year ago, I didn’t look anywhere near my chronological age.
It would have raised too many questions if I’d decided to try to find my mother and sisters.
Kyle, however, didn’t look ridiculously young.
Having only been changed two years earlier, he still appeared the age he’d been when he was changed, and two years wasn’t that long.
After consulting with Silas, I’d reached out to Kyle’s parents and sister and invited them to the wedding.
Kyle didn’t know yet, and I would have to make sure he understood that this didn’t mean he would be able to keep seeing them, but at least he would be able to see them now.
They would be arriving the following morning.
I’d told them it was a surprise for Kyle, so they’d chosen to wait instead of arriving with the rest of the guests.
The last plane took off, and the final bus full of guests heading to Logan Airport headed down the driveway, just in time for a plane to arrive.
I was out the door and heading to the airfield before Davion, who’d been assigned to shadow me, realized I was moving.
Silas Creighton had arrived. I was looking forward to seeing him in person.
We hadn’t had a visit since the previous year when I’d traveled to his Nova Scotia home to discuss the tensions between the U.S. and Canadian werewolves.
Silas wasn’t the one I truly wanted to see, though.
Quinn was with him. For the first time since I’d manipulated Quinn into asking to leave his role as my guard and had banned him from returning to the United States, Quinn was here.
After I’d accepted the Anax power and taken it as part of myself, one of the first things I’d done was call Quinn to apologize.
I’d rescinded the ban and invited him and Malachi to the wedding.
Since then, I’d spoken to both of them a sparse handful of times, but I hadn’t seen them.
I needed to see Quinn. I needed to know he forgave me.
I barely managed to stand still while I waited for them to emerge from the plane. Kyle and Davion joined me, the latter glaring at me when he probably didn’t realize I was looking. Yes, I’d taken off on my guard, but since most of the guests from the gathering had departed, I was reasonably safe.
Silas came down the steps from the plane first, tall and ruddy-cheeked. Behind him was Malachi, weathered and scowling. He hated flying; as I understood it, this was only the second time in his life that he’d traveled by plane. The first had occurred only a couple of months earlier.
Close behind Malachi was Quinn, still looking as if he hadn’t had a decent meal in a week though he did appear healthier and more robust than the last time I’d seen him.
His light brown hair was tousled, and he hesitated to look around before taking the final step onto the ground.
He’d been to the hunt house before, of course, when he was one of my guards.
I wondered how it felt for him to be here now.
My heart tugged, and I wanted to run over to him, hug him, beg his forgiveness.
I didn’t. That wouldn’t have been proper.
The Anax of Canada was here, and he was the one I needed to speak to first. I held my hands to my sides, palms out.
“Silas Creighton, Anax of Canada. Malachi Powers and Quinn Boucher, packless wolves. You are all welcome in my home. May no harm come to you here.”
“Tobias Rogan, Anax of the United States, we appreciate your hospitality,” Silas replied in his deep voice with the slight Nova Scotian accent. “May we bring no harm to your home. Need we continue to stand on ceremony?”
“Absolutely not.” Now I gave in to the impulse to run to Quinn, who looked startled but pleased as I forced myself to stop a couple of feet away from him. “Quinn, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Thank you for coming.” I looked at Malachi. “Thank you for being with him.”
“No reason to thank me.” Malachi’s accent was thicker than Silas’s. He put one hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “He wanted to be here. I wasn’t about to let him make the trip without me.”
“You’re better.” Quinn studied me, and a smile slowly spread over his face. “Tobias, I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” Feeling strangely awkward, I held out my arms. “Hug?”
“Hell yes.” He came to me, and I enveloped him. Malachi somehow managed to scowl and smile at the same time, and Silas beamed.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured again. “I didn’t want you to leave. You know that.”
“You’re apologizing more than I do.” He sounded amused.
“We’ve talked about it. I know why you did it.
It worked out. I’ve been so happy living with Malachi.
” He pulled back to look at me. “I’m going back to school.
I got accepted to the University of Prince Edward Island to finish undergraduate. I start the end of August.”
“That’s wonderful!” He’d told me he was applying to go back to school.
He’d been changed halfway through the third year of his four-year studies, and had originally planned to go on to medical school.
Now he was planning to become a veterinarian and possibly work as a concierge doctor to one of the Canadian arkhons, following the path of his mentor, Aubrey Pyke, the human who owned a veterinary practice and provided medical care to Silas and, a little too often, Quinn. “Congratulations. So one more year?”
“Two,” he said. “I’d finished half of my third year, but the courses I took that term didn’t count for transfer because I didn’t do the exams. So I’ll be starting as a third-year student.
Two years to complete my bachelor’s, and next fall I’ll apply to the veterinary school that’s part of the university, and hopefully get in. ”
“I’m so proud of you.” Not that I really had a right to be anymore, but that didn’t change how I felt. He’d come an incredibly long way in the year that I’d known him.
His face reddened, and he pulled away. “Thank you.”
“You missed a hug, kid.” Kyle walked up beside me. “I’m so glad you’re here. All three of you.”
“Don’t lie.” Silas grinned. “You’re glad to see Quinn. Malachi and I are just collateral guests.”
Kyle laughed. “Not even close, but I have to admit Quinn’s the one I’m happiest about. We should get inside. There’s food. Coffee and tea. You can sit.”
“We sat the whole way here,” Malachi grumbled as he took Quinn’s hand to follow Kyle and me inside.