Best Friends to Mates

Chapter Six

I woke up to the smell of food, making my stomach growl immediately. I hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime yesterday, and I was starving.

I rolled over onto my right side and checked the time on my phone. My eyes widened, the time read 10:37 am. I jumped out of the bed and hurriedly got dressed. It was odd, being back home and going into my closet to grab clothes. I'm used to having all of my possessions in a tote underneath my bunk at the academy.

After doing my morning routine, I hurried down the stairs. Muffled voices echoed from the kitchen as I made my way there. Once in the kitchen, my eyes landed on a tall figure that was seated at the kitchen table. His dark brown hair and tan complexion had me wanting to cry.

His eyes landed on me, and he smiled widely. He stood from the table and walked around to meet me. "Hey, sis, it's good to have you home!" My older brother said before giving me a giant hug.

I squeezed Levi back just as tightly, although my arms could barely fit around him anymore. He was big before I had even left, but in the year I had been gone, he had gotten gigantic.

"Goddess, Levi! You're freaking huge!" I laughed. Levi chuckled, ans pulled away from the hug to look down at me from his towering height. "And I think you've gotten taller. What the hell?" I was bewildered. It wasn't as if my brother had shifted and gotten bigger from that; no, he's had his wolf for a few years now.

"For the year you were gone, I trained a lot harder. When I took over the Alpha role from dad, I just got bigger. Most Alphas do." Levi chuckled again.

I followed my brother over to the table and took a seat across from him. My mom was rushing around the kitchen like a mad woman and had three different pans cooking on the stove.

"Good morning, momma. What are you making? Are you feeding an army?" I teased, making my mom giggle.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" My mom greeted as she flipped whatever food she was cooking. "And Oh, no, we just have a few guests coming over for breakfast, is all." My mom smiled.

My brows scrunched together in confusion. "A few guests? Like who?" I asked. I was confused about why my mom would invite people over on my first morning back home. I really just wanted to spend the day with my family.

"Just a few people." My mom smiled again, looking over to my brother. "They'll be here soon, sweety. Will you go ahead and set the table?" She asked me before running back over to the oven and pulling something out.

I stood from the table and grabbed the plates and silverware to set the table. "How many places, ma?" I hollered over to her.

"Oh, um.." Mom paused for a moment as she counted the number of people on her fingers. "Nine. We need nine places, honey!" Mom answered before busying herself with breakfast once again.

My eyes buldged out of my head at her words. "Nine!? Why so many?" I asked bewildered. I heard my dad chuckle from the table.

I looked over at my dad to see he was looking up from the paperwork he had been reading. "You know how your mother is, baby girl." Dad chuckled again before stacking his papers and putting them away.

Dad stood from the table and walked over to me, grabbing the couple of plates that I was having a hard time reaching. After handing me the plates, dad wrapped his arm around me and pulled me in for a side hug, kissing my head. "Did you sleep well, princess?"

I nodded my head. "It was probably the best nights sleep I've had in a long while." I admitted, making my dad laugh.

"I'm glad. It's so good to have you home again, baby girl. We missed you." Dad helped me grab the plates and silverware to set the table.

"It's good to be home, Daddy." I answered honestly.

Dad helped me set the table for the nine spots mom said, while my brother worked on something for the pack business. It was honestly weird seeing my older brother doing the pack business stuff instead of my dad. I'm so used to seeing my dad doing all that, and he still was when I left.

It didn't take long for mom to finish cooking breakfast, and then she ran upstairs to change her clothes. I didn't know who mom had invited over for breakfast, but I was honestly nervous that Thatcher and Amy were two of them.

I hoped mom would tell me if she had invited Thatcher and Amy, but I'm honestly not too sure. I felt uneasy, and my stomach was knotting the more I thought about it. I needed to know if mom had invited the two of them, so I made my way up to her and dad's room.

After knocking on the door and hearing my mom say, "Come in!"I walked into their room. I noticed their attatched bathroom door open, and the light was on, so I made my way over to the door.

"Mom?" I called out. A few moments later, my mom poked her head out of the bathroom and smiled at me.

"Yes, sweety?" Her sweet voice replied. One of her hands was holding up her hair while the other held the clip that she was trying to use to pin her hair up. I could tell that she was struggling with it.

"Need some help, mom?" I asked with a smile. She nodded immediately and giggled. I walked into the bathroom and stood behind my mom in front of the mirror. She was trying to use a large claw like clip to put her hair up into a low bun.

She handed me her brush, and I began to brush through some of the tangles she had from trying to clip her hair up a few times. While I was brushing her hair, I decided to just ask my question.

"So, mom. About the nine people you invited over for breakfast." I trailed off. My mom eyed me through the mirror. I halted in my question, afraid to know the answer.

"No, sweetheart. Amy isn't one of the people I invited. Thatcher is, though. He doesn't know that you're home yet. I wanted to make it a surprise." My mom smiled at me through the mirror.

"So, Amy isn't coming then?" I asked again, to double check I heard her right. My mom laughed and shook her head.

"No, sweety. Amy isn't coming. I would never do that to you, for one; and for two." My mom paused for a moment to look at the low bun I had clipped her hair into. She admired it for a second before turning to face me. "And for two, Thatcher and Amy are no longer together, sweetheart."