Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“We will see you while you are here. If we have to miss a morning, then we have the evening. And the same goes for when you are gone at night. We will not have to miss you, because you will still be here.”
“Of course, we will.” I nodded at Zaley after she spoke.
“Hey, Mom?” Reagan called out softly. “Maybe we should allow the kids to spend more time with their friends over the next couple of weeks.” He had been part of the discussion about how long the meetings were going to take, so he knew that it was going to take a while. “If they can have sleepovers then they wouldn’t worry about you as much.”
“Ooh, yes, please Mommy?” Zaley looked excited. “I want to have Breanna stay the night.”
“And I can spend some time at Sereia’s house.” Talia added with a smile.
“Sleepovers are girly, but we can have the guys over to play video games all night.” Zander tried to hide that he wanted to have a sleepover as well. It was kind of cute to see the way that he was trying to get out of it.
“Yeah, a video game marathon, that will be cool.” Zaley nodded in agreement. “That is much better than a sleepover.”
“You do realize that it is the same thing, right?” Zayden pointed out to them. “Our friends will be staying over, and at some point, in time we will all end up sleeping. That is a sleepover. There is nothing else to call it. The video game marathon will only be a part of it. And you know that there will be snacking and other stupid stuff. I mean, come on, stop trying to pretend that it’s something that it’s not.”
“Shut up.” Zander snapped at him. “It’s not a sleepover.”
“Whatever.” Zayden shook his head at his brother. “I think it sounds fun though. Too bad we can’t invite all of our friends though.” I heard a hint of sadness in his voice then.
“Yeah. We can’t get everyone here for one big party. The humans from the city won’t be allowed here. Good thing that they don’t go to school with us.” I thought about a handful of humans that were friends with the boys from the various things that they were into. They had gotten to know a lot of them. And they had hung out with them in the city before, but they were never allowed over here. I felt bad for them, but I hoped that when all this was done, maybe that would be able to change.
“Well, I think that spending time with your friends will be a good thing. You can all start planning for when you want this to happen. Reagan and Rika will keep an eye on things along with Peter and Roisin. I will also have Lola and Nona come over, Papa and M贸ra铆 as well if you want. Then you will have Ivy and Olivia here with you as well. Would you like that, Zaley?” My little sister and Joaquin’s littler sister were both just a few months younger than the quads, so they had all been really close since they were little.
“Yeah, that would be great. I don’t have a lot of friends at school, so it would have just been Breanna coming over. Thanks Mom.” She looked elated at the idea of having more than one friend over at a time.
“I will help you have an amazing sleepover, Zaley.” Rika beamed at her. “I promise that I will make sure that you and the other girls will love it.”
“Really?” I saw the light shining out of Zaley’s bright blue eyes as she beamed at her sister. “Thank you, Rika.”
“Of course. What are big sisters for?”
“I will help too. I don’t have to stay with Sereia the same night that you have your party. Together we will make sure that you have the best party ever.” Talia loved her sister as well, and I knew that she wanted to make sure that the younger girls all have a really good time.
“Thank you.”
For the rest of the night, all of the kids talked about all the things that they were going to do during the party. It was a lively discussion that had them all forgetting about the fact that Joaquin and I were going to be leaving. It was a great distraction for them, and I was thankful for Reagan suggesting it for us. He was a great big brother, and an even greater son.
The plans seemed to be getting bigger and grander, but that was fine with me. I would make sure that the kids had what they needed before we left, and I knew that I didn’t have to worry about anything, not with all the guards and family that would be here to watch over everything.
“That was a good call by Reagan, wasn’t it?” Joaquin whispered in my ear as the squealing and laughter grew louder around us.
“He is a smart kid. Reminds me of someone else that I used to know. Though he is a million times nicer than that person used to be.” I laughed as I saw Joaquin’s eyes crinkle in laughter.
“You won’t let me live that down, will you?” He shook his head in exasperation.
“Nope. Never.” I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder. “We need to make sure that we succeed here, Joaquin. I need to make sure that the world is safe for all of them.”
“We will, Little Bunny. I promise.” Joaquin’s words vibrated with worry as I heard them ring through the space between us. There was a sense of ominousness that hung there for a moment. Underneath that though, there was a determination that I would never stop until I succeeded. I had children to protect. Seven of them, that were sitting at the table with us, and one that was inside of my belly at the moment. And on top of those eight, I had the dozens of other children that were in my life. And I refused to let them suffer because of this issue. I would protect them all no matter what. That was my responsibility, and I would see it through.
****
Zaley
****
With Mom and Dad starting to leave for their meetings all around the world, Reagan, Rika and Talia were helping Zachary, Zander, Zayden and me prepare for our sleepover. I knew for a fact that Ivy and Olivia would be here for me, they were my aunts after all, they had to be here. Still, I was worried because I didn’t know if Breanna would be here for me. I didn’t know if she wanted to come to the party.
The day after Reagan said that we should have the party, I went to school with a mixture of excitement and nerves. I wanted to ask Breanna about the party right away, but I didn’t know how. And I didn’t even know why I was worried. She was my best friend. And she had been to the castle before. She was just there at Halloween, so she knew where I lived. And what I lived in.
A lot of people were scared by the castle because it was huge and scary looking to them. They thought that it was strange to live in a place that could practically fit the entire city in it. To me though, it was just home and not scary.
“Oh come on, Zaley!” Breanna turned to me and growled impressively for a Fae.
“Wh..what?” I turned to look at her in confusion. She looked annoyed and I didn’t know what I had done wrong.
“You are so totally distracted.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Come on. I know that something is the matter with you. You have barely looked at me today. And you keep stopping midsentence when you talk to me.” She looked suddenly scared as she seemed to realize what she thought was going on. “D..do you not want to be my friend anymore?”
…..
“Wh..what?” I almost screamed the word at her, and that would have been embarrassing. As it was, half of the people at our lunch table still turned to face me as if something were wrong. “No, that is not it at all.” I was shaking my head so hard that it hurt my neck. My white hair was flying all around my head and becoming tangled with itself.
“Then what happened? What is going on, Zaley? Tell me what is the matter with you.”
“Nothing is wrong, Bree.” I lowered my head in anxiety. I had made her think that I didn’t want to be her friend anymore because of my worrying. I was so stupid sometimes. “I..it’s just that I was told that I could have a sleepover, and I was wondering if you wanted to come. Then I was wondering if you would even want to come. I started to think that I was stupid for even wanting to ask you because I thought that you wouldn’t want to come. I’m sorry for making you worry. You don’t have to worry about-.”