I’ve been in a daze since we left. Laura’s pregnant. Does Nate know? Why didn’t he tell me? If he doesn’t know, should I tell him? Sonja is finally gone. They told her that if I left, it would ruin their society so she had to suck it up or forfeit her position as Elder. She chose the latter, storming from the house.
Walking to the car, I don’t see Cam until I walk straight into his back, falling on my ass. I land with an ‘oomph.’ Hands reach under my arms, hauling me up. “You ok Firecracker?” Pete asks, as Cam stares down at me with a smirk on his face. “Yeah Precious, what ya doing down there?” he asks, raising an eyebrow in question.
“You know damn well I walked into your fat ass. Maybe if you weren’t dawdling, I wouldn’t have hurt myself,” I pout, playing hurt. His face sobers quickly and I feel Pete’s chest rumble behind me with laughter. He knows exactly what I’m doing.
“Are you ok?” Cam asks, taking a step towards me.
I pretend to shiver in Pete’s arms, willing the waterworks to start, “I’m in so much pain.” His face contorts with concern. “Actually, I think I broke my ass.”
I last one second before bursting out laughing, Pete not far behind me. Cam stares at me shocked. He takes three strides, snatching me from Pete, throwing me over his shoulder and waltzing towards the car as I giggle like a child.
“Uh oh, what’d she do now?” Jason calls as we get to the car.
Cam spanks me before putting me back on my feet. I sway from the sudden shift of blood to my head. “Cheeky girl tried to guilt trip me. Made me believe I hurt her when she ran into me,” he says around me. “I think she learned her lesson,” he smiles down at me.
I poke my tongue out and turn to walk away when another set of arms scoop me up. “Hey!”
The soft scent of sandalwood tickles my nose. Jonnie beams at me, “Got you! You’re coming with us.” I smile up at him, glad to spend some time with him and Mitch. The others have been occupying my time lately, it will be nice to get to know them more. Mitchell opens the car door for Jonnie and he places me gently on the back seat before they walk around, climbing into the front seat. The others all pile into the second SUV, Jake, Rick and James as well. It must be a seven-seater otherwise they’re all going to be cramped as hell in there.
“So, Dani, you ready to meet my mom?” Mitchell asks, starting the car. We take off down a dirt road, before reaching a highway and continuing.
I glance back to make sure the others are following. Once satisfied, I turn to answer, “Yeah, I’m nervous though. What’s she like? You think she’ll like me?” I ask nervously. So far, things have been going well with the family members that I feel sooner or later, my luck’s gonna run out.
He stares at the road, lost in thought as we travel down the highway, “It’s hard to describe her. She used to be the most fun mother in the world. Since Dad went MIA, she’s gone hollow inside. Don’t be too surprised if she zones out on you,” he says softly.
Oh wow. I can’t even imagine. She lost her mate and son, all in a few days. I wonder why he left? If there was a note or if he just up and disappeared on them? If he did, why?
From what I know, males are superprotective of their females, so for a male to leave his mate, there must have been one hell of a reason why. Either that or he was a coward and just no longer cared.
Hearing the hurt in Mitchells voice makes me extremely sad for his mother. I couldn’t survive without all my mates. That’s what makes this whole process more difficult. Now that Sonja’s gone, I’m hoping beyond hope that they allow me to stick with the group of them, but the trial isn’t over. What if one or two aren’t considered worthy enough to be my mates? Then what do I do? Back down without them? Leave the pack in ruins because I want my mates more? Ugh, why is life so hard?
“When was the last time you saw her?” I ask, leaning forward so I’m between them.
Jonnie grins over at me, ruffling my hair, “We visited about three, maybe four months ago. She’s been left to lead the pack but one of Dad’s enforcers has been acting as Beta, since we aren’t there. We have to visit regularly so the pack isn’t upset about it,” he explains when I furrow my brow confused.
Mitch nods along his agreement. “Yeah, Steve is an okay guy but he’s more enforcer than Beta. A lot of people in our pack don’t want the beta job so it can be a little harder than most other packs. That’s why Tim took us. We’ve been with him for almost two years, trying to learn to do things the right way for our pack.”
“Wait, this has been bothering me. Why Tim? I know you guys all love him and so do I, but shouldn’t Luke have been the one to teach you all this? As Alpha King, that’s what I assume his role would be. Same with me as pair of an Alpha Pair. Wouldn’t my mate and I be considered to teach new Alphas to lead their packs?” I ask, curiosity burning. It’s been bothering me since I found out they came here for it. Like why wouldn’t they go to some sort of special alpha training than live with Tim where he is doing it all? Surely they would have some kind of boot camp maybe?
Jonnie glances at me, while Mitch focuses on the road, leaving his brother to explain, “Well yes. Apparently before Luke, we did have that. However, maybe two years after he took over, he cancelled it. Said all wolves should be born alpha and that they didn’t need to train. Tim has always been anti Luke so I guess he thought if no one was going to teach us, he would. I’m glad he did because can you imagine what would happen if Luke had trained us? We would be monsters,” he says with a shudder.
Oh, I never really thought of it like that. Maybe it’s something Tim would be interested in? If Laura’s pregnant, I doubt they would want to be the Alpha Pair with the impending arrival of their baby. It’s something to think about I guess. I wonder when she’ll be due? Dad never really explained much of this to me?
“Hey guys, quick question. How long are we pregnant for?” I ask.
The car swerves to the right. I fly back into my seat from the force. Jonnie leans over grabbing the steering wheel, righting the car. Once we’re stable, Mitchell pulls off to the side of the highway, putting the brakes on. They both turn to stare at me as I pant from the adrenaline rushing through my veins. I lean back, my hands clutching the seat as my heart slows down.
Jonnie and Mitchell are both staring at me from the front. Mitchell’s the one to break the silence, “Are you pregnant?!”
“What?!” I blurt out shocked. “Oh, no, no, no. Guys, no. I’m not pregnant, I swear. I’ve only just had my first heat. I just wanted to know after finding out about all of this. God, do you really think I’d tell you like this?! Wow,” I breathe out, my heart hammering in my chest. They thought I was pregnant?! Jeez!
A banging on the car door has us all jumping out of our skins. “Yo guys, what happened?” Pete asks from the window.
Mitchell faces him, “Yeah, we’re alright. Dani just asked a question we weren’t prepared for.”
He looks at me, as if waiting for me to disagree. When I don’t, he addresses the boys, “Alright but Cam told me to tell you, if you can’t drive with her safely, then we’ll swap and you’ll be stuck with me.”
I hear Jonnie groan under his breath and hold back a smile. To be honest I’d hate to be stuck in the car for hours on end with Pete as my passenger. He can be extremely chatty under normal circumstances, but stuck in a car with only two people to badger, God, it’d be a bloodbath.
“Yeah, yeah, tell Cam that we are more than capable of looking after our mate,” Mitchell says, starting the car, and taking off up the highway again. I glance back to see Pete climbing into the other SUV, slamming the door behind himself as the car follows us.
Jonnie turns around, “So you wanted to know about female pregnancies. Well, after heat has finished, you’re either pregnant or you’re not. Most females’ scents will change within the first week but sometimes it can take anywhere from a week to a month. Unlike humans, our pregnancies are considerably shorter than theirs but longer than a natural wolf. The common time frame seems to be five and a half to six months long. Some women can go to six and a half months but we usually like to induce if they haven’t otherwise, the body finds it harder to heal due to the size of the baby,” he explains, his eyes lighting up as he speaks. The way he talks, I imagine he wants a child of his own one day, which makes me extremely nervous. How would he feel if I told him I didn’t want kids? How would the others? It’s a big thing to deny, especially with being the Alpha Pair line.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry I freaked you guys out back there. I should have specified why I wanted to know,” I admit sheepishly. I should have known they’d assume I’d slept with one of them without saying anything and got knocked up. Since my heat has started, I’m pretty sure they’d all think along the same lines.
I lean back in my seat and let all the information over the past twenty-four hours sink in. Closing my eyes, I listen to the guys murmuring in the front seat, not really paying much attention to what they’re saying. I’m still exhausted from what’s happened and I wish that I was tucked in bed asleep. Dozing softly, I’m startled when I hear a massive crash. I jolt up looking through the back window to see the SUV the rest of the guys are in, flipped on the road.
“Guys, stop!” I scream, panicked. “The guys’ car crashed!”
Mitchell slams on the brakes. Before the car reaches a stop, Jonnie is out the door and running for them as wolves appear from the trees on either side of the highway. Mitchell dives out, shifting in a matter of seconds. I stare frozen, wondering where they came from. I watch Jonnie rip a wolf from the remnants of the crash, the wolves trying to get to my mates in the upturned car. Seeing them attack my mate, my wolf urges me out the car to help.
A russet brown wolf attacks me, causing me to shift and rip his throat out. I throw his carcass away from me, watching as the other wolves take notice. Cam’s crawling out of a broken window while Jonnie protects him from attacking wolves. My wolf and I run around the other side of the car, doing the same, protecting the others so they can get out.
Five minutes and four dead wolves later, Jake and Rick are helping me to keep the other wolves away. Everyone has crawled out of the wreck except for Nate. Maybe I missed him and he’s fighting on the other side of the car but my wolf is panicking without all of them. I leave the others to chase back the last two remaining wolves and circle the car, trying to find him. Sniffing along the ground, I follow the scent of citrus until I reach the back of the car. I look into the back window and see him sprawled out, glass scattered around him. Blood is running down his temple, and spilled out across the car. The mix of scents tell me everyone got injured but Nate’s blood is the most prominent.
I shift back to human, Cam’s wolf running over to guard me from any attacks. Naked, I crawl in through the hole, grabbing Nate under the arms, dragging him out trying to avoid the bigger pieces of glass.
Once I’ve got him out, I try to cover the bigger wounds with my hands. Jonnie is at my side with a couple of rags. We work together to tie them off around most of his wounds except his stomach, which is too big to bandage. Using Jonnie’s jacket, I apply as much pressure as I can. “Nate, can you hear me, sweetie?” I ask, gently slapping the side of his face.
When he doesn’t move, I look up at Jonnie concerned. “He’s not responding and barely breathing. What do we do? Should I try to heal him? Do we move him?” I ramble nervously.
Jonnie nods hurriedly, “Yeah, try to heal him. He’s losing too much blood. We can still die from blood loss.”
Running my hands over his chest, I focus on the bond between us, pushing my energy to Nate. His chest rises and falls as the wound heals. A golden glow emanates from my hands, lighting up his body. It’s amazing!
My eyes are going blurry and I feel myself droop, “Uh Jonnie, catch me,” I slur. I fall forward, arms catching me before I can land on Nate’s freshly healed body.
“Shhh I got you babe,” Jonnie whispers, hauling me into his arms. I feel the others energy around me, just as I pass out.