Chapter 8 Difference

• Noah’s p.o.v.
• Ever since Nero told us about Alayah and Miku’s reaction to her Eiji has been withdrawn, I know he was hoping we would be the first to find our Mate and now it seems that my youngest Brother will be the first to find his Mate. Not that I’m not happy for him, it is just a bit disappointing. Eiji pointed out she might be mated to all of us, after all we are like a quadruplet and in more ways than one.
• We all look alike, Dad can’t tell us apart from a distance and up close only Dad and Grandpa can tell us apart. Nero will show us to the Gamma floor after he has pointed out her office to us, he believes she will be there as she still has a lot of work to do before she has a clear oversight of the finances and I will be the first one to pay her a visit.
• Nero told us to call her Angel, it is the nickname he uses for her and so far she hasn’t told him to drop it. We know that her office had the bare minimum when he left and that they would deliver the furniture on Monday. No matter what happens in her office I will head back up to the Gamma floor and inform the others, Nathan will be next to pay her a visit and he will bring her a coffee. After that Nikolay will pay her a visit and he will bring her a treat we brought with us.
• What we will do after the three of us have seen her is unknown, but we will not give her up if there is an indication that she is our Mate and if she is Nero’s Mate we will back them up. We will be in their corner and we will shoot down anyone that wants them to ignore the Mate-bond because they are Stepsiblings. Eiji and I will rush to their defense if and when it is needed, no one will mess with one of my siblings and I really mean no one.
• For some reason we don’t run into anyone when Nero points out her office and the same goes for the way up to the Gamma floor. Nero was right, this floor is huge and I wonder why they ever build a Gamma floor this size. “Pick any room you want, the master bedroom is mine.” Nero says as he points to a door at the end of the hallway and I open the first door to my right, understanding immediately why the Gamma floor is so huge.
• I step into a room with a couch and some armchairs with an amazing view of the forest, I walk further into the room to see a door to my left and when I open it I step into the bedroom. On my right are the same floor to ceiling windows as in the sitting room and to the left there are two more doors, one opens to a walk-in closet and the other one is the door to the bathroom. No wonder the Gamma floor is huge, a family can live here without being on each other’s lip and I think I can get used to living here.
• After I unpack my bag I link my Brothers that I will go down stairs to see Alayah and each of them wishes me luck. Eiji is pacing my head, he is as curious about her as I am and we both want to find out if there is a connection between us or not. I make my way over to her office and after I open the door I peek around it to see her sitting behind her desk, Eiji yells there is a connection the moment I lock eyes with her.
• “Hello, Angel.” I say as I step into her office and I look around at the furniture she ordered for her office, it looks amazing. I curiously walk to the bookshelf that divides her office in to two sections, “Did you have much help with setting up your office, Angel?” I ask as I look into the sitting area she has created with the bookshelf, she really made the best of this space and I turn around to see her looking at me.
• She still hasn’t responded to anything I have said and for a moment I am afraid she will never answer me, but Eiji keeps looking at her through my eyes. He keeps confirming that there is also a connection between the two of us.
• Alayah’s p.o.v.
• The door opening startles me and for a moment I want to yell at whoever decided to walk into my office without knocking, but when I see Nero’s blond hair and ice blue eyes I relax. The moment he steps into my office I realize that this isn’t Nero, but one of his Brothers and I get a feeling that Nero is testing me. He calls me Angel just like Nero does and that tells me that the two of them concocted this together, not that he is fooling me one bit.
• I watch him as he walks further into my office, an approving look in his eyes when he looks at the interior and as I go over everything Crystal told me about Nero and his Brothers I realize that this is Noah. Unlike Nero he makes me feel like a little girl, not that I am not feeling safe around him, he just makes me feel different and Topaz keeps looking at him through my eyes.
• When he asks me how much help I had I decide to test my theory and I lean back in my chair as I cross my arms in front of my chest, “No help at all, Noah.” I answer him and Topaz is in stiches as he looks rather dumbfound, he doesn’t respond to my answer at all as he walks out of my office. Topaz flashes an image of his face the moment the door closes and I join her in laughing our asses off, I don’t think he had seen that one coming.
• “I hope they left Nathan and Nikolay at home, them trying to fool me once is enough.” I say to Topaz once we are both calmed down a bit and the look she gives me has my anxiety rocketing sky-high, “Don’t you dare say it, Topaz. I do not want to hear it, is that clear.” I yell at her, but I think I would have gotten a better responds from the painting on the wall. “I felt the connection with him too.” Topaz says and I bury my face in my hands.
• If Topaz feels a connection with Nero and Noah I am pretty sure she will feel it with Nathan and Nikolay as well and I still don’t know how to ask Grandma about this subject without her suspecting something. “What do you think he was testing?” Topaz asks me and I let my own questions run through my mind. “Maybe they wanted to know if I could tell them apart, maybe they wanted to know if they would share a Mate. All I know is that I have even more questions than I had this morning.” I answer her.
• I get back to scanning the last files I need to get the correct oversight for our meeting on Monday, one of the subjects I will bring up is a new Pack-house. Keeping both of them will become a bit expensive and I believe that one Pack-house in the center of our new territory will be more sufficient, it will at least be easier to keep track of the expenses for the kitchen.
• I have already written down a few suggestions for a new Pack-house and I hope Marc and Crystal will agree with me. It will be bigger than our current Pack-house, but it needs to be bigger with so many Pack-members and I wonder if Autumn Pack has a dining room like ours. I know Crystal hasn’t seen it yet and I hope we will have lunch and dinner at the dining room today, maybe I should suggest it to Marc.
• Topaz flashes me an image of Noah’s dumbfounded face and I think it is almost time for me to head to the kitchen to get myself a latte macchiato, to take a little break from staring at my laptop. I check the last stack of files I am working on and I smile when I realize I might get everything done today, if no one interrupts me again that is.
• While I keep scanning the files I let my software make a test run with the information I already have, I need to know I have enough information for my oversight. Otherwise I will have to start scanning files from over two years ago and that will mean I have to work during the weekend to get everything done by Monday morning, not something I am looking forward to.
• It would mean missing out on Sunday dinner with my family and I will do just about anything to prevent that from happening, I love family dinner because of Grandma’s cooking.
• Noah’s p.o.v.
• She knew exactly who I was and we never met before today, I am damn sure about that. How was she able to tell that I wasn’t Nero or how did she figure out that I was Noah? I have at least one answer, Nero and I share a Mate and I know I will not give her up. I walk back up the stairs to the Gamma floor and I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Nathan pays her a visit, I want to know if she can tell which of us he is.
• I walk into my room to take a shower before I tell Nathan that he can pay Alayah a visit, I know it will take a few days before the Mate-bond is in place and I can’t wait for her reaction when she finds out she has at least two Mates. Nero told me yesterday she will probably provoke me every chance she gets, she doesn’t like to take orders and she sure as hell doesn’t like it when someone thinks she is incapable of doing something because she is a female.
• Nero knows I will be overbearing and overprotective, something he thinks will rub Alayah the wrong way and I can’t wait to find out if she is willing to disobey me. Eiji is snickering in the back of my head, but he won’t tell me why and I know he will not tell me. Sometimes I don’t like my Lycan much and today is one of those days, he seems to be aware of something I am not.
• Nero asks me how it went the moment I walk into the living room, but I remind him of the plan we made and I don’t tell him anything about what happened in Alayah’s office. “You were right about her not looking like Mara, I believe she takes after her Father just like Mara said and I would really like to get to know her better. I do think it is good we didn’t grow up with her though, she would have kicked our asses a few times.” I say chuckling.
• Nero walks into the kitchen with us and tells us that in the morning Alayah takes a normal coffee with sugar and creamer, but that during the day she prefers a latte macchiato. Luckily the coffee machine in his kitchen can make it and he grabs a special mug out of the cabinet above the coffee machine, a long spoon already standing in it.
• Nathan is watching carefully as Nero presses a few buttons on the display and I see that the puppet sign changed color, pink is probably set for Alayah. That will make it easier for any of us to make her some coffee and when I ask him about it he confirms my suspicions, the pink puppet is set to her kind of coffee.
• Nikolay has tried to get me to say anything about my visit to Alayah, but I keep my mouth shut. I want to know how their visits go and if Yuma and Khal feel a connection with Alayah’s Lycan as well, they will find out if Eiji felt the connection once we all have paid her a visit. I walk back to the living room as Nero prepares her coffee, the reason for Nathan to enter her office.
• I sit down in an armchair and I lean my head back down as I close my eyes. Eiji and I let our interaction with Alayah run through our mind and I smile when I see the look on her face when she sees me walking into her office. She knew it the second I stepped into her office, there is no doubt in my mind and I wonder how she was able to tell the difference.