by Jade Alters
Jessica
The drive felt so much longer on the way out to the cabin than it did on the way back. A few months ago, the North men were driving me into the unknown. I had barely known any of them, and only really felt friendly with Stone to begin with. Now, it was a completely different story. We were heading back to a civilization I knew well, and I was surrounded by company that I loved. Company that loved me. No matter who was driving and who slept, the time passed quickly and with laughter.
By the time I started recognizing landmarks and buildings in our home city, I was almost sad to be away from that wilderness where we’d all fallen for one another. I could only hope that our feelings would be the same out here, where they could find any number of pretty girls to occupy their time and bear their children.
Preston squeezed my hand as we pulled up to the North men’s home. I barely remembered it from my interview. Now that I was arriving here with an invitation to live there, it felt like a completely different environment. I found myself taking light and cautious steps as I headed up the driveway to the front door, almost nervous of what I’d see inside. As though it wouldn’t measure up to the dreams of the busy family life I’d been envisioning back at the cabin.
“Welcome home,” said Stone, as he unlocked the door.
As it swung open, every fear I had melted easily away. The hallway inside already smelled like all four North men in some innate, natural way — not the aftershave they wore or their shampoo, but the core of them. A wave of comfort washed over me as we stepped inside, Blake following us in with my bag.
“Of course, you can live at your own place for as long as you like,” he assured me. “There’s no pressure to run on in here. We want you happy and relaxed. But… you can consider this place home just as soon as you want to.”
“It already feels like home,” I admitted. I ran my fingertips over the back of the couch, and imagined us all piled together in front of the fire here, just as we had in the cabin. There was a lot more space for us on this floor — and the plush, soft faux-fur rug on the floor looked like it would provide a pretty comfortable place to lie.
Everything was perfect. The only factor I couldn’t guarantee was me.
I turned to face all four of them, smiling faintly.
“It’s beautiful here,” I said. “It really does feel like home. I want to be here. I just… I hope I’m not a disappointment.”
Hale’s brow furrowed. “How could you be?”
“I don’t know.” I folded my hands. “I’ve never been a mom before. Never had four boyfriends at once. I don’t know how to do any of this. Outside of that cabin, and all that honeymoon feeling… I just don’t want to let you down. That’s all.”
They closed in around me, and I leaned into Stone as he came close, Blake’s hand fastening into mine.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Blake promised. “You’re our One Mate, Jess. I’m sorry if we haven’t made it clear enough, but… don’t you know what that means?”
I shook my head against Stone’s chest.
“It means we’re fated for each other,” Hale explained, his soft voice taking up the mantel for Blake. “Some part of you calls out to some part of us in a way we’ll probably never fully understand, but… it’s very, very strong. Doesn’t matter how out of place you feel, or how new you are to this. We’re all yours now. Protectors. Lovers. Fathers to your children.”
I swallowed, sitting back to meet their eyes. When they’d explained this before, it certainly felt seismic — but these words right now, spoken with such sincerity in my new home, were stirring me to greater heights of emotion.
Preston smiled down at me, reaching for my other hand. “So long as you want us,” he added. “So long as we can make you happy.”
“You will,” I assured them. “I can feel that.”
“But you don’t know quite how,” Blake said, squeezing my hand. “You just… know it. There’s just something in your center, whispering about it. Sure as the sun.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. That was exactly how it felt. Is that what they meant by ‘fate’?
“That’s what we feel too,” Stone said, brushing through my hair. “So it seems like destiny made its choice about us, but… it’s important to us that you’re here by choice, too.”
Hale nodded. “If you’re not sure. If you decide you don’t want this…”
“You’re always free,” Blake said. “You will be no matter what. But just for the avoidance of any doubt...” He lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to my knuckles. “Let me ask you officially, on behalf of the pride. Be our One Mate?”
Hearing the honesty and the vulnerability of those words took my breath away. Here was Blake, pride alpha with the power of four human men, with his voice soft and his heart open. I felt my eyes brimming with tears as I looked between all four of them.
Something called me to that job ad a couple of months ago. I couldn’t possibly have known it was this — but was it fate pulling me towards this moment in time all along?
“Of course, I will,” I managed, through the tightness in my throat. “Yes.”
I could have been imagining things, but it felt like a lasso of light had tightened in around us, fastening us together for the good times and the bad. I felt overwhelmed with their love and support, and closed my eyes against the intensity of the feeling as they all pressed in around me, showering kisses on my body and holding me tight and close. Somewhere inside me, our child was growing, unaware that it had four heroes for fathers.
“I don’t know how I’m going to explain it to my mom,” I admitted.
Hale’s laughter was infectious, spreading first to Stone and then to me. It even claimed Blake in the end, tugging a wayward smile onto those serious lips of his.
“You tell her whatever you want,” said Blake. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. What I care about right now is making you happy here.”
“We can set you up in one of the spare rooms,” said Preston. “And start setting up the nursery. Never too early, right?”
I beamed, sinking down onto the arm of the couch. With them all surrounding me, it really didn’t feel too soon. It felt like the manifestation of a fairytale. I just couldn’t believe that this was my real life — that over the space of a few months, I had walked into this perfect ready-made family, and was about to start making decisions about nursery colors and baby names.
Only one potential thorn stuck out.
“You guys won’t disappear on me every couple of weeks for another long mission, will you?” I asked. After all, that was what they did. They solved problems for the government, all as one unit, in places not safe enough for children — and it took time.
“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it,” said Blake. “If we all have to leave you alone, then no. We won’t go.”
“But you-”
“We exist,” Hale interrupted, “to take care of you and our family. That’s what we’re for now. Everything else is… peripheral.”
“We’ll still need to pay bills,” I said, only half-teasing. “And won’t you get bored? My four big, strong men who fight extremism, forced to stay home with the kids.”
“Forced?” said Stone, brows raised and mouth turned up in a wicked smile. “Are you kidding? It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
“And me,” said Preston. “You have no idea how many times I’ve made mental bookmarks of things to share with my future children.”
Hale shuffled back to lean against the couch, pointing at a nearby shelf. “That is a trophy from when I played soccer at high school, and you can bet your life I’m ready to become the most over-eager and competitive parent at my kid’s practice.”
I turned to Blake, feeling the power of his silence. I needn’t have worried, though. His eyes were kind, and another rare smile had crept onto his face.
“If I gave up my career, it wouldn’t be a day too soon,” he said. “I love the military, but I’v
e given years of my life to it. I’d be happy coming off the front line to serve some other way. To stay at home. I could strategize, for one thing. I could train up recruits.”
“God help those recruits,” teased Hale.
I smiled, half entertained by their back-and-forth and half relieved. Evidently, every single one of the North men had thought about this before. It was reassuring to know that this had been a dream of theirs for a while — not something that was being thrust upon them by a roll of the dice and a random speight of fertility.
Not for the first time, I felt strongly that it really didn’t matter who was the biological father of the child. All four of them would be strong and loving parents. All four of them were ready to take on the task. Whatever color we painted the nursery, and however long it took us to choose a name, this child was going to be one of the luckiest ever born. How many people could say they had two committed parents, let alone five?
I stood from the couch, walking to look out of the window at the beautiful stretch of green land behind the house. I could imagine them all running out there as lions, our sweet cub trying their best to keep pace.
Maybe a couple of our cubs. Only time would tell now.
“Jessica?” Stone prompted, still standing by the couch. “Are you okay?”
I smiled, leaning on the windowsill. I drew in a deep breath, absorbing the scent of home. Then I turned around, a warm and eager smile on my face.
“Here, with the four of you? More than you could ever know.”
Afterword
A Final Note from Jade:
I hope you enjoyed this story. Well, the good news is that there’s more to come. If you want to be the first to hear about my new releases, promotions and giveaways, I urge you to join my Exclusive Reader’s Club:
[Yes. Sign me up, please!]
I love supporting my readers and I want to be able to provide more to you, you can also join me on Facebook here.
Also by Jade Alters
The Descendants :
Shared by the Four
Desired by Four
Fate of Three
Protected by the Pack
Copyright 2018 by Starchild Universal Publishers - All rights reserved.
This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regards to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.
- From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.
The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are the owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.
Created with Vellum
Protected by the Pack
Four big, strong, hot Green Berets and one reporter.
Courtney Seagal’s life was more or less dictated by her father. She’s now in Afghanistan because her “caring” father insisted that she work there.
Now she’s suddenly in the care of 4 hot bodyguards. 4 hot wolf shifting protectors.
Trekking across a mountainside in Afghanistan, Courtney will be faced with not one, but seemingly all of her demons at once. She'll also discover that everyone has secrets, and some of those secrets just might be more lethal than others.
Are you ready to join Courtney and her protectors for a wild ride filled with action, suspense, love and desire – an experience that crosses the boundaries of social graces?
From the Author
First and foremost, I’m so grateful to have you as a reader. Thank you.
If you haven’t claimed your free copy of my previous release Mated to the Pack
[Please Click Here] to get your gift.
Courtney Seagal
I was frustrated as I sat at the little desk in the tent and typed out an email to my boss. I didn't want to quit...I'm really not a quitter, and besides, my father would kill me if I did. But I had just about as much of this as I could take and I expected my boss to do something about it...something like bringing me back home.
It was mostly my father's fault that I was in my current predicament, and as I typed, I thought about how his controlling nature had landed me here...as close to hell as I would probably ever get. It started way back when I graduated high school...or maybe even way back before that. Yes. It actually started the day I was born. My father is a control freak. He is retired military, a Lieutenant General, and he doesn't know how not to push people around.
Behind his back I refer to him as “The General”. The General had been the one who had pressured me into picking a major when I first started college. I hadn't known what or who I wanted to be at that point in my life. I had been barely eighteen years old and had lived a sheltered life in a comfortable suburb of the San Fernando Valley outside of Los Angeles. My mother and me stayed in that house while my father traveled, sometimes for months or even years at a time. In other words, when he did come home, we barely knew each other. Yet somehow he still insisted on controlling my life.
The General had missed my high school graduation. He'd missed my first semester in college. But as my bad luck would have it, he decided it was time for retirement just as I was entering my second semester as a Liberal Arts major. When he arrived home and found out what my major was, I thought his head might explode. I tried to explain to him that it was only temporary until I grew to know myself better and knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. The General's response to that was that if I didn't figure out who I was and what I wanted by my second year in college, I would find myself to be the person struggling to pay for my own education. I had been so pissed off by that I had actually almost taken him up on it. My mother was the one that gave me a dose of reality. She told me that she'd met the General while she herself was working as a waitress and struggling to put herself through college. She told me about living in a run-down apartment, working twelve hours a day, attending school six, sleeping four and starting over the next day. She admitted to having regrets about not following through with a career and instead, becoming a stay at home mother and military wife. But she had made me realize that six more years under my father's thumb might well be worth the alternative.
So, I had done some soul searching and I'd decided that my curious mind coupled with my interest in reading and writing, my grasp of the English language and my knack for foreign ones, was a perfect fit for a journalism degree. For a while, I'd been happy with my choice. I loved the classes, excelled in them and along the way I started picturing myself in the future, working for a television news show and traveling the world, reporting on things like politics and current events that were shap
ing the world. But after graduating UCLA with honors and going on to complete a Master's program, I was stunned to find out that no matter how good my grades were, or how well I had done in my internship program for a widely popular periodical in Los Angeles...getting a real job in the news industry was going to be next to impossible.
I spent the first whole year after college, applying and interviewing for jobs. I worked a string of low-paying jobs that I was ridiculously over qualified for, anything to keep from asking The General for help. I wasn't happy or fulfilled in my career, but I was doing it on my own, and as frustrating as it was to wake up every morning knowing that I would be doing nothing more important with my day than covering a dog and cat show or a chili cook-off or high school football game, it was still better than being dependent on my father. I dated occasionally, but out of fear of ending up like my mother someday, completely overshadowed by the man in my life, I avoided relationships.
The General was not happy with the choices I was making. He liked to remind me that I was only a few years away from thirty years old with a dead-end job, no husband and no kids like if those things never happened for me, my entire life would be insignificant. In hindsight, I wished that I would have cut him off completely...but I hadn't, and now here I was in a place I called hell, just because I'd been so determined to prove a point to a man that would never get me anyways.