Keeping My Pack

by Lane Whitt

  About an hour goes by with no change in Kitten before Maksim and Albert show up. They choose to stand on the far wall after Ash gives them a warning growl. Nice to know the possessive wolf is giving us more rights than strangers.

  “Get everyone settled out there?” Remy asks the newcomers.

  Maksim nods his head tiredly. “For the most part. Albert has been here and knows who’s who and where they stand, so that helped. The others were reluctant to leave after I explained just who they were helping keep captive. They wished to stay and see after her health and beg forgiveness.”

  Remy raises an eyebrow at this. “And I hope you told them to fuck off because no one is getting close to her again.”

  Maksim frowns but nods his head. “Something of the sort, but you do realize that these people are her pack members, right?”

  Remy jumps to his feet, getting in the older man’s face. “Your blood may run through her veins, but make no mistake, she is ours, and we will be taking her with us when we leave.”

  To his credit, Maksim doesn’t even flinch. “My granddaughter may do as she pleases once she wakes. If she chooses to be with you and your men, so be it. That doesn’t change the fact that she is the Princess of the most feared and respected wolf pack in the world. She has responsibilities here and once word travels of her existence, she’ll be in even greater danger than she was before without the protection of her pack.” He argues calmly.

  Remy, on the other hand, is furious. “Is that I threat?”

  Maksim’s eyes flash in anger. “Not from me, no. The Ivaskov pack will know better than to try to harm her again, but we have enemies, and I imagine even more so now that we will be dethroning our alpha and taking prisoners within our own pack.”

  Remy takes a step back, looking for the world like Maksim just grew three heads. “Am I supposed to say sorry? They kidnapped and tortured one of mine!”

  “No! You stubborn imbecile, you’re supposed to see that she belongs with us, with or without you! It’s what’s best for her, for her safety and because we are family.” Maksim shouts, his hands going out to his sides in the universal ‘isn’t it obvious’ gesture.

  Remy scoffs. “Her family? Her family is responsible for what happened to her.”

  Kellan jumps to his feet and pushes his way between the two men. “Let’s cool this down a bit shall we? A girl is laying over there trying to recover from a fatal injury, and she doesn’t need any outside stress.”

  That gets their attention, and they both back off. Kellan looks relieved as he continues. “The issue of what Kitten wants or needs can be revisited once she is no longer fighting for her life and she can speak for herself. If the two of you, or all of us for that matter, would like to discuss our options no matter what she chooses, then we can do so in a quiet, peaceful manner.”

  “Yeah, that,” I smile and nod my head, pointing at Kellan in agreement.

  “Fine.” Maksim agrees through gritted teeth. “May I sit?” He looks to Ash with an expression of annoyance. Ash grumbles but jerks his head to the side, indicating the group of chairs furthest away from Kitten.

  Remy remains standing but moves to stand in front of everyone, much like he does at home when he’s leading a meeting. “I just want it said that I don’t oppose Kitten finding a place within your pack if that’s what she wants. I’m telling you now, though, where she goes, we go.” His eyes scan the room, and each member of our family gives a nod of agreement.

  Albert stares at Remy in confusion for a moment, before turning to look at Maksim. “They still don’t seem to understand.” He tells the former Alpha, shaking his head.

  “Understand what exactly?” Finn speaks up.

  “It is not our pack; it is hers. She’s the heir. Without a mate, she cannot rule the pack, and that of wolf society as a whole, on her own, but she will be given a counsel until her mate is found or arranged. Once she has a mate, then he will be named Alpha until she births a son and the son is deemed mature enough to rule.”

  I blink at him in shock. I guess I should have known it already, being as Remy explained something similar after we first met with Maksim, but I suppose I figured they’d be wrong, and truth be told, I wasn’t actually paying attention. My focus was on finding her at the time.

  “Holy shit! So she’s like, a Princess Princess.” Logan says dazedly. He must not have been paying attention either.

  “Yes, exactly,” Albert smiles, happy to be finally understood.

  Remy stares at Maksim in a silent challenge, his arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t appear to be shocked or surprised at all, but he’s still skeptic. “Even if she awakens and Tristan’s bite changed her, you have no way of knowing if she’ll be able to shift, or bear any pups.”

  Albert raises his hand and waves it frantically in the air like an eager child in a classroom. Remy nods his head to him, and he stands proudly. “I have a theory on who Princess Kitten’s mother is. I spent a lot of time with the former Alpha Mikel, and we journeyed the globe on scientific missions. Her father was obsessed with finding a way to create more females. Either by safely turning humans, or curing the virus that prevents our remaining females from giving birth entirely or only a few children in an entire lifetime.”

  “Your point being?” Jace says distractedly as he inspects his fingernails. He looks bored, but the set of his shoulders tells me he’s anything but.

  “What that means.” Albert continues. “Is that I can look over his research and see what he found. Kitten’s existence obviously means he found something. The last year he was with us, he was very distracted and hardly spent any time with his pack. He took frequent trips to Australia and on the occasions I accompanied him, we met with some fascinating people.”

  Maksim turns outraged eyes to Albert. “Interesting how? And why is this the first I’m hearing of it?”

  Albert looks to the floor, appearing every bit the kicked puppy. “If…if you don’t mind, Sirs, I would like to hold off on giving that information until I have spoken with the Princess in private. I answer to only her for the time being.” He shifts nervously from foot to foot.

  Maksim jumps to his feet and grips him by the collar of his shirt. “No,” Remy says calmly, making Maksim pause. “We’ll respect his loyalty, for now. If it’s something we need to know, Kitten will tell us herself.”

  I barely stop myself from clapping at my hot-headed brother, but I also know that he fully expects Kitten to tell him everything and won’t take no for an answer.

  “However, you still have yet to make your point.” Remy eyes Albert in a way that should tell him to hurry it up.

  “My point is that, if the girl is what I suspect she is, she should not only be able to shift but will also be the most fertile female wolves have seen since ‘The Suffering.” He smiles like he just found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

  That news should excite me, but I find myself swallowing what feels like lead. So not only is the girl my brothers and I have claimed as ours turned out to be a Princess of a pack that clearly needs her, but she also might be a pup-making machine that most wolves would kill for. She’s always been special to me, but knowing just how special she really is, is a bit overwhelming. I see now that getting her back is less of a final solution and more of a start into the unknown. There will always be someone out there trying to take her away from us.

  “Does this mean she will have to choose one of us for a mate?” I ask Remy, my nervousness showing. Are we already back to this?

  Remy frowns in thought, but Maksim is the one to answer. “The odds of any of you being her mate is slim to none. Each wolf is born with a predestined mate in the world. You all have been around for much longer than she has, it’s not impossible, just not likely. Besides, not one of you is a natural wolf.” He holds back the sneer at the end, but barely.

  “She’s not a born wolf either.” Kellan points out. “Nor is she fully a changed wolf. She had Ivaskov blood already.”

  A quick
look to Albert reveals a knowing smirk, but he doesn’t chime in.

  The girl in question lets out a whimper and all eyes turn to her. The room goes completely silent except for the thumping of Ash’s excited tail at the base of the lounge. I creep closer to her, afraid to move too quickly as if that will cause her to return to her slumber. The others must have the same idea as we form a circle around our girl. There’s movement behind her closed eyelids, and her whole body starts to tremble. It’s more than I can take.

  I pick up one dainty hand and wrap it in my own. “It’s okay, Sweet girl. Everything’s going to be okay now.” I tell her softly.

  Her head turns slightly in my direction, and my heart beats a little faster. A few moments later, pale green eyes with flashes of golden lightning are looking up at me. They are a tad subdued, but that’s to be expected. I smile brightly at her until she gasps in horror and starts crying violently. I panic and look to Kellen, my free hand indicating the crying and pleading for him to fix it. He shakes his head at me and makes the talking motion with his own hand.

  Okay, so talk to her. I can do that. I put my smile back in place and begin to rub her back. She shudders away from my touch, and I’ll admit that hurt. A lot.

  “Kitten. It’s me, Tristan. You’re okay now, Sweetness. No one’s going to hurt you anymore.” I tell her.

  “No. No, no no no no no.” She says through her sobs. I’m at a loss for what to do, so I just sit beside her, my heart breaking for her.

  Ash jumps up and races from the room, then back again once he realizes he can’t open the door to outside, and grips Logan’s arm in his mouth and the both of them run outside. Moments later and they’re back, Ash resuming his position over Kitten and Logan shaking his head amusedly.

  “Not him too. I can’t take anymore.” Kitten whispers, keeping her eyes firmly shut now. Maybe she’s only half awake?

  “Kitten, please honey, wake up. Let me see those pretty eyes again.” I plead with her. She doesn’t move. I lay my head on the side of her shoulder and sigh. She just needs some time.

  Shocked gasps meet my ears a split second before I feel a sharp bite in my neck. My first reaction is to pull away, but a small yet strong arm reaches out to pull me closer. A second later and you couldn’t get me to pull away if you tried. I let out a moan of sheer bliss as the sting of the bite is replaced with unadulterated pleasure. My blood heats and courses through my body ten times faster than it should and all of my focus is on those sharp teeth and tiny tongue licking at my neck like an ambrosia flavored lollipop. Christ on a cracker, I’ve never been so turned on in all my life!

  All too soon, Kitten pulls back, and I’m left shaking my head, wondering what the hell happened. I feel stoned, and there're tiny pinpricks on my skin wherever I’m touching Kitten. I look back to her and see her licking her lips lazily as she appears to be falling back to sleep. Her face is no longer scrunched up in distress or pain as it was before, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s stoned off her ass as well. I feel a nudging at my shoulder, and I dazedly look over to see Ash eating a stuffed animal. Wait, no, he’s trying to get me to take it. I take the thing and stare at it for a minute for Ash whines and tilts his head at Kitten. Oh, I get it.

  “Kitten.” I slur. “Ash wants you to have his baby.”

  There’s a snort and a few laughs before I realize what I said. Then I start giggling too. That is until snaps her eyes open, sees the toy and snatches it out of my hands. She grips it tightly with both arms to her chest and purrs contentedly before her body relaxes and drifts to sleep once more.

  “Okay, someone explain what the fuck just happened, because that’s the weirdest shit I’ve ever seen.” Logan demands. Sadly, all this talking is a real buzzkill, and my vision clears away the lovely fog of lust.

  I pull away from Kitten to take a seat on the couch. My legs are wobbly, but I manage the short trip.

  Each of the guys looks just as stunned and confused as I am, but Albert’s face is blank, like he’s just watching a show on tv, and Maksim looks damn near outraged.

  Logan taps his foot in agitation, never one to like being ignored for long. “Hell if I know.” I shrug at him.

  “It appears our Princess has chosen a mate and claimed him.” Albert answers.

  “Really?” I gape at him before a smile overtakes my face. “I guess it’s only natural. She loves food, and I am a maker of food, it was only a matter of time before she fell head over heels in love with me.” I explain, okay, well gloat, but damn does it feel good to know she’s wanted me as much as I’ve wanted her.

  “That’s not what a claiming is about,” Albert explains. “It doesn’t me loves you, though it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t. Love and emotions are for the human side of her to figure out. Claiming comes from the wolf part of her deciding that your wolf is a good match for her. Chances are, she isn’t even aware that she did it at all.”

  I frown at him for taking away some of my happiness. “So it doesn’t count?” I asked, more confused than I was before.

  He raises a brow at me. “Oh, it counts. You bit her to change her, but either way, she bit you back, so you are mated now.”

  “What if she didn’t want to be mated to me? Or I didn’t her, not that this is the case.” I say quickly.

  “She wouldn’t have bitten you if she didn’t want you or deemed you unworthy. As for you, though you didn’t intend to claim her with your bite, it had the same effect. If your wolf did not wish to mate with her, it would not have allowed her to bite you back, regardless of your feelings for her.” He tilts his head at me like I’m stupid for not knowing something so basic.

  The room falls into an awkward silence with my brothers finding random things to do rather than make eye contact with me. I feel uncomfortable as well. I mean, I’m happy she chose me, but what does that mean for the rest of them? What does it even for me? Maksim’s anger makes sense now at least. He’s none too thrilled that the hope of all wolfkind just picked a changed wolf as her mate to dirty up the Ivaskov name.

  The sun is close to setting when Ash yips excitedly and again, his tail thumps loudly as we wait for Kitten to wake up. The circle is formed around her once more, but this time a little more loosely as everyone is left to see where we now stand.

  I move to my knees beside her and brush her hair away from her face. “Are you away, beautiful girl?” I ask.

  Kitten yawns and blinks her eyes sleepily. “I think so.” She rasps.

  “I’ll get her some water.” Kellan offers quickly.

  She looks up at me with a small frown. “Am I dead? Do you wake up from being alive and into death?” She asks, confused.

  I chuckle lowly. “You’re not dead, Kitten.”

  Her frown deepens. “I have to be, or else you wouldn’t be here because you’re dead.” She explains and now I’m the one frowning. I look across from me to Remy, and she follows my line of sight. “See? He’s dead too, so we all must be dead.” She says with a firm nod of her head like it’s decided now.

  Behind Remy, Reed raises his hand. “I’m not dead.” Kitten glances at him before staring up at the ceiling and huffing out a breath.

  We give her a moment to think and then she grips the stuffed wolf with both hands and holds it up to look at it. I small smile creeps over her face, and she brings it down to sniff at it before tucking it away happily at her side. She pats her chest and stomach before her eyes go wide and she starts screaming.

  Everyone jumps back, looking around for the threat but it’s still just us in here. The screaming stops and she begins to sob once again. “What is it, Kitten? What’s wrong?” I ask her urgently.

  “My legs!” She wails. “They took my legs! I don’t have legs!” She says hysterically.

  Logan bursts into laughter and doubles over, holding his stomach. “I’m sorry! I know it’s not funny, but oh my god, she’s so fucking adorable.” He speaks through his endless laughter, wiping away tears from his eyes.

  I
roll my eyes at the idiot but quickly turn back to the distraught girl in front of me. “You have legs, Kitten. Ash’s big ass has just been sitting on you for hours now, so they’ve probably gone to sleep.

  She sniffs cutely and looks down to her legs, or actually, she looks down at Ash sitting on them. He barks a hello and raises his head to lick away her tears, causing her to giggle and dig her hands in his fur.

  I relax and sit back on my heels, just taking in her smiling face. She turns to me, and her expression becomes more serious. She reaches out a hand and brushes a lock of my hair away from my face before cupping my jaw, her eyes roving over every inch of me. I hold still and let her inspect me, enjoying the tiny pinpricks her touch is creating.

  “I thought you were dead.” She tells me.

  “Nope, never dead, Sweetie. You thought I was dead this whole time?”

  She nods her head and looks over to Remy. Her other hand stretches out, and he’s quick to fall to his knees and lean into the touch. His eyes close as he places his own hand over hers, turning his head and placing a kiss on her palm.

  “We didn’t die in the crash.” He explains. “But we were incapacitated, and for that, I am so sorry. I wasn’t able to stop them from taking you, and I will never forgive myself for allowing that to happen. I have no right to ask your forgiveness, but I hope that one day I will be able to earn back your trust.”

  Kitten blinks at him a couple of times and shakes her head. “There’s nothing to forgive, nothing to be sorry about. You didn’t take me, you didn’t hurt me, and actually, you helped me stay alive.”

  “How so?” Remy speaks through his emotion.

  “You visited me, your ghost did, or maybe I was just crazy. You kept asking me what I wanted.” She replies.

  Maksim clears his throat. “I hate to cut this reunion short, but now that you have awoken my Dear, many things need to be discussed.” He speaks kindly and gently, but Kitten’s eyes go cold as soon as she notices the two outsiders.