Cali
“It feels like it’s been ages since we had a catch up. How are you after this morning?” I asked as Freya poured out glasses of wine for each of us while we waited for Amber to join us, no matter how often I suggested it the Blonde refused to move into the pack house full time, instead opting to use her designated room sporadically when she was here working late and residing with her parents the rest of the time.
She had been a little off the last couple of weeks, avoiding any of the social evenings and group meals, and only showing up for work, and with everything that had been going on it felt like I barely saw her even during the working day.
Considering her background in teaching Tristan and I had decided it was a good use of her skills to have Amber be the packs Liaison with all things education and training and she was working with Lucas to set up a new physical training program off the bac
CaliI barely saw Tristan for two days after the northerners were captured. He got up before the sun each morning and returned to bed after I was asleep. We crossed paths in the pack house a few times but never with more time to spare than to say hello.It did give me time to spend with the girls, who were fast becoming family. We spoke briefly about Freya assuming the role of my delta, a position that was afforded to her by her mate bond to Damian, initially she had seemed quite excited by the idea as we discussed plans for the fast-approaching winter holidays and ways to increase the moral in the pack now that things seemed to be returning to normal.The excitement however had seemed to disappear less than twelve hours later, as had the sparkle in her eye that was pure Freya, the feisty go getter seemed cowed and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.Amber too seemed to be on some sort of emotional rollercoaster of a personal nature. One m
Cali“I’m really glad that there was nothing for us to see. The mental images of their stories alone are bad enough. Some of them cried, a couple begged us to kill them, said they deserved nothing less for the crimes they had committed. I can’t even imagine.” Jackson uttered as he threw a grateful look towards Tristan, the Alpha of Blackrock was nothing if not kind and fair. A fact that I would forever be grateful for.“What’s happened to them?” Amber queried and I wondered the same for a moment, I knew of Tristan’s reputation, while he was known to be fair he was also known to be merciless when it came to the safety of his pack and I honestly didn’t know which way he would go on this so I had tried not to think about it over the last couple of days, at least I hadn’t smelt blood or death on him when we had crossed paths so I had taken that to be a good sign.
CaliI would be lying if I said his words didn’t hurt. For weeks I had been coping, or at least I thought I had been. Maybe I really was screwing up and he was just too nice to say anything.I thought back over the time I had been here, from that first day in the ballroom when he looked at me like I was an inconvenience when he realised how little I knew, to his exasperation when I didn’t have a dress. Through the weeks of being Luna and helping to run the pack, and all the times I had to check things with him, interrupting whatever he was doing at the time.The moments when I had practically begged for his time, even though I knew he was exhausted. The fumbling in the bedroom and my embarrassment over just about anything sexual.Getting abducted.I really had caused the pack more problems than I had solved, but I steeled my spine, as much as it hurt, Tristan was hurting worse, I knew he woul
CaliTristan seemed to be avoiding me as much as I was avoiding him over the next couple of days. Something that I was equally thankful and distraught over.I needed the mental space that came along with the physical distance, I needed time to come to terms with the failure of my mating and what I was prepared to do now. There had been whole minutes over the last couple of days when I wished that we were all human, with their silly marriage traditions where they could marry and divorce as often as they liked. There was no way to undo a bond, no divorce for shifters. No, a mating was for life, until death do us part in the most literal sense of the statement.So, our options were limited. We could continue to try and make things work, although I wasn’t sure how well I would be able to cope with that. I had been under the impression that everything was fine, that we were fine and yet seemingly the whole time Tristan had felt that
TristanWatching her walk away from the car after saying everything was fine and something snapped inside me. For five days I had been living in a different kind of hell. One of my own making.I fucked up, royally.It seemed that even an Alpha had a mental breaking point and I had found mine. The battle with the northerners had been terrifying, not because I was scared of war, unfortunately it was a hazard of the job and one I had become accustomed to over the years, but because the entire ride back to Blackrock I had known that Cali was there facing them alone. The woman was stubborn and hard-headed and determined to prove something she had no need to.I knew her strength, I saw it every day that she climbed out of bed knowing that the day ahead was likely to be more difficult than the last. She was fierce and loyal, brave, and beautiful. There weren’t many women on this earth that would run towards dang
CaliThe doctor took more samples of blood before leaving to rerun the tests. The educated part of my brain knew that it was pointless, that the tests had been right in the first place and that the results would be exactly the same this time round, but the emotional part of me just wasn’t willing to accept that.Shifter pregnancies were a little more difficult on the mums than normal human pregnancies, I mean we’re not aliens or anything, things still progress at the same rate and full term is 40 weeks, but growing a shifter is a little harder than growing human. They zap more energy. So, being pregnant would certainly explain a lot.The last couple of days had been hell, I was constantly tired, and the lack of appetite and sickness was just about killing me, although I had put it all down to the emotional upheaval of everything else that had happened, pregnancy would also be a viable cause. It would also help to explain w
TristanWell fuck! I mean I knew I had screwed up, but I had thought giving her time and space would help, never did I imagine that she was thinking the absolute worst through the week. I also found myself a little hurt that she even considered it a possibility that I would have her killed in order to get out of our bond, but I couldn’t exactly blame her.Not when I had been so consumed with everything going on outside of the pack house that I had barely given her any attention.I backed away from the bed and dropped into the visitor’s chair as I really thought about our relationship. For the first time I looked at it from a distance and ignored anything else in my life.Maybe she was right to be feeling the way she did and thinking the worst. I had barely made time for her at all in the months we had been together, I had expected, apparently wrongly so, that she would come to me if she needed anything, but I had ne
FreyaTristan was hovering.We had been home for less than an hour and he hadn’t left my side once. He had ignored his ringing phone, and kept asking questions that I really wasn’t used to, did I need anything, was I tired, hungry, in pain? I get that he was trying, but it was a little bit annoying, I just needed time to think, to try and wrap my head around all of this.“Tristan, honestly, I’m fine. Romans called you four times, call him back. I expect its important.”“He can wait.”“I appreciate that you are trying here, but don’t let the pack suffer at my expense, please.” I stated from my seat on the sofa in the small sitting room in the east block. “I’m just going to relax and read for a while.” I stated, indicating the book on the side table that I was halfway through.“If you’re sure?” He asked s
The pack house was blissfully quiet the next morning, something I was surprised to find, even as I walked down from the bedroom and through the halls, there was no one in sight and no noise, it was actually a little eerie.Roman had explained the night before that the warriors had located Liberty pack and they were planning an attack on their camp so I had no doubt that Roman Tristan and the other relevant people were ensconced away in the war room making plans, but I would have expected, at the very least to run into some of the pack house staff.Cali was sat alone in the sitting room with a trolly full of breakfast foods, her head bend as se read through what had to be the oldest book I had ever seen.“Morning.” I whispered, not wanting to disturb her but Cali closed the book and placed it in her lap before looking around the room and fixating on the trolley of food as though surprised to see it there.“Morning. What time is it?”“A little after nine. I slept in.” I muttered feeling
TristanJackson wasn’t joking when he called it a camp. From the looks of it most of the shifters were sleeping outside under the nights sky. Most of the year that wouldn’t be an issue, especially if you shifted into wolf form to stay warm, but there was still snow on the ground in parts of the woodlands, and the bits that weren’t covered in snow were frozen solid, it was freezing out there.I scanned the picture on the screen, taking in the tarpaulin hanging haphazardly to create barriers from the wind, rain and snow, the single tent like structure and the dozens of shifters, and a sadistic glee filled me, it was animalistic and most definitely came from the wolf in me but it wasn’t an emotion I would fight.These monsters had attacked my home, my pack, put the alliance under the treat of war, injured and killed. Kidnapped and tortured and soon they would receive a taste of their own medicine.“Roman, go through the pictures and videos see if you can put together a map of their camp.
RomanThe sense of relief was astounding, even Smoke was calm inside my head for once, laying with Amber wrapped in my arms, our cub growing safely inside her, for the first time I felt like I was home. I guess it’s true what they say, you don’t know what you have until its gone. The risk of loosing Amber over this made me realise just how much I needed my mate, and only part of that feeling was due to the bond we had created.For the most part it was all her, her smile, her gentle approach, she tempered me in a way I didn’t know was possible, even Smoke was generally calmer when she was around.Her fingers traced the ridges on my chest and stomach, the now familiar tingles leaving bump on my skin.“You okay?” I asked, loathe to break the comfortable silence, but we couldn’t ignore this, a baby wasn’t just going to disappear. The no of her head against my chest wasn’t the most reassuring answer he could have given. “Amber, baby. I need you to talk to me.”“It hurt. Knowing that this t
CaliTristan genuinely looked like he was at his wits end, not that I could blame him, yet again he was shouldering a hell of a burden and there didn’t seem to be a reprieve around the corner. I watched as he sat back in his office chair, scrubbing his face with his hands as he took deep breaths, trying to control the overwhelming emotions running through him, frustration, anger, disappointment, disbelief, not one of them were positive and left me feeling overwhelmed and I only felt the echo of his emotions.Anger seemed to tip the scales a little as he dialled the phone and placed the call on loudspeaker on his desk waiting for the other person to pick up. He tapped a finger on the desk, and I bit my lip, I had a feeling that Lotus pack were about to be on the receiving end of all of Tristan’s pent up frustrations.“Leroux.” A young voice answered and my eyes flicked up to Tristan in surprise. Alpha Paxon was far from young, his son Abel was set to take over any day, but word was tha
AmberWhen I suggested to Cali that we take Amie out of the boot room, I was just trying to be the bigger person, and if I’m honest I was feeling a little guilty, the girl couldn’t be much older than 18 if at all, and she was on the receiving end of a hell of a lot of hate, even if she hadn’t witnessed it, I didn’t want to be one more person in her life that hated her, when truth be told, Cora was right, that cold have just as easily been me.But the story she told actually broke my heart. No one should have to live in that kind of a household, no one should be belittled by the people that are genetically engineered to love you. I couldn’t help but rub my hand over the rounding belly that contained the bundle of life I already loved so much.I couldn’t even imagine.“Amber?” The question startled me, I had actually forgotten that Roman was here, I also hadn’t noticed that everyone else had abandoned me. I guess it was for the best. No one wanted to be a part of this kind of conversati
Cali‘Well that escalated quickly.’ Thalia’s thought in my head was pure amusement as she practically drooled over how protective and strong our mate was. Damn baby hormones. We were in the middle of a nightmare situation and all I could think about was how much I wanted my mate.Tristan growled at the older man before issuing a threat of his own, his tone pitched low enough that bumps rose on my arms, if the man wasn’t wetting himself he was an idiot, I more than anyone, knew just how soft and loving Tristan could be, but in Jacks shoes, I’m not entirely sure I would still be conscious.“You have some nerve, coming into my home, throwing around your accusations, threatening my beta, demanding things like you have a right and now you have the balls to throw a vase at my mate, my Luna. The only reason you’re still breathing is because of that young girl over there. The very girl you were ready to abandon, the girl you call a whore, just saved your life.”I felt the tell-tale signs of t
RomanJack Elisse’s voice carried when he was mad, I didn’t even have to force my hearing to listen in on their conversation, standing in the hallway, with the door closed, I could hear him as crystal clear as if he was stood beside me, and every one of his words sliced through my patience like a knife through butter. I could practically feel Tristan’s displeasure from here, and I had no doubt that after this performance I was shortly going to be on the wrong end of another one of the Alpha’s rants.The fact that I had to step out of the room at all was just icing on an already fucked up cake.“Look at you, standing there like you think I’m in the wrong. They always said that Alpha Leroux was fair, tough but fair and yet you’re taking that bastards side without blinking. You have to know that he’s in the wrong here, behind that blank mask of yours, you cannot be this blind.” I winced at the older man’s words, knowing just how pissed off Tristan was right now, there was no way that wou
AmberIt literally felt like my heart had been torn from my chest. The only man I had ever loved, had a child with someone else.“Romans talking with Tristan, he was up here with you for a while but Tris is pissed.” Cali informed from her seat beside me on the bed, although I could barely focus on her words, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.“I don’t want to see him.” I muttered and Cali shook her head.“Don’t talk like that, you’ll work through it.”“I don’t care, right now Cali, I do not want to see him. How could he do this to me?” I asked as the tears fell from my eyes and my hands went to my stomach. The child he had been so worried about, scared to raise, wasn’t even his first.“There’s still a chance the baby isn’t his.”“I don’t believe that, and neither do you. We both saw his face Cali. The baby is his.”“So, what are you going to do?” The question was asked tentatively but that was the question of the hour, what was I going to do?“I don’t know, but I can’t, right now I just c
RomanOf all the fucking things, and all the fucking timing.I grit my teeth as I stroked the hair back off Amber’s face. My pregnant mate had literally passed out from the news that I had apparently fathered another she-wolfs cub. The doc was on his way over, while I had managed to catch Amber before she hit the ground, I wasn’t willing to take any chances with my mate or my cub.Now I just had to figure out what I was going to do about the girl and the baby.I recognised her, of course I did. She was a member of Lotus pack, a she-wolf I had met over a year ago while Damian and I were on assignment there.Was there a possibility the baby was mine? Unfortunately, yes. I was always careful, I always had been, with everyone but Amber, although that didn’t really mean a lot, shit still happened. But I hadn’t been her first, and I doubt I was her last, so was there a possibility that the cub belonged to someone else? Sure. And fuck was I hoping that was the case.A knock on the door had m