Rachel POV
Rachel & Bella's Apartment
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
I didn't have a chance to catch my breath as I was pulled into the apartment by Nathan Lewis. He held my upper arms in his grasp with a tightness I couldn't begin to fight against. I couldn't understand his terror. We were newly reacquainted and I had broken his heart when I'd ended our relationship three years earlier. Why was he so affected over a brief abduction?
"No, no, no! It was Tyler. He'd never hurt me," I tried to explain until Nathan shook me to silence me.
Hard.
He shook me so hard my teeth rattled and my brain banged around in my skull making my head ache.
"You have no idea what he's capable of, Rachel! He's spent years flaunting his affairs with other women while you, his fated mate, sits alone at home. What kind of wolf can do that? He rejected you in anger. He doesn't even want your child!"
Nothing Nathan was saying could
Tyler POVMoonrise EntertainmentSources close to the Alpha Council reported Nathan Lewis was pressing hard for a sanction against me as well as for a mating arrangement for himself with Rachel Flores.I could understand why he wanted Rachel. She was a desirable woman. If the rumors were to be believed, she was from an Alpha House rather than the omega house she had believed to be her home house. Her career was taking off too which would make her a wealthy bride.Her pregnancy would have made her less desirable to a human man. I'd been exposed to enough human fiction to understand their thoughts about raising someone else's child.We weren't human though---and a wolfen child with Alpha blood was valuable no matter who fathered him or her.Nathan Lewis was talking of a blood ceremony for their mating as well which would tie the child to his house before birth. His blood would course through my child's veins; I w
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's ApartmentBruises ringed my upper arms. I touched them gently with my fingertips as I stared at my naked body in the bathroom mirror. Everything felt surreal as I tried to take in the changes in my body.Despite growing up with a terrible father, I was never beaten. The bruises under my eyes used to be common when I was a teen as Patrick's antics often kept me awake nights, worried someone would come to our home to collect on debts he owed. I wasn't used to seeing literal bruises on my body though.My arms didn't hurt so much as there was a deep soreness sunken into my muscles alongside Nathan's fingerprints.I dropped my hands from my arms to give my breasts a speculative look. They were definitely fuller and my nipples were pebbled, flushed, too sensitive. I hadn't been so aware of my breasts since the first time I was taken aside by a teacher at school who noticed it was past time fo
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's ApartmentPaper surrounded us in piles stacked so high it was as if Jack and I were barricaded behind a paperwork partition. Only I didn't feel safe behind the wall. All I felt was suffocated."We need to go over what we do know."I looked at Jack, laying down the sheets I held, "Okay. I can go for a regrouping session. I need to get my head back on straight because honestly? I feel as if everything I've ever been told in my entire life has been a lie."Nathan wanted me to petition to join Full Moon Pack which was the home pack of House Lewis. He offered me the protection of his Alpha House to fight against the Alpha House claim House Wright of Moonrise Pack had on my child.Neither house seemed to have any physical ties to me; all the houses I had thought were my birthright also seemed to have no real connection to me which made me an orphan in a way I'd never been before.
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's Apartment"You're going to demand an inquiry into your mother's death, okay? You have to insist on it. Jack says if you insist on an investigation? They have to listen to you because your mother is the keyholder for the Alpha House."Bella has replaced Jack at the table with me where the papers which make up my life have been collected.Jack finally gave up to go back to his own place to get some sleep and hopefully a shower since he'd been sequestered with me for most of the week trying to come up with a "plan of attack" before I go in front of the Alpha Council."I got that part. Inquiry. No problem. Why do they have to take me seriously though? Patrick and this Richard guy are both more connected than I am. On paper? I'm the daughter of an omega house marriage."Bella shook her head, "No. According to the documents we have here? Your official birth record lists your father as
Rachel POVAlpha Council Chambers"Grandmaster, please introduce the next petitioners."The Grandmaster took his place at the podium to read out our details. I felt as if I were being electrocuted, my insides vibrating with enough nervous energy to make me think I was plugged into a socket somewhere. Every word felt amplified by ten thousand, far louder than an old wolf standing behind a microphone."We have the case of Rachel Flores, no pack affiliation on record, being supported by her witnesses Bella Assante of New Moon Pack and Jack Jackson of Golden Gleam Pack. Rachel Flores wishes to petition for pack status for herself and her unborn child. In accordance with our laws, the blood father, Alpha Tyler Wright of Moonrise Pack, has been notified of this session and he has chosen to attend to speak his part. In support of Rachel Flores, Alpha Nathan Lewis of Full Moon Pack has chosen to attend to speak for his house as well
Rachel POVAlpha Council Chambers"I have proof Rachel Flores can't provide proof of her claims. Is that sufficient?"What was Tyler talking about? How could he have proof to prove I didn't have proof? The claim itself was ridiculous! The Council had to see he was trying to sabotage her petition using a ludicrous claim because he had no legitimate protest to make.Tyler continued, "I have here a letter provided on House Campbell letterhead with the Alpha seal from Richard Campbell stating he has never met Rachel Flores. He has no knowledge of her existence. He further states his wife only had one child, a daughter named Linda, before she died in a car accident two months before Rachel Flores was born."How had he gotten in touch with Richard Campbell?Jack had been trying to get in touch with House Campbell on my behalf since we had found Richard Campbell's name on my birth record. I had gotte
Tyler POVGiovanni's PizzeriaEvery bite tasted better than the last.Garlic and tomatoes and parmigiano-reggiano. Crispy basil added a unique taste only available at Giovanni's and I almost growled as Adam picked the basil leaves off the pizza.We were the only two people in the building other than the Marino family who owned and operated the pizzeria."Don't growl at me. I told you to ask for extra basil. You know I like the basil the best.""I'm trying to eat my feelings here. You think you deserve the all the basil when I'm the one who just had to stand before the Alpha Council and listen while another Alpha tried to claim my mate?"Adam snorted, deliberately crunching a piece of basil between his sharp white teeth so I could see.I wanted to snap at him. I needed desperately to be angry.Anger was something I could understand. There was fire in anger. I could use the fire to fuel
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's ApartmentLuck would have it I was still awake when the pounding on the door came."I'll get it!"Jack and Bella were curled up in one corner of the couch while I had been lounging in the other, acutely aware of my solitary state.I'd taken to holding my hand over the bulge of my belly. There were sometimes flutters inside me now. Some books said I should feel more by now while others echoed only the feelings I already noted myself.Werewolf pregnancies were meant to be faster developing than those of a standard human though we carried our young the same length of time.My child was a boy or a girl by now. A human would have had to wait longer, I think, but I had chosen to wait to learn my baby's gender only out of a selfish desire to protect myself from the knowledge.I threw the door open without concern for who might be on the other side."Rachel."
Rachel POV"The baby is coming!" I criedHow was my baby coming?I'd had pain in my back, but I was used to that by now. I spent all day in the bed. My stomach was so swollen I couldn't see my feet and the extra weight put pressure on my spine.I had not had the first cramp! Where were my contractions? Where was the agonizing pain women all talked about?"Relax," a nurse said as she bustled into the room behind my mother who'd bolted for the hall as soon as I'd first called out.The nurse looked gloriously professional and capable. I wanted her help more than I wanted my next breath of air. I sighed audibly in relief."It's not really my water breaking? Was it just some kind of---accident?" I asked, blushing as I looked at the tablet where the Alpha Council was still hanging on the line on their side.All the male Councilmen looked terribly uncomfortable while the two females both looked amused. I was mortified this had happene
Rachel POVDays turned into weeks in Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center.Mama had taken over a week to detox from the drugs flooding her system. She'd managed to regain her ability to speak after only a few days. She was, however, still taking physical therapy to assist her with strengthening her muscles and bones again after all those years of living a dormant life in the asylum.My body was still fighting against itself. Some part of me -some animal part deep inside- wanted to reclaim the ability to shift, to fight, to run.I knew Rayne wanted to stretch her legs, but I didn't think my wolf was the one calling all the shots. I believed most of the restlessness in my body was from a part of me even more primal than Rayne herself."Have you seen Ethan today?" I asked my mother.Mama looked up from where she had been studying her hands. I knew it would take her a few moments to respond. She'd gotten her voice back, but speech was still not ea
Rachel POV"How is my brother?" I asked again, feeling like a crazed parrot as I clutched my mother to me yet every muscle in my body had gone tense in her arms.Ethan was going to have to be okay, too. I couldn't gain my mother only to lose my brother. Ethan was too young, too vital, and he had too much life left to live.Mama sat at my side on the edge of the bed tangling her fingers with mine while being careful not to pull on my IV lines or interfere with her own. We were a pair of invalids it seemed.I couldn't quite comprehend the situation we were in. Everything felt too surreal. Nothing was going the way I had ever imagined it in my head though I had certainly dreamed of my mother being returned to me more than once."Ethan is still unresponsive," Tyler answered, taking a seat beside me and reaching for my other hand, "He's not getting worse, but he isn't improving at all either. Your mother has agreed to donate blood. The hospital is tryin
Rachel POV"Your mother is doing well considering," Art said."Considering what?" I asked.My body was hot yet numb at the same time. I had a baby monitoring band wrapped around my waist to monitor my daughter, a pulse oximeter to monitor my oxygen and pulse, a blood pressure cuff for exactly that, and two IVs to make sure the hospital had access to my bloodstream as fast as possible "just in case."Saying I felt out of sorts was putting it mildly."Considering the quack caring for her had kept her overmedicated for the last two decades," Art said, shrugging a shoulder, "I think they did all they could to keep her barely conscious to avoid her fighting for her freedom. According to Justice, she can't even speak."I frowned, the muscles in my face moving as sluggishly as the rest of me, "According to Justice? You haven't seen her?"Art shook his head, "No. I distracted the facility attendants while Justice got your mother from her room
Elena POVTime passed based on the light coming in from the only window in my room. I knew the rays of dawn, the brightness of noon, the fires of dusk, and the silver of moonlight at night.Everything else was a guessing game.I've never been allowed a clock or a calendar. I tried to count days by marking them on the wall beside my bed, but they just painted over my marks on one of the days they took me for their tests.'Tests' were supposed to determine how safe I would be in normal society, but they consisted of a series of random questions I couldn't follow with all the drugs in my system.Every time they asked me something I knew there was a right answer and a wrong answer. I just couldn't make my mind identify which was which so I played the part of a mute after a while.If I didn't speak at all, they didn't give me more drugs. I was given a little more autonomy. I was left with books to read and, for a time, paper to write on.I
Art POVEvery breath felt harder and harder to draw in. I couldn't get my head on straight. For some unknown reason, I was more involved with this case of this missing female than any other case I had ever investigated in my career as an Alpha Inspector.I'd rescued children -babies even- and plenty of women before. What made this woman special? What made Rachel's baby so important to me?I couldn't think of anything hurting her child or her without the Alpha instinct rising up in me. I could feel my wolf, Merlyn, bristling all over and I couldn't afford a moment's lapse with the vampire demon sharing my body with my wolf.Merlyn had to keep the vampire in check. We would go on a rampage, drink dry anything with a pulse. I'd lost control once before and it'd been worse than any nightmare I had ever had.Coming back to myself with my belly full of the blood of others, I remembered wanting to erase every memory I had to take away the taste.No
Tyler POVRachel had finally drifted off into a fitful sleep. They'd had to pump her full of icy IV fluids to drop her temperature enough to allow her any peace. Every drop of sweat from her forehead felt as if it were being wrung from the marrow of my bones.I literally ached with the need to protect her, care for her, heal her.But there was nothing I could do."You'll drive yourself insane if you keep pacing out here worrying over what you can't change. We need to get to Elena," Windsor said.I could hear the finality in his tone; I knew he wanted to push me to do something for him. I just didn't know what more I could do for the Alpha Council. What help could I be in tracking this 'Peter' down?I'd never crossed paths with the man to the best of my knowledge."How can I help?" I asked, knowing Art Windsor well enough to realize he would tell me what he needed if I only asked.Art placed his hands into his pockets, walking o
Rachel POV"Why aren't we going to get my mother, now?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow with a towel growing steadily warmer with every touch to my skin.Art had brought Richard Campbell's computer along with the files from behind the picture frame. We had an exact location on the asylum my mother was being held at, but we had no access to her. I was still trying to understand why.I prompted, "What is the plan, Art? We can't just let them keep my mother in that hellhole."I knew the place Mom was in had to be terrible. They couldn't be a reputable institution and keep a woman with no illness hostage for two decades. I didn't even want to visit the place much less imagine how my mother could have survived there for twenty years."Are you okay?" Art asked, his expression concerned as he studied me hard enough to make me wipe myself with my cold towel again, "You don't look okay.""I feel hot," I said, "I don't know? It seems to be gett
Rachel POV"What do you mean you don't want to meet them?" I asked, feeling ridiculous even repeating the words aloud, "Lindy, we're talking about your family. Your real, blood family."Lindy shook her head 'no' over and over. Her wet hair slapped against her cheeks and I noticed she was crying now, too. Her gaze was slightly vacant, as if she couldn't understand what she was saying or what was being said to her or both."You---"Art cut me off, saying, "Lindy, do you need something to drink? Some water? We don't have to talk about those people right now. Can I get you anything?""Water," Lindy mumbled.Adam offered, "I'll go get it. Plenty of ice. I've been---well, I haven't been where she's at right now, but I understand enough."The big Beta left the room while the rest of us simply stared at Lindy as if we expected her to do a trick of some kind.I couldn't say I had ever seen anyone look so lost before. Lindy looked the wa