Alpha's Compromise (Alpha Selection Book 2)

by Charlee Garden

  Sam

  I migrated from my desk to the living room. Collapsing on the couch, I held the neck of the whiskey bottle firmly in hand. I’d neglected the glass after Nate left. Drinking straight from the bottle seemed more fitting. My life was a fucking shit show and I’d undoubtedly just invited in more trouble by basically telling the Alpha Council to shove it. I could have probably been more diplomatic but, honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to care. They’d let my dad and my pack mates die, and allowed countless other wolves to suffer from Ben’s Lunacy. I couldn’t just pucker up and kiss their asses after that.

  The television blared as my thoughts grew darker. The soft blue light it cast was the only illumination in the room as depression pulled me into its depths. The front door swung open, but I didn’t bother looking up. I just stared at the television without truly seeing anything as my mind whirled.

  “Sam?” Lily’s voice sounded horrified as she flicked on the hall light and took in my visage from the doorway.

  “Hey babe,” I forced a half-smile. I was glad she came home, of course, but my misery was overwhelming me. Embracing even the smallest piece of happiness was harder than it should have been.

  “What happened?” She asked as she locked the front door behind her.

  I waited until she sat beside more before answering. “You mean besides our argument?” My laugh was dry and humorless.

  “Knock it off and tell me what happened,” she sassed. “I know damn well us fighting wouldn’t be enough to drive you to drink. That’s not your style.”

  “Who says you even know my style? You left for fucking years. You’ve barely been back. You don’t even know me anymore,” I said. My words escaped my body like vomit. I was powerless to hold them back.

  “Enough,” she snapped at me. Her eyes were shiny with tears and even in my drunken state I felt guilt surge through me.

  I sighed and placed my hand on her thigh before leaning back. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. I just don’t want to talk about it tonight. I just need a break from all the doom and fucking gloom.”

  She nodded. “I get it… but you still don’t get to take it out on me.”

  “I know,” I sighed. I pulled her down to snuggle into my side and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass. It just feels like the whole world is crumbling down around me and I don’t know what to do. I wish… I wish my dad were still here.”

  Lily hugged me tight, her wolf strength causing my breath to expel. I pried her arms off a bit and spoke, my voice full of humor. “You’re stronger than you used to be. Ease up. I can’t breath.”

  She sat up quickly and released me. “I’m sorry.”

  “Come back. ‘S okay,” I mumbled as I pulled her back to me.

  We sat in silence, just holding each other. Sleep claimed us at some point, because sunlight streaming through the windows caused me to stir. A groan escaped me as the light hit my eyes.

  My head pounded to the beat of its own drum as I swallowed repeatedly in an attempt to fight back the nausea that threatened to send me running to the bathroom.

  “Hungover? I’m not surprised. You damn near finished that entire bottle of whiskey,” Lily’s voice sounded like a scream though I knew, in reality, that her volume was at a normal tone.

  I groaned and threw my arm over my eyes to block the sun. “I needed it. It was a shit fucking night. It’ll be alright in a bit. My wolf just needs time to patch me up.”

  She laughed, the sound making me cringe. “Well you better hope your wolf can work in double time. We have to be at Ember’s in an hour for the sonogram.”

  I sat up way too quickly in my excitement and threw my battered stomach for a loop. I forced down the gag that tried to empty the contents of my stomach before I spoke. “In an hour? I thought it’d be later in the day!”

  “It’s noon, Sam.”

  “Shit,” I mumbled as I stood up. “I’m going to go shower. I’ll be ready in thirty.”

  “That’s optimistic,” she commented snarkily. She held out a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers. I took the water but waved away the medicine, it wouldn’t do anything for me any way.

  After I downed the water, I ran upstairs and rushed through a shower. On my journey down the stairs, my stomach went from a full nauseous revolt to growling with hunger as the smell of bacon hit my nose.

  “You cooked?” I called out to my mate, shocked that it actually smelled good.

  A laugh that wasn’t Lily’s echoed throughout the house. “Does it smell like anything is burning? Have you heard anyone call for you to evacuate the house? No? Then, Lil definitely didn’t cook.”

  I snorted out a laugh as I turned the corner into the kitchen in time to see Lily throw an elbow into Tessa’s ribs.

  “Point taken. Should have known when there was no one calling for help,” I commented as I took a seat at the kitchen table. “Thanks for breakfast, Tess. I need it.”

  “You got it. It’s the least I could do since you’re going to let me crash your sonogram,” the witch responded.

  I cocked an eyebrow at my mate as I began to fill my plate with the breakfast Tess had no doubt magicked into existence. “We are?”

  “Apparently,” Lily muttered. “I wasn’t exactly asked so much as told. Hell, I didn’t even tell her about the sonogram.”

  “You sure didn’t. Still mad at you for that. Nate told me last night when he called about the Alpha Council bullshit,” Tessa said.

  I didn’t have a chance to speak before Lily latched onto her words and launched into questioning me about the council. I held my hands up in surrender as I chewed on the breakfast sandwich I’d assembled.

  “I was going to tell you about it. Just after the sonogram. Let’s be happy for now,” I said, reaching out to pull my mate over to me. She reluctantly came to my side and allowed me to wrap my arm around her waist. I pressed a soft kiss to her barely bulging belly before I spoke again. “The Council is why I was completely hammered when you showed up last night. I’ll tell you about it after our appointment, alright?”

  She grudgingly agreed as she sat beside me at the table. I could tell from her calm demeanor that I would be interrogated later but, for now at least, we focused on the good things in life. We’d have plenty of time for the shit show later.

  17

  Liliana

  “This may feel a bit cold,” Ember said in a soothing voice as she squirted a cool gel on my bare stomach. She’d mastered the art of the bedside manner tone. AK, on the other hand, still had some work to do.

  “This is so cool. The only ultrasound I’ve ever seen was mine,” A.K. gushed as the pack healer moved the wand over my stomach. Since she was training to be Ember’s assistant, she was allowed in the bedroom that was set up to resemble a gynecologist’s exam room. Tessa, much to her dismay, was sitting out in the hall. I agreed that she could come but I only wanted Sam in the room when we saw our baby for the first time.

  “Hmmm...” Ember hummed, the noise automatically setting my nerves on edge.

  “What? What is it? Is the baby okay?” Sam took the words right out of my mouth as we both clutched each other’s hands in a vice grip.

  “Uh…” The healer paused. “Yes, the baby is fine. They both have strong heart beats.”

  “Both?” I spluttered as Sam gaped silently.

  “Yes. Congratulations. You’re having twins.”

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I said as I threw my head back against the bed. I squeezed my eyes shut tight as I tried to steady my erratic breathing.

  “Twins? As in two babies?” Sam asked, completely dumb struck.

  “Yes,” Ember chuckled quietly. “Twins as in two babies. I know this is probably quite a shock. We’ll give you two a moment and then we can come back and find out the genders.”

  She rose and ushered a reluctant A.K. from the room. Sam’s sister-in-law looked like the cat who caught the canary. Her grin was wide as she peaked over her shou
lder at us. Ember had to physically shove her to get her to exit the room.

  “Two babies,” Sam said.

  “Two babies,” I repeated.

  “How do you feel… about that?” He asked.

  “Absolutely fucking terrified. I was scared to have one but two at once? I don’t know shit about being a mom, Sam.” My voice trembled as tears welled in my eyes. Sure I’d always wanted to have a kid one day and yes, I had warmed up to the fact that I was pregnant now… but twins? The very idea was beyond frightening.

  “We’ll figure it out one step at a time, mi amor.”

  “We can’t even figure out how to coexist together right now. You just told me I don’t even know you anymore and we’re going to have two kids? How are we supposed to do this?”

  “I didn’t mean that. I was drunk and being an ass...We’ll figure out our situation and we can read parenting books or something. Everything will be alright,” he said, too calm for my liking. I was freaking out and he was like the King of Chill. It honestly annoyed me.

  “Parenting books?” I scoffed. “Like what? ‘The Guide for Raising Werewolf Babies for the Alpha Parents Who Rule Different Packs?’ I’m sure I can find that at the local library.”

  Sam handled my snark well. It wasn’t like I was upset about two babies or that I didn’t want them. I was just spiraling as fear overwhelmed me. I could say with all of my heart that I already loved both of them. The problem was that I loved them so much I was afraid I was going to be a horrible mom and ruin their lives.

  “Breathe,” Sam said as he reached out to stroke my forehead. “I know you’re scared, I am too, but we have an amazing support system. A.K. will help with the babies and you know your mom will too. Hell, we can take those breathing classes like in the movies and get a midwife lady.”

  “A doula?” I snorted.

  “Yeah, that.”

  I let out a near hysterical giggle. “You’re right. We can do this. We totally got this. We’re going to parent the crap out of these babies.”

  “We sure are,” he said with a grin that lit up his entire face. “Are we done freaking out now? I want to know what we’re having. I want the satisfaction of knowing you were wrong.”

  My giggles turned into full on laughter as I remembered the bet we’d made while making Chilaquiles. “No way. They’re girls. I’m totally winning.”

  “Hey, if it’s one of each then we both win. Who gets to do the naming then? One of each?”

  “No way. Rock, paper, scissors. Best two out of three. Winner takes all,” I said with a grin.

  He stood and leaned forward to press a kiss to my forehead before he went to get Ember and AK. Tessa joined them this time.

  “She looked like a lost puppy. I figured we could let her come in for the gender part,” Sam explained.

  “Wait! You can’t find out! You have to have a reveal party!” A.K. exclaimed excitedly. Tessa nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

  I turned my head to look at my mate who had returned to stand beside my shoulder. “What do you think?”

  “A party would be a good time for our wolves to get to know each other. They’re going to have to learn to coexist if we’re going to make this separate pack thing work.”

  “Alright… a reveal party it is... I guess,” I hesitantly agreed. Sam was right. A party would be a good chance for our wolves to spend some time together but, now that I had a moment to process that I was having two babies, I wasn’t keen on waiting to find out what I was having.

  “Yes!” A.K. shouted at the same time Tessa spoke. “Leave it up to us. We’ll handle everything!”

  Sam and I locked eyes. We groaned in unison as both women began to chat in animated voices that Tessa was undoubtedly using magic to distort. Even my wolf hearing couldn’t detect what they were saying, though their voices were at higher than average speaking volume.

  Ember’s smile was almost pitying as she picked up the wand again. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news… but you’ll have to wait another couple of weeks before having your reveal if you’d like your parents to be there. In a human pregnancy, you wouldn’t be able to find out for another two weeks… minimum.”

  “So are we pretending that we just found out in the office and didn’t want a party?” Sam asked.

  “We can wait the two weeks so we can tell them when we find out but… I don’t want them at the party. What if our wolves don’t get along? I don’t want my family in danger.” Sadness overwhelmed me. This was just the beginning. Neither my parents nor my brother would ever truly be able to be a part of my life anymore--not fully. I would always have to keep them at arm's length for their own safety and honestly? The very thought of not being close to them broke my heart.

  18

  Sam

  After we finished with the sonogram, Lily and I went back to the house. I let her in on the key points of the Alpha Council meeting. She was understandably worried… but we had a more pressing matter to attend to.

  “What am I going to say?” I asked her.

  “Ale, my man! I defiled your daughter and now she’s pregnant. Oh, and by the way? She’s having twins,” Lily said with a mischievous grin.

  “You’re hilarious… truly,” my words were completely devoid of humor as I internally panicked. I’d grown up with the Morreti family being a constant in my life. My dad was an only child so Alessandro was the closest thing I’d ever had to an uncle. We’d been super tight when I was a kid, growing more distant once I’d started dating his daughter. I still thought of him as family though. Even more so now that he was going to be the grandfather to my children.

  Alessandro was pretty old school. First came love, then marriage, and then the babies. It’s not like I could explain that mating was a commitment and bond far stronger than marriage. I’d ignored the mate bond once and it was miserable. Every part of my wolfish nature pulled me to my mate. Now that Lily knew of my nature, now that she was one of us, there was no severing our mate bond. The torment I’d feel at being separated from her would be sanity inducing. I couldn’t even physically be with another woman anymore even if I wanted to--and I didn’t. Lily was my everything… but since her dad was human, I couldn’t tell him that.

  Instead, he was going to think I ruined his little girl. As police officers, our dads used to take us to the shooting range all the time as teenagers. I knew just how many guns Ale had and how great his aim was. To say I was nervous to tell him… well that was probably the understatement of the century.

  “Relax, babe. Dad isn’t going to murder you… I hope,” Lily joked.

  “This isn’t funny. I’m freaking out. That man has way too many guns and way too much practice aiming at a moving target.”

  She rolled her eyes and opened the front door of our house. She stepped into the night air and called over her shoulder. “Let’s go. You’re just going to keep stressing yourself out. We might as well get it over with.

  I followed behind her like a lamb being led to slaughter.

  I stuck the key in the ignition, halting before turning it. “Are you sure we can’t tell him over the phone?”

  “Is the big, bad alpha afraid of my human daddy?” she mocked.

  “Fuck yeah. No shame about it either,” I exclaimed.

  She laughed at my suffering. “Start driving, Hernandez.”

  “Maybe if we elope and then tell him, it’ll be better?” I suggested, only half joking.

  “So you can take the joy of him walking his baby girl down the aisle? Do you have an actual death wish? Besides, I don’t recall ever hearing a proposal. Now drive.”

  I let out a long suffering sigh as I finally started the car and backed out of the driveway. It was time to face my doom.

  19

  Liliana

  As much as I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to tease Sam, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to tell my dad about my pregnancy. I had an irrational fear that we were going to give him a second heart attack when we broke th
e news.

  The fact that I was pregnant out of wedlock was going to drive his poor little old school Italian soul insane. Add the fact that I was supposedly four and a half months pregnant on top of it? I’d be lucky if he forgave us for keeping it a secret from him for so long. Of course, I had only known about the pregnancy for a week but it wasn’t like I could tell him that.

  We were going to show up at my parents’ house for dinner and the neighbors were probably going to get a show. I’d called ahead and asked my mom to lock up all the guns and ammo in the house. I’d like to think that as law enforcement, my dad wouldn’t shoot my mate… but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Sam parked in front of my parent’s three-story home. It was nestled within a quiet little cul-de-sac. Each lawn was perfectly manicured, every fence freshly painted. It was as if not even the elements itself could mess with the storybook perfection of Oak Ridge.

  We locked eyes as Sam slipped the car in park.

  “You ready?” I asked.

  “Not at all,” he mumbled before he turned the car off and climbed out. My mate was brave--I’d give him that.

  I opened the front door and called out. “Mom. Dad. We’re here!”

  “In the kitchen,” my mom called out.

  I gave Sam’s hand a reassuring squeeze before releasing it. Two steps into the house, I almost tripped as Eleanor came running to greet me. As much as I loved the cat, the constant string of werewolves that came and went from Sam’s house stressed her out. My mom was kind enough to take her in under the guise that I was staying at Sam’s and his niece was allergic to her.

  I bent down and scooped my fur baby up. She rubbed her face against mine as she purred happily.

  “I missed you too,” I murmured to the cat as I led the way into the kitchen. Sam trudged along behind me as if we were heading to his execution.