Lunar wolves: The chase (Book 2) - Complete

Chapter 2 - A new way of living ...

Glinda

Dad looked serious, sending a cold shiver down the back of my spine.

“WHAT?!” Circe jumped up from her seat.

“Back here? I would have known if she was back here, Dad.” Tabatha looked confused. I looked at Gareth who was looking my way.

“She is at the castle. She arrived today.” Mom looked confused and upset. Silence fell over the room as all of us took in the information.

“Do we know what she wants yet?” Gareth broke the silence.

“No, the only information we have is that she arrived today. There is no sign of him yet, but I’m sure if she is back, he will be following soon. I know you girls aren’t happy with your security, but we are going to have to talk about it again.” Dad looked pained.

That always turned into a huge disagreement, with us girls saying we could look after ourselves and our parents just saying that Isobel also thought that. Gareth grabbed my hand, squeezing it quickly, and he let go.

“Okay Dad, what are we looking at?” I started the conversation, receiving stunned looks from every corner.

Frank

I was not sure how much more security I could add to our already intrusive team. There was literally no place the girls could go without having a guard with them. Accept their rooms… and bathroom… of course… duh.

If I added more, they would be surrounded by guards at all times and not be able to see where they were going! It was getting ridiculous! When did I become so scared of someone? The image of Isobel’s pale face flashed across my memory…

“Girls, I know you hate this. Believe me, your mother and I hate it just as much.” I started but Circe interrupted me immediately.

“Dad, seriously, we are wolves… WEREwolves.” Circe waved her hands in the air. “What exactly can the security do better than we can’t do?”

“Protect you, while your mother and I aren’t by your side,” I felt frustrated myself.

“DAD, you can’t protect us forever!” Glinda stood up from her seat and Gareth pulled her back, taking hold of her wrist. “No Gareth! I’m not going to live in fear because of Willow’s mistake!” She pulled her arm free from his grip. I looked at Melissa hoping for some backup, but all she did was shrug.

“Don’t look at me… all of them have your hard-headedness! They take after you.” She grinned for the first time in weeks.

“Dad, you have trained us to the best of your abilities. What happened to Isobel was a tragic accident. You need to trust that we will be okay. You can’t lock us up like porcelain dolls to keep him from capturing us, or keep Willow from hurting us.” Circe walked around the desk, sliding her arm around my shoulders.

“Yeah, Dad. Willow might know some of our secrets, but she doesn’t know all. Besides, losing Isobel might count in our favour. He is wounded because he is the one that took her life, and we have a score to settle,” Glinda said with more wisdom than someone of her age should have.

“Mom helped me block the link between me and Willow and I have a feeling she did the same from her side, so she won’t be able to get any information on our plans through our twin link.” Tabatha nodded.

“Okay, okay. You made your point.” I waved my hands in the air. “I just wanted to make sure you were all safe.”

Glinda

I looked at my mom sitting on her chair in the corner of Dad’s office. She had been mostly quiet through this meeting and I knew it must be so hard on her. Even though she had a close relationship with each of us, her relationship with Willow was different. They shared a bond that none of us would understand.

“Dad, please. We are prepared for whatever comes our way.” Circe kissed him on top of his head and he sighed.

“Can I go take a shower now?” I asked, trying to break the tension in the room.

“I thought I smelled something horrible!!” Tabatha pinched her nose and started laughing. I smacked her with my towel on the way out.

“Gareth, if you don’t mind. I want to talk to you quickly.” I heard my dad on my way out, wondering what it was about. I wanted to turn around to find out, but mom shook her head at me, so I kept going in the direction of the shower.

I guessed it was about pack business then. After my shower, I ran down the stairs, dressed in a light cotton summer dress with a soft pink floral pattern all over. Gareth was hanging around the living room and showered and dressed in casual shorts and a T-shirt.

“What are you doing here?” I felt a bit confused. We didn’t make an appointment for anything unless he had an appointment with someone else in the house… which I doubted.

“I’m here on the request of your father, little miss Glinda.” He said with mischief in his smile.

“To do what?” I put my hands on my hips, looking through squinted eyes.

“Keep an eye… on you.” He laughed.

“Excuse me?!” My voice went up too high.

“Your Dad asked me to stick around and just keep you safe, that’s all.” He laughed, looking relaxed. Me, on the other hand? I was not happy at all.

“I DON’T need a babysitter!” I said loudly and stormed off to my dad’s office. Not knocking on the door, I stormed inside. “Daddy! I don’t need a babysitter!” I shouted, and he looked up from his notes.

“Gareth is not a babysitter. He is your trainer. Think of it as part of your training. Learning how to observe your surroundings better.” Dad grinned at me.

“DAD! I thought we had discussed this already!” I stomped my foot.

“No, you lot discussed it. I have different ideas. Now do you still want to go shopping or not?” he grinned at me, pointing at the door. He knew I couldn’t say no to shopping.

“No fair!” I shouted on my way out of his office, grabbing Gareth’s hand on the way out the front door. “I have rules. Number one, don’t talk to me. Number two, don’t look at me.” I growled at Gareth. He opened the door of the black SUV for me and I jumped in. Running around to the other side, he climbed in front with the driver, surprising me.

“Yes, princess. I know my place.” He laughed, winking at me. I huffed and kept quiet on the way to the mall. So, caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t notice the second vehicle following behind us.

“Sit.” Gareth ordered, jumping out when we reached the mall. Who the…? I saw him looking around, then I noticed the wire next to his ear. When he turned back around to open my door, I heard someone loudly saying in his earpiece.

“Safe for Princess to enter.” That was where it came from!!! My code name was Princess!! I angrily climbed out of the car, trying to slam the door behind me, but Gareth still had the handle in his hand and stopped me from doing so.

He looked at me curious about my reaction and closed the door. I didn’t look back and simply walked ahead into the mall. Princess!!

“Imagine that, Lowella! Calling us princess!!” Lowella was my wolf, and we were the closest of friends. Sometimes I think she was the only one who completely got me.

“Just ignore them. At least our code name is something cute. They could have given us something terrible, like a brat!” She made me realize it could have been worse.

Willow

I snuck out of bed and back to my room. He might have had all day to laze around, but I had a company to keep going. While I got ready for my day, he walked into my room. His hair was wet from a recent shower, dressed in one of his best suits and a silver silk shirt to round off his look.

“Are you going to take all day?” Radagast looked impatient.

“No, I was just on my way.” I turned away from my full-length mirror where I was making sure everything looked the way I wanted it to, and looked at him.

“It doesn’t look that way.” He mumbled.

“What are you doing out of bed this early?” I sighed.

“I am going into the office with you. Why would you ask such a stupid question? I am growing tired of you questioning my every move, Willow. It’s becoming tedious.” He sounded agitated.

“I’m sorry Radagast. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just thought that you would want to take a day or two off before jumping into work.” I instantly felt terrible. He lost his entire family. I couldn’t blame him for the way he was acting.

"Well, see that is where the problem is. You shouldn’t think!” He turned around and walked out of my room, stomping off in the direction of the top floor offices. The last month has been hell! At first, he couldn’t get enough of me.

Clinging to me as if his life depended on it. Then he met with the council. Since then, he had been drinking all the time and his moods changed like the seasons. Only you can experience all four seasons in a matter of hours. I had to run slightly to catch up to him.

“You have a conference call with Mr. Goldberg. The council needs you to donate to the school as a show of good faith.” I changed the subject to work.

“Those leeches!! They are extorting every scent they can out of me. If I had known this was how they do business, I would never have agreed to anything! No wonder my father was there all the time. It all makes sense why he would look so pathetic when they called for him!” His strides widened as his face started turning red with anger. I found it difficult to keep up, dressed in my signature tight-fitting skirt.

“You deal with the meeting. Tell him we will donate a quarter of what they need and not a scent more!” Radagast sounded less agitated with me and angrier at the school.

“Radagast!” I pulled his arm to bring him to a standstill. “If you do that, they will withdraw your protection. If they withdraw, you won’t be able to stay here and capture my other sisters. Is that what you want?” His unreasonable demands infuriated me! He hesitated for a second.

“What then?” He studied me while showing no emotion himself.

“They sometimes need to see you and not me, and you need to give in to their full demands.” I shrugged, trying to stroke his ego.

“I’m not that rich! I’m not a millionaire, you know!!” His face turned red again, and he started walking to the offices at a normal pace. I hooked into his arm, putting my folder under my other arm.

“No, you are a multi-billionaire. You can afford it. Now stop your sulking before I decide to leave!” I reminded him that I was there of my own free will. He turned around to look at me, grabbing me by my arms. “OW! You are hurting me!”

“You won’t leave me! Tell me you won’t ever leave me!” A mix of anger and panic flowed across his face.

“Okay, calm down. I won’t leave you.” I flinched while his fingers dug into my soft skin. He held on for a second, searching my face, as if looking for confirmation, then let go of me.

“I can’t lose you. You have to stay.” He hooked my arm back into his, and we carried on walking to the office. “I will do as you asked this morning. How are things looking on our other project?” The reason we returned… the reason that kept nagging at me, making me think I was not enough!

“Their security has been updated as we expected. The part they don’t know is that our guys are in place as part of their new security detail. We will soon have the information we need to take all three of my sisters,” I told him, pulling my arm from his grasp and walked into my office.

“I left everything I’ve been working on, on your desk. Call me if you need anything else. I will be here… hanging around.” I said sarcastically, feeling agitated with this entire situation he had put me in. He walked into my office, his hands in his pockets, looking apologetic.

“Willow, I’m sorry if I’ve neglected you lately. You will always be my girl.” Moving around my desk, he stood in front of me, sliding his arms around my waist.