Extinguishing Wildfire

Jordan

I felt more myself now that I had the official Alpha title, more connected to my parents, but it somehow brought on more pain as well. My dad was supposed to be the one to pass on the pack, the one to say the oath with me. I’d never get that moment now.

“Hey, are you okay?” Aaliyah came up to me, knowing I needed the support. “I think I can feel your emotions…through the bond.” She gave me a soft smile, knowing that things between us had changed and she was no longer blocking me away.

“Yeah, it’s just a lot. I miss my parents, they should have been here for this.” She placed her hand on my cheek, which soothed me. I closed my eyes and set my forehead on hers, just taking in the moment and the comfort I needed.

“I need to find Noah and Cristian.”

“Alright, I’ll get our stuff packed up, you go take care of things.”

I made my way towards the clinic, but Noah and Gema beat me to it by meeting me halfway.

“Hey, Alpha called everyone to start packing. I also talked to Alpha Larkin. They’re getting my dad ready to go now, so we’ll all be ready to head out soon.”

“That’s good, how is he?”

“They got most of the wolfsbane flushed out of his system, and they said once his wolf is back, he’ll start to heal faster.”

“I’m glad to hear, but listen, we need to find Cristian. I’d like a word with you two before we head out.”

“Yeah, sure.” He looked over at Gema.

“You go on ahead, I’ll get our stuff…and I’d look for Cristian over on the east side of the training grounds.” She kissed Noah on the cheek before starting to walk away.

“Wait, you’ve known where your brother was this whole time?”

“No, just since Rory came to see me at the clinic a little while ago. She said they talked.” Gema looked away, clearly not wanting to tell us more. I guess we’ll have to get the information out of Cristian.

“Let’s go.” We walked over to where Gema told us to look, using our wolves to sniff Cristian out. We finally found him after a few minutes. He was busy kicking the crap out of a tree.

“Woah, what’d that tree ever do to you?” He startled, quickly glancing up at me and Noah.

He huffed loudly, “Nothing…it’s just…this sucks.” He kicked the tree again.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No!” He threw his hands up and laced his fingers behind his head, groaning as he looked up toward the sky. “She doesn’t want to go with me…back home. She said she wants to stay here with her brother for now…she wants to think things through.”

“Just to be clear, we’re talking about your mate, right?”

“Yeah, who else!?” He looked over at me, clearly irritated.

“Did she at least forgive you?” Noah asked.

“Wait, wait. You guys still haven’t filled me in on what I missed yesterday.”

Noah and Cristina looked between each other, and Cristian went back to kicking the tree.

“Evie kissed him in front of her, and she felt it.”

A gasp involuntarily left my mouth as I finally understood Cristian’s dilemma. To be fair, we all told him Evie was bad news.

“Go on, say it. I know you want to.” Cristian turned to face me.

“Naw, I’m good.” I shook my head, not wanting to poke the bear.

“Really? Come on, man. Just say it, everyone else already has.

“Alright, you convinced me…" I threw up my hands in surrender, "I told you so, I told you Evie needed to go, but you didn’t listen. We all told you.” Noah nodded his agreement as Cristian’s shoulders slumped, and he put his head in his hands.

“Well, you did say, you weren't ready to meet your mate, maybe this is a good thing?” I looked over at Noah, furrowing my brow at him. Cristian didn’t even look up.

Are you kidding me right now? I mouthed at Noah, and he shrugged, mouthing back What?

“I did say I didn’t want my mate yet…but I didn’t mean it like that…I didn't mean that I wouldn't want her if I found her...because I do want her.” He looked back up at us, “She’s my dream girl, an fucking angel…a guy like me doesn’t deserve a girl like that. It makes sense why she wants to stay here.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I asked if I could call her, get to know her. If she would let me make up for what I did...she said she’d think about it.”

“That’s good, then. We’ll be back home, away from Evie.” I walked over to Cristian, and patted him on the chest, “And you can detox from Evie while we get our pack back in order.” He gave me a murderous look but didn’t say anything.

“That’s a great idea! I’m sure Gema will help you, too. She’s friends with Rory and wants the best for both of you.” Noah tried to sound cheerful as well.

“See, it’s not all bad, we’ll help you get straightened out and get with your girl.” I wanted to keep things upbeat as I was tired of things going to shit these last few months. I suddenly had the urge to take care of my pack, to protect them.

“Speaking of home. There is something I wanted to talk about. Alpha Larkin gave me back control of Cobalt Falls. I’m officially the Alpha…and I want you guys back in the pack. What do you two say?”

Cristian and Noah looked at each other, giving a firm nod, then turned to me. "Of course we want that. It's the three of us together, always."

“So, I don’t want to do the Beta and Gamma oaths yet, as I want you guys to have an official ceremony…with your dads.” My voice caught in my throat at those words, but I knew Noah and Cristian deserved to share that moment with their dads instead of taking the oath in the middle of a random forest.

“Alright, let’s do it. I’m ready to get back to Cobalt Falls.”

We each extended our claws and cut a line along our palms. My two friends then simultaneously pledged themselves back into the pack.

“With the moon’s blessing, I–

–Cristian Navar

–Noah Salazar

pledge my loyalty to Alpha Jordan Rodriguez and Cobalt Falls. May my strength and loyalty serve the pack.

As I shook their hands in turn, I replied with my own part, “With the moon’s blessing, I welcome you to Cobalt Falls. May your spirit run strong alongside the pack.

The bonds reattached, and I once again felt another piece of my heart mend back together. It was my first real act as Alpha, and I couldn’t have been prouder.

“Let’s go, it’s time to get back on the road.”

We walked back to the campgrounds with a smile and finished helping with packing up. We had a bit of a walk back to our vehicles as we had left them down the road before arriving at Wildfire, but we got there by mid-afternoon and started our long drive back to Harvest Moon. We got back just in time for bed, but we knew our siblings would be waiting for us. Noah took his brothers to the clinic to see their parents, and Cristian headed to his room…alone this time.

“Hey, umm…I was wondering, would you maybe…want to sleep in my room tonight? With me, I mean.” Aaliyah’s usually overconfident self was nowhere in sight as she asked me to share a room with her.

“I’d love to, but would you be opposed to staying in my room instead? I don’t want to leave my sisters on their own. They still have nightmares sometimes, and I’d hate to be on a different floor.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I just want to be with you. It doesn't matter where. I’m not sure I’d be able to sleep away from you anyway.”

“Me neither.” I grabbed her hand, and we walked upstairs to my room where we settled down for another peaceful night together.

Aaliyah

The sun was high in the sky when we finally woke up. Kedrick had given us all off until Wednesday. It gave us time to recuperate from the battle but also time to hold the funerals of our fallen.

Jordan said we would stay until after the funerals or until Noah’s father woke up, depending on which came first. He had gone to check on his friends at the clinic, so I called Carissa to have her meet up with me.

She gave me the biggest hug as soon as she saw me. “I missed you so much. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me, too, but I won’t be for long if you keep squeezing me this tightly.”

“Sorry,” She pulled back, “I’m just so happy you’re back.”

“No promises or anything, but I’ll try not to ever get kidnapped again.” We both giggled at my terrible joke.

She finally stepped back and gave me a mischievous smile, “So, rumor has it that you’re the next Luna of Cobalt Falls.”

“Of course, the whole pack would be talking about that." I rolled my eyes, "The rumors are actually true this time, though. I decided to accept Jordan.” I shrugged sheepishly, but I also couldn’t help the feeling of elation that came over me as I realized I wanted a whole life with Jordan. Being kidnapped must have really done a number on me, making me realize what’s really important in life. Don’t get me wrong, being a doctor is still on my list, I’ve just realized that maybe I don’t have to be scared about being a Luna because Jordan will be by my side every step of the way. He’ll be figuring out the Alpha thing on his own, too, and this way, we can figure things out together.

“I’m glad you finally came to your senses. Jordan is the sweetest guy, which is surprising considering most Alphas are complete assholes, not counting your brother, of course.”

“Yeah, Jordan really is the sweetest, and he forgave me for all my crap so easily.”

“I’m gonna miss you. With you at school, I always knew you’d be back, but now you’ll be moving for good.”

“You’ll just have to come visit then.”

“Definitely, I’ll be there every chance I get.”

Jordan

“Jordan! Oh, it’s so good to see you. I’m so happy you three boys had each other throughout everything.” Noah’s mom came up and gave me the biggest hug, she’s always been a hugger, so I would expect no less from her right now. “You boys took such good care of my twins. I know it's only been a few months, but you’re all so grown up now.” She stepped back, patting my cheek, and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Ay, Mamá, no llores.” (Don’t cry, Mom). Noah wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“I can’t help it, it’s been a long few months, and with your dad like he is... it's been hard.”

“It’s okay, he’ll wake up. Dr. James said it could be any minute now.”

Gema walked up with her parents, Tía Elena and Tío Tomas. They were carrying food and drinks for everyone. “Jordan, it’s good to see you. We were told you found your mate.” Tío Tomás chuckled. “You boys are all grown up now with your mates, and I guess my daughter now, too. I look forward to meeting our future Luna.”

I smiled, but I noticed that Noah tensed up a bit around Tío Tomás.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ I mind-linked Noah.

‘Nothing, it’s silly…but he tried to give away my mate. I almost lost Gema because of what he did, so Cosmo is just really agitated by being around him.’

‘I get it, let’s go in to see your dad then.’ I patted his shoulder and we walked into his dad’s room. His vitals were stronger than ever, and I could see he had more color on his face than the last time I saw him. Noah sat in the chair beside his dad and patted his hand.

“Papá, you have to wake up so we can head back home.” He whispered the words as if sending out a wish.

Noah’s mom walked into the room a few minutes later with the food and handed Noah a bag. I was so used to seeing Tía Annie joined at the hip with my mom that I kept waiting for my mom to walk in after her, only to be disappointed when I remembered that that wouldn’t be happening.

“Breakfast, take it, you have to eat.” She handed me my own bag of food, and I opened it to find a few breakfast burritos.

A loud cough startled us, “What smells so good?” Tío Rodrigo’s voice came out raspy.

Noah, who was taking a bite of his food, stopped mid-bite as he raised his head to his father.

“Papá, you’re awake.”

“Of course I’m awake. Where am I?” He looked around the room, questioning his surroundings, “What happened to me?”

Tía Annie immediately started crying and rushed over to him, practically smothering him in a hug. “Get the doctor!” she called out to no one in particular, so I took it upon myself to go.

Tío Rodrigo was still weak, and Dr. James asked to keep him overnight for monitoring, but it looked like he would be able to leave the following day. His wolf had been working overtime to heal him once the wolfsbane was gone, and he seemed to be doing great. While his wolf healing helped him, he still had a long road ahead of him because his muscles were weak from disuse.

I stayed another hour or so but went back to see Alpha Kedrick. I needed to talk to both him and my sisters about what was next for us. It wasn’t a conversation I was particularly looking forward to having, but one I knew needed to happen. There are big decisions ahead of me, but I know that whatever happens next can’t be any worse than the road already behind me.