Alpha Noah

¬Luella

I stare out into the distance, watching the dark clouds shift and crawl along the sky, seeing the shadows tinting the treetop.

“It feels strange being home,” I mutter, glancing up at Thought, who stands behind me. We made it back only today from Karma’s Province. Everything feels eerily quiet here, almost peacefully if I didn’t know what had to happen to make it that way. We haven’t heard from Stace, which I can’t decide is a good thing or not. He is still a threat, but for now, we might be okay.

“I’m glad you consider this your home now, despite everything that has happened here,” Thought admits, smiling down at me. Now that I’m back here with Thought, I don’t want to go back to my old home, which is sitting back in Fate’s Territory.

I lean against his body, resting my head on his shoulder. “Anywhere with you is home.”

“I have a surprise for you tomorrow,” he indulges, turning around to lean his back against the railing. I tilt my head curiously, wondering what Thought could possibly surprise me with. Recently, I haven’t cared about anything much to desire it, so what could this possibly be.

“Really?”

“You’ll have to be patient, though” he tells me softly. I narrow my eyes, knowing I’m going to be thinking about this for the rest of the night. Thought grabs my hand, the warmth of his skin, the faint feeling of sparks making my skin tingle. “Do you feel safe here?”

“I want to believe that threats are gone, but I can’t be sure,” I sigh, knowing that my power threatens a lot of immortals, making them uncomfortable having someone with this much potential. “Who knows what Stace has planned for the future.”

“I’m going to protect you, okay?” he assures me, pulling me into a hug. Resting my head against his chest, I breathe in deeply, trying to think of anything other than Stace’s dark eyes and ethereal tattoos.

“I know. And I will protect you,” I tell him, knowing that now, it’s not impossible for me to do that.

He kisses the top of my head. “Remember, I owe you one.”

***

“Are your eyes closed?”

“Your hands are over my eyes, remember?” I say.

Thoughts palms are in fact pressed against my eyes, keeping me from opening them. I’m not sure what part of the house we stand in, but a few minutes ago we were in his bedroom, where he insisted he wanted me to close my eyes for a special surprise. I have no guesses as to what it might be, but regardless, I’m feeling excitement, which I’ve been void of for quite some time.

“Alright,” Thought breathes in my ear, pulling his hands away. “You can open them now.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I blink, trying to see past the bright flash of light for a moment, before I realise what I’m looking at. Staring back at me is Della, my sister, who is the last person I thought I would see. She looks nervous for my reaction, even though we made up recently.

“Della!” I exclaim excitedly, drawing myself out of Thoughts grip and into hers.

“I missed you so much,” she breathes into my hair, the familiar feeling and smell of her easing all of my concerns. Suddenly I’m not worried about all the immortals who want to hurt me, as if I’m too satisfied with my life for any of them to get to me. “I haven’t heard from you since you left your house…”

I pull away, holding her at arm’s length, realising that I don’t want to explain to her everything that we have been through recently. “Thought and I went on a vacation.”

She doesn’t look skeptical, which I’m grateful for. Della worries about me too much, so the fact that she doesn’t question this makes me think I won’t have to tell her about the horrors I’ve had to endure recently. The last thing I want to do is draw attention to Della or drag her into the world with all the Immortals. Her even knowing Thought makes me uncomfortable, even though he is my mate.

“You look… Good, healthy,” she notes, looking over me carefully.

“Being around Thought helps me a lot,” I note, glancing over my shoulder back at my mate. He lingers respectfully behind me, hands shoved in his pockets as he waits for us to finish speaking. “How have you been?”

Della backs up a few steps, revealing someone from behind her that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a man, around our age I imagine with dark brown hair and eyes that glitter wonderfully under the light. He looks nervous, awaiting my reaction which I hesitate in revealing. I immediately know that there is something romantic going on between him and Della.

“Well, this is Carter,” she introduces, also seeming nervous about me meeting him. “Him and I have recently started dating.”

“Nice to meet you, Luella,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand. I can feel his gaze lingering over my shoulder at Thought, clearly having no idea that this girl he started dating has a sister who is mated to a pure-blood immortal. I can’t help but wonder if Thought is traversing through his mind right now to determine whether he has good intentions with Della. I bet Carter knows he’s doing it too.

“You too,” I say, letting my gaze drift back to Della, who has the biggest smile on her face that I’ve seen in a long time. “I’m glad you’ve been around to keep my sister company.”

Carter nods, before following us into the sitting room, where Della sits close to the fire that is starving off the incoming cold.

“Will you be moving home?” Della asks me.

I freeze, thinking that through for a moment. Thought eyes me carefully, letting nothing slip. It’s not something we have talked about since everything has happened. Both him and I are mates, which cannot be undone. Now, it seems things are starting to calm down, so living together would be expected. I realise suddenly, that it is something that I want… To live here with Thought, in his company every day.

“I think I’m going to stay here,” I say firmly. When I glance at Thought, his express doesn’t slip, but I notice his eyes soften, relieved.

“That means we need to move closer, right?” Della says, nudging Carter’s side. He nods, although I don’t miss his nerves, especially as he catches Thoughts eyes. Eventually he will feel more relaxed around Thought. “We can’t lose contact.”

“You’re right, Della. I want us all to be close,” I tell her warmly.

Throughout this all, I have realised what is important, even if it has taken terrible things to make that clear. Even if my future is uncertain right now, I have every belief that being with my mate and remaining family will make me happier than I could have ever imagined.

Thought smiles at me, nodding his head. “Then that’s how it will be.”

And for once, I believe him.