“Do I need to restrain you, Tara? Or will you be a good baby girl and take it?” Tara was panting already. He’d only caressed her back and thighs with the riding crop, but she knew she wanted to feel it’s sting. “I’ll be a good girl. Please Daddy, teach this baby girl how to be good.” He leaned down and placed several kisses on her lower back as a reward for her response. When he straightened, Tara glimpsed his hard cock thrusting and quivering before her. She had to swallow as her mouth watered at the sight of a drop of pre-cum glistening on it’s tip. She moaned as the crop dropped with a light slap on globes of her butt. “Count for me.” He demanded. She could hear his calm voice. There was his dominate nature. The master was coming out to play. “One…” Tara panted between each tap. He wasn’t punishing her, he was winding her up. “Two… Three… Four…” She couldn’t help it. Tara moaned each time his hand caressed away the sting between each tap
They were in the pack’s dining hall again, eating lunch with Jaxon and Rachel at the raised table.Today, the room felt unusually packed with people. Cal didn’t appear uncomfortable or unhappy about this. In fact, he appeared quite pleased with the turnout as he surveyed the room like he was surveying his domain. As they ate lunch, they placed several stacks of documents on their table before them. Tara didn’t think anything of them, assuming they were for Cal to look over, and deal with. She became confused as he plowed through one stack, but ignored the other one that sat between them.Tara went through her entire meal before she dared ask Cal about the stack of documents between them. “Cal, aren’t you going to look at these? Or is there something wrong with them?” “Tara, those aren’t mine to deal with. Those are yours, like Luna. It’s your business to deal with. You know this is a working meal, and the time when they can meet informally with us about the
Rachel got through her early afternoon routine and then went to see what Tara needed. She worried she’d come in and find the girl lost in petitions and random documents with several unhappy wolves looking for blood. But they greeted her with a quiet corridor and the Luna’s office was no longer in a state of confusion. “You wanted to see me, Tara? How can I help?” “How accurate are these lists? How do I know if they are up to date? Do you have any idea? I don’t want to tell someone there’s something in storage when there’s not.” Rachel’s eyebrow rose. There hadn’t been a Luna since before Cal took over. “I’m afraid I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. You may need to delegate something like that to several people and have them compare what’s there with what you have.” “I was afraid of that. Okay, there’s another thing I need. Several teams to look into these lists and ensure that they are up to date. At least, I know that right now.”
Tara could hear people talking and passing through the corridor outside her office door all the time. It was, after all, one of four main corridors that led to the kitchens. At least her office smelled good with cooking food. Right now, it smelled of the yeast from baking bread and what must be roasting chickens. Unlike human institutions like this, packs prided themselves on quality and availability. Food was one of the driving forces of a pack, as were other simple things like water and these days electricity, and the internet. Cellphones were a must. Tara didn’t know how she avoided using hers for so long. She still struggled to remember all of its uses and how to get it to do what she wanted, but it was coming slowly. What to do next? Find out what the mom-to-be needs exactly and have a list ready for them when they get here. How could she forget that? Also, she needed to know about spaces available for a new pack, because where would they put the Lycan
Tara hadn’t thought of it that way. Gad, she needed to learn to see things from different angles and not just her own little narrow perspective. “Okay, again thank you.” A knock on the door interrupted her, and she looked up to see several faces peaking in. She waved them in. “I’m sorry your might not have meetings, but it looks like I have one at my door right now. So I’m afraid I have to let you go.” “You go take care of that, and don’t forget to text me your email address so I can get that information out to you. I’ll also make sure that your pack is on the list.” “Make sure that Cal is comfortable with that. I don’t want you to do that if he doesn’t want them to join.” “I will. Until later, dear. Oh, and call Aricka. She’ll want to fill you in on how we communicate with each other regularly. Get you all set up with that too.” “I will thank you.” The she-wolves filed in. There were three all together, and they looked about a little self-
It took Tara the better part of the day to get things going in a way that she felt like she was an absolute failure. Rachel got on board when it became clear to her that the Den Mother position was expanding and the club was far too much to handle, along with her pack responsibilities. The idea that there’d be Lycan added to the mix, along with Tara’s need for help, Rachel couldn’t be in all the places at once. In the end, Tara gave her instructions to review her responsibilities, and divide up what Rachel could accept someone else doing from what she felt she needed to maintain herself. When she had that done and Rachel was on her way to do her job, she found all sorts of little things to do that helped make the list look a little more manageable. Cal came in search of her a few hours later with a grave look on his face. “You spoke to the ambassador about Lycan joining the pack?” “I told her I wasn’t averse to it, but you had final say as to yeah o
Healer Daniels finally arrived, and they summoned Eddie to Tara’s office. “First time I’ve been here. Hey, you have your own space. Oh, and you’ve got less jewellery.” Eddie pointed a finger at his neck when he referred to Tara’s missing collar. “Uh… Yeah, happened when I was no longer in danger of being harmed if I left the club. But that’s not why we asked you to meet us here. Come sit down and we’ll explain what’s come up.” Tara, pointed to one of the visitor chairs. Healer Daniels stood over to the side with his bag open on a table, fiddling with things. He added nothing to this part of the conversation. “Okay… You have me worried. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. So, is this bad news? We don’t have more problems with the old pack, do we? I’m not wanted on any charges, or have they declared me a rogue?” “No, nothing like that. Well, maybe a little in reference to the old pack. But it won’t kill us. We don’t need to worry about th
Eddie was his usual cringing self when came to getting the swab done. Cal rolled his eyes several times while they watched the process. All he could wonder was how badly Eddie would respond to receiving an injury or the process of seeking care for that injury. Tara, though meek, was far better taking the bumps and bruises of training and she’d out stripped Eddie with her fighting skills weeks after they started training. There was no way in his mind that these two were related. Nothing lined up. Healer Daniels could finally get the test from Eddie, and Tara didn’t take nearly as long. But Tara was the one Cal worried about the most. Eddie was a survivor, even if he depended on Tara like she was a crutch for him. Tara, on the other hand, was flip flopping, being okay and looking forward to a possible family who wanted and appreciated her. Then she’d feel guilty at the thought of Eddie being alone in life. Tara worried he’d feel like everyone abandone
One Year Later —Tara sat out on the poach behind the packhouse with a laptop open to a spreadsheet. She and Emily were working out the next year’s budget and the projects they’d tackle.With Emily looking after the club while they were up here. It was interesting, to say the least.Tara gave birth on schedule. It was about the only thing that was on schedule these days, and Cal was sitting on a blanket on the grass with one-year-old Natalie Nichols. The apple of her daddy’s eye. She had him wrapped around her little finger and he’d have it no other way.Eddie and his Lycan girlfriend were now running the kitchens here for Rachel. They’d mated and, well… Tara expected to hear that they’d have pups soon enough.Jaxon, well, he was back in the city. Tara wasn’t sure what was happening with him. Cal wouldn’t speak of it. But Jaxon took a leave of absence from his position for a bit. Tara wasn’t receiving the full story. But as far as she could tell. Jaxon may have two mates. One wasn’t d
Five Months Later —Tara felt like the size of a house. She propped her ankles up on her desk and she had to eat her fries with no salt. It wasn’t the same, nothing tasted the same. The poking from inside was regular now and she couldn’t wait for the last six weeks to go by. She’d been six weeks pregnant when her symptoms started and since then, if it wasn’t one symptom, it was another. Tara would be more than happy for these little monsters to enter the world.Cal was everywhere and nowhere, it seemed. He told her to clear her calendar today because he wanted to show her their new territory. The thought of trudging out there was exhausting to her. But she’d do it because he was just so insistent. He promised they’d stay the night out there and come back the next day at a leisurely pace.“You ready to go?”“Yes, I just don’t understand why we have to do this now. When all I want to do is take a nap.”“You can nap in the vehicle on the way. Don’t worry, I’ve packed everything we need a
Tara could feel the ball of conflicting emotions rolling about in her head and her belly. She had a new life inside her. No matter what, she’d never be alone again. But how did she explain all of this to them when the time came?How should she explain this to Cal? He had to be expecting this. Look at the second floor. She didn’t like it necessarily. Their pups living completely separately from us with someone else looking after them. Why hadn’t they spoken about this before?Tara’s eyes closed as the elevator dinged and opened. She’d not thought that it was important before this because she wasn’t pregnant, and they didn’t have any pups. Now she thought of it.This morning, Cal was gone before she got out of bed. This was a day she didn’t train, because there were other things she needed to get done. Which, of course, didn’t get done? A few steps brought her to Cal’s office over the club.She knocked and entered when she received the okay to enter. Tara lucked out because Cal was alon
David Monroe struggle with the enforcer training. His heart wasn’t in it and his skills lay in other places, but everyone lumped him in with the other male Lycans because he was a Lycan. He’d exhausted almost every avenue trying to explain to them he’d rather be patching people up and treating pups with fevers. While he was moping during a break, his phone rang, and it surprised him to see that Emily’s name came up on his phone. “Hello, Emily. What’s wrong? Why are you calling?” He couldn’t think of a reason she could be calling him for, but any chance he got to speak with her was better than nothing. “I’ll tell you, but you have to be very careful with what you say. No one can know why you’re about to be ordered to the Luna’s office. What we need you to do, is slip out of the packhouse. If anyone asks, you’re running an errand for the Luna. That’s it nothing more. What you need to do is go to the closest pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy kit. Come back here
Again, Tara was up late the next morning. Cal was determined he wouldn’t let her feel like he neglected anything about her. From sympathizing with her, to how her emotions were toward absolutely everything, and he didn’t forget to include planning their future together.Well, he talked, and she mostly listened. What he said wasn’t bad. Tara didn’t have a problem with any of his ideas. She didn’t have much to add or at this time have an emotional connection to any of it.Now, though, Tara needed to get her day going, and she felt like something that had been dredged from a swampy pond. It took only minutes for Emily, her newest staff member, to realize there was something wrong with Tara.“If we had a cat, I’d say you look like the latest thing it dragged home. When will we see you going to a healer?” Emily eagerly asked Tara as she returned from her latest flight to the bathroom. Tara looked at her with an expression of exhaustion.“I’m fine and I’m not planning ongoing to see one.” S
“Stone dear, you know I love you. I’m your mate and partner in life. I have always advised you about everything honestly and in your best interest.” Elaine still quietly sat in the sitting room and calmly spoke to Stone. The others had slowly filtered out to go on with their day or to watch their guests leave. “Of course you are, and you have.” Stone looked out the window and watched the vehicles leave. Elaine could see he was distracted by what was going on and his own thoughts. “Then why are you being an ass and not listening to anything I say now?” She let her irritation slip into her voice and she dryly responded to him. Her annoyance was obvious. Stone’s instincts instantly alerted him to the fact that not all was good between himself and his mate. Over the years, that instinct helped him avoid many different disasters from exploding in his face when it came to their relationship. “I’m listening Ellie. I’ve always listened.” “Then explain to me if you listened to me, then why
No one said much of anything on the way home. The privacy divider between the front of the vehicle and the back raised then never went down. Cal pulled Tara to him and sat her in his lap. He didn’t do anything more but let her soak up his warmth and strength. He buried his head into her neck and hair. The smell of the wool sweater mixed with the natural spice of her scent. He instantly felt his aggressive feelings smooth out and gentle. It’d been difficult watching her get so wound up from it all. Tara sat there, and all but purred. As their vehicle made slow progress through traffic, it’s darkened windows gave them the privacy that Cal didn’t care, Tara turned and straddled his lap instead. She didn’t do anything more than that. But his body felt her skirt hike up and he groaned, knowing how naughty she was instinctively gravitating to for comfort. That wasn’t what their mating would ever be based on. He’d never satisfy his needs while she was seek
Kole wanted to get back to the gathering as quickly as possible. He didn’t want any misunderstandings between anyone, let alone the two packs. There was no way he’d explain to the pack that their beloved elder and ex-alpha alienated his first born grand pup with blind stubbornness, hateful questions, and fear. That wouldn’t be happening today or any day. Kole wouldn’t risk fighting with Cal. How would it look when the Council of Alphas met? His father always forgot about that. Though the council of alphas didn’t exist during his time in control of the pack. He’d been a forward thinker of his time and moved his pack to a territory that was being noticed by the local humans. It meant he could settle their businesses in, and those humans would see those businesses as founding members of the business community. “Let’s go back down now and please be nice to her. She’s so much like Heather and you wouldn’t talk to Heather that way. Just apologize and let mother do
“That’s my third pup there and his mate. Your uncle, Stephen, and his mate, Ariel. Their grown pups, Erin, and Eric. That about covers your living family here, dear. Everyone sit please. Stone has created enough excitement and drama for one day. She has a sweet soul. Stephen, treat her like you would your sister and don’t act like your father if you know what’s good for you. As for the doghouse, it’s an old guard shack that’s been turned into a bunkhouse for single wolves who, for one reason or another, don’t want to make the trip all the way back to their homes to sleep. It’s affectionately called the doghouse because often there’s trouble between the few mated wolves that stay there.” “Oh, good grief. That’s horrible.” “Oh, don’t think your grandfather hasn’t stayed there a time or two. Though these days he’s more likely to use a guest apartment.” Tara looked over the tissue at Elaine with a shocked expression. “You’re joking.” “No, I’m n