ALEKS

Even though I’d slowed down a couple of minutes ago, my breath was harsh when I reached what I thought and really hoped to be the halfway mark back home. Home. It was weird how after only three or so months in Abattohn, it was already home in my head. Maybe it was foolish considering how new and strange of a world it was; how unknown. But in the three months that passed, my kids and I had developed something of a routine.

Immediately after Leukas and I more or less cleared the air, Lanthe and Atlas, for the most, immediately took to making us more settled, mostly I since the kids didn’t really need much. Lanthe immediately took me on a shopping spree that cost much more than I’d ever thought one could cost, including a full body wax and more pampering than I’d ever allowed myself when I was busy fighting for something all the time all the time. After I was suitably equipped for the fashion war-house that was the streets of Abattohn, we spent another month getting me fully acquainted with all the citizens and shops in Abattohn, at least all the ones in town. There was apparently a more rural settlement at the outskirts of the town, where the retired lycans and the ones who preferred the calmer rural lives lived. There were also farms and ranches there, which I had all seen in passing since the people who chose that life apparently preferred as much seclusion as possible.

Lanthe introduced me to just about everyone who could be bothered, and I’d spent the months chatting up shop owners, sampling food from various places, tasting alcohol and generally making more friends than I'd ever thought possible. After Leukas told me about the exact kind of supernatural beings that existed in Abattohn along with their way of life and how the particular DNA would affect our kids, we’d agreed to shelve the idea of awakening the lycans in them until later on in life. Our talk had helped me feel more at ease with being in a place which was crawling with beings so similar to the man who had traumatized me and although I was cautious at first by the start of the third month, I was able to look them in the eyes. It had Bern fairly easy to adjust since most of the Abattohnians were incredibly friendly and understanding of the ‘situation’, the ‘situation’ we had had to release to the Azzuire Media as a case of one-night-stands, misunderstanding and miscommunications.

Leukas and I had also decided It would be better for Elena and Adrian to temporarily join the school in order to learn about their supernatural culture so the they could decide if they wanted to embrace it, and so they could meet and mingle with more people their age since Abattohn would always be their second home. There were two schools in Abattohn; one huge and palace-like one for academia; sciences and commercials, and the other equally huge one for sports, creative arts and performing arts, both of them completely free for citizens. Atlas had explained that children who so pleased went through a termly switch of school programs if they happened to like the activities of both schools, but apparently it was rare because lycans usually liked one or the other and everyone had decided it would be best if they specialized from a young age since they would have already decided about such things by then.

Leukas and I had handled all their transitions as a team and we went together to talk to their teachers for the first time, shopped for their uniforms together and were basically a team in all things which involved our kids. Outside of that, our interactions were limited to smiles and greetings but they weren't much since Leukas was always busy somehow.

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I tried not to take his general absence personally because Atlas had told me he was working on some big project and because after our talk he'd asked for some time. Somehow the talk had ironed out most of my intense and obsessive feelings and made them into something calmer and manageable; less urgent. Maybe it was because for the first time I had no anxiety because I had no secrets I was hiding from him. Or maybe it was because I’d accepted that he was getting married and my feelings were going to have to stay unrequited and hidden forever. Either way, I’d discovered that Fletcher Ignaz, his fiancée, was well liked around the town. At least I didn’t have to worry about her inevitably being in my children’s life once she and Leukas married.

I shook off the thought as I continued my run down the clear path towards home. The island was actually much bigger than I had first thought and even if I hadn’t even gotten to its’ edge, the run was long and tedious. My leg muscles and my core were burning in the painful and addictive way I had almost forgotten. With so many people helping me, I had more time to exercise than I’d had when it was just me and the kids in London. The kids and I alternated between breakfast on our own and breakfast in the main house, at Lanthe’s insistence, with their whole family before their driver took them to school. Id then had the entire morning to myself and I’d developed a schedule to combat the anxiety of being at a new place and to fulfil my new fitness goals. After cleaning the house, I would go for a run outside the clean air of the island before hitting the gym for a few weight training sessions. I had no intention of bulking up but I wanted to build up my former stamina and get myself back into fighting shape, just in case. When he wasn’t busy, Atlas and I did some spurring. After exercise, I would then soak myself in my large claw-foot tub, sometimes hit the sauna which was right next to the gym, before dressing up for a tour of the big city. The children had lunch with their father after school and I usually chilled at home then, trying new cooking recipes and sometimes making baked goods which the entire Hyades clan devoured as soon as I was done. I usually took another run at noon before curling up on the couch with a book or for some Netflix while I cooked, on days that we didn’t have dinner with the family that is, before Atlas came for what he called our ‘weekly bonding session’ where we drank alcohol and chatted for hours while Leukas spent more time with the kids before putting them in bed. Sometimes he joined us for a card game or two, but mostly he kept to himself. I ended my day with a nice bubble bath soak before a long call to Lander, and I was sleeping better than I had ever slept in my life. I felt good.

The routine was an okay one for the most part and I liked it, was happy about it, but since I was done with my induction into the Abattohn society, I would be starting work as Atlas’ temporary secretary this month, and to say I was excited was a huge understatement. I had never had an ordinary job besides the one in the bakery, but even there I kept unusual hours and stayed hidden for the most part. I was happy to finally work and earn my keep so that I could at least pay for some of my things. It was getting kind of strange living off people, and Atlas had told me that Leukas was funding our entire stay here and for some reason that made me uncomfortable. For some reason Abattohn used the US dollar currency and the money Atlas was offering me for the job was a lot but he couldn’t be talked down but after a discussion with some of the closer friends I’d made, I knew that it was pretty substantial. Lanthe and Jason were set to temporarily leave Abattohn in a month’s time and Jason would be taking over all of his father’s duties, which would be when I started my job. So in a little over a month, my routine would have to change to adjust for my new duties.

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