We followed him. Tess and Nate sat on the love seat together and I had to hide I smirk as I settled on the couch. Sam looked equally amused, wagging his eyebrows suggestively as he caught my eye. He sat beside me, intertwining our fingers as he motioned for them to begin.
Nate spoke first. “The witches are willing to form an alliance with us. They agree that a treaty isn’t enough, and they want to ally with Lily’s pack as well. They have some conditions though.”
“Such as?” Sam asked.
“Chancellor Warren wants to place a truth spell on all of the wolves in both packs to make sure they harbor no ill will against witches,” Nate answered.
Tessa cut in. “That’s not all. He wants Nate to join Bael and I on our hunt for Ben’s parents. They want to be sure there are no other hybrids out there.”
“He’s my beta. I need him here,” Sam protested.
“It’s a non-negotiable term, Sam. If Nate doesn’t join the hunt, the witches won’t agree to an alliance,” Tessa replied.
“Why Nate? I can send any other wolf. He needs to be here. When the babies are born, I’m going to have to take time off to help Lily. I can’t step back for a bit with my beta gone,” my mate growled.
“I know. It’s not ideal but I managed to buy us some time. They agreed to postpone the hunt until after the babies are born,” Tessa replied.
“How’d you swing that?” I asked.
“Because she’s brilliant,” Nate answered. “Tess convinced the chancellor that you could potentially be a target for any hybrid relatives of Ben. She is assigned as your guard until the babies are born to make sure no attacks come. Bael will be leaving for recon soon, trying to find a place for us to start our search, but for now we’re here.”
“It sounds like you plan on going,” Sam said to his second in command.
Nate nodded. “It’s our only option. We need this alliance now more than ever.”
Sam reluctantly agreed. “If you’re sure.”
“Positive.”
“Alright then. Anything else?” my mate asked as he scratched anxiously at the back of his neck with his free hand. I stroked the back of the hand I held in a miniscule attempt to offer him comfort.
“That’s all of the important stuff. We can go over the little stuff later. We have a party to get to!” Tessa exclaimed as she jumped to her feet.
I laughed at the way she changed subjects with such enthusiasm. Sam still looked frustrated. I stood and tugged him to his feet. “We can worry later. Now it’s time for you to find out that I was right and you were wrong.”
“You mean find out what gender our babies are?” He asked, amusement clearing the frown that had creased his brow a moment ago.
“Same difference.”
24
Sam
My brother greeted us at the front door, frustration evident in his face.
“Are you okay?” I asked immediately.
“I’m fine. Your sister-in-law, on the other hand, is being a psycho. If I never see another streamer after today, it’ll be too soon.”
I laughed as we entered the house and patted his shoulder genially. Our relationship had been strained since Dad died, but he was still my brother.
“Hey you married her,” I responded.
“I can hear you,” A.K. snapped from the kitchen.
Tessa greeted Alex. “I’ll tame the beast. I can use magic to finish whatever else needs to be done.”
Lily looked around the house and frowned. “There aren’t that many streamers.”
I followed her gaze. Sure enough, there were only a few hanging from the doorway and lining the hall that led to the kitchen.
“Just wait,” Alex responded.
Nate broke away from our group and I could hear him offering his help to A.K. and Tessa. Alex led us through the kitchen and opened the sliding door that was lined with streamers.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed as we stepped outside. At first glance, the backyard looked like a streamer factory had blown up in it. Boy(s) or Girl(s)? was written in chalk on their six-foot privacy fence. Streamers and balloons hung from every surface they possibly could. It was all way over the top. There was even a giant pacifier piñata perched up on a table by the garage.
There were tables with complex cakes that looked to be made out of blue and pink diapers acting as their centerpieces. It was honestly the tackiest thing I ever saw.
“It’s amazing,” Lily squealed beside me. I side-eyed her incredulously. It was hideous. Whatever. If she was happy, I was happy.
I looked down at my watch as she flitted around the backyard, taking in all the decorations. The party officially started in twenty minutes. The sun had already begun to dip below the horizon. We’d decided on a party at night. This was the first time our packs would be mingling. I was nervous as hell. The odds that one of the wolves who had killed my pack mates would be in attendance were high. Logically, I knew they’d been acting under Ben’s command but it was hard to feel it. If I was struggling, I knew my pack would be too. I didn’t want any drama to ruin the happiness that filled my mate. We were about to find out what we were having. It was a big deal and I wanted her to have only happy memories when she looked back on the party.
“Nervous?” Alex asked as he offered me a bottle of water.
I took the bottle and drained its contents before I answered. “That would be the understatement of the year.”
“It’ll be alright. It’s going to be a long road, but our packs need to learn to coexist for the sake of our alphas. You just have to be patient and positive. If you have doubts, the pack will feel it,” he counseled wisely.
“When did you get so smart?” I joked.
“Well I am older. I have years of sage wisdom to impart on you, little brother,” he said in a mock haughty tone.
I threw my empty water bottle at him. He caught it and smacked my arm with it before throwing it in the trash.
“I’m going to fire up the grill. Go ask Alara for the food she wants me to cook out here.”
“You got it,” I replied. Lily had given up fawning over the decorations while Alex and I talked. As I walked into the kitchen to get the food from A.K., Lily was exiting with a giant plate of potato salad. I laughed, causing her to shoot an evil glare my way.
“I’m eating for three. Don’t judge me,” she said defensively.
I held my hands up in surrender. “Hey, I wasn’t judging. I love a woman who can eat.”
“A woman?” she said, giving me the stink eye.
“Well, my woman,” I amended as I kissed her. “Go eat. I’m going to help out.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she said happily as she made her way to a table. She sat down and dug in. I’d be lying if I said the way she moaned as she took her first bite didn’t affect me. My mind went straight into the gutter as her eyes closed in pleasure. I forced my gaze away from my mate and returned my focus to the task my brother had given me.
“Here,” A.K. said as she shoved a tray of uncooked burgers and hot dogs in my hands.
I smiled at her frazzled state and shifted the tray into one hand so I could pull her into a side hug. “Thank you for all your hard work, A.K. We really appreciate it.”
She sighed. “I’m happy to help. Sorry, I’m just a bit frazzled. There is still a lot to do.”
“I’ll take this to Alex and then you can put me to work,” I said. Alara took my offer of help and ran with it. While Tessa seemed to cast an endless stream of spells, I spent the next half an hour running back and forth as we finished setting up. By the time she announced that we were done, my entire pack had arrived and quite a few of Lily’s wolves had shown up as well.
I joined my mate out back and we moved from person to person, thanking them for coming. It was nice to see our packs mingling as they supported us. It gave me hope for our future. There were still a few wolves who stuck to their people only but, for the most part, there was a lot of intermingling going on.
When the sun h
ad full set and the moon shone above us, Tessa announced that it was time for the reveal. I finished inhaling the cupcake I had just bitten into before wrapping my arm around my mate. A.K. motioned for us to stand in front of the giant chalk painting on her fence. We posed for a few pictures before Lily sighed. “That’s enough.”
I looked down at her curiously and she answered my unspoken question. “We’re never going to be able to post them anywhere or even display them in the house. If my family found out we had this party without them, they’d be devastated.”
I nodded in understanding. We’d agreed that it was best not to include her human family. We’d tossed around the idea of including her family but, after a lot of back and forth, we decided it was best to leave them out of it. With this even being the first time our packs were around each other, we didn’t want any humans not in the know to be in attendance. There was just too much potential for danger. At least this way, we could have both of our packs and her family together for the baby shower--providing that everything went well between the wolves for the entirety of the gender reveal.
“Are you guys ready?” Tessa asked.
“Absolutely,” Lily said as she visibly attempted to shake her morose thoughts.
“They’re boys,” I murmured in an attempt to bait her out of her mood.
“In your dreams.”
“Alright everyone,” A.K. began. “Look up!”
She gestured to Tessa as we turned our eyes to the sky. The witch murmured under her breath and suddenly fireworks filled the sky. Pink fireworks.
I pulled Lily into a hug and kissed her gently. I didn’t even care that I’d been wrong. We were having a little girl.
“Told you so,” she said happily before pulling out of my embrace to stare at the sky one more.
“Baby number one is a girl! Ready for the second?” A.K. asked.
We both agreed, eyes turned to the sky.
Tessa chanted one more. Fireworks lit up the sky once more. The pale blue crackled across the sky, announcing that our second baby was a boy, as all hell broke loose.
25
Liliana
Looks like we were both right I thought as blue exploded above us. I looked up at Sam, opening my mouth to speak before my wolf cut me off.
Duck. Her voice echoed in my mind. I didn’t understand what was going on. There was no time to process her command. My body bent forward on its own, my wolf taking control of my human form. The shock of her control over me was overshadowed by a bullet biting into the wooden fence above me. If my wolf hadn’t taken control, the shot would have gone right through the side of my skull.
Everyone seemed to be frozen in shock as another shot rang out. The sound wasn’t muffled by the fireworks this time.
Mate my wolf’s voice shouted in my mind again. I reached to push Sam out of harm’s way but I wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet. I thrust my hands out but I was too far to connect with him--I was too far to save him.
“NO!” my screams echoed into the night. Pure terror rushed through my body as Sam’s body flew across the yard. Our wolves finally registered that we were under attack and jumped into action. I didn’t care about the shooter. All I cared about was Sam. I ran over to him, sobs wracking my body as I looked for the bullet wound, but there was no blood.
A hand touched my shoulder as I frantically searched my mate for injuries. I didn’t look up.
“Lily. Lily! He’s okay.” He’s okay. I looked up at the source of the words and saw Tessa’s blurred form through my tear-filled eyes.
“Did you heal him already?” I asked. “Why isn’t he awake?”
“You just knocked him out, Lily. He’ll be alright.”
“I knock--what?” Confusion mingled with my worry as I felt for Sam’s pulse.
Tessa knelt beside me and grabbed my hands, holding them firmly in her own. “Liliana!” She shouted my name and I finally broke my attention away from Sam to focus on her. “Look at where he is lying. If the bullet hit him, he would have fallen into the fence. He flew twenty feet in the air parallel to the fence. He wasn’t shot.”
Her words started to penetrate my frazzled mind. “Then what happened?” Sobs continued to tear from my throat as I looked at my friend for answers. “Why isn’t he awake?’
“He just hit his head. His wolf will heal him shortly,” she said before she paused. I stared at her, awaiting some sort of explanation that would make everything make sense. “Lily... you pushed him.”
“No, I didn’t,” I hiccupped. “I wasn’t fast enough.”
“You weren’t fast enough physically but you pushed him.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
“Lil… you used magic. I felt it. You pushed out… hard.”
“I can’t do magic,” I retorted. Her words shocked me so much my tears stopped falling.
“I know what I felt. Ben’s bite must have given you some sort of power.”
I opened my mouth to respond but Sam stirred. My attention snapped back to him.
“Wh-what happened?” he asked. His eyes had a glassy look to them but the fact that he was awake made my heart soar. I held him down as he moved to sit up.
“There was an attack. Our packs went after the shooter. Ryan and Nate are leading them.”
“Let’s get inside. The shooter may not be alone,” Tessa said. We both helped Sam to his feet. He swayed on his feet for a few seconds before he began to walk, leaning heavily on Tessa and I.
After we helped Sam recline on the couch, Tessa straightened and met my gaze. “I’m going to set a protection spell around the house. I’ll be back.”
I nodded and thanked her as I knelt on the ground beside Sam. His eyes were still unfocused. If I had to guess, I’d say he was concussed.
He lifted his hand and cupped my face gently. “You’re alright?”
“I’m fine. My wolf saved me,” I answered.
He frowned in confusion.
“I’ll explain later,” I said.
He nodded as his eyes drifted shut. A small smile graced his lips. “We were both right.”
I smiled at his words. “I guess we have a rock, paper, scissors battle in our near future.”
A son and a daughter. I thought I’d be ecstatic to know what we were having, but I couldn’t be. I knew I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the thought until Sam was okay, and we found out why we were attacked. I was really getting sick of people gunning for us. I just wanted to be safe. Being a werewolf was amazing, but I absolutely hated the fact that it put a target on my loved ones and I.
I held Sam’s hand and watched his sleeping face. I was so grateful that he was alive. I would have to deal with Tessa’s magic theory later but if having magic meant I could protect my family, I was all for it.
The front door opened and turned my head rapidly to see who entered. Tessa stood there, frowning at me. I saw her lips moving but I didn’t hear any sound. Buzzing filled my ears as the world spun. My vision began to blur and I cried out as shooting pain coursed through me. The pain grew rapidly until darkness took hold of me.
26
Sam
My hands, moving under the command of my still partially sleeping mind, reached out for Lily. I pulled her to me as I rolled onto my side to spoon her.
“Stop,” someone shouted, causing my eyes to shoot open.
Faces stared down at my mate and I as we slept in bed together. Tessa. Nate. Alex. AK. Ryan. Ember. There were too many people in our bedroom. I sat up in confusion. “Why the fuck are you guys watching us sleep?” The frown that had begun to form between my brows deepened as I looked around. “And why are we in your room, Alex? What happened?”
Tessa was the one to respond in the form of a question. “What’s the last thing you remember about the gender reveal?”
I rubbed the back of my neck anxiously as I tried to recall the reveal. “The first baby is a girl. The second is a boy. Lily was frowning. I thought she was upset that she was wrong about hav
ing two girls but then she ducked. The fireworks. The noise sounded like a gun going off and then I was flying.”
I looked over at my sleeping girlfriend. “Why are you watching us sleep? What’s wrong with Lily?” My voice rose as worry consumed me. I remembered what happened but none of it made sense. I didn’t understand.
“Lily used magic to push you out of the way. There was an assassination attempt,” Tessa explained.
“She did what?” Shock. Complete and utter shock coursed through my veins. If Lily could do magic, it would only serve to give the Alpha Council another reason to come after her. Hybrids were not allowed and humans didn’t turn.
“We can’t allow the council to find out,” I said. “Nate. Ryan. You both need to go issue commands of silence. Lily and I can reinforce them later. If the council finds out, they’ll want to execute her.”
“Already done, Alpha. We both issued the commands after we captured the assassin,” Nate answered.
The news that they had caught the person who tried to kill my mate and I gave me a small sense of relief. I’d have to question the bastard later… but I had more pressing matters at hand.
“Okay so she did magic. Why is she unconscious?” I asked. The sleep had cleared enough for me to understand that they hadn’t been watching us rest. There was obviously something very wrong.
“She burned herself out. She used all of the magic within her to save you. It wasn’t necessary to use that much but she obviously didn’t know better,” Tessa explained as she sat on the edge of the bed beside Lily. “She used so much force that you had a pretty severe concussion. Your wolf took a while to heal you. It’s been about twelve hours.”
“Twelve hours?” It felt like my heart was in my toes as I absorbed her words. “She’s been unconscious for twelve hours?”
Ember stepped up and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. She’ll be okay. There is nothing physically wrong with her body or the babies. I spoke with Chancellor Warren on the phone. He says this happens when witches first get their powers. She’ll wake up tomorrow.”
Alpha's Compromise (Alpha Selection Book 2) Page 8
