Chapter 18

Lana s POV I sat in the room, they didn t even give me a chance to explain, both just shut down and left. I thought they would come back but once I finished reading my book and they hadn t returned or sang out to me, I decided I would walk downstairs, the house was empty. Completely empty and so quiet. Walking into the kitchen I find a note stuck to the fridge with a magnet. Gone to find Tate be back soon How far did he go that it is taking hours to find him? Deciding to make dinner I start digging through the cupboards and fridge and finding everything stocked. I still had a couple of hours before dinner so I decided to cook a roast. Prepping everything and placing it in the oven. I tried to find something else to do, I ended up cleaning up and doing a few loads of washing and vacuuming but other than that everything was clean. Homesickness started to kick in, the place was so quiet, and I knew no one here except Elias but didn t even have a way of contacting him. When dinner was done, they still hadn t returned home, not a word and I was starting to worry. I was also getting hungry so ended up dishing dinner out and wrapping theirs in foil cleaning as I went trying to delay eating so I could join them. But when it hit 9PM and they still hadn t returned, I gave up and sat at the dining table in silence. I missed the noise and chatter of back home, missed my annoying brothers flinging food at me when mum wasn t watching but most of all, I missed Arial. I glance at my phone and see no bars of reception. I just wanted to hear her voice, hear anything other than this deafening silence. I couldn t even finish, not really hungry anymore. My appetite was gone and replaced with sadness, a loss of my old life when everything was simpler. Getting up, I decide to take a walk around the town. The sleepy town was also quiet, I could make out the flicker of TV s through some windows. The town was beautiful, but the old design buildings were a bit eery of a night. Getting to the end of the street, which was a dead end that led to the forest surrounding the town. I turn around to head home, I wasn t about to walk into a forest, especially one I am not familiar with, with wolves I am not familiar with. Just as I turn around the rustling of some bushes catches my attention. My heart skipping a beat as I turn around only to see Tate step out in a pair of shorts hung low on his hips. "What are you doing outside?" He asks, his words emotionless and cold sending a shiver up my spine. Feeling through my link to him. I feel nothing through the bond, no attachment at all, like he just dismissed me, my heart clenches at the feeling through the bond. "I was just going for a walk" "Were you trying to leave?" He asks, his eyes darkening dangerously. I shake my head and take a step toward him, but he steps back. "Go home Lana," "Tate, just let me explain, I didn t mean"- "I said go home, we will not have this discussion in public" He snaps at me. "No one is here Tate" I tell him looking around. When I look back at him though he was already gone, just disappeared. I swallow the lump in my throat, the cool breeze making the already cold feeling inside me colder as I turn around and head home. Tate POV I watch from the shadows of the forest making sure she went home, my wolf Archer urging me to follow her, he wants to mark her, so she won t want to leave, wants to finish the mating process. He was angry with her which only just fuelled my anger. "Don t let her leave till she is marked" He growls in my head. I already had this argument with Drake when he found me, how could I be so unlucky to have two mates who want to reject us. Just when I thought everything was going to work out, she shoves another barrier in my fucking face. Now Drake was missing because of our argument and now I had to go home to her. Even angry at her I still couldn t help but feel bad for the way I spoke to her. I hated that she didn t have a wolf, didn t feel what we feel towards her. "Not that having a wolf would help, look at Drake he still denies us, and it has been eleven years" Archer mutters. I nod in agreement. Once I see her step inside, I mind link Elias to keep watch on the house while I go check on those on patrol duty. Everything was quiet tonight thank the Goddess, at least something was going right. When I head home and walked inside though I was hit with guilt. She even cooked for us, both our plates sitting on the table. Walking upstairs, my heart skips a beat when I find she isn t in our room, rushing to the next door I find her asleep on the bed. Her eyes were all puffy like she had been crying as she hiccupped in her sleep. I brush her cheek and she instantly leans into my touch even if she was asleep it still gave me hope. I was about to hop in the bed with her when I hear the door open downstairs and walk back out to the stairs, to see Drake walk in. He walks toward me before bumping into me as he walks past heading to the room. He opens the door and I hear his heart thump erratically. He looks at me and I point to the bedroom next to it. He lets out a breath relieved before opening the door and I follow him in. "Has she been crying?" He whispers and I look away knowing I was the reason for her tears. "What did you do?" He snaps and she stirs rolling over but not waking. "Not now" I tell him, knowing if we argue we were going to wake her. "Where did you go?" I ask, knowing he left the territory. "To see my brothers" I nod, I liked his brothers. They were good guys and incredibly supportive of our non-existent relationship. "And?" "And what?" He asks, pulling the door closed as I walk out. He follows me downstairs and I go to the fridge grabbing a beer and handing him one. He pops the cap drinking some. "Nothing, they told me to stay here with you two" "So, you re going to?" I ask. "Not like I have anywhere else to go" "What upset Lana?" He asks, looking to the stairs. "I snapped at her," I tell him, letting out a breath. Drake shakes his head but says nothing. "She cooked us dinner" I tell him nodding toward the table, Drake looks over before running his hand through his hair and scratching the back of his neck. "Now I feel like an even bigger dick" He says. "Why, you didn t do anything" "You weren t the only one that snapped at her" He tells me. Great, she only just got here and both of us have already yelled at her. Drake picks up the plates putting them in the fridge. "I didn t know she could cook," He states. "Yeah, me either I just assumed she was used to being waited on, she technically is a princess" I tell him, and he agrees. Making me wonder how much I really do know her, we spoke to her on the phone for two years but usually nothing personal, I could always tell she wanted to get off the phone so our conversations were usually short, or she would hang up on us when we would ask her to come back with us. "Did she ever talk to you about her home life? I ask curious. "No, I spent most of the last two years being hung up on" He says, and I chuckle. "What about you?" He asks. "Not really, mainly only talked about her sister or her brothers, never about herself" I answer. "Her parents are nice, nicer than ours anyway" Drake states. I chuckle, that is true. Drake walks upstairs and I follow him, I thought he was going to climb in with her but instead he scooped her up off the bed. Her eyes fluttering open for a second as she rolled in his arms. "You came back" She mutters as he walks her into our room placing her on the bed. She was already back asleep within seconds when I notice her handbag. I know it is wrong to snoop, but seeing it open, I walked over and peaked inside. I found some photos of her siblings and her mum and dad in her wallet, some credit cards and her ID and a bus pass. "What are you doing?" Drake asks. "Looking" I tell him, he looks down at her before walking over and snooping with me. I find a bottle of sleeping pills and show Drake. He reads the back of them and I also find ant-idepressants which I thought was odd. Drake raises his eyebrows when I hold them out to him. He places them back in her oversized handbag before pulling out what looks like a long purple bullet about the size of my palm. "What s this?" He says holding it up before it starts vibrating and he nearly drops it, only just catching it before it hits the ground. "How do I turn it off?" He whisper yells as it vibrates in his hand. I take it from him turning the dial on the bottom, cutting it off. "Not so innocent after all" I mutter while Drake stares at me clueless when I remember he only has brothers. "It s a vibrator fool" I tell him, and his eyes widen before a smirk creeps on his face. "Naughty girl" he says, looking at her sleeping peacefully wiggling his eyebrows. I nudge him in the ribs, and he grunts at the impact. I place everything back in her bag, which gave no more answers than we already had, if anything raised more questions. I could tell Archer felt a little uneasy, his guilt also hitting him. "Do you think she would be angry if we climbed in with her?" Drake asks. "I was going to anyway, she is our mate" I shrug, I climb in beside her tucking the blanket around her when Drake pulls the blanket back beside me. "I thought you wanted to lay with her" "I do, but if she wakes up angry, she will hit you not me" He chuckles and I move her over so he can fit beside me, his body heat pressing into my back when he chucks his arm across waist. "Shut up, and don t say anything. I like snuggling" He mutters and I shake my head at him before falling asleep.