Eron was about to go back to his tent when he heard that the door was opening, and children’s voices were heard from inside.

“Dee!” said Katya, the youngest of the three, just nine years old, small, jumping and waving her black, straight hair up and down with each bounce.

“Diwa,” Erica, the oldest, fifteen, said worriedly, looking at how pale their caretaker was. “Please, let her come in, guys, I think she’s not ok.” 

“Yes, Dee, you look very pale. Come on, Katya, let’s move aside for a moment,” Macky, the one in the middle, twelve years old, tall and a well-educated gentleman, asked his little sister and then with his older sister helped Diwana get inside the house to the kitchen.

They took her to one of the high chairs that surrounded the kitchen bar, then young Katya, who walked behind them, went ahead, taking one of the glasses and filling it up with cold water from the filter.

“Please drink this, Dee,” she said with her soft, still-childlike voice.

“Thank you, dear,” Diwana said, taking the glass from the youngest of “her” kids with a shaking hand, and drinking it.

“So those are the children that she takes care of. They seem to love her, as much as she loves them. That’s good. They all seem happy together, and for the little I’ve seen so far, it’s for the best that she doesn’t live alone. Maybe I should try again and ask her about her rental rooms,” Eron thought while looking with his wolf eyes at the scene through the kitchen window.

As he continued to listen to the merry voices in the house with his enhanced hearing, his thoughts continued to reconsider his residential choices. If he was going to be perfectly honest with himself, the idea of living in this house was becoming more and more inviting by the minute.

“But then, I’ll have to be nice and careful… hehe. It will be even fun to try to be a respectable guy after all the things I’ve done… and after noticing the effect she has on me... Oh, Miss Diwana, if only you were not just who you are…”

“Please have some of these while we finish cooking dinner,” Erica said to Dee, offering a small bag of peanuts.

"Thank you but please, let me help you with dinner,” Diwana replied, getting up from the chair but Macky and Katya stopped her.

“Please rest and let us do this,” Macky responded. “You do so much for us so we want to take care of you today,” he said while smiling.

“But children, you are always taking care of me. Besides, that’s the idea, adults take care of kids, and not the other way around.” Dee smiled, looking at the three worried faces that surrounded her.

Meanwhile, outside of the house, with all his enhanced senses, Eron was moved to see what real care, love, and family were all about.

“Yeah, they definitely need someone who can protect them,” he said with determination, and yet he was still thoughtful.

“Okay,” Diwana said, finally giving in to the pure intention of the kids, and sitting back on her high chair. “But please, don’t worry too much about me, ok? I… had some food before I came home.”

“Oh,” Erica said, with a small spark in her eyes. “Someone handsome asked you out?”

Dee was taken by surprise, but the young lady was already a teenager, and she was happy that she trusted her enough to be able to talk about any topic with her. She still smiled and blushed a little bit, and that was more than enough for Erica, whose eyes sparkled even more and went wide. Her mouth shaped in an ‘O’ and started bouncing on her toes.

“Oh My GOD! Please, please tell us!” Erica said.

“Ewww, did you kiss him?” little Katya asked, half-amazed and half-disgusted.

“Nooo, I… we just talked…” Diwa said, still shy.

“So, THERE IS someone,” Erica said, smirking while taking care of the food she was cooking. “Is he good-looking and has a great bod? Please don’t tell us it’s Max dead-squirrel!”

“Who?!” Diwana laughed.

“The lumberjack with the dyed hair that looks like a dead squirrel. We see how he looks at you,” Macky said with a slightly jealous and strongly protective tone.

“No. Max is ONLY a friend. Besides, whatever he thinks or feels, he’s NEVER going to say it, because it’s nothing serious, alright? Sometimes people see other people as attractive, but that doesn’t mean they’re really interested. And well, I don’t think he’s interested, and I’m glad because I see him as my friend ONLY, and that’s it.”

“Ok, but… tell us about the guy you ate!” Katya said, sweet and curious, making Dee’s face blush with the deepest shade of red.

“Ate WITH, Katya,” Erica corrected her sister. “We don’t eat people.”

Even Eron outside blushed at the innocent mistake of the youngest.

Well, actually...But oh, how much I’d love to,” he told himself, thinking about the gorgeous blushing lady, and thoroughly entertained and happy with the conversation that was taking place inside the house.

And then a new set of thoughts invaded his amused mind: “But then, why are you, Eron Camden, second son of the leader of the Camden Clan and Alpha of the SilverClaw Werewolf Pack, also The Right hand of a certain secret mafia, so interested in this conversation? Might that be what Helena told you that time?”

Suddenly he was going back in his memory to where he was having one of the few conversations in which his older brother, him, and his twinny were taking part.

It was not so long ago, actually...

+++ 

“Well, you know, all of those things that you’re supposed to feel when you find your real, true mate… all that usually happens at eighteen when our werewolves awake,” Helena said while Virgil, her mate and, back then, future alpha of the pack, walked towards her and wrapped her in his arms.

“I honestly haven’t paid much attention to that, twinny, you know, since my wolf never woke up,” he said to the only lady in the room.

“Of course, it did. Do you really think if you didn’t have a wolf, you’d be able to shift? For some reason you can’t hear him, but I’m completely sure that he’s there… please, twin, be patient with yourself…”

“You know I am, twinny. If he doesn’t want to talk, he doesn't need to talk to me, but I just wish there was a sign. You know what father says about our clan having the most powerful Alpha men, women, and wolves. His own, Tabashir, is the biggest pristine white wolf I’ve seen! And have you seen his eyes? He just imposes respect and fear as soon as he shifts. And then…"

"And then?" Helena asked. "Your father and you are two different people, twinny."

"I... I don’t think I have a wolf…” Eron concluded sadly… “And without a wolf, I can’t find my mate. No signs, so I’ve… I don’t even think about it, twinny.”

“But there are signs, and you should find out more about them. How will you know if you don’t try to look for them?” she said, getting closer to her brother-in-law, who she called twin.

“Well, ok but then, who will tell me about those things? If father married just for the sake of making our Clan stronger, and the Pack larger and richer. I don’t think he would know about those mates…”

“Well, I can,” she said, smiling. “I found my mate, and that’s how I joined your family, remember?” 

“Of course, I remember. It was not even a long time ago… and…”

“And it went against father’s wishes. I remember too.” The older brother’s voice was heard for the first time in the conversation. “But I’m not letting father get in the middle of this one. If he insists on pushing to get things the way he wants them, then I’ll leave the pack.”

“You can’t do that,” both Eron and Helena said at the same time... as twins would...

“I won’t let you run from your responsibilities with the pack,” she added. 

“Yeah, besides, if you go, that responsibility will fall on me, bro! Can you imagine what my life will be like?” Eron joked, but his brother was taking him seriously and the eldest son knew he really couldn’t leave.

“Well, ok, but whatever happens, whatever he does or says, Helena is my mate, and that won’t change. And since that won’t change, my decision of being with her won’t change either.”

Eron was surprised at his brother's firm determination, not because it was out of character for the Alpha's favorite to be strong-willed in defying their father… 

It was because it was really a first for his older brother.

“Well, maybe you’re right and it’s because I haven’t found my mate. But seriously, why does it matter so much? Not that I’m against it, since Helena is a great choice, brother, and I’m sure she will do great things for the pack… and for you… but...”

“Well, the Moon Goddess gives us only one mate. Some people don't find their mate, some others find them and then lose them, few have a second chance mate, but there is essentially one person only for us,” V said with conviction, at the proud eyes of his Helena, and the surprised ones of his younger brother.

“Yes, and that’s why the Moon Goddess gave us the ability to feel them… so it’s not impossible to find them. One of them is the tingles, almost like an electric discharge going through your body, as soon as your skin makes contact with your mate’s, and it never goes away,” she explained.

"Ok, what else, twinny?"

“Then, the smell. Your mate will have a scent that affects you in a very peculiar and addictive way. It fills your senses and almost drugs you and makes you go wild for her. It's a smell only you can perceive, and that will be calming and exciting at the same time,” Virgil said, hugging his mate tightly once again.

“And then, the longing," Helena added. "After you see them, they will never leave your mind. No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to forget about them. This is also related to the mate bond… you will feel when she needs you, or wants you. When she’s sad, happy, sick, or in danger, but that will be even stronger when you mark each other.”

“You will feel the opposite too, if you try to reject her. You’ll feel a sharp pain, like a knife piercing your heart. The same applies if she tries to reject you, not only with the words as a permanent rejection, but when you see her not wanting you, or she tells you to leave her alone. That can even be physically painful,” V added.

+++

“Physically painful, huh? I remember when she just got up and left earlier. I thought it was just the guilt of thinking that, again, I did something wrong… but then… It hurt, and… scared me,” he whispered to himself as his thoughts went back to the present, as he kept looking through the kitchen window.

Suddenly, he gasped at how his ideas were flowing... 

“What the hell, Eron, are you really thinking that she could be your mate? You can’t have a mate, remember? You’re just fooling yourself, man, so… stop being an idiot! Your perfect brother found his perfect mate, but you’re NOT him, remember?” he scolded himself angrily, 

“You just stop fooling yourself over small things and go back to your tent, ok?” he still added.

But then, for some reason, he just… stayed... almost hypnotized by the sweetest smile that his lady had, as she sat in her kitchen, enjoying the care and love of her children.

“The beauty of the simple things,” he said, unable to avoid seeing himself being part of it. 

Sharing a meal, talking the usual day by day, laughing, and then, after a tiring day, getting in bed with someone who was not meant to run away from you when you wake up the next morning. The calmness in knowing that every day when you wake up, your loved one will still be there. 

While he was lost in thoughts, a more relaxed Dee walked out of the house. 

From the outside he could still hear how the kids were joking around and wondering who her ‘special guy' could be while they finished their cooking and got the table ready to finally have their meal.

“It’s a beautiful night, casually perfect… Look, there’s not one cloud in the sky,” she said to herself, as if someone could hear her. “Perfect to look at it with someone by my side,” then she thought.

Suddenly she noticed that feeling again… She looked around, scared, and feeling threatened in her own house.

“This is not good. Lately, I feel it more and more often. Maybe Jack is right, and I should have a man here in the house, even if he’s just renting a room. I don’t like this feeling,” she thought, still carefully examining her surroundings before finally rushing back into the house.

As soon as Diwa showed and felt alarmed, the wolf that had been looking after her and making sure that she’s ok felt his alert mode being triggered as well.

There was someone out there, and Eron knew that this stranger did not belong here.