A Car Ride Part 3

Sinlan:

I nodded with a small smile. "That she is, but I'm worried about that comment she made about masking her energy as a child. Do you think she is worried about something? She clearly hadn't meant to let that comment slip."

Silas shrugged, I knew his mind was busy running with images of him and her together and his focus was on her scent and beauty rather than the comment she had made. My mind however couldn't stop running through the possibilities of what could have caused a child the need to hide in plane view like she was clearly so used to doing that it was a habit now. "I know the comment bothered me too, but you were right that it is a conversation for another day. All we can do is speculate without her confirming anything and I don't feel like she'll be doing that anytime soon. Clearly, she's been masking her energy for years though, reach back now. She's asleep and it is still masked to look like a mortal's. Even in her sleep!"

I let my energy out slowly, not wanting to wake her. He was right, it read as a minimal mortal if you knew where to look an energy reader may pick up on the witch tone but the wolf part was completely hidden and her strength level was minuscule. If I had felt her energy walking down a sidewalk it wouldn't have even caught my attention. "That's insane!" What could have been so dangerous about her energy she had to hide it constantly? "You know the pack will probably go crazy at the idea of a Luna after all this time." We had to start figuring out what to say to them, how to announce that it wasn't finalized yet.

"True, and they'll be a bit confused at the shared mate bond I'm sure."

"Exactly, what do you think we tell them?" We couldn't exactly hide it, Daniel knew why she was coming and even if he tried to keep it a secret he was bound to tell someone.

"We can let her introduce herself when she's ready, until then say we have a guest and that more information will be announced when possible. It's a bit of an avoiding the truth without really giving them too much hope."

"You know they will still speculate she's a mate to at least one of us."

"True, but that's all it will be. By the way, we haven't really talked about sleeping arrangements fully. I know she will be placed in the spare room on my floor. I'm going to assume you won't want to sleep on another floor so far away from her."

I smiled at my friend, he knew me so well. "Not if it's avoidable."

"Of course, you are welcome to share my room. We'll have an extra bed set up. You are probably the best person to run protection over me anyways. We'll want someone on backup though, for when you need to sleep as well. I was thinking of having the Omegas take turns guarding the outside of the door. If anything happens they could alert the elder and get to her before me." I felt my heart drop for my friend, my Alpha. He was worried about his wolf taking advantage of the moment between sleep and consciousness. His wolf could use the moment between his mind being free for sleep and his body actually being asleep to take over and act on its instincts.

"I think that could work. Daniel, would you be okay with that?" Daniel had been politely quiet during our conversations, but he was definitely able to hear everything from the front seat.

"Of course, whatever you need!"

"Well at least that's settled, now onto the next thing to discuss!" Silas voice was full of excitement and his eyes began to move like he was thinking quickly, "What do we show her first? Besides her room of course! I think she'd enjoy the energy training, but she may also want to see the school. I get the sense she is very protective over children and showing her the school may make her feel more connected to the pups we have. I'd also love to see her in physical training, I got a hunch she's a natural!"

"Whoa Silas! One step at a time there." I shook my head a bit, he was letting his mind run loose on him like always. "I do think she'd enjoy all of those things. I say first we show her around the pack house and then let her choose. We will have to catch up on work, authorize home and food requests and check on the prisoners. We can trade off so we both get time with her tomorrow. Run training in the morning like usual and swap out for the duties at the end of the day. She can choose which training to go to and we can have someone escort her if she wants." Part of me wanted to be selfish and keep her with me all day or at least with one of us, but realistically we had work to handle. Also, she seemed the type to prefer some alone time and I doubted she'd want us dragging her along on our schedule for her first day.

"Good idea, see this is why I need you!" I laughed a bit as I let my mind run through the plan for tomorrow. Would she like the pack lands? What would she do if she woke up and regretted this choice? Could we stop her from leaving without forcing her hand to the point of losing her trust? I needed to have a plan for if she tried to leave, what I could say or what I could do.

Silas and I sat in silence for a while, just watching as the sun began to set and the scenery moved by. "We are coming up on an hour since she fell asleep, what do you think she'd want to eat?" Silas asked as we saw signs for an upcoming exit.

"I honestly have no idea, Daniel, pull off on the next exit but find a gas station first. We'll give her some time to wake up and pick where to eat."

"Yes, sir." I turned to see her sleeping. We'd kept our word and given her privacy, even though both of us wanted nothing more than to watch her sleep or climb back with her and hold her while she slept.

"Guess we have to wake her up now. Goddess she's beautiful." I just looked down at her as she slept so peacefully. She had taken her hair down and the unruly curls were laying over her, the split colors giving each side a different look entirely. She was laying on her back, her arms holding one another like a blanket. While we watched she turned and changed to her side. Her hair fell down, hiding her face in the black curls while the red lay just under her.

"You can say that again." Silas was just as captivated by her peaceful slumber as I was.

Did we really have to wake her? She could just sleep until we got to the pack house. She had said she wanted to wake up to eat, we didn't want to mess up so early into the trip. "You can watch her sleep for a lifetime. If she wakes up hungry she may wake up angry." I laughed at my wolf, he seemed legitimately concerned she'd wake up hangry.

I didn't want to reach out and touch her, the physical contact would just make my wolf more aware of her scent. The addictive scent I was trying so hard to ignore as it had filled the air of the car even with the windows down. "Sylvia, we are about to stop for food." She stirred a bit, not awake yet but back to laying on her back, her arm now over her face, masking her eyes. "Sylvia," her name left a tingle on my lips. It sounded so sweet and I wanted to say it forever. "It's time to eat, if you're hungry." She began to stretch and my eyes couldn't help but travel along her body as she did. Her curves moved slowly as she shifted and then finally settled. She slowly blinked as her eyes began to focus, she saw Silas and I both looking down at her. I tried hiding the longing in my eyes but I knew it read on my face.

"It's natural to long for your mate!" My wolf wasn't wrong, but we didn't want to pressure her. "Yes, but it is probably a bit uncomfortable for her to wake up to us staring at her." My wolf huffed in response, clearly disagreeing with me.

Sylvia stilled, her eyes locking on mine first and then on Silas. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she looked at us. She took a slow breath and I knew what she was doing. She was breathing in our scents, the comfort it gave was hard to fight even with us fully awake. At half asleep, it was probably too promising to ignore. After the long breath her eyes closed for just a moment, she bit her lip and my heart stopped. I wanted to bite that lip. I growled a bit and heard Silas do the same beside me. Her eyes shot wide as she finally began to become more aware of her surroundings. She looked from me to him and back again. "Good morning." She said quietly.

"Morning." We both said in unison.

"Uhm, food time?" I nodded, trying to focus and keep myself in check. "She is vulnerable right now, let us out! She'll be more willing to let us mark her!"

"No, that's exactly the problem. She is vulnerable. Remember the agreement, it has to be fully her choice." My wolf was fighting for control, clearly disagreeing with me.

"Sorry, willing to bet my moment of half awake made me do something I haven't realized that seems to have made your wolves want out?" She was definitely a smart woman.

"Yes." Once again I heard Silas voice go with mine in unison.

"Well, I appreciate the control you are showing, uhm do we need Daniel to intervene or are we okay?" She wanted us to keep control, we could do this.

"We can do this Silas. She needs us to keep control. Focus on something else, anything else. Daniel is parking, find a scent from outside." I began to follow my own advice and picked up what seemed like boiled peanuts from a cup walking across the parking lot. I leaned back, giving Sylvia some space. After a few more seconds Silas did the same.

"Our apologies." He said in a still tight voice, he was trying, but he needed some help. I let my energy run into his and I began to pull at his own, tiring him out a bit and draining his wolf. It was uncomfortable for him, probably even a bit painful, but he wasn't stopping me. After another few seconds, his body relaxed and he nodded to me. I let go and he seemed to be much more under control. Sylvia sat up and looked at us both.

"I'm sorry too, I hope that energy drain doesn't become a regular thing just because of me."

I waved a hand like it was no big deal, "Don't worry about it. Taking care of him is part of my job, remember?" I tried to make light of the situation. A small smile curved her mouth as she nodded. "Well, we are at an exit, but we didn't know what you liked so we just stopped at a gas station for now."

She looked around and nodded, "Thanks, uhm well I'm fine with anything really. Oh, Wendy's has delicious salads!" she pointed to the restaurant a few buildings down.

"Wendy's it is then!" Daniel said from the front seat. She looked between us and smiled at him.

"Thank you!" She seemed to relax when speaking with Daniel. Maybe because the tension wasn't a part of the conversation…would she ever feel comfortable talking to us?

"Once she stops fighting the mate bond she will."

"Go back to bed." I told my wolf, waving off his comment even though it was the truth.

Silas and I turned to face forward, he was pretty tired now from the energy loss. A pick up snack would do him some good. We pulled into the driveway and each took turns telling Daniel our part of the order. Sylvia got a chicken salad and flavored water to drink. Silas and I both got a sandwich combo and Daniel chose a chicken nugget combo for himself. We got our food and quickly divided it out. Sylvia began to look around as she ate, taking in the scenery and realizing where we were.

"We must be getting pretty close. I know we couldn't have been much more than five hours away and it's been at least four already. Are we almost there?" She took a sip of her cup and Silas and I both hid a smile by doing the same. We nodded, there was something about the trip we hadn't told her just yet.

"Okay, you two are horrible liars. What is it?"

"Hey!" I said with a little bit of a defensive tone, "I'm insulted! I am a wonderful liar." I said with a smile as she shook her head at me.

"I probably am a horrible liar, but I think your level of energy reading is kind of cheating. I guarantee you only knew we were lying from our energy!" Silas had a huge smile on his face as he motioned to her.

"Now I'm the one that feels called out!" She said and we all shared a small laugh. It felt so natural to laugh with her.

I cleared my throat before saying slowly, "Well, we are over half way but we may have asked Daniel,"

"Ordered, you didn't ask." She interrupted with a smile.

"Eh, anyways we may have been taking the long way and been driving just under the speed limit for the most part." I quickly took a bite of my sandwich after finishing my sentence.

"This food is delicious isn't it?" Silas said, taking a big bite as Sylvia's mouth fell open.

"That is definitely cheating! Daniel? Did they do that?"

"Uhm, I'm in a hard spot here." Silas and I choked back a laugh as Sylvia just shook her head at us again.

"You two are so mean. Well, no harm done I guess. Although I am wanting to check in on Melinda and make sure she made it home and Nyx was okay."

"Sorry, but it was a nice drive." I said with a small shrug as she took another bite of her food. "We will be there in just over an hour. Daniel, you can pick up the pace."

"Yes, sir." Daniel immediately picked up the speed and passed a few cars that we had been slowly going behind up until now. Sylvia stifled a laugh with another drink of her water.

"It's okay, I mean I still got a nap so could have been worse." She took a final bite of her food and began to put the trash together. She handed up the bag and I took it and sat it on the ground. We all finished eating and then sat back and just enjoyed the scenery for the rest of the drive. It was nice, sitting with her, just quietly enjoying her energy being so close. Silas had his eyes closed, he was awake, just enjoying the peace that her scent and energy brought. It was definitely a good night.

We pulled into the pack territory and I heard the signal go up from the defense team on patrol. The howls began to go from the edge of the forest as we turned in and followed us as we went closer to the pack house. Sylvia got very tense, her energy going into defense mode as it shifted back to her true self and the mask dissipated. She was preparing for anything, unsure what she would find when the car stopped. Silas and I locked eyes before turning to see her following the defense team as it ran through the woods barely visible in the darkness of the night and thickness of the trees. "We are here." We said in unison as she let her eyes find ours. She just nodded, her jaw tense and her hands open and at her sides, ready in case she felt unsafe and needed to act. What had happened with her and wolves before? She clearly had a history with them, she was born from one, but she seemed to know nothing about pack life and had a general distrust for us it seemed. It was a strange mix for a wolf, even a mixed one.

"I'm just wondering why she is on such high alert, she doesn't trust wolves. There must be something she hasn't shared yet about it." I shared my concerns with Silas quickly, knowing we needed to be ready to help calm her down and make her feel comfortable as quickly as possible.

"I agree." We pulled into the driveway of the packhouse and the howling stopped as the defense patrol circled the car.