Blue

Heh, for those wondering, about the end of my last A/N, it was this whole thing I have. You know, zombies will end the world. What the armadillo has to do with it is that about a year ago, I was driving in the country with my dad, and there was a dead armadillo on the side of the road. First time I saw one in the state I live in. Had to stop and pull over so dad could get a good look at it too. Anyway, armadillos can carry leprosy, and pass it on to people. And leprosy rots the skin… so it’s the beginning of the zompocalypse.

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Ashton had decided to work a little on their home, leaving Eli alone and bored. It wasn’t much longer until he was walking in the woods, towards the direction he knew he’d find Mama.

Almost ten minutes later, Mama’s cottage came into view, with Mama out in the garden, digging as she put in new plants, the olds ones having been unsalvageable after the large storm that had hit them a week earlier.

When Mama saw Eli walking towards her, a sullen look on his face, she stood up.

“Are you already having problems?” Mama said when Eli came into earshot.

“What? No. No!” No, definitely not.

Mama shook her head, a small smile on her face.

“Miss me, then?”

Eli almost nodded. Yes, he had, but that wasn’t what he was there for.

“Can I ask you something?” Eli asked nervously. Maybe trying to bring this up wasn’t the best idea. The past was the past.

“Well, out with it, boy.”

“Well… it’s just… uh.”

“Just… uh?” Mama cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh.” Eli chuckled nervously. “I was wanting to know… about my parents, you know? What happened to them?”

Mama rolled her eyes, before grumbling something to herself, then, “Figured this’d come up sooner or later. Come on, then.”

She crooked a finger, walking inside the house, Eli following close after.

“Have a seat, then.” She pointed to one of the chairs. Eli pulled up a small stool that had been sitting in the corner for as long as he could remember. He’d always sat on it whenever Mama started to tell him a story, if he wasn’t laying in bed, when it was just her trying to help him fall asleep.

“You remember how I told you I didn’t have a pack when I first found you?” She asked, and Eli nodded. “Well, they had a lot to do with that. Your parents, I mean.”

“Why?” Eli interrupted at the wrong time, flinching when Mama glared at him. “Sorry.”

Mama sighed, before continuing. “I had a good friend. Ester. Your mother. A red wolf, just like you. We’d been friends for the longest time. Been born around the same time as well. Fought over everything.” Mama laughed softly to herself as she remembered. “Though, it was always just for fun. But then there was Ira. Best pick in our day. It was well known that the Alpha was going to chose him to take his place. Wasn’t mated either.”

Eli wasn’t so sure he liked the longing look on Mama’s face.

“Boy did we fight over him. Though, her reason and my reason were completely different. She really cared for him. I… I just wanted to be able to call him mine. I started avoiding her, trying to piss her off, tried to make her back off.”

“Did it work?” Eli asked when he saw Mama had paused for him to ask. She gave a soft smile.

“How do you think you’re here now?”

Eli cocked his head to the side.

“One morning, I’d heard the news. They had mated the night before, long after I‘d turned in for the night.”

“What’d you do?”

“Ran. I was young, and pissed, so I ran. I’d thought she’d ruined everything for me. My whole life. I ended up passing out in a field. The wife of the farmer who owned the land had found me. Took me in, fed me, clothed me, let me stay there for about a year. I…”

Mama seemed to be struggling with herself about something. Whatever it was, she seemed to decide not to tell him.

“I was out running errands, and I overheard hunters talking. About a wolf pack that they’d ‘taken care of.’ I…” Mama let out a humorless laugh. “I went crazy. The only pack that was anywhere remotely near the town that I had found, it was ours. Yours.”

“What’d you do?”

“To this day, I still don’t know. There was blood on me, their blood. I don’t know if I killed them, or what. All I knew was that I had you, and that… your parents died trying to protect you.”

It seemed Mama was done talking, and they sat their in silence, Eli trying to take it all in.

“If you want…” Mama trailed off, licking her lips before going on, “I can tell you more about her. About Ester, I mean. I never knew much about Ira.”

Eli was already shaking his head. “No. I don’t want to.”

Mama looked up, curious. Eli shrugged slightly.

“You’re Mama. That’s all I need to know.”

Mama chuckled, before standing up. She rubbed Eli’s head, before giving him a one-armed hug.

“Now, get back to your mate. Too long apart and he’ll start getting antsy.”

Eli nodded, thinking things over. There was something she was keeping from him, he knew that much, but he knew better than to push it right now.

“I have another question.” Eli stood up quickly, stopping Mama as she was about to walk out of the door.

She groaned. “What now?”

“It’s about getting pregnant.” This had been on Eli’s mind for a while.

“What about it?”

“How am I supposed to… have them? I mean, they don’t out back there do they?”

Mama raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head. “No… Close though.”

“Where then?” The only other place he could think of was something he really didn’t want to think about.

“You’ll find out soon enough, when you see it, you’ll know what’s going on. Though, Ashton will probably have a better time seeing it then you.”

What…? Eli hands moved to his pants, attempting to pull them away from his stomach to see down them.

“Not yet, dingbat!”

Eli flinched, dropping his hands to his side, and looking at Mama sheepishly.

“Nothing will happen until you're about three months along or so. Don’t worry about it right now.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

Now that embarrassment was out of the way...

Maybe he should go see if Ashton needed anything. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

He said bye to Mama, and was off, walking quickly to get back to his mate.

He loved that word now. Mate. His mate. Just thinking about it made him want to run and jump. Maybe Ashton wouldn’t mind playing with him.

Besides, it might get him to take his mind off of what Mama was keeping from him.

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I’ve been wanting to get this out about Mama for the longest time. I was originally going to have it come up in chapter 7, but decided not to. Figured I could tie this up in this part. I wasn’t really going to update today, but things were looking up and it put me in a good mood, so I finished this chapter up. That, and I've had some scenes in my mind that I just have to write down before I forget.. If anyone’s wondering about Bridges, it should be updated in a few hours or so, today.