47. The Last Cook Standing

Afew days later, we are all settled into a new routine. Felix and Dario have been transported back to Silverlake to get their treatment there. Felix woke up, and like Liam predicted, after the initial shock and sad breakdown, he was eager to work and remobilize his body.

The boy is so strong.

Meanwhile, Charlie is back at school, without a guard this time. But I can't help but feel anxious whenever she leaves. I know we dealt with the threat; I know it's safe for her now; I know she needs to be able to live a normal life; I know she has longed so much for a sense of normality, but I'm just so worried.

"I'm just going for a walk," she says when she wants to head out after lunch.

"Where to?" I want to know.

"Just around the park," she explains. "My therapist said I should go for a walk regularly to lose my fear of it."

I look at her, not sure how to react. If she is alone outside, things will happen. The last time she was out on pack grounds, she should have been safe, yet someone came and abducted her. They hurt her.

"Don't you trust me to stay on the pack grounds?" she asks.

"Well, the last time I checked, you and the others were coming and going off the pack grounds however you liked," I admit.

She looks flustered, guilty, but at the same time also completely fed up. "This is so unfair," she blurts out. "We can't go anywhere now anyway, not before Alpha Liam has the talk with us. Ty is still grounded, anyway. Gisela and I just want to walk around the park."

I low-key wish I could put a tracker on her just to know she won't be stolen away again, but I assume suggesting it might make her blow up at me. "I just want to know exactly where you are going," I say, trying to make her understand. It doesn't look like she does, though.

Before either of us can say any more, I feel a presence behind me. Charlie has noticed it, too, because she raises her gaze, looking at the person behind me.

"Why don't you go now, Charlie, before it's too late? Be back in time for dinner."

Charlie nods, looking relieved, before she dashes out of the room.

"But—" I mutter.

Ella takes my hand. "We need to have a talk," she says quietly. "Why don't we have a glass of wine on the balcony?"

I sigh, but as usual whenever she is close, Sylvan completely forgets what else he is worrying about and instead wants to make her happy. "Okay," I say.

I walk ahead, waiting for Ella to follow me with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She chose red wine, a fancy brand we got from the elite warriors a while ago as a thank you for the training.

"I get you," she says. "I really do, D. Whenever she leaves the pack to go to school, I'm terrified. I always think about how she was dragged to that dungeon, how they tried to assault her, how terrified she must have been."

"I'm so worried sometimes," I admit, "that I forget how to breathe. When she was gone, I knew I had to keep it together. But now that she is back, I just… can't lose her."

"Why don't you tell her that?" Ella says. "Because honestly, the way you go about it makes it sound like you are mad at her, not worried. She went through major trauma, and not just once. You heard her therapist: now is the time we need to build her up and help her be confident."

"I know," I groan. "I just don't know how to tell her. And when I see her, I'm in panic mode. Instantly."

Ella stays quiet for a while, and when she looks at me again, I know I won't like what she has to say. "She isn't responsible for your trauma, Dante," she says. "I… I don't want to hurt you by saying that. I love you. But she isn't the child you lost. She is her own person."

My chest churns at her words.

Ella puts her glass down and stands up to sit on my lap. She hardly ever does that, and I relish in this rare moment, tugging her closer. "I love you," she says with emphasis. "You're a great man and a fantastic mate, and you'll be a wonderful father to our child one day."

"I have no idea how to cope with our future child," I say. "It will probably hate me for being the most worrying dad ever."

"Or it will look up to you for being amazing," she says. "And now," she climbs off my lap. "I will make dinner, and you can talk to Charlie."

"You… you will make dinner?" I ask, feeling dreadful already. This woman is the love of my life, clearly, but she can't cook to save her life.

"Yes, I'm trying a foolproof recipe," she says, and I don't have the heart to shoot her optimism down. So, I do as she says and go look for Charlie. I find her near the packhouse in the little garden area behind it. I glance at the tree there that leads directly to her room.

"You are not wrong," she mutters when she sees me. "I actually climbed down from here sometimes."

"I know," I say. "Just promise me you won't do it again, and we are good." I pause. "And also, please say you forgive me, and we can move on," I whisper. "You know how scary Ella can be."

Charlie laughs. "She really is scary. But also cool!"

It's cute that she is such a huge fan of hers. "Didn't you want to meet Gisela?"

"Yes, but she headed home early," Charlie says. "She forgot to do her homework." She chuckles. "She is such an airhead sometimes, but she is cool and a great friend."

I gesture at the sketch block in Charlie's hands. "So, you are drawing something?"

Charlie nods, showing me the comic she is working on. It's about two sisters, but it's obvious that in its core it's about her and Ella. They can turn into owls at night, and to my surprise one sister has a boyfriend who looks like me. I can't believe she included me in her comic.

"Say, Uncle Dante…" She pauses. "Silas told me we can meet whenever I want… to talk about Dad. Do you think I should do that?"

"Do you want to?" I ask.

"I do," she admits. "I want to learn more about Dad, and Silas is the only other family I have. Well, at least the one I know about."

"I think he is a good guy," I say. "And it would probably be good to learn more about your vampire heritage."

"So, you are not going to put up a fight?" she asks, surprised.

I remember what Ella told me and decide to be honest. "I lost my first child," I tell her. "And my first mate. I know I can be a bit patronizing sometimes, also towards Ella. But that's my trauma to deal with, not yours or Ella's."

"I think I understand," Charlie starts, but I never get to hear what she understands as a scream tears through the evening. It comes right from the window above us.

"That's Ella!" I blurt out, forgetting everything else and running back into the packhouse. Charlie is hot on my heels.

Goddess, I hope she is alright!

I make it to our suite in record time, kicking the door open. "Ella!" I yell, following her scent to our storage room.

"Goddess," Ella grimaces, her whole body trembling, before she jumps me. "Make it go away!"

"Make what go away?" I blink.

She gestures towards a box in the storage room, her face carrying an expression of pure horror. Charlie has caught up with us now and peeks into the storage room with me. I gently set Ella back onto the ground before walking into the room and opening the box carefully, noticing it's… crawling. It's so gross I want to puke right next to it. Probably something we took out of the freezer once and forgot here.

Charlie gapes and gags in disgust, hurrying back to Ella.

"It turned alive," Charlie grimaces.

"I can see that," I groan.

"Just throw it out," Ella says. "Oh fuck, we might need to burn down the whole storage room."

I'm inclined to agree with her but doubt that Liam would approve of us burning down part of the packhouse. "This is the grossest thing ever," I mutter, trying not to gag while I grab the box. Ella hurries to fetch a plastic bag, and we toss it inside. Then we roam the whole storage room. Anything that looks even remotely alive gets thrown away, including everything in the proximity of potential living ingredients. At the end of this little event, we make it a family project to take the garbage outside and toss it away.

Ella glares at the garbage bin. "I will never cook again," she grumbles.

The talk with the alpha is the one thing I dreaded the most. I knew he wouldn't let it pass that we snuck off the pack grounds to our liking. It seems like he talked to all the kids involved. Unfortunately for me, I'm part of the troublemaker group, which is why we don't get away with just a talking to. Technically, he offered for me to skip this as I was new to the pack and didn't know better. But Ty, Austen, and Gisela are my friends, and I'm not going to leave them hanging.

I'm not sure what to expect from his punishment, but I'm surprised once he has told us. It doesn't even feel like he is punishing us. This is actually going to be fun!

"A fundraiser?" Gisela repeats once we are out of Alpha Liam's office and can discuss everything.

"He wants us to lead the school fundraiser at the end of the year," Austen groans. "This will take so much time."

"At least I have an excuse to leave home for it," Ty says. "I'm not complaining. Every hour I don't need to spend with my father is a good one."

"Still so shit at your place?" Gisela asks.

Ty shrugs. "It's not particularly great. I mean, I did fuck up majorly."

"It for sure is going to get better after we put up an amazing fundraiser," I say.

"I love your optimism." Austen chuckles.

"Why are you even hanging in there with us?" Ty asks. "The alpha clearly said you wouldn't be involved."

"Yeah, we totally dragged you into this," Austen agrees.

I blink at them. "Because we are friends," I say. "Duh. And I am clearly too cool to chicken out of this."

Austen and Ty exchange a gaze. I don't know what their gaze means, but it seems they have come to a weird understanding. Boys.

Gisela and I link our arms. "Boys are so stupid sometimes," she says.

"They are like their own species," I agree. "At least these two aren't Rob The Slob."

Gisela giggles.

Austen just rolls his eyes. "You know that Ty and I are right next to you."

"We do," Gisela says lazily.

I grin. "Come, I have some great ideas for this fundraiser. And I promise that once we are done, Ty and his dad will have made up too."

"If the plan is so good," Austen says. "Maybe you can get my mom on board too. She's still not particularly happy either."

"Yes, my plan involves her as well," I say.

I lead my friends to the beta suite. Fortunately, Ella and Dante are out for work, so we can occupy the living room and talk without getting interrupted.

"The plan?" Gisela wants to know.

"Okay, so I have heard that Alpha Liam's brother runs a shelter for homeless teens," I say. "Right?"

"Yes," Ty says. "I heard my parents talk about it a while ago. He also built one for victims of abuse who want to hide from their abuser."

"And Gisela, doesn't your mom own a charity shop with clothes?"

"Yes, they are for low-income households," she says.

"We could use the fundraiser to collect money for these projects," I say. "That way, we will do something for—maybe not directly the pack—but the community of wolves. We do something for the alpha's brother and an allied pack. We could put together a huge fashion show featuring the clothes from—"

"From Mom's shop," Gisela exclaims.

"And our models will be certain individuals of the pack who are well respected and liked. I'm going to sign up Ella and Dante," I say.

"The beta couple," Ty says, stunned.

"I bet I can also get Aryanna and Jazz to join, and maybe Livia," I say. "And Ty's dad and Nicole. Of course, as we are the organizers, they can't say no."

"This is…" Ty pauses. "Insane!"

"Are you kidding?" Austen blinks. "It's fucking brilliant."

"I didn't say it's not brilliant," Ty mutters. "But it's also insane."

"I love it," Gisela blurts out. "It would help Mom's business so much! She is all alone, you know? I have no dad. And with Lune Marius's projects involved, maybe he and Mom can establish some new connections."

"But can we fund a project of that size?" Austen asks carefully. "We need a certain amount of money to even organize it."

"How about at school?" Gisela says. "Alpha Liam said we could turn it into a school project."

"Still, it will cost a lot."

"Are you on board?" I ask. "If we solve the money issue, would you be on board?"

"Absolutely," Gisela exclaims.

"I'm in," Ty says.

Austen nods. "Me too."

"Good, then let's write down our ideas, put together a folder, and present it to the alpha," I say. When I mention that we need to pass it by Alpha Liam, the others look a bit anxious, but I ignore them. He has always been kind to me. I'm not scared of him. I saw the man blow raspberries on his daughters' bellies and cooing at them. Deep inside, he is a cutie-patootie. And he is Uncle Dante's best friend. Even if he says no, I'm sure he will help us find another solution.

We work on our presentation the whole afternoon. Right before dinner, I grab everything and drag my friends to the alpha's office. Alpha Liam is a bit surprised to see us again, even more so when I hand him the folder. The others let me do most of the talking, but at least they are in his office with me and didn't chicken out.

Liam leans back once I am done. His answer is short and simple. "I like it," he says. "See? I told you that once you channel your energy into something more productive, you will get something awesome done."

"Does this mean you will help us?" I ask breathlessly.

"Yes," he says. "The luna is more in touch with our budget. I'm sure she will love to help you. Meanwhile, I will establish contact with Marius for you."

We talk a bit more with him about our plans. Now that he agreed and is showing his support, the other three are slowly relaxing too and are bringing in more and more of their own ideas. I'm actually glad we can do this together. It's going to be so much fun! I still feel wary when I'm on my own, and doing this project means I won't be alone too much.