cloud

My body is stiff in Gray's grip, but he doesn't pull away from me. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the hug. Seeing as I didn't leave on good terms and neither one of us had necessarily been the touchy-emotional type, but I don't hate it.

When Gray does finally pull away, it was only so he could turn around to look at the others. One of his arms still remains around me as if he's worried that I'll disappear into thin air if he lets me go. The glassy look in his eyes causes me to turn away from him, instead, my eyes move toward the other wolf who happens to be Foster. He stares at me and shoots me a small smile of his own, silently saying "welcome back".

Gray's eyes first move to Beta Reo before he turns to Raiden. I'm sure he can smell my scent on Raiden and vice versa by the way his eyes narrow and he looks between the two of us. His mouth opens to say something, but I quickly stop him.

His eyes break away from Raiden and he looks at me. They soften and turn to the others.

"Who are you both and what pack are you affiliated with?" Gray interrogates.

Beta Reo is the first to speak. "I am Beta Reo of the Howling Night Pack and my traveling companion here is Raiden. We've been sent to talk to you, presuming you're the alpha of these lands?"

Gray nods. "I am Alpha Gray of the Dark Woods Pack and this is my Beta, Foster. What do we owe this visit to?"

Now it's my turn to speak up. "We're here to talk regarding Onyx's trial," I tell Gray causing his brows to furrow. "It's important."

Gray's face becomes more serious and he nods slowly. I look at Foster whose eyes have clouded over, likely to link Gaius since it does regard his mate.

"Come on," Gray says, mainly to me. "We can talk in my office."

Gray lets me go and Raiden, almost immediately, takes his place. He looks at Gray — not even bothering to hide his suspicion. If he notices, Gray says nothing and doesn't seem to care. My hand grips Raiden who stares at me, I offer him a small smile and watch as the tension leaves his body. Beside him, Beta Reo walks past the warriors, shooting them one last glance of his own causing my eyes to roll.

As we walk through the pack, I can feel people staring at us. Raiden's grip around my hand only tightens as we follow Gray and Foster.

Soon, a familiar building comes into view and I know we've reached our destination. Gray opens the door to let us in and we follow him as he takes us to a room in the back. Once we're all situated inside, he looks at me as if waiting for me to speak.

There is so much to say to him — too much, but I push those thoughts away. I can talk to him about everything else later when we're alone, right now I need to focus on the reason we came here in the first place.

I open my mouth to start, but right before I can begin, the door opens to reveal Gaius and Onyx who both look at me with surprise. They quickly mask it though and instead, they offer two smiles and take seats.

"Go on," Gray sighs, not bothering to look at his gammas.

"We're here to talk about Onyx's trial. Recently, we obtained new information about it," I tell him.

I can see Onyx tense up and Gaius grabs his mate's hand. "What about it?"

Their eyes remain glued to mine, including Beta Reo and Raiden's as they wait for me to speak.

"Recently, I've met one of the council members who will be at the trial and he's linked to the feral case in some way."

"You know this or is this just a hunch?" Gray asks me, a frown on his face.

"I don't know if he's actually a part of the ones who helped created them," I admit. "But I do know that he's threatened me with Onyx's trial and that he's willing to throw the whole case to get what he wants, even if it means Onyx dies."

"Threatened you?" Raiden asks and turns to me with wide eyes. They almost appear to be saying 'why didn't you tell me?'

I turn away from him.

"Why would he threaten you?" Foster interrupts, his smile from before is replaced with a more serious expression.

"Because we're mates," I gesture to Raiden, ignoring the way he and Gray both look at me. Two different expressions, neither I want to see right now. "He wants Raiden to marry his daughter and from his perspective, I'm messing that up. He wants to scare me away from Raiden even if it means hurting others in the process."

I can see Raiden's eyes drop, which was another reason why I didn't want to tell him. I knew Raiden would place the blame onto himself since he was the one Alpha Demos wanted.

"He also said that the trial would be soon, but I don't know how soon he meant."

Abruptly, Gaius stands up and leaves the room. Onyx's gaze rises off the floor and he quickly goes after his mate leaving the rest of us sitting there.

"Did he say anything else?" Gray questions. His eyes move to the door and I can see the gears inside his head turning as he tries to come up with a plan to handle this.

"He said that the votes were divided pretty evenly as of right now, but that he would be the tie-breaker. Other than that, nothing else."

Gray nods slowly as he takes in the information. His head turns to Beta Reo and he asks, "What is the name of your alpha?"

For the first time since we've arrived, the beta speaks. "Alpha Tatum Knowles."

"When you return, please let him know that we'll get in contact soon. I have to make some calls about the newfound information first."

Beta Reo nods and Gray's eyes briefly cloud over. Not long after, Foster quickly stands up to excuse himself leaving the four of us alone. Gray's eyes turn to me and I glance back at Raiden and Beta Reo.

"Can you guys give us the room?" I ask the two of them.

I halfway expect to be met with complaints, but neither one of them disagree. Beta Reo simply nods before standing up and Raiden follows him. When the door shuts, I turn back to my brother who stared at me with an unreadable expression. We sit in silence for what feels like ages, but in reality, was likely only a few minutes before Gray stands up. He makes his way around the desk and gestures for me to stand also. The moment I do so, his arms wrap around me and pull me closer to him.

"I'm sorry," is the first thing he says. "I'm so fucking sorry, Cloud." No words come out of my mouth so Gray continues to talk. "I never meant to hurt you — I never meant to make you lea—"

"—I'm okay Gray. Everything's okay," I tell him, returning his hug.

I pull back to look at him. The strong front he had been wearing before was long gone, and I could see just how sad and relieved he was to see me.

"I've been thinking about that day since you left," he admits. "Thinking about how I fucked up. Again. I wasn't trying to hurt you, Cloud I genuinely wanted to help."

The day I left replays in my mind and I frown. "I know you did."

Gray's eyes meet mine again. "I'm sorry."

I shake my head. "I'm sorry I just...left like that," I tell him. "I know that must've hurt you, especially after I just got back."

Gray goes silent for a few minutes before he quietly says, "I never stopped looking for you, you know. I sent the trackers out to find your scent and posted reports to neighboring packs — everything I could think of. I just wanted you to be safe."

Hearing that removes weight that I didn't even know I had been carrying. Knowing that Gray was actually looking for me and cared caused a small smile to form on my face.

"I know I haven't been the best brother to you, Cloud, but I do want to change that. I want to be someone you can count on and I'm willing to put in the effort for us to get there one day."

"I'd like that," I admit. "I know that I also haven't been the best — especially about the whole Layne situation. I'm sorry, Gray. I never did tell you, Layne, or Quinn that."

Gray mirrors my smile. "I know you'd never put her in harm's way on purpose, Cloud. She loves you and I know you love her." Gray backs away from me and returns to his seat, I do the same and his eyes move to the door. "Let's talk about the elephant in the room," Gray says and my face heats up.

I knew he was going to ask about Raiden at some point.

"His name is Raiden," I say. "When I left the pack, I wandered into the Howling Night territory and he was one of the first ones I met. If not for him, I probably would've been in the human territory and long gone."

"The Howling Night," Gray repeats. "Do you like it there?"

Did I like the Howling Night Pack? Honestly, the pack itself I didn't mind the. Sure, there were people there that I didn't like, but it wasn't the pack I had seen, but the place wasn't a home to me.

"I like Raiden," I tell him instead. "If he likes the pack, then I can tolerate it."

Gray frowns at my words. "Can you see yourself staying there for years? Growing old there? Starting a new life with him?" When I don't reply, Gray sighs. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you should consider talking to him about this."

Talk to Raiden about leaving his pack? I didn't know if that would be a good idea. I know that it isn't his favorite place, but it's the only home he's ever known. Knowing Raiden, if I brought it up, he'd likely agree but I didn't want him to say yes and not truly mean it.

Gray stands up and moves toward the door. "Either way, I'm happy for you, Cloud. Even if you choose to stay there, I'm happy that you found someone who you love after everything that's happened."

I shake my head and stand up after him. "I'm happy to see you again, Gray."

"I'm happy to see you too," he replies. "But I know someone else who'd be happy to see you too."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he's hinting at. I know that I can't avoid her forever, but the thought of seeing Layne again worries me. After being home for so long, would she even want to see me?

The memory of her scared face keeps replaying in my mind. What if she looks at me like that again when she sees me?

Gray places his hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to see her right now, but I know that she'd love it if you visited her at some point. I know you're probably worried, but she misses you. You're all she's been asking about," he tells me. "Just think it over, you don't have to—"

"No," I interrupt him. "I want to see her."

I couldn't just leave without stopping by, especially based on how I left last time. I'm nervous to see Layne again, but I'm determined to make sure that I leave on a better note than last time, and to do that, means facing my fears. Starting with facing my niece.