Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Gonzalo PoV

I stood waiting at the airport for this supposed vampire assassin. I had nothing against them, however, I would be lying if I didn't say I had been adverse to working with them since Sicily. Thankfully, our interactions with the vampire world had always been few and far between. Until now.

A tall lean man with long light brown hair was walking towards the exit, looking around, searching for someone. I let Dario come forward slightly so that I could use his enhanced smelling sense to double check that this was our guy. The sweet smell of vampire hit my nose and I saw him pause a step. He looked at me then smiled, and flashed his brown eyes red before he continued my way. I think it was his way of introducing himself.

"Your iris control is impressive," I said as I led him to the SUV's trunk to put his luggage in.

"As is the way you wolves can expand your aura. Adrien," he said with an Italian accent as he stuck his hand out towards me after putting his baggage in the trunk. "Gonzalo," I said, shaking his hand.

"Is it always this hot in the south this time of year?" He asked, taking off his jacket.

I laughed, "It's only 70 degrees and this is technically the Southwest."

"It's south of the country. It's the South to me," he said, and I shook my head at him and smiled as I headed to the driver's side.

"There's a cooler in the back. I know it's a long trip to get here," I told him, and he instantly looked happier. I gave him a little privacy and shot off a couple of texts to the guys letting them know I'd picked up our guest and answered a few emails. "Thanks, man. I was starving," he said, climbing into the passenger seat. I nodded at him and started the drive home.

"So do you know when we can expect your friend?" I asked, not having anything else to talk about.

"Nope. We aren't really given details on anyone's assignment. Snow White's assignments are always special requests from the Queen, so we know even less about them unless I'm allowed to go with her," he explained.

"Snow White?" I asked.

"Yeah, her skin is white as snow, ate from a poisoned apple... It's just a nickname." He shrugged.

We chit-chatted for a little while about the job and pack life. He seemed like a nice enough person and I found myself enjoying the ride. He made it easy to relax. I pulled into the packhouse entrance close to 11 and Helios, Nat, Theo and Sebastian were waiting for us there. "Oof, sexy," I heard him whisper.

"You better watch what you say. Alpha won't like it if you hit on his Luna," I warned him as I slowed down.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"Huh? Oh no. I have no interest in the Luna. She's pretty, but my type is more all the hunky men to her left and right. Which one is the Alpha?" He asked.

I smirked, "The one on the left is our Alpha. I'd be careful how you approach the one on the right though. The big man next to him is his mate. You will probably live longer if you hit on our Alpha. Luna might enjoy him getting flustered."

"Thanks for the tip," he said, grinning at me, and I couldn't help laughing. This was going to be fun. I unbuckled and started to open the door when he grabbed my arm, "And what about you handsome?"

I grinned, "I'd be offended if you didn't try, but I'm afraid I don't bat for that team."

"Oh, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun here. I've changed the minds of a few in my time," He winked at me.

I laughed and shook my head and went towards the back to get his bag while he introduced himself. I heard a low growl and I turned to see an angry Sebastian in front of a blushing Theo and Natalia trying not to laugh at Helios' blushing and shocked face. I can only imagine what he said to them, especially when he turned around and winked at me before he came over to grab one of his bags. "Fighting a losing battle with mated wolves," I laughed at him.

"Oh, but it's so much fun already." He smirked as he wrapped his arm around mine as we pulled his bags towards the packhouse. Sebastian seemed to relax a little when he saw me escorting our guest. 'You OK there?' I asked him.

'I don't appreciate a stranger coming to my home and hitting on my mate in front of me,' he growled.

'You know he was just f*****g with you, right? I told him you guys were mates in the car. I explained to him.

'He asked Helios and Theo if they'd be up for a night of fun. That he knew how to suck in more ways than one. How could I possibly know he was f*****g with us, he grumbled.

I couldn't help the laughter that came out of my mouth and I almost doubled over with tears in my eyes. Adrien simply looked down at me, his arms still wrapped around mine. A happy look was on his face. I had a feeling that was basically his persona: Happy. "I think I'm going to really like you." I told him as I showed him his room. "We head out in two days. We're having a meeting tomorrow evening to go over the final details. Until then, you can roam around however you want. Our packgrounds are connected to Crescent Moon's via a bridge. The river basically divides the two properties. Try to keep to our side until you meet their Alpha and Luna. Otherwise, if you find you need anything to make your room comfortable, let us know."

"Thanks pumpkin. This is honestly the nicest welcome I've had in a long time. Is there any training at night?"

"Not currently, but I can reach out to see if anyone wants to flip for a while. I know some of us are curious to see how vampires fight and we're always up to learn new tricks. Leave it with me." I told him honestly. Something about him felt so genuine that I couldn't help but feel like we were already friends.

I found Helios waiting for me back downstairs. I smirked as I approached him, "I hear you had an interesting proposition tonight."

He laughed, "It caught me off guard for sure. What do you think of him? You spent a few hours with him on the drive in."

"Honestly, I like him. I wasn't prepared to, but he's pretty easy going. A s**t disturber, no doubt, but I think we could do with a little bit of that" I grabbed some leftover blueberry pie from the fridge and dumped it in the microwave for a minute. I grabbed it out of the microwave and two forks and set it on the counter between us. He took the fork and we started digging in. "He asked about night training. I think I'll ask the guys in the morning if anyone is interested and maybe even ask Danny if anyone is interested over there. Would be neat to see if we can learn anything from him and his friend when she arrives. He said she's the Queen's personal assassin, so it could be really interesting to see them fight."

"Theo mentioned you wanted to do another poker night?" He asked, randomly changing the subject.

"Yeah, it's been a while," I said. His face was schooled to nothing as he casually ate the pie. I sighed, "Listen, I know I've been a total s**t friend in the last few months. I am trying to get over it. I just need some time. I'm sorry I've just been adding to your already giant list of s**t to worry about."

Helios just shook his head, "I should be the one apologizing. I know you've been dealing with s**t for a while and I've ignored it as much as I could, trying to give you time to deal with it on your own. I don't think that's how it works anymore. I don't think you're going to get over whatever happened until you talk about it."

"I hear you. I do, but I need a bit more time," I said.

"It's been 200 years, Gonzalo," he said patiently, concern clear in his voice.

I shook my head, "To me it was two months ago when I saw Queen Karissa again."

Helios frowned, "Did she have anything to do with how we found you?"

"Yes, but she barely even looked at me then. It wasn't personal for her. She dismissed me as insignificant and requested I be taken care of with a wave of her manicured fingers," I struggled to keep my voice composed as flashes of that night popped into my head. Helios' face darkened with rage. I grabbed the empty pie plate and put it in the dishwasher. "We'll have to ask Celeste for a few more of those. That was the last of it. Can you talk to the boys and let me know what night works for you guys for poker? I'm going to try to get some sleep so I can make the morning training sessions and see if we can get something going for us to train with Adrien."

"Yeah sounds good. Markus and friends might be interested too?"

"The more the merrier. Maybe Adrien wants to play too. Would be a good way to learn more about him and figure out if we can really trust him," I said as I left the room. Dario flowed strength into me as I made it into my room, while I was assaulted by memory after memory. I barely managed to stumble onto the bed before my knees collapsed under me. My eyes zeroed in on the top drawer of my dresser. My memories stopped assaulting me and all I could see were the violet eyes.

We need to talk to someone. You can't keep dealing with this alone. - Dario said as I finally managed to shut my eyes and tried to go to sleep.

OK. We'll talk to Celeste tomorrow. - I said as I let the exhaustion of the day pull me into another night of nightmares.

I went over to the training grounds and grabbed a bunch of names for evening training. I walked into Crescent Moon Packhouse and wondered over to the kitchen. Celeste was always either in her office, the daycare or the kitchen.

I lucked out. She was putting something in the oven.

"Hey! I am making some croissants for brunch. What are you up to?" She asked.

"I was wondering if I could grab your ear for a moment," I said nervously.

"Sure!" She grabbed a timer and we went over to the little play room Markus had built her for the kids off to the side of the living room. She thanked the she-wolf for looking after the kids, and we sat on the couch as we watched the kids play. "What's up?"

"I was wondering. The flashes that Helios had last year. How did you know how to get rid of them?" I asked.

She frowned slightly. "I had panic attacks for a while after Blood Moon and don't tell Helios, because he feels bad enough, but I had some again shortly after the pyramids. I worked with my therapist for a while and figured out how to control them so they wouldn't cripple me as they did. Are you having panic attacks?"

"I am having flashbacks and it pretty much feels like I'm drowning. Teach me how to deal with them?" I asked her, desperately.

"I - I don't know what will work for you. I am not a professional. I can tell you what worked for me but you should talk about it, Gonzalo. Managing the symptoms is not the same as dealing with your trauma."

"I will. Helios and the boys should know first, but I have to be able to manage the flashbacks or I won't be able to get through it," I told her. She nodded and walked me through her exercises and I hoped they worked, because I needed to get past this s**t again. We had the first training session that evening with Adrien. It was interesting to watch. Adrien was lean and tall. There was not a lot of muscle on him, but he beat a few of our stronger warriors easily. He was quick and fluid in his movements. Like a song, his entire body flowed and moved like he had mastered the choreography. He couldn't beat the top warriors nor the ranked. He then confessed that he'd only begun his assassin work a decade ago. He'd been apprenticing under the Queen's assassin. Still, there was a lot we could learn from fighting someone with his speed, and everyone, including him, was excited to learn from each other.