12. Cinnamon Roll

As expected, Dave's mere presence is already a huge hit, as going by Charlie, Dave is a "legend" in the pack. It's the first time Charlie meets Dave's mate, though. Raphael is a strong, gruff, and broody-looking guy, but in fact he is just incredibly shy and awkward with new people.

"He is really just a cinnamon roll," Charlie whispers to Dante and me when we have a minute to ourselves.

"What's a cinnamon roll?" Dante asks, confused. "I assume it's not the dessert."

Charlie looks at him like he grew a second head. "Are you for real?"

Before Dante can say anything, I intervene. "It's not that unusual not to know it," I explain to Charlie. "I wouldn't know it either if it weren't for Dave constantly throwing it around." Charlie just shrugs and mutters whatever while I turn to Dante. "It means someone is sweet and adorable and needs to be protected. You know, too pure for this world."

"So, who else is a cinnamon roll?" Dante asks seriously. "For comparison."

"I'm not sure." I chuckle.

"Are you a cinnamon roll?" he asks.

"I don't think so."

"Is Liam a cinnamon roll?"

"No, I think they need to be na?ve to be called that. You know, sweet, innocent, na?ve."

"Sounds like a baby," Dante argues.

"My God," Charlie intervenes. "Are you really debating that? It's not that deep."

"I just want to use it properly," Dante says.

"Oh my god, please, no. Don't ever use it!" Charlie blurts out, appalled. "That would be so embarrassing!"

She stomps off with a plate of apple pie in her hands.

"It seems like I missed an interesting discussion," Liam says while walking past her and towards us.

"I was just called embarrassing," Dante says, amused. Much to my relief, he truly is great whenever Charlie gives him an attitude. He knows it's not coming from a bad place but more from her living in solitude and alone for so long.

"Be proud of that," Liam says. "You made the dad cut."

"Do you know what a cinnamon roll is?" Dante asks. "Concerning a person."

"Yeah, something about being too pure and innocent for the world."

Dante seems to be seriously shocked at that sudden spout of youth language knowledge. "How do you know that!?"

"I have a bunch of younger siblings," Liam grins. "And the youngest are still in high school."

"Speaking of"—I look at him as an idea just struck me—"I don't want to overstep, Alpha, but I know your twin brothers are around Charlie's age, a year older maybe, but do you think they could keep an eye on her?"

"Of course," Liam says. "I will talk to them about it. They always hated being the youngest of the family. Maybe they would like to jump on the opportunity to help out a younger family member."

It's nice that he considers us part of the family despite there being no blood relation. He and Dante share a really tight bond, though, almost of a brotherly nature.

"Something else." Liam lowers his voice a bit. "The mercenaries. We don't seem to be able to track them yet. They are part of an underground group. I am considering sending someone undercover." He pauses. "The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any movement at the moment, but I'd tell Charlie about it so she is aware."

I nod. "Yes, she has to know. I hate to unsettle her, and it could also be a group that's after me or Dante, but as long as we aren't sure, she needs to know."

"Unfortunately, that means she shouldn't leave the pack grounds unsupervised, aside from going to school," Dante adds, worried.

"She won't like to hear that, but yes, for a while she needs to lie low. We need to up the security around school," I say. Last year there was a kidnapping incident in school. Ever since then, the surrounding packs have upped the security in general. That's a common interest. School is a safe place now, but there are always some blind spots.

"Maybe we could have her homeschooled?" Dante adds, his nervousness growing. "We can't put her in danger."

I shake my head. "Believe me, I want nothing more than to keep her here with us, but it won't work. She is very similar to me, and if we don't let her go to school and give her the chance to be away from us for a couple of hours a day, she will feel imprisoned. And if she feels imprisoned, she will do stupid things. I get the danger, I really do, and I'm terrified, but I think preventing her from going to school will only make it worse."

"I will talk to my twin brothers," Liam adds. "I'm with Ella on this. She needs normality, or she will lash out in one way or another. Dario and Felix will keep an eye on her. I think they are old enough to take over some tasks to prove themselves. They are eager to do something for their pack anyway."

"Good," I say, taking Dante's hand. He looks torn but eventually nods. "Let's go to the others, or they will get suspicious."

When we step back into the living room, Charlie is chatting with Dave. She seems to have taken a liking to him like everyone does. "So, the goddess also pairs same-sex couples," she concludes. "Aryanna and Jazz are mates too. First, I thought it might be a reproductive thing with mates, but it seems to go so much deeper."

"It is," Annie reassures her before explaining how the mate bond works.

Meanwhile, Raphael is flustered and grumbly as usual. He is really sweet, though. I guess Charlie is right, and he is a cinnamon roll. I'm still lingering on my thoughts when I notice a huge dog snuggled against Charlie.

"Oh, for goddess' sake, Dave," I groan. "You brought Sugar!?" I frown at him. "You are seriously letting my niece pet that demon pup?"

"Sugar is very kind," Dave argues. "Well, most of the time he is! And Stella cast a spell on him, remember? He is not going to eat anyone from the pack."

Charlie looks up in interest. "Demon dog?" she asks, intrigued.

Yeah, she is totally like me. The mention of danger seems to be more appealing to her than anything else.

"He might or might not have swallowed a bunch of werewolves a while ago," Dave explains to her. "But they were attacking Raffy and me, right, Raffy?"

Raphael grumbles a bit. "Yes," he says.

Charlie wipes her hands clean. "He is cool, but he is a slobbering mess."

"Yeah, awesome how he is drooling all over my carpet," I deadpan.

"I have insurance, don't worry," Dave says. "Just let it get cleaned."

"You have insurance against dog slobber?"

Dave shrugs and nods, making us all laugh.

The day was fairly pleasant. Being out with Ella was fucking awesome. The evening was good, too, until the alpha told me about these tattoo guys and how they are mercenaries, probably spying on me and out to hurt me.

Apparently, it's not safe for me to be anywhere else than in the pack.

Ella shows me a picture of them and how they were in England when Dante and Ella came for me.

Fuck them. I won't let these losers ruin my life. I've survived well up to now without watching every one of my steps. Dante and Ella are worried over nothing. Once a survivor, always a survivor. They are over the top worried, though, Dante in particular. He is always concerned about me, constantly. It's super-annoying.

But this time, he has that really serious expression on his face. It's what I call his beta personality. It's when he is all business all of a sudden.

It's cute and all that they are worried, but it's annoying as fuck, and I can watch out for myself. It's not like anyone was there to watch out for me the first fifteen years of my life. Why do I need that now?

I grab my new phone and skim through it. Ella has uploaded pictures and videos from Mom to the cloud. She told me we could watch them together, but I didn't want to.

I want to be alone when I see her for the first time.

For a moment, I hesitate before clicking on the first video. It's a young woman leaving the hospital with something hidden beneath her jacket. Lorenzo is picking her up. I swallow thickly. That's her… it's her…and the bundle she is hiding beneath her jacket, it's me. The next video shows her twirling around; she is much younger in it and wears a sunflower dress.

I feel tears burning in my eyes. Mom. I don't even know who she was or what she liked. Was she kind? Funny? Serious? Do I resemble her?

In a sudden flash of anger I close the app and switch off my phone. I sit up in my bed. The noises in the packhouse have calmed down a bit, and Dante and Ella went to bed too. This is where my stealth experience comes in handy. I've done this all the time in the orphanage too; all of us did.

Here it's even easier because my room has a balcony. I swiftly change into some outdoor clothes, then silently slip out onto the balcony. I can't jump down there, but I can reach the branch of a huge chestnut tree, so I'm going from there.

Ten minutes later, I'm on the ground and hurry off.

During the last week, I've befriended two boys and one girl in the pack. One of them, Ty, is a warrior's kid and managed to find out his dad's password, so he always knows when and where the guards are stationed.

"Here you are," Ty whispers when I join him and the others at our meeting point.

Gisela, the girl of the trio, hands me my skateboard. It's actually Ty's old one. "Let's go," Gisela says. She told me she is happy she isn't the only girl anymore. She loves to skate, but her mom is a bit of a scaredy-cat in that area and thinks the boys are playing too rough, so she does it in secret.

Ty and Austen have been skating for two years. They can do it whenever they want, but their parents don't let them go out of the pack to skate.

We are not going far. Some kids from ours and also surrounding packs found an abandoned playground not too far off the pack grounds. It's perfect for what we are doing. The only tricky part is sneaking past the guards at the pack border, which happens to be a lot easier thanks to Ty.

When we reach the playground, Ty and Gisela instantly take off while Austen remains with me to show me some basics. Before I begin, he helps me to make the board mine. Apparently that's important. Austen has taken calligraphy classes, so he manages to paint my name on the board. I place an owl sticker next to it to give it the right feel. When I was a kid, the orphanage took us to a fair once. Money was always tight, but sometimes they tried to fund special activities. The fortune teller there indulged us and told us our future for free. Mostly great stuff, but when she told me mine, she also added that owls are my spirit animals.

Somehow that stuck with me, and I've been obsessed with them ever since. Owls are fucking awesome.

"Ready?" Austen asks when I finish my work. "I can show you some tricks."

I nod. "Ready."