James kept glancing at me and I sighed. “I would know if I spent the night with someone, James. She’s delusional.”“They will be doing a wake tonight. The fall of the great Kiran Sinclair. He was caught by someone else too soon!” James laughed and I punched him on his arm.“Funny,” I said to him as we paid for our purchases and walked to the car. A taxi drove past us and I saw a face I recognized instantly. It was also a face I thought I would never see in Seward.“You look pale.” James said to me as I watched the taxi speed past us towards Lowell Canyon Drive, the way to our house.“We need to go.” I climbed into the Jeep hurriedly and spun away from the parking area.“Calm down, why are you in such a hurry?” The tires squealed around the corner as I sped back towards the house.“I saw someone.” I said as James grabbed the dashboard since I didn’t slow down on the dirt road.“Who?” I was already out of the Jeep and running into the house. I must have looked wild as my eyes searched e
By the time Malachi returned from the hotel with Christian, Malika had unpacked her clothes in Adara’s old room. Christian had almost knocked Malika over in his happiness when he saw her sitting in the kitchen.“My Malika!” His excitement was evident and once she had Christian in her arms her tears instantly stopped.Malachi gave me a look and I filled him in silently as he read my mind. He nodded once and then smiled as Malika paled when she looked at him. She bowed her head low, not looking at him anymore. It would eventually take months for Malika to stop bowing her head whenever me or Malachi stepped into the room.“Malika, we’re not that formal here. You really don’t have to bow your head at me.”“Yes, Alpha.” Malachi didn’t like all the formalities that went with being Alpha, not in our pack at least.“Is this my Christmas present?” Even Malika laughed at Christian’s question and just hugged him tighter.The women were busy in the kitchen and Malika almost fainted when Adara tol
Malachi handed me a big envelope and I looked at it, frowning. “Open it.” Malachi’s face was devoid of emotion, as usual.“Dad, are you sure?” A quick scan of the documents told me that it was the transfer documents of the hotel, the house and the den. The moment I signed these documents it all belonged to me.“Yes, I’m sure.” I looked at the pen Malachi was holding out to me and he nodded his head.“What are you signing?” Adara tried to look over my shoulder as I took the pen from Malachi and signed the documents with a smile.“It’s ownership of the hotel, the den and the house.” James whistled as Adara stood up and hugged Malachi tightly, a single tear escaping from her eye.“Wow, you guys really go all out for Christmas. I just bought you all wine.” Everybody burst out laughing at Robert’s dry comment.Malachi took out another envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to Robert. He opened it tentatively and his mouth fell open as he pulled a cheque from the envelope. He looked
It was nearing dusk and pack members were piling into the house, the driveway was stacked with cars. Malachi had welcomed everyone and we all stood with a drink in our hands. Robert and Malika stood to one side and I could only smile at the reaction on his face as he realized exactly who our pack members were.“Robert, it’s nice to have you in the inner circle.” Richard smiled at him and Robert’s eyes couldn’t be wider.“Evening Judge Gardner.”Robert was introduced to Carl and Frank who thanked him profusely for his role in the warehouse fire after I had killed Adrian. He seemed a bit more relaxed as everyone settled down.“Welcome everyone. This year I wanted to do our celebration a little differently. We’ve all suffered extreme losses this year. I propose a toast to our loved ones before we go down to the clearing. Take a few minutes to remember them as we salute their lives.”We stood in silence for ten minutes and I emptied my tumbler, not wanting to think of everyone that we’d l
I took off my shirt and stepped into the circle. As Alpha, Malachi could call a neutral fight where pack members could call a claim fight for the Alpha seat. With a neutral fight we stepped in according to ranks, which was why I took on Malachi first.We also had rank fights where challenges were open and anybody could fight anybody which would then change the ranks of the men within the pack. The Alpha was ranked first, followed by the Beta and then the strongest Zetas followed by the pack members ranked according to their fighting skills.Physically there wasn’t much difference between me and Malachi. He had years of experience and I was younger, maybe a bit faster. He looked at me and I knew he was going to go for a boxing stance. He raised his arms and I smiled. He came in fast and hard, and it felt like ten punches to my ribcage. I ignored the shouting from the pack and tried to figure out his next move.He feinted left and I ducked under his right arm and landed two solid punche
James and I stood on the patio and looked towards the lines of trees just across the garden from us. The night was quiet and cold but it felt alive with an unseen magic that tugged at my soul.“What happened down there?” I didn’t really know how to answer him.“The same thing happened with Adrian. It’s like a force that comes from somewhere, something overpowering, driving me to win.”“It felt like a sledgehammer had hit me.”“I am sorry, James. It really just happened, I had no control over that punch.”“I’m realizing it, but keep it for the enemy, not me, brother.” James patted me on the back and I glanced up at the moon.“Yeah or not participate in fight night again.” James grinned and we sat down on the steps of the patio.“How do you feel about becoming a father?” There was no hurt in James' voice like I’d expected and for that I was happier.“I’m happy but scared at the same time.”James frowned slightly. “Why are you scared?”“Malachi’s a great father. What if I’m not as good a
I saw Robert on the patio drinking coffee and stamping his feet. Malachi stood next to him and he watched the garden. I walked out of the tree line and I thought Robert was going to swallow his coffee mug whole as he looked at me.I growled at him for effect and walked back into the forest. Five minutes later, James and I emerged fully dressed again. His eyes were huge with shock as he looked at us. I could hear his heart beating ferociously in his chest.“Now you’ve seen a wolf, Robert.” James laughed at him as we walked inside.“I never realized how big you guys were.” Robert still looked to be in shock.The house was slowly waking up and we hadn’t slept at all. Robert and Malachi followed us inside and I smelled coffee as Adara stood in front of the stove. The kettle boiled again and she handed me a cup.“I missed you last night.” She planted a kiss on my cheek and I wrapped my arm around her waist, my palm smoothing over her stomach.“James and I went running, scared off some kids
Malachi didn’t talk about Mia a lot and a few times she stayed over at our house. Malachi slept in his room and she slept in the guest room and I was glad for that. I wasn’t sure what the extent of their relationship was even though I’d told him that he needed a friend.I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but something about Mia just irked me. I wasn’t jealous of another woman in my father’s life, it was just her that I didn’t like. I did realize later on that Mia came to visit less and less.Adara had been nine weeks pregnant when we came back from Mauritius and we had our very first doctor’s appointment. I was completing my second level of Business Management and Adara was acing her herbalism studies. She was a natural.Over weekends we worked on the nursery together. She had chosen light neutral colors since she didn’t want to know the gender of our baby. Oddly enough, I could feel the baby. There was a bond between us that I couldn’t explain and Adara made me promise not to tell