As I wandered ahead of my men with Knight tucked in my arms, I sighed as the woods moved in around me.
The pack of ‘supernatural’ wolves that had come with us from the realm where we’d been bound, trailed at our sides, as did the other natural wolves, the ones Eli had feared for since they were aggressive when it came to protecting their territory.
He shouldn’t have been scared, however.
My she-wolf, Berry, and her mate, whom I nicknamed Silver, thanks to the streak on his head, had made sure that the naturals were settled and could integrate with their pack. They’d already had pups between them, and none of us were entirely sure what that was going to lead to.
Not even Berry knew, which meant something, because she told me everything.
Just like she’d told me I was carrying Eli’s son.
Just like she’d known when the old council had been planning to storm the barricades—as it were—of the packhouse.
Most of the old council was dead in the aftermath of that silly struggle, where they hadn’t even respected the pack to challenge Eli to a fight they knew they couldn’t win, and ever since, our people had been happier. Calmer.
It was sad that came from the passing of others, but that was life, wasn’t it?
I was just grateful Berry had warned us.
We’d been sleeping, but she’d woken us, and we’d acted.
My men were rarely cold and aggressive. They were, if anything, realizing that it took more than just iron will to rule a pack, but that night, I’d shivered in the face of their wrath.
And I’d admit to being a tiny bit turned on at the sight too.
“Stop,” Berry chided, making my lips twitch. “Scent strong.”
My nose curled at that. “Woman can’t even get a lady boner for her men nowadays. Everyone’s a critic.”
Berry grunted, then padded ahead like my scent was disgusting.
I rolled my eyes at her drama queen ways, even as I pressed a kiss to Knight’s head once more.
I wanted to wrap him up in cotton and never let him go. I didn’t want him in a crib or to be anywhere other than my arms, but I knew that was going to suffocate him, and he was alpha.
Straight to his core.
He was only accepting my clinginess now because he was a newborn. The second he was older? I knew he’d be leaping out of my arms and begging for distance.
I could scent the alpha in him.
Even feared that he’d be stronger than Eli himself, which certainly made for an interesting future.
Adolescence was already an SOB for any parent to deal with. When the son was stronger than the father?
Kali Sara.
So, I admit I was taking advantage of his squishiness while he let me, and as we made it to the circle, my men finally decided to flank me.
They had this stupid routine where I was the one who guided us to the totem, and while I got it—they were honoring me—I would have preferred to have them walk at my side.
I was an equal opportunity omega, sue me.
When I took that first step into the circle, the shudder that whispered through me wasn’t feigned.
Knight sensed it, of course, and started sniffling, but I closed my eyes, let the totem recognize the fact that my role had changed, and that we had a new member of the pack.
When he started crying, the totem’s power subsided, but I cooed and sang to him, swayed to soothe him.
As Knight finally settled down, I peered at them, watching them watch me.
The love in their eyes was enough to knock me to my knees.
I knew I was loved.
Knew I was adored even. Not just as their mate, but as their woman. As their omega.
I was respected and revered. Not just by my pack, but by them, and they never let me forget that.
Ever.
I sucked in a breath, though, to see their love for me and our son, and when Austin reached out to cup the back of his head, Eli let his finger tap the baby’s chin, and Ethan rubbed a digit over his forehead, I felt the knots that tied us together, that bound us as a unit, tighten.
The sensation was inside me, and I knew they couldn’t feel it as I did, but it resonated with me to my core.
I shuddered as love and need, want and arousal, surged to the fore before Berry yipped, essentially dousing me in ice water.
We were sensual creatures, I was finding, and even though I’d only just given birth, I wanted my men. It didn’t mean I could have them yet, but I wanted them. Like I hadn’t when I’d given birth to Joshua.
I’d felt wrecked then. Overwhelmed. Too young, too hopeless, too stupid to figure out what was happening.
But now?
I was strong. Empowered.
Because of them.
They made me this strong. This empowered. They’d let me see the light and had enabled me to be the best I could be.
I was strong without them, but I wasn’t this strong.
This powerful.
And I never had to fear a future where that wasn’t the case, where we weren’t tied, and the knowledge had settled in my bones a long time ago.
Berry’s howl had the men sighing because they were used to her stepping in and corralling us.
Yeah, corralling us.
She prompted us with howls and snarls, growls and yips, even though she always stood beside the circle, never entering it fully.
I was the only one who truly understood her, but I figured she communicated with the men somehow too, because they only thought I was safe with her.
At her howl, I muttered, “Austin, baby, do you have the bag?”
His nose crinkled. “I do. Not sure why I had the honor of carrying it though.”
My lips twitched. “Because you woke me up with that horror movie last night.”
He rolled his eyes. “You make one mistake.”
“That’s enough to earn a kindness.” I laughed and then held out my hand for the bag.
I’d wrapped my placenta in linen, then had placed it in a paper bag.
I wasn’t that enamored of the prospect of having to get it out, so I was hoping the Mother accepted biodegradable materials, because touching bloody goo? Even if it came out of my vajayjay?
Not my thing.
I wasn’t surprised when the men hung back, letting me step toward the totem.
As I did, I heard hundreds of whispers.
In the year we’d ruled, the pack had begun to grow, and with it, my skills.
From this place, I could hear them all, all their individual voices, sense their miseries and their joy. I could target one, commune with them, ease them, or I could work on the pack sentiment as a whole.
It was the reason why my men revered me.
Why they let me lead any walk to the totem, because I spent most nights here until they came for me.
Where, as a unit, we deepened our connection by our mingled seed that sowed the circle, making it more fertile with power.
It tied the totem to me in ways that I couldn’t describe, and that strengthened the pack, preparing us for the day when we had more than five hundred in numbers.
My lips curved at that prospect as I leaned down and placed the bag on the worn platform at its base. I didn’t want to bury it like instructed, and was hoping this would work.
When nothing happened, I pulled a face then, cupping Knight’s head, I reached down and plopped the linen covering onto the footwell instead.
Relief hit me when the magic of the totem surged into being, whipping it away like it was nothing. No burying required.
“Thank you, my child.”
The words had me swallowing. I hadn’t expected to hear from her, not when I communicated with Berry who, I knew, was my direct line to the Mother, but to hear her now?
It felt like a blessing.
But it was her next words that floored me. As a surge of magic swept around me, I felt it encompass me in what was, essentially, a hug.
“You will bear many childr
en for the mates I gifted you. And I promise you this, you have lost too many in your life, too many who owned a piece of your heart. Never, I vow to you, shall you lose another as long as you live.”
The promise had my entire being shaking.
“Thank you!” I gasped out, my arms and legs tingling as adrenaline set in. But there was no answer.
No answer she could give me that was worth more to me than the promise she’d settled on me.
My fear for Knight, for the future children I’d carry and hold in my arms, it wasn’t needed.
She would keep them safe for me.
I’d never have to lose—
My throat grew tight, and when I burst into tears, I wasn’t surprised when my men gathered around me, huddling close like we were on a football field about to start a play.
I shuddered, shared the promise with them, and I felt their bewilderment too.
We’d been honored, and I knew all four of us were just as perplexed by it.
Why we were so lucky, I’d never have the answer to, but I didn’t need it.
We made our own luck, settled our own futures in stone, and we were blessed for it.
Sabina
The next evening
“Well, that was irritating.”
I hummed under my breath. “What was?” If I wasn’t focusing all that much, I figured I could be forgiven.
I was tired. It was nearly eight PM, and before Knight, that had been early. Now, it felt as late as midnight.
Daniel had only just gone to bed after far too much homework for me to help him with. I had a baby now, and I’d only given birth a few days ago.
I needed one long nap that would last a year, and I figured I’d be set.
Sadly, whenever that nap looked like it was going to happen, Knight would start screaming for milk.
My lips twitched, though, when I thought about how wonderful it was to nurse, and I sighed with joy, even as I rolled over and saw that Eli was leaning against my bedroom door with his arm on the jamb, his features carved in a cocktail of confusion, annoyance, rage, and concern.
Oddly enough, it was the concern that had me arching a brow at him—not the anger. I was used to that now. He wasn’t as controlled as before, and when you had a pack as large as ours? Anger was always at our fingertips. “What is it?” I asked softly.
With that question, I was not only inquiring why he was angry, but also why he was hovering there like he didn’t have as much right to this bedroom as any of us.
We’d long since stopped having separate rooms. Instead, Eli’s bedroom and mine had been ripped through, and we’d carved out space for us all.
Ironically enough, the bed we shared?
A queen-size.
Nothing massive. Nothing awesome in stature. Why? Because when we slept, we all slept in a frickin’ pile.
I woke up sweaty and sticky, but fuck, I slept well.
And when it came time to join? The other two tended to watch, but mostly, we mated by the totem. Before I’d gotten too big to do anything other than waddle around, not a night passed where the circle didn’t witness kinky stuff it probably wished it didn’t need to see.
The bedroom was about the size of a house now, but we each had our own space.
Austin’s place was in front of the fire. He had a massive armchair that he watched TV on, which hung above the fireplace.
Ethan had a nook by the windows where he’d made a space for himself and his books.
Eli, unsurprisingly, had a desk in one corner with a sofa in front of it for us all to sit on.
Me? I tended to borrow theirs.
Not because I didn’t need my own space, but because their space was mine.
What they needed, I found I did too.
Some days, I wanted books. Other days, I wanted the TV and to snuggle in front of the fire on a cold night. On another? I liked to sit on the sofa and argue with Eli over pack politics before I clambered over the desk to kiss him, to make him see sense when he was stubborn.
The pack had a lot to thank me and my kisses for, that was for certain.
My lips twitched at the thought as I stared at Eli from the bed. Knight was there, kicking and cooing, and I was melting as usual, but even though Eli was commonly the first to turn to goo, he didn’t.
If anything, I could see by his eyes that he’d just gone full wolf on someone.
It hit me then that I hadn’t sensed anything amiss in the house, and I felt immediate guilt because I’d been so focused on Knight, I hadn’t really thought about—
“Stop it!”
I jolted at that, then jerked when I saw Ethan glowering at me from behind a pile of books.
“You’re a new mom, Sabina. You’re not supposed to be doing everything at once. We never asked for supermom. You’re supposed to ease into this. What did we make you promise?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Mother first, mate second, omega last.”
I repeated the vow they’d had me promise, even though it put me on edge.
Eli rolled his eyes. “That’s nothing less than what the Mother wants.”
“I know,” I whispered, but I still felt bad.
Mark Jenkins had just been badly hit with arthritis in his left knee, and it was stopping him from getting about the place as easily, which meant he was getting depressed.
Then there was Elsa, our housekeeper. She’d just lost her first pup and was so sad about it that I could feel the tears she wasn’t allowing to spill.
Especially when she was around Knight.
I sucked in a breath though, because they were right. I couldn’t do it all, and the best thing was? No one expected me to.
I’d already had a pile of the pack come in to meet Knight, and each of them had told me to take it easy.
There was no reason to feel guilty, no reason whatsoever.
Tell that to my overactive mind, though, huh?
I huffed a breath, then focused on Eli. “What is it? Why did you go full wolf?”
His lips twitched at my nickname for when he had to blast someone with alpha yumminess.
Sure, for anyone else, it made them piss their pants. Me? It just turned me to mush.
“Leon Yardley just called me,” he rasped.
“Why?”
Leon was an odd duck. He and his wife, Maribel, lived out on a farm on the edge of pack land and rarely came over to town. I tended to meet them only when they came to the circle for monthly pack meetings.
They had a small son who was a—
Well, I shouldn’t say it.
But he reminded me of Damien. From The Exorcist?
The creepy kid was nothing like Daniel, who was flourishing in our care, growing stronger and stronger with each month that passed under Eli, Ethan, and Austin’s calming guidance.
Seth was just plain strange.
“He just told me that he’d whipped Maribel and expected me to punish her in the circle.”
My mouth dropped open at that as astonishment hit me. I jerked upright, unsettling Knight, who squawked, and I closed my eyes, quickly flickering through the balls of power that represented each member of the pack. When I found her, I sensed her distress, her horror at what her husband had done, and her misery.
She was going to—
“She’s in danger,” I rasped.
“No. I scared him shitless—”
“From herself!” Quickly, I whispered to her, trying to ease her. “It’s okay, Maribel. Please, the pack loves you. We love you and need you—”
Then I felt it.
And my eyes popped open. “She’s pregnant.”
Austin and Ethan froze, but Eli just looked resigned. “I know. That’s why he whipped her. Insisted she’d cheated on him. Dumb fuck. Like mates can even do that.”
I heaved out a breath. “We only gifted the placenta last night—”
“It couldn’t have worked so fast,” Austin mumbled. “We’ve had no real time to prepare the pack!”
Eli caught my e
ye and dipped his chin. “It looks like the Mother’s work is already underway.”
My mouth tightened. “We need to see her. She’s suicidal.”
Austin rumbled, “I’ll go.”
“Bring her back here,” I demanded.
His nose wrinkled. “That Seth kid is weird.”
“I know.” I blew out a breath, then repeated, “I know. He’s troubled, and I might need help with him, but bring them both.” I rubbed my forehead where I was starting to get a migraine as I worked on talking to them while also trying to stop Maribel from doing something stupid. “Be quick.”
When he strode over to me first and kissed me, I sank into him a little, needing his strength to keep me together.
As our mouths joined, as our wolves rubbed up against each other, I found myself grateful for each of them.
More grateful than ever.
The next phase in our journey as pack leaders was just beginning.
I could only hope that the Mother hadn’t put too much faith in us.
Epilogue
Lidai
I watched as the bitch trotted into the circle, shaking her head as the shift overtook her like she’d shake off water if she were wet.
“All is well, Merinda?”
“Yes, Mother. All is well.”
“Why do you come to me, child?” This wasn’t what we’d agreed when, all those months ago, while loaded with grief and horror at what she’d done in her long life, she’d pleaded with me for a second chance, and I’d told her that second chances weren’t gifted often.
Even then, only with great sacrifice.
But she’d been a weak woman, and that was my fault. I’d tied her to a man who wasn’t worthy of her, a man who had ridden roughshod over her wants and needs. My blessing had been to give her a second mate, but even he, powerful alpha though he was, hadn’t been strong enough to overtake the first.
From my stance, always overlooking the circle, I saw the wolf hovering on the edge. Only Merinda could cross the line, and only there would she shift. But her role was not that of a shifter anymore.
She was a she-wolf.
And with her mate, they ruled a different kind of pack, one that would serve her sons while giving her a chance at a better life.
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