Chapter 7

Gabriel could smell her even before he saw her. He knew what room she was in before Grace told him. A part of him was very relieved that she had decided to take the job, not for anything else really, but the fact that he believed she was most suitable to the job. 

He had told no one yet that she was his mate, not even his closest advisors. He could imagine the hysteria that would come with making a public announcement. Especially with the the fact that she wasn't human. How would the elders of his pack approach that? What would the other rivals think of? When they heard that  he had a weak mate? A human mate?

No, it was best to keep Lori away from that, that was until he figured out what to do with her. 

He had seen her and given her the ground rules, all the while noticing that something about her scent had changed, he couldn't place what exactly it was, but the scent was there. 

She looked more relaxed now, although he could still see the shadows behind her eyes. How could he not? She just lost her son, she was probably still grieving his loss. It was probably hard for her to cope. 

Gabriel was in his room undressing when his phone had rang. it was his second in Command, Draco. Draco had the habit of calling at weird times, with the worst news too of course. 

Gabriel sighed as he dropped his shirt and picked up the phone. 

"What?"

"Where are you?"

Draco demanded without any prior greeting.

"That's no way to talk to your Alpha Draco."

Gabriel growled lowly.

"I'm sorry. I apologize Alpha! But peace talks with the Sceptre Kun pack went haywire and Alpha Sabine had one of her men attack one of our own. Apparently she was angry that you sent a delegate instead of you coming over."

Gabriel hissed. That menace! That completely crazy woman!

He thought as he shook his head. 

"We need your order. Do you want us to attack? I can have our wolves do serious damage to her new establishment, maybe that will teach her some lessons."

Gabriel sighed. He was not in the mood for conflict and Sabine, well, every werewolf in the Americas knew Sabine Reinhardt was always looking for a fight, he'd be stupid to give one to her. 

"Stand down. We'll make a formal report to the werewolf council. Let them handle it."

Draco groaned, obviously displeased with his Alpha's orders. 

"Do you understand me Draco?! Stand down!"

He ordered again and Draco sniffed. 

"Yes Alpha. I will see you tomorrow morning at the house."

Gabriel shook his head. He couldn't let Draco meet Lori, not yet.

Draco would figure it all out in a minute. And while he trusted Draco, because of his unwavering loyalty and the blood oath he took to him, he was not quite ready to let him know yet. 

"No. Not at the house, at the office. I'm leaving early."

He said, whether or not Draco knew that he was lying, Draco didn't mention it, he ended the call shortly after. 

Gabriel sighed, he had been alpha of his pack for ten years! Ten whooping years! His parents had died when he was young, barely twenty. Strangely, he had been prepared for his role all his life, as if his father had somehow anticipated his death, he had prepared him to be an alpha, rigorously.

While other kids were going to bed early and doing normal kid stuff like playing, having hobbies and generally having fun, Gabriel was always  training. 

His father never run out of things to make him do, running, fighting, meditating, hiking, pushing his wolf form to limits that he didn't know was physically possible, learning how to half shift, fully shift and learning about his history. 

He had been taught everything, most importantly he was taught how to rule. When he was younger, Gabriel never understood why his father was so hard on him, and he slightly resented him for not letting him know, for not letting him know that he had seen his death in the future and intended to prepare his son for the aftermath. 

His parents died and Gabriel had to rise up to the occasion. He didn't become an alpha without opposition though, for the better part of two years Gabriel fought each and every one of the opposition, distant cousins who thought they had a better claim to being alpha of the pack, his father's beta, other alphas who believed he was weak and elder werewolves and the council who thought they could use him as a puppet. They all failed, horribly and they knew never to rise up against him ever again. 

He walked towards his door, contemplating his next move, whether or not he would like to see Emilia before bed. He always did, he always put her to bed every night, but now, that would mean that he would see Lori, who from his hearing was rocking Emilia to sleep.

He waited for a long time after she had left the nursery and slightly opened the door. His room was not that far from the nursery anyways, which was why he was always on night calls, because Grace slept downstairs when she stayed over, a different wing in the house. 

He gently and as quietly as he could muster opened the door of the baby room and tiptoed to the crib. The smell of Lori filled the room, mixing with Emilia's soft and sweet baby smell. The room smelled like lavenders, herbs and this time no blood. 

He looked at Emilia and smiled at her, resisting the urge to touch her, afraid that she would wake up. 

She always looked so peaceful in her sleep, in fact, Gabriel didn't know it was possible to love such a tiny pup  so fiercely that he was always thinking of how to protect her. And the things he would do to protect her. 

He was a powerful alpha  and she was the daughter of a powerful alpha.

She was his weakness. The gods save whoever decided to use her again him, because he would obliterate them.

Lori was left alone with the baby, it gave her an opportunity to learn more about Emilia. Grace only came back to assist her with the bath and after that Lori got the hang of it. She dressed up the baby and rocked her to sleep on the rocking chair while watching the stars outside the window. 

She put the sleeping baby in her crib, wondering how easy it was to have gotten her to sleep. She decided to pump after that, she had not pumped all day and her breasts were heavy. 

Luckily, she had transferred the pump and bags to the baby room, last minute on Grace's request. She sat down at the rocking chair for a while while she pumped. 

Her mind went back to the day she lost her son. Her baby boy. And her heart tightened again. He didn't deserve it, he didn't deserve any of it. Lori thought with tears in her eyes. 

She remembered the events leading up to her labour. 

She remembered them vividly.

She was at her apartment, Jared had followed her from the diner. She was surprised to see him, last time he had come he had claimed he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Or the baby she was having. 

Which was quite ironical to be honest, given that Jared was the one who had been tormenting her for years. 

Jared and Lori were in the same foster homes. They were similar in a few ways, in one, they had both been abandoned at birth by their parents. 

Mrs Wyatt wanted children, she wanted lots of it or so she claimed, she already had three foster kids and one sunny afternoon she got Jared and Lori. She was getting a fat check for all of them anyways, so it was natural for her to keep getting kids. 

Lori was a quiet, shy kid, so naturally, she got along with the bad tempered Mrs Wyatt. Jared on the other hand was a complete menace, but for some reason, Mrs Wyatt doted on him. She loved him more than she loved the rest of them. 

He was not only a menace he was a complete bully. He bullied her and the other younger kids Mrs Wyatt ended up fostering. 

Only three of them ended up being legally adopted by Mrs Wyatt. 

Lori, Jared and a younger boy named Timothy. All the older kids were eventually sent to other foster homes. 

Jared picked on Timothy regularly, Timothy was small and timid, just like Lori, so they got their fair share of bullying from the big bad Jared.

As time went on he became worse and left home for long periods of time, he became much worse and he fell into a very bad gang, by that time Lori had the good sense to run far away from home. 

She was sixteen then and tired of the way she was living, she was basically the maid for Mrs Wyatt and her disabled ailing husband and the other stream of foster kids Mrs Wyatt was always keeping to get a steady check. 

She stole Mrs Wyatt's money and ran. 

Luckily an old lady took her in weeks after she ran away, the woman being an orphan in the foster care system herself seemed to understand Lori's predicament. 

Lori worked regular shifts at the local grocery store to pull her weight around and buy stuff herself.

Mrs Wyatt never looked for her, for if she truly did she would have found Lori living a few blocks away and attending the same school. Perhaps she never really cared.

When Jared got back home two years later and learnt that she had run away from home and stole money, he got very angry and got it into his head that he needed to punish Lori. 

Lori left the state after Timothy warned her, it was the last time she had heard from him after he gave her the warning one evening she was working her shift at a local grocery store that was at least two miles away from the Wyatts normal grocery store.

Lori didn't even doubt Timothy when he told her, she could see the bruises on his face and she knew it was the work of Jared. It didn't take her much convincing to flee with what little cash she had.

And she'd been fleeing ever since, till he found her a year earlier. 

She had made her new life for herself in Oklahoma and she had even enrolled into a local community college. 

Jared found her and brought her the worst devil she had ever met. 

Asher.