Chapter Twenty-One

Johnathan's Pov

I did not sleep well.

Between being restless over the separation from my mate and Morte being restless over vampires being within 100 miles of our mate and son, it was a long and uncomfortable night.

At some point, I must have dozed off because one minute I was stressing out over what to do about my mate and her lack of communication and the next I was waking up to the bedroom door being opened. I had fallen asleep sitting up against the door, so when it opened I fell into the room, backward.

I lay there, looking up at a very displeased Airen.

She was wearing another white t-shirt, denim capri pants, and Converse. Her hair was down around her shoulders and damp as though she had just gotten out of the shower. There was a pair of sunglasses perched on her head and she was carrying a duffle bag, a book bag, and a purse.

I wondered what she needed that required that many bags for just a few days before I remembered that she was supposed to be here for two whole weeks. After a wedding. Now I was marveling over her minimalist packing skills at only needing three bags. If it had been my sister in Airen's position she would have packed an entire luggage set.

Airen frowned down at me disapprovingly.

"I'm going to get James ready to go and then we're leaving. With or without you." with that she stepped over me and disappeared down the hall. Her tone of voice suggested that she would rather leave without me, but no way in hell was I going to let that happen.

I scrambled to get up and rushed to my room.

I proceeded to take the fastest shower of my entire life, nearly killing myself in the process. I managed to brush my teeth and get dressed in record time, grabbed my wallet and keys, spared a thought for my own damp and unkempt hair, and rushed out to catch up with Airen.

I caught up with her by the front door where she was grabbing Rachel's keys off of the hook.

"Daddy!" James saw me and came running. He jumped into my arms and hugged me. "Are you coming with us Daddy?" he asked excitedly.

My suspicions that AIren was intentionally trying to leave me behind were confirmed when she winced at James greeting me.

I frowned at her.

"Yes, I am," I said pointedly still looking at Airen.

She glared at me but remained silent. Which was good, I was still pretty upset with her and the last thing I wanted was to fight in front of our son.

We loaded up the bags and climbed into my truck. The drive to her parent's house was silent other than the occasional direction Airen would give me.

When we pulled into the driveway, I immediately began assessing the current security of the place. There was a large iron fence around the front of the property and a large matching gate blocked the driveway. There was a keypad and intercom system to open the gate and a security camera trained on the gate and the driveway in front of it.

I silently approved of the security measures already in place so far. It was a residential home of humans, so I wasn't expecting much.

Airen unbuckled her seat belt and leaned over me so she could reach the keypad. I frowned at her. The fact that she felt more comfortable crawling over me to get to a keypad than giving me the code said a lot. Though it made me feel slightly better that she didn't just hand out their gate code to every person she met.

We pulled up to a decent-sized two-story house that was made from red brick. That was about as far as I got before AIren interrupted my observations.

"Well, this can't be good," Airen commented as she unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the truck.

I looked to see what she was looking at.

There, on the front porch stood a young woman. She was short, probably around 5'1, and had an hourglass figure. She had pale skin, a round face with a pointed nose, blue eyes, and long dark hair. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and had an angry frown on her face.

"Aunt Elena!" James squealed and followed Airen out of the truck.

Sighing, I went to follow, when the front door opened and a man stepped onto the porch behind the woman.

He was tall and lanky with some muscle on him. He had shaggy dark hair and a matching beard. He had slightly tan skin, brown eyes, and a circular face. He wore a T-shirt and basketball shorts and had a frown on his face as well. But what got my attention was that he smelled like a rogue. And he was currently talking to my mate and son.

Trying to tame my fear and anger, I got out of the truck and rounded it slowly. As I joined them on the porch, the man's head snapped around to face me, eyes wild with worry of his own. I gently pushed my aura out over the group, maintaining eye contact with the man. He bared his neck to me almost immediately and I accepted his submission. He had gotten the message. I was in charge.

A hand smacked me point-blank in the gut. The force nearly made me double over as all of the air was knocked out of me. I went to growl at my mate (she's the only one who would dare to do such a thing) but was met with not one, but two matching death glares. One from enchanting hazel green eyes and the other from nearly white they were so blue, eyes.

"Stop it! Ryker is a person, not one of your little minions you can control!" Airen yelled. I was about to yell something back when Ryker stepped forward.

"Airen! It's okay! That's how this works. I figured this would happen" He interrupted.

Both AIren and Elena turned and looked at him confused.

"They're not minions...." I grumbled under my breath. Airen shot me a warning look.

"You knew this would happen?" Elena asked. Ryker shrugged.

"I had a feeling. If anyone had an Alpha as a soulmate, it would be Airen. Only an Alpha could handle her." He joked with a sly grin. "I knew what I was getting into."

Airen sent him a glare, while I gave him a look of grateful appreciation. Maybe he wasn't so bad for a rogue.

Airen glared at me (again) and huffed.

"Johnathan, Ryker Connelly, my sister's husband and mate, and Elena Connelly, my younger sister. Ryker, Elena, Alpha Johnathan Logan of the Blood Wolf Pack."

I looked at AIren, surprised at her knowledge of formal werewolf introductions. She had had enough run-ins with werewolves in the past that she knew some of our formal etiquette. Just how many secrets was she keeping from me?

Elena still looked annoyed with me while all of the blood had drained out of Ryker's face and he looked at us in shock.

"Okay, I'll admit I knew that Airen's mate would be an Alpha, however, I did NOT know that her mate would be The Angel of Death," Ryker announced.

"Huh?" Airen and Elena both looked at him in confusion. Then at me. Then back at him.

I shrugged, trying to play it off as no big deal. I didn't know how Airen would feel about my nickname or the reputation that earned me that nickname.

"It's just a little nickname I picked up. In Europe and South America, I just go by Angele de Mureto." I explained, hoping she wouldn't be too upset with it.

Airen looked at me with wide eyes.

"And whyyyyy exactly are you called The Angel of Death?"

"Because he's known for being a ruthless killer. He comes in the night, slaughters, and vanishes, just like the Angel of Death. Where he goes, death follows." Ryker explained somewhat excitedly. It was clear, once the initial shock wore off, that he was a fan.

Airen frowned at me disapprovingly.

"What? It's not like I picked the nickname!"

"No, but you don't admonish it either! Besides, the fact that you have a reputation that earned you that nickname is what I disapprove of."

"It's no worse than your name or reputation....." Elena muttered. Airen shot her a dark look that I couldn't quite read, but figured meant "shut up". 

I gave her a frown of disapproval of my own. I would ask her about Elena's comment later, but for now, I wanted to focus on the current argument.

"It's what I do. It's my job. Literally."

"So you're a mercenary."

"No, I'm the Alpha of a pack of the best werewolf warriors in the world and we travel said Wolrd helping others fight battles and solve problems that they can't themselves."

"Do you get paid for it?"

"Yes."

"Then you're a mercenary."

I went to argue with her, but I realized that she was right. I was a mercenary.

"Okay fine, I'm a mercenary."

By the stunned look on her face, I could tell that she had been ready for a full-blown argument over this. She had been prepared for me to come back with another denial rather than admit that she was right and I was wrong. She had been ready as though she always had to fight tooth and nail to prove herself right.

I made a mental note of that little observation and decided to revisit it when she and I were on better terms.

"Now what can't be good'?" I quoted.

AIren shook herself from her stunned state with a little "Oh, yeah", and turned to Elena and Ryker.

"What's wrong?" A calculating frown appeared on her face. I noticed that it appeared whenever she was thinking about something. In this case, she was probably running through the list of problems that Elena and Ryker might be about to tell her.

Elena frowned angrily and huffed.

"Aunt Serena and Uncle Charles are here."

Airen's head reeled back. I could tell that she hadn't been expecting that answer. I frowned. I recognized those names. They were the people who had put my son in danger by having vampires at their house while James was there and not removing him from the premises or calling Airen to come to get him.

"Why?" Airen asked.

"They want to move." Elena rolled her eyes.

"What? We've told them they needed to move a hundred times and they always refuse! Why now?" Airen said confused.

"Well, apparently some things have changed over the weekend....." Elena looked between us pointedly. I raised a brow at her in question, while Airen suddenly became interested in her shoes.

"Mom told us what happened. What did you do?" Elena hissed at AIren. AIren remained silent. "Mom's in a panic! She's called everyone and told them what happened and is trying to decide what to do. Aunt Serena and Uncle Charles want to leave, Gran's spitting mad and Dad's worried sick! What. Happened?" Elena finished the question with an edge to her even-toned voice.

I looked at AIren, wanting to know the same thing. There was something else going on, something she was hiding from me, and I wanted to know.

Airen looked up, suddenly alive with defiance.

"Nothing happened. They showed up, we chased them off, the wedding was ruined, and everyone went home. End of story." With that, she pushed past everyone and went inside.

Elena and I shared a look. We had known each other for barely five minutes, but I could tell that already we shared the same mentality when it came to her sister. She was keeping things from us, and we were going to find out what they were. Whether she liked it or not.