Chapter 3 - Bridge The Gap.

Wyatt

Gabriel doesn’t wait for me to come up with an answer before walking out of my bedroom, making me raise a brow in confusion. I shake my head, shrugging as I close my door and then go to my walk-in to get dressed.

Honestly, I don’t know why I’m not healing like I used to, but with everything going on, it’s kinda low on my list of priorities, same with Axel.

Well, Axel, I know why.

He misses our mate, and the longer we’ve gone with no contact, the more he has retreated.

I’ve just gotten my t-shirt on when I hear my door open with some scuffling and muffled noises.

After putting on some pants, I walk out to find my mother and Gabriel standing in the middle of my room in some sort of heated argument, whispering urgently to each other, with him looking frustrated as my mother shakes her head.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sighing because I’m tired.

Gabriel lowly growls, walking over to me and roughly pulling up my shirt, revealing the nasty bruises that I’ve been hiding. “Look at this!” He says, pointing to my ribs, making my mother loudly gasp in shock and horror.

“Oh, Goddess, Wyatt.” She says, walking over to me, but my warning growl stops her in her tracks, and I yank my shirt down, glaring at Gabriel.

“It’s fine. It will heal eventually.” I grumble, scowling at them. 

“It’s not fine! The fight was two weeks ago!” He scolds, turning to mom. “You need to tell your son where she is, or I will, because this shit can’t go on. Look at him! He’s wasting away!” Gabriel angrily snaps at her, gesturing with his hands my way, making my head snap in his direction.

“You know where she’s hiding?!” I growl possessively but quickly cut it off because, of course, it’s his daughter and I have no right to be possessive against her father.

I really need to sleep because I hate feeling so out of control, especially with my emotions.

“Yes. Your mother told me when Corinna finally pulled her own ass out of her head, so I went to see for myself. I’ve only gone once or twice to check on her, but she doesn’t know. I wasn’t sure if she wanted to see me...” He murmurs the last bit, looking down, as if he doesn’t want us to see how much it pains him.

“But this isn’t about me.” He says, looking up towards my mother. “I will leave you two to talk, but Sofia, I mean it. No more avoiding him. Or Noah, for that matter!” He warns, his tone leaving no room for argument. We watch him walk out, slamming the door behind him.

Her quiet, defeated sigh makes me turn my head towards her.

I watch as she stands there, her eyes darting everywhere but me as she nervously wrings and plays with her hands like she doesn’t know what to do or even be around me.

“What did he mean by avoiding?” I ask, gesturing for her to sit on the bench at the foot of my bed.

She nods, quietly thanking me as she takes a seat, and I follow her, taking a seat beside her, waiting for her to say something while she still fidgets about.

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” She sighs, breaking the silence, awkwardly letting out a little laugh, looking down at her clasped hands on her lap.

“What is?” I ask, and that’s when she turns to me, laying it all out for me.

Her fears and insecurities about how she fits into our world, or even if she fits into it, and finally, her not knowing how to be a mother to Noah and me because of everything that’s happened to her and how she’s spent so many years in hiding, blind and broken. What she doesn’t know is that while she was talking, I mindlinked Noah but told him to wait outside my door.

By the time she’s finished, she has a few tears slowly trickling down her cheeks.

I move closer, wrapping an arm around her small body and hugging her, feeling her tremble against my chest, and Noah enters without me having to tell him, hugging her from behind.

I pull back and look down at her. “Mom, it’s okay. We get it. Yeah sure, we had mothers, I use that term loosely in my case…” I pause because it makes them laugh, both being aware of what Rue was like towards me growing up. “But you still should have come to us. I’m sure when I speak for both of us that it’s also a little weird, especially for me, as I don’t know what a good mother is supposed to be like, but I know avoiding isn't going to help us bridge the gap.” I say, pulling back from the hug.

“He’s right, mother. We have enough worries and things happening, so why not, when we can, focus on the stuff we can change? For example, Wyatt, my mate, and his pack members have been teaching me how to fight since I was never trained, but I feel like I need you as well to help me navigate these visions that I keep having…”

“Exactly, and speaking of training, you also need to relearn how to fight and take the time to heal. Properly. I know your shifts are still painful because your body is still not used to it, and physically speaking, you’re still weak.” I say, raising a knowing brow when I see her opening her mouth, about to argue with me.

But she closes her mouth, deflating with a nod, sighing as she taps the top of my hand. “Okay, you’re right. I’m just concerned that your father is still out there and possibly hurt…”

I put my own hand on top of hers. “Are you positive he’s still alive after all these years?” I ask, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Yes. That night when I shifted for the first time, there was no mistaking that pulse in the bond, and while it’s still faint, making me think he’s hurt, it’s definitely there. He’s out there, Wyatt.” She says it with a determined, desperate look in her eyes that finally makes me believe her.  

I nod. “Alright then. While you stay here and rebuild your strength and your wolf, I will have my scouts plus Gabriel out looking. We need to be careful now after what happened.” I say, referring to the battle we had that led to Ric reclaiming his old pack and Ezra's death.

A light knock at the door makes Noah stand up and smile after he inhales deeply. He looks at me with a silent question, and I nod, knowing who it is.

He opens the door and immediately wraps his arm over her shoulders, pecking her temple as a greeting before turning to us.

“Hello, Alpha, Oracle. I don’t mean to interrupt, I just came to remind Noah that it’s time he takes his special tea.”

“What tea?” Mom asks her, brows raised.

“Oh, auntie Dora told me about it after she checked Noah and realized that years of silver and wolfsbane have made him slightly weak. Thank the Goddess, he’s part A****n, and Lycan, so the damage was minimal, and the doctor did say there is no evidence of it in his system. However, I’m a worrywart, so I’m still giving it to him on an evening before we turn in for the night to make him as strong as he can be.” She says, quietly giggling, a thin coat pink coating her cheeks as if she’s embarrassed, turning her gaze to Noah, who warmly smiles down at her.

“Who gave you that concoction?!” Mother erupts, growling, her voice intermingling with her wolf’s.

“Mom, it’s okay. I knew about it, and it was my foster mother, Brooke.” He calmly explains, taking both mom and me by surprise.

We look at each other before turning to Noah. “But why? And how did she have access to it?” I ask before Mom has a chance to.

“Brooke knew about my visions, and she knew if Xander or Randall found out…” He trailed off, giving us a look. “Well, she didn’t know exactly what would happen. She just knew it wouldn’t be anything good, so she basically tried everything to keep me ‘under’. As to access? Well, that’s easy. They grow the wolfbane, and women drink silver in those packs like it’s alcohol, so she used to get it from the maids. Anything to numb the pain, right?” He says, looking down.

“I see. Well, under those circumstances, even though I am not thrilled she chose that method, I guess she tried her best to protect you because she would be right, and I hate to think what they might have done had they known. Plus, Maya is correct. With you and Wyatt..” She pauses to take my and Noah’s hands into hers. “Being who you are, while not immune, you do have a higher tolerance against the stuff, so no long-term damage, but you still need to be careful, especially with pure silver.”

“Understood. Okay, we will be retiring for the night unless you need anything else?” Noah asks, looking between mom and me.

I shake my head.

“I will be out in a minute. I just need one more moment with Wyatt, and I will be retiring for the night as well if I am to get myself right.” She says, arching a brow towards me.

“Yes, ma’am, because my Beta and Delta couple are quite…strict and harsh.”

“Noted, and I look forward to learning more. Goodnight.” Noah says with a grinning Maya.

“Oh, I'm excited now.” She giggles, quietly clapping her hands, making Noah chuckle as they walk out of my room. 

When the door closes, mom turns to me. “If I tell you, can you promise that you will keep yourself hidden?”

I open my mouth, but she raises her palm to stop me. “Allow her to come to you in her own time. She’s still not ready, but she will now that she’s started training again.”

I nod. “Understood. I just need to see her. It’s killing me not knowing.” I say, not happy about having to wait, but at the same time, I will take anything I can to be close to her.

Mom raises her hand and cups my cheek. “Don’t worry. I have a feeling it won’t be long until she starts coming to you.” She says, smiling, her thumb running along my cheek before she withdraws her hand. “She’s hiding with a friend of mine who’s also of A****n descent, but unlike us, she doesn’t have a wolf spirit. Her cottage is located near our old Tribe lands on the other side of the mountain. If you go now, you might see her as she does her morning drills.”

I raise a curious brow, and she gives me a knowing chuckle.

“Just because Flora is human doesn’t mean she’s any less of an A****n warrior. You will see what I mean.” She says as we walk out of my room.

I drop her off at her room, which is down the hall from mine on the Alpha floor, wishing her good night. The moment the door closes, I run downstairs, barely making it outside of the packhouse before Axel pushes the shift for the first time in a long time.

‘I want to see her.’ He says, answering my thoughts.

‘Does this mean you will stop sulking and actually participate in life again?’ I ask as he runs with all his might.

‘Possibly.’ He answers cryptically, his focus on Cora.

After 3 hours of running near to where mom mentioned, he catches his first faint glimpse of her scent and follows it while trying to keep himself hidden as much as he can. 

Soon, he catches the smell of smoke, farm animals, and food, but underneath those smells, he catches the scent of a human woman, along with Elijah’s scent, and finally, the scent that automatically revives every cell in my body, brain, heart, and soul.

She’s here, safe and sound, making me breathe a sigh of relief.

Axel runs towards it, and the house comes into view. It seems like they’re sleeping as dark inside, and that makes me feel better knowing that she feels safe enough here to sleep.

‘Axel, go with the wind in case one of them catches our scent and scares them.’ I say, and he huffs in agreement.

He moves further up into the hill, staying upwind, and then goes low, crawling on his belly to get closer as he can, hiding behind some bushes where we can see the front of the house between the branches.

Sure enough, about two hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, I hear the creak of a door, and I see an older woman whose scent I had smelled earlier appear from the back of the house with a basket, heading to a chicken coop.

I hear her call for Eli, which shocks me because it’s so early, but sure enough, he runs out with a big smile, takes the basket from her, and runs it back to the house, telling her that his mom has already started cooking breakfast.

My eyes snap towards the kitchen window, and there she is. 

Beautiful, even more so because she’s left her hair to go natural, and when she sees Eli, she smiles brightly down at him.

I’m so focused on watching them that I don’t hear someone has sneaked up behind me until it’s too late.

“Alpha Wyatt, I presume? Because if not…” She snarls, holding something sharp to the back of Axel’s head.

I shift, but stay where I am. “Yes. You’re good for an older woman, sneaking up on me like that.” I remark.

“Easy to do when you’re distracted, and I am not that old, pup. Sofia needs to teach you manners about how to speak to your elders.” She huffs, easing off with the weapon but still keeping it at my head. “Speaking of, she cracked, huh? Or was it Gabriel?”

“Mom. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I just…”

“I know what you need. I may be human, but I understand wolves. My mate was one too.” She says, making me turn my head back to look at her.

“Story for another day. Look, she’s not ready, but I won’t stop you from coming here. Just make sure you’re never followed, and it’s only one of you at a time.”

I nod while she gives me a curt nod, hoisting the small spear to her back, turning to climb up the tree, disappearing from sight.

Amazonians like their trees, don’t they?

Thus, this became my pattern for a long time until one night the phone rang with an unknown number. I move like lightning to answer it because I know who it is, and I am rewarded when I hear her sweet, melodic voice call my name after months of silence.

“Corinna…”