Chapter 17

Nico

Gage was on alert, high alert since that stranger had practically ripped Tristan's door down. We were up on our feet in seconds, and even though he was waiting for a signal to attack or defend, I could still feel his sadness slightly underneath it.

Lecia's words had cut deep for both of us. I knew that she hadn't meant to, at least I knew it once I saw her face drop in that way that it did since she was a little girl.

Since we were little Lecia had been like that. She would get so upset and angry so quickly that the words that filled her thoughts would spew out of her mouth before she could stop them.

It's not that I was excusing it, but I was, I don't know, used to it, I guess. It was just, well, her. Lecia wasn't vicious or cruel, she just couldn't control that part of herself sometimes. Mom said her mouth worked faster than her brain.

It's not like she meant the things that she said to hurt you on purpose. When she felt something so strongly, the words would just fly out of her mouth, she couldn't hold them in. 

I knew how bad those words could hurt sometimes and so did she. She would always come crying to us and apologize. She used to make us drawings or as she got older, she would cook us little treats.

I never held it against her. We are all flawed and imperfect beings. So, if that was the worst one, she had we could live with it, but this time it had hit a bit harder.

Her words had cut deep. Did she not see that I was drowning here. The loss I was feeling at having the other half of me, my person being gone was devastating.

It was honestly something I would have never even considered happening, but here now that it was something I have to learn how to live with, it was almost too much.

So, when Dylan spoke to her the way she had, I couldn't help but sit and listen. Wounded as I felt, I could neither do nor say anything to either one of them.

Dylan's words seemed to completely describe how I felt about Cruz, but when she admitted that she was afraid that I hated her, I couldn't help but look directly at her. 

Never, I could never hate her for a choice that I knew if I had been in the same position I would have made as well. And the moment that the thought filled my head, the reality of it set in.

Because I would. I don't know when these feelings set in like this, but there was no denying them. Dylan had become as important to me as my own family, more in some ways if I had to admit it.

As I watched her, gripping her chair, staring down Lecia, but also holding herself back, it just clicked into place. If she wanted to burn the world down, I would get the gasoline, help light the match, and then sit back and watch it burn with her.

Shocked at where my mind had gone, I could do nothing but sit there watching her. I heard it then, the storm. When Dylan had stopped talking, when she did all that, she could to not destroy Lecia, I heard the rain pouring outside and I knew that she had somehow caused it.

Gage's next thoughts reflected my own and I knew that no matter what happened next, we would follow Dylan for the rest of our lives.

When Lecia had left, as much as I love her and wanted to be with her, I didn't wish to follow her. I wanted to stay here with Dylan for as long as she would have me.

So, Gage was ready to see what Tristan wanted to do as we stood there taking in every detail about this man. 

Whoever he was, he was strong, and most definitely a wolf. Gage scented it on him the moment we woke from the noise. 

Taking in his features, there was something about him that seemed familiar in a way, but I couldn't quite place it, and neither could Gage.

The man had short neatly trimmed silver hair, but it was obvious that he wasn't old, in fact, he seemed to be just a bit older than Tristan and Micah, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. 

Sapphire eyes that seemed to be as deep as the sea stared back at us and I couldn't help but be annoyed at the fact that he didn't seem at all bothered by my presence.

Essentially, he gave off the vibe of being bored and he was just waiting for an invitation to come inside, and I was as trivial as a piece of furniture.

Too bad I couldn't act on my own. I wanted to protect Dylan, and I could see that Tristan did to by the way that he was shielding her with his body. 

So, while it was becoming obvious, he knew him, he did not wish to have him see her so I wouldn't let that happen either.

Gage was working on a plan to try to take him out or at least hold him back so that Tristan could help get Dylan to safety. He had said that he was here to meet Dylan, but I somehow picked up that Dylan and Tristan had begun to have a private conversation.

I continued to watch the man Tristan had called Ezra, but just then a pretty young girl appeared and slid around him. She knocked on the open door frame and she had quite a lot of bags with her.

Quickly she glanced at the man named Ezra, rolled her eyes, and it was clear that Tristan had tasked this woman to get these things for Dylan. There was a short exchange and then she took Dylan back to her room to, I assume, get dressed.

Ezra took advantage of the shock that Tristan still seemed to be in from whatever it was that he and Dylan had been speaking about and let himself in.

As he made his way to the couch, he made a comment about Tristan not decorating Dylan's suite with such ugly furniture and I was taken aback.

I was surprised as to why if Dylan had her own suite would she still be here with Tristan, but I kept my mouth shut.

We needed to see why this man was here to meet Dylan. It was clear that Tristan was hesitant to have him interact with her, and I didn't really like that.

I liked him even less as he began to speak again. "Do you smell that," he asked suddenly as he dramatically took a large inhale of air. "I swear it smells like something sweet. I know, like vanilla."

Dylan. He was talking about Dylan. I knew it because she smelled like vanilla bean ice cream to me and while I knew wolves smelled different to each other, there could be no one else he described.

Gage was growling because he did not like the fact that this strange wolf was obviously enjoying her scent and as I turned to look at Tristan, neither did he.

It wasn't just the way he was behaving that had me wavering on the edge of my patience, it was his next words that had me holding onto Gage to keep him from shifting here in this room.

"I couldn't wait to come and meet the woman who can call on and create a storm at will. Someone that strong should join a strong pack, don't you think."

No longer able to hold my tongue I snarled, "Even if that's true, what makes you think that she would want to have anything to do you with you and your pack?"

Tristan looked at me and while I thought he was upset that I had but in, he also looked pleased by something that I either did or said.

Ezra on the other hand, gave me a look like he was annoyed that I had thought I had the right to speak to him. 

"Listen boy, I'm here to speak to the adults, why don't you go and take a nap somewhere," he said dismissing me as if I was nothing more than a child.

Gage was chomping at the bit and while I wanted nothing more than to push him or to fight me, a small part of me knew better. 

That power that I had felt from him from the moment I picked up that he was a wolf, I knew that he was either some kind of warrior or another type of wolf who held a high position.

Tristan looked at me and winked, "I'm impressed that you have no problem talking in such a way to one of the Alpha's of Silver Moon. I knew I liked you."

Alpha. Alpha? Holy f*ck, this a**hole was an alpha! Well, I hadn't thought he would be that powerful, but as I looked at him and the ease at which he had come barging in here, I guess it kind of made sense.

But that didn't change anything. This guy, this alpha thought that just because I was young that he could talk to me or treat me like nothing. Well, he had another thing coming.

Ezra sat with a smirk on his face that made me want to punch him, but I knew that would probably be really bad, so I just stood there watching and waiting.

Tristan had gone to retrieve his phone, so I had a feeling that we would not be left alone to deal with this man for long.

While I stood there waiting to see what was going to happen next, I let my mind wonder to the information I knew about some of the other packs near us.

Silver Moon, if I recalled, was run by two twin alphas. Yeah, that's right. I remembered now because when we had learned about them Cruz and I had joked that we would be just like them one day.

The thought stung a bit as the memory surfaced, but I didn't let it get too far. I needed to have my wits about me, and I couldn't let those scabs open up right now.

So, this was one of the alphas of Silver Moon. As I looked him over, I wondered if they were called Silver Moon because of the silver color of their hair. 

As my mind wondered about it, he popped in my head suddenly. Roane. Roane also had silver hair like this man, and the more I looked at him, I was able to see small resemblances there.

Could it be that they are related, but I didn't pick up the fact that Roane had a wolf? His scent was off or wrong in some way and I hadn't had a chance to ask anyone about it

When Ezra turned his gaze back to Tristan, I watched the way his carried himself even as he sat on that gods awful couch.

"Tristan, are you going to keep her hidden in your room, or are you actually going to let me speak to the girl? I did come all this way to meet her," Ezra said with a fake whine in his voice.

I knew that there was no way that this man was going to let Tristan keep him from getting something that he wanted, but when I looked at Tristan, I remembered something that had been said before.

Tristan was not just some mere wolf who lived here in this weird residential building with three residents.

No, Tristan was the heir to Black Sol pack, and while he may not have an actual pack that followed him, he could, and that power was inherited in both his blood and soul. 

Tristan was a wolf to be reckoned with because if he was this strong on his own, I could only imagine what he would be like once he established himself as an alpha.

Just as those thoughts began to lead into other more dangerous ones, the door to Dylan's room opened. Her scent hit me like a slap in the face and it was mixed with coconut and soap.

Dylan came out of the room wearing a pair of black leggings, thick black and white polka dot socks, and a white t-shirt that had some kind of animal shaped logo that I wasn't really familiar with.

Her long hair was pulled back into a large braid that hung down her back, and the soft pink in her cheeks that I had started to learn meant that she was feeling something strongly was present.

"Uh, hello," she said as she walked over to the couch, and to my surprise, came to sit beside me. I had to admit that I sat up a little straighter as she came and plopped down. And I was not surprised in the least that Tristan came and sat on her opposite side.

Dylan reached out her hand and gave Ezra a small wave and I couldn't keep the smug smile off my face.

This girl was something else. She was so strong that sometimes I forgot that she didn't really know how to interact with strangers and could be as awkward as a kid meeting friends on their first day of school.

Tristan thankfully, jumped in and made the introductions but it was extremely obvious that he did so reluctantly.

"Dylan, this is Ezra, he is one of the alpha's of Silver Moon pack. Oh, and he is Roane's uncle."

Surprise filled Dylan's face and I'm sure that mine maybe had a similar look to it even if I had already started to consider it. That was it though. That was why I had thought that this man had seemed familiar.

He was related to Roane. While that cleared up part of the questions that I had, it hadn't cleared them all up completely.

If he was Roane's uncle, then why couldn't I pick up Roane's wolf? I knew that I would need to ask Tristan about that soon because something about that really bothered me.

Ezra seemed to be staring and it wasn't a soft stare either. No, he was looking at Dylan like she was the prize for a contest that he was trying to win, and I did not like it.

I saw a silvery haze flow into his eyes for a second and I had thought that Tristan had told him something about his staring, but his next words made me reconsider that.

"Ezra, either greet her and tell me what you need, or leave to deal with whatever it is that's going on." Tristan's voice sounded harsher than I have heard it in the past few days that we've been here, and I was impressed.

For Tristan to speak like that to the alpha of such a large pack, it meant that he either didn't care about his status, or that he held his own authority that gave him the ability to back up his actions.

Ezra blinked a few times, and the snake-like smile that spread across his face made my hackles rise.

"Calm down Tristan, I was just taken aback at her beauty. She will make a fine," "shut it," Tristan spoke up then. "NOT. ANOTHER. F*CKING. WORD!"

Dylan and I were looking back and forth between the two of them suddenly and it was clear that there was something that Tristan was not wanting Ezra to say.

Tristan reached out and had taken Dylan's hand and it looked like he was about to say something, but just then Micah appeared in the still open doorway.

"Come downstairs, there is a visitor here that is demanding to see Dylan."