Chapter 49
Chapter 49
“I, umm, I just ran into my brother.” I point to the door, as if Hayden is expected to come walking through it any second now. Both Kayla and Gina give me broad smiles, since they know how much I’ve missed my family, especially in the last couple of years.
“That’s fantastic.” Kayla bubbles, but her smile soon disappears when I give a half-hearted nod in return. “It’s not?” A frown forms on her face.
“It is, but….” My phone starts ringing with an unknown number requesting for a video call. “Um, I’ll be right back, okay.” They nod as I rush to my room and answer the call. It takes a few seconds to connect but when it does my parent’s faces show up on the screen and I forget how to breathe.
“Hydra! Oh, darling.” My mother’s voice comes through the speakers, and I can’t miss the tears that form in her eyes.
“Oh, pebble.” My dad’s voice is gruff with emotion, and I have to force my lungs to work as I stare at their faces. Years of distance hasn’t changed them much and for that I’m glad.
“Hi.” I finally manage to breathe out and that does it for my mother as the tears spill over her cheeks. “Oh, mom.” I want to tell her not to cry, but the words get stuck in my throat as I watch my dad wrap her up in his arms and her shoulders start to shake. I move the phone away from my face to wipe my own tears, my chest tight with all the motions flowing through me. When I finally manage to look at the screen again my mother is wiping her own face and then we just stare at each other.
“You’ve grown so much.” My mother finally breaks the silence, reaching her hand out like she wants to touch my face before she drops it, the action breaks something inside of me. “How have you been?” It takes me a few seconds but when I start talking everything just comes out. How I couldn’t stay in a place I wouldn’t be accepted for who I was. I tell them about the camp. About Torren and Cally and how I Falkor came to visit. I walk them through what happened at the camp, my morph, my dragon.
“You have a dragon?” I nod at my dad’s question, feeling a strange sense of warmth at the pride in his eyes. “I knew you would have one someday.” He looks at my mother like it’s a discussion they’ve been having with a look of I-told-you-so clear in his eyes. We have a laugh, and I tell them about joining the clan, how accepted I felt because of who I was and not simply what I could bring to the clan. I cry when I tell them about Roanan and how I still sometimes feel like I can’t do justice to the title he held.
“Oh, darling. I’m sure you’re a great Beta.” My mother coos and I nod.
“I hate the politics though. I’d much rather be Vice Leader, but Gina is great at her role.” Besides the fact that I’d lost a of rock paper scissors to her in the first official week of being Beta. I still think she somehow cheated but I can’t deny that her rock trumped my scissors and here we are, both completely solid in our roles.
“Well, if you’ve made it to the games as an unranked clan, you must be doing something right. Have you found someone to settle down with yet?” I bite my lip and my father raises his eyebrow, so I fill him in on the bond between Rancor and I still being active. “I hope you’re not considering taking him back. I will disown you if you do, I’m serious young lady.” I laugh and shake my head.
“No, as soon as the games are done, I’m accepting his denial and moving on.” I think of Falkor, hope that with this new revelation we might end up being second Kin after all.
“What’s this soft look in your eyes?” I worry my lip a little more, wondering if I should tell my parents about this, but shake my head.
“It’s new and I don’t want to say anything until, I’m sure. Listen, I have to go, but I’ll call you guys again. As soon as I can, I promise.” We say goodbye with smiles and when I end the call I feel like something inside of me has been healed. Knowing my parents aren’t mad at me, that they’re proud of me. I know there are so many conversations we still need to have but having had this one, the rest will come easy, I’m sure of it. A knock on my door comes a few minutes later and I call for the person to come in.
“Are you okay?” Falkor asks as he steps into the room, closing the door behind him. I walk over to him, sinking into the hug he wraps me in. I listen to his steady heartbeat for a few seconds before looking up at him.
“I’m fine, my parents just called. It was nice talking to them after so long.” He gives me a soft smile.
“I’m glad. Listen, I don’t want to rush you, but everyone is outside worried about you, and I do mean everyone.” I let my head drop against his chest with a groan, shivering when he gently rubs the back of my neck. I can’t help but think about carrying his Kinship mark there one day, my body burns with that desire.
“I’m not going back to him; you know that right?” Falkor’s arms tighten around me, and I hear his heart race a bit.
“I didn’t think you would, but I can’t deny that it’s nice hearing you say it.” We stay like that for a few minutes before leaving the room and finding everyone crammed into the communal space. I don’t waste any time explaining to them what’s going on, in the shortest possible version of events and when I’m done, I can see almost everyone looks pissed off.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say we stand by you, Beta Hydra. We’ll do our very best and we’ll kick all their asses so you can do what you have to do. Whatever you do, however you chose to handle this, know that this clan stands behind you.” Sam says and a chorus of agreements fill the room.
“Well, let the games begin then.” Gina gives an unsettling smile, something that warns she’s not to be messed with and I thank the heavens I have her on my side.