Extinguishing Wildfire

Jordan

The day seemed endless, and I still couldn’t believe this morning started with Aaliyah in my bed. It was after dinner, and she still wasn’t back from her parents’ house. Her mother must be having a really hard time for her to still be there.

‘Hey, Jordan?’ Aaliyah surprised me by using the pack mind link with me.

‘Yeah, what’s up?’

‘I’m still at my parents’ house, so I might be in really late. Do you still want me to find you when I get to the pack house?′

‘Yes!’ I was a little too eager in my response, but I couldn’t help it. She could wake me from a dead sleep, and I wouldn’t be mad. ‘Yes, just let me know. Come up to my room.’

‘Okay…I’ll see you later.’

I hope she doesn’t think I’m being too forward with inviting her to my room. The sex was great last night, but that’s not all I want from her. I want a real bond with her, a relationship where we can grow together and be happy…I just hope she wants that, too.

“Hey, Jordan. Are you coming to dinner?” Noah’s voice came from the other side of my door, and I pulled it open to reveal him and Cristian on the other side.

“Where’s Gema?”

“She’s helping Jasmine with some homework, so it’s just us guys today.”

“That’s good, I could use some guy time. There are a few things we should talk about.”

We grabbed our plates and sat at our usual table. Sometimes it felt strange being so comfortable in this pack, but other times it felt like it was all I had known. It was easier to immerse myself in Harvest Moon, pretend we were still just here for training, and that Cobalt Falls and our families were waiting for us back home.

“So, what’s up? What did you want to talk about?” Cristian and Noah looked at me with happy expressions. I hated ruining their mood, but I wanted them to hear about the attack from me. It hit me hard, and I didn’t want them to have to sort out their emotions with everyone else.

“Wildfire attacked another pack this morning,” I whispered the words to make sure only the two of them heard. “It was a small pack, Sunset Ridge, and they left no survivors. It was the former Luna’s birth pack, so Alpha and Gamma Isaiah have been at their parents’ house since this afternoon.

“Fuck, that’s…” Cristian shook his head in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"Does this change the plan?"

“No, everything is still on as planned. We might just have to be prepared for an earlier attack. If Wildfire is attacking other packs, who’s to say they won’t come to Harvest Moon.” The guys both nodded in understanding, and we continued our meal in a more somber mood.

“So…is…you know who with her parents, too?”

“Aaliyah? You can say her name, and yes, she is. We went over there together at lunch.”

“We wondered why you took off so quickly. I kept saying it was a booty call, but Noah insisted it was something else. Even Jasmine agreed with me.” Cristian patted me on the back chuckling as if he had made a joke.

“Come on, man, how many times do we have to remind you about being more respectful with our mates? That’s your future Luna you’re talking about. And why would Jasmine agree with you?” Cristian at least had the decency to look embarrassed. I loved the guy, but he had a lot to learn about proper relationships. He’d spent too long with his dick in every willing girl.

“Jasmine agreed with him because she saw Aaliyah coming out of your room this morning.” Noah raised a brow at me. “So, now that we know you went to see Alpha this afternoon, care to tell us what you did last night.”

I couldn’t help the smile that came over me. “She came over to my room last night to talk…and ended up staying the night. I won’t go into details, but it was nice.”

“She changed her mind?" Noah smiled, looking excited about the possibility.

“She hasn’t said as much. We were supposed to talk things over at lunch, but we put that on hold when Alpha called. Neo’s pretty sure, she’ll come around as her wolf really wants us.” We went back to eating after that. Talking about Aaliyah had put me in a better mood than talking about the Sunset Ridge attack. Unfortunately, my next stop was to talk to my sisters. Like the guys, I didn’t want them to hear about the attack from someone else.

“I have to go see my sisters. I want to tell them about the attack before Alpha announces it. The three of us are due for a talk anyway.” I sighed, not really wanting to do this but knowing it was necessary. “Jasmine’s upstairs with Gema, but do you guys know where Jade is? She usually comes down for dinner.”

“I’ll link Gema.” Noah stared off as he talked to Gema for a few seconds before coming back to us, “Gema says Jade said something about going to the entertainment room.”

“Great, let’s go.” The three of us headed to find Jade. I hadn’t been down to the entertainment room since I first found out about Aaliyah and came down with the guys to look for a picture of her. I thought she was gorgeous then, and I still think that now. She’s the picture of perfection with her smooth dark skin and matching hair and eyes. She also has the cutest nose. I was so lost in my thoughts of Aaliyah that my brain didn’t immediately register what my eyes were seeing when I walked into the room.

“Jade?” Noah broke through my thoughts, and I finally realized that my little sister was sitting on the couch with her lips fused to some boy.

“What the fuck is this!?” My voice was louder than I wanted but it had the intended effect of having the two pull apart. Alejandro and Jade just started up at me and the guys. “Jade, I need to see you in my room, now. Alejandro, I suggest you head back home for the night.” I can’t believe I trusted that little punk cat. I had been helping him with his transition to Harvest Moon and even went to his first training class to make sure he settled in well. Hell, I introduced him to my sister so that he’d have a friend at school. Now, I see how well that went.

Alejandro took off after I gave the order. I might have put a little too much Alpha in my words, but I was not ready to see my little sister making out with some boy. I turned back to Jade ready to say more, but she beat me to it. “You can’t just storm in here and tell me what to do! You’re not my father, Jordan!” She rushed out of the room but not before I saw her tears.

“That was…unexpected.” My Beta patted my back, “She’ll calm down, just give her a bit. She’s been keeping it together this whole time and was bound to break at some point.”

I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated with everything. I wasn’t trying to be Dad, and I’m sure I would have reacted the same way regardless of whether our parents were here or not.

“I’m gonna go get Jasmine, I’ll need her help once I find Jade.”

We went up to our floor, and I knocked on the door. Jasmine and Gema were on the bed surrounded by books. “Hey, Jas, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?”

“Not really, this isn’t what I wanted to talk about, but I just caught Jade making out with that little punk, Alejandro. Jade was pretty pissed at my breaking them up and yelled at me before storming out.”

“Jade? Our Jade? Was making out with a boy? Are you serious!?”

“Yes, our Jade, and I’m completely serious. I was hoping you could help me look for her.”

“Let’s go, I’m sure she couldn’t have gotten far.” She hopped off of her bed and put on a pair of sandals. “I’ll see you later, Gema.”

We walked down the stairs and out the door, hoping Jade was still in the packhouse, but we didn’t see her in any of the rooms. “Where do you think she went?”

“You don’t think she went to find Alejandro, do you?”

“She was crying, so probably not. You know how she hates it when people see her cry.”

“Let’s check the back garden, there’s these big chairs she likes to sit in and read.”

Jasmine’s idea panned out as we saw Jade curled up in a big wicker chair.

“Are you two here to get on to me and tell me I’m too young for boys?”

There were big tears still falling from her eyes. It reminded me of when she was little and she’d climb into Dad’s lap for a hug whenever she was sad. Dad was the only person she ever let in when she cried as she was a total Daddy’s girl. Jasmine had always been closer to Mom, but Jade and I practically worshipped our dad. I hated that it took me so long to really check in on how Jade was doing. I was so worried about Jasmine’s mental health, and Jade had championed getting her help as soon as they arrived that I failed to see how Jade was doing with all of this.

“So…Jordan told me what happened. Your first crush, huh?” Jasmine’s kind tone of voice shocked Jade, and she sat up, wiping at her tears.

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? You’re my little sister.” The chair was big enough to seat both girls, so Jasmine cuddled in with Jade and hugged her.

“Jordan’s still mad.” She directed her words at Jasmine but looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, yeah, but he’s our big brother. They’re supposed to hate guys being around us. I never told you this, but after my first kiss, Jordan didn’t talk to Diego for a whole two weeks.”

“Did he walk in on you, too?”

Jasmine laughed at the memory, and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. “No, the kiss happened months before, but Jordan overheard Diego talking to his friend about it. He said Diego broke bro code by kissing his friend’s sister. It was silly, but that’s Jordan for you.”

“Hey! It wasn’t silly at the time. I’m supposed to protect you two. That guy turned out to be a dick anyway.” The three of us laughed, and Jade seemed to be letting me in again.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I know I’m not Dad, and no one will ever be able to replace Mom and Dad, but I do want you safe...and I’ll do everything in my power to keep you both safe. You two mean everything to me, and it was complete torture knowing you were at Wildfire where I couldn't help. Now that I have you back, I’ll do anything for you two. It’s the three of us against the world.”

“Even if that means intimidating boys?”

“Especially if that means intimidating punk ass boys trying to kiss you.”

“Does the same go for us then?” Jasmine raised her eyebrows and smirked as she asked.

“Mates are off limits.” She rolled her eyes at my words, and I narrowed my eyes at her but still kept the playfulness in my tone. I could sense she was about to bring up seeing Aaliyah come out of my room this morning, but I was in no mood to explain anything to my sisters. Hell, I wanted to discuss my mate with my sisters about as much as I wanted a colonoscopy.

“I’ll let it go for today as we’re here for Jade, but I’ll get you to talk eventually.”

I shook my head, glad to be dropping the subject, and went ahead and told my sisters about the attack this morning. As I feared, they didn’t take things well. They were scared and had all kinds of questions about what would happen now. I could see Jasmine’s nerves, which scared me into thinking that she’d have a setback with this news, but she assured me and Jade she’d be fine and had been better with her new meds. The nights were still warm, and we spent the rest of the night together as we watched sun go down.