Chapter Two - Ungrateful

Chloe's POV

I was sitting in my office and waiting for Kari to let me know she had arrived in Oslo safely. She had emailed me to tell me that she had boarded the flight and would call me once she could. It was only a short flight, but my mother hen gene had set in. I don't know what it was about Kari, but my need to protect her was overwhelming. I looked at my watch and felt my knee begin to bounce as I began to panic that something was wrong. 

Suddenly my iPad started to ring and I saw her number appear. I smiled and answered it to see her face fill my screen and smiled at her. The bounce in my knee pausing when I realised that she was safe and looked well

"There's my gal!" I exclaimed grinning at her. "You arrived safely then?"

"Da, spasibo, Clo." She responded in Russian. I was always amazed at how easily she could pick up a language, it really annoyed me as well, as I struggled to pick up languages, luckily this one I spoke and it meant she wasn't alone.

"Ah, not alone?" I said to her, obviously already knowing the answer.

"Niet." She told me, before continuing her conversation in Russian. I could see her Bluetooth headset in her ear so I knew only her side could be heard. "I knew they were a well-built nation, but my God you should see the two who picked me up. They look like their clothes have been painted on they are so tightly pulled over their muscles."

I chuckled as I noticed a pink tinge appear on her cheeks. I hoped for her sake that they didn't speak Russian. "Ring me tonight when you are alone and tell me everything, girl. Glad you arrived safely and I will speak later." I told her with a grin.

"Choroso Clo." She told me before hanging up. I chuckled and sat back in my chair. I loved that girl like a sister. 

Suddenly the phone on my desk started to ring. I leant forward and picked up the handset and placed it against my ear.

"Dr Burbridge! Head of Scientific Research." I said sternly.

"Doc, I have a Mr Ichthys on the phone for you." Came my Secratery's voice. I groaned.

"Put him through." I sighed. This was all I needed. There was a click. "Father," I growled.

"Don't speak to me in that tone child." He sneered

"I will speak to you how I want, you made it quite clear you never wanted me, so why do you keep bothering me, the mistake." I snarled back.

"I may not have wanted you, but I still got you, you are my flesh and blood and you should do as you are told." He growled at me. I felt the familiar stab in my chest at his words and I rubbed my chest to try and relieve the pain.

"What do you want with me this time?" I sighed, defeated.

"You are to return to your mother, where you can be watched over." He demanded of me.

"I am a human father, I do not live by your rules, I have my job here and I am happy. I thought you would be happy that I wanted nothing more to do with you." I said trying to keep my emotions in check. "I am not your problem. Never have been, never will be, something you told me yourself, but you still won't leave me the hell alone."

"You became my problem the moment your stupid mother birthed you. You should be glad I didn't get rid of you when you were born, I should have done you ungrateful child" I'd had enough now, I slammed the phone down and then pressed my intercom.

"Yes, Doc?" Came my secretary's voice.

"If Mr Ichthys calls again, please tell him I can not take his calls," I told him. I wanted to tell her to tell him to shove his phone up his arsehole, but the woman was easily embarrassed and I liked her and wouldn't put her in a situation like that.

"Of course Doc." She said and I turned off the intercom. That man could go sit and rotate. I leaned on my desk and pressed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger trying to control my emotions. For a man who wanted rid of me, he wouldn't leave me the hell alone. I would be a psychologist's dream with my childhood dramas, let alone my adult dramas.

I sighed, picking up my mobile I scrolled down to the number I wanted and called my mother.

"Chloe." She slurred. I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face, this happened every time. My father would ring her, give her a hard time over me, and she would go into a meltdown and drink away her sorrows. I would have to call Mrs Patterson who lived in the house next door and see if she could keep an eye on her for me again. I would have to get a crate of wine sent to the woman to thank her again. The irony of sending the woman who held my mother through her drunken stupor a crate of wine wasn't lost on me in the slightest, but I knew Mrs Patterson liked wine and wasn't reckless. She also had been witness to the fights between my father and mother and had always let me hide in her house when I was little and wanted to get away from all the shouting, screaming and crying. I always remembered the look of pity in her warm brown eyes when she would hear my father calling me the mistake.

"Momma." I sighed.

"Why is he like this?" She sobbed down the phone. I rubbed a hand over my face in frustration. She loved him, God knows why, as they weren't even fated to be together. Mermaids, like all other supernatural beings, had a fated partner that we called a beloved. I doubted I would have one, as although I have some kinds of enhanced abilities that I get from that side of me, I doubted I would find my one true love. Which depressed me because I couldn't settle into a relationship. 

"I don't know Momma. He will never change." I told her. The usual conversation we had every time my father interfered again.

"He used to be so sweet." She mumbled in her slurred tone.

"Yes, well that was before you kept me." I sighed.

"And I would make the same decision every time." She babbled out. "You are my little flower."

"Maybe you should move here momma," I said.

She sighed. "I tried that when you were a baby, but he always finds me."

"Are you going to be ok Momma?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes," She said before hanging up. I sighed and put a call to the neighbour who agreed to look in on my mother. I thanked her before closing down my computer and locking my office. It had been a long day and I still hadn't heard back from Kari. I wasn't too worried yet, but I had a strange feeling in my gut something was off.

Magnus' POV

I got into my car and drove to my apartment, I had been at University for the last month for the final year of my Master's degree, it was about three hours' drive from my pack, house where I would be returning in a few days. My wolf Dellinq was a little restless in my head.

'What's the matter bud?' I asked him.

'Don't know.' He mumbled.

'Something wrong?'

'No, I think something good is coming our way.' He murmured as he paced around, not sure what to do with himself. I had never known him to be so disorientated.

Suddenly my phone began to ring. I looked at it in the cradle to see it was my Alpha and Brother Henrick. I clicked the button on my stirring wheel and the crackle of the blue tooth came to life. 

"Alpha," I said.

"Magnus." He said. "She is here."

"Who is there?" I asked confused.

"Our sister." Both I and my wolf stilled. "We found her?"

"Yes, she arrived today under the guise of us needing her aide in some research." He told me.

"How is Pappa?" I asked him as I turned into the drive of my apartment. and parked my car. I stayed where I was, cutting the engine.

"He hasn't seen her yet. He is like a child at Christmas at the moment. I met her this afternoon. She is definitely one of us." He said.

"What is she like?" I asked, eager to hear about the girl we had been looking for since our father told us about her. Our long lost half-sister.

"You will like her. She is very intelligent and self-reliant. She called me Pappa, I guess I am around the age he was when he left her." He said with a sigh.

"You are the image of him," I said with a chuckle. Whereas my brother looked like our father, I took more after our mother. "I will try and get home as soon as I can."

"We need to take this slowly." He said. "So no need to rush."

"I will let you know. How is Mother taking it?" Whereas we were all the offspring of our father, our mother wasn't his fated mate. His fated mate he had to leave along with their pup to keep them safe from our vengeful Grandfather. Kari was that pup.

"She is being very supportive. She understands everything and wants to protect Kari like she is one of her own." Henri said. I wasn't surprised, it was the Luna wolf in her, wanting to protect everyone. It still must have been difficult for her knowing the mate who was chosen for her had a pup with another.

"She is Ok though? This can't be easy for her," I said to him.

"She always knew, father told her from the start about it. It took him three years to mark her, the kicker is his mate killed herself the day he marked our mother." I gasped. She was human, she shouldn't have reacted that strongly. There was something not right there. a human would have gotten over it.

"Have you told Pappa?" I asked my mind in overdrive over why a human had felt the bond so fully she would kill herself.

"Yes, I couldn't keep it from him. He needed all the facts. Kari found her." He said, bringing me out of my musings.

"Found who?" I asked with a frown.

"Her mother, she killed herself and Kari found her." He told me, and I felt the colour drain from my face.

"Oh shit," I muttered as my wolf lay on his paws, ears down and whimpered.

"Which is why I say we need to take this all slowly." He told me.

"I understand." I said starting my car up again.

"I will make my way back tonight." I told him, putting my car into reverse.

"You don;t need to, as I said we need to take it all one day at a time, let us meet her first and then we will slowly introduce the rest of her siblings." Henri said.

"I am still coming home." I told him. "I will stay out of the way but I want to be there to help. Dellinq agrees with me. He wants to be there to protect her from afar if nothing else."

"Ok. i will see you soon."