Ayn's Healing

Chapter 20 - Kari

Albert welcomes me warmly to his pack and presents me with a decently filled training schedule.

"Thank you, Alpha"

"My pleasure. I hope you will still find time to speak with my mother in law. Although, I must warn you, she's...something else." His voice is not smiling anymore "I hope you find the answer you seek. I will see you at dinner."

After being dismissed by the Alpha I want to say hello to Astrid. I vaguely remember her earthy scent and I try tracking it. It leads me through the forest, to a large clearing. There, on the grass sprinkled with wild daisies, my feisty red-haired friend is busy entertaining a slender blonde. Astrid's hands are climbing towards her partner's breasts and I realise this would be a good time to make my presence known, lest I get labeled as the visiting perv.

Hearing my cough, Astrid pushes herself away from the blonde girl and throws her a t-shirt.

"Get dressed and go." 

"I am not done..." The blond one whines, pouting in protest.

"But I am." smiles Astrid, grabbing a thin strand of the girl's hair and twisting it around her finger. "Go now, I will see you...later".

Astrid slides in a formless onesie and comes to hug me.

"You are either impressively stealthy or I should really be more careful. I didn't sense you coming at all. One of these days I will get caught by my father or one of his wolves."

"Well, you were....focused. Is she the one?"

"What, Kyra? No, just a very delicious post-training dessert." She licks her lips, and then smiles, seeing me tense uncomfortably at her frankness.

"So what brings you to literally our neck of the woods"?

She chucles at her own joke. Their pack houses are scattered in a dense oak forest, with no path connecting them.

"I came to complete my Alpha training with your dad's warriors.... Also, I am here to talk with your grandmother"

"Hanne? Why?" Astrid is genuinely puzzled, from which I understand that Albert kept some information to himself.

"Do you remember Ayn, the female of my parents' friends, who is staying with us?"

"Oh yes, yes I do. Did you get lucky?" Astrid says in a husky voice and a subtle wave of lust flickers in her eyes.

"Stop that, you horny lady. She's my mate." I blurt out barely hiding my anger, which comes over me in waves even though I know rationally I have nothing to fear with regards to Astrid.

Her eyes narrow with curiosity.

"Well, congratulations. Why do you need to inform my grandma about it?"

"Ayn is..not one of us" I say plainly and I watch her as she is doing the math in her head.

"She's a witch!! You got mated with a witch!!" Astrid whispers as she's holding her freckled cheeks between her palms. I don't really have a reply to her stating the obvious, so I sit down on the moss-covered tree that had been Kyra's love chair just minutes ago.

"This is..special"

"That's what my father said"

"Before sending you away?"

"He didn't send me away. I asked to come. My mother told me your grandma was a hybrid and I want to speak to her and understand what that means."

"Well, good luck with that. First of all, Hanne - don't call her grandma, she will destroy you - presents herself for all intents and purposes as a shifter and she actually spends most of the time in wolf form. I think the younger pack members have no idea she's dual. She never spoke to me about her witch side, I cannot see her sharing that with a stranger. Although, you are a stranger with a very real prospect of having hybrid pups, so maybe that will help."