by Leia Stone
Kai turned to me. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re not very good at taking orders.”
I backed him into his chair and straddled him. “Yes, every man that has ever tried to order me around has told me that.” I leaned in tentatively and kissed him. I really loved kissing him. He never went too far and I felt in control. I felt safe with him.
“Do you want to know the secret to getting me to follow orders?” I pulled at his bottom lip.
He groaned. “Yes.”
“Stop giving them.” I lifted myself off of him and walked to the door giving a flirty look over my shoulder before leaving.
His eyes were yellow but there was a smile on his face.
***
I knocked lightly on Anna’s door. It was my door really, but it was her room for the time being. I wasn’t exactly complaining about sharing a room with Kai.
“Come in,” a bright voice answered on the other side.
I opened the door and tried to mask my shock. Her face had filled in and she looked like she gained at least fifteen pounds. She looked healthy. Her cheeks were rosy and her hair was already a couple of inches long. She had a cute red clip pulling some hair away from her face. She looked beautiful. Jake sat at her bedside and they were both leaning over a photo album and smiling.
Jake looked up when he saw me. “Hi, Aurora. She is taking things pretty well, considering. I’ll give you two a moment to talk.”
After Jake left the room I sat down and nervously picked at my jeans. I didn’t have a formal plan of what I wanted to say to her, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Let her know that I knew how she felt. She started the conversation for me.
“Jake tells me you were hit by a car. That Kai, who is our Alpha, changed you and then you found out you were mates. How romantic.” She smiled.
“Romantic is one word for it. Scary, intimidating, horrifying, shocking AND romantic is more like it.” I smiled and we both shared a laugh.
“Jake tells me that we’re mates, too. I’m not sure what that really means but I think he’s a good guy and he is pretty hot, too,” she offered with a smile.
I wanted to set her mind at ease. “Well, you haven’t done your first shift yet, so once you fully let your wolf out, you will feel what it’s like to find your mate. It’s pretty incredible and I’m sure if you ask Jake to take it slow, he will.”
“I just escaped death. The last thing I want to do is take things slow. I’m ready to live my life.” She reached out, grabbed my hand and squeezed. A tear rolled down her cheek. “Thank you for finding me and for letting Kai change me. I was in so much pain, so defeated. I wanted to fight for my life but the doctors kept telling me to give up. I feel so strong now. I have so much hope for the future.”
My throat swelled up and I was overcome with sudden emotion. I never attributed my Matefinding gift as a good thing but maybe it was. In this case it was. I thought of Sadie and how happy she must be to have moved on to another pack and settled with her mate. I made up my mind to be a Matefinder, to fully embrace this gift no matter what. Bringing soul mates together and starting families is something I could do for the rest of my life with no regrets.
“You’re welcome.” I returned the squeeze to her hand.
That afternoon, Anna ran with the pack for the first time. You could see the instant bond her wolf had with Jake’s wolf. They nuzzled and nipped and ran around like total love crazy goofballs. Because Anna was a changed wolf, she was told she would have a special power when she shifted. She hadn’t discovered her power yet. Kai said it might take a few shifts or a certain situation to bring it about.
Right before the run, Anna’s place in the pack was tested. She was fifth from the top; a very dominant female. Kai was pleased because she was a good replacement for Sadie. Kai was worried that someone might come to claim her but no one from her home state of Montana had even tried.
I was becoming more aware of the pack bonds when I was in wolf form. Kai told me that as his second and eventually when we were mated, I would have access to power through the pack bonds. I began to open myself to each member and the energy that they brought to the pack. I sifted through the bonds and felt for Emma. She was such a sweet and naïve energy. She served the pack well with her submissive peaceful energy. I felt for Akash. He was such a young and bubbly spirit. I sensed future dominance in him. He may become an Alpha of his own one day. I silently sifted through the pack members, getting to know each of their energy signatures.
That night we had a huge bonfire in the backyard. Emma, Anna, and I sat together and talked while Kai handed out food. He was an amazing cook. His Indian heritage showed in his food. He made me a chickpea masala burger that left me drooling for a second helping.
“I have something to discuss,” Kai shouted over everyone. The pack quieted.
“Aurora has chosen to stay in contact with her family and friends.”
There was a murmur amongst the wolves. I felt my cheeks redden. “And I support it,” he shouted, and everyone quieted again.
“Tomorrow, Aurora’s mother will be visiting her under the pretense that Aurora has come to live with me as her boyfriend. To explain the presence of all of you, Aurora has told her mother I run an alcoholic rehabilitation facility.”
The collective laughing was hard to ignore. Max stopped chugging his beer mid swallow.
“Also, Aurora is the owner of a non-profit company called Safe Haven. It’s a domestic violence shelter for women and children. They teach self-defense classes as well.”
The pack was now looking at me with respect. Some of the more submissive members tilted their heads to me.
“Her main office is in Portland which will now be staffed by humans so we don’t start a territory war. We will purchase a second location in Gresham on the border of our territory. From now on, I ask that the pack members volunteer at the Gresham location on a rotation schedule. This is important to Aurora and to me.”
The pack raised their glasses. “Cheers!” called Devon.
I stared across the lawn at Kai. He met my eyes. The walls deep inside of me, that I had built to keep me safe, crumbled. In that moment, the look he gave me, I could see my future with him. I could see what it truly meant to find your mate. He would never hurt me, more than that, he would protect me, support me. I had spent so many years learning to protect myself, teaching others to protect themselves. I didn’t realize that I had been searching for someone to protect me, to make me feel safe.
We held our gaze with each other. I slowly crossed the yard towards him as his lips curled into a smile. He licked his lips to wet them and I took stock of his tall muscular physique. His teeth were perfectly straight and bright white; his canines were just a little larger than a human. The dark brown stubble looked so sexy on his medium brown skin. I reached him and he lifted me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him in for a kiss. We could hear whistling from the pack as we spun around kissing. I laughed as he sat me down.
“Meri Pyari.” He pulled my long blonde hair away from my face.
“What does it mean?” I queried.
“If I told you, then I would have no secrets.” He gave a devilish smile.
Anna and Jake approached us. “Aurora, I’m going to move in with Jake now, so you can have your room back.” She paused looking at Kai and I wrapped in each other’s arms. “If you want.” She smiled and they left holding hands.
After the bonfire, Kai and I were cleaning up. “So, I told my parents about you too,” he said with a hint of nervousness to his voice.
I dropped the plate I was scrubbing in the sink. It landed it a loud thunk but didn’t shatter.
“Your parents are alive?!” I asked in shock. “Oh my God, I feel so selfish. I haven’t asked you anything about your family. I figured they were long gone. Are they werewolves? What did you tell them about me? Where do they live?”
He laughed. “Slow down. It’s okay. My mother, father, sister and I were all changed in a
werewolf attack in Delhi.” He paused thinking. “My sister didn’t survive the change.” A look of sadness crossed his face and it was gone. “My mother and father turned out to be mates. They have since given birth to my twelve siblings including Akash. They still live in India and I told them you were my mate.” He smiled.
My mouth dropped open. “You have twelve brothers and sisters?”
He smiled. “Eleven rowdy brothers split between six packs and one sister. She is the princess of the family and is still a member of my father’s pack in Delhi. He’s the Alpha of the New Delhi pack.”
“Whoa.” I let that information sink in. “Isn’t the population of New Delhi like ten million people?”
Kai took a deep breath. “Yes, and my father’s pack is about three hundred strong.”
“Three hundred wolves in one pack? It must be hard to be an Alpha of a pack that large.” I pondered.
A look crossed Kai’s face as if he contemplated telling me something. “Fights break out daily and my father spends his time keeping the peace. There are constant battles for territory as my father’s pack grows and they fight other packs to open their land. My father is a traditional wolf and a traditional Indian. My sister won’t leave the pack until she is mated, and even then my father will fight to have her mate transferred so he can keep an eye on her.”
I nodded. “So you left then? Transferred packs?”
Kai ran a hand through his hair. “You’re a dominant wolf, you know that feeling you get when someone tries to hold you down or order you around and you just want to jump out of your skin?”
“Like earlier in your office when you told me I couldn’t see Sylvia anymore?” I reminded him.
He laughed. “Yeah, like that. Well, I battled with more dominate wolves in my father’s pack daily. As I grew older, my dominance grew stronger. Brother wolf didn’t like being told what to do. I eventually fought my way to becoming my father’s second. That wasn’t high enough for brother wolf. We wanted to be Alpha. I knew I could be Alpha. My mother could sense my feelings and asked me to leave before it sparked a challenge fight with my father. I agreed. I transferred to a pack in Australia for a while and then to a pack with Shamus and eventually took over Mount Hood. I didn’t want a huge pack that couldn’t be controlled. I wanted to do things differently.”
“That must have been hard leaving your family like that.” I finished the dishes and came to sit on his lap.
“I’m more at peace with the decision than my father is. I think he struggles between his human side wanting me to have my own pack, and his wolf wanting to challenge me to prove he could have won a fight. He wants to prove I would always be his second in command and never above him. Eventually, Akash transferred here and my mother visits twice a year. So I guess it has worked out.”
He rubbed small circles in my back.
“When is the last time you saw your father?” My heart hurt for Kai. I could see that a part of him was just a boy who wanted his father, but another stronger part of him was a werewolf that needed to make his own place in the world.
“I see him once a year at the annual Alpha conference. Every year most of the Alphas and their second in commands meet for a conference to discuss pack issues and make laws. My father is on the council. It’s pretty intense and I’m glad every year when it is over.”
I jumped up from his lap. “So you are telling me that every year you put a bunch of dominant Alphas in one room and expect them to sit around politically and talk about issues?”
He laughed as he picked me up and walked me down the hallway. “For the most part, only a few fights break out. There are rules to keep things from getting out of control.”
He stopped at his bedroom door. “So, are you continuing to stay in my room?”
The fact that he asked and gave me the choice brought a smile to my lips. “Of course, as long as you behave,” I reminded him playfully.
“I make no promises.” His eyes roamed up and down my body.
Mother
In the morning, Kai and I ate breakfast hunched over his laptop looking at commercial properties in Gresham for Safe Haven. When he entered a price point of 1.5-2 million dollars my eyes bugged out of my head. “Kai, you can’t.”
He glared at me playfully. “I’m an Alpha. I can do whatever I want.”
We called a realtor on three of our favorite properties, and a few pack members went to take video of them. Kai and I reclined on the sofa. He was playing with my hair when I started thinking about Sylvia. She was a high priestess witch and I was related to her coven. My biological mother was a Matefinder wolf but I was born a human witch mix. How did that make sense? I relayed this question to Kai.
His face looked concerned. “I wondered the same but figured we shouldn’t prod into something we might not like the answer to.”
I chewed on that. “No, I want the answer. I always want the answers.”
He sat up and took a deep breath. “Well then we can ask Sylvia later today when she comes for the barbeque. I’m sure she has a spell for everything.”
I jumped up and began taking off my shirt. Kai grinned. “Now that’s my kind of morning surprise.”
I shook my finger at him. “Turn around! I want to go for a run.”
Kai let his eyes rest on my pink lace bra, and then lowered his eyes and undressed himself. We shifted incredibly fast and leapt out an open window in the living room.
We ran through the forest all the way to the edge of the mountain and back. I loved running with Kai. We were both fast, really fast, and running next to him made me feel free. After getting home, I took a shower and then we got the backyard ready for the barbeque. A light sprinkle of rain fell as we set the tables and it created a foggy mist.
I sighed. “I love this mountain.”
Kai smiled. “Now you see why werewolves can be territorial.”
I laughed. I was excited to see my mom but even more excited for her to bring me all of my stuff. I had called and explained the entire ordeal (or at least the moving in with the boyfriend version) to Lexi, my roommate, and apologized profusely for having to move out. I told her that I would pay her rent until she could find a new roommate.
A few minutes later, Sylvia drove up the driveway. I had also called her and explained the alcoholic treatment center cover up and she was happy to play along as a therapist or patient.
I greeted Sylvia and asked her if she wouldn’t mind staying after so we could talk, that I had questions for her. She agreed. While Sylvia and Emma were chatting, I saw the huge moving truck pull up with my mom at the wheel.
Kai grabbed my hand and we walked out to greet my mom. She parked and jumped down from the truck and rubbed her hands on her pants. Now that I knew she wasn’t my biological mother I could see that we looked nothing alike. She had dark brown hair to my light blonde. She was shorter and I was tall. I didn’t care. She was my mother. I chose her as my mother now, even knowing she didn’t give birth to me. She was the one who held me when I was sick or pushed me to follow my dreams of opening Safe Haven. We had been through so much together, the death of my twin brother, the abuse of my father, and so much more.
Oh my god. My father wasn’t my real father. I had always hoped as a child, when the abuse started, that my mother would one day tell me that he wasn’t my real father. My mother and I had crawled through a disaster and made it out alive together, because we had each other.
“Mom!” I ran to her and hugged her.
She smiled and grabbed me in a tight hug.
I stepped back. “This is Kai.”
Kai shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ma’am.”
My mom looked at me. “Ma’am? Do I look that old?” We shared a laugh and Kai looked nervous.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Kai. You have a beautiful home. You can call me Beth,” my mom told him, looking at the large modern house that stood before us.
Kai smiled. “Thank you.”
“So you live on
the grounds of the rehab center?” She mused.
Kai cleared his throat. “Yes Ma’am, umm Beth. I own over twenty homes on the mountain that have been converted to sober homes for the patients that come to stay at the facility.”
My mom smiled genuinely. “You and Aurora are one and the same, always trying to help others. You’re a good boy.” She patted his shoulder and shared a look with me.
She liked him. I laughed to myself at the fact that she was treating the Alpha of the Mount Hood wolves like a little boy.
We walked towards the backyard and introduced my mother to the pack. We made sure to tell everyone not to bring beer to the event and blow the cover of an alcoholic rehab center. My mom talked with everyone thinking they were struggling alcoholics. It was pretty comical to watch.
When we got to where Sylvia was sitting with Emma, I could see her looking at my mother with pinched eyebrows. I could see alarm register on her face. She masked the expression and shook my mother’s hand. “I’m Dr. Sylvia, the resident psychologist.” Sylvia held my mother’s hand longer than appropriate. My mom pulled her hand away looking confused. “Have we met before?”
Sylvia looked at me as she answered. “Not that I remember.”
Okay, something weird was going on and I would have to ask Sylvia about it later. As we ate and Kai and my mom got to know each other, the pack unloaded the moving truck and I “officially” moved in with Kai. My mom asked Kai one-hundred questions about India and he seemed to enjoy talking to her and teaching her things.
After a few hours, Kai and everyone said goodbye to my mom. I walked her to the truck and pulled out a wad of money I had borrowed from Kai.
“Here ya go, mom, to cover the cost of gas and the moving truck.” She took the money but after seeing how much it was her eyes widened.
“Aurora, this would cover ten moving trucks. It’s too much.” She made a move to give it back to me. I wanted better for her. I tried to help her when I could but owning a nonprofit didn’t exactly make me rich. Now that I was staying with Kai, I could afford to help her. I closed my hand around hers. “I want to help you more, mom. Let me.” I held her gaze. She looked behind me at Kai’s large house. It must cost at least half a million dollars, not to mention his other properties on the mountain.