Chapter 169
+25 Points
The moment I crossed the threshold into the Eternal Pack’s territory, the air felt like a physical weight on my chest. It wasn’t just the cold though the wind bit through my coat like claws, it was the silence.
Not the peaceful kind, but the heavy and suffocating kind that made my
teeth ache and my wolf whine in protest and it was also warning me that
there was something in the air.
Six months have passed since I walked these lands. It may have been
everything but the most important thing is that it felt like home.
The air, the land, the soil and everything was just calming and it felt right.
The pack’s scent hit me first. Familiar, yet wrong. Like Astor’s cologne mixed with something sharp and metallic, like rust or fear. My wolf bristled.
Astor’s here, I thought, my pulse quickening. I could feel his presenc through my senses, but I don’t understand why he’s blocked me out of his
mind.
“Mommy!” A movement tackled my legs, and I stumbled into a hug so fierce
it knocked the air out of me.
Marco’s arms were around my waist, his hair wild and unorganised and it’s quite clear they were playing.
Isabella latched onto my arm next, her tiny hands gripping my sleeve like she might disappear if she let go. I squeezed them both, my eyes stinging.” You’re back!” Marco said, grinning, but his voice wavered like he was holding back tears. Isabella just stared up at me, her dark eyes searching mine as if
trying to decide if I was real.
“I’m here,” I whispered, crouching to hug them both properly. Marco’s laughter, so like Astor’s, made my heart split open.
TH
< Chapter 169
+25 Points
I don’t know why they didn’t come back if they missed me this because I thought the reason why they wouldn’t come back was because they were quite happy here.
I wanted to see them more than anything but the one person that I haven’t seen in 6 months was nowhere to be seen and if the kids saw me then he must have felt my presence already.
Where is he, I wanted to scream. Instead, I kissed her forehead, my fingers brushing against her cheek. “I missed you guys just as much.”
But the moment unraveled when the kids pulled me towards the house
chatting about their day, and I realized that the problem wasn’t only that
Astor didn’t come to meet me but also.
Pack members were strangers to me now, their hollow and polite eyes
watched as I passed. What have you done to them? I thought, my w
snarling at the pack’s unnatural stillness.
I get that we still had a long way to go in in terms of building relationship but nobody seemed live in particularly happy to see their Luna.
“Where’s Astor?” I asked Marco, who marched ahead like a general.
“Daddy’s busy,” he said, not looking at me. Isabella tugged his sleeve. ” he’s
in the forest with the others,” she said.
Others? My stomach clenched. “What others?”
Marco shrugged, but his forehead wrinkled. ” auntie Anna, auntie Alice, Georgy and grandmother.” he said making my heart stop beating for a few seconds because I could have sworn he said Alice.
Alice was free and she was roaming around with him somewhere in the pack and he did an even find it necessary to come and welcome me.
This honestly sounds like a very bad dream but I hope it’s not what I’m
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thinking because I will not be able to handle it the second time.
+25 Points
The kids who were oblivious to what I was feeling left me at the edge of the house, disappearing when they saw one of their friends in the Pack. I stood there, alone, as a voice started whispering in my ear. You’re not welcome here, the silence said. My wolf howled.
The house however despite the fact that everything around here seems to have changed looked exactly as I’d left it. The porch swings hadn’t moved.
“You’re not welcome here,” I thought to myself. My wolf snarled, a low rumble in my chest, but I pushed it down because she is right.
–
This was my home. I pushed the heavy oak door open. The air inside was
but underneath, it was cool, still, and smelled faintly of dust and old wood our scent. Mine, faint but stubborn, woven with Astor’s, strong and familiar. It was a sanctuary, a familiar shell, yet utterly empty.
I stepped into the living room and the familiarity was a strange comfort, a small anchor in the storm brewing inside me. But it was also unsettling.
I just want to know what’s going on between us and what I did wrong. I don’t understand why he’s ignoring me and it’s just driving me crazy.
I didn’t feel like doing anything other than sleeping for now because I fear I might just go and look for him wherever he is and confront him which is something I don’t need right now.
I made my way to our bedroom. This was the hardest part. The bed was neatly made, but the air here was thick with his scent.
I walked to his closet, my fingers trembling slightly as I pulled open the door. His clothes hung neatly, a silent army of fabrics. My eyes landed on a simple, worn t–shirt.
I pulled it from the hanger, the and buried my face in it. The scent was pure Astor: pine, earth, and something uniquely him, a deep, comforting scent that
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instantly brought a rush of memories, his laugh, his touch, and just everything about him.
+25 Points
For a moment, the world shrank to just me and this shirt. The longing was a physical ache, so overwhelming it brought tears stinging to my eyes. “Astor,” I whispered into the fabric.
I took a much needed shower because was sweating and honestly I’m tired both emotionally and physically and after that I went to bed.
I told myself that tomorrow, I would get answers. Tomorrow, I will talk to Astor. Tomorrow, this nightmare would make sense. With that desperate hope clinging to me, I finally drifted off, the image of Astor’s face, and Alice’s.
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