***CONTENT WARNING!***
One F-Bomb dropped

Aurora was still in a dreamy mood when, true to Angelica’s prediction, Da called a family powwow. After putting her journal away, she made her way to the living room where Da and the rest of the family were already gathered. Crystal and Landon, along with their kids, were there, too, so whatever Da wanted to talk about must be big.

She sat next to Da, then scooted closer to him a moment later to take his hand. Andrea was on his other side so he was bookended by both his girls. Aurora squeezed his hand and smiled up at him but concentrated on blocking the deep yearning and sadness that was always present ever since Ma had left them. She knew he was already worried enough about all of them, and that made her heart ache. He needed her to take care of him so she needed to be strong and grown up. She was determined to do that for her Da because she loved him so.

As Aurora firmly held onto her Da’s hand, she felt the newfound determination stir within him again. It came after a truly worrying sensation that flowed through her empathic senses a few days ago. She’d been practicing a new piano piece she was learning when she felt the presence of his Wolf. She and her other siblings had been accustomed to his Wolf all their lives, but it had been so different this time. She stopped playing in mid-bar when the Wolf’s rage made her gasp and nearly scream. She wasn’t afraid, exactly, for she knew her Da or his Wolf would never hurt her. Even so, she had never felt such madness from him before. More than anything, Aurora wanted to go to him, to take care of him, but something held her back. Somehow, she knew she couldn’t do anything for him in this instance.

Aurora decided it was best to keep silent about it. She didn’t want him getting anxious over her. He had so much to deal with without having to contend with her abilities that often didn’t want to keep to themselves. Da would be horrified if he knew she’d sensed him during such a vulnerable moment.

Soon enough, the Wolf was calmer, and that’s when Aurora sensed this new determination stir within her father. Something had clearly happened, and it was one of those times when Aurora couldn’t summon a vision to enlighten her. It unnerved her but at the same time, she was relieved that whatever had happened lessened the desolation and grief that had always been seated so firmly within him. Ma’s absence had broken him, but her poor Da was still trying to function regardless because of her and her siblings. She was so relieved he didn’t die when he thought Ma did, but it saddened her to feel him in so much pain. Sure, he tried to block it from her and maybe he did somewhat, but she still felt it anyway.

Aurora jumped when she felt her Da rub her fingers between his big, warm hands. He was saying something to her, too. She blinked owlishly up at him. “Huh?” she asked, bewildered.

Tyrone blew out is breath on a soft chuckle, the corners of his mouth turning up in a slight smile. Aurora noted the smile didn’t reach his eyes. His smile never reached his eyes anymore, not since they had lost Lenora.

“Where were you just now, Princess?”

“Oh,” she said, shaking her head, the present returning. “Wool gathering, I guess.”

Tyrone studied his little daughter with a critical Wolf’s eye. His sweet Aurora was always a dreamer but was even more so now. There was a lot going on in that brain of hers, but she hadn’t shared much with him lately about her feelings or what she was thinking. More times than not, she wanted to stick close to him and was more concerned about how he was holding up. She was always bringing him something to drink or asking him if he wanted help with anything. Aurora frequently lavished him with tight hugs and sweet little kisses on his cheeks. She often would simply sit beside him, take his hand, and smile gently at him. It was as though she knew her presence and physical contact comforted him, which it did.

Great Drogo, she’s so much like my Lenora, it’s uncanny. He loved that about her and yet was unnerved by it, too. There was no doubt that his beautiful princess was going to be so extremely powerful. Hell, she already was with the talents she was already showing and her control over them. He was certain more would manifest as she grew older. She was already so grown-up for her age, too grown-up, in Tyrone’s opinion.

Aurora noticed her father searching her face, saw the frown furrowing his brow, and felt his concern for her. Wordlessly, she simply patted Tyrone’s large hand, squeezed his fingers for a longer than usual moment, and offered him a tender, reassuring smile. She needed him to know that she would be okay…was okay.

“So, what’s up? What did you want to say to us, Da/” Chris asked, ever the curious one. His son reminded Tyrone of himself at that age. Chris was always so inquisitive about new things and so intent when he was working on something. Tyrone recognized that the intense focus on a task was something both he and his son inherited from his father.

Tyrone looked at all of them, gathering his thoughts before he spoke. “There is something you all need to know. This is going to be hard for you all to understand, and I don’t understand it all myself. It’s…well…it concerns your mother.”

Jonas’s bottom lip began to quiver, and he swallowed hard. “I miss her, Da.”

Tyrone’s big heart melted, then ripped open when his sensitive, gentle-spirited son choked on a sob and Andrea immediately put her arm around her brother and rubbed his back. When Lenora had been carrying the quads, Tyrone recalled the day they’d talked about the strong connection of twins and how he’d wanted his children to experience it. He and Theresa shared it and still did, and he’d wanted his children to have that unexplainable relationship. He was thrilled at seeing his dream realized and was now thankful for that bond. All four of them would always know they could count on each other, and that special connection would never go away.

“We all miss her, little brother,” Landon said, his own shattered heart evident in his words.

“She will come back.” Aurora’s sweet, soft voice brimmed with confidence and knowing.

“I believe her, Da. If Aurora had a vision that Ma would come back, she will. Aurora’s visions are always right on the money,” Andrea said, loyalty for her sister unquestionable in her fierce statement.

Ah, my Steamroller! She’s so much like Valerie was at that age. It’s so surreal. That feistiness and no-bullshit way of hers is either going to get her admired in life or in trouble. A finger of ice ran down Tyrone’s spine at that thought. Valerie had certainly found enough trouble for herself, and the thought of Andrea following suit scared him more than he wanted to admit. In a protective, instinctual move, Tyrone encircled his other arm around his fiery little steamroller, pulling her snugly against his side. Andrea grinned up at him, hugged his arm for a brief moment, then rested her head on her father’s shoulder. She normally wasn’t the cuddly type, but both father and daughter sensed the need for affection in each other and were more than willing to give it.

“Me, too,” Chris said emphatically, taking Aurora’s free hand to show a united front.

“Kids, I believe her, too,” Tyrone said. It touched him to his very soul to see his children band together so strongly.

Landon and Crystal exchanged a look, then turned their attention back to Tyrone. Landon supposed it was probably best for Tyrone to level with the kids, at least to a certain degree. “Have you had news about the…procedure?”

Tyrone blew out a long sigh and shook his head. “Not about that, per se, but there is…something.” When every eye was on him, he began. “Your mother is, in fact, alive. I know this beyond any doubt. What I figure is that someone wants us to believe she had died so they could take her away without us knowing any differently. I don’t yet know why, but I will find out. She was able to reach me yesterday.”

Tyrone went on to explain about the brief, but informative, telepathic message from Lenora. He explained that she was being held captive and that her magic had been weakened. “She wants to come home to us more than anything. I swear that to you. But the thing is, she doesn’t know where she is so she can’t tell me. With her powers weakened, I can’t hold her long enough to zero in on her location. We’re going to have to wait until we catch a break, and we will. I will find her and bring her home. That is a promise!”

Crystal was wide-eyed as she gaped at Tyrone for a split second. Then, her eyes squeezed shut as tears gathered. Blinking rapidly, she swallowed hard. “Who has her? Do you have any idea?”

Landon’s mouth was set in a grim line. “Then we must find out who is buried immediately.”

“We will, Landon. I spoke with my father after this occurred, and he believes we can get this moving forward much faster.” He turned his attention back to his kids. Aurora and Andrea were holding tightly to each of his hands. “We now believe that there has been a case of mistaken identity of sorts. Since your mother is alive, albeit missing, we need to find out who the woman in the grave is and if there are any clues there to lead us to where your mother is being held.”

Andrea gulped and looked down at the clasped hands of herself and her father. “Da, I gotta tell you something. I guess we’re playing True Confessions.”

Tyrone eyed his daughter, baffled at her statement. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“I…um…” Andrea took a deep breath before continuing. “I overheard you guys when you had that meeting. You said you wanted to dig up the grave, to ex…um…ex…” She shrugged when the right word didn’t want to come.

“Exhume,” Tyrone supplied. Then, his gaze sharpened on his feisty daughter. “How did that happen, Andrea? That room was soundproofed with magic.”

“Well…er…Sire…you see…”

When Jonas began to whistle innocently, Tyrone’s attention snapped to him. “Did you have anything to do with that, son?”

“Da–” Aurora began.

//Shut up, Aurora. Don’t say a word.// Jonas shot a warning mental message at his sister.

//But I’m the one who magicked the AirPods. If anyone gets into trouble, it should be me,// Aurora communicated back.

//Uh-uh, Sis. If anyone gets grounded for using magic, I’ll take the fall. If we’re gonna get Ma back, we need your magic fully charged.//

Aurora felt awful. //But Jonas, you’re not to blame.//

//Forget about it. I’ll take one for the team. I don’t mind.//

//Well, damn!// Why the hell did Andrea have to go and get a case of the guilts?

“Jonas? Aurora? Start talking!” Tyrone didn’t need to raise his voice to put the fear of Drogo into them.

“Aurora didn’t have anything to do with it, Da,” Jonas spoke up. “I tinkered with a set of AirPods so we could hear what was going on.”

“You’re always keeping us in the dark and telling us not to worry,” Chris spoke up. “If it’s about Ma, we have the right to know.”

“Same here. She’s our Grams,” Blake added.

Tyrone heaved a defeated sigh. How could he explain this so they would understand? Hell, he didn’t understand either. There were still so many unanswered questions. “Look. This is complicated, grown-up stuff, you guys. There’s still a lot to figure out, and we didn’t want you to be scared or upset any more than you already have been. Sometimes it’s hard for adults because we want to protect our kids from being hurt or wigged out. Maybe it was wrong of us to keep so much from you, but we did it out of love and concern for your wellbeing.”

“We’re tougher than we look, Da,” Aurora said gently, then reached for his hand again and rubbed her thumb over her Da’s knuckles. “We just want to help if we can.”

Tyrone was nearly undone when Aurora looked at him with such love, tenderness, and concern in her haunted eyes. She was comforting him when it should be the other way around. He should be taking care of her. Great Drogo! What have I done to my beautiful princess, my angel? What have I put them all through? How, in the name of the Great Alpha Pair, can I explain this to my Lenora once I get her back?  I failed them! I should have been stronger. I broke my promise to my Lenora. I let her down.

He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and composed himself as best he could. Tyrone stroked a lock of hair away from his daughter’s face and gave her a weak smile, another smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Honey, it isn’t about being tough or my not wanting your help. There’s just nothing we can do right now. We have to wait until we get a lead. As much as we all want to do something right this minute, we’re going to have to hang in there until something turns up.”

“I felt her, Da. I swear I smelled her lilac perfume.” Andrea choked on the last couple words, then bit her lip to keep from crying. Dammit, she friggin’ hated crying. She certainly wasn’t a baby and wasn’t going to start acting like one now.

“I’m sure you did, sweetheart. I’m certain your mother has been trying to get messages to us for a long time now,” Tyrone replied, lacing his fingers with Andrea’s and squeezing her hand gently.

“I hope she tries again,” Jonas added.

“I think she will, son, but she has to be careful. Because she’s weak right now, it costs her a lot of effort to get through. I’m certain she’ll try again when she’s stronger,” Tyrone assured him.

“She must be so frightened,” Crystal said, her fingers clasping tightly to Landon’s hand.

“When I find out who did this to her…!” Landon’s jaw was set, his face flushed with simmering anger.

“We’ll find them, and they’ll answer for what they did.” Tyrone’s statement came out as more of a growl, which began to stir the Wolf.

In the next instant, Aurora had her arms wrapped tightly around her father, her mouth close to his ear. “It’s all right, Da. Tell him not to get mad anymore. She will come back. Ma is alive, and she’ll come back. I will help you find her.” She leaned back to caress her father’s cheek in an attempt to gentle the Wolf. “Shhh. Breathe through it, okay? Just look at me and breathe through it. It’s going to be all right, Da, I promise.”

For an eternally long moment, Tyrone was struck dumb as his sweet, brave princess tended to him. He was soothed by her voice, comforted by her touch. Automatically, he leaned his cheek into her hand, then gave her a reassuring smile. He raised his much larger hand to cover hers, which lay on his cheek like an angel’s touch. “Aurora, sweetheart, it’s all right. Please don’t worry about me or the Wolf,” he whispered once he was able to speak. How on Earth had this role reversal occurred? “The Wolf won’t get mad anymore. He’s just feeling a little restless like everyone else. Don’t worry, baby.”

“You sure?”

“Very sure.” He kissed the top of her head. Then, a thought occurred to him. “How did you know the Wolf got mad?”

“I felt him,” Aurora said as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. “I wanted to make him feel better, to tell him it was okay, but he needed Granther instead. I’m glad Granther helped him feel better.”

“Me, too, Princess. Me, too.” He looked at her in amazement but thought his heart would break at the same time. She was too young…much to young…to be such a wise, old soul. To get control of the situation, he came to the realization that a long heart-to-heart with her after her birthday was in order. Right now, there was just way too much information for processing.

As the evening wore on, questions about the exhumation came up. Tyrone explained that once they collected everything inside the grave, GG Mathilda and Cian would look at who was inside and try to figure out who the buried woman really was. That would be done in a special room at the hospital. Cousin Robin would hep with gathering clues since this would now be considered a crime. Once all that was done, there would, hopefully, be a direction they could turn so Lenora could be found and brought home.

“Will you have to be there when they…you know?” Albus asked, hugging himself and shivering at the thought of gravedigging.

“Plus, whoever is inside will be…” Gabriel swallowed hard and held his nose. “I don’t like to think of Grams that way. I mean, it looked like her at the funeral, and we all thought it was her. I don’t want to think of her like that.” His shoulders heaved at the force of the sob that ripped through his little frame. Crystal drew her son close to her side, her arm snuggling him close.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Tyrone looked sorrowfully at the faces of his family. If only he could have spared them this pain. This whole entire thing was just such a fucked up mess. “I know what you’re thinking, and that won’t be the case. Normally, dead things, including people, decay. Listen, I know how you feel. I felt the same way, still do. Your GG and Auntie Theresa put magic into and around the casket to keep the decay from happening. When the grave is opened, she will be perfectly preserved. She will look and smell exactly how she did at the funeral. There is nothing to be afraid of.” He gave everyone a reassuring look before continuing. “Yes, I must be there for both the exhumation and the examination of whoever is in there.”

“Oh, Da,” Aurora said, rubbing her father’s back. “That’s going to be so hard.”

“I know, Princess, but it’s necessary. There is a procedure to follow, and the rules must be obeyed. That’s the law.” Tyrone squeezed Aurora’s hand. “I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m a tough old wolf, you know.” Though it was only for a brief moment, the sorrow in his heart lessened just a little at the weak smile his last commented elicited in his daughter. “We’re going to get through this, everyone. We are going to be all right.”

When all was said and done, everyone fell, exhausted, into their beds. Sleep was hard to come by for everyone, especially Aurora. Her empathic senses had been in overdrive today. Plus, Jonas took the heat for the magic she’d done. Well, at least Da hadn’t grounded him or Andrea. With that thought, she plumped her pillow again, smiled, and knocked out.

Since it was the weekend, there was no school for the children on their birthday. Lauren and Theresa arrived bright and early to help decorate. Most of the guests would be their entire extended family and a few friends.

Early in the afternoon, Erica and Deus arrived, and Erica, having made the birthday cakes, got them set up. Tyrone’s heart squeezed momentarily. He loved his mother with all his heart and was so grateful for her support, but it should have been his Lenora who made the cakes. It had always been her self-appointed job to bake cakes for any and all family celebrations. He knew Lenora would be heartsick at not being there for her children’s birthday.

The adults tried to put a festive mood into the celebration, but the absence of Lenora was felt by all. Chris cooked the birthday dinner himself, which everyone lavishly praised. Chris’s culinary skills improved by the day, and he was a true master chef for being so young.

Aurora

Andrea

Chris

Jonas

After the birthday cake was cut and eaten and the kitchen put back in order, the party goers left in a steady trickle. For Tyrone, the day was bittersweet. He studied his Pack, his heart swelling with love for every single one of them. His children, born of the abiding, unconditional love between him and his beautiful Lenora. Pride, love, sorrow, and a fierce protectiveness surged through him all at once. His daughters were so beautiful, so precious to him, the joy of his heart. His sons were handsome and strong, a dream come true for any father. //Oh, Lenora! You would be so proud of them…so proud, my love.// It was second nature to reach for his wife even though their connection had been impaired. He didn’t expect an answer back but was disheartened, nonetheless, when none came. Lenora would try again when she was stronger, Tyrone was sure of that. In that moment as he studied his four amazing children – no, not children anymore but young men and women now – he renewed his resolve to find their mother and bring her home to them where she belonged.

Author’s Note: I must apologize for not picturing all the kids during the family powwow. I managed to get Aurora and Andrea in there but had I tried to put all eight – yes, both sets of quads – in there along with the adults, my game would have gone completely wacko. We will be seeing a lot more of the kids though in the future, so no worries. Crystal and Landon’s kids will be celebrating their birthday soon, too, so we will get to see what handsome young men they have become. 🙂

Again, as mentioned in the last chapter, I realize it seems I’m favoriting Aurora right now and perhaps I am a bit. However, there is a method to my madness and I’m gearing her up for quite a big storyline coming up. I do promise the other kids will get their time, too. There’s so much more story to tell, and all the kids are very, very important to it.