Chapter 54

DAKOTA’S POV

The week that followed was filled with very intense training from Alan and Akela. They wanted to make sure that me and my wolf were in the strongest form before I take on Odin.

And to add to the training, I got the most surprising call from Alpha Orion and my mother. They both needed me and Akela in Russia. And so, we traveled to Russia.

My mother was waiting for us at the airport this time, alongside Alpha Orion and another strange man that had his hand around my mother’s waist.

I stood on the tarmac and fixed my gaze on where his hand was settled on her waist. Then my gaze shifted to the owner of the hand. He was a giant of a man. He also had the appearance of a medieval Viking. The beard, the broad shoulders, the brooding bloodshot eyes. And to complete the look was the scar that went through his eyebrow, over his left eye, and then down his chin, disappearing into the collar of his shirt.

I couldn’t tell for sure how long I stood there, examining the scene before me, but I was shaken out of my stupor by Akela yanking my hand. I blinked and looked at the other people present and found that they were looking at me with some sort of anxiety.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, baby.” She detached herself from the man’s arms and hugged me. Though the man looked reluctant to let her go.

“How are you faring?”

“I’m doing much better.” And she looked much better too…and happier.

“Are you fully healed?” She nodded.

“I’ve missed you so much, my pumpkin.”

“Me too, Mom.”

We exchanged greetings with Alpha Orion and Katie before getting into the SUV that was parked on the corner. It didn’t escape my notice how this giant man grumbled when my mother insisted on sitting next to me and Akela. I wondered who he was. But one thing I was sure of was he was responsible for the pink tint on my mother’s cheeks and that glow she had about her.

The ride back to Orion’s house was filled with tense conversation. Everyone was tense for several reasons. Or maybe it was just me.

I was tense about the soon-to-happen challenge with Odin. What if I didn’t train enough? That thought immediately died on arrival because even as I was sitting, I could still feel the burn in my muscles from all the training that I had undergone in the past week alone.

I could swear that I was ready to face Odin, but my father came to mind. My father was the strongest and fastest werewolf in the pack; if the damned potion could work on him, what was the guarantee that it would be the same for me? And the worst of it was that I was meant to rely on a mere necklace with some folklore backstory to save me. I took a deep breath and forced all the negative thoughts out of my head.

Thankfully, we arrived at our destination. I stepped out of the car and looked at the strange building. The house was quite simple and had a swimming pool in front of it. I looked at Akela, and it seemed we were having the same thought. We were going to have so much fun in the pool.

My mother stepped out of the car while Alpha Orion and the mystery man helped bring our luggage out of the car.

“Dakota, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” From the tone of his voice, I could tell that that wasn’t up for questioning.

“Yeah, sure.” I watched as he got into his car and drove away, and the mystery man was still standing with us. Next to my mother, his hand had taken back its former position on her waist. I looked at my mother, and she looked away.

“You aren’t going to leave with him? He’s driving away.”

“No.” That was all.

“Are you sure?” He didn’t respond this time. And right then and there, I decided that I didn’t like this guy and the possessiveness he was exhibiting towards my mother.

“Okay, then. Mom, I want to ask you where you found him but that would have to wait. Whose house is this?”

“Oh, it belongs to your father.” I thought I heard a low growl, but I looked at the giant, and he still had the stoic look on him.

“And…he lives here?” I nodded towards the man towering over her. At least she had the decency to look guilty.

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

“Um…Dakota, allow me to introduce you to…”

“Never mind that.” I picked up my box and went into the house. Akela was close behind me with his box. I knew that was rude, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the emotions of my mother with another person. And both of them lived in my father’s house.

I couldn’t disregard her feelings, of course. She deserved to be happy, especially after my father and his baby mama fiasco, but he was still my father, and I guessed there was a part of me that didn’t want to let go of the perfect family that I had grown up in.

I sighed when I got into the house. The interior looked a lot like our old house. I blinked back the tears as memories of the family I once had come flooding back. Without waiting for my mother to show us to our rooms, I walked upstairs and managed to find the room my mother had prepared for us.

She had tried so hard to make it look like my old room back home, and for some reason, I laughed.

“Nice room.” His expression told me that he found the room anything but nice. He stared at the poster of Beyoncé that hung on the wall and the pink that was in certain corners of the room.

“Are you going to be comfortable staying here?”

“Are you kidding? I am comfortable wherever you are, Dakota.”

My heart did a little tumble in my chest. I don’t know who made the first move, but we leaned into each other, and our lips joined in a kiss. Our lips moved together, and I began to feel some weird but comforting energy from the necklace hanging around my neck. I don’t know how long we were at it, but we were interrupted by the clearing of a throat. We quickly separated, and I patted my cheeks, as though trying to force my blush to disappear. We looked behind us and found my mother and mystery man standing at the door. They didn’t look too pleased with what they found, and from the look on Akela’s face, he didn’t appreciate the interruption either.

“Um…how do you like your room?”

“It’s nice. Looks like the one back home.”

“That was what I was going for.”

“It looks great.”

“Adam helped design it.”

“Oh.” I still didn’t know how to act around this man. My mom sighed.

“We need to talk.”

No shit, Mom.