Butterscotch Souls: The Morningstar Series: Book 4
Butterscotch Souls – Chapter 28

Finally I am offically marked! We can move on with our relationship. Having my marks now has me feeling even more safe being here. I felt the power buzzing through me, even now as we walk to go get our son.

I’m not sure what kind of power the Gods have but my mate has a lot. Enough that I am feeling more secure in staying here. Ambrose could definitely protect Tate and I.

Feeling all of this has given me hope that Tate can grow up to protect himself. If he is really as powerful as his father then he would be fine. Ambrose would train our son to be a protector just like him. Now, my heart is full and all of the anxiety that I was so used to living with is gone.

Being marked has me feeling nothing but comfort and bliss. I can’t believe Ambrose made me wait this long, or that I had to provoke his wolf into marking me. But I am so glad I did. And I can feel that Ambrose is as well.

I had no idea that I would be able to mark him back though. That was a shock for the both of us. The same power that flows through me when I grant a wish had flowed through me in that moment. I was not sure what was happening at first, I just knew that I had to put my hand on his chest and push power into him.

It was almost like a primal feeling rushed through me and my body just knew what to do. I was, and still am, unbelievably happy I was able to do that. Ambrose was too, I could feel it.

And our marks are so big!

“Are you excited to get Tate?” Ambrose asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I nodded with a wide smile.

“I miss him. Last night was the first time we had ever been apart for a full night.” I said.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time away from him lately, with his schooling and then running with me at night. Have you been okay with it all?” He asked me.

I thought about it for a moment. Over this past week I had felt very alone. I thought that it was because of the way Ambrose was treating me, but was it really all only that? No, I did miss my son too.

“I’ve been so happy that Tate is getting along great here. He’s never been so happy and it’s amazing to see. But it has been a lonely week.” I admitted.

I could feel Ambrose’s guilt through the bond.

“I’m sorry Epperly, for the way I treated you this week.” He said.

“It’s alright. We can move forward now. And I know that you feel guilty about it.” I told him.

We had just walked up the steps of the manison and Ambrose turned to look at me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. My hands ran up his body until they were behind his head and planted in his hair, that he left down today.

I love it.

Ambrose dipped his head down to press his lips to mine. The moment our lips connected, the front door opened.

“Ewwww. Gross.” Alessio whined out.

Ambrose grumbled in annoyance as he pulled himself away from me. I giggled as my mate turned to his little brother with a glare. Alessio only smiled brightly at his brother and then turned to me.

“Ya know Epp, I’m a much better kisser than my brother.” He told me as he wiggled his eyebrows.

I giggled at his lame attempt to flirt with me.

“Keep your f*****g eyes off of my mate.” Ambrose said as he shoved past his brother.

With my hand in Ambrose’s much larger one, he dragged me past his brother as well. Alessio winked at me like this was all a big game to him. I rolled my eyes, he must be a s**t starter.

Fun.

“It’s nice to see that the two of you are finally marked, er, well, that Epp here is anyways.” Alessio commented as he followed us through the house to the kitchen.

“I have a mark too actually.” Ambrose said proudly as we entered the kitchen.

“No s**t? How?” Alessio asked.

“Alessio! Language!” Lydia scolded her son and then looked at us with a warm smile.

“Hi.” She greeted and then pulled me into a hug. “Did I hear that you guys are marked?” She asked sarcastically and then looked down at the marks on my neck. “So it is true.” She said as she looked at her son.

Ambrose rolled his eyes. “I know, I know.” He said.

Just then Tate came running into the kitchen.

“Mommy! Daddy!” He called out as he ran up to us.

I bent down and scooped him into my arms.

“Hey butterscotch! I missed you, did you have fun at your sleepover?” I asked him.

“I missed you too Mommy. Yeah, Grandpa and Grandma gave me so many snacks and ice cream and b***d. We played games and watched movies! Ziggy and I grew a garden in the bathtub though and Grandma wasn’t happy about that.” He told me.

I blinked at him unable to process what he just told me.

He and Ziggy grew a garden? In the bathtub?

I turned to Lydia hoping she could explain.

Lydia laughed at my expression and put her hand on my arm.

“Ziggy’s mom is a Wood Nymph, they can grow anything. Apparently so can Tate, which isn’t too strange, we are Witches afterall. But, they snuck away after Gatlin and Genesis played a little prank on them, totally harmless. We thought they had run off to get away from the terror twins, then we found them. In the bathroom. With a whole garden of flowers growing in the tub. Said they both did it.” She explained to me.

“You did that?” I asked Tate.

Tate nodded.

“But I know that it was bad now Momma. I will only grow flowers outside.” He said as he looked at his Grandma.

Lydia smiled brightly.

“That’s right, no more gardens inside the house.” She said.

Tate looked down at my neck and pointed to my marks.

“Momma what are these?” He asked.

“My marks.” I told him with a goofy smile. I couldn’t help it.

“Marks?” He asked.

I nodded. “Daddy marked me, now we are connected.” I told him.

“Daddy told me a little bit about marks. He says it means your married.” He told me.

I laughed. “I suppose you could say that.” I told him.

Tate frowned. “I wasn’t invited to the wedding.” He said making me snort.

“Don’t worry kid, me neither.” Alessio said and then winked at Tate.

Ambrose shoved his brothers chest and looked at his son.

“Marking your mate is something you should do in private buddy. We haven’t had a celebration yet.” He told our son.

“Yet?” I asked confused.

Ambrose nodded.

“We usually do a celebration after marking our mates. Ours will be in two weeks, when your old pack comes to visit you.” He told me with a smile.

I froze.

My old pack? Does he mean Kiah? Kiah is coming here? With everyone? Angela? CJ? Sierra?

“All of them?” I asked once I found my voice.

Ambrose nodded.

“I told Kiah that anyone he wanted to come are more than welcome.” He told me.

I only blinked at my mate.

“H-how..?” I asked.

“Ryce gave me his number, I called him last week.” He told me with a shrug.

“Why didn’t you tell me before now?” I asked.

Ambrose gave me a sheepish smile and that guilt came through the bond again.

“I, uhm, was too busy with other things. I forgot.” He said.

I nodded.

Wow… They are really coming here. I’m going to see them again. Ambrose is giving me back a piece of my life I thought I had lost forever. I could never thank him enough for this.

“So, where is this mark of yours bro?” Alessio asked Ambrose with a sly smile, breaking the tension.

Ambrose beamed as he took a step back. He lifted his shirt up revealing the large mark on his chest. Alessio, despite that fact that he asked just to be an a*s, now seemed interested. He inspected the mark for a moment and so did Lydia.

“I’ve never seen a mark like this before.” Lydia breathed out as she continued to look at the mark.

“Yeah well, my mate is special.” Ambrose said as he looked at me.

“Daddy your tattoo got bigger!” Tate said excitedly.

Ambrose nodded and chuckled at his son. “Yeah buddy it is. Do you like it?” He asked.

Tate nodded. “Yeah its cool. Right Mommy?” He asked as he turned to me.

“Way cool.” I said without taking my eyes off of Ambrose.

“Dope.” Alessio finally said. “Proud of you brother.” He said with a huge smile.

Ambrose rolled his eyes and shoved his brother to the side. Then he walked to me and kissed me on the head before taking our son from my arms. Tate gave his dad a huge hug and it warmed my heart.

“Ready to go home buddy?” He asked our son.

“Yeah. What are we having for lunch Daddy?” Tate asked making us all chuckle.

“What if I take you and Mommy into town for lunch?” He asked and then looked at me. “The local bar and grill here has some really good food.” He told me.

I nodded with a smile. “Sounds great to me.” I said.

*********************************************

We said our goodbyes to everyone before walking back to our house.

“Are we taking my car?” I asked and then realized I had no idea where my car is. “Where is my car?” I asked as I looked around.

“Junk yard.” Ambrose said.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“I had that piece of s**t junked the day after you got here.” He told me with a bright smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked with a frown.

Ambrose shrugged.

“You didn’t ask.” He said and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t worry love, I have a car. You can use it whenever you want but I would appreciate if you did not leave the territory until we can make sure no one else is after you. Or at the very least until I can teach you how to teleport.” He said.

“That car was a piece of shit.” I mumbled after a moment. “But it was my piece of shit.” I pouted.

Ambrose laughed.

“I’m surprised it didn’t fall apart on you at some point.” He commented.

“Mommy had me wish that it wouldn’t.” Tate said.

“Oh?” Ambrose said as he raised a brow at me.

I just shrugged. Ambrose shook his head and chuckled. We made it to the car and Ambrose got Tate in his booster seat. He then opened the door for me and I thanked him.

The ride to town was short. The three of us talked the whole way though. Things were calm and I was enjoying it. My life has never been calm.

We arrived at the bar and grill and Ambrose parked. He told me to wait in the car as he got Tate out, and then walked over to open my door.

“I could have gotten my own door.” I said with a laugh when I realized that was why he wanted me to wait.

Ambrose shurgged and kissed my cheek.

“I like spoiling you.” He said and I blushed.

Never in my life have I been spoiled. This is almost too good to be true. How did I get so lucky to have a mate like this?

Ambrose walked us into the restaurant and told Tate to pick a spot. Our son ran to a random booth and we followed after him. Ambrose sat with Tate and I sat on the other side of them. It warms my heart in so many ways to watch them together.

A few minutes later our waiter came to the table.

“Hey Ambrose, how you been?” The guy greeted my mate like they were old friends.

“Hey Greg, good what about you?” Ambrose replied.

“Can’t complain.” Greg answered with a smile.

“Your mom doing good?” Ambrose asked him.

Greg nodded.

“Yeah, the herble cream your sister made has been doing wonders for her arthritis, she is back to substitute teaching now.” He told my mate and then his eyes scanned my son and me.

“I apologize, where are my manners?” He said with a smile. “I’m Greg, Ambrose and I have been friends since high school but we went to different schools.” He told me.

“Greg, this is my fiancee, Epperly.” Ambrose said and then winked at me. “And this is our son, Tate.” He introduced us.

“Hi!” Tate said to him.

“Hi there.” Greg said to him. “I had no idea you had a son.” He said to Ambrose.

My mate looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes.

“It was a delightful surprise.” He said.

Greg nodded to him.

“Well, what can I get you guys to drink? A chocolate shake for the young gentleman perhaps?” He suggested with a polite smile.

Tate beamed and then looked at me.

“Can I Momma? Please?” He asked.

“Yes honey that’s fine.” I said.

“Yay!” Tate shouted making Greg chuckle.

“Cute kid.” The waiter commented.

“Thanks.” Ambrose and I said at the same time.

My mate looked up at me and I blushed. Greg took our drink orders and let us know that he would be right back. Tate was staring at the menu with pursed lips. I leaned in closer to him and we sounded words out together.

Before we arrived into this town Tate and I were working on his reading skills. He does very well actually, it’s just the bigger words that he struggles with.

“Okay Mom I got it myself.” Tate said after a moment.

My jaw dropped before I frowned at him. I crossed my arms and turned back to Ambrose. He’s staring at us with a bright smile and it looks like he is trying not to laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him and he cleared his throat before looking down at his menu.

“What are you getting baby?” Ambrose asked me.

“I have no idea.” I said as I picked up the menu. “What’s good here?” I asked.

“They have really good bacon cheeseburgers, but I think you should try the pasta. Do you like shrimp?” He asked me and I nodded. “You should get the shrimp fettuccine, it comes with garlic bread.” He told me.

I gave him a nod.

“I’ll have that then. What are you getting Tate?” I asked our son.

“Chicken tenders and mac and cheese and fries and some bacon.” He told me without looking up from his menu.

I blinked at him before turning to Ambrose, who just chuckled.

“Our son likes to eat.” He commented.

“What if all of our children are like this? How are we supposed to afford that?” I asked with a laugh.

Ambrose shook his head.

“I make more than enough money baby don’t worry.” He told me.

“I still think I should get a job.” I said.

Just then Greg was back at our table with our drinks.

“Sorry to easedrop but… We are looking for some workers. Mostly a bartender.” He told us.

“Really?” I asked him.

“What happened to Matt?” Ambrose asked.

Greg’s face paled. His eyes flickered to Tate before looking back at Ambrose. They look like they are having a silent conversation and I was starting to get annoyed.

“Well?” I asked.

Ambrose sighed but gestured for Greg to continue.

“Well, right now he’s just missing but..” He trailed off.

“But what?” I asked.

Greg’s eyes flickered to Tate again before coming back to settle on me.

“Well, people don’t usually stay missing for long around here.” He said.

I furrowed my brow.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked.

Greg gave me a nod.

“You’d think that.” He said threw clentched teeth. “Anyways, are you guys ready to order?” He asked with a bright smile.

“Can I get chicken tenders, mac an cheese, some bacon, and some fries please?” Tate asked.

Greg looked at Ambrose and me. We both nodded to Greg with a laugh. Greg chuckled and wrote the order down.

“You want chilli cheese fries?” Greg suggested as he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Yeahhh!” Tate shouted.

Greg chuckled and turned to me. “And for you?”

“Can I get the shrimp fettuccine with extra garlic bread?” I asked.

“Sure thing.” Greg said and then turned to Ambrose. “And for you kind sir?” He asked in a teasing tone.

“The usual.” Ambrose said kindly.

Greg scribbled on his note pad before taking out menus and leaving. He had brought a coloring page over for Tate when he brought our drinks, so Tate is in his own little world. Ambrose reached over the table and grabbed ahold of my hands.

“Do you come here a lot?” I asked him. Ambrose gave me a confused look. “It’s just that you told him your usual.” I said.

“Ahh.” Ambrose said with realization. “I do come here a lot yes. They make good drinks and food.” He said with a smile.

“Ambrose, what did Greg mean about the missing people?” I asked gently.

Tate’s head popped up to look at his dad. I think that Tate and I both know what Greg was hinting at, but I wanted Ambrose to tell us. He has to know that Tate and I can handle this life. We all have to be able to trust each other, which means no secrets.

Ambrose looked between Tate and I.

“Maybe we should talk about it later.” He suggested.

I looked down at Tate and he looked up at me, before turning back to his dad.

“Skoll says that he means they die.” He stated and then went back to coloring.

My eyes went wide. I know I said that my son isn’t stupid but I wasn’t expecting him to just know exactly what Greg was hinting at. Sure Tate could handle knowing what death is. He killed two people afterall.

Still, he was so nonchalant about it. I looked up at Ambrose to see him frowning at Tate.

“What?” I asked Ambrose.

My mates eyes snapped to my own.

“Skoll just seems to know a lot for a pup.” Ambrose said.

“Skoll says he’s not a pup.” Tate said.

I looked down at my son and frowned.

“But you’re only five.” I said.

Tate shrugged as he continued to color.

“Skoll says that he was given to me because of what happened to you Momma. He says that the Moon Goddess chose him special for me.” Tate said.

My eyes went wide as I looked back at my mate. Ambrose is staring intently at our son. My hands are still in his so I gave him a squeeze.

Ambrose met my eyes and I gave him a pleading look. He let go of one of my hands and tapped on his head as if to tell me to try to open the mind link.

I closed my eyes and tried to push a thought into my mates mind.

Ambrose? I asked.

Good job baby. Ambrose told me.

Thank you. Now why are you looking at Tate like that? I asked. Isn’t it nice that your Goddess feels bad about what happened in my life? I asked him.

I could feel a little bit of guilt and worry flow through the bond before Ambrose blocked out his emotions.

It’s strange. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. Not even our wolves remember meeting the Moon Goddess. It’s like the wolves are reborn almost, for every new life. They don’t ever remember living in the Moon Castle. Skoll seems to know more than even Kohen does. He told me.

And that’s a bad thing? I asked.

Ambrose shook his head.

No, it means more protection for Tate. More knowledge for him. It’s just…. strange, unheard of. I trust the Moon Goddess’s choices and am, thankful she has blessed our son. It’s just… nerve racking to not know exactly what is going on in my son’s head. He admitted to me

I sighed.

Tate will always tell you as long as you ask. He loves you and I’m sure some of this is confusing for him as well. I for one am happy that he has someone to explain things to him in a way that he understands. I said.

Ambrose nodded to me.

You’re right. He said with a smile. I love you.

I love you too. I told him.

A moment later Greg was back with our food. I had to move to the other side of the table with Ambrose because all of Tate’s food took up half of the table.

Ambrose and I chuckled at Greg’s face when he saw Tate dig right in. The three of us ate and chatted.

This is one of my favorite parts about having a family. The casual meal and talking about our lives. It’s normal and very nice. Even though we are not normal.

Greg had come to check on us a few times and Tate tried to order another shake. I made him drink water instead. After we were finished Greg came back with the check. He was extremely surprised that Tate had finished everything. I couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on his face.

After paying we all walked back to the car. Tate is chatting away between the two of us and Ambrose is completely engrossed in the conversation. Once we got back to the car Ambrose had buckled Tate in and we were heading back home.

Our home. I sighed dreamily. It sounds so nice and feels even better. Now I have my mate, completely. Nothing can ever tear us apart. Tate is safe. We just have to figure out how to control our powers and Tate and I would be set.

I rested my head against the head rest. Ambrose reached over and set his palm on my thigh. My eyes popped open to see him looking at me. I smiled and then turned my head forward. Just in time to see a man standing in the middle of the road. I had to squint to make sure I was seeing right.

What is a man doing out here in the middle of no where? We aren’t even close to town anymore.

The man is dressed in a nice but simple black suit with a white dress shirt. His dark brown hair is shining in the sunlight. The only other thing I can make out from this far is the smirk on his face.

Ambrose is still looking at me and I didn’t notice. We got closer and closer to the man without slowing down. And then everything went in slow motion.

I screamed for Ambrose to stop but I was too late. Ambrose turned to his head to the road just in time to see the man, and then we hit him. The tires screetched against the pavement. Tate screamed in the back seat causing me to panic. Glass shattered and sliced my face.

My son continued to scream and then I heard him cry. The car rolled a few times before everything came to a stop.

My eyes opened slowly to see that we are upside down. Ambrose is knocked out in the drivers seat. I looked behind me to see Tate still buckled in but is sobbing uncontrollably.

“Shhh baby it’s okay, you’re okay.” I cooed but my voice sounds weak.

Tate was still sobbing and I’m not sure he even heard me. I struggled to get out of my seatbelt but managed. Then I turned to Ambrose and started shaking him.

“Ambrose wake up!” I shouted but he wouldn’t budge.

Oh no.

“Momma.” Tate cried from the back seat.

I turned to him.

“Shhh baby it’s okay.” I said with a smile. “I’m going to climb out my window and then I’m going to get you okay? But I need you to stay calm.” I told him.

Tate nodded to me but he continued to sob. I g*****d as I started to move my body. The windows are all broken out but it wasn’t easy to climb out. I cut my body up even more as I wiggled out of the broken window.

Once I was outside of the car I g*****d and struggled to get to my feet. Half way around the car I fell again. It was too hard to get back up so I tried to crawl the rest of the way. That was when I heard it.

Foot steps are heading this way. I can heard the crunch of the leaves under the feet as the person got closer. I moved faster to crawl to my son.

The foot steps were getting closer just as I reached Tate. I reached through the broken window and struggled with his buckle. Then, I was dragged back by my feet.

“Momma!”

Was the last thing I heard before everything went black.