Lily shook her head. “It’s not that, Sam. I’m really okay with this.” She sighed. “It helps that you still treat me like your main woman, especially when everyone is around. And I guess I’ve just gotten used to you and Freya doing it together, because it honestly makes me happy that you’re happy.”
Freya grinned. “She also gets a little turned on when she thinks about you and Heidi doing stuff.”
“Freya!” Lily hissed, her face turning bright red, waves of heat coming off her body.
She shrugged. “Heidi honestly wouldn’t mind you watching her in action, and really wants to watch you doing it with Sam sometime. Especially now.”
Lily’s blonde hair lit on fire, looking possibly the most embarrassed I’d ever seen. However, one thing was different.
I didn’t feel the heat.
Or rather, it wasn’t uncomfortable for me. Not at all.
She calmed down quickly though, since she’d really been trying hard to stop bursting into flames uncontrollably. She rarely did it anyway, but now that we had Eden in our lives, she was committed to trying to stop doing it altogether. Even more so since I apparently shared her ability now, but seemed to have complete control.
We were then all quiet for a few minutes, all of us pensive, as the elephant in the room still lingered.
I finally spoke up. “Look, I’ll be completely honest. I’m okay if you guys want to kick her out. Obviously, she might not help us with our other problems, even if I pay her for her time, but I’m okay if that’s what you two want to do. And, if you want to add her to the family, in the same way Heidi and Lexi now are, then I’m not going to automatically jump into bed with her either. I mean, we’ve barely known her for a week, whereas I’ve at least known Heidi and Lexi for nearly a year. I’m not even sure if I want to start a relationship with her. Obviously, she is hot, but that’s about all I know about her so far.”
Granted, I had learned a lot about her in the last week, especially in the last day, but overall what I said was still true.
Freya nodded. “And actually, Sam, that does bring up an important point. Obviously, it seems like Winter wants a family, as well as an alpha, but that’s not the same thing as her wanting to climb into bed with you. Just like you feel like you barely know her, she might feel the same way.” She paused. “Winter wanting a leader and a protector isn’t the same thing as wanting a mate – even if she anticipates being one of your women eventually.”
“Of course,” I agreed. “And, honestly, she’s been pretty adamant about me keeping my eyes to myself, so I’d actually be really surprised if she suddenly wanted to advance our relationship straight to the bedroom.”
Freya nodded, only to glance at Lily, who then sighed heavily, rolling her orange eyes. “I mean, like I said. Is there really anything to even talk about? Is anyone really going to say no? She freaking solved a big problem for us – something that even the CDS couldn’t do with all the resources they have at their disposal.”
“Well…” I hesitated. “Technically, we should probably consider the fact that there are two others who need to be involved in this decision.”
They both looked at me in surprise, knowing exactly what I meant.
Freya nodded. “Of course. We’ll talk to them about it. But no point, if Lily isn’t going to be alright with it.”
“So you want this?” Lily wondered.
“Do you?” Freya replied.
Lily took another deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Yeah. I guess. What’s one more? If that’s what Winter really wants, then let’s do it. Let’s let her be a part of our family. Or, our pride , if she wants to call it that. But after that, no more. We don’t have the room, and honestly there’s no way Sam is going to be able to give us the attention we need if there are more than five of us.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. I was already wondering how I was going to make time for just the four of them. Not to mention, I still wanted to spend time with my kids too! Eden took the whole ‘Enjoy them now, because they’ll never be this age again’ to a whole new level. Two weeks old, and she was already technically about six months. Although, I pretty much took care of her every night, with her sleeping and eating schedule being almost nonstop back and forth, so that helped.
But there was Rose to consider too. I didn’t want her to grow up with a dad that spent almost no time with her.
Freya nodded in agreement to Lily’s comment, with the two of them both looking at me for the final decision about adding Winter, since Lily just said yes.
I smirked awkwardly. “I mean, I don’t object.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t. What sane guy would?”
“Good point,” I agreed, only to reach out and grab her when she rolled her orange eyes again. Tugging her into my lap, I planted a heavy kiss on her lips, prompting her to run her fingers through my hair, beginning to breathe heavily through her nose as the kiss prolonged.
Freya then leaned over and kissed both of us on the temple in turn, before she climbed out of bed. We both looked at her in confusion.
“I’ll go take care of the baby, since it’s late, and I’m sure Heidi wants to go to bed.” She paused. “And, while I’m upstairs, I’ll probably go ahead and mention the idea to them so they can start thinking about it. But in the meantime, I’ll leave you two in here alone for a little while, so you can spend some time together.” She then winked at me and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.
I turned my head back toward Lily, just in time for her lips to meet mine again while my hand began searching in between her thighs. She gasped briefly before kissing me harder, her fingers gripping my hair as she pulled my lips firmly against hers.
About thirty minutes later, we were curled up together in bed, with me holding her as she slowly began drifting to sleep with a peaceful smile touching her lips. After she was out, I went to go check on Freya, who was holding a happy sleeping baby in the kitchen.
I kissed her for a couple of seconds on the lips and then sat in the chair beside her just to be near for a bit before she went to bed as well. It wasn’t until it was obvious she was really sleepy that I realized something else was up.
Freya sighed. “I want to be the one to tell her,” she admitted.
“Oh. Then Heidi and Lexi were okay with it?”
She nodded. “They were both pretty much like ‘It’s your decision. ’ Although, Lexi kind of wanted to know if Winter was going to be the last one after that. I told her yes.”
I nodded in agreement. Even with this decision, I wasn’t planning on advancing anything with Winter anytime soon. I still hadn’t even gone on a proper date with Lexi yet. “And if this situation starts causing problems, please let me know,” I added. “This could really blow up in our faces if we aren’t careful. And I can’t lose any of you. Definitely not you and Lily.”
Freya smiled warmly. “You’re wonderful, Sam.” She then sighed. “But it is getting pretty late. I’ll go ahead and put Eden in her crib and get to bed myself. Can you wake me up when she gets here?”
I agreed and then gave her another quick kiss before she went to do that. However, when she came back alone to give me one last kiss for the night, I saw movement in my second sight – Winter, getting out of the car to punch in the code to the gate. That reminded me that we really needed to replace the key-fobs we lost, and get our newest family member one too.
“She’s here,” I announced quietly.
Freya nodded, wrapping her arms around mine as she began tugging me toward the door. We stepped outside, with me at least trying to keep my thoughts clear, only for Winter to hesitate pulling through the gate. After a moment, she then started moving again, slowly parking in front of the house and cautiously climbing out of the car.
I let Freya break the news, just as she wanted.
“I got your message,” she began. “Thank you. And thank you for thinking of Rose too.”
Winter only nodded, her gaze he
sitant.
“While you were gone, we also talked about you, since it seems like you’re looking for a home.” She paused again. “A pride.”
Instantly, Winter’s expression was nervous and…vulnerable.
“The decision was unanimous,” she continued, before giving her a warm smile. “So, I just wanted to say, welcome to our pride, Winter. Welcome home.”
Yeah, she kind of cried. A lot.
19: Moving Forward
Winter Fowler
April 23, 2735 – 3 Days Later – Late Morning
Winter sat on the comfy mattress in her room, with the blanket over her head, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. In the last three days, with it now being Tuesday, she had continued to remain ‘out of sight’ the majority of the time, having food delivered to the house just like before. Sam made an attempt to talk to her a handful of times, especially once everyone had gone to bed, but she ignored him.
Because she was afraid.
She finally had everything she had ever wanted. After all this time, she finally had a home, a family, a pride. A place she truly belonged.
It was what she’d wanted since she’d first become interested in companionship, a desire she begrudgingly admitted was ingrained into the fiber of her being, much like her fur – no one ever taught her the concepts of alpha or pride. Rather, she understood at a young age long before she ever learned the words to communicate those ideas. But the prospect of becoming a part of a new family as more than a dependent was daunting, especially in a world where such relationships were rare.
But even before she considered asking her adoptive father for guidance, already had the answers, as he often did due to the predictive superpower he’d obtained many centuries past.
‘Wait,’ Mr. Knight instructed her when she was only fifteen, so very long ago. ‘Be patient, and when the time is right, I’ll send you to the right alpha.”
Like an arranged marriage, her adoptive father had promised to pick out her home, her pride, her alpha. And having already long since developed an absolute trust for the man who raised her, she held onto that promise even as the years slowly trickled by.
But time still left her frustrated, like waiting in an endless line to a carnival ride that she was never able to reach. A lifetime of loneliness filled only with a promise, the wait so long that she would have never seen it were it not for the gift of immortality she’d been blessed with…
The wait so long, that she’d all but given up on several occasions.
But now that time had finally come.
Now, she was welcomed into the family she’d been longing for all her life.
Technically, she hadn’t realized Sam was the alpha she’d been waiting for when she first met him, with her adoptive dad being far too cryptic about everything. Instead, her gut told her that he was the one, especially once she’d done her subjective assessment of his integrity. But she was still indecisive, afraid to hope that the time had finally come.
Afraid of being let down if she was wrong.
That, and she was also waiting on the prophecy-like sign her dad had given her to validate what her instincts were already telling her.
However, she knew everything wouldn’t automatically fall into place just because Sam was the man her dad had picked out for her. Relationships involving multiple people were complicated, and being accepted into such a family wasn’t easy. She knew she’d still have to be very cautious about the situation.
But her dad had truly picked the perfect time. The other females would have never considered adding her to their family were it not for her involvement in fixing a situation only she could fix. Not to mention the fact that the window of opportunity for them to willingly include her so easily was limited.
In fact, the only reason they came to a decision so quickly was because they’d just recently decided to add Lexi and Heidi. It made the choice easy, because they already had an open mindset.
But the timing was also perfect for another reason.
If Winter had instead known about Sam when she was younger, and come early, then her new alpha would have only been a shell of a man. Because, unfortunately, she wouldn’t have been the right person to pull him out of his depression. Even though she was destined for him long before Freya and Lily even knew he existed, it still wouldn’t have been the right time. If anything, his depression would have only affected her poorly, because she wasn’t in a position to be his anchor.
On the contrary, she needed him to be her anchor.
But the realization of her long-sought desire just made her feel vulnerable. Afraid.
Terrified of rejection.
She knew she had a somewhat moody, intimidating, and annoying personality, especially in the perspective of other females, and she was scared they’d end up rejecting her. That they’d change their minds.
Winter found it difficult to express her own emotions sometimes, due to the fact that she felt everyone else’s feelings coursing through her. Certainly, she could keep herself stable, especially when she was latched onto someone stable, but the easiest way for her to cope with her superpower was to just try to not feel as much as she could manage.
To not react to the thoughts and emotions, many of which weren’t her own.
To just observe apathetically, the best she could.
Not to mention, there were aspects of her past she regretted. Aspects she feared they wouldn’t like if they knew.
But now Freya, Lily, and Heidi had made a decision. When Winter’s delivery came a little bit ago, Heidi went out to intercept it, knowing what time it would get there after an obvious routine had been established the previous week. And now, the three of them had it sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for her to come get it.
For her to come eat with them.
And that made her afraid. Because they thought they were okay with her now. But would they still feel that way after she was in their faces all day?
She was really hungry too, with her unique form of immortality – a gift she hadn’t been born with – being tied to an excessive appetite, even if she could technically go a long time without eating. And, she also wanted to do as they desired in general. She wanted to get along with her new family. But she’d gone so long with this desire – all her life – that now the fear of being rejected had her frozen in place.
However, it looked like they weren’t going to give her any more time to work up the courage to come downstairs. Instead, Sam’s oldest daughter was now watching his youngest, and the three women were finally coming up the stairs with her food in hand.
As well as plates of lasagna for two of them…a cup of black coffee for the other…
Winter took a shaky breath when Freya knocked on the door.
“Come in,” she called out, her voice trembling.
The door cracked open, and then slowly revealed the three of them, all with concerned expressions. Winter already knew what they wanted to ask. She already knew what they had on their minds, but she couldn’t bring herself to give them an answer.
Because that was just another reminder for them, about how invasive her ability was. Another reason to potentially get annoyed and ask her to leave.
Freya looked at her for a few moments, seeing her under the covers like a scared little kid even though she was the third oldest person in the family, and then smiled warmly.
“Can we join you in here for lunch?” she asked gently.
Winter’s eyes began blurring with tears, as she took another shaky breath.
“Yes.”
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
April 23, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning
It turned out that work was a lot more enjoyable when I didn’t have a looming threat hanging over my head. Certainly, there was still the shadow organization to worry about, but that threat felt less imminent. Which meant, as I spent the mornings sitting with Lexi in her personal office, I actually enjoyed my time reading over the intelligence reports
, finding some of the stuff really interesting.
I also just enjoyed sitting close to Lexi in general, there being a certain peacefulness about being by her side and doing busywork.
It was also fun to have lunch with Nick again, as well as a lot of the other guys who were pretty cool and easygoing. I mean, in all the times I’d worked in an office setting, this was possibly the most I’d ever felt like I fit in.
The people were interesting and often a little strange, but not in a bad way, and most of them were pretty level-headed, rather than being egotistical or arrogant about their status as a superhero. There was definitely a sense of camaraderie that I couldn’t remember experiencing anywhere else I’d ever worked.
Nick also seemed to fit in really well. In addition to his superpower really being valued here, a lot of the guys seemed to understand his sense of humor, playing right along with his often flat jokes and teasing. Or maybe it was just that I never got it, since I could recall that he mentioned that he and Dave took shots at each other on a regular basis.
Either way, the office turned out to be a really fun and entertaining environment. The mornings were relaxing and low stress, and the afternoons often involved activities I enjoyed doing, like exercising – or just helping Lexi exercise – as well as seeing what strange things others were capable of.
Not to mention, I got to spend a ton of time alone with Lexi.
We still hadn’t taken the time to reschedule our date, but she didn’t give off the vibe like she was missing out, because every day almost felt like a date. Sure, we were definitely going to go on a regular date soon, but her secluded office was a wonder for our still fledgling relationship.
Not that everything in my life was completely perfect at this point.
Back at home, Winter had continued to remain a recluse ever since she came home late Saturday night, but Freya suggested we give her time to take things at her own pace. Because she undoubtedly wanted to be around, but seemed to be struggling to integrate more fully into our lives. However, on the plus side, Lexi and Heidi both truly appeared to be alright with her being around.
The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Page 30
