Second Chance For A Warrior

-Chapter Sixteen-

Paris was wonderful. Me and Seth had spent two days longer than originally planned because we enjoyed it so much. Touring the beautiful city and spending some well deserved quality time together, without the constant calls, meetings or interruptions that we got at home...well mostly without them anyway.

Adrienne and her mate Ezekiel went back to Red Fang the day me and Seth originally planned to, saying that they had to handle other things before a honeymoon...like getting married so Ezekiel can remain in the U.S. without an issue.

Two days later, we came back to the states, and as much as I enjoyed our trip, I still found myself a little homesick. And that was quickly dispelled when I walked in the front door of the pack house.

"You're home!! You're home!!" Shouts a little pup with brunette curls, jumping into my arms just as I kneel down to catch her. Little Avery's lilac scent restirring me and Ziva's maternal instincts as she nuzzles her face into my neck, and I stand up to hold her on my hip.

"I missed you too munchkin, were you a good girl while we were gone?"

She nods vigorously, and Seth comes up behind us to say hello.

"Did you miss me too pumpkin?"

Avery nods again, her head moving so fast I worry it might fly off. I love how close Seth and Avery have gotten, it makes it feel like we're a family...and that Seth wants to be her dad.

"Seth, could you hand me that pink bag with a white bow?"

He grabs it immediately, and I give it to Avery to hold.

"You can open it, I got it for you."

Her eyes brighten with excitement as she digs into the bag, and they widen to the size of saucers when she pulls out the stuffed animal that's almost as big as she is. The plush white rabbit with brown patches nearly hiding her face completely, the blue ribbon tied around it blocking her vision.

"It's so fluffy!" She exclaims, squeezing it tightly. A soft sniff from her little nose lets me know that she found out the second part. That it carries my scent. I had actually helped make it in Paris, so my scent isn't just on the outside, but in the stuffing and and the little cotton heart that I chose to put in it...and if she squeezes the paw she'll hear my voice saying good night.

I know she misses me a lot, so I thought that it would help her when I wasn't able to spend as much time with her.

After an hour or so of helping me unpack, Avery has to return to Tiny Paws, leaving me a bit lonely at her absence. But the feeling of Seth's arms wrapping around my waist helps dull it.

"You're quite fond of her, aren't you?" He murmurs, kissing behind my ear. And I nod, wondering if it could be possible for me to make her my pup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week following our return is a complete 180 to our time in Paris. Despite having put so much work into clearing his schedule, Seth had to start pulling night shifts to catch up on the work that piled up while we were gone...which means for the past few nights I've slept in and woken up to a bed empty of my mate.

I've helped as much as I could, but my Luna duties have kept me busy too...as well as training with warriors and helping Adri with the moving process. Her and Ezekiel are moving out of the packhouse and into their own home on the territory, and considering she started her assistant position after she came back, she needs all the help she can get.

But even that didn't take long, and when she moved out and Seth went to a meeting with a pack leader to talk alliance...I found myself even more alone. I couldn't even spend time with Avery because her and the other kids went on a field trip to an amusement park out of state. And after the past two days of nothing but paperwork, I've officially run out of distractions. No amount of runs or fight training seemed to fill the loneliness.