by Kaia Pierce
Eliza walked through the door first, and with a swish of her jacket, she was gone.
Sarah paused in the doorway, giving us a look that seemed almost apologetic. Her mouth opened, as if she wanted to say something. Then, appearing to have second thoughts, she simply pressed her lips into a thin line and hurried to follow Eliza down the stairs, finally leaving the five of us alone with baby Monica.
“What just happened?” Rowan asked, her voice quavering. Her brown eyes swam with tears.
I looked to Kaden, and I was surprised to find him already gazing intently at me.
We shared a long, unblinking stare.
In all my life, I’d never known love from a family member. Never a mother’s love, a father’s, or a brother’s. I didn’t know what the love of family looked like. I didn’t know what it felt like.
But I could see it in Kaden’s eyes. I could feel it.
He sacrificed his own child for the sake of mine, and he did it without hesitation. In that moment, I finally knew what it meant to have a brother, and to love him.
“I need to call Josh,” he said softly. Then, he turned to leave, and Rowan and Lucy followed him out of the room.
Liam and I were finally alone with our first baby together.
He was pale and visibly shaken. I sat down beside him, meaning to comfort him, but I realized I was seeking it too when he placed his hand on my shoulder, and I broke down in tears.
“Caleb, look at me,” he said.
I covered my face with my hands. “I can’t.”
“Then look at your daughter.”
Liam gently pulled my hands away from my face. Without them, I could see Liam, his back propped up on two pillows, his damp hair clinging to his forehead. The small, pink spots on his cheeks were the only hint of color in his white face.
Unlike Liam, Monica was a healthy rosy-peach. Full from nursing, she was asleep. Her tiny eyes were closed against her plump cheeks, and her tiny fist was curled against his chest.
I stroked her warm, fragrant head with the very tips of my fingers.
“Kaden gave you an amazing gift,” Liam murmured.
“How can I ever repay him?”
“By making his sacrifice worth it.”
I cupped Monica’s head in my palm. My thumb rested behind her ear. Her teeny, adorable ear. Suddenly, I felt a huge rush of affection, stronger than anything I’d ever felt, stronger even than Liam’s first heat, the force that brought us together all those months ago.
I promise to be the very best father, I silently vowed.
It was a promise I was making to Monica, to Liam, and to Kaden.
I lowered my head to kiss the thin fuzz of her newborn hair, thankful for her health, for Liam, and—for the first time ever—thankful for family.
Chapter 25: Liam
The barn was near capacity tonight, with every adult in our pack in attendance, which was the normal protocol when we were ready to accept an outsider as a member. Tonight’s ceremony was in honor of Caleb becoming an official Black Paw wolf.
So, it was kind of a big deal.
I was nervous for some reason. Maybe it was because I wasn’t just gaining a new packmember, like everyone else.
I was gaining a mate.
My whole life, I never thought it would happen to me. I’d gotten used to being alone at an early age. Plus, I’d already witnessed Kaden’s experience with Josh during all the drama that happened last year. Josh was Kaden’s fated mate, instantly recognizable by scent from the first moment they met.
It was Lucy who told me that sometimes two shifter mates could form a bond so strong, it was like being fated. She’d seen it happen twice in her life: with her cousin in Indiana, and now with me and Caleb.
“Don’t look so nervous,” Diana chided me.
We were standing at the far end of the barn, enjoying the company and the crisp, spring air blowing through the doors.
“Do I look nervous?” I asked, fiddling with the collar of my shirt.
“Yes,” Diana said exasperatedly. She grabbed my wrists and forced them to my sides.
I tried to keep them there. “I wonder what the kids are doing.”
On top of it being a special night for both me and Caleb, it was also my first time leaving the house without Monica, since the first time I brought her home about a month ago. She, along with Diana’s kids, were at Kaden and Josh’s place, where Josh himself was watching them. He hadn’t been able to find the energy for pack activities lately.
I didn’t blame him.
His daughter, Belle, was living like a princess under the care of Eliza Vreeland, according to Sarah from the sheriff’s office. But that didn’t change the fact that she’d been torn from his arms, or that there was now a Belle-shaped hole in his heart.
I was a parent, too. I was in agony simply leaving Monica in the care of a babysitter I trusted. I couldn’t imagine the pain he was in.
Even Kaden was visibly upset. I had a good view of him from my position in the barn. He was standing near the doors, shoulders back with a smile on his face, being the strong, confident alpha we all needed. He couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes, though. Not from me.
But Kaden had no idea the secret promise Caleb and I had made together, on our last night on Garland’s private island.
We have to get Belle back from the witches, Caleb had murmured as he cradled Monica in his arms. We have to do whatever it takes.
We’d sealed that promise with a kiss.
As I recalled that night, my lips tingled. I gazed across the barn at an oblivious Kaden, wondering what was going on in his head. Looking slightly distracted, he checked his watch. Then, he glanced up and spotted me.
To my surprise, he began walking towards me and Diana.
“Full moon rises in three minutes,” he said, and my stomach immediately clenched.
It was almost time.
With trembling fingers, I unbuttoned and unzipped myself out of my clothes, joining the rest of my packmates. The barn filled with the usual crunching, cracking, squelching sounds of the shift. My body burned with the satisfying pain of my own transformation, and I became a wolf in three seconds flat.
My senses awakened, I lifted my snout into the air to take a big sniff.
There was something in the air tonight. Maybe it was sweat, or excitement, or the influence of the full-bellied moon on the atmosphere. Whatever it was, I smelled it, I inhaled it, and I knew that I’d remember this night for the rest of my life. This barn. This pack. This smell.
Now wolf, Kaden snapped his jaws. The entire pack fell into formation, two receiving lines of wolves with a clear aisle down the middle. As an omega, I was the farthest from Kaden and the closest to the barn doors, where Caleb would be entering.
My ears perked up when I heard him coming. I turned to face the doors.
Twigs crackled out in the darkness. Then, Caleb emerged from the shadows, in his gray-and-white, lupine body. Even his wolf was a twin of Kaden’s. There was just one difference: his eyes. I could never mistake the fire behind those amber eyes for anyone else but Caleb.
I gulped as he approached. When he reached me, I lunged forward and nipped him in the foreleg. It was a symbol of my acceptance of his wolf into the pack. The other packmates followed suit as Caleb continued down the line. He received each bite with perfect grace.
Then, he finally reached Kaden.
There was a moment when they stood facing each other, nose-to-nose and nearly identical. The entire pack fell silent. We waited.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, Kaden darted forward and delivered the last bite to the scruff of Caleb’s neck. A collective shudder passed through the assembled wolves as we felt the final link clicking into place in our minds.
Caleb was now a Black Paw, which meant he now shared a mind-link with us. Now, he was inside of my mind, and I was inside of his.
That realization alone was enough to make my heart burst.
Caleb was the first to test the
connection. Hello?
Welcome to the pack, a chorus of voices answered.
I murmured his name from the center of my mind. Caleb’s eyes found my face across the barn, and his tail wagged.
The business is done. It’s time for our pack run. Caleb, would you do the honors? Kaden thought to us.
A dozen furry heads tilted in surprise. Usually, Kaden performed the fanfare to announce the pack run. It was one of his main duties as alpha. The fact that he was passing that duty along to Caleb meant something significant. I reminded myself to think about it later when I was back in my human form.
If you say so, Caleb’s voice echoed smugly in everyone’s head. He trotted forward several feet until he was standing in the middle of the barn. Then, he threw his head back and released a beautiful howl that shook sawdust from the rafters.
The entire pack exploded out of the barn, myself included. We streamed into the forest and up the mountain. Caleb caught up to me, and we ran together, much like that first night we met.
That was a year ago, I thought to myself in wonder.
Things were so much different now. He loved me now. He was a Black Paw. He was my mate.
Now, we were a real family.
My heart trilled with elation.
Feeling playful, I reared my head to the side and nipped his flank.
Catch me, I thought out to him.
Caleb growled, but his lips were raised in a wolfish grin.
We raced each other up the mountain, and we were the first ones to reach the top. Caleb tackled me to the ground, and we wrestled in the dirt until the other packmembers showed up. Then, someone pointed their black nose to the stars and howled, and of course we all had to join in, because we were all celebrating.
We sang our hearts out that night.
A few weeks later: Caleb
“How much longer?” Liam asked from the backseat.
I checked a passing sign that said Fresno was eighty miles ahead. “Almost there.”
Liam chuckled. “That’s what you said an hour ago.”
I caught his eyes in the rearview mirror and grinned.
Liam was sitting in the back seat, nursing Monica. My little family, I thought to myself. I still couldn’t believe it, all the ways my life had changed, thanks to Liam and his love for me.
I had a mate and a child, which meant I had to settle in Riverrun full-time and find a job. After joining the pack, I moved in with Liam and his roommate, Logan. There was nowhere else safer, with the three of us looking after Monica.
Logan was the one who got me an apprenticeship as a motorcycle mechanic, so I was slowly making money, as well. Liam was still at the bakery, but he cut back his hours so he could attend night classes at the community college. Both of us had weekends off, which we spent doting on our fat, perfect baby.
It was the happiest I’d ever been. The only thing that could make things perfect was having Belle back in the pack.
Sometimes, we caught glimpses of her around town. Having Sunday brunch on the patio of the Lighthouse with Eliza. Listening to the storytime hour at the public library, which was where Rowan worked. Toddling after Eliza at the farmer’s market. She was beginning to stand on her own now.
She was safe and thriving, but she didn’t belong with them. A shifter’s place was with her own kind, her own pack. Josh still hadn’t returned to work since that fateful day. As he withered away from heartbreak, Liam and I bid our time. We hoped we wouldn’t have to wait much longer until the perfect opportunity presented itself. There was no doubt in my mind that Belle would return to us, and that I’d be the one to make that happen.
I have to make things right, I reminded myself as we sped along the highway. It was my penance for shaking things up in the first place, and now it was my duty…as co-alpha of the Black Paws.
A few minutes after Liam buckled a drowsy Monica back into her car seat, I stopped at a rest stop, and he moved back up front with me. By then, Fresno was a good sixty miles ahead. We’d be reaching the city limits in an hour.
“You never told me why you picked Fresno for our weekend getaway,” Liam said once we got back onto the road.
“It just seemed like an interesting place to visit. I’ve never been there before,” I said.
I promised myself that was the very last lie I would ever tell my mate.
Finally, about forty minutes later, we saw the lights of Fresno in the distance. Tucked in the bowl of a valley, it was just like driving into Riverrun, if Riverrun were ten times bigger. It was after sunset by then, Monica was fussy, and Liam kept pressuring me to find a hotel for us to spend the night.
“Just need to make a pit stop first,” I said, studying the unfamiliar street signs. Meanwhile, my palms were sweating as I gripped the steering wheel. This is going to be the biggest surprise of his life, I thought to myself.
I kept one eye on the time, my anxiety mounting. Finally, I found the place I was looking for: Artemis Used Bookstore. It was on a quiet street near the heart of town. I had to parallel park a few storefronts down.
“Why are we here?” Liam asked curiously.
I checked my watch to see it was six-fifty-five. “They’re closing in five minutes. Come on!” I said.
“Let me just get Monica out of her car seat…”
I stifled a growl as I stood on the sidewalk, tapping my foot impatiently. Could he move any slower? I thought as I watched Liam carefully unbuckling Monica and picking her up in his arms. Once we locked up the car, I pulled him down to the bookstore’s entrance.
A bell tinkled over our heads when we walked in, and we were immediately assaulted by the musty smell of old books, and something else.
Shifter, I thought, my senses prickling. We were in the right place.
“I’m sorry, we’re closed—” a distant, female voice said from behind a loaded bookcase. When she emerged to greet us in person, she stopped short. Her eyes and hair were dark, just like Liam’s, and she had a slight figure. The name tag pinned to her ruffled white blouse said Monica.
Liam froze beside me. How? his voice whispered in my mind.
I asked Stevie to help me track her down, I thought back to him.
Having been married to Carl Henderson, I figured that Stevie might have remembered a packmember named Monica Davis. Not only did Stevie remember her, but she also had the phone number of Monica’s old roommate. From there, it had just been a matter of following the leads until I finally found her.
The elder Monica took a small, uncertain step towards us, her nostrils flaring as she breathed in Liam’s scent. She parted her shaking lips.
“L-Liam?” she said quietly, as if she were afraid to believe it.
Liam’s voice broke. “Mom?”
Monica’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my word,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Then, with a short sob, she rushed forward with her arms outstretched.
Liam ran into them, our daughter still held against his chest. His mother held both of them, even though she was incredibly petite and could barely reach the top of Liam’s shoulders.
I privately wiped the tears from my eyes while the two of them were still distracted. Then, I coughed to clear my throat and stepped forward to introduce myself.
“Hello, Monica. I’m Caleb,” I said, offering her my hand.
“Oh yeah. Mom, this is my mate,” Liam said as he pulled away.
Monica’s eyes turned round as saucers. “Your mate?” she said as she looked at me. Despite the surprise that was so clear on her face, she was smiling. Then, she looked at the baby. “So this must be…”
“Your granddaughter,” Liam finished for her. “We named her Monica.”
The elder Monica looked dumbfounded. “Can I hold her?” she whispered.
Liam nodded and passed our baby to his mother. The pure joy I saw on her face as she gazed down at the child I’d made with Liam made the entire day’s trip worth it. I could see pieces of Liam in her, how they had the same eye shape, the same up
ward slope in their noses, and now I could see a little bit of my own Monica in her, too. It felt like a circle had completed itself, that the universe had worked itself out the way it was meant to in the end.
“Mom,” Liam said imploringly, in a tender, vulnerable voice I’d never heard before. “Mom, we have so much catching up to do!”
Monica was still staring down at our little baby’s face. “Clearly, we do,” she said. Then, she looked up, caught my eye, and began to laugh. “Oh my gosh. I’m a grandma!”
I couldn’t help it; I started laughing, too. I wasn’t laughing because it was absurd, but because of how normal it was. Liam and I with our first child, presenting her to her grandmother. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
But we went through so much to get to this place, I thought.
Definitely, I heard Liam respond.
I glanced at him, realizing I’d momentarily forgotten about our mental connection.
Was it worth it? he asked me, holding my gaze.
Yes, I replied without hesitation.
Ever since I found out about Kaden’s existence, I’d plotted my revenge. I’d planned for years. Then, I’d holed up in that shitty roadside motel, meticulously constructing my web, only to have it come crashing down the moment I met Liam. Over a decade of careful planning—gone.
And it was all worth it, because it all led me to this very moment with my mate, my daughter, and my mother-in-law, my true family and my heart’s home.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Kaia. I love drinking wine, knitting, hiking, and petting other people’s pets, but most of all I love the types of books that keep you curled up in a comfy chair, anxiously waiting for the two heroes to kiss. Luckily, I love writing those types of books as much as I love reading them! My books feature shifters, slow-burning passion, and men who love men. If that interests you, then let’s be friends! I appreciate all my readers, so thank you for reading my book. Please consider leaving a review, whether you enjoyed the story or not. Reviews help me as a writer, and they help your other favorite indie authors stay relevant in an increasingly unhospitable marketplace.
