赤裸裸的滑稽故事

By the time they had said their goodbyes and Clara had gathered all of her materials, it was late into the morning before they got on the road.

Since the request had come fairly last-minute, Clara wasn’t sure if she was adequately prepared to present the idea of upgrading the entire defense system of Winter to Alpha Axel. Even with Galen reminding her that there wasn’t much of a defense system to speak of.

So, she had been mumbling and whispering to herself, practicing her speech for half the drive from Summer to Winter.

“Clara,” Galen sighed.

“Hmm?” she replied, still looking over her papers.

“Maybe take a break?” he suggested. “We aren’t meeting with Axel until the morning anyway, you could always practice in your room after we get there.”

“That’s true,” Clara said. “But if I keep practicing now and then continue when I get in my room, I will double my practice time and really, really make sure I know exactly what I am going to say. Plus, I will know the material better, and if Alpha Axel throws a surprise question at me, kerchaw!”

Clara made a chopping motion with her hand.

“I smack it down with my well-prepped and practiced knowledge of the subject!” She replied cheerfully.

“Clara, dear?” Corrine called to her.

“Yes, Luna Corrine?”

“Please be quiet,” Corrine smiled. “It is a long drive.”

Clara sucked her lips and nodded, closing her notebook of prep documents.

Galen chuckled.

It was already well past sundown when they arrived in Winter. Wyatt and Axel greeted Corrine, while Bell was nowhere to be seen.

Galen looked around. Axel clapped him firmly on the shoulder.

“Welcome back,” Axel smiled good-naturedly. “Looking for Bell?”

“Yea… I was expecting her to be here…” Galen said, looking past Axel._.

“She was,” Axel replied. “But we expected you guys about two hours ago, so she went to bed.”

“Oh,” Galen replied, not bothering to hide his disappointment.

Axel chuckled.

“She told me to get you a drink and feed you,” Axel continued.

“I appreciate that, but I think I’ll just head in and–”

“She also told me that if you woke her, you would be staying with Peter for a week.”

“Oh…”

Axel laughed.

“The hormones are apparently getting pretty intense, she almost stabbed me with a fork yesterday for grabbing an extra piece of bacon that she had been eyeing.”

Galen laughed.

“Yea,” Galen replied. “At least it wasn’t a pickle.”

Axel’s face turned serious.

“You don’t take a pregnant wolf’s pickle, Galen. You just don’t,” he said. “Why would you even joke about that?”

Galen swallowed, suddenly feeling very nervous.

“Axel, knock it off, you’ll scare the poor boy,” Wyatt called out.

Axel burst into laughter.

“Sorry, man, we all heard about Abby and the pickle. But, unfortunately, I can’t poke fun at Bell, or she might literally kill me, so I had to poke at you.”

Galen laughed.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he sighed.

“Seriously, though,” Axel said. “Let’s get you a drink. Dad and I made a pretty decent lasagna earlier.”

“My recipe?” Corrine asked hearing what Axel said.

Wyatt nodded with a proud smile.

Corrine grabbed his chin and gave him a sweet kiss. Then turned back to the car.

“Come inside Clara, you’re in for a treat!”

***

The late meal had been a proper end to the day for three of the five in attendance.

Clara had gone to bed almost immediately after finishing her food, saying there were a few things she needed to review before she could go to sleep.

Corrine and Wyatt had hung around and chatted for a little while with Galen and Axel but, in the end, had opted to hurry off to bed, leaving the two men alone to talk.

“And then there were two,” Axel sighed as his parents climbed the stairs.

He lifted his bottle, and Galen raised his. They clinked them together before each taking a drink.

“So,” Axel said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Upgrading the defense of Winter…”

Galen nodded and took another drink.

“Is this concern out of the goodness of your heart?” Axel asked.

Galen took a deep breath. He had planned to have this conversation with Axel, he had just hoped it would be a bit more organic than this.

“Not exactly,” Galen answered.

“So what is it exactly?”

“You know already,” Galen replied.

Axel cocked an eyebrow.

“I told you, we are keeping her safe.”

“And I believe you,” Galen replied. “But knowing who he is, changes things.”

Axel furrowed his brows and sat forward in his chair.

“Bell told me that she never told you who he was,” he said.

“No, she didn’t,” Galen said. “But, a few days ago, I got an email…”

Galen proceeded to tell Axel everything that had happened in the various stages of the cyber war games between Alice and Nessa. The information they had received about the other packs, the questions that had been asked, the videos they had found of him. And finally, the email that he had received after.

About halfway through Galen’s explanation, Axel had stood up and begun to pace the room as he listened. Now that the story was over, he stopped and turned away from Galen.

“What did Caleb have to say about all of this?” Axel asked, then a little quieter. “Or Ashleigh?”

“I haven’t told either of them,” Galen replied.

“What?” Axel turned with a look of confusion. “Why not?”

“All of this information came from Alice,” Galen sighed. “She is a complicated topic right now.”

“What does that mean?” Axel growled.

Galen observed Axel’s behavior. It seemed a strange reaction.

“There are questions about what Alice’s intentions are, what her motives are. What she wants from us,” Galen said. “There have been… disagreements about the best way to handle her.”

“Handle her?” Axel asked narrowing his eyes at Galen. “From what you said it sounds like she helped you… she gave you information about what Autumn and the others have been up to. And she warned you about that piece of shit, even giving you his flight information.”

“Yea, it seems that way, but after the cyber-attacks–”

“Cyber attacks?” Axel scoffed. “Didn’t you say that Alice provided a complete system restore with upgraded defense?”

“Yes, but she crippled us first,” Galen countered.

“Seems more like she was trying to make it look like she crippled you…” Axel sighed.

“She kidnapped Ashleigh,” Galen stated firmly. “Took her right out of Summer and handed her to Granger.”

Axel took a deep breath.

“And those videos make it clear that her sights are now set on you. That is why the defenses need to be upgraded. Between the threat to Bell and now to you–”

“The threat…” Axel sighed and sat down, grabbing his hair in frustration. “She’s not a threat to me…”

“All due respect, Axel,” Galen sighed. “You don’t know what she is capable of.”

Axel sighed deeply and sat up looking at Galen with eyes filled to the brim with sorrow.

“Those videos…” he paused and took another deep breath. “She wasn’t plotting against me… she just… misses me.”

Galen thought her must have misheard. He leaned forward.

“What?”

Axel clenched his jaw and took a deep breath.

“I know that Alice is not a threat to me, or to Summer, because… she is my mate.”

Galen’s eye went wide and his breath caught in his chest.

“What did you jus–”

The sound of a door opening cut off Galen’s words, and both men turned to see Clara stepping out of the guest room.

“Oh, hi,” she said awkwardly. “Just looking for the bathroom?”

“Upstairs, first door on the left,” Axel replied.

“Thanks!” she said quickly heading toward the stairs.

Axel took a deep breath but didn’t turn back to Galen.

“Ask Bell for the details, she knows it all,” he said before quickly walking away and out the front door.

***

Axel sat down at his desk, he drew a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair. Telling Galen was not something he intended to do. But it was too late to worry about it now.

There were so many misunderstandings about Alice; did he really want her to come home to him with everyone he loved still hating her?

He took a deep breath and opened the laptop that sat on his desk. After letting it warm up, he stared at the small circle at the top of the screen that held the camera.

He smiled.

“Hey…” he whispered. “I don’t know if you’re watching this… I don’t know if you ever will.”

Axel sighed.

“But just in case you are,” he said as the tears that were pooling in his eyes threatened to make their escape. “Just know, I love you, Alice.”

***

“Just know, I love you, Alice.”

The video paused, and two fingers gently touched the small screen. Resting where a tear that had fled his eyes and rolled down his cheek.

“I love you too, Axel,” Alice whispered sadly into the cold night.