Page 81 of Aleko
“Yes,” he said. He took a step uncertainly toward her. What was he supposed to say?
“Agh!” she yelled. “I hate you!”
Moira flung up her arms and went stomping back out into the darkness and Killian deflated. He didn’t want to let out the whine in his throat, but it still escaped him.
“OK, babe,” said another woman, “we’re going to have to speed this up. The lack of magic here is driving me a little nuts and I think Moira’s about to wolf out.” The woman had longblack hair and Sebastian thought that she did not smell it all wolf like, but there was something sort of peculiar about her, not that he could put his finger on it.
“Well, sweetheart, I’m trying,” said Rafe. “but…”
“Oh,” said the woman, looking around at them. “What an interesting pack. How nice.”
“You can’t say that,” hissed Rafe. “It’s rude.”
“But it’s nice that they’re integrated. Why is it rude?”
“You can’t say interesting. Interesting implies…” Rafe trailed off and smiled awkwardly at them.
“It implies that we’re not normal,” said Alex, his tone frosty.
“Oh,” said the woman. “Well, you’re not typical to the other packs I’ve met, but typical isn’t exactly a superlative.”
“Thank you,” said Sebastian as if that had been a personal compliment.
“You’re not human,” said Lia, abruptly. “You don’t have the ears but you’re…”
“Let’s just go with Fae,” said the woman. “Hi, I’m Azure. This is Rafe. We’re Moira’s aunt and uncle. And we’d like to know why Killian stole the cure for no apparent reason, and took the werewolf spell, and then ran out on our niece.”
This time everyone did look at Pellos and Sebastian watched the penny drop.
“Oh,” said Pellos. “Oh, shit. Killian!” Pellos let out an angry growl and shoved Killian’s shoulder.
“You were dying,” said Killian. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Not that!” yelled Pellos. “If she’s your mate you do not leave her! That’s your one shot!”
“See?” whispered Rafe to his mate. “They have the issues.”
“We are fine! We don’t have issues!” yelled Killian. “You have issues!”
“There is a lot of dead bodies,” said Moira, coming back. “Like a lot. What the fuck happened?”
“OK,” said Sebastian. “So this is my fault. Pellos was shot and he was dying and I called Killian and I told him to come home. So if you need to be mad at someone it’s me.”
“It’s my fault,” said Lia. “I didn’t stop Seth in time. I lost control of the memory.”
“It’s my fault,” said Pellos at the same time.
“It’s no ones fault!” barked Killian, angrily. “I stole the cure. I stole the spell and I left. I knew you would never let me have them, so I took them and I came home to save Pellos.”
Moira, Rafe, and Azure, still hovering outside the door, all looked puzzled.
“Um…” said Moira, glancing at her aunt and uncle. “I think I speak for all of us when I say… What?”
“Hi,” said Alex, pulling the door open further. “I’m Alexander Ash. This is my pack. Eliandra, Sebastian, Hudson and his mate Yazmin, Killian, and my adopted son Pellos. These are our associated selkies Trevor and Colin. Won’t you please come in? Perhaps we could try having a conversation.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Rafe DeSandre. This my mate Azure Lucas. And this is my niece Moira DeSandre, heir of the Portland pack.”
“Wait a minute,” said Sebastian, working through the layers of introduction. “She’s with the Portland Pack, but you’re not?”
