RAINBOW

When you are a grown up sometimes is fun to visit the place you once called home, the place that saw you grow up and for me, the Bramville wolf pack was that, a place where I cried, laughed, and even broke some bones, but that’s a story for another time. I always thought the people from the pack were so nice to me, even if I was not of their own they treated me as if I was just another wolf pup. Back then, Vivi and I used to have more freedom, we were our true selves but nothing lasts forever and when I moved away for college I had to do something to protect us. Vivi was against it at first but he understood my intentions and accepted it. But even now that we were back home, I couldn’t get myself to free us again.

‘You are rubbing it again.’ Vivi said in my mind and I looked at my right wrist, noticing how unconsciously my fingers played with the thread bracelet that I was wearing. ‘You know you can just take it off.’

I shook my head, and let go of the bracelet. ‘It’s not safe for us to do that.’ 

‘Victor, we haven’t seen any of them in years, I think it will be okay.’ Vivi reassured me and I knew he was right, but the fear was still inside me. They could be anywhere.

‘I’m…not ready yet.’ 

‘It’s okay, you know I don’t really mind. I’ll wait all you want.’ Vivi said once again, I could tell he wanted to be truly free and I was the one holding him back, but it was better to be safe than sorry and regret it later.

“Rainy! I’m so glad I ran into you. Can you help me?” A cheerful voice broke me from my thoughts, it was Mikaela, who was carrying many bags with him and could barely handle them. I smiled and helped him with some of the bags.

“Hey Mika, where the hell is that dumb mate of yours? How could he leave you alone with all this?” I said acting upset and ready to fight Mason for leaving my best friend to carry all the bags he should carry as a gentleman.

“He had an important meeting with Byron. I swear if it wasn’t important he would have been helping me.” Mika sighed and gave me a soft smile.

“Well, it better be important or I’m scolding him.” I walked alongside him looking at all the bags we had. “What’s all this?” 

“Well, Jamie made me go buy all this for the dinner. I swear he is preparing a huge feast. We are going to have leftovers for days.” Mika deeply sighed, he looked so tired and I couldn’t blame him, dealing with Papa Jamie was a lot. “You better take some of the leftovers with you, Rainy.”

“Of course I will, but why is Papa making so much food?” I asked him confused, it was going to be a family-only dinner so it was just us four and Mika.

“Probably because he is so excited that you came back home, your dad must be excited too,” Mikaela said giving me a soft smile, I knew they missed me but there was no need to make it such a big deal.

“I guess they both are excited, but it’s not that much of a deal.” I sighed shifting the bags to my other hand because I was getting tired. 

“You know how Jamie is. You might not be blood-related but you are his favorite son.” I wanted to argue but he had a point.

“I can’t deny that because you are right.” We both laughed and kept talking about other things, Mika knew about Kang Dae already so he asked me how things were going with him and I just smiled, I hadn’t told him or Julien about the kissing we did the day of our date.

When we finally arrived home we were greeted by my dad, he was sitting on the front porch of the house reading a newspaper. Mikaela told me that since Byron and Mason took over the pack, both my dad and Uncle Rendall had entered a stage of retirement, having too much time and no idea of what to do with it.

“Hey Dad!” I said out loud, gaining his attention as he looked up from the newspaper and gave me a soft smile, he stood, leaving the paper in the chair he was sitting on, and came to us, embracing me with his big arms and giving me a big hug; I’ve always loved how he hugged me.

“My kitten, it’s so good to have you back.” He said and I smiled even more, cuddling in his arms. He broke the hug apart and looked at the bags we were holding, easily carrying them all. “Let’s go, Jamie is waiting in the kitchen.”

Mikaela and I nodded walking behind him, entering the house, and making our way to the kitchen, a lot of nostalgia hit me while my gaze fixed on all the framed photos that decorated one of the living room walls. Papa Jamie always liked taking photos together, he always said that photos were a good way to keep memories and I'm sure that's what made me study photography, the fact of capturing memories and moments through photos, as well as the happy faces and reactions of people to them motivated me a lot to choose that path in my life. 

“Mason really looked adorable when he was a kid,” Mika said and I laughed. “I’ll never get over the fact that he was like an angel.”

“He might have looked cute, but he is no angel. More like a demon,” I said joking,  and Mika laughed.

“And I love him just like that~” My friend said walking into the kitchen and I heard my Papa’s soft voice coming from the kitchen door, I had prepared mentally for dealing with him and now there was no turning back.

“Hey Papa,” I walked into the kitchen smiling to my omega dad and he just squealed, running to me and giving me a big hug, he was taller than me by a few inches. 

“My baby! I missed you so much, how have you been?” He moved away from the hug and looked at me placing his hands on both sides of my face. “Have you been eating well? You look like skin and bones, I’m going to make some side dishes so you can take them home.”

“Yes Papa, I’ve been okay and I came out from my heat a few weeks ago, you know how hard that time is for me.” I sighed.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. You should’ve texted me, I could have gone right away to take care of you.” Papa said, rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs, I took one of his hands.

“It’s okay, I’ll let you know next time.” I softly smiled and put his hands away from my face.

“Okay, but I’m still giving you food so you can take it back home.” He gave me a serious look and I knew I couldn’t say no to him.

“Fine, fine. I’ll take the food home.” I laughed defeated, I heard my best friend giggling in the back as well.

“How’s my other kitten doing? My mischievous Vivi.” Papa asked, a big smile back on his face.

‘Oh Papa, if only you knew what I have been dealing with. We found our mate and he is amazing but mister Victor here doesn’t want to mate him yet so it’s stressful.’ Vivi said in my mind whining as if Jamie could listen to him.

“He said he is fine and happy to be here with you.” I lied, of course, I was not going to tell them all that rant Vivi just said calling me out for not wanting to jump on Kang Dae and mate with him.

‘You sit on a throne of lies, Victor Lowell.’ Vivi hissed and I internally sighed. ‘You know I can’t tell him about Kang Dae, he will make a big deal out of it.’

“Okay, go hang out with your dad and Mikaela while I finish preparing dinner.” He gave me a short kiss on the cheek and then gave us signals with his hands kicking us out of the kitchen. I sighed but followed Mika and Dad back to the living room.

I sat down next to Mika on the sofa while Dad took one of the single chairs. Time may pass but Papa didn’t get rid of these old sofas, they had been here even before I came to live with them, I’m actually impressed with how well-kept they were.

“So how is work going kitten?” Dad’s deep voice broke me away from my thoughts and I glanced at him.

“Well it’s going great, I’ve been really busy lately.” I proudly smiled.  “Both taking photos and modeling.” 

“That’s nice, make sure to send us the links to those campaigns you model for, your Papa loves making albums with them.” He said smiling softly and I nodded.

“Sure, I’ll send them to you, but I feel Papa will find them on his own.” I joked and Dad chuckled.

“You are right, Jamie has his ways.” He admitted, I looked at Mikaela who gave a little sign and whispered that he had to take a call. He stood and left the room, leaving us alone.

“Indeed he does.” I giggled and gave Dad a more serious look. “How is retirement treating you?”

“Well, it’s been hard but I’ve got to spend more time with your Papa.” He said with a soft smile while playing with his hands. “I’ve been helping him in the clinic too, but Rendall well…”

“It’s been rough for him, right?” I gave Dad a sad look, unlike him, Uncle Rendall only had Byron, he had no mate to distract himself with or help and it was sad.

“Yes, it’s been rough. We hang out often and he is also always keeping up with Byron but you can tell he gets bored alone.”

“Well, I hope he finds his mate soon.”

“He is not even trying.” Dad sighed and I could tell how bad he felt for his friend, he shook his head and gave me a soft smile. “Enough of the sad talk, kitten. Would you like to go for a run later? You know like the old times.”

“Uhmm…” I said, thinking of an excuse to reject his proposal, unconsciously again my left hand covered my right wrist while my fingers played with the thread of my bracelet. “It sounds nice but Vivi has turned into a really lazy and spoilt cat so I don’t think he will like that, maybe another time.”

“Okay, sure. We can do it another time.” Dad said something disappointed and surprised because he had rejected him, I loved going for a run with him but now I can't, he can't know anything.

‘I’m sorry, Dad…’