Escaping Wildfire

Noah

Gema had gotten in touch with Cristian yesterday afternoon, and I couldn’t believe she’d found a way to get our siblings out of Wildfire. Cosmo was angry that she wouldn’t be coming with them as he was already infatuated with the thought of Amora. The horny wolf was constantly flashing me memories of me and Gema at the waterfall during our first time.

‘I just miss her.’

’I miss her too, Cosmo, but I don’t need those images in my head right now. I really don’t want to be sporting a boner in a car with three other guys.”

Cosmo just whined at that and settled down with his head on his paws. He had always driven me crazy with his constant commentary and prancing around in my head, but I hated this sad version of him. I sighed louder than intended as I rubbed my eyes.

“You okay, back there?” Cristian made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror. He had taken over driving for Gamma Isaiah as he wasn’t in the best of moods right now.

I sighed again and shrugged, not sure what to say as I didn’t want to lie but also didn’t want to pour out my heart to the guys.

“Gema?” Cristian asked, seeming to know why I was off. “I miss her, too...but she’s found a way to get people out twice. She’s resourceful, so I have to trust that we’ll get her out too.” He nodded as he looked out the windshield.

“I know, it’s just hard with Cosmo. He’s not been himself since the attack, but I’m sure Ax and Neo haven’t been either.”

“Yeah, he hasn’t been.” Cristian’s fist clenched, and I caught a glimpse of Ax in his eyes through the mirror.

“You have a mate?” Gamma Isaiah cut in.

“Well…I…” I stumbled on my words, not sure what to say about Gema.

“My sister…” Cristian saved me from talking, “She hadn’t turned 18 yet when we started training but pretty much the whole pack thought they’d turn out to be mates.”

“I’m sorry, that sounds rough…” He nodded and turned to look out of his window.

I bet he was thinking about his mate. "Her name’s Rebecca.”

“Rebecca.” He said wistfully. “You know her then? What's she like?”

“Not really, she was a few grades older than Cristian, but she always seemed nice. She’s a pack warrior.”

He gave a slight smile. “Do you think she’ll like me and accept me?”

“Yeah,” Jordan cut in, “You’re a good man, Gamma Isaiah, she’ll accept you.” He then looked out of his window trying to hide his emotions. He didn’t talk about it, but I knew he was still hurting about his mate.

“Please, just call me Isaiah, we’ve all been through enough together that you’ve earned the right to call me by my first name alone.”

“Isaiah it is, then.”

After that short conversation, we seemed more at ease in the car. We were quiet, but it was a comfortable silence instead of the tense silence we experienced earlier.

As soon as Cristian had gotten off the phone with Gema yesterday, we called Alpha Kedrick. He then called Olivia who called one of her contacts in California. For not having a pack structure, it surprised me how connected the cats were. At times, they seemed to work better than us wolves, and they were definitely more supportive than the bears and foxes. I was starting to question why we even had a Shifter Council if they stayed out of the really important matters.

Olivia’s contact had come through, and Alpha notified us that our siblings had been picked up from the neutral territory to the south of Wildfire. He called again about an hour ago letting us know they had made it to the packhouse and were all well and resting.

The drive back to Harvest Moon seemed to take all day, but I knew it was my nerves at seeing my brothers that caused it. Jordan also got more fidgety the closer we got to Harvest Moon. By the time we pulled into the pack house, we were all ready to rush out of the car and barge into the packhouse.

Alpha and Luna were waiting for us at the door.

“Where are they?” Jordan was the first to ask.

“They’re resting. We gave them rooms on your same floor, and they’ve been asleep for the last hour or so. They had a long night. We have a family room on your floor, so we’ll get dinner sent up there for you guys and your siblings.” Luna Ellis spoke to us calmly, sensing our nerves.

“Thank you, Luna.”

“They have been a little nervous since arriving, but Nora helped get them settled in. She suggested we pair them together as they had shared a room at Wildfire, and the four seemed grateful to not be split from each other.”

“They’re really here then?” Jordan was antsy, and I could tell he was ready to see his sisters.

“Yes, how about we peek in on them, maybe that will calm your nerves.”

Jordan practically launched himself upstairs to our floor, and we all followed.

“The girls are over here next to Nora, and the boys are right next door to Noah.”

Jordan opened the girls' door trying not to make any noise. He peeked his head inside, and we heard a loud shriek.

“Jordan!” You’re here, Jade pushed the door open as she ran out and jumped up into Jordan’s arms. They held each other tightly, letting their tears fall unashamedly. Jade tried to say something, but she was sobbing so hard that she couldn’t talk clearly.

I let them have their moment and went over to my brother’s room. The room had been set up with two beds, but they were both sleeping in the same bed together. They used to sleep like that when they were little, but they hadn’t done that in a while. I knew they must have been through a lot, which must have driven them to that habit again. I let them sleep and quietly closed the door back up. For now, it was enough just knowing they were safe.

Jade had finally unlatched herself from Jordan and came up to me and Cristian to hug us as well. Jasmine and Jade were like little sisters to me, so it was good to have them with us again. We were halfway complete now...but we’d never really be complete anymore without Alpha Henry and Luna Christina.

I heard a door open, and Nora came out of the first room by the stairs. “The table’s ready now.” She bowed her head to Luna Ellis.

“Thank you, Nora..but remember, no bowing here.” She put her hand on Nora’s shoulder, which made Nora look up. “You were born to be a Luna, don’t ever forget that.”

Nora smiled at Luna Ellis and nodded shyly. “The room is ready now.”

“Thank you, Nora. How about we give them a few more minutes before we wake them for dinner.”

The guys and I agreed and took that time to unpack and freshen up from our car ride. Once I was showered, I headed to my brothers' room. We had a little more time, but I wanted a few minutes with them to myself.

I walked into their room and gently shook them awake. They’d always been deep sleepers, so it took a few tries before I got them to open their eyes.

“Noah!” Felix woke up first. “Miles, get up. Noah’s here.” Both boys tackled me in a hug, and I could tell they’d actually missed me. I would consider us close, but we also were never big on hugs with each other. With our current circumstances, none of that mattered, though.

“We thought we’d never see you again.”

“You’re getting Mom and Dad out too, right?”

“Yeah, we’re doing everything we can to get them and our pack back. We got you out, didn’t we?” I didn’t feel as confident as I let on, but I wanted them to feel safe here.

“Yeah, you did…and we’re safe here now?” Miles looked up at me and his green eyes watered.

“Yes, you’re safe, and no one here will let Alpha Marek take you again.” I hugged him to me again briefly before breaking apart and heading out to dinner.

Jordan and the girls were already there when we arrived, and I greeted Jasmine as I hadn’t seen her yet. She had lost a lot of weight and her usually bright skin had a pasty look to it. She smiled at me, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Our food was brought up to us, and Jordan sat down in between his two sisters. The twins sat next to Jade, and Cristian sat next to Jasmine. For some reason, they had set a table for eight, even though there were only seven of us. That empty chair between me and Cristian made it very obvious that we were still missing someone…that we were missing Gema.

“We’ll get her back. Remember, Noah, you said you’d do everything possible to get our pack and family back. That includes Gema, we’ll get her back.”

I looked over at Felix whose words sounded both wise and innocent all at once. Then I looked back at the empty chair beside me before looking over at Cristian. He gave me a soft smile and started passing the food around. A part of me felt bad for him for being the only one without his sibling here. We had reunited with ours but at the cost of his.

The rest of the dinner went well. Jade was more talkative than usual, and Jasmine had barely talked. It was like the two sisters had traded personalities. It also hadn’t slipped my notice that Jasmine had barely eaten anything, and Jade kept looking over at her nervously. I’d have to talk to Jordan about that later.

As for my brothers, they were also more quiet than usual. They always joked around, but they seemed to have lost their spark. Even Cosmo knew something wasn’t right.

“I’m still tired, I think I’m going to head back to the room.” Jasmine pulled at her shirt hem and started to head out.

“I’ll go with you, Jas.” Jade quickly got up to go with her. She seemed nervous to let Jasmine go on her own.

“Hey guys," I turned to the twins, "How about we watch a movie in my room before bedtime?”

“Yeah, can we get popcorn?”

“Sure, how about you guys head over there and pick something out, my laptop is on the desk. I’ll help the guys clean up here and then get the popcorn.”

“They rushed out, actually looking excited."

Once we were alone, Jordan, Cristian, and I all looked at each other.

“So…they’re not doing too great,” Cristian said what we were all thinking.

“Not at all…Jasmine’s lost so much weight, and did you see she hardly ate?”

“Should we see if this pack has a counselor or something? Maybe that would help?” I suggested.

“Yeah, that’s actually a good idea. I’ll ask Alpha if we have any way of helping the girls through all this. I need to talk to him anyway because I was hoping I’d be able to take over their guardianship.”

Guardianship...that was a big responsibility, but I was glad Jordan was able to be there for his sisters in that way. They still had a long road to recovery, but Jordan being there for them would help.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

We finished clearing the table, and I went down to the kitchen to get popcorn as promised before heading back up. The boys were eagerly waiting for me in the room. They had picked out some animated superhero movie, and I set down the popcorn and pickles I had brought up for them before getting settled on my bed.

They each sat on one side of me and we enjoyed our snacks as the movie played. We put on a second movie once the first finished, and both twins ended up falling asleep halfway through. I didn’t have the heart to move them, so I left them there and slept in between them. In a regular world, we would all be complaining about space or about being too grown for sleepovers…but in this world, we drew comfort from our proximity. As I snuggled into my bed and looked at my brothers one last time before closing my eyes, I suddenly felt Cosmo relax for the first time in weeks.