Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Chapter 84

Marco's POV "Luna, you aren't supposed to be back for an hour. Is everything alright?" Ashley runs up to US as we get back to the packhouse. Her blue eyes get wide when she gets close and she skids to a stop, holding her hands up," Whoa! That's a whole lot of angry coming off of you, Kas."

Kas seems like she ignores her but starts speaking to her anyway. She's been so stressed out since we left the botanical gardens that she hasn't been able to really control her emotions like she usually does. It's a little crushing. I don't know how she holds it all in all the time.

"Ashley, can you please arrange for a couple of guards to escort my sisters for a run before dinner? Except for Katherine, Amari, Cora, and Tessa. Send them to my office when they get here. I have more to discuss with them," Kas ask Gamma Ashley, "Oh also, could you please see if Musu and James are available. I'd like them to be part of this meeting. Sorry to load this on you, but I need help since Carly is off for the rest of the day."

"Of course Luna. It's no problem. You know I'm glad to help," Ashley chirps happily as she keeps in stride with US, "Kas, are you sure everything is alright? You seem, urn, intense?"

Kas stops suddenly and gets a weird look on her face. She takes Ashley's hand and gives her best 'there ain't nothing wrong' voice, "I assure you, Ashley, everything is fine. I just have some things to discuss with my sisters that were no appropriate in the middle of the atrium of the botanical gardens."

"Oh, okay. How long until your sisters' bus gets here?" she looks at the screen of her tablet.

'Their bus driver said they were about fifteen, twenty minutes behind US," I let her know, "Also, Delilah went to get her bag of tricks from home. Can you please let her up to the office as well, Gamma?"

"No problem, Marco," Ashley nods happily and types something into the tablet she's holding, "I will get everything taken care of for you guys. Don't worry about anything."

When we're finally in Kas's office, she goes around to sit at her desk. I sit in the guest chair across from her and watch her carefully. Her sparkly hair is a little messy and her face is strained. Not the put together Kas I usually see. My Mama would call it 'aturdida' (flustered]. I wanna make sure she doesn't have another vision. I don't know if my heart can take it if she does.

"Kas, not gonna lie. I'm a little worried about you right now," I say honestly," I wanna make sure you're not too stressed out."

"I'm fine, Marco. I can handle this. If I couldn't, I would tell you. I promise," her violet eyes drill into my soul when she looks at me. A wave of anger crashes against me but it seems like an accident. "Okay, well then, I wanna make sure I got it all right in my head. These visions you had. You sure it was Tessa's wolf attacking you, not Tessa's human spirit. You one hundred percent sure?"

"Absolutely sure. I don't think Tessa has any control over Valor," she says. I watch as she pulls out a pen and note cards.

"You writing out notes? I haven't done that since high school," I smirk at her while she organizes the colored index cards, "Your laptop is right there."

"If you must know, Marco, I'm writing down my questions for my sisters. It helps me concentrate when I put things on paper instead of looking at it on the computer screen. I only had the computer in the school library growing up, so I have always done everything by hand. That's why I keep binders. If anyone ever needed to find out anything really important to me, they would just have to find the right binder and rifle through it. My schedule, recipe ideas, reminders, all my ol note cards, things like that," she grins at me, then looks down and writes.

"So, you mean like a diary?"

"Uh, I mean, I guess some of my binders are like a diary. All my notecards and papers show what's on my mind," she leans back in her chair, twirling the pen in her fingers, "The laptop helps when I have to take care of pack business and send emails but holding the cards in my hands while I'm talking to people helps me focus. You know, it gives me something to do with my hands."

I feel like I should get up and give her privacy, but I gotta talk to her before her sisters get here. I don't realize I'm staring until she looks up at me and raises her eyebrows.

"Is everything alright, Marco? You look like something's on your mind," she asks, putting the pen down.

I can't do this. She's my Luna. I can't get into her business like this.

"Exactly, she's a Luna. Play that on her. Even if you don't wanna tell her, you got Alpha blood, my dude. She don't realize your words affect her different from other wolves," Clash interrupts in my mind.

"Clash, we ain't got no Alpha blood, fool," I argue.

"Just try it, dude. I'm tellin' you, it'll work," he huffs at me.

"If I get fired on my first day, I'm figuring out how to disown you, Clash."

I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Kas, I-uh-1 want you to know, I'm speaking as a friend who also happens to work for you. Okay?" I say hesitantly.

"Uh, okay?" her eyebrows scrunch up, making her look worried.

"I know things didn't go as well as you woulda hoped with your sisters, but I really think you need to try to start over with them. Family is important.

Trust me, I know. I got a huge family. Sometimes we don't get along. That's how families are, but at the end of the day, we love each other. We work it out cause that's what family does," she's still looking at me with the same worried eyes "Kas, you've been lookin' for them for so long. And yeah, it sucks that they ain't the people you thought they'd be, but of all the wolves I know, you're probably the most forgiving. You don't stay mad at no one for long, 'cept maybe Alpha Bronx...sometimes."

She leans back in her chair again, twirling her pen in her fingers, and looks at me like she's trying to decide whether she should tell me to get the fuck out or not.

"You want me to just forget everything they told me this afternoon? Alright, let's just say I forget about all the past lives crap," she says, growling a little at me.

She stops and crosses her arms and cocks her head to the side. Ah shit, I've seen her give that look to Alpha Bronx. She's mad at me. I lower my eyes a little and feel myself bowing my head to her. She is my Luna, after all.

When she starts talking again, she sounds real annoyed, "In this lifetime, they knowingly let me be abused for most of my life, kidnapped me, and tortured me with magical electric shock for four days. Should I just pretend none of tha happened, Marco?"

Damn. She's got a point.

"Kas, I ain't saying to forget all of that. That'd be stupid. I don't think you should forget it at all. I'm just saying look past it. At least enough to have a relationship with them. You're a Luna and you're amazing at getting people to get along. I seer it firsthand. No one's sayin' you gotta have dinner with them every Sunday," I lean forward and put my elbows on my knees and really look her in the eyes, "but if you're the one who's the connection between this Mavri Magea group and the rest of these women, I think you should try to keep the peace as much as possible."

She leans forward and puts her elbows on the table, then holds her head up with her hands, "How is it you always know what to say, Marco?"

"Just a gift, I guess," I shrug, feeling a huge sense of relief she didn't fire me.

"Yeah, a gift from the Goddess you choose to ignore," Clash chides.

"Drop it, Clash," I growl back at him.

Just then, there's a knock on the door. I can already smell Delilah and the intoxicating scent of my mate. I jump up and open it for them. Musu and Delilah step into the office. I look out to see James having a quiet conversation with Tyree. "Mi belleza de ébano," I purr at Musu as I walk up to her. I put one hand around her waist and the other on her belly. I instantly feel more calm being this close to her and our pups.

"Mon Loup," she smiles and kisses me softly. She pulls away slightly and a concerned look crosses her face, "Why is the energy in here so...fàché [ angry]? Were you two having an argument?"

Kas looks at Musu and me with a confused look, "No, we were just having a conversation about my relationship with my sisters. It was a little tense, but we're fine."

I look at Musu and shrug, "Yeah, maybe it's left over from earlier when Kas was mad? Gamma Ashley said the same thing."

James steps in and closes the door behind him, "Whoa. What's with the energy in here? Kas, are you okay?"

"Can we all drop the angry energy talk, please?" Kas rolls her eyes at him," Everyone sit down. I need to explain what's going on."

She gives the quickest explanation she can, then I fill in parts she missed. Delilah nods in agreement the whole time and adds details, too.

"So that's why Tyree asked if he could get additional security on stand by," James murmurs to himself. He types a message into his phone after hearing the story. A moment later it dings with a reply, "Beta is having a couple of guys set up in the hallways now."

Kas nods, "Yeah, the more the better. Now, when I was in the Waiting Room and touched Cora, I had a vision of US from the past. She didn't seem to acknowledge it. I don't think Tessa realizes I had those visions when I touched her, either. It wasn't like when I've had visions of the future where I don't know the difference between reality and the vision. It didn't drain my energy or anything like that. I understood it was just a vision, even though I could feel and sense everything around me. It was like rewatching memories."

"Do you think you can control it enough to do the same with your other sisters or anyone else?" Delilah asks, 'They'll be here any minute. We don't have time to practice and figure out how to hone this new skill."

"Speaking of abilities. Valor called me a freak of nature. Delilah, I need you to be really careful," Kas says to Delilah, "If she is that prejudice against me, I can't imagine she is too keen on full blood witches either."

"Je comprends [I understand]," Delilah says, sitting up a little taller in her seat. 1

There is another knock on the door. I catch a flash of a glow in Kas's violet eyes. 'That would be my sisters," she says dryly.