Best friend protection

Hazel P.O.V.

“Eeeee!” Lily’s happy shriek makes some of the other passengers laugh. She is clapping her hands as the plane descends into the airport nearest my old home. We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the airport and looked at our tickets. First class? None of us had ever tried that before.  

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now landing in Arctos city. The weather is very nice, with the sun shining from the cloud free sky and temperatures roaming around the middle 80’ts. Thank you all for flying with us today, and we hope you have a very good day.” The captain turns off the speaker, and Lily giggles while pointing to the various buildings she can see from the window.

“Mama, lookee!” She says, her wide eyes roaming the big city. Blue cove is a decent sized town, and we have an airport just on the opposite side of town from our apartment, but Arctos city is something else entirely. The city is big, enormous by the standard Lily is used to, and has so many different sightseeing places.” She’s pointing to the ferris wheel by the docks. I laugh. 

“I see that, Lilybug. Maybe we can go with aunty Kaia and see the ferris wheel?” I ask her, and she claps her hands again, laughing gleefully. Kaia just smiles and shakes her head at my utter lack of ability to say no to my child.

We make out to the welcome hall with our luggage, and Leona is waiting for us as she stated she would. The person beside her makes me halt in my steps. Kaia immediately puts an arm around my shoulder. 

“What’s going on?” She asks, eyeing the tall ruggedly handsome wolf besides Leona. His black hair is longer than I remember, but his brown eyes are just as serious. He has more muscles, and a deeper tan. I take Lily’s hand, moving towards them with my head held high. He might be ranked, but I am not afraid of him. Never was, never going to be. The scowl he always bore when we were teenagers has not disappeared, although it’s more like a deeply serious expression today.

“Miss Leona, Gamma River.” I bow my head to the Gamma, while Kaia does the same in respect to his rank. Lily’s eyes are wide with confusion and she moves to indicate she wants to be held. I hoist her up into my arms, asking her to say hi to Miss Leona and Gamma River. 

“Hii.” She says shyly with a small smile and little wave. River’s eyes take Lily in and they soften ever so slightly. 

“L.. Miss Dalton, I’m very pleased to see you again. Are you alright? How was the flight?” He asks, grabbing the cart with our luggage. 

“The flight was quite alright, Gamma. Thank you for asking. May I ask what you are doing here?” I reply as politely as I can. River moves swiftly through the crowd, leading the way out of the welcome hall and over to the parking house. 

“Alpha Grady wanted to be here himself, but he was not sure you would be okay with that arrangement. He sends his regards though. I am here to escort you, Miss. Callum and young Miss. Dalton to the packgrounds.” I try to keep my anxiety at bay, and Kaia moves in closer, wrapping her arm around me and keeping me close. I lean on her, taking a few deep breaths, thankful to have a best friend who knows me so well. 

“Why would the Alpha come and escort us to the packgrounds? We are just here for the funeral.” Kaia asks as we all get in the car. They even got a seat for Lily so she can ride safely. Kaia of course knows everything about my past, as I would assume I know everything or everything she deems important about hers. So she knows Grady was my mate and about my sister in the forest. River looks back at us in the rearview mirror. 

“He would have liked to pick up his mate by himself, but as I stated before, he was not sure the l.. Miss Dalton was ready for that.” 

“I’m not sure his Luna would appreciate that either.” I mumble to myself, to which River just shoots me a confused look. 

“Uhm.. Why would you not be okay with him picking you up? You are the one cheating on the matebond and coming back with a kid, not him.” River asks in a defensive tone, immediately coming to Alpha Grady’s defense. The fucking audacity in that statement makes tears immediately flood my eyes and everything I have worked on since I ran away is down the drain. Kaia sees me, and comes to my rescue. 

“Listen up asshat, do not come here with the macho bullshit and turn this around. Hazel was not the one almost fucking someone on the night his mate turned 18, and you have no idea who she came to have Lily. So shut the fuck up before I help you.” 

“Mama, auti said a bad word.” Lily's small angelic voice rings out in the car. I laugh a little, looking gratefully at Kaia. 

“Aunty said many bad words, but she did it to help, so it’s okay this time.” I answer, finding her favourite Blue’s Clues book and opening it. 

The rest of the drive is silent with a lot of tension from Kaia and River. 

An hour later we cross into Starfall packlands, and I feel my packbond coming back to life after being dormant for so long. Ebony stirs in my mind, feeling the ties strengthening as well. 

River drives us to my grandmother’s house, which is a mini mansion to be honest. A welcoming committee is waiting out front; my parents, my siblings, Alpha Grady and Beta Adrian. Fucking great - right from the fire and into the fryingpan. 

‘You can do this, babe! Keep your head held high and don’t take crap from no one.’ Kaia mindlinks me. We did a bloodbond oath with each other almost immediately after we became friends, so we could mindlink despite not being from the same pack. 

‘This is going suck so hard. Look how Josie is already fucking smirking while standing besides Grady. Not mated my fucking ass.’ I link her back, making her snort in derision. 

As the car is parked River comes around and opens the door for me, while Kaia lets herself out on the other side. I’m bringing Lily out when I hear commotion and someone growling. Kaia yelps, and I immediately straighten with Lily in my arms. Kaia is trapped against the car by Beta Adrian, who is looking at her like she is the sun and moon in his life. 

“Mate!” He says, but Kaia shoves past him and walks to me on the other side of the car. Beta Adrian’s face falls and he follows her with his eyes all the way around. 

“Uhm, babe?” I ask her with a small chuckle, but Kaia just ignores me and crosses her arms. The Beta walks around the car to her, but she stops him with hand motion. 

“Correct me if I am wrong but you are the Beta in this pack?” He nods, confusion clouding his eyes. Uh oh. 

‘Kaia please don’t.’ I link her with a plading tone, but she just ignores me. 

“Then we have nothing further to talk about. My name is Kaia Callum and you are free to reject me, but I am not going to accept a mate from the pack that treated my best friend like shit and where her mate played hookup time with a slut the night she got her wolf.” She grabs my hand, glaring at the people gaping at her. “And if any of y’all have anything to say, you can say it later. My niece is tired from the trip and so are we. Excuse us.” She brushes past them all with me and Lily in tow, not sparring Beta Adrian a second glance. 

Inside she turns around with a smile, which soon turns into a scowl as someone speaks from behind us. 

“Hazel, I would like a private word please.” I roll my eyes, knowing without looking the speaker is Alpha Grady. I hand over Lily as a maid comes into the hall to show us to our rooms. 

“It’s fine. Take her please, I'll be right there.” I tell Kaia, who opens her mouth, properly to tell the Alpha to ‘fuck off’.