RAVEN

As my brothers and I drove away from our childhood home, tears were streaming down my face. We were going back to college after a two week break and it broke my heart. While we were home, we found out that my mom needs a kidney transplant. It killed me to see such a strong woman in such pain. She is so strong that the reason she needs the transplant is because she was severely injured in a rogue attack. She has been living with only one and a half kidneys since she was pregnant with us. My brother Micah’s magic protected us during the attack and while she was healing. Regular babies would have never survived that. What makes it even worse is that my parents are true mates. My dad is feeling everything my mom feels and if she dies, he will too. They, literally, can not live without each other. Therefore, if my mom dies, I will be an orphan because my dad will also die.

I am one of a set of quadruplets. I am a werebear/werewolf omega.  My dad is a werebear/warlock hybrid while my mom is a werewolf omega. She and I share the ability of calming people. My waves were so strong when I was born that Queen Winnie of the White Witch Coven cast a spell on me to reduce the strength of my waves until I was old enough to control them myself. My mom trained me how to use my waves and how to use my stored waves. I can use the waves to manipulate earth and air, just like my mom.

My brothers are super protective of me. Micah, the first one out of our mom’s womb, has some super-strong magic. He has always been the ringleader of all of our antics. Alex is the joker of us. He also has some crazy magic, but he doesn’t use it as much as Micah. Zach is also a joker, but he is the more mature joker. While Alex is the whoopie cushion type, Zach is the type to convince you that you saw something that wasn’t there. He’s good at it too. I often accuse him of using his magic to trick me and he continues to deny it. We all share a unique mind link too. We have communicated through that link since we were tiny babies. Mom used to talk about how we used to conspire against her. She used to say that Micah would distract her with me, while Zach and Alex would go after whatever it was that we all wanted. I can remember we used to talk, in our own mind link, when we were four years old. That’s the earliest that I can remember. We would also mind link during school throughout our school years. I’m finding it comforting that we can still pass time in classes that we aren’t very fond of with it too. My brothers have made sure that at least one of them is in each of my classes with me. They watch nearly every move I make.

The only place they don’t follow me around is at Grandma Abby’s house. Probably because they are eating while I decide to go for a run. Our mind link hasn’t been distance tested or wolfsbane tested yet, and I hope it won’t get tested like that. If anything happened to one of us, I don’t know what would happen to the other three. It gets a little tense when a guy approaches me at school. My brothers make things very awkward while trying to decide if he is worthy of me. You can only guess how many of the guys were worthy. That’s right… zero. Ugh! I know the chances of me having a mate are slim because it would take an extra strong man to be able to deal with my omega waves and the effects they have on people. My waves make everyone around me want to touch me. Even if it’s just a handshake, they always want to be touching me. I have gotten used to it as I’ve matured. My brothers get irritated with it, but they know it’s just because of my omega waves. The waves also make the men in my life overprotective. That part makes me nuts. I do know how to fight. My mother made sure of that. My brothers, though, do their best to make sure I don’t need to fight.

After surviving the fourteen-hour drive from Hartsel, Colorado to Mammoth Spring, Arkansas without strangling one of my brothers, I walked into my grandma’s house and went straight to bed. I was so tired; I couldn’t even get the energy to change my clothes or get under the covers. I, literally, fell into bed and did not wake up until Grandma Abby woke me up to get ready to go to classes the next morning. I got out of bed, took a shower, decided on a pair of light blue skinny jeans and an oversized t-shirt, I got dressed and brushed out my wet hair. I decided to go without makeup today and I’m going to let my hair air-dry. I just didn’t feel like putting in the effort to get ready today. I was too preoccupied with not letting my world fall apart.

I went to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee, then I sat at the table with grandma and grandpa, “Morning.” Grandpa looked at me, “Are you not feeling well today, sweetie?” I shrugged, “Just feeling blah. Ya know? Too busy trying to keep my world from falling apart.” Grandma got up and wrapped her arms around me, “Let me squeeze it back together for you.” I chuckled through a few stray tears that escaped, “Thanks grandma. The sooner mom gets her kidney transplant, the better. I don’t know how long I can feel like this without going crazy.” Grandma sat back down, grabbing a tissue on the way and handing it to me, “Sweetheart, I know you wanted to stay up there for her, we did too, but your mother never has liked being suffocated. She certainly never wants to be the cause of you putting your future on hold.” I cried, “But my future would be miserable without her in it. Doesn’t she understand that she’s my best friend?” Grandpa picked me up and held me like I was two years old again and just let me cry on his shoulder, rubbing circles on my back to comfort me. When I finally stopped, I lifted my head and chuckled through my tears, “I can’t believe you can still hold me like this. Thank you, grandpa.” I kissed his cheek and he asked, “Are you okay now?” I shrugged, “For now.” He smiled at me as he put me back in my chair.

I started drinking my coffee again as I slathered butter on one of my grandma’s fresh, homemade, biscuits. One of my favorite guilty pleasures in the world. Grandma handed the plate of link sausages to me, knowing that I liked to put two links inside my biscuit. I took a bite of it and I smiled, “Yum. Grandma, these would cheer up the sourest of moods.” Grandma laughed, “I hope so. That’s why I make them.” As I ate my sausage sandwich, my brothers barreled into the kitchen, practically falling over themselves to get to the table.” I shook my head, “Good grief guys. The food isn’t going to run away, and I certainly can’t eat it all. Just chill out.” Zach laughed, “You know how much we love grandma’s cooking.” Alex smiled, “Grandma’s biscuits are worth the broken ankle from trying to beat Micah to the table.” I laughed, “How did you break your ankle?” He laughed, “Micah tripped me on the way out.” Micah calmly walked to the table after pouring a cup of coffee for himself, “If you weren’t such an idiot, I wouldn’t have to try to slow you down. I swear, you’re such a kid.” Grandma laughed, “You boys should calm down. You know I would never let any of you go without.” I laughed, “Grandma, they know, they just like to make a big production of things. That’s just the way they are. They do it at home too.” Grandpa laughed, “They’re typical boys.” I smiled, “They’re typical boys who need to grow up and be men.” Everyone finished eating, then my brothers and I left for school. Although nobody else knows it, I have already decided that after this semester is over, in just a month, I am going to finish my degrees online and stay home with mom.

I just pray she stays alive until then.