“No.” “What do you mean by no?” Chad asks. “Exactly what I said. No.” Lily crosses her arms over her chest, giving him a mutinous glare. “Okay then.. since you are apparently full of other options why don't you go ahead and tell me about them? Because I know that they would have to be so much better than staying with a pack of strong, protective family members that would literally die for you. So, you must mean the sweet lady next door, who is clearly in her late forties, slightly overweight, and a mere human. Or maybe you know a family that would take you in, someone with kids that would not mind endangering them should your friends here come back.” His words make so much sense and they score a hit with Lily in the form of a flinch, that hurts him to see. He does not mean to rub in the fact that she has no one to turn to. He just wanted her to know that he was who she needed to turn to, like it or not. Of all the ways that she had imagined over the years him returning and whi
Chad holds the sleeping toddler in his arms as Lily tries her hand at changing the motel manager's mind. After six minutes she walks back over to Chad with a frown. He gives her a pleasant smile, “Well?” She glares at him and he chuckles. “I see you did as well as I did. I guess he meant it when he said that he only had one room available.” “Shut up.” Chad's smile stretches into a grin as he reaches down with one hand to grab as many bags as he can, leaving her to grab the rest. With the room key tucked into his back pocket, they leave the office. He knows that Lily does not like the idea of sharing a room with him, but she is going to have to get over it. He was relieved to hear that the motel man only had one vacancy left because it would be so much easier to protect her if he were actually near her. As the two of them, plus bags and baby, reach the door, he offers her his back. “The key is in my pocket. Dig it out and open the door.” “Oh, no. I'll take him so that you can-”
“Tyler.” “What?” He asks, giving her a look from the side of his eyes. They are about fifteen minutes from his pack and twenty-five from his home. Since they left the motel to get back on the road, she had barely said ten words. She had not voluntarily talked at all, only answering when he asked her things. “The baby's name. My son..” She points to him as if she has more than one child and he might not know who she is talking about, “his name is Tyler, But I call him Ty. He was named after my Pappy.” “Yeah, I remember hearing you mention your Pappy before.” She had told him only the good parts of her life with Pappy, never really mentioning the years of abuse. Even after that night she left home and returned to Chad with a knife wound on her shoulder. He asked, but when she kept putting off answering, he took the hint and never mentioned it again. “Chad.” “Yes?” “What did you mean last night when you said after all the stuff with my dad and how Adam had bought most of my old p
“Home, sweet home.” Lily mutters to herself as she stands in the kitchen. Not really able to sleep too well, she came in here to make breakfast. It reminds her of that morning all those years ago when she came in here to do the same thing but everything got so messed up. She has spent many a night wondering what would have happened had she never crawled out of bed that morning. What if she had just stayed in Chad's arms? Would she have lost him or someone in his family to an attack? Would Darin have just given up and gone away? Or would he have been discovered lurking around our house and taken before Adam? Often times she wishes that she had stayed where she was. Who knows how things might have turned out but maybe she wouldn't have had to live with Chad. Because she feared losing him to Darin, so she ran, but she ended up losing him anyway. “Couldn't sleep?” Lily spins around to find Chad standing in the doorway behind her, looking rumpled with sleep and so incredibly handsome.
Okay. You can do this. That is what she kept repeating to herself as she cleaned the dishes after breakfast. The meal had passed with little conversation and what was discussed was just idle chit chat. Breakfast is delicious. It's a nice day outside. Ty sure is a good eater. But after the meal, as she was scraping leftover eggs into the trash and putting the strips of bacon in a plastic storage bag, that is when the chit chat was less idle and more focused. And what Chad was focusing on was the last thing that Lily wanted to face at the moment. Not the conversation he wanted. Thankfully he seemed to have let that go for the moment. No, it was much, much worse now. Because as she was pushing up from the table, he had said the dreaded words, “Everyone is dying to see you. I think today we should go see the family.” It took every ounce of strength of will that Lily possessed in her body not to shout 'no!!” at the top of her lungs like one of those dramatic girls in the cheesy m
“He is finally asleep!” Lily makes the announcement as she comes back into the living room, with a sippy cup in her hand and a few hairs out of place. Ty was so overstimulated that he was way harder to put down for a nap than he usually is. He wanted her to sing to him, then he wanted to dance to it. So she tried a story that he requested about dinosaurs, but then he had to get up and do the dino stomp while roaring. Finally, she had to just get him in her arms and lay down with him while he tangled his chubby, sticky little finger in her hair. It took about ten minutes doing it that way, but she eventually got him to sleep. Then she laid there for a few moments longer, just holding him, breathing in the sweet scent of him and enjoying the warm weight of his body on her arm. She looks forward to watching him grow into a strong young man and watching his personality develop, but she is scared to death of the moment when he will no longer hug her like this. When he is too old to
“What?” The look of total and absolute shock on Chad's face makes her pause for a moment as she begins to feel silly even saying the words aloud. Clearly, the idea of her 'protecting' him has never crossed his mind. When he recovers from his momentary surprise, he asks her, “Protect me from what?” “Well you see, that can either be a really long answer or a really short answer, depending on what you want to know,” Lily tells him. He gives her a stern look and says, “Long answer. I told you I want to know everything.” “Then settle in because it is going to take a lo-o-o-ong while.” Chad wiggles into the cushion a bit before he tells her, “I'm settled.” Here goes. “By now you know how sex and reproduction work, so I don't have to go back that far but let's go back to the first moment that I realized my father absolutely hated me.” “What?” Chad bursts out, sitting up so quickly he nearly knocks her from his lap. “Shh... Save all reactions until the end or we will never g
“Then why did you leave me that night?” “I woke up around four that morning and I was laying in bed beside you as I always did, just watching you sleep and listening to your chest rumble with each breath. I had woke up to you like that so many mornings before, but that morning was different. I was your wife. We had made vows.. promises.. and it was the beginning of our life together. I just knew at that moment that life could not get any better for me. After a while, I decided to go make you breakfast. I left the bed and went to the kitchen and let me tell you, I was floating on air. I was riding a high.. lord, was I!” “Then what-” “I heard a noise outside. I opened the door to see what it was, like a freaking idiot. Darin was there.. he grabbed me. He was raging at me that I let you mark me and mate me.. He was like he was possessed, the way that his eyes stared at me.. It was scary. He yelled at me that I always ruin everything, then as if we were having a totally different conv
Greer sits up in bed, gasping for breath. Liam is beside her whispering, “Shh... shh.. it's okay, baby, it was just a nightmare.” Greer looks around, seeing the children safe beside her, before she looks at Liam, beside her in nothing but his boxers. Lyle isn't here and neither is Shera. It was just a dream. She is breathing heavy from fear but she is trying to calm herself down. Liam wraps his arms around her and pulls her into his warm, bare chest. Hunter is against the wall like always and Gemma is in the middle between them. Greer picks the baby up into her arms and moves her over so that she and Liam can lay down. She looked at him, “Lie with me, please.” He nods his head and adjusts himself on the bed, so that he is laying down beside of her. She lays back in his arms with her head in the crook of his shoulder. Her breath fans his chest. Gemma is beside Hunter, sleeping peacefully, so Greer turns over to face Liam. Her hand is resting on his flat stomach, her legs tangle
“What?” “You heard me. Do you want to stay here with me forever?” Liam asks her needing to know if that is something she can even imagine before he tells her everything. “I, um-” “Yes or no, baby. There is no right or wrong answer here.” Liam says. “If you want us to-” Greer knows the exact answer that she wants to give him she just does not think that she is brave enough. She has never been one that can just put herself out there. She always has to hold a little of herself back so that if she gets hurt, at least it isn't every part of her that gets damaged. She still has something to go on. But Liam is asking her for everything. If she answers him truthfully then she will be handing him her whole heart. And that terrifies her. “This is not about what I want, Greer. This is about what you want. You are the only one that gets to make decisions for you and the children. I will not try to pressure you into anything you don't want. If you don't want to stay forever, that does not
Time flies by as they sat there, playing together as, well, a family. They weren't a family though, he has to keep telling himself. He glances at his watch, “It's time for us to get ready. I'll watch the kids while you take a shower.” Greer nods and leaves the room. He looks at Hunter playing with the toys and the little boy looks back at him with a smile. Liam smiles back at the kid. The boy just needs positive male attention. Somebody with a Y chromosome to love him instead of scare him. Greer had done her best, but how could a teenager be expected to raise a child in a small bedroom, without any form of help? He looks at Hunter, then at Gemma in his lap and was, not for the first time, totally in awe of Greer. Greer was a survivor, there was no doubting that. She could handle anything life threw at her and clearly come out on top. He knows that she is scared of Lyle. She is worried about him and Shera showing up, but Brody wants her to have faith in him. Could she trust him t
Greer wakes up a few hours later when it is still very early morning. Now is the perfect time to go while the baby is still asleep. She was beginning to sleep through the night, not wanting bottles at all hours. Greer figures that the routine and stability that they found in this pack house contributed greatly to that but she pushes that thought away. Yeah, life is good here but they will just have to make a better life somewhere else, she tells herself. Greer rolls out of the bed, trying not to disturb the children. She doesn't want to wake them until they are leaving. She goes to the armoire, pulling out the bags she had carried her stuff in before. She opens it and begins stuffing clothes in it. She pulls out the stroller and props it against the bed. She stuffs all the baby's sleepers in there and Hunter's clothes as well before she grabs her warm shirts. She looks at the dresses Liam had bought; he had given them to her as a surprise a few days ago. Greer feels like crying.
They about their day and she tries her best to act normally. Tomorrow afternoon is when Belinda was due to return and Greer has made up her mind that she is leaving in the morning. Maybe with her gone, they will choose to let Belinda keep thinking that she was dead. If she has finally made her peace with it, then there is no use upsetting the apple cart now. She knows that Hunter will be so upset. He loves Liam and the house; loves what seemed like a real home and family. Yet, it isn't their home and they aren't a part of Liam's family. It will be horrible leaving, especially since she is pretty sure that she had fallen in love with Liam. But she has to go. She kept to herself as Liam's family was there. She talked and was polite, but any chance she got to excuse herself for a moment, she took it. She went to the bathroom five times while they were there, just because she needed to take a breath and to tell herself that she was not part of them. Even if they made her feel like s
It does not take them long to go through the store and get everything on Adam's list. Within twenty minutes they are finished and back in his truck. Ten minutes of shopping and ten minutes of him talking to the beautiful girl that stopped him at the door. Greer figures that she was a girlfriend before and wants to be again, judging by all the possessive 'hands off, he belongs to me' looks that the girl was giving her. Greer has questions about her but she does not ask them. She has no right to. After Liam says goodbye to the girl, they go to the truck. Greer feels good because the whole time they were talking to the obviously interested girl, Liam never left her out. He kept his hand on her back the whole time, he included her in the conversation by asking her questions about whatever subject they were discussing. But her favorite part was when he had slung his arm around her shoulders and said, “Come on, honey. We have to get back to the kids. Dad and Hunter will be driving Mom
Greer watches Liam as he cuddles Gemma close and kisses her hair. He carries her to his mom, handing her over when Bella holds out her arms. Adam comes over to inform Liam that the whole family is coming over for supper and that he needs them to run to the store in town and pick up a few things. Adam turns to Greer, “I need you to ride with him and make sure he gets everything. Don't worry about to kiddos, they are fine here. We will take good care of them. Becca should be home in a few minutes, she just went to visit some friends that she missed while we were gone but when she gets back, she will drag out all kinds of toys for him. She goes crazy over kids.” Greer smiles at the alpha, but inside she is very aprehensive about leaving the children with anyone but especially people they don't know. Yet about the time that she opens her mouth to decline is the same time that Hunter comes over to Adam and tugs on his shirt. “Yeah, buddy?” Adam asks the child with a big smile. “Liam
Greer improves substantially over the next week and a half. Liam makes her take her medicines on time and keeps a drink constantly in front of her, forcing her to drink. Eventually her werewolf healing must have been slighly activated by being in a pack and with his burgeoning alpha aura, because she is healed completely and she has more strength than she ever has before. Besides all that, her senses are sharper. Each day she can see and hear better than before. Ebony had filed the petition with the human courtsand they were suppose to hear something today. Ebony was confident in the ruling though. Greer not so much. If she wasn't granted guardianship then Shera could come and get the kids whenever she wanted. Greer knows herself well enough to know that she'd do something desperately crazy before she let Lyle and Shera get the kids. Not wanting to dwell on it, she had tried to keep her mind off the ruling for the last few days. It only worked about thirty-seven point two percent
The boy had heard the man's steps on the landing, so he invited him into the room. Liam enters the room, clearly about to say something, but just then he sees her and he just stops in the doorway where he proceeds to stare at her with his mouth ajar. Once he seems to realize that he is standing their like an imbecile with his mouth hanging open, he shakes himself, “I'm sorry. I didn't know you were, um, not dressed.” “It's quite alright. You were invited into the room,” Greer shoots Hunter a mock glare, then smiles at him as the little boy grins at her, unabashed. Liam watches the by-play between the siblings but he can not focus on the exchange. The only thing on his mind is how the sigh of her has caught his attention. Greer stands beside the shower with only a damp towel covering her. Liam watches as drops of water cut paths across her skin and he wishes that he could replace that drop of liquid with his finger tips. That the soft pads of his fingers could brush her skin in