Chapter 3

Benji’s POV

In the distance, the sun is slowly making its nightly descent, allowing the moon to take its place. I click on my desk lamp and continue working on patient files. With visiting patients, meeting my research team, and scheduling out surgeries with my co-worker, Dr. Nancy, I barely have had a moment to stop. Thankfully the staff at the hospital always makes sure I have meals in between my many jobs.

“Benji? Are you in? Its me, Beta Hunter.” A muffled voice comes through the door, and I beckon for him to enter. A tall handsome man comes into my office, and I smile warmly at my dear friend until I notice the expression on his face.

“Beta Hunter what is it?” I ask, praying it isn’t anything to do with the royal family. The royal family have been my saving grace since Gregory died and I constantly worry about them. “Please tell me Ciara Bear didn’t go into labor already. She’s too early!” I look over to my calendar for confirmation. Yep. If she is in labor, she is about 5 weeks too early. “Oh, my goddess! Did Freya’s water break finally?” I light up. This would be Hunter’s and Freya’s second baby, and I was overjoyed for the happy couple plus I was scheduled to be her midwife when the time came so I had to be ready at a moments’ notice.

Hunter holds up his hands to stop my panic and my excitement. “No, No… Queen Luna Ciara is fine. The little prince is still in her belly. And my wife is still very pregnant. Annoyed that the baby is taking her time on her grand exit, but that’s not why I am here. Mars requested I come find you for an urgent meeting since you always have the mind-link block up.”

“Oh.” My emotional bubble popped. “Well, I like keeping people out of my head especially when I am with patients. Why didn’t you just text or call me?” I look down at my phone and see about 10 missed calls from Hunter, three missed calls from my mother, five text messages from Gray and a few other dozen calls and text messages from random people before realizing I had it on silent all day. I give him a sorry look and he just smirks. “Sorry Beta.”

He just shakes his head at me. “Come on, Sherlock. We need to get you to that meeting. I don’t know the gist of it yet, but it seems important. I haven’t seen Mars this worried since the Dark Alpha took Ciara.”

We rushed out of my office towards the Hospital’s parking lot where Hunter’s Pack Black SUV was parked out front. I climbed into the passenger side, and we drove off in the direction of the royal packhouse. We drove in silence for a few minutes before Hunter spoke up from the driver’s seat. “I heard you turned down Luna Amy for compensation again then offered to donate to her pack. Impressive idea, but it is ok to take money sometimes. You put in the labor and work, why not get paid for it.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Why? The hospital pays me well, the corporation Alpha Mars setup for me for the wolfsbane drug has skyrocketed on the stock market, and…” I trail off for a moment, taking a deep breath. “The money Gregory left me, is more than enough for one person to live off of for a million lifetimes. Why can’t I give back to the packs by donating my time? Besides, solving medical mysteries keeps my brain from turning into a stale cracker.”

Hunter laughs. “Cracker?”

“Yeah, have you ever eaten a stale cracker? Taste like sandpaper…”

When we walk into the royal packhouse, I am immediately attacked by a pair of twin misfits. Their arms wrap around my legs as I attempt to walk towards the elevator. “Hey Axel! Hey Archer! How are my two favorite kiddos doing? Where’s your mama?” The twin five-year-old boys are mini versions of the Alpha King Mars with their blonde hair and dark eyes.

They beam up at me as if I am their favorite person. “Auntie Bee! Mommy is somewhere with Dad. Did you come to do that experiment? The one with the soda and… and…” Archer trails off, looking at his brother, Axel, who just shrugs his shoulders.

“Mentos?” I ask as I pull from my lab coat pocket two brand new packets of mint mentos and slip them into their little hands. “I can’t help today because I have a meeting with your dad and Uncle Hunter, but you two can do the experiment by yourselves. It’s harmless, just makes a big mess… Make sure you do it outside and write down your findings!”  I call out to the twins as they race away with an evil glint in their eyes; high fiving each other in victory.

“You are definitely the instigator of their troubles…” Hunter says as we wait for the elevator.

“Naw! There’s no way they will…” but before I can finish my sentence, we hear a scream coming from the direction of the kitchens.

“You little rascals! The soda is exploding everywhere! Someone make it stop!!! QUEEN LUNA!!!” The chef rushes out covered in the sticky mess as two twin blurs escape down the hall and up the stairs. “Wait til your mother and the Alpha hears about this!”

Hunter and I look at each other and swiftly enter the elevator acting completely oblivious to the shenanigans of the twins.

“You know I am going to have to inform Queen Luna Ciara where her boys got the candy from right?” Hunter nudges me with his shoulder and I bust out laughing. Tears stream down my face as I clutch my stomach from the giggles.

“Sure, I am not too worried. Ciara Bear and I did worse when we were kids… Sometime ask her about the M&Ms, toothpaste and her mother’s blueberry pie incident. Just make sure the boys aren’t around for that story.” I animate an explosion with my hands and face. “We kept finding pie for days after we were made to clean up the mess.”

“Remind me to never have you babysit my kids.” Hunter laughs. The elevator doors open on the business floor of the pack house and we both make our way to the Alpha King’s office.

We enter the office without knocking. Alpha King Mars is sitting at his desk with his beautiful wife, Ciara, on his lap. She was giggling while he was whispering and kissing her ear lobe. One hand on her baby bump and the other around her back and under her arm. I roll my eyes; he was definitely playing with her big boobs.

“You know, she was my best friend first!” I tease when Ciara Bear sees me. She shoots up from his lap and waddles over to me, her pregnant belly leading the way. She gave me a big hug before letting me rub her baby bump. “How’s my little prince nephew doing in there? You better still be cooking, young man!”

“Ciara! Don’t run!” Alpha Mars nearly topples from his desk chair trying to prevent Ciara from leaving his hold.

‘Overprotective much?’ I mind-link Ciara Bear while making a face of annoyance at her, but she just giggles.

‘You know how he is. You would think, this being our third pregnancy, he would give up the coddling. I mean I am still training with my Trainor, Maximo and the other warriors every morning! I am pretty sure I won’t get hurt hugging my best friend.’ Ciara rolls her eyes when she feels Alpha Mars trying to tug her back to his lap. She slaps his hand away, but he is relentless and continues pulling on her maternity dress.

‘Ciara Bear… doesn’t matter if you are pregnant or not. That man can’t keep his hands off you nor will he ever stop mollycoddling you. You could be wearing a paper bag and he’s going to want you.’

“You two better not be bad-mouthing me through mind-link!” Alpha King Mars growls, but Ciara just swats his arm, telling him to behave. She moves to sit next to me, and I honestly have to laugh at the look on his face like a child whose favorite toy was taken away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Beta Hunter trying to cover his laugh with a cough.

Ciara ignores her mate’s grumbles and turns her attention to me. “We should get this meeting started. I am getting hungry, and the kids already went to have their dinner with the Nanny. Have you eaten dinner yet? Would you please have dinner with Owen and I tonight? Chef says she is making French onion soup, salmon, potatoes, and spring vegetables.”

I doubt the chef would be cooking anything in a kitchen full of exploding soda bottles, but I wasn’t going to ruin a pregnant woman’s daydream about food. “I can’t tonight. I have to finish my patient charts.” I lied. The charts were completed before I left with Hunter, but Ciara Bear doesn’t need to know that.

Ciara frowns and I knew I was in trouble. “You’re doing it again. You’re drowning in work again...” She knows me too well. Before I can give her a rebuttal, she holds her hand up to stop me. “I already spoke with the nurses at the hospital. If they didn’t force feed you, you would skip meals and work 24-7. Plus, I know you are uncomfortable…” She trails off.

I sigh. “There’s a lot going on with the trials, patients, and research…” I lie again.

“And Crazy reporters and doctors harassing you?” Her words catch me off guard. She must be aware of the harassing emails I have been getting lately. Someone from my lab must have told her. “We have already put the PR team on that as of this morning, but I think getting away from the pack and your responsibilities could benefit you.”