Chapter 142

Loiza's POV

After going to the shrines to meditate and give thanks over and over again, I go to my rooms again with Sophia perched on my shoulder. Earlier when she flew to the blue flamboyán some of it's blossoms turned yellow as her wings touched them. Was she already looking for me before? We passed the nursery and I showed her the still sleeping pups, she flew over perching herself by Deacon and tapped his crib with her beak making the sign of the Sun appear. With Jade it was the symbol for the Moon... It made me gulp hard... So the choice has ALREADY been made? What HAPPENED last lifetime?!

"Thank you Sophia please erase the symbols, you will say nothing of this to Lord Apollo, do you understand?" She obeyed and flew over and perched herself on my shoulder again. I'm sure he already knows something and that's why he Blessed them that way. I look through the bond and saw nothing of it, I know him well enough to know that he wouldn't want me to suffer this pain now. He always thought he was so smart, and he really is. But he has never enraged Athena as I have... Stupid cunt ... I need my trident! To at least FEEL it in my hands... I'll have to take this new information into consideration and have a new curriculum for her to get her ready.

'You MUST accept this now Loiza!' Aryn has been purring all morning... 'I know my darling wolf, I will.' I take a deep breath of Jade's sweet scent to help me calm down and take one last look at them before I leave.

It still will take Chandrama a while to get here and Víctor told me that he would let me know the moment Blood Moon was airborne so he would portal Kayden over. Both packs will arrive very late, so the airport has been equipped to receive them with the proper personnel.

As I arrived to our rooms their serene aura and soft scent hit me as I see them in one of the couches overlooking The Caribbean in the balcony...

"MACO! I'm actually really glad you're here! Hello Amelia, how's everything going?" And I nod my chin towards her growing belly. She touches it smiling and looks at Maco then back at me... It's ok she's not ready. Sometimes we find so much peace in silence. Also I made sure not to touch her, I don't want her afraid or her wolf on edge.

Maco noticed, he was basically cocooning her in his arms. It made me silently chuckle.

"Hey Izz, that was some intense shit earlier! Remember always that I love you baby sister! Aaaand has Bayo seen your new friend?" He asked smiling at Sophia. Ha! I'm so glad that he has found happiness, I have made several special ritual prayers for them with Magdalena assisting. I make sure it's just the two of us, she is an exceptional Priestess! I can definitely see now why she was paired with Victor! She has great potential and she's VERY skilled with Earth, even though she is a Kappa naturally instinctual towards air. Here and there I have been giving her some High Priestess instruction. And she is such a competent guide for meditating! There is when she definitely releases her Kappa air singularity. While at the Shrines we also performed a special prayer to ensure the success of her Heat, she should know by the day after next if it was!

"He has... You can probably imagine! It was hysterical! Check this out... He used the excuse of protecting the honor of changos and not diss Lord Changó!" Bayo can suck it! He can worship whomever, my Orishas have always been Iya Nla and Olokun and I always feel Mami Wata looking out for me.

"What a load of bullshit! He hates THOSE birds, too! When is he going to accept his phobia?" He says laughing, Amelia chuckling with us!

"Don't know, maybe next lifetime!" Amelia is looking WAY better, and has a little baby fat making her look very healthy! Good... Our family NEEDS her healthy. I'll tell Apollo to give them a secret Blessing, he and our son are the main Gods of health after all. As a doctor herself he will view her with favor. Yet, like all gods he has his polarity... Just as he brings health, he can bring plague as well.

"I saw in an earlier report that you went to The Drag! Checked with Chelo and he told me what happened! What the fuck is up with Hatuey? He would even tag along in the missions you guys would go. How's the car? And Nina told me you want an official family reunion?" He asked in his now VERY soothing, calm and serene voice that is now his trade mark since mated to Amelia. It's even been helping with negotiating with his own creations. People are so lulled by how he speaks that investors are more willing to fork up for his projects... I miss playing speed chess with him at the iron cast table at the end of the yard... It reaches to the cliff that overlooks Cofresí Bay where we could see all the way down to the docks and Mt. Aybané and Mt. Cemí in the distance.

I link for wine and a virgin sangría for the prego.

"Maco I have no clue, I want to see what's going to be the answer from the Reyes family to this, I also want to hear what the Saint Germaines have to say... And Abuelo's car is EXACTLY the same as last you saw it! Ura says that Hatuey has no creativity." I go to my nightstand and get the keys and throw it over at him, which he catches like nothing.

"Take her home brother, she should be where we played with her! Remember I want to make sure that OUR house remains for ALL our family. And sorry, you're going to be having a construction crew over very soon, I want to make sure both houses are in tip top shape and we're going to do special add ons to the back like Mom wanted, plus I want to see the original plans. Can you check and see how to make the old dungeons into an arms cellar and library, weather control and such? We haven't used those in over two centuries anyway and I want our books and diaries in OUR house! Also know, I handed Coa over to Hiroto so that their Kappas who handle steel can examine the blade. If it can be repaired I also want it at the house." A Damascus steel sword is IMPOSSIBLE to find unless in a museum... We have no idea where our great grandmother Asenath got it from, but the Masters who work steel don't dare touch it. That art has been lost to everyone and we didn't know about until it was already gone. Our house is really not so much two houses as much as one very big one, our great-great-grandfather Beta Imotonex, made sure it had a lot of similarities to The Fort, like most of the architecture of European colonial times, it was basically the trend!

However he did ensure several particularities to the house including an access to the catacombs and our own special burial space for our ancestors. He was the one who started the worship for Changó in the Mirabal family, I guess falling in love with a Priestess of his will do that to you! We even have a small shrine in backyard for him along with the one for Selene, Atabex and Yocahu... Tía laid fire flowers, honey and blood for him for a week when she returned to thank him for her and our survival...

One of our favorite places was the access to the wine cellar! Man, Ura and I would totally break in and just get hammered! I'm pretty sure Dad knew! And we definitely know Mami knew because she totally caught us! She was even more pissed at us because neither of us said ANYTHING, not a word! And it was even more frustrating to her because she knew it was because we simply didn't talk, I was still 15! I was completely alive in the link in the pack by then, but the person I spoke most to in the link was still Ura. I remember linking to him: 'Shouldn't you say something?' Totally throwing him under the bus! His only answer was 'What should I say?' I didn't know how to answer that, we were pretty drunk! So we let it go and we kept quiet! We still joke about it to this day!

"Also, I'm glad you brought the reunion up... Brother we keep growing, I am building not just a legacy for Karaya, but for OUR family. How can I lead a balanced pack if there's so much strife in our own family? Look at what we achieved this morning! And that was because for just ONE instant our filial Bond shared ONE pain and had ONE goal. Imagine if we had THAT harmony ALWAYS!" He looks thoughtful, he now KNOWS what I want from him and I see as he closes his eyes in acceptance with a sigh. That's the amazing thing about Maco, he reminds me so much of Mami, he even has her soft brown curls like Nina and Suania and her fair skin like Bayoán and Myself.

"Nina is going to take care of the reunion details to hash out and fix what we must when our cousins return." They bring the drinks and he kissed Amelia's forehead giving her the sangria.

"How do you think the others will take it? I mean, in any case it would fall onto Tía to be head of our family, no?" Not necessarily, either way that won't do.

"Amelia I am going to have a few words with my brother, if you have noticed through the Bond, Maco and I are good, but he doubts himself so much sometimes that it makes me want to kick some sense into him, do you think you can stay for that or would it be to much for you and Nelly?" I can see that she's negotiating with her wolf while I look at Maco while he takes a sip of wine, clearly not comfortable. I know how he feels... Being put into power does that to some people and being The Patriarch of our family will give him power to make crucial decisions for the future of our House... Just like it was with Dad.

"I would like to stay. Maybe I can get some pointers because he DOES doubt himself too much. I want to see what you do to make him understand that he is kind and so very smart and perfect." YES she's healing! She looks at him full of adoration... Oh yes! This is the SERENE ENERGY we need to flow through our family.

"Maco?" He has always had my respect and vice versa. When I came back from Avalon he was barely home, he was in the field most of the time, yet Ura told me he had put him in charge of watching over me and reporting to him when he returned. He told me he had a heavy argument with both Mom and Dad over this with 'choice words'. Shortly after he returned from Istanbul with a new career totally different from what the Greek coding states for a Gamma, and he stayed home.

"Yeah Izz, she can stay... She's also stronger than she gives herself credit for." Hey! That's a sorta clap back! He waited so long for her... He can't stop looking at her and she can't stop blushing at his gaze. I'm not going to thrash Maco like we did with Nina I just want to get through to him.

"Maco your right, some families choose the eldest family member, they want their wisdom and experience inside their Bond. But other families pick the strongest or most gifted to lead them bringing THAT energy through our filial Bond. OUR family right now is in a position that needs neither of those things. We HAVE power! OUR family RULES Karaya, that's the first time in the history of our House that's happened, that's why me being head of our family would be moot, besides, we don't want to give me any MORE power, that could have devastating results! I'm doing Gaia's will, but I don't agree that a Priestess should be Alpha and have this much power. Also remember Maco, we belonged to that Alpha elite through Mami and the Real Blood line. But look at the Reyes family... Instead of making Braka head of their family, they chose Casimar. They keep cementing their house as the main seafarers of The Osupa, and that's exactly what they have achieved for centuries.

"Now because of both Mom and Dad's standing, we were educated here at The Fort, just like YOUR pups will be. Not everyone in the pack has had the privilege we had brother. Even our own HOUSE is a historical patrimony of our people, it's one of the first homes of The Citadel! Even the adjacent house where Bayo and Morgana lived in. We owe it to Mom, Dad and all of our ancestors to show them that we, as a UNITED family will continue their legacy." Amelia looks a me with huge eyes and then at her bump, she's now understanding the place of power and privilege in the pack that HER own child will have. Good! Because as Maco will be Head of our House, SHE will become it's Matriarch garnishing a place of higher hierarchy and power in our family. I'm sure Maco will explain that to her when they get home. Not only that, but because of that little boost in power, it should help her with her own confidence and healing. We can't have the matriarch of our family feel like she is trash because of what some animals did to her, so it will also be part of us as her family to keep feeding her ego. And it will be up to BOTH of them to ensure that our House endures, and that the children of every single one of us has a set place in the pack. Of our family, I don't know if anyone else that can do this better than him.

"You're sounding like Dad." He says bitterly. If only!

"Maco, I'm actually quoting Mom. You KNOW she put behind her Real connection and focused her energy to the Mirabal bloodline." Maco was the first born. He wasn't a Beta, but Mami saw his potential, and nurtured as she knew how. I think she would approve of this.

"When did she say that?" I walk over to the living area of my room where Nina took every one of the saved books from home and had Master Jorel make a beautiful bookcase for them. The rest are in my Temple. I take a dairy bounded in white leather and take it to Maco.

"There... It's her diary." He looked clearly uncomfortable to go into our mothers head. I found it fascinating! Especially after what happened yesterday morning after the meeting.

"Maco, she's gone... THIS is what we have left of her. Look, I know you guys only came for a short visit but this was serendipity. I really needed to talk to you about this especially with what happened yesterday." I explained to him what happened between Ura and Nina. And he was frowning in deep though.

"Yeah, I'll read what she has to say, does anyone else know?" Sigh...

"No... Not even Nina who put it there. You know how she is. I am trusting YOU with it, you'll find some very interesting information about our family in it." Several in fact!

"Maco, Tía is very capable at many things but it's always been you and Talia who try to keep the peace and even then you're the most capable of achieving Mom's goals for our family. More than ever we need SERENITY as the main energy feeding our filial Bond. Read her diary, Amelia already is understanding the position of power her child will have in the pack I hope you explain to her what her own standing shall be." He nods looking at her.

"This is how we survive..." He says standing up looking though some pages.

"No brother, no more surviving... This is how we ensure we LIVE!"