The Alpha's Only Choice

5. The tragedy of a Wood's mate

Once Kiara made peace with the fact that it didn't matter what she did with her time at Bluewood, she actually enjoyed the afternoon with Hazel and her strange family.

They all decided to join Dan and Matt in the backyard as they manned the grill. The women decided it was the perfect afternoon for a picnic. Kiara had to agree. From where they set their picnic mat at, they could see the forest, small hills and springs. This place was unreal.

And to watch this beauty alone felt a bit unfair to Kiara. So, with Anna deciding to join her husband at the grill, the kids chasing dragonflies around, and Misha busy bickering with Hazel, she had enough time to pull her phone out and click a quick picture. Making sure the picture only captured the distant forest and spring and no humans, she mailed it to Wolf. They did it sometimes, sending each other pictures of things they liked. Never people. Never things that will give away their location. That was the unsaid rule.

It was fun to watch things from other people's perspective. Wolf liked really weird things, like the roll of a bicycle tyre, a little spring falling on a flat stone making strange soda-like bubbles, and the moon. The moon in it's various stages of advent and descent was one of the recurring pictures she got. 'In your head, you are an actual wolf howling at the moon, aren't you?' she had asked after a couple of those pictures.

"What are you doing?" Kiara jumped at how close Hazel had gotten to her.

"Nothing"

Hazel raised her brow "The second time today? Nothing"

Kiara chanced a glance at Misha looking at her curiously and sighed. It's been over a year, sharing it with her best friend and sister wouldn't be that big of a deal right? Not that she was going to tell them everything. Just that she has been talking to someone for a couple of days, maybe weeks. She totally planned to make it sound casual, like it didn't matter. It didn't. Right?

"It's just someone I met online" she spoke softly so only Hazel and Misha could hear. See, casual. No big deal.

There was the sound of tong hitting the grill, then of Hazel's gasp followed by Misha's loud declaration "You finally got a boyfriend?"

Before Kiara could reply, Dan was storming away from the grill, making a haste into the house. Anna began to follow when she was stopped by Matt who until a few moments ago was chopping woods. He mumbled something to her before following his father into the house.

"Is Mr. Wood okay?" Misha asked Anna.

"Oh, he just burned his finger. Matt will take care of it" she forced a smile and turned back to the grill like nothing happened even though her stiff shoulder told a different story. The kids too stopped playing and were looking curiously at the house. Hazel was sitting there with a permanent frown on her face, like she was concentrating on some disturbing thought.

Taking the opportunity, Misha scooted closer to her and whispered "So, who's the guy?"

"It's nothing serious" Kiara whispered back because that seemed to be the right thing to do in this situation "Don't you have friends who you talk to online?"

"Yes, but you are not me" Misha argued.

"I promise to tell you everything if you shut up for now" Kiara offered.

Misha agreed way too quickly for Kiara's liking. This could only mean that Misha would be getting ready with a questionnaire for her.

"Matt's stupid" Rose declared out of nowhere. Kiara could only distinguish the twins by their personalities.

"No, he's not" Lily frowned.

"Yes, he is. Daddy said so" Rose said, pointing her nose to the air, hands on her hips.