Missing You

Chapter Sixteen: A Visit to Salem

A few days later, Blaine walked him back to his room on his walker. “I am going to be leaving for a few days,” he said.

Draven looked at him, “Oh, yeah? You comin’ back?”

“Why? Will you miss me, bro?” he asked with a smile.

Draven made a face, “I don’t know. I’ve gotten use to seeing your ugly mug when I wake up.”

“Ah, thanks, bro. You really do love me.”

He laughed.

“Yes, I’ll be back. It’s our annual family vacay.”

“Where y’all headed?”

He stopped and made sure to have eye contact with him, “Salem.”

He nodded, “Well, I do have a sister that lives there.”

He nodded, “I know. Nina told me.”

Draven swallowed, “Does my family know I’m alive?”

He shook his head, “They were also notified you were MIA.”

He hung his head, “Fuck.”

Blaine placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “I know. Even more reason to get back home.”

“Do you think they would let me go home for a few days to see them?”

Draven shook his head, “Not until you can walk on your own and without any type of assistance. Let’s not forget that you still have to debrief.”

They walked the rest of the way back to his room where Blaine helped him to sit down on his bed. “I want Nina to know I’m okay and that I’m coming back to her,” he said as he adjusted himself on the bed.

“I know.”

“Can you tell her? When you see her?” he asked hopefully.

Blaine stepped back, “I can’t. You know I can’t. They would court martial me for releasing classified information on you. Your case is still not closed until you give your statement in open testimony in military court and in uniform. You have to be of sound mind and body to do that. You know that.”

He nodded and laid back down.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. I will be gone for a week. I’ll check in on your family and Nina.”

Draven nodded and just looked up at the ceiling. He wished his body would just stop betraying him and get better so he could continue with his life. He missed Nina something fierce, but he knew that Blaine was right. He had to be of sound mind and body and walking with a walker was not ideal in that situation.

The next day, Blaine left Draven with his physical therapist and got on a plane for Salem, Massachusetts. When he landed some hours later, he headed to the Bed and Breakfast that Nina had reserved for them. When he arrived, he smiled to see that Liam and Evan had arrived in taxi’s ahead of him. After paying his own fare, and leaving a tip, he grabbed his bag and got out of the taxi.

When Liam and Evan saw him get out, they smiled and greeted each other with the bro hug. When Blaine pulled away, “Are the others here yet?”

“Not yet. I heard from Scout and from Healer that they were on their way. They’re sharing a cab,” said Liam.

“And I heard from Beta, Delta, and Zeta, that they were sharing a cab when their flight gets in, in about thirty minutes,” said Evan.

“You hear from any of them?” Liam asked.

Blaine nodded, “Warrior will be arriving in about an hour and Omega is not coming.”

Liam crossed his arms, “Not surprising.”

Evan nodded, “After the s**t he pulled on Alpha back in Hawaii. Yeah, not surprised.”

“Has Alpha called on him?” asked Liam as they picked up their bags and started in as it was getting chilly there in Massachusetts.

Blaine looked at them, “No, she hasn’t. Everything with Draven is still really raw to her.”

“How is she doing?”

He shrugged, “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

They looked over to see Nina coming out of the B&B. She was dressed in a pair of black leggings with knee high boots that laces up, and a gray sweater that covered her like a mini dress. Her long wine-colored hair was down in soft waves, but she looked better than she had in months.

They all smiled and went to hug and greet her. When they pulled away, she handed them each a key, “Your room numbers are on the key. I think the B&B owners are quite happy that we bought them out for the week.”

“And I have a feeling that several of y’all are going to wind up bunking together anyway, but in case you need space or privacy, everyone has their own rooms.”

Blaine looked at her, “Is Jedi joining us?”

“He will at the end of the week. He is working on closing a contract with Jackknife International,” with Nina noticing immediately that they all tensed up. She looked at them, “What’s up?”

Blaine looked at her, “He just lost his son. Someone murdered him while he was backpacking in Italy.”

She closed her eyes, “Shit.”

Evan touched her arm, “I’m sure he’ll get it closed. Caleb Franks Senior is a good businessman. And from what we hear, he has been running a great company. From what all of the preliminary reports say and from what some of our analyst are saying, that Jackknife is a great option for a partnership Wolf Pack, Inc.”

Nina nodded, “If it falls through, I will not take personal offense to it. The man lost his son.”

Blaine nodded.

She looked at him and studied the other two, then she said thoughtfully, “You know who did it.”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

She crossed her arms, “But you know who did it,” she reiterated.

He looked down at his feet because he knew if he looked at her, she would know for sure. Instead, he waited a few minutes and then looked at Nina, “Come on. It’s getting cold. Let’s go see these rooms of ours,” evading her question and knowing look for the meantime. Nina took them into the B&B and showed them each their rooms which were numbered in chronological order and Nina assigned according to birth order.

An hour later, the rest of the brothers had shown up, sans Hunter since he was on notice. After Nina showed them each to their rooms and handed them their key and itinerary, she gave them thirty minutes to recover and then meet down in their small dining room. Nina was the first one down there and sat in the corner with a file and a cup of black coffee. As she sat quietly reading, she felt like someone was watching her. Not moving, she used her surroundings to see if she could see if anyone was watching her. Finding none, she then cautiously looked around to see if she could see anyone watching her. Again, finding none, she got back to reading.

Slowly, all her brothers joined her, and they moved from speaking to sign language. They had developed that skill since their mother died, as she was deaf. She had lost her hearing when she was a baby due to an infection she had contracted. Nina took the opportunity to talk about what they would be doing for the next seven days and that they were to stay off their phones and could only talk to their flavors of the week at night before bed. Jaegar tried to be funny and signed, “And what about you, Alpha? No flavor of the week?”

She had started dating again, and had not mentioned it to her brothers yet, but none of them made her feel the way Draven had. None of them lasted passed one date. She shook her head, and signed, “No.”

Blaine immediately jumped in and signed, “Hey, you never know. Anything could happen at the Witch’s Museum tomorrow!”

Nina smirked and got back to the itinerary she had designed for their trip to maximize their time together and to see the sights. She had managed to get her classes covered for the week by a few T.A.s and would check in at the end of the week. At least they would be there during Halloween to see just how much the Salemites got into dressing up. She had even made the brothers decide on a costume and none of them could wear the military uniforms or fatigues.

The first stop that evening was to visit the Elizabeth Montgomery statue where they each took a picture with her in poses that made Nina and everyone else laugh. When it was her turn, Nina sat on the end of the broomstick since she could fit, and they took a photo of her. After Deacon took the picture, he looked at the background and lost his smile and showed Draven. Blaine gritted his teeth.

“Everything okay over there? Did it come out okay?” she asked.

Deacon deleted the photo and smiled, “One more, sissy. You came out blurry.”

Blaine then quickly moved, “I’ll be right back. I want to go check out that store. I’ll meet y’all at Gulu-Gulu.” They all looked as he put his hands in his pockets and sped walked over to the small alley that was behind Nina and disappeared into the shadows between the stores. Once he was completely covered in the darkness, he stopped and looked around him. Then, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Limping with a cane dressed in black was Draven. Blaine looked at him in disapproval, and harshly whispered, “What the f**k are you doing here? You’re supposed to be back in Germany getting back in shape! We’ve discussed this, man!”

Draven held onto his cane with a death grip, “I needed to see her.”

“Do you understand what will happen if they find out you went off post? Or if she finds out or finds you right now?”

“I know. It was stupid. I have been away from her for eight months. I just wanted to see her. I didn’t think you would see me, and I would be back in Germany tomorrow.”

Draven shook his head and said quietly, “Well obviously not. You are not as fast as you were. And besides, you were caught in a photo behind her. Don’t worry, Scout deleted it. She will never know.”

He nodded quietly.

“Now, get your f*****g ass back to Germany. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Am I clear?”

Draven nodded again.

“I’ll see you in a week. If I see you again before then,” shaking his head in anger, “Just don’t push it or me. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Blaine turned back around, pulled his beanie down low on his head as it was getting colder. Turning back around, Draven was no where to be seen. With a jog, Blaine went to join his siblings at Gulu-Gulu for a small dinner and coffee. When he walked in, they were all sitting in the back with several tables put together. They were laughing at something that Evan was signing. Smiling, he went in and sat down to his empty chair across from Nina to a hot cup of coffee.

Before sitting down, he put his jacket on the chair behind him and sat down. Looking at Nina, she was laughing and made eye contact with him. She stopped laughing, “Hey. You okay, Wolf?”

He nodded, “I’m good.”

“Did you find anything at the store you checked out?”

He nodded, “I did.”

“Did you buy anything?”

He shook his head, “No. It was a little outrageous.”

Smirking, she nodded, “I get that.”

Even though they had more money than what they knew what to do with, they remained humble and grounded. They continued the conversation with their brothers and had a light dinner. On their walk back, Evan heard karaoke. He stopped, “I know it’s not on the itinerary, but come on guys! Group singing opportunity!”

The brothers all agreed. Evan smiled his blue green eyes at Nina, “What say you, Alpha?”

“Alright.”

They all cheered and went in and put tables together and then started picking their songs. The first up was, Zeke and he sang Warrant “Cherry Pie”. Next was Liam, and he sang, Green Day “Minority.” Followed by Christopher and Evan that sang the Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be”. Then Jaeger sang, Bowling for Soup “1985”. Jackson and Gabriel sang The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. Deacon sang “Mickey” by Toni Basil, which had them all laughing. Then Blaine went with The Black Crowes “She Talks to Angels”. Last to go was Nina. She struggled all night with what song to pick. When she got to the microphone, she realized the room was full.

Smiling, she grabbed the microphone and said, “This is for my brothers that have worried about me.” The music started of Michele Branch “Breathe”. As she sang, her brothers started clapping and hollering at her with smiles. She sang, “If I just breathe! Let it fill the space between, I’ll know, everything is alright. Breathe! Every little piece of me, you’ll see, everything is alright! If I just breathe . . .” When she finished, she took a bow, and the next round went.

Zeke, Liam and Jaegar sang, The Penguins “Earth Angel”. Then Liam, Christopher and Evan sang, “Jump In the Line” by Harry Belafonte. Jackson went next and sang Dion “The Wanderer”. Gabriel and Deacon then sang Paul Anka “Put Your Head On My Shoulder”, which had everyone laughing as they were putting on a skit. Blaine went and sang Tim McGraw “The Cowboy In Me”. Last to go again was Nina. She got up on the stage and the music began of “I Put A Spell On You” to the Annie Lenox tune and the first line of lyrics had people catcalling and shouting her on. The people of Salem really respected the song due to it being sung by Bette Midler in “Hocus Pocus”.

At one point, Nina closed her eyes, and her voice was one of power and seduction. Nina got into the song and really sang it. Her brothers were shocked that she sounded that good and that confident. At one point, she got hot and took off her sweater to catcalls and hollers. Under her sweater with her leggings and knee-high boots, she wore a black tank top and with her long wine-colored hair down, she looked like a nymph. They were just waiting for her wings to sprout.

On the next to the last chorus, her brothers could see many men egging her on as she sang with her eyes closed. Blaine saw a moment from the corner of his eye and moved quickly to stop Draven from exposing himself there at the karaoke bar to Nina. He was not ready, and neither was she. He pushed Draven back into the hallway that led to the restrooms and the exit door. As he braced his forearm against Draven’s chest as he was trapped against the wall, “What the f**k are you doing here, Shadow! I gave you orders to return back to Germany. You are risking everything by being here right now! What if someone sees you that shouldn’t! Huh?”

His painfilled green eyes pleaded with Blaine, “I needed to see her one more time before I left. All I saw was the back of her head earlier. I love her, man. I miss her.”

“I know you do.”

“I needed to see her. I needed to make sure she was okay.”

“Now you know. Now get your stubborn f*****g ass out of here! Do not make me say it again,” and moved away from him and angrily returned to their table. Draven peered around the corner just to watch Nina finish her song as he stood in the shadows. He was not happy that men were cheering her on, but Blaine was right. He could not risk being seen. As she finished with a strong finish and loud applause, he stood for a moment as she smiled and waved and took her final bow.

As Nina smiled out to the crowd, her eyesight went to the back of the room where she thought she saw Draven with a cane. Losing her smile, she turned back to the crowd one last time and then returned her gaze to where she thought he was to find empty space. Grabbing her sweater, she pulled it back on and went to join her brothers. As she got off the stage, her eyes again thought she saw Draven and she started pushing her way through the crowd. When she got to the hallway, she saw the exit door close and ran towards it. Then pushing the door open, she was facing the alleyway and looked left and right to see nothing but the breeze pushing a bag and leaves in the air.

What she didn’t see was Draven hiding in the shadows so that she couldn’t see him. Her cheeks were pink from being hot but god help him, she was still gorgeously breathtaking. Then she started moving in his direction, he slowed his breathing and didn’t move. Just as she was standing in front of him, the alleyway door open and she heard, “Hey, you okay, sissy?”

Turning she was looking at Christopher, Jaeger and Blaine with the others following behind them. She looked back into the shadows to see nothing, “I,” looking and then looking at them, “I just thought I saw someone.”

“There’s no one out here but us and you,” said Zeke.

She nodded, “I just swear I thought I saw someone I knew.”

Blaine stepped forward, “Come on, sissy. Let’s get back to the B&B. I think it’s been a long day for all of us.”

She nodded and breathed out to see her breathe in the air. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

They let her go first and then Deacon turned to Blaine when it was just them two, “You’re gonna have to explain this s**t to her.”

He nodded, “I know. I just can’t right now. You know that this s**t is classified.”

Deacon nodded, his green eyes sparkling, “I know. And I know that’s the hardest part of all of this.”

Blaine nodded, “Yeah,” and ushered him back inside, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Together, they went back inside and smiled as Nina was asked by several men for her name and her number. Evan and Zeke put their arms around her, “Sorry, bros. She’s with all of us.” Their smiles faded when they realized she had nine brothers escorting her. They stayed with their arms around her, as she put her arms on their waists and they tried to make her laugh and keep her distracted. At one point, they had her arms over the top of their shoulders, and they were carrying her while they ran, and she was laughing and screaming for them to not drop her. Meanwhile, Both Blaine and Deacon with Gabriel kept an eye out to make sure that Draven didn’t pop up again.

Instead, Draven made it to the airport with a renewed sense of reason. He knew she deserved better than the state he was in at almost thirty pounds lighter and with his muscle mass gone. The next time he faced her, it would be for good, and he would be stronger than when he left Hawaii. He boarded the plane under an assumed name and slept on the way back to Germany. Once he got back inside the facility after some slow-moving shadow jumping, he got to his room. As he entered his room, Gita turned on the light, “Well, Captain America has returned.”

He looked at her, “Hi, Gita.”

“I saw you sneaking in.”

“Please don’t say anything.”

She stood up, “I won’t. If you do one thing for me.”

He felt every step he made as he moved closer to her, “Anything.”

“Help me to woo Carlota from osteo.”

He smiled, “Absolutely. But I also need your help on something.”

She nodded.

“Help me get back to my old body. I need to get back to the states to my girl. But I can’t go to her like this. I need to be who I was, where I was. I can’t have her see me weak and panting just by walking thirty feet.”

“I see,” she said crossing her arms.

“I will do whatever you ask me to do. I promise I will not yell or b***h or moan or groan.”

She stepped closer to him, “If I do this for you, you will listen to everything I tell you to do without fail or without question.”

He nodded, “You have my word.”

“Good. We start at six in the morning.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“Okay,” and walked past him.

He watched her leave, “Gita,” she turned to look at him, “Thank you.”

“Gute nacht.”

He limped to his shower and took a long one. When he got in bed, he closed his eyes and was excited for what tomorrow would bring. It was nice to have that when for so long, he didn’t. Seeing Nina, even from afar for a few precious moments was all he needed.

Back in Salem, the next morning, Nina woke early to shower and dress before her brothers since there were two whole shareable bathrooms in the B&B. She then dressed in jeans, her knee-high boots with her jeans tucked in, and a black sweater with a cowl neck and her hair in a braid over her shoulder. As she opened the door, she came face to face with Blaine. They both smiled. “Good morning, Sissy.”

She said, “Good morning, Wolf.”

“What is on the itinerary for today?”

“The Witch Museum, and the harbor.”

“Awesome.”

“I’m going to go downstairs for some coffee. As the rest of the knuckleheads start to wake up, after showers, send them down there.”

He saluted her, “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”

She smiled and moved past him, “Smart ass.”

He smiled and was just able to walk into the bathroom when Evan snuck in ahead of him and closed the door. He tried the knob, but it was locked. Blaine knocked on the door, “Hey, the schedule said it was my turn!”

Evan said through the door, “So sorry. You missed your deadline, bro.”

Blaine smiled, “Little bro, you better watch your back today.”

Evan sang, “Promises, promises.”

An hour later, they were all dressed and downstairs for breakfast in the B&B dining room. They meal of the day was eggs, bacon, ham, toast, fruit, juice, milk, and coffee. After breakfast, they all grabbed their coats and went walking towards the Witches Museum. Nina watched as several of her brothers had side conversations. She smiled, feeling glad they were altogether, even though Hunter opted not to join them. Then again, she had not called upon him since he had been put on notice.

She remembered back to the time she had put him on notice. It was the year before she had taken their father’s ashes to Hawaii. He had thought that a business venture that Wolf Pack, Incorporated was going to be signing on with was not good business. They were going to start getting involved with the stock market and he felt that that was not a good return on their investments nor their Board as a whole. When the vote did not go in his favor as everyone voice their own opinions, he had tried to do a hostile take over with Nina stating that he was the next oldest and he should be Alpha. When the Pack had seen him trying to intimidate Nina during a break by backing her into the wall with his hands on her arms, Zeke, Gabriel, Christopher, Jaeger and Wesley had jumped him and put his assholery to an end. He had a black eye, a broke nose, and a busted lip for his attempt at intimidating Nina. It didn’t work.

Being put on notice meant that he would not have a vote on any of the upcoming contracts or other business dealings and negotiations until it had been proven that he was repenting for his actions. He would only be called by either Blaine or Nina, the Alphas, to have a private discussion with him to see where he was at and then they would make the final judgement call. The rest of the Pack also weighed in a decided if he could continue to be a voting member or if he was suspended from the vote until they were sure he was repenting.

Regardless of his status, their annual family vacations meant that everyone was to attend regardless of what the circumstances were, but Hunter being the Omega just decided to continue acting self-righteous and full of attitude and not show up because of his wounded pride. Besides, they usually had fun without him with lasting memories and talked s**t about him even though he was not there. Her brothers usually shared a story that they had heard from their fellow Ranger’s of the shenanigans that he had pulled either on mission or on leave. None of them were ever flattering.

As they neared the Witch Museum, Nina recognized a woman standing outside with three girls and a man dressed in jeans and a blue jacket. Smiling, she neared, “Marg! Glad you could make it.”

Marjorie smiled as Nina approached and they immediately hugged each other. Once they pulled away, Marjorie said, “Nina, this is my husband, Carl,” shaking his hand as he smiled and said, “Pleasure.” Then she turned to her three beauties, “And these are my girls, Becky, Betina and Bebe.” They each smiled at her and held their hands out to shaken Nina’s hand. “Carl, girls, this is Uncle Draven’s fiancé,” she said with a smile. Then she lost her smile, “And who are these gentlemen?”

Nina turned slightly to see her brothers surrounding them, and then said, “These are my brothers. Blaine,” he held up his hand, “Dean, Gabriel, Jackson, Evan, Christopher, Liam, Zeke and Jaeger,” each of them waving after their introduction, “Guys, this is one of Draven’s sisters, Marjorie, her husband Carl, and their girls”.

Marjorie smiled, “Man, I thought you were kidding when you said you had these many brothers.”

Nina smiled, “I really do. Hunter and Elliott aren’t here today. Hunter probably won’t be joining us, but Elliott should be here later this week.”

She smiled, “I am so glad you are here. Come on, the museum awaits!”

They each went to the ticket office and Marjorie argued with Nina as she bought everyone’s tickets. As they toured the museum, her girls became more and more attached to her brothers and enjoyed the attention they were getting from them. By the end of the day, each little girl had three brothers attached to them each. As they were parting from the harbor after seeing some historical sites, the girls didn’t want to let them go and wanted to do a sleep over. Nina hugged them and said that perhaps the next time they could do a sleep over but that they hadn’t brought clothes with them. Marjorie hugged Nina and whispered, "Don't give up on him. He is stronger because of you."

Nina nodded and wiped at her tears when they pulled away from each other. Everyone waved goodbye to Majorie and her family as they loaded up in their family SUV and departed.

After departing ways, they headed to dinner and went to a nearby steakhouse.