by Ebony Olson
"It's devastating, and the effects will last a lifetime. It is like having your entire self, body, and soul, eviscerated." I considered the backyard. "He never got that. I doubt he cared enough to even try."
My sense of Dale evoked torn emotions. He wanted to wrap me up and assure me that would never happen to me again. He also accepted touching me right now may not sit well with me. Another part of him wanted to go back in and finish maiming Malcolm's body. Dale wanted to throw the body to his pack and watch them play tug-a-war with it, ripping it to a thousand pieces.
As voices approached from the forest path, Dale lifted his head to watch the Liderii arrive. There were strange wolves with them. Moving to Dale as he composed himself, I used my sleeve to wipe the remnants of his sympathy away. Threading my fingers with his, I gazed into his eyes. "That was my past; you are my future."
Smiling, Dale cupped my face and kissed me. His eyes looked between us, then back to meet mine. "I have to tell them."
Understanding it was necessary, I nodded. "I'm going to go back to the house, check on Bob, and cook him something special for breakfast."
Clamping my hand in his before I could walk away, Dale collected his phone, texting as he talked. "Greet them first, it is important. Jeremy will come down to walk you back to the house."
More than happy to not be alone right now, I stayed close to Dale's side. Last night, Dale told me that from now on, if he was in the city, so was I. Since, I didn't like being away from him, I didn't mind.
We greeted the Liderii as friends. Quinton was very concerned with my wellbeing. "I hear congratulations were in order before this sadness? The Goddess asks her chosen to endure so much, but the happiness she grants them as a reward is beyond compare."
Thinking back to the story of Luna and the tragedy that befell her before she found her mate, it made me hope. Cerese was beside herself with the idea of an Alpha trying to steal another Alpha's mate. But it was Ralph who got down to business.
"We will need to notify his pack. By law, you should be their new Alpha, Dale."
"I didn't kill him; I can't take the credit."
"Who's…?"
"Vera can shift, to both beast and full form. She protected her new packmate, she saved Bob's life."
The Liderii stared at me. Thankfully, Jeremy arrived at that moment. "I need to rest and check on Bob. I will make you all morning tea for when you finish."
"Vera is an accomplished chef. It is worth experiencing," Dale encouraged.
"I look forward to it," Quinton replied. "I would also like to see you try and teach Cerese to shift, as you did your wife."
"Could he do that?" I whispered to Jeremy.
"He is a strong alpha. It is worth the try. If he can teach Cerese, he might be able to teach Alexia and Hymn, and then the other half-breeds."
Considering what it would be like for all these girls to find their wolf after all this time. "That would be pretty awesome."
"The twins would think so."
"How is Bob this morning?"
"Whining. More so because until he heals, he can't see Juliet. Too hard to explain. So, he's annoyed about how long he has to wait until he gets laid."
That answer was a weight off my mind. "He's going to be okay."
"Yes, he will. And so are you." Jeremy placed his arm around my shoulders. It shocked him more than me when I let him. He was so happy.
Stopping mid-step, I stared at Jeremy wide-eyed. "I can feel you, feel your emotions, like I do Dale."
For the first time, Jeremy smiled shyly. "We are pack, Vera. You mated with Dale to get your bond. But when you protected Bob last night, when you recognized him as your pack, you forged the pack bond with us all. That is what brought all the pack here last night, not Dale. They heard and responded to your cry for help for Bob."
Smiling, I threw my arms around his neck. "You're my family. I never had this with the other pack."
Moving me back to see my face, Jeremy frowned. "What, at all? Not even before Malcolm killed your father?" When I shook my head, Jeremy looked curious. "That is unusual, Vera."
"Welcome to my life."
Reaching the house, I smiled as we stepped inside and made our way to the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked when I stopped and grinned.
"This is my baby now. Dale may be the Alpha, but in my kitchen, I'm the boss."
Snickering, Jeremy lowered his voice to a smooth tenor. "I'll be sure to let Dale know you're on top in the kitchen."
Biting my lip at the desire coming off him, I stepped back. "I thought you weren't affected by my pheromones now?"
Jeremy laughed. "Oh, I'm not. But, you are still a beautiful female, Vera. A man can dream."
"Not about me, you can't."
"Don't worry, no one in the pack will act on it. You'll always be safe with us now. Even if anything happens to Dale."
"I thought if one of a mated pair dies, so does the other?"
Frowning a little, Jeremy rubbed my upper arms. "If you died, it would kill Dale, yes. Not instantly, but his broken heart would see him follow you soon after. For she-wolfs it doesn't work the same. You will grieve him, but the pack will buoy you up, especially if you have cubs, you will be able to survive his loss. After some time, you may choose to mate with the new Alpha or give your soul to the moon to be with your mate. Either way, the bond isn't what kills mates, it's their broken hearts."
"Wait, wouldn't you be the new Alpha?"
"Hence, why I still find you attractive, Vera. If anything ever happens to Dale, it will be my instinct to take his place and take care of you."
"And by taking care of me, you mean take care of yourself."
Snickering, Jeremy walked away. Sighing, I went to check on Bob, who was only concerned with making sure that I was okay. That conversation got nowhere. Resigning myself to the kitchen, I cooked Bob breakfast and something for our guests.
Jeremy was licking the bowl clean when Dale led the Liderii inside. "Jeremy, if you go with Ralph's beta, they are going to deliver the body along with the summons. You can request what you were asking about at the same time."
Popping his finger from his mouth, Jeremy took the clean bowl to the sink. "Leave it, I'll wash it up." Giving me a kiss to the temple, Jeremy put the bowl aside and disappeared with one of Ralph's men.
Chuckling at the look on my face from Jeremy's affection, Dale directed the Liderii to the lounge. Cerese came to talk with me instead.
"What is it like?"
Lifting my eyes from my prep-work for dinner, I considered her question. "Like every part of your body is cramping, and your muscles are crushing the bones they wrap around. To ease it, I focused on stretching out the cramp, and as I stretched, I changed."
Cerese was wide-eyed. "And you took full-form?"
"That was when I took beast. The first time I took wolf-form was last night. It happened while I was focusing on saving Bob, so I actually didn't feel the shift. I was me one minute and on four paws the next."
"Were you scared?" She was so thrilled by the prospect, but I sensed her anxiety too.
"Yes." Dale didn't warn me, so I had no idea what was happening until it was in play. Remembering the second time we did it and how I was eager, I leaned over the bench. "Dale's jealous. In beast form, I grow a full bushy tail. The males don't get tails in beast form."
"No, they don't. Ralph would go nuts if I grew a tail."
"I know, Dale did. I could barely walk the next day from him enjoying my tail."
Cerese gaped, then she started chortling. "I hope it works."
"When are you going to try?"
"Tonight, before we head home," she was biting her fingernails.
Grabbing a carrot stick, I handed it to her. "Your nails are too pretty to gnaw on."
"Ladies," Dale interrupted. "Could you join us?"
When Dale offered me his hand, I packed my prep-work in the fridge and went with him. Leading me to the lounge, Dale wrapped his arms around me fr
om behind.
"As you all know, Vera has changed to both beast and wolf. What we discovered last night when she took full-form, is that while in beast form, Vera conceived. She's going to have my cub.”
Chapter 26
"You look quite pensive," Dale chuckled to himself as he came in his bedroom. Approaching where I sat on the window seat at the bay window, Dale glanced past my shoulder. "Did you watch the show?"
Focusing my eyes back to where Ralph and Cerese were doing the wild thing in beast form, I observed them. "It was harder for her, and for you."
Pulling me to him, Dale was already naked, having revealed his own beast to help Cerese reach her own. "I am not bonded with Cerese. I am not her Alpha. The only reason I could do what I did is that I am the strongest Alpha to ever exist in memory."
"Maybe the Goddess always gives us one, to ensure we have our guide to our true nature?"
"You are my mate, Vera. I've waited over a hundred years for you to enter my life. I hope to have a hundred more with you." Stroking the hair back from my face, Dale gazed into my eyes. "Have you had any dreams that would indicate that won't be the case?"
"I barely slept last night, and Malcolm dead changes my future."
"No, Vera. This baby and I, we were always your future. The day I sank fang into you, the day we bonded, you told me I would give you a baby. You saw the future then." His hand covered my tummy. "That hasn't changed."
Swiping the tears from my eyes, I stared down at my tummy in awe. When I lifted my gaze, Dale smiled down at my tears of happiness. He dropped his mouth to mine, but I pulled back. "Won't they need you to help shift her back?"
"She grew a tail. I know what your tail did to me. They'll be a while yet."
Laughing as Dale picked me up and sat back on the bed, I straddled his naked lap. His thick erection knocked against my protected womanhood. "How do you think your kids will take the news?"
Lifting my dress over my head, Dale cupped my breasts. "They will be thrilled. Alexa and Hymn more so if I can teach them to at least reach their beast."
"Because they could increase their chance of conception?"
"That hasn't is only a theory."
"I'm pretty sure Cerese and Ralph are trying to prove it right now."
Dale gifted me a sly smile. "True, but we shouldn't get the girls' hopes up." He was such a protective dad, and I was falling deeper and deeper for him. "I'm only willing to try bringing the girls to their beast because they can both already shift their eyes and hands. They are my daughters, so they were born stronger than most of our females."
"Is Cameron stronger than most?"
"Yes."
"Then why isn't Cameron your Beta?"
"Because he wants his own pack, Vera. He wants to breed and be his own Alpha, and he should because he is strong enough."
"He hasn't gotten anyone knocked up yet?"
"Not from lack of trying, I assure you. Most women of quality, who are free with their bodies, practice safe sex, and use birth control. So, for the chance at building his pack, Cameron would have to marry. So far, he hasn't found a woman to who he is willing to commit."
"Never stopped you, and that was in the age of chastity and virtue."
Dale got an evil smirk on his face, the look deliciously sinful, and I swear my knickers melted right off my body. "I didn't say Cameron hasn't been a dog in the past, he is very much his father's son."
"But no children?"
"One conceived, almost fifty years ago." Dale stopped the story. "How is your back?"
Sensing his unease and his concern for me, I also picked up it had nothing to do with my injuries. "Tight. Jonathan will need to take the stitches out tomorrow. It feels healed already."
Slipping out from under me, Dale stood behind me to observe my back. "No, you have healed faster than he expected. I'll call him to come over now."
When Dale went to collect the phone, I grabbed his wrist, surprising Dale with how fast I moved. "Tell me the rest. I am not fragile, Dale. I can take hearing that bad shit happened to other people, or are you worried I will hate Cameron."
Forehead furrowing, Dale contemplated me. "Let me call Jonathan, then I will tell you the rest."
Removing my hand from his wrist, Dale made the call while I pulled my dress back on. Once he set the phone down, Dale sat beside me on the bed.
"Cameron would have married her. When he went to her father to seek permission to propose, the father refused. The father came after Cameron to kill him. He didn't succeed, and instead, lost his own life."
"The daughter blamed Cameron?"
Dale shook his head. "The father had beaten the girl before he came after Cameron. When he beat his daughter to cause a miscarriage, he caused massive internal damage."
Sucking in a painful breath, my hand covered my tummy out of instinct. "He killed her?"
Taking my hand in his, Dale squeezed it in comfort. "His daughter died with her child, while her murderer paid for his sins."
"That affected Cameron?"
"Despite not loving her, Cameron mourned the girl. More so, he had already given his heart to the child inside her. Cameron fears to cause such heartache again."
We sat there for several moments. "Dale, make love to me."
Kissing my cheek, Dale breathed in through his nose as he pulled back to my ear. "As soon as Jonathan has left, I will lay you on this bed and make love to you until the dawn comes."
Squirming at the thought, I shook my head. "I can't be that patient."
When Dale chuckled, the sound flipped my stomach. "You make me so happy, Vera." Pulling me back into his lap, I pulled my knickers aside and nestled him in my warm cocoon.
"Dale, I don't want to be happy, I want you to make me ecstatic."
His laugh brightened up my insides. Dale's smile was a lighthouse on the rocky shores of my past, guiding me to calmer waters. Gripping my hips, Dale leaned back, his abs contracting to hold him at an angle so I could take him deeper.
"Dale?" Jeremy called walking in the room.
"Go away," I panted on the brink of nirvana.
"Sorry!" Jeremy cringed, but his sudden desire to join in rammed against me as if his body rubbed up against me.
My eyes flew open, Dale held me tight as Jeremy stepped back out muttering about shutting the door. "Take it as a compliment, Vera, not a threat. Jeremy would never harm you."
Swallowing my alarm, I closed my eyes to focus. Reopening them, I saw Dale holding a baby in his arms, singing nursery rhymes. His indigo eyes came to me, bright and happy before they dropped lower. Glancing down, I smiled at the baby I held in my arms. Happiness beyond anything I'd ever experienced radiated out of me.
Throwing back my head as my body seized, I cried out my pleasure. Not only of the body but of my heart and soul.
Dale cradled me to him, both of us breathing heavy. "Twins. I'm carrying twins."
Pulling back, Dale's face filled with wonder. Kissing me with utmost passion, Dale flipped me onto my stomach and pounded me from behind. His hips bucked while his fingers held me lovingly restrained. As my nails dragged the comforter across the bed, I cried out my physical pleasure again. Dale announced his joy to the house.
"Twins!"
Feeling it in my bones, in my very being, I knew he had notified the entire pack of my condition. Panting, I started laughing.
Hesitating a moment, Dale fell to the bed laughing beside me. "Sorry. I got a bit excited."
Climbing onto his chest, I started kissing him. He made my insides feel bright with happiness. I couldn't believe how much my life had changed overnight. How light and bright my life was now. Knowing why, I redirected my thoughts because I didn't want to think about that anymore. Malcolm had stolen fourteen years with pain and misery. I was devoting the rest of it to happiness.
"I'm starving."
Smiling at me as I went to the bathroom to clean up, Dale wolf-whistled, his eyes drinking me up. Pure desire and happiness radiated from him. A moment la
ter, he joined me in the shower.
"Jonathan is here, and Ralph and Cerese have finished experimenting. I'll help Ralph bring his wife back to human form while you get those stitches out. Then, you should eat while I speak to Jeremy."
Kissing him deeply, I let him go. When I finished showering, I emerged to find Jonathan waiting in the bedroom. "Have you checked on Bob?"
"He's next; you first."
Lying down on the bed, stomach down, Jonathan opened the towel to start his work.
"So, twins. Do we know the sex?"
"No. They were both wrapped in white."
"Well, I've given Jeremy the brand of a good antenatal vitamin supplement I want you to start taking. It will ensure you and the babies are well-nourished."
After Jonathan finished, I dressed and moved out to the kitchen for food. My steps slowed when I heard Dale talking. "And we are sure this relates to her?"
"It is the old Alpha's diary. The Beta gave it up without issue and have accepted the Liderii summons. None of them seemed torn up about losing Malcolm. We explained the cause of their exceptional violence for the last ten years. They are most repentant."
"So, she was never theirs. That is why none of them even tried to protect her. She was never pack."
Stepping into the room, my heart was beating a million miles per hour because I knew he was talking about me.
"Your suspicions were correct. He stole her."
Sensing me, Dale stood up. Turning his head, Jeremy bowed it in sadness. When Dale held out his arms, I went to him, letting him wrap me up. I always knew I didn't belong there. I always knew I wasn't one of them. After holding me for several minutes, Dale sat us down and indicated Jeremy explain.
"When you revealed you never felt connected to your pack, I asked the Liderii to summons the old Alpha's papers. Your old pack is complying out of fear of retribution for breaking tradition."
Jeremy held up a ledger. "This is a registry of births in the pack. You aren't in it."
