Say My Name

by R K Knightly

  He warmed up some water in the microwave and sank a chamomile tea bag in the mug before adding a little honey to the concoction and placing it on a tray with Elle’s food to bring it upstairs.

  That's when he heard a distinct sniffling coming from the bedroom.

  Leaping into action, he hurried to the room, spilling hot tea everywhere on the tray. He opened the door so quickly, it bounced off the wall.

  "What's wrong?" he asked when he saw Elle holding the book and crying.

  "The fucking bastard only went after her because she was a challenge," she said, sobbing.

  Liam was dumbstruck.

  Did not compute.

  "Who?" he finally asked when Elle didn’t volunteer any further information.

  She shook the book in her hand as if it had offended her honor.

  "This asshole in the book," she told him and the tension in his shoulders released. He thought she had been talking about one of the pack members and he was about to rip a wolf's head clear off his shoulders for upsetting his mate with his petty antics.

  "You're crying over a book?"

  "Yes!"

  "Good grief woman, I thought something was actually wrong," he told her. "And I think I spilled most of your tea on the tray running in here."

  He looked down at the mug and was surprised to see it was still three-quarters full. The tray was a sloppy mess though, and a couple of crackers were soggy.

  "It's okay," she said and set the book aside. Liam wanted to grab it and tear it in half. Stupid book. But he was sure she would find something else to sob over eventually. It’s not like he could throw a fist through the TV because of some idiotic, weepy Hallmark movie she had decided to watch.

  Instead, he took a deep, cleansing breath and placed the tray on the nightstand before sitting down next to Elle. She was starting to dig into her food as if she hadn't eaten in a week, though it was very obvious to him with her consumption of calories, that she was indeed eating for two.

  He was making a list of things in his head as he watched her. Well, two lists, actually. Baby's likes and baby’s dislikes. The dislikes list was much longer than he'd like. Olives and pickles topped said list.

  "I'd like to make the announcement about the pregnancy on New Year's," Liam told her as she shoveled another jelly and peanut butter smeared cracker into her mouth. "It's customary for us to have a party that night and the Alpha always makes a speech when midnight comes."

  Elle swallowed thickly as she nodded her head. "Okay."

  "Until then, we keep the baby on the down low," he told her.

  She gave him a look.

  "You do realize that Colleen was one of the first to hear about it," she told him and grabbed another cracker from the plate.

  "I had Blake make her swear not to say anything," Liam explained. "My Beta, Delta, and Gamma all have insider information as always, but they are sworn to secrecy about Junior until I make the official announcement. The same goes for their women."

  "I wish I could tell my parents," Elle blurted out suddenly after finishing another cracker.

  "Why don't we call them later tonight?" Liam suggested. "Or we could go meet them at the tavern again."

  Elle shook her head.

  "I'm scared Jeremiah will find out where they're going," she said. "My parents honestly don't go out much and it might seem odd for them to visit the Norfolk twice in a month." Her parents were homebodies, much like Elle.

  "So, we'll call them after 10 PM," Liam said, making up his mind. "I don't want your parents not knowing when mine are free to be in the loop. It's not fair."

  "Oh, life's not fair, Liam," Elle told him. "Above all others, both of us should know that by now."

  ∞∞∞

  "The snow's too thick to do anything," Carter told Jeremiah as the man paced the study in his home. There was a fire lit in the grate that made the room almost stiflingly hot, and Carter was sweating his nutsac off.

  "When is the weather supposed to clear?" Jeremiah barked out.

  "It's not the weather that's a hindrance right now. It's the wind," Carter told him. "There's at least two feet of snow on the ground, and don't even get me started on how high some of the snow drifts are."

  The snow drifts were up to six feet in places and made the paths almost impassable due to that fact. The hunt for the missing, secretive Luna was on hold.

  Not to mention the fact that word had finally gotten out around Blackriver that the Alpha had finally found his mate and was desperate to get to her. The rumor mill was in full swing, and even the inclement weather could not stop it from exploding all around them.

  There were several females who claimed to be his mate. They were the same females that made their way over to his house late at night and offered themselves to him fully. Miraculously, all were told to leave or be escorted off pack land as a rogue. It was shocking to Carter when he heard that.

  "Jere, Giselle is marked and mated to another. Alpha's move quickly and she could be with child at this very moment for all we know."

  A low growl vibrated the very walls of the home as Jeremiah's eyes flickered to the green of his wolf.

  "She's mine!" the man snarled.

  "And you pushed her away," Carter told him calmly. "I know you haven't been entertaining any other females for a while now and I can only see that as proof that you are indeed in love with your true mate." The Alpha's head shook restlessly back and forth in denial. "Be that as it may, she does not want to be with you anymore. If this...if you had treated her better, you may have had the chance to redeem yourself, but that is not the case. She is happy elsewhere, and you should go to The Claiming this summer and choose another to bear your pups and wear your mark. Giselle...she will not."

  "Out!" growled Jeremiah. "She will be mine even if I have to rip off all the heads of the men who stand between her and I! That includes you, Carter!"

  "You're being a fool and you know it," Carter told him coldly. "Being an Alpha doesn't always end up with you getting your way. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be. Things aren't just yours for the taking. You have to earn them. And all you earned with your abuse was a runaway she-wolf who hates you and is gladly mated to another. You're my friend, Jeremiah, and I hate to see you like this. But until you get your shit together, you'll never see this for what it is. A desperate attempt to win her back. And what would happen if you do get her and bring her back here? What then? You beat her to within an inch of death again? It's deplorable. If you try, Jere, I will try and stop you from hurting her. I don't care what the consequences, but she'll not be hurt again."

  With that, Carter walked out of the room quickly, leaving Jeremiah standing in front of the fireplace, gazing into the flames and wondering where he had gone wrong in his life.

  Carter was wrong. He had to be. Jeremiah wasn't in love with the weak Omega. Couldn't be. He was Alpha and deserved a stronger woman in his life. Elle would break like China in his strong arms.

  But she survived the beating. Survived and lived to tell about it.

  He pondered that for a few minutes. Perhaps the small female was stronger than he had thought all along.

  ∞∞∞

  Her light-colored wolf's coat helped her remain relatively unseen through the woods. The snow also helped to mute her scent as she crossed the border into no man's land and unclaimed territory.

  It wasn't a favorite pastime for her to go gallivanting about in the snowy weather, but this news was urgent enough so that she would fare the bad weather long enough to get to Blackriver and speak with her partner there.

  Such a shame that some she-wolves couldn't keep their mouths shut and voices down, she thought sarcastically. After last week's revelation, she had made it a point to go see her friend as soon as the weather permitted. But alas, the snow hadn't abated until the previous night. The howling wind kept most indoors with the exception of patrol, and she knew their shift change was upon them and most of them were either heading back to their homes o
r were on their way out to start their shift. It was the perfect time to cross the border.

  The bag she carried in her muzzle contained two changes of clothing and a winter coat. Just because her increased body temperature kept her from freezing, it didn't mean the cold weather wasn't still a bother to her. She hated to be cold, to be frank.

  As cumbersome as the bag was, she kept it gripped in her jaws until she was on the edge of Blackriver's borders and slipped behind a tree to shift into her human and go up to the outposts. Hopefully, one of the wolves there would recognize her and call attention to her friend.

  She was in luck today, because the first man she spoke with knew exactly who she was, though not the reason she was there.

  "I need to speak with him," she said. "It's urgent. I have news for him and he would not like it if I was delayed."

  The man nodded and reached out to the man in question through the mindlink without further ado.

  "Liliana will accompany you," the man told her a few moments later. "The pathways are snow-covered for the most part and it is difficult to get anywhere without an escort."

  Sheila nodded and followed the raven-haired female the enforcer gestured to. Liliana nodded back at her with a scrutinizing eye and made a "come hither" motion with her hand before walking off in between drifts of snow.

  "Are you the fabled mate our Alpha has been so desperate for these past few weeks?" Liliana asked as they walked through a deeper pile of snow that had fallen onto the makeshift path.

  "No," Sheila answered. "But I am the key to getting her for him." She paused. "Also, I have an Alpha male of my own that I am determined to make mine."

  Chapter 41

  The first week of morning sickness and trying to figure out what worked and didn't work, was a right pain in the ass. Once the dos and donts were worked out, it was not hard to figure out that crackers settled Elle's stomach first thing in the morning while chamomile tea allowed her to go to bed with a restful tummy. Babies were certainly difficult even before they were born.

  Soon, though, Elle was able to get through a day without the constant trips to the bathroom to empty her sour stomach.

  Colleen brought over ginger root and steeped it in some plain green tea so that Elle had something to settle her stomach between meals, and she iced it to make herself iced tea and added a bit of lemon to flavor it.

  When the wind stopped blowing from the seasonal nor'easter, people were finally able to shovel paths between houses and the pups were engaged in constant snowball fights in the backyards. Elle watched it all from her window as she sipped her green tea ginger-lemon brew and smiled.

  "My mother's on the phone for you," Liam said as he walked into the bedroom as Elle watched the kids play in the snow. His hand was covering the microphone so he could speak without being heard. "I honestly think she prefers you over me." He shook his head disbelievingly.

  "She's just making sure that you're taking care of me," Elle told him. "You told her about the pickles and olives?"

  "Yeah, though I don't think she believed me," Liam said. "She swears by it, but everyone's different so..." He faded away with a shrug.

  Elle reached out for the phone and Liam handed it to her, looking at it like it was a bomb about to go off. His mother could be opinionated and pushy, and she reminded him of an older version of Colleen, sans the potty mouth.

  "Hi, Judy, what's up?" Elle asked as Liam left the room to go back downstairs. He was watching a football game on TV and New England was trying to wipe the floor with New York.

  Sunday afternoons were always pretty lazy, and it was just a testament of just how lazy this one was that Liam was hanging out with Trace and Blake while watching the game. Although the snow was still knee-deep in places, there wasn't much else to do but stay inside to keep warm and dry. No one had heard anything from Jeremiah or the Blackriver pack for weeks. It set your teeth on edge to have such silence on that front.

  "Your mom talking Elle's ear off about babies and morning sickness again?" Blake asked as Liam came into the room.

  "Yeah," Liam said. He honestly didn't mind that his mother took so well to his mate. It certainly would make family gatherings easier, but she was all but ignoring her son. If Liam didn't know how excitable his mother was when it came to her grandbabies, he would have been offended at her lack of attention. "When are you and Colleen going to start trying for a pup of your own?"

  Blake raised a brow at him and looked away from the TV before replying.

  "Who says we aren't already trying?" he asked. "I mean, we always wanted to have kids, but ever since you announced your own pregnancy she's been chomping at the bit. I'm lucky my dick doesn’t need a cast."

  Liam grinned. Colleen, of all people, took to any new idea with a passion that so many lacked. She went above and beyond trying, and made things happen. While Blake was content to sit back and take orders from Liam, Colleen was definitely a Type A personality and got things done. The two were an opposite pairing that worked well for the both of them.

  "Knowing Col, she just wants to have our kids close together enough so they can grow to become best friends," Liam told him knowingly. It would be just like Colleen to arrange a lifelong friendship years in advance.

  "You're probably right, not that I'm complaining," Blake said. "Haven't had this much sex since we were newly mated."

  "What about you, Trace? You and Helena going to wait a bit or does she have baby fever as well?" Liam asked.

  "Honestly haven't talked too much about it," Trace admitted. "Beyond the yes, we want kids someday conversation, it hasn't really come up. Not even after you blurted out you and Elle were expecting."

  "Is she pestering you for more sex?" Blake asked shrewdly.

  "I wouldn't call it “pestering”, but we have had an upswing in the amount of sex we have," Trace allowed.

  Blake and Liam looked at each other.

  "Baby fever," Blake pronounced.

  "No," Trace disagreed with a roll of his eyes.

  "You wrapping it up before sticking it in her?" Liam asked.

  "Uhm, no."

  "She on some sort of birth control that actually works for shifters?" Blake raised a disbelieving brow at him.

  "Not that I'm aware of," Trace said, sounding shifty.

  "You'll be pregnant soon then," Liam told him as he sat back and slanted a look at Blake.

  "I've been pulling out." Trace sounded a bit more hesitant.

  "Every time?" Blake questioned.

  Trace shrugged. "About half."

  "Well then, congrats, Daddy," Blake said as he slapped him hard on his shoulder.

  "Fuck you both," Trace mumbled as he got up to grab another beer from the fridge.

  "Get me one, too!" Liam shouted at him as he walked away. He was certain Trace was probably saluting him with the middle finger.

  They sat watching the game for a bit with small breaks to scream at the players and refs for fucking up the calls. It seemed that the Patriots had some insider knowledge or a few of the refs on their payroll every time they played. It reminded Liam of a meme he had once seen on the internet. It had the quarterback on his knees looking like he was giving a blowjob to each of the refs before the game started. It suggested that the Pats were “preparing for the game”. It was pretty funny. Since Caleb was a fanatical Patriots fan, Liam had sent that meme to his phone before receiving a slew of angry curse words back at him. Hence, the reason Caleb was watching the game at his own home instead of with his fellow Beta, Delta, and Alpha, aka “the enemy Giants supporters”.

  At half-time, Elle came down with Liam's phone and handed it back to him.

  "Babe, come watch the game with us," he told her as he pulled at the arm that was holding out his phone.

  "No, thank you," she said, screwing up her face in distaste. "Last time I watched a game the quarterback received a broken nose and it was off center the whole time he played."

  "That was an anomaly," Liam told her. "Besides, that punk deserved i
t, damned wife beater." He remembered that game well.

  "He beat his wife?" Elle blanched.

  "Yeah. Well, at least I think it was his wife," Liam said. "Or girlfriend. If that asshole had been a part of my pack, his ass wouldn't have been able to complete the season, that's for damn sure."

  "Liam would've strung him up by his testicles for a week and then escorted him off the premises as a rogue," Blake allowed.

  "A broken nose would have been the least of his worries," Liam agreed.

  "Yeah, I still think I'll pass. I want to start on dinner," Elle said and walked into the kitchen to grab some iced tea.

  Pretty soon the aroma of Italian food was making the men in the living room's stomachs wake up.

  "Baby, did you make enough for some extra mouths?" Liam asked as soon as he heard Trace's stomach give a long, low rumble.

  "What did you say?" Elle called out. "I couldn't hear a word of what you said over the sound of your stomachs growling."

  Liam chuckled. "Can Trace and Blake stay for dinner?"

  "Of course," Elle replied loudly. "I have enough food for Colleen and Helene if they want to come over too." She paused. "And Caleb," she added.

  A few minutes later, she walked out of the kitchen and moved fluidly over to the couch to sit next to Liam.

  "Thought you weren't watching the game," Liam teased as he placed a hand on her stomach. It was too soon for her to have a baby bump, but he liked to place his hand there whenever he could.

  "I'm not. I'm simply sitting here for a while because I need to wait for the lasagna to cook," she told him and rested her head on his shoulder.

  "You could always watch me instead of the game," he told her and tipped her head up to his to kiss her lips.

  "This is guy time," Trace proclaimed and stood up. "No chicks allowed."

  "My house, my rules," Liam threw back at him and went back to kissing Elle's lips.

  "You need a man cave in this place," Blake griped. "Poker nights, Sunday Night football, Pay Per View prize fights..."