MetaViews - 2. MetaView 2: White Wolf Pack 3rd Enforcer Isaac T. Sykes

“Jill is asleep,” Warren whispered. He had ‘his’ way with little girls. His adorability made every girl want to have him as uncle, even if he had lost all of his chubbiness. Of course his promise to show Jill some cool ‘enforcer’ moves in the next days had finally won her over.

“Thank you,” Samantha answered, her voice hoarse. She pushed her long hair behind her ears. The grey roots indicated she needed a shift pretty soon.

In this moment Sam also came down the stairs with an equally solemn face and equally stealthily despite his size. “Nathan’s also to bed.”

Samantha just nodded and wiped off a little tear. “Thank you, enforcer, for everything.” Nathan would shift soon, and she was relieved he would have Sam as a fatherly friend to help him through this.

Sam nodded seriously and with understanding. And without speaking a further word he and Warren made it to the door. “Good night, Samantha,” they wished, knowing it would be impossible for her to have a ‘good night.’”

“I’m sorry.” Isaac sat next to Samantha, with a straight back despite the comfortable sofa.

Her hands shook when she drank her water. “It isn’t a surprise. And we have been pretty much separated ever since he first left ShadowLands. And when he came back, it wasn’t … I nearly´… I’m not saying I wanted him gone, the kids will miss him, but I’m not surprised.”

Isaac swallowed. He had so many questions in his head. Like why Samantha had decided to marry Will in the first place. Why she had two kids despite everyone knowing he was as loyal to the relationship as a prince in Machiavelli’s book to his principles. And what her relationship with CE had been. But he didn’t ask. Those weren’t questions you asked when you informed a wife and mother of your pack that her husband and the father of her children had just been executed for treason by the man she had been supposed to marry in the first place. If there hadn’t been so much pain in those events, the twisted plot could have come from a soap opera.

“Do you have family, Enforcer?” she asked.

Isaac jerked. His own memories of 9/11 coming back like an old friend; now he had dealt with his issues, it had indeed become an old friend and not enemy. “Only distant. My parents died when I was eleven, my sister the same day.”

Samantha looked up; more pain in her face. Eleven, like Nathan’s age. She squeezed Isaac’s hand. Her hands were slim and long, with nicely painted nails. And they were cold. They reminded him of Colt’s hand when they had picked him up today in San Diego. ‘Picked him up,’ he had to snicker inside. Of course, Colt’s nails hadn’t been painted, and his fingers were more sinewy, but they had been as cold; despite the heat in his prison months of solitary confinement did that to a man; even to Colt.

“So who raised you?”

“My uncle Charles. He was my dad’s older brother.”

“And you are not close?”

“He died while I was in boot camp. I have cousins, but they are all on Wall Street or other corporate hotshots; a simple marine and enforcer doesn’t fit in.” There was no hostile emotion in the voice.

“Sorry.”

“We all have to carry Fate’s decisions.”

“You must be happy now, though …”

Isaac bit his lip. “Yes,” he answered honestly, unsure whether he would deepen Samantha’s pain. “We got Colt back. He’s in bad shape, but he will recover as usual.”

“He’s strong, like CE.”

Isaac’s eyelids twitched; there were some warm emotions in her voice when she mentioned ‘CE.’ But who wouldn’t have warm emotions for the lug, who wouldn’t want CE as a mate? He embodied the concept of protective, loyal friend and mate. Isaac couldn’t help thinking about CE holding Colt in his bear hug right now, who in turn spooned Brian, to help him recover from his ordeal.

“Have you ever loved before?” asked Samantha next, “fallen in love?” It seemed she had decided the best way to deal with her own emotions was to ask Isaac about his and his life.

Isaac slowly shook his head. “When I hit puberty I knew I was attracted to other boys, guys; but I also wanted to become a marine. And you couldn’t be gay and be a marine, DADT and all; so I suppressed it all; like my anger at Fate; my pain over losing my parents. I bottled it all up … becoming the perfect marine.” For a second he thought he was repeating the session with his counselor. But this time he understood he helped Samantha dealing with her pain, not him dealing with his own. “There was young marine, though, in MO … infantry school. Wesley. He was always teased by the others because he talked funny – he came from a household where they still spoke Midatlantic – and he had that sissy name ‘Wesley,’ so I got close to him. He was cute … but very straight, so nothing ever happened. But his accents gave me goose bumps, and his tiny ass … and those long lashes, and despite his smaller size he was quite well … oops, I’m babbling …”

Samantha smiled, the oncoming wrinkles disappearing for a second. “It’s good hear how kind you are …”

“Thank you … sometimes I wonder whether this all was a plan for me to protect Colt … death, Corps, everything.”

“You liked the military?”

Isaac smiled. “It gave me strength, discipline, purpose, everything to not completely lose myself given my parents, my desires, … and it was a special moment when some girls finally could leave their huts because we had removed the Talibans from their villages … short-lived …”

“Regrets?”

“You can’t save them all. I couldn’t be me.” The moment Isaac said it, he bit his lip, but Samantha just put her gentle hand on his knee before she got up.

“Big secrets to deal with?”

“Gay and shifter? Sometimes I thought they cancelled out, so it was okay. It only really became difficult when I met Colt and the pack in Palm Springs … suddenly my wolf wanted more, my heart wanted more and my di…” Oops, again.

Samantha giggled. “I get it. – Must be nice to have such a longing fulfilled …”

“Longing,” Isaac repeated looking into the far distance.

In this moment the doorbell rang.

“I hope it’s over … I want to get old now with my brothers, with Colt, with the pack …”

Samantha nodded; age hitting her suddenly. She slowly walked to the door to welcome Asa.

When the two women returned, Isaac got up, nodded good-bye and offered. “In case you need help, let us know.”

Samantha smiled again; this time it was a tired smile. “Thank you, Enforcer; I hope your longing will be fulfilled eventually.”

“I hope Fate hears you,” Isaac whispered and marched back to the spaceship.

He knew Fate wouldn’t listen. She would be ruthless over the next months; he felt his in his gut; and by now he knew to trust his gut.