by JJ King
It was the perfect welcome home.
Their two hours flew by way too quickly and before she knew it, Katherine heard her phone alarm ring, alerting her that it was time to get dressed. As if by magic, Eve’s eyes had begun to flutter shut just moments before, so Katherine turned off the alarm and lifted her darling girl into her arms, reluctant to leave her for even a moment, but knowing she had to stand by her family before the Council. She settled the sleeping baby in her crib after pressing a sweet kiss to her head and turned to find Quinn watching with a quiet smile.
“She’s so perfect,” he whispered, crossing the room to stare down at her.
“Maybe…” Katherine trailed off, rethinking the timing of her proposal.
“Maybe we should make her a sister or a brother?” Quinn turned with an arched brow.
Katherine shrugged, feeling silly for suggesting it at all. “I don’t know, maybe the time isn’t right, but…”
Quinn tilted her chin up and pressed his lips to hers. “Let’s make a baby.”
Katherine’s heart leapt at the simple words. She snuggled into Quinn’s embrace and sent one last lingering gaze at their daughter. Then they started back to their room to get ready for the Alpha Council.
Chapter Eighteen
Daphne moved the remaining asparagus around her plate while she rehearsed how she’d tell Keme they were having a baby.
As far as she could tell, her scent still didn’t indicate she was pregnant, unlike the multiple pregnancy tests she’d purchased and watched until they showed her yet another positive. She was preggers, there was no doubt about it, and only she and Rose knew about it.
Daphne glanced across the table at Rose, who was giggling at something Liam had whispered. She looked happy and peaceful; at complete odds to the woman they’d first met. They’d known each other a short time but her feelings towards Rose were changed, from dubious to thankful. Daphne hadn’t really had the chance to thank her properly for what she’d done, but she would. She’d help Sylvie see the good in Pierre’s ill begotten daughter and be as good a friend to her as she’d been in that cell.
It was nice to see her happy, especially right now. Daphne looked up and down the big table, searching for another happy face, and couldn’t find a single one. The family was grouped together on one end with the Council members on the other and their guards placed throughout the room. It was eerie eating with the guards watching like they were secret service, which technically, they were. In their world, the Alpha Council was vastly superior to the POTUS.
No one spoke, except Sylvie, Katherine, and the three boys, who occasionally attempted to start a friendly conversation with one or more of the Council members. It never worked, each and every one of them acted like they were deaf whenever either of the women spoke and only when one of the future Alphas had something to say. They were the absolute epitome of grumpy old men, from what she could tell, and it was shocking to realize that her entire world was being run by this group of misogynists.
Daphne knew Katherine well enough by now that she could tell the woman was struggling to remain composed. She and Sylvie were trying their best, but the Council members were making it all but impossible to stay polite. They were rude, plain and simple, and they were making it very clear that they didn’t consider women’s opinions of any value. She was incredibly glad no one expected anything of her.
“You’re being quieter than usual,” Keme leaned over, bumping his shoulder against hers, “and what did that asparagus ever do to you?”
She smiled and looked up at him through her lashes, wondering for the zillionth time how she’d managed to snag a guy like him. The most amazing thing about him, though, was his absolute wonder at how he’d managed to find her. She’d spent years thinking love just wasn’t for her, that she would never find that illusive soul mate everyone searched for their entire lives. Then she’d looked up from her life and there he’d been, every bit a part of her as was her heart.
“This isn’t exactly a friendly meal,” she bumped him back gently and flutters of nerves and excitement skittered through her tummy. He’d be overjoyed, she knew he would be, but it was so soon. There was still so much for them to do, to accomplish. They weren’t even married yet. Not that she was old fashioned and required marriage first, but it would have been nice to have a flat stomach, so she could fit in her wedding dress. Now, she’d be sporting a pretty cute bump or they’d have to reschedule and she could really use a vacation in Belize right about now. She’d just have to find a dress that flared out and camouflaged her bump.
One of the Alphas cleared his throat loudly and pushed out from the table, scraping the chair loudly against the floor. Daphne peeked at Sylvie and discerned a slight twitch in her left eye, nothing the Council members would notice but a sure sign she needed to get away and rest.
“Thank you, Mrs. LaFlamme, for that delicious meal.” The oldest of the Council spoke. Daphne wondered how old he was, if he was anywhere near Quinn’s age. However old he was, he certainly showed it and not well. There were deep fissured wrinkles on his cheeks that Eve could plunge her little fingers into and frown lines so engraved, they may have well been etched into stone. His name was Malachi, she remembered, a fitting name for such a horrid man. Of course, he’d probably been named after the Biblical Malachi, not the sadistic evil child messiah from Children of the Corn. She preferred her version.
Murmured assent echoed throughout the room as the remaining Council members pushed back as one and stood. Daphne set down her fork and followed suit, setting a polite smile on her lips as befitted a future first-wife. She slipped her hand into Keme’s and shifted to stand by his side, a strong, united front.
They stood, all of them, like that for at least thirty seconds before Malachi nodded toward Anthony, Ronan, and Teagan. “Sleep well,” his lips turned up in the semblance of a smile, almost cracking his face in two, “we begin in the morning.” He turned and walked out of the room with a surprisingly agile stride and the other Alphas in pursuit.
For a long moment after they last had disappeared, they remained standing, listening as the men climbed the stairs to their rooms. As the last footfall sounded at the top of the staircase, a collective sigh filled the dining room and they all slumped into their chairs.
Sylvie was the first to laugh, a sweet bell like sound that made Daphne want to join in. “Thank the Old Ones that is over,” she slapped her hands down on the table before her. “Now, let’s go discuss whatever it is Anthony alluded to earlier. I’ve been itching to find out.”
Daphne grimaced involuntarily and felt horrible when she noticed Rose watching her. She offered her a reassuring smile that fell far short of its aim and stood to follow the group to Sylvie’s parlor for the big reveal.
♀♀♀
Katherine checked in on Eve before joining everyone in her mother’s room. She was fine, playing contentedly with one of Katherine’s old teddy bears while her nanny read from a children’s book aloud. It physically pained Katherine to leave her daughter in the care of another woman after being with her again for such a short time, but she reminded herself that life would be back to normal very soon and then Eve would have both her parents around.
Everyone was seated with drinks in their hands when she slipped into the room and took her place beside Quinn, who was ready with a glass of wine. Although the room was on the far end of the house away from the guest suites where the Council members were settled, there was no need risking someone overhearing their sensitive news.
Katherine glanced around, hoping someone else would be up to taking the lead tonight, and sighed when they all averted their eyes purposefully. She took a moment to take a long drink from her glass before starting. “Fine,” she muttered, turning to face their mother. “Mom,” she began, hoping the right words would magically come to her as they so often did in the courtroom, “there’s a lot we need to tell you, about the trip, about Raphael, but we need you to listen first to the whole story, okay?”
>
Sylvie knotted her hands together, her only outward proof of her nerves, and nodded. “Tell me.”
“Alright,” Katherine bit down on her lower lip and blew out a deep breath, “do you remember when Dad was in that fire?”
Sylvie’s finely arched eyebrows shot up, “I do.” She drew out the last word like a question.
“Well, and I know how insane this is going to sound, but you need to remember how insane Raphael is,” she paused, “was.”
“Just spit it out, darling.” Sylvie admonished, looking agitated now.
Katherine laid down her glass and braced herself, then took Quinn’s free hand and blurted, “Raphael set the fire so he could harvest dad’s sperm while he was unconscious because he knew dad would father the woman from the prophecy.” She ran out of air, sucked in a lungful and began again, “He kidnapped women and artificially inseminated them to try to create a baby that would fulfill the prophecy and he’s been experimenting, or rather torturing those babies, who have mostly grown into young women, for years.”
Katherine paused, needing air as much as a shot of liquid courage for the next part, and wondered how Rose was managing to stay composed. One look at her terrified face and she knew that Rose was far from composed. Katherine let go of Quinn’s hand, stood up, crossed the room and held out her hand for Rose. After a moment of staring blankly at her outstretched hand, Rose took it and stood.
They turned back toward Sylvie, whose face was pale and blank. It pained Katherine to do this to her mother, but it was necessary and past time. “This is Rose,” Katherine took the plunge, “Dad’s biological daughter.”
The sounds of rushed heartbeats and quiet breathing did nothing to break the silence in the room as everyone waited for Sylvie to process what Katherine was saying. Slowly, as Katherine watched, her mother’s eyes narrowed, sharpened, and became focused. She looked at Rose, really looked, starting at her hair, her face, her body, and back to the eyes that reminded Katherine of the man she’d called Daddy.
Sylvie’s gaze darted away from Rose’s face and over to her sons, who nodded in confirmation of what Katherine had told her, then she stood up and walked on wobbly legs to stand in front of her dead husband’s child.
“You have his eyes,” Sylvie whispered, lifting one hand to touch Rose’s pale cheek.
Katherine couldn’t breathe, she could just watch as Sylvie brushed away a tear that fell from Rose’s eyes and coursed over her skin. She cupped Rose’s cheek as she’d so often done to Katherine as a child, to reassure her, to wipe away tears, or just to touch the one she loved.
Then Sylvie closed her eyes and lifted a hand to her temple, “I’m sorry,” she murmured, sinking back into her chair, “it’s just… a lot.”
“No,” Rose shook her head, wiping the remaining tears from her face, “don’t apologize, it’s a lot for anybody. I…” she glanced away, worrying her bottom lip, then squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I’m sorry he’s gone. I would have liked to have met my father.” She looked over her shoulder towards the boys who shot her back smiles of encouragement, then to Katherine who was taking it all in, “I think he must have been a good man to have raised so many kind children.”
Sylvie nodded and began blinking rapidly, “He was an amazing man, a fearless leader, and an even better father.”
One by one, they all raised their glasses to the sky and their father’s memory, “Hear, hear.”
“À votre santé.”
“Sláinte.”
They sat and answered questions as the hours crept by, until the sun was set and Sylvie ordered her sons to call their mates and go to bed. She pulled each one close and kissed them on both cheeks then directly on the mouth, just as she always had, even though now they were grown men who towered above her petite frame. “Good night, my sons.” She smiled sadly as Teagan closed the door behind him and went to get herself another glass of wine. “This won’t be easy on them,” she said quietly, tilting her head towards the half empty bottle.
Katherine stood and crossed the room, taking the bottle from her mother, “They’ll do fine,” she reassured her mother before pouring herself another drink and passing the bottle off to Rose, who filled hers. Daphne sipped away politely, with exhausted eyes, at a glass of what Katherine had just noticed was only cranberry juice devoid of any vodka. She drew in a deep breath and frowned at the lack of pregnancy hormone. Going on instinct, Katherine looked at Quinn and smiled, “Perhaps the remaining men should settle in and let us women speak for a moment. There are a few…” she paused for a second, “feminine things we have to discuss before bed.”
She noticed arched eyebrows all around, but then Quinn, Keme, and Liam stood obediently, offering kisses and murmurs of “Don’t be long,” before disappearing out the door.
The moment the door closed, Sylvie looked at Katherine with an inquisitive look, “Now, what was that all about?”
Katherine sat back down and lifted her glass to her lips, twisting to look directly at Daphne, “That, dear Mother, is about the fact that this one,” she tipped her glass towards her friend who was blushing furiously now, “is pregnant but doesn’t smell pregnant. Isn’t that right, Daphne?”
All eyes turned to her friend who lowered the glass she’d been trying to hide behind and shrugged with a smile, “Yes.”
“I knew it!” Katherine crossed the room and pulled her friend into a hug, too overcome with the confirmation of her suspicions to ask the next logical question. “More babies!” She grinned, secretly wondering how quickly she and Quinn could get pregnant so she and Daphne could gestate together.
“Why don’t you smell pregnant?” Sylvie walked across the room to take the seat Keme had left empty and leaned close to Daphne’s neck.
Partially snapping out of her excited state, Katherine frowned and seconded her mother’s question. She, too, approached Daphne to sniff away, but the result was the same. She didn’t smell pregnant. Katherine frowned and glanced at Rose, who was being too quiet for her own good. “You knew?” She accused her sister, pointing a finger at first Rose then Daphne, “And you told her but not me?”
“We were locked in a cell together.” Rose defended Daphne.
“It was an emergency,” Daphne chimed in, “and it was a damned good thing I did tell her,” she looked at Rose with an affectionate smile, “because she took a pretty bad beating on my behalf, well, the baby’s behalf, really.”
Katherine felt her eyebrows climb on her forehead as she watched her friend and sister interact. She’d noticed they were nicer to one another on the way home, but she’d been busy flying the plane and paying attention to Quinn. Just days ago they were a distrustful of one another as thieves and now they were friends. “Huh.”
“Let’s just all agree it was necessary and stop acting like children,” Sylvie interrupted Katherine’s hurt feelings, “back to the scent issue. I have been around a lot of pregnant wolves in my life and I have never met someone who didn’t smell pregnant. Do you think this is a side effect of that scent eraser you mentioned earlier?”
Katherine gaped at her mother as the theory ran circles in her mind. She nodded slowly, recalling the files they’d taken from the mountain and carted back in boxes with them to Canada. “It could be.” She frowned at Daphne and Rose, “Is that what you two were thinking?”
“We think so,” Daphne nodded. “It’s the only outside element that I’ve been around.” She rubbed her hand over her still flat stomach and looked up with a worried expression, “What if the serum hurt the baby?”
Sylvie took Daphne’s hand and brought it to her lap. “I’ll call my doctor first thing in the morning and we’ll get you in to see her, okay?” She made shushing sounds that immediately lessened the fear in Daphne’s eyes and murmured, “Everything is going to be alright.”
Katherine watched her mother and her heart thumped with pride. In the midst of her own grief she was able to comfort others, accept a new member into the family, and find the answ
ers that remained hidden to some. She was exceptional. Katherine could only pray she’d be as amazing a mother as her own someday.
Exhaustion set in then, showing in everyone’s eyes as they glanced at the time. It was late, too late to continue chatting and their wine was all gone anyway. Katherine kissed her mother’s cheek and pulled open the door while Sylvie gave first Daphne then Rose a fierce hug.
Quinn was still awake when she fell into bed with nothing on but the skin she’d been born in. Without saying a word, she rolled onto her stomach and made a moaning sound. Chuckling, Quinn put down the book he’d been reading and turned on his side to run his strong fingers over the stiff muscles in her back.
He leaned into her skin and kissed her shoulder blade while his hands worked magic on her aches. Katherine purred under his ministrations and arched into his touch when he brushed over her most sensitive areas. His touch turned softer, sweeter, and moved slowly over her back and shoulders, obliterating any consciousness she’d tried to hold onto.
