Page 98 of Brandt's Rule
“Why? When were you planning to tell me?” he asked.
Tempest swallowed, giving herself time to take in the image of him, just once more. Finally, she raised her gaze to his. “I wasn’t. I miss my family. I’m going home.”
“I’ll go with you!” he said, not understanding what was happening.
Tempest shook her head. “I want to go alone. You belong here.”
“Tempest, what is going on?” Brandt demanded.
“I saw you. And I don’t think I need to be here anymore. Please tell your family how much I enjoyed meeting them.”
She gathered her mists and began to fade from view.
“Hold on! You can’t just leave!” He could still see the mist, but not Tempest. “Come back here!”
“I’ve blocked you. Can’t hear you anymore,” was the only response he got.
~~~
Tempest misted onto the backyard of her parents’ home. Her chest heaved as she tried to control her emotions, her face was wet with tears as she dropped to her knees, her face turned up toward the heavens. The pain eating away at her heart demanded it be given voice, and she allowed it to rip from her soul and pour from her throat to fill the night around her as she screamed her pain shamelessly for any to hear.
Inside her parents’ home, her mother, Lily, shoved her chair back from the table she shared with Tempest’s father and grandparents. She knew instinctively the mournful wail she’d heard was her daughter. Rushing outside she didn’t stop running until she was on her knees beside Tempest.
“Tempest, baby, what happened? Talk to me, tell me what happened!” Lily begged as Tempest turned to Lily and collapsed in her arms sobbing.
Lily rocked her like she used to when Tempest was a little girl, murmuring that it would be okay, it would all be okay as she stroked her daughter’s hair.
Tempest didn’t speak, but she didn’t have to. Her thoughts filtered to her mother through their unique magic, showing Lily exactly what had broken her heart.
Lily blinked away her own tears and raised her face to Carrik’s. “She found her mate. He’s chosen another.”
A loud snarl erupted from another male who was standing there, waiting to learn what had harmed his beloved granddaughter. “Skiin him!” Carnage declared.
“Where is he?” Carrik demanded.
~~~
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Delilah asked.
“Can’t leave you alone for a second…” Barron said.
“I didn’t do anything! And just what I said! She’s gone. I watched her disappear!” Brandt exclaimed, pacing back and forth frantically as he shoved his hands through his hair.
“Brandt, honey, calm down,” Janie said, stepping into his path so he’d have to stop pacing and look at her. “Tell us what happened. Beginning to end.”
“I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t find her. I looked and I looked and finally I thought maybe she went home. So I rushed home. When I got there I ran inside, and she was there. I was so relieved, but I was still pumped up from looking for her, you know? I told her I’d been looking for her and why didn’t she answer me when I called for her. I might have yelled. I shouldn’t have yelled.”
“What did she say?” Janie asked.
“She said she blocked me. She couldn’t hear me anymore. Then she just disappeared. I called her name, I tried to stop her. But she just disappeared.”
“She didn’t say anything at all?” Avaleigh asked.
“That she missed her family and that I belonged here. Then she just looked at me like she was memorizing me. Then disappeared.”
“What did you do?” Everly asked.
“Nothing! I didn’t do anything.”