Alpha's Blind Luna novel Chapter 79

My eyes roamed up to the voice and the cigarette dropped out of my mouth between the rocks. Hector was standing before me. Cigarette between his fingers, brought up to his lips. He was thinner, gaunt. A look in his eyes that said he was far away, a pain I saw when I came back from the BloodHunter Coven but then so much more. His hair was cut short and he was completely clean shaven. Getting up, I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He chuckled awkwardly but did pat my back a couple times before letting go.

“You’ve been missing for almost a year! What the hell happened?”

He sighed, smoke coming out as he did. “It’s a long story. One probably best left for everyone to be present for.”

I nodded, still taking in that he was here. “Are you hungry? We can get some food set up. Something to drink?” I glanced down at the duffle next to him. “You’re room is untouched. So you can drop your stuff off.”

There was a moment of silence before his eyes finally met mine. “Right now, I’d like a cigarette or two and look over the sea.”

There wasn’t anger or irritation in his voice but it also held no emotion. A complete lack of. No smile and no frown. The only thing that was even a hint that there was still something left to Hector was his eyes. Screaming in pain, screaming that they had seen too much and wanted nothing more than to close. I pulled out a second cigarette and lit it, standing next to him quietly. We both stared out, listening to the waves crash against the rocks.

“Why would you say Auri was going to slap you?” His question filled the space between us.

I pulled the cigarette from my lips. “Vale wants to have pups. We talked in passing about it but never concrete. Till he handed me a folder today with two little orphan twins, pups from a pack that their parents died. He wants to adopt them.”

“You don’t?”

My foot dug into the ground. “I do. I want a family with Vale more than anything.”

“But…”

“Between the shit storm happening out in the world right now and…and after reading Auri’s theory on the Alpha King conception, I don’t want to end up being left alone. Left alone with pups.”

Hector hummed for a moment. “You’re right. She would slap you.”

I barked out a laugh. “See.”

“You can’t stop doing what you want just because of outside factors. It’s always going to be something, Zeke. It’s going to be the BloodHunters, the High Council, a war, the mafia, extremist groups, storms, drought, drugs…you name it, it can happen. There will always be an excuse to find.” He took a drag of his cigarette. “But there won’t always be time with your mate. Being parents, having kids, is scary. It’s not easy. We are talking bassinets, nursery, cribs, diapers, bottles, clothes, toys, first aid stuff for rashes, sickness, nose issues, ear issues. The list goes on. Then realizing you are the one who these children are looking up to and you have to literally teach them everything they know.”

He pulled the cigarette out and his eyes glossed over for a moment. “It’s scary to think that either one of you may get run over by a car when crossing the street or we end up fighting on the front lines of a war that was never our fight to begin with. It will always be scary. But the point is right now, you can provide those kids something they don’t have. Something that you and Vale share. Something that will stand the test of time and even past death.”

My eyebrow rose. “Money?”

Hector grinned for a moment. “Love, Zeke. Love is the one thing that you can provide that, right now, those orphans don’t have. Something that you and Vale have an abundance of. If you’re willing to share it. It makes things less scary, less lonely.” His words trailed off and he looked back over the sea, lost in his own world.

Putting his cigarette out in the ashtray I had set out by the edge, Hector reached for his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“I guess I have to face the music. You don’t mind if I make something while we get everyone in?”

I shook my head. “It’s your home, Hector. I would be happy to help.”

“We need to call everyone. So I don’t need to repeat myself multiple times.”

“The whole crew it is. Though Morgan I don’t know about and Pipsqueak…well…”

He followed me back up to the house. “We can leave those two out. I’m assuming they’re up to date. All things considered.”

My head turned to look at him but he gave away nothing in his face. I opened up the door and we came face to face with Vale. Originally, I had shut down the bond so I could think in peace but now, irritation, anger, with a fair bit of worry wove through him.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Hector didn’t even flinch at Vale’s tone. “As I said, I don’t feel like repeating myself six times so we can wait till everyone is here.”

Vale put his hand on shoulder. “Hector, we were worried. You should have checked in. Something. The only thing we knew was that you weren’t dead.”

“Even that’s debatable at this point.” Hector chuckled and turned into the kitchen, ducking out of Vale’s grip.

Vale looked at me and I just shrugged. I mind-linked Bryan, Simon, Lucy, Jax, and AJ who were all in town today doing different things. They questioned if it was immediate and I said it was. I knew they were all mid-projects but the information that Hector could have was important. We watched as Hector moved around the kitchen seamlessly. Pulling out different ingredients, even reaching in the very back of the cabinet for some. Once he had a multitude of spices, some chicken, stock, and vegetables, he pulled out two pans and got to work on turning up the heat. Hector started throwing in a ridiculous amount of spice into the mixture with the stock and even some cream. My eyebrows rose and so did Vale’s.

“What? You’re tongue numb now?”