Bonded

Chapter 15

"Ok, take another deep breath in and move into downward facing dog," Kaya's carefully crafted extra soothing voice crooned out. I listened to the groans of the giant boys behind me and suppressed a giggle. Kaya had recently gotten into yoga and thought it would be a good opportunity for us to learn how to meditate. "Straighten your legs, Sethy. Press your heels to the ground, Jacob." The birds chirped all around us and the wind danced its way through all of us as we came to the end of our yoga session in her backyard. "And when you're ready, walk your hands back to your feet and slowly bring yourself upright."

Paul groaned as he struggled, "This is bullshit."

"Not bullshit, Paul, yoga," Kaya corrected, pulling his hips so he could align himself better. I stood up and adjusted my sports bra before looking to the other wolves who were struggling to walk their hands back to their feet. "Namaste! Y'all are done for the day!" she beamed before rolling up her own yoga mat.

Jacob grunted as he tried to get himself out of downward dog. The rest of the wolves were chattering about beach day, the most carefree than I had seen them in years. I missed seeing these guys act their own age. It was easy to forget that some of them were still young because we all held such a strong responsibility on our shoulders. Amusement riddled my face as I walked over to Jacob and sat in front of his downward facing face, cross-legged. "Need some help?" I asked, smirking. Jacob's head snapped to look at me and glared.

"No," he grunted. "Paul's right. Yoga is bullshit." After trying one more time to walk his hands, Jacob's knees buckled, and he landed with a thud on the mat. He groaned loudly. The sweat on his forehead glistened.

I smiled cheekily and bounced my shoulders, "I thought it was fun."

When I say the next couple of weeks were so nice and drama-free, it honestly was as if nothing ever happened. Never in my life did I enjoy the sun on my skin, the song of a bird, and the laughter of my pack brothers more than I had in those two weeks. I mean, for the first time in a while, I felt like I was starting to know what it was like to live like someone my own age. I would go visit Jacob at the garage, go shopping with Bianca, and running patrols on a normal schedule. All of the hype from the wedding had died down and I couldn't thank Taha Aki enough for it going as smoothly as it did.

Kaya was still on earth which was our biggest cause for concern. At the surface, she didn't seem too phased by it; she had just been enjoying her days as much as she could. She was good at pretending in front of the others that she was ok with still being on earth, but I could tell, when she thought no one was looking, that it was wearing on her. She didn't understand why they wouldn't let her come home yet. She felt like, on some level, that she was being punished for something. I knew that wasn't true though; she was the sweetest, most selfless soul I'd ever met. I was just wondering why they weren't telling her why she couldn't go back yet.

My mother had decided to finally move in with Charlie Swan to help him with his empty nester's syndrome. She had been spending so much time there, it was only a matter of time before she moved full time. I had to deal with my own heartbreak, knowing that both of my parents were no longer living in the house I grew up in. As I was helping her pack up, she talked me down.

"Aila, the house was eventually going to be yours anyway. Did you expect it to be the three of us forever?" my mother smoothed down my hair as I choked on my tears. She pulled me into a hug, rubbing my back as I quietly cried.

"This house...will never..." I tried to take deep breaths between my words, "be the same...without you and Daddy."

Mama held me out at arm's length and smiled. "Good."

"How in the world is that good, Mama?" I asked, shrugging her hands off of me.

"Baby girl, you have never been good with change, but it is something that you need to come to accept," she said, reaching down to grab my hand. "After your father died, it still wasn't the same house. And now, it's time for you to make it your home, if you choose to. For you and Jacob and my future grandbaby...or grandbabies."