The following day all of Xander's things were already packed and the car that he was going to use was already ready. He had a frown on his face while everything was being prepared for him. Amber did not even come to talk to him after she told him that he could go home.
"Hey, don't forget to call me when you have free time," Zael patted Xander on the back while they stood in front of the pack house.
"I will. Is Amber still busy?" he asked after seeing that she was not there to see him off. It was unlike her to stay away from him.
Zael sighed, "Ugh, I'm not sure but I left her a while ago in the middle of reading some reports."
"Is that so?" his shoulders dropped. He was disappointed that he could not see her before he left. Zael could only pat him in the back as his way of comforting him.
"Don't worry, she'll come around. I'll tell you this as an advice, wait for her because she'll surely come to look for you." Xander raised an eyebrow at the man's statement. The beta chuckled at the reaction and shook his head. "Our Alpha is headstrong and she gets what she wants."
Sigh. With that as the end of the conversation, Xander left. He was escorted by one of the warriors until they reached the project site. He was the one who told them to drop him off at the site so that he can check on the progress of the project at the same time. Although they advised him to rest immediately after he got home but he insisted on visiting the site first since he felt fine.
Carl was already at the entrance of the site waiting for him. He had been standing there for over thirty minutes now when he saw a car coming towards their direction. The black car stopped in front of him and Xander alighted from it.
"Carl," Xander greeted once he saw his friend who was there to meet him but the man did not answer instead, he walked towards him and gave him a tight hug. Xander gasped because of the sudden action and how tight he was squeezing him. His wound from the attack was not yet completely healed and now his friend was trying to kill him. He tapped the man's back until he finally let him go. "Are you planning on killing me?" he asked after taking deep breaths.
"Yes, can't you tell?" this time it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. When he called him yesterday to tell him that he was coming back, Carl was surprised. Although he told them that he was coming back, he did not expect that it would be this soon since according to Xander it would be in the future.
Xander laughed at the sassy statement then he winced at the pain of his wound, "Ah, I'm glad then that I am alive to see you again." He gave his friend a grin, "By the way did you tell Xerra that I am coming back?"
Carl noticed his friend's reaction which made him frown, "Are you alright?" He looked at his friend from head to toe but saw nothing amiss, he then narrowed his eyes.
"I'm fine," Xander immediately shook his head and give his friend a reassuring smile.
"No, since you told me that it would be a surprise." Carl believed him for now before he looked behind him to see the driver had finished unloading the bags of Xander.
Xander noticed the gaze so he turned around and saw that the driver was waiting for him. He walked towards the driver, "Thank you for helping me. We'll take it from here."
"No worries. I'll go now, please enjoy your time here." The driver nodded then drove the car away.
Carl helped him with his luggage towards their sleeping quarters. "I did not expect that I'll be able to see you this because you told us that it might still take some time before you can come back, did something happen? And where did all these luggage came from?" he wondered after they place the two suit cases on the floor of the living quarters.
Well, Xander could not tell him that because of rogue attack he was sent home easily. "Oh, it's because they permitted me to leave because they thought that I might have missed my family and those are not entirely my clothes, it has some things that they told me to give to Xerra."
His first statement was a complete lie because he can't tell the truth but the gifts for Xerra were true. Carl noticed that his eyes avoided his gaze and knew that his friend was hiding the real reason for his early return. He could also tell that Xander did not want to talk about it so he decided to just drop the matter and ask him some other time.
After some rest, Xander was already out on the site and inspecting the parts that was already done while talking with the people involved in the project and asking them of their wellbeing. The workers were happy to see that Xander was really alright so the atmosphere around the site became extra lively because of his appearance.
After inspecting the site, Carl and Xander drove home to see Xerra who had no clue that her brother had already returned. Carl knocked on the door like always and it was Xerra who always opened it for him but this time it was not Carl who was behind the door.
The child opened the door to a surprise that she did not expect. The man who was standing there with a smile on his face was his brother. She could not believe what she was seeing and she only reacted when she heard him speak.
"Aren't you going to give me a hug?" he asked in a gentle voice when he saw his sister had been frozen on the spot where she stood.
"Brother!" she launched herself into her brother's arms. The action caught Xander a bit off guard but he still managed to caught her as she safely landed in her arms. "It is really you. I really missed you so much."
He felt his clothes being wet with tears as Xerra started to cry. He gently patted her back then he stepped inside the house and walked straight to the child's room. Carl left his luggage on the living room before he left to give the siblings some space.
Xander sat on Xerra's bed and waited for her to calm down before he let her go. The child wiped her tears and her brother smilingly helped her. "I'm here now. I'm sorry for leaving you alone for so long, I promise to spend more time with you now that I am here."
"You're not going to leave me again, right?" she looked up with her still tear stained faced. She did not want to be separated from him.
"Yes, I will not go anywhere again and leave you here alone," Xander assured her.
"Will you sleep here with me then?" she once again asked and Xander nodded. He was glad that he was able to come home and be with his sister that the matter of Ceurian was forgotten that night.
Amber was looking outside her window at the full moon while holding a cup of wine in her hands. She had been drinking ever since Xander left and eventually lost count of how many bottles she already drank. The decision she made was difficult and Eirian had been screaming in her head for what she did but there was no regret. She would rather endure the distance than to see him be hurt once again while he was supposed to be safe inside her pack.
If those rogues did not become a problem, then none of this would have happened. She did not know if the appearance of the 'darkness' and those rogues were only coincidences together when she found her mate but she can't shake the feeling that it was not, that there was something bigger behind all of this.
Their relationship had just gotten better and now all of these problems had popped out one by one creating a space between them. It was frustrating, she was an Alpha and she was supposed to be the strongest wolf but she had been a mess for the past months. She was not like herself, maybe a time away from her mate would let her think straight.
"You have been drinking for a while now, aren't you tired?" Zael asked after he entered the room to see all of the empty wine bottles on the glass table. He sighed and shook his head.
"I'm not. Do you think that I have changed?" Amber's question made Zael look at her with surprise. He was amazed that the Alpha actually noticed what the whole pack had noticed ever since Xander came to Ceurian.
"I guess so. You've become mellow, not the one who was always serious and cold." He nodded his head in agreement. Honestly the pack likes this version of their Alpha the most because it makes her closer to the pack and easy to approach. Whenever she was with her mate, she smiled more and laughs more. She was not the stiff Alpha that would only give a basic smile without warmth. That was what their pack had been saying.
"But I think that I have become weak," she turned around and faced Zael. "I had failed so many times, failed to notice that 'darkness', failed to notice those damn rogues and even failed to protect my pack and my mate."
Zeal frowned at those words, "No you did not grow weak. In fact, you are stronger now because you can be yourself and show your emotions without holding back. Now you even got the unyielding support of the pack because finally they can relate to you and talk to you like you are not the Alpha at all. The pack loves the change and if you felt that you have gone weak like you said, then you don't have to worry because Ceurian is strong."
This was just like Zael, playful at times but when he speaks, all of it were meaningful and enlightening. "I hope you are right, Zael."