ROGUE FAMILY

As I drive through the pack lands, I can't help the fluttering that starts in the pit of my stomach. Excitement like a child at a theme park forms deep within.

The smell of thick pine and clean air captures me with an unforgettable familiarity I never tired of.

I take note of how the pack has developed since I left: there were more houses as well as the scent of more witches.

The thought of Aunt Katty makes my heart swell even more. She was by far the most amazing Aunt to have grown up with.

She's the one who got me Caspar and linked his life to mine. She knew before anyone else I was missing an inner wolf, and so she gave me the next best thing- a jaguar who's thoughts were only accessible to me and mine to him, with strength and durability to match my own. He was everything to me and I missed him more than anything these past few years.

I strain my neck out the window as I pass the second pack house out of our five. This was the one I grew up in when it was just me, Damon and our dads. When our family kept growing, we moved out and our parents built themselves a 'little' mansion to say the least.

That was now home and as I drove down the long, rocky driveway to it, I felt my heart pounding with relief, joy, anxiety all at once.

I park my car and the moment my foot touches the ground, the front doors were blasted open and my dads emerged. My dad, Julian, was running while Aiden just walked calmly with his hands in his pockets.

I open my arms sucking in a breath of relief as my dad jumps into me, squeezing me so tight I couldn't breathe. Immediately, his scent surrounds me. It blanketed me with the warmth that I'd grown to love since I was young and would never tire of.

He pulls back only to look at me, his smile wobbly but no tears … yet.

"I've missed you." He says with a large smile few had the pleasure of seeing. "So much."

"I missed you too dad." I say as my bear of a father finally graces me with his presence. Julian looks over his shoulder with an unimpressed look before looking back to me.

"You left me to deal with this imbecile for way too long." He says as we part, instantly earning him a glare from Aiden but no comment. He turns his attention to me, face still neutral for a long moment before he pulls me into his chest with a smile.

I loved hugging dad. I loved hugging both my parents, my whole family in fact, but with Aiden … with him, I never felt pain when he touched me.

I felt normal. Nothing hurt. No memories coiled my stomach. Nothing.

I didn't care about the reason, I just thanked Goddess there was one person on this planet who's touch didn't feel like acid on my skin.

"You alright kid?" He asks withdrawing slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Po." I say making him roll his eyes.

"Ha. You still calling me that?" Dad asks rolling his eyes and I laugh.

The only reason I started calling him Po was because after Damon was born, his violent tendencies grew and they grew quickly. As an effort to get him away from his favourite show, Happy Tree Friends, I tried to make him watch Teletubbies. He hated it, of course, but the red one, Po, struck a chord with me. The red reminded me of mine and Aiden's eyes, so I sort of just started calling him Po.

He pats my back slightly before backing up just as Haden and Josey come running out, Peter walking just behind them.

"Feli!" They cheer as they jump on me and start climbing me like they did when they were small pups. But now they were fourteen and much, much heavier.

I look to my parents for help but they just walk away and start unloading my things, causing me to glare with an unspoken promise to get them back.

"How're you guys doing?" I ask when they finally jump off so I can hug them properly.

"I'm fine; can't say the same for this guy." Josey says making Hagen scowl.

"Still getting shit for the name?" I question him and he nods before glaring at Aiden.

"It's all your fault old man!" Hagen shouts, apparently picking up the nickname Damon started. Aiden only frowns in response.

"It's a great name!" He defends just as he did every time we had this conversation.

"No dad- it's not." He snaps back. "It's like you wanted to name me Harry and Ragen but couldn't decide so you merged them. Y-You can't even make a nickname out of it: Haggy, Agen, Haga. They all sound f*cking dumb!"

I laugh at this cause it was honestly true. I could practically see the steam rising from Dad's head as he opens his mouth to reply, his husband beating him to it.

"I fought for you honey- I really did." Julian says making Aiden glare at him. "I told him it was a shit name, he wouldn't listen. He may not love you but I do."

"Hey!" Aiden snaps while Julian smiles up at him. "I love the kid, that's why I gave him such an amazing and unique name."

"Amazing and unique?!" Hagen exclaims.

"Dad, do you know the meaning of amazing?" Josey questions with her hand propped on her hip. And then they all dive into an argument I could never attempt to follow. From the corner of my eye, I could see Peter inching his way over to me.

Peter was the quietest guy in our family; no, the quietest guy in the entire pack, maybe even the world.

He stuck to Julian like glue when he was growing up. It always confused me that he didn't want to play so much with Damon and me.

I mean, Damon never let me go for a minute. We even slept in the same bed for years cause he refused to be far apart. So I expected the same for Peter, but he was the total opposite. He stuck to our dad instead and on many occasions, Aiden ended up sleeping with Damon and me cause Julian slept in Peter's room.

He stops when he's right in front of me, his fingers twisting behind his back as he looked up with an open mouth before shutting it and looking down. He always had trouble finding the words to express himself. After repeating this about five times, he finally finds his words.

"Welcome home." He whispers and I smile. He slides himself slowly between my arms and hugs me, barely squeezing me at all as he gently rests in my chest. I smile down at him as he was much smaller than me, smaller than everyone. He inhales my scent discretely for familiarity before backing away. He then takes one of my boxes and goes back inside without another word.

Still carrying the argument, the rest of my family help unload my truck and we take everything inside. They dump them into my room before regrouping in the kitchen, where Peter was already cooking dinner.

"Where's the other one?" I question Josey as we all sit on the island stools.

"Waiting for you to come to him." She answers with a deep frown. "Self righteous ass thinks you should go to him. I say let him stew, stupid mutt."

"Josey, language." Aiden hisses before looking to me. "She's right though- let the mutt rot."

"We will not call one another mutts in this house." Julian snaps. "Imbecile, dimwit, dumb*ss, idiot, and even feline are acceptable, but not mutt."

"Sorry dad." Josey says while Aiden just shrugs.

"Where's Caspar?" I ask, itching to see him.

"Kat's doing her check up and witchy juju on him. He'll be back tomorrow." Julian says making me nod solemnly.

The room falls oddly silent and I hate that I knew why. Everyone was expecting me to come home with Maxiime and instead, I'm here alone. I was grateful they hadn't once mentioned it, but now I saw they're trying not to.

"You must be exhausted. Why don't you take a nap and we'll wake you up for dinner." Julian says, knowing that I wanted to escape the awkward silence.

"Okay." I said with an appreciative smile before making my way out the kitchen. I release a sigh once I'm not in earshot, my body sagging a little as I walked through this castle of a home.

The ceiling was obnoxiously high with stone pillars made of limestone, and there was slick marble flooring that led to the large staircase. It was like something out of a movie where it split off in two directions.

I turn right, heading to Peter, Damon and my section of the house. We all slept in the back right wing while the rest of the family was on the left.

As I walk down the long hallway, I take a peep into Peter's room. Nothing about his room had changed, except the presence of numerous new stacks of books.

I keep walking until I come to Damon's room, a big F*ck Off sign hanging from the closed door. I knew he wanted me to go to him, to hug him and say I missed him, but I wouldn't. Not because I didn't want to, because I did- f*ck I missed the guy. But I was given the task of keeping Damon grounded until he met his mate and had her to do it for him.