"Dad," Amelia Squeals, jumping off the swings and running toward Damien as he steps outside. My mate looks up and over to us as we walk down the back verandah stairs. She runs to her father in a blur of long black locks rushing toward him. She crushes him in a hug and he kisses her hair. "My princess," he tells her, squeezing her and walking her back towards the swings where Dominic and Thatcher are.
"Dad!" Both boys did not bother to get off the monkey bars despite their father being gone for two days.
"What, no big hug?" He says taunting them. Reika watches him moving from foot to foot. I wanted to touch her, hug her and make sure she is okay. She looks up as I approach her watching me before shocking me when she steps toward me. She looks up at me but doesn't move closer. Brax pressing against my skin wanting to touch her, needing to feel her warmth and I suddenly yank her towards me. Crushing her against my chest. I thought she would have pulled away or even attacked me but instead, she wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me back and sniffing my neck. Tingles flood my body at her touch, and I hear her take a breath before relaxing melting against me.
Damien clears his throat beside me, and I completely forgot I was meant to be introducing them.
"Reika, this is Damien, he is."
"My brother," she says, answering.
"Hi," she says when Damien holds his hand out to her. She places hers in his when he suddenly pulls her to him, hugging her. She was stiff for a second before hugging him back with one arm awkwardly.
"Always wanted a sister, don't suppose we have any brothers out there," he says, and he lets her go. She looks up at him before shaking her head. "No, but Amanda was like me," she says, and Damien looks at me.
"She doesn't realize she is Amanda," I mindlink him, he nods.
"Well, that's something I guess," he says, pulling her toward the swings and back to the kids. I watched him and Lily with her for a few seconds and she seemed comfortable enough, so I walked back inside needing to shower. I walk past my office before stopping and checking the door. I groaned when I realized it was unlocked. I told Tyson to make sure he locked it.
Walking inside, I grab the box sitting on the center of my desk and place it in the filing cabinet and lock it with the key. Walking out I flick the light off, before locking the door and heading upstairs to shower.
I felt uneasy, how do you tell somebody their child is dead when they don't even understand the child is theirs. The thought alone made me feel sick. Turning the shower on I hopped in, hoping to wash the stress away when all I wanted to do was hold her close and take it all away, all the pain and hurt, everything. She didn't deserve any of it, the tapes running through my head on repeat. Her screams, her begging, and her wolf's rage. No wonder she dissociated herself from it all. You can only take so much before you break and break her they did, now I just had to fix her.
Reika
I played with the kids for a while and spoke with Damian. He seemed nice, but it was awkward talking to someone I didn't know even though we were related. Looking around, I noticed Ryker was gone, that he couldn't even bear to be around me for a few minutes, even when he was gone all that time.
Sitting under the tree next to play equipment I watched the kids play, watching my brother and his mate. They seemed happy, always touching, always smiling at each other, making me wonder if we could ever be happy like that. I feel for my wolf suddenly feeling lonely, but like usual, I get no reply.
Some part of me seeks out interaction. I never realized how lonely it was without my wolf. She was literally all I had, and she was gone, now I had nobody.
Damian looks around for a second before spotting me, he walks over sitting next to me on the grass while Lily tries to get the two boys off the monkey bars.
"Where did Ryker go?" He asks, looking for him.
"Not sure I think he is inside; I can feel he is close," I tell him.
"That must be strange for you, not having your wolf to guide you and in your head," he says, and I nod.
"It's lonely," I admit to him.
"You have Ryker," he says, and I look at him.
"I don't think he wants me for a mate," I tell him looking past him and at the house.
"He does, he just doesn't know how to show it. Do you want him?" He asks, making me think.
I looked at Lily, she seemed happy to have a mate. But we aren't like them, Ryker hated me, probably still does.
"My wolf said mates are bad," I told him.
"I never asked what your wolf wanted but what you want. So, do you want Ryker for a mate?" he asks. I don't answer. I don't know how to be his mate.
"You should spend time with him, he isn't as bad as you think"
"Did you find anything, Tyson said you found where I lived?" I ask, wondering if they found Amanda's daughter. I wish I could remember her name. It would make it easier for them to find her, yet every time I try to remember all I get is darkness.
"You should ask Ryker."
"But you were there, you went with him?" I ask and he nods.
"You never should have been raised like that? Go see your mate Reika, he missed you just as much as you missed him" He says before hopping up.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"That's why you feel lonely, Reika, not because your wolf is gone, but because your mate isn't near you. I am the same with Lily when she isn't around. I get the same urge to want to be with her, like gravity trying to pull us back together"
"He is probably busy," I tell him.
"Only one way to find out," he says walking over to his mate.