The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 15: Re-connecting

.......Ashlyn POV........

After getting off the phone I went into the bathroom and took a long bath, I sobbed nearly the whole time. I was getting my dad back, he was coming home. After I got out of the tub, I pulled on a random t-shirt of Cillian's with a pair of his boxers. I crawled into bed and held his pillow as I fell into a deep sleep, I had a dream he crawled into bed with me and I curled up into him. 

I woke up feeling tingles throughout my body and snuggled into the hard pillow I was holding. After a few seconds my eyes flew open and I looked up to see Cillian sleeping soundly beneath me. I smiled and lightly kissed his side before curling back into him. After a little while he moved and stretched, I looked up at him and dead-panned making him chuckle when he looked down.

"Good morning to you too, babe." He said placing a peck on my forehead before rolling out of bed and heading into the bathroom. I rolled out of bed and followed him, I brushed my teeth while he pissed. When he was done he grabbed his toothbrush, I rinsed my mouth and toothbrush before I took my turn on the toilet. I finished and grabbed my brush and ran it through my hair a few times before walking back into the bedroom and sitting on the bed and rubbing my eyes. 

"Shouldn't you be working on an alliance with Darius?" I asked as he walked into the room. He raised an eyebrow and sat next to me on the bed.

"We created a rough copy yesterday before Terrance, John s***h Vernon and I left. " I felt my eyes widen as I remembered what happened yesterday. 

"I thought it was a dream." I whispered. 

"It was all real darling, now get dressed so your dad's wolf doesn't kill me for hogging you." I nodded and stood up and stripped before being pulled back down onto the bed. Cillian's thumb caressed my cheek and he kissed me softly before standing me back up, we both got dressed and left the house in Cillian's mustang. He drove us to the pack-house where I would finally see my dad, the one I missed so much, the one I thought was gone forever. We pulled to a stop in the driveway and got out before I could change my mind, I looked at the front door just as a figure burst through it. I looked into his black eyes and tilted my head, he smiled at me with such elation I just froze. I heard him whimper as his face fell, he approached me cautiously, I walked to Cillian's side and clung to my support as my dad's wolf took my hand.

"I'm so sorry little one, I was locked away and couldn't save him." The pain in his whimper matched the utter agony and shame in his eyes. 

"Locked away?" I asked.

"They day you shifted, Alexa was able to lock me and Uma away and manipulate the emotions of our human sides." 

"How did you break free?" Cillian asked from beside me.

"Alexa's hold was weakening on John, he knew something was wrong but couldn't put his finger on it. When he was given our photo, the hold was gone, unfortunately, it was like waking up from a bad dream and he didn't remember anything. When you told him about our daughter nearly dying he remembered and I was set free." He explained slowly and sadly.

"Where is he?" I asked squeezing the hand I was still holding.

"John is processing, the loss of our wife and mate, the betrayal of our own daughter and how he neglected you against his own will. He is not in a good place little one." I sighed and looked at the ground as tears slid from my eyes, I was so angry at what Alexa did and I was upset for my father who was played with like a doll, then lost it all. But i was also euphoric that I had my dad back, he never stopped loving me, it was all Alexa, most of all I felt love and forgiveness, he didn't want this to happen. I looked back at the memory of Cillian's exchange with him and how he yelled at an Alpha, he said he would never leave me. Truly he didn't he wanted me, that means I never truly lost him. 

"Can you push him forward, I want to talk to him." The wolf nodded and his eyes went empty for a minute before they changed into a familiar grey color, once his eyes focused on me he fell to his knees and began bawling.

"I'm so sorry princess." I had never heard a man so broken. I crouched down on my haunches, still holding his hand.

"Dad, look at me." I said lightly, when I did i could see snot run from his nose. "I don't blame you. This is my sister's doing, she betrayed us both." He nodded once and looked back at the ground.

"I should have been stronger, I should have been able to fight her."

"I have a theory about that." I said, Cillian crouched down with us and my dad looked back up at me. "I think she just twisted your emotions, she didn't replace them. Mom always favored Alex and you favored me, which is why mom seems to be easier to influence. You were able to fight enough to keep my picture dad."

"But I wasn't strong enough to save you, I almost lost you twice and I didn't blink." 

"Like I said, I don't blame you, in fact I forgive you dad, wasting time being angry for something you had no control over is a completely unnecessary." He looked at me in shock before throwing himself at me and pulling me into a bone crushing hug. Cillian steadied us so I didn't fall over and injure our pup. I looked at him as I pulled my dad closer, he was smiling at me. 

"I love you princess." I felt myself sob, I never thought I would hear those words again. Cillian leaned down and put his forehead on the side of my head, above my ear, and rubbed small circles on my back. After a little while dad let me go and Cillian helped us both to our feet. 

"Head rush." I said grabbing my head as the world spun slowly. I leaned into Cillian and waited for the spinning to stop. When it did, all three of us went into the pack house and got some breakfast, my stomach rumbled and Cillian insisted we talk over food. I had strawberry covered waffles with maple sausage and a glass of apple juice. I ate all the food hoping it would say down and sighed in contentment. I rubbed my tiny bump and purred at it, Cillian placed a hand on my belly and smiled at me. 

"You feel full darling" He said.

"Completely." I said with a small smile, he finished his food and put our plates in the dishwasher.

"You look happy princess."

"I am dad, Cillian is incredible and our pack is amazing, I got lucky with the goddesses plan for me."

"When can I do the trials?" He asked catching me off guard.

"I don't think that is necessary John, technically you never left the pack, I mean we will do a little ceremony and you will have to take the wolfsbane, but you lived here for years, I think the pack will understand if you don't do the physical part of the trials, we will just have you double up on training for a while." Cillian said standing behind me and rubbing my shoulders.

"When?"

"I can set it up for tomorrow afternoon, I have things to do tonight." I looked up at him and he gave me a smirk and a wink. I smiled at him and winked, making him laugh. "You two should go for a walk, I have a few things to take care of at the office." Cillian pecked my lips before smiling down at me and licking his lips. "I love you Ash, by the way, be ready by seven, we have our first official date tonight." I gave him a big smile when he rubbed my stomach, he gave my dad a smile and walked off, I watched his muscular thighs and round ass walk out the door. 

"He takes after his father." My dad said.

"I hope not." I grumbled and he gave me a curious look. "Mike wanted Cillian to take Alexa as his Luna, but he chose me, Mike was pissed. The night Cillian announced me as Luna, Mike pulled a gun on me, Cillian of course stood in front of me and had Mike arrested." I said. I watched as my dad's eyes went black for a moment and he snarled, his pale skin turning red. "Dad, settle. He has been punished." He took a few breaths and calmed himself before I stood up and walked toward the door, he followed me and we walked in silence to one of my favorite spots on the pack property. There was a small garden full of lavender plants. I sat down near the and my dad sat down next to me, I took his hand and leaned on his shoulder, he sighed and took a few deeps breaths using the lavender for it's intended purpose.

"Why did you dye your hair?" He asked grabbing a strand of it.

"I'll explain that another time dad, what i want to talk to you about right now is something else." I took a few deep breaths of the lavender, but before I could an alarm went off, I looked at my dad and we both got up and ran toward the pack house to see a small army of blood rouges attacking us. I snarled and shifted then ran head first into the fray. I took out a rouge who was on top of a younger warrior and shook him until I heard a snap. 

I saw a large black wolf with a silver back taking on three rouges I ran to him and grabbed one and ripped it apart, he took out another one while Terrance's tan wolf killed another. Cillian and I fought as a team, taking out rouges together. A rouge went for my stomach but Cillian got wild with rage and ripped him to shreds, we were winning but more and more rouges kept flooding in. I saw one jump on another small wolf and I ripped out a section of it's spine dropping it to the blood soaked ground. I was getting tired so I gave complete control to Crescent who tore through so many rouges it was nearly unbelievable. After a total of 4 hours the fighting stopped and Crescent gave me back control. 

I was standing in a field flooded with blood and the stench of decaying meat. We lost 5 warriors and killed over 400 blood rouges, I looked around and saw doctors attending to the wounded. I walked over to a rouge and began dragging it to the center of the field. Other wolves who were strong enough joined me, after another hour we had all the blood rouges in a large pile, waiting to be burned. I walked to the top of a hill nearby and layed down to rest, Cillian trotted over and layed down next to me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep next to him, too exhausted to dream. I woke up and saw our pack standing near the covered bodies of our fallen warriors. I stood and walked over and looked at each warrior reciting their name in my head, I looked around and saw my dad standing off to the side of the crowd, he was staring at me and I realized I was still covered in blood. I looked back at my sleeping mate and decided we should go get cleaned up.

I went over and woke him up by nudging his head, he looked at me and stretched with a yawn and stood. He shook his large body and licked my face before I yipped at him lightly and his eyes went wide. Within seconds he was in human form asking me to shift. I complied and he felt my still hard stomach with a panicked face.

"Is our pup okay? That one wolf...."

"Cillian, I wasn't hurt, niether was our little one, we are both perfectly healthy." I assured him as he pressed an ear to my stomach, I ran my hand through his hair as my dad walked over watching Cillian curiously. 

"Thank the goddess, if I lost either of you I would lose my mind." Cillian kissed my belly sending sparks, throughout my entire being. "Would you mind getting checked my a doctor though, I want to be 100%?" 

"Your pregnant?" My dad asked with teary eyes.