The Gypsy Luna's Beginning

Chapter 12 - Welcome Back

Falco

Everyone was eagerly waiting for Roxie and Blue to arrive with the girls. They honestly hadn't been around to visit in a few years. When they did manage to come for a visit it was usually a pretty short stay, but I guess that's what happens when you're in the position that Roxie is, being in line to be the next fairy queen and all, odd as it sounds for a werewolf.

Aiden, Kayden, Zane, Manny and a few of the other guys were playing football in the front yard while they waited, but I decided to take a walk to sort out my frustrations without any of the other guys badgering me.

"They're not badgering you. They're excited. Just like every other wolf is at our age. Why are you so negative?" Karro was no different than any of the other male wolves when it came to the topic of finding our mate. He wanted nothing more than to find the one we'd call our own for the rest of our lives. He's basically tail whipped, and he's not even mated yet. Pathetic.

"I'm not negative. I just don't see what the big deal is, that's all."

"Falco, it's our ma ....."

I quickly cut him short. "Don't even say it! I'm honestly so sick of hearing about this damned summit and finding our mate, Moon Goddess and Fenrir, and blah, blah, fu.cking blah. Every time I hear that word I want to flip out."

Karro growled in irritation with me and went to the back of my mind, leaving me to my own thoughts.

Mate. I never understood why everyone else got so worked up over finding out who they're supposed to spend the rest of their life with. It's not even a choice that we have to make for ourselves. Selene and Fenrir work together to make a connection that they believe would result in the best outcome for all our kind as a whole. They. Decide. For. Us. What's the point of it if you can't even choose whom you're going to be with? Yeah, you can reject them, but then you risk falling in love with someone who doesn't even know you exist because they love their own fated. You can get rejected yourself and never have a chance with anyone else. It's complete bullsh.it if you ask me. Add to it that werewolves are the only ones that also have to fight with another soul inside of us. Bears, foxes, cats, dragons .... all of those lucky SOBs can make their own decision and that's final. There's no one else inside of their head to bicker with.

"I heard that! Thinking like that is bullsh.it and you know it. Rejections happen and you don't always find your mate on your 18th birthday. You need to stop being so pissy just because the world doesn't function how you think it should. You're trying to be too logical about this. Love isn't logical."

"I'm not pissy. Look at what happened to Zane. And don't get me started on Jessabelle. She puts up a great front, but you can see the sadness in her eyes. That is what the Moon Goddess planned for them, what Fenrir planned for them?"

"You're pissy."

"Whatever."

"Nice comeback."

"Falco! Where the hell did you go, man?! Aunt Roxie and Uncle Blue are here. You know Roxie will kick your ass if you're not here to see her!" Aiden's voice rang through my head, stopping the argument I was having with Karro.

"I'll be right up!" I looked around and realized that I had ended up deeper in the woods than I intended, and I decided to let Karro stretch his legs instead of evanescing back home. Making them all wait an extra minute or two won't be the end of the world.

Reading my every thought, Karro quickly took over, stretching his dark blood-red body before deciding to take off, heading towards the driveway to make his run a little longer. As he ran, the wind blew his fur and he inhaled it deeply before letting out a snort. "Falco, did you catch that scent?"

"You noticed it too, huh? Here I thought I was smelling things. Whatever it was, it didn't last long. ..... Hey, is that who I think it is?!" A familiar car got our attention as it started up the driveway, and we decided to make a slight detour before going straight up to the house, completely disregarding whatever scent we thought we smelled.

"It is, but what's he doing here?"

"You're in my mind, dude. You know just as much as I do!"

"You're the most literal human I've ever fu.cking met."

Karro ran up to the car and as soon as Zeke, Zane's older brother, saw us, he stopped, put the car in park, and lowered his window.

"What are you doing here, Zeke? I thought the forever life wasn't for you and you went looking for your mate?" Luckily Zeke still had the connection to the pack so that we could link, because I didn't feel like shifting back just to talk to him. Unless ties were completely severed, we never gave up the ability to mind link with a member.

Zeke gave a half grin as he shrugged his shoulders and talked instead of linking back. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Turns out the outside world isn't for me, either."

"You've aged ..... "

Zeke interrupted me with a quiet chuckle. "Is it really so hard to believe you're actually supposed to age?"

"You didn't let me finish. You've aged, but not much. You don't look as old as I expected you to. What's up with that?" Zeke is about ten years older than the rest of us. Both him and Zane have their father's light brown hair, but Zeke also has his green eyes. He left shortly after he turned 18 in hopes of finding his mate. Looks like it didn't happen. Way to go, deities. Karro snorted in frustration with my way of thinking, but luckily he didn't argue with me.

"I'm pretty sure it's because even though I left, I am technically still a pack member. Well, at least that's what I assumed. You know humans don't even notice? They change their own looks so much between plastic surgery and what not, along with the fact that no one stays at the same job long enough to notice the lack of change, that I could look like this forever and they wouldn't have the slightest clue. I've never been around a group of creatures so unhappy with themselves and each other."

"Falco! Get up here! NOW!" Mom's voice almost pierced my ear drums from inside of my head, making me realize I had completely forgotten where I needed to be.

"Well, Zeke. You decided to come back at the perfect time. Roxie and Blue just showed up with the girls, and we're hosting the summit. All while a group of us are turning 18."

"Sh.it" Zeke sighed and slumped his head before putting his car into gear.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I thought about the entire thing, too. I'll meet you up there."

Zeke gave a tight smile, I couldn't tell what emotions his face was showing at the time, and I quickly got back with my mom before she came to get me.

"Sorry mom, we're on our way!"

Karro ran up the driveway, enjoying the chance to stretch his legs, as short as that moment was. I went to shift back as soon as everyone came into view, but things never went according to plan when those four fairy girls were involved.

I felt the ground shake beneath us before it split open right in front of Karro. No sooner did he leap over the open earth, a ball of fire went flying by in front of his face. It was so close that Karro and I could feel its heat tickling the tip of his nose as it went by and caused us to come to a sliding stop as a strong gust of wind pushed against our left side. As Karro tilted his head away from the wind, we caught a stream of water coming into our sight from the right.

Women. At least these four have really been practicing working in unison, and I honestly couldn't be more proud of them under the circumstances. They left just enough of a gap in their playful attack for Karro to stretch his wings and fly away from the collision of water and air.

No sooner did his paws touch the ground while landing, Karro found himself in the center of the embrace of four almost identical quadruplets. Their mixture of blue and brown eyes stood out against their coffee-colored skin that was just a shade lighter than their mom's and uncle's. The only way to even tell the four of them apart was the fact that their hair color went with the extremest of their elements.

Keahi's hair was azure blue, like the hottest flame. Dhara's was coal black with raven undertones like the deepest dirt. Sharia's was a blue-violet color, like the sky at the highest elevation. Maya's was a dark navy blue like the deepest water, and yes, she was also named out of respect for Waya. Despite being fairy princesses, they were still part wolf and each of them had a wolf that matched their hair color, which that fact alone has caused a commotion in the fairy world, to my understanding.

Karro was relishing every moment of their scratches, hugs, and kisses on his snout. He finally caved in to them to the point that he submitted himself and laid down on his back, moaning in approval.

"You're making me look weak." My voice was irritated and threatening, trying to encourage him to stop his behavior.

"Stop being such a hard ass and enjoy the affection."

Fu.cking wolf. Maybe I needed to be more threatening in order to get it through his head. "Don't make me take control."

"So. You want to play that game, do you?"

Karro immediately went to the back of my mind, causing me to shift back into my human form and the girls to fall on me. As I laid there. On my back. I was going to kill him. I don't yet know how I was going to kill my own wolf without killing myself, but I swear I was going to fu.cking kill him.

"You don't want to play football with us, but you let my cousins tackle you? And you give me sh.it about how I am with women!" Aiden's voice had never made me want to punch him so much as that moment. I closed my eyes and sighed in irritation as the girls got up to give their cousin sh.it in return. I followed suit and immediately stood up once I was able to.

Each one of them stood glaring at him with their bodies full of attitude. Their arms were either crossed over their chest or resting on their hips. I hated to admit it, but it was funny seeing the line of mini Roxie's ready to kick Aiden's ass.

"Aiden, just shut up!"

"Yeah, it's not like that and you know it!"

"Besides, Falco isn't nearly the sl.ut you are!"

"Yeah, it's not like ..... hey, is that Zeke?!"

I turned to look at the car slowly making its way up to the house. "Sh.it, yeah. I ran into him on my way up."

"I wonder what he's doing back?" Zane asked out loud to no one in particular.

I turned and gave Zane a questioning look, but Freya beat me to the question I'm sure we all wondered. "You didn't know your own brother was coming?"

Zane let out a snort and shook his head. "Nope."

Zeke parked his car and got out, rubbing the back of his neck, his demeanor completely different than just a few moments ago. But before he even had a chance to shut the door to his car, a single word shocked us all.

"Mate?"