Chapter 18

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There right in front of me was none other then Oden. She looked no different then the last time I had seen her – when Than and I were together. She was still that short and chubby heavily native Filipino. Just like I always knew her as, the same old Oden. Strangely I felt relief flood through me as the thought of this, at least something – or rather someone – has stayed the same over the last little while.

Her warm smile that never failed to brighten anyone’s day flowed through me instantly giving me this warm loved feeling. Her affection towards me was one of a mother or grandmother and mine to her in return was one of a corresponding position.

She had always been very close to me when Than and I were together and I had found myself going to her for things that I wouldn’t normally even go to my mother or Queen Emmaline for. We had been so close up until that night when Than left me and attacked the castle.

“Oden?” I asked stupidly. It was obviously her, no doubt about it. She had this unique aura that just sprinkled joy onto anyone . . . well anyone she liked. If you weren’t on Oden’s good side you best run like hell, kind of like with Devin I guess.

“Yes child.” Oden said as she stood up and moved towards me. She stroked my cheek gently with one of her hands, “My goodness you have grown up so much since I had last seen you in person. Oh how the time flies when you’re getting old.”

Oden chucked at what she had said and I soon enough joined in with her, even Than had a grin on his face from where he was sitting.

“You can’t be more then what? 29?” Than said. This was something that I missed when I was away, the fun me, Oden and Than always had.

“Something like that,” Oden laughed.

We continued to joke around for a while more before I couldn’t help but ask the question that had been on the top of my mind since I saw Oden standing – or rather sitting – there in my room.

“When I spoke to you last you said you had been in Ireland. It wasn’t that long ago and you said yourself that you weren’t planning on coming back for a little while.”

“Plans change, and I couldn’t do much in Ireland anyways because I forgot to rent a car and I was staying at an old farm that was to far away for an old human like me to walk into town or anything. Poor old Oden can’t seem to get away from werewolves either and happens to bump into them everywhere I go. Although all the werewolves in Ireland happen to be complete bastards that waste themselves away in bars for a living.” Oden answered with a brush of the hand.

“What about the humans, surely you would have run into some,” Than said with interest and amusement.

“Yes but they were all drunk arse’s too,” she grunted in response.

I laughed, “Sounds like you spent the whole trip in a bar or something.”

“It was the closest thing there was to where I was staying so I didn’t have much choice of where I could go. You can’t enjoy the beauty of Ireland in a confined room but yet at the same time you can’t enjoy the beauty of Ireland with your arteritis acting up from the long walk into town.”

“I wouldn’t know the feeling,” Than said while picking at his nails.

“Of course you wouldn’t you damn werewolf!” Oden said while throwing a pillow from the bed at his face. Than must not have noticed because when the pillow hit him point-blank in the face, he fell straight down and back onto the bed.

With a satisfied smirk, Oden winked at me as Than re-calibrated himself.

“Geez woman, for someone who is almost at the end of her life span you can still throw pretty hard.” Than awarded her.

“Damn right I can,” Oden replied with a dramatic puff of the chest. She turned to me with a mischievous glint in her eyes and I immediately sobered my laughter. “Gotten your revenge on your mate yet, Cal?”

So yes, the person I had run to for help with getting revenge on Leo for all he had put me through. Oden’s plans were always super effective and extremely hilarious. I had e-mail and sent her a letter, both with the exact same message of asking her for some help on the revenge path. It’s very safe to say that she has successfully come up with a plan A through Z.

“Um, not yet actually . . .” I was a little reluctant to admit the fact that I hadn’t yet committed any of said plans of revenge, but I was still waiting for the right moment. I swear I could see Oden’s face drop and a look of disappointment from her directed at me.

“Come on child, I’m not getting any younger and I want to have at least one grandbaby before my judgement day! I don’t care if I’m not technically their grandmother or anything . . . ” Oden got lost deep in her thoughts.

“Wait, how will me getting revenge on Leo get you any closer to grandchildren?” I asked quizzically.

Oden sighed and I could swear that I had hear her mutter something that sounded like ‘she’s soo clueless’ before she answered me. “By you getting ‘revenge’ as you so put it, on Leo then the closer you are to resolving your issues together. I guess you could say that in a way you two are building a bridge to get over your problems. The sooner you no longer have a bone to pick with him then you will mate, have kids and then get married.”