Arya was still recovering from the fact that Elaine had shown her a way to get Alfa and Kane to come here, without raising suspicion, when a very strange thing happened! She felt like someone was talking to her through her mind! A mindlink!
'Arya, can you hear me?'
It sounded like Rodriguez, but how is it even possible? Without her wolf, she cannot mindlink. And she wasn't even a member of this pack!
'Rodriguez?' She asked, shocked and surprised at the same time.
It was indeed him, and he wanted to show her something and talk! Finally, he was accepting the fact that they are related.
His office door was a creak open, and Arya walked in. Rodriguez was sitting at the table and told her to sit down.
There was a long silence as neither of them knew what to say. The silence was both peaceful and uncomfortable at the same time, and they both waited for the other to speak. At last, Arya couldn't rake it anymore, and by the way Rodriguez was fiddling with a wooden ornament on the table, she knew she had to break the silence.
"So... nice office," she said, looking around.
"Yeah.. thanks. It was Grandpa Michael's office," Rodriguez said, relaxing instantly.
"What was he like?" Arya whispered.
She had heard about him from her father when she was little, but she barely remembered him. She had never met him personally, but she remembered the day her parents were so excited to go visit him after her mom's ultrasound appointment. They never even made it to the appointment.
"He was the greatest person I knew... I literally just know him. He taught me everything I know."
"I never got to know him..." Arya said slowly.
"Yeah... he seemed really excited about meeting you for the first time... which reminds me, I found this," he said, sliding an old journal toward Arya.
It looked pretty battered and worn out. She opened it carefully and saw dates and times written in neat handwriting.
"What's this?" Arya asked, flipping through the pages.
"Grandpa Michael's journal. He spoke once about it when I was small. After you mentioned that we're siblings, I searched for this, hoping to find something," Came the reply.
The word siblings tasted bitter on Rodriguez tongue. He had never thought about having a family.
Arya looked up. "When I came earlier, you were reading this! That's why you were crying?" It came out more like a question.
Rodriguez simply nodded.
"I was brought up by Aunt Kim. Our mothers sister and her husband, Pete. The two human teens you saw during the attack on Moonsglow; they were Marcus and Natalie, our cousins," Arya told him.
He thought hard about that, then he remembered two humans he saw in passing. A white wolf jumped in front of them protectively, thinking that he was about to attack them.
"Oh... the two you jumped in front of because you thought I might attack them!"
"Yes. They're the ones."
"Are there any other family alive? From our parents' side?" Rodriguez asked.
Arya felt her heart sink. "No," she said, shaking her head negatively. "I was ten when Aunt Kim and Uncle Pete came to get me. When I had to go back for a project, they informed me that Grandpa had died long ago!"
She tried to remain calm, but that tear that was stinging her eyes finally slipped down. She quickly wiped it with the back of her hand, but Rodriguez had already seen in.
"How 'bout grandma? How was she?" He asked, trying to change the topic while staying on the subject.
"I never knew her. I was told she had passed away when I was a baby."
There was a stretch of silence as they processed what was said. Rodriguez felt Arya's pain, and the way he saw her trying to be strong told him that she was still grieving her loss while trying to show him how collected she was. Arya browsed through the journal when she came across something interesting.
"Wait, Grandpa Michael had another son?" She said, her eyes on the book. "Steve... as in Steve Moonstone," she said, looking up at Rodriguez, her eyes wide. "I've seen him. If I'm not wrong, then he is an elder in the council!"
"What?" Rodriguez asked.
"Yes. There was this time... after the rogue attack, when Mar and Nats were sent to prison and Kimberly and Pete came to see them. I remember because Kane had been a member of the council, and he got revoked. One of the elders made a joke about how his name would go on the record for the shortest time any elder had a seat. He had screamed,'Shut it, Moonstone'. It has to be uncle Steve!"
"Kane was a member of the council?" Rodriguez asked, surprised.
"Yup. Holds the record for the shortest time a council member held a seat."
They both burst into laughter.
This was the first time Arya had really seen Rodriguez laugh. She had always seen him with this stern face that looked nothing like an eighteen year old. The deep scars made him look even more dangerous, but now, he looked like a child, no worries and no pressure, just a pup enjoying life.
"You know Arya, I wish I was there to witness this," he said when the laugh died down.
"Yeah! His face was this pink colour, almost like half red with anger and half white with shame!" Arya added.
"The shortest time an elder held a seat!" Rodriguez said, and they burst into laughter again.
"Rodriguez, I want you to meet Aunt Kim and Uncle Pete whenever you are ready! They would love to meet you, and you will get to meet your family," Arya said when the laughter had died down.
There was a short silence before he answered, "Arya, I'm not comfortable getting out in the human world. You can see I don't look like a model." Rodriguez looked down at his scars. "I will meet them, but not now. You, on the other hand, can go visit them anytime you like. I will invite them there once I announce to my pack members about us... "
"I understand. Whenever you are ready, I'll take you there or invite them all here," Arya said, nodding.
"Arya, there's another thing I wanted to know... how did the car crash that day? Grandpa Michael mentioned something about a pup running on the road... who was it?"
The question she had dreaded finally came. How was she supposed to answer that!