Furbitten Falls Alpha's: A Wolf Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle

by Preston Walker

  “Right.”

  “What did you say to your friend?” Slater asked.

  “I told her that we just bumped into each other so there wasn’t anything to worry about. I told her we were friends.”

  “So you lied?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Jarrett!” Slater groaned.

  “I know, I shouldn’t have done it but I panicked,” I said. “I didn’t know what to do and-“

  “And your first instinct was to lie? You were taught better than that!”

  “I know, I just got scared,” I said. I already felt shitty, the last thing I needed was Slater making me feel worse. “What do I do?”

  “This isn’t a question you should be asking, Jarrett, you should be coming clean right now,” Slater said firmly. “I’m not trying to be a buzz kill or anything, I’m trying to get you to keep your job.”

  “I know, I know.” But I didn’t know. Not really. I didn’t want to ruin what we had. There were so many things that could go wrong if we came clean right away. Sure, we were fated mates and we were supposed to be together but we’d done so much growing without each other I wondered if we would last. I so wanted us to but I was scared. Maybe we could keep it a secret a little longer, just a little, and then start telling people. Would that be so bad? It would give us a chance to make sure we’re right for each other.

  “First thing tomorrow, okay Jarrett?” Slater said. “You need to do this, I’m just looking out for you.”

  “I know, thanks guys, I’ll speak to you soon.”

  I hung up on them and drove home, immediately heading to the phone when I got inside and calling Brent.

  “Hello, you,” Brent said. I could hear him smiling; I loved that I could hear him smiling down the phone. “I’m glad you called.”

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s weird not having you here tonight after three nights in a row,” he said. “I think Emery misses you too.”

  “I miss her too.”

  “Did everything go alright at school today?” he said a little quieter. “She didn’t blab or anything because I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

  “No, not at all, she was good as gold,” I said. “Is she still up?” I asked.

  “Yeah, do you want me to put you on speaker?”

  “Sure!” I heard a click, the sound coming through the phone changing ever so slightly as it took in the whole room. “Hello?”

  “Dad!” Emery shouted. My heart leapt.

  “Well done for today princess,” I said. “I’m very proud of you for not saying anything.”

  “No problem!”

  “Can you keep that up for Dad and Papa?” I said, the words sounding strange in my mouth, but in a good way.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Okay,” Brent said. “Say goodnight to your Dad and head on up to brush your teeth.”

  “Okay, night Dad, love you.”

  “Love you too pumpkin.”

  I heard Brent take the phone off speaker as Emery’s footsteps retreated.

  “She really cares about you, Jarrett,” he said. “This is the happiest I’ve seen her for a while.”

  “Well, I’m happy to be part of it.”

  “I’m happy too,” he said. “Just so you know.”

  “Me too,” I said. “I’ll see you soon. Tomorrow maybe?”

  “Tomorrow works,” Brent said. “Miss you until then.”

  “Miss you until then.”

  14

  Brent

  We spent the next month together almost solidly. As we discussed, Jarrett stayed around here rather than me and Emery going over to his and I was pretty sure she loved having him around. He really doted on her which I sort of wished he wouldn’t do, but he’d missed out on eight years with her, I could hardly tell him no.

  The weekdays I spent doing my freelance work as normal but the evenings we would cook together and I’d help Emery with her homework while Jarrett cleared up and he’d desperately try not to give hints but could almost never help it. He’d sometimes put her to bed, which I think she liked because he was always better at the voices in bedtime stories than I was. Sometimes we did it together, and I think she liked that the most. I think I liked that the most for certain because it made me feel like we were a proper family.

  On the weekends we would have family days out, visiting parks or heading out of town, really getting to know one another. And when I had a freelance project due, Jarrett stepped in to look after Emery for the day to give me the time to hide away in the study to do it. He’d take her out for the day all by himself and she’d come back full of stories of all the places they’d been and the free donuts they’d consumed at Frostbites. He even brought his schoolwork over here to do, really moving a lot of his stuff into the house. He had a draw in my bedroom, a shelf in the bathroom cabinet; he was part of the house now. I struggled to imagine a night without him.

  Sleeping with Jarrett was still my favorite thing. We’d discovered new ways to have sex too, with standing up in the shower being my favorite, and by far the most adventurous. It was blissful. I wanted it to last forever, but there was a huge part of me that knew that it couldn’t, a part of me that still doubted that Jarrett truly wanted me, no matter how many nights we spend together, no matter how many times he told me, no matter how many times he well and truly fucked my brains out and then cuddled me to sleep.

  And it started a month or so after we first reconnected with each other.

  I kissed Jarrett goodbye on my doorstep one morning and I could have sworn I saw that same woman who bumped into us in bakery driving past our house. I hardly got a glimpse of her in the car and, if I’m perfectly honest, I couldn’t really tell you what she looked like because it was about a month ago. But she was driving slowly, so I was feeling suddenly nervous.

  I got Emery ready for school and walked her to the bus stop, unable to shake that nervous feeling from my stomach as I said my goodbyes and waved her off to school. Everything had been going so well for so long, it would just be the worst timing if all of this was about to go south.

  Trying to take my mind off it, I started to run my errands, quickly tidying up the house and then hopping in the car to head to the grocery store. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong; I couldn’t get it out of my head. I felt sick. Maybe I was just hungry. That had to be it.

  I start shopping, trying to take my mind off of it by focusing on that. I needed the distraction. I was waiting for edits on the most recent freeLucas book so I didn’t have freelance work to do right now so my brain was obviously just trying to make a big drama out of nothing. That had to be it.

  “Mr. Bridges?”

  I was in the frozen food aisle when someone said my name. I couldn’t place it. It wasn’t a voice I recognized. I looked about myself.

  “Mr. Bridges,” the voice said again, and this time I found the blonde woman who had been in Frostbites last month, who I was so certain had driven past our house this morning. Oh fuck. “Fancy bumping into you here.”

  “Fancy that indeed,” I said. “We just can’t seem to keep away from each other.” I had no idea what to say to her, I was babbling. I was nervous and babbling and totally unable to keep it together. She must have known, no wonder she was coming in for the pounce.

  “I’m not going to beat around the bush here because I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” she said quietly, stepping a little closer to me. “So what I need you to do is listen up and listen good.”

  “Okay.”

  “I know about you and Mr. Ewen, Jarrett, whatever it is you want to call him,” she said. “Maybe you have a pet name for him, that would be very cute.”

  “I don’t know what you’re-“

  “He may have been able to pull the wool over Principal Mabbott’s eyes but you haven’t got a hope in hell of doing that with me,” she growled. “I thought something was happening when I saw you in Frostbites but I couldn’t prove it. Now I am certain.”

 
; “And…” I stammered. “And what are you going to do?”

  She smiled. “I don’t need to do anything, not really, the school will know soon and that will be that” she said. “I’m going to offer you a friendly piece of advice though.”

  I tried to look defiant, I don’t imagine I pulled it off. “And what might that be?”

  “I would be a little more careful where you place your heart in future, Mr. Bridges,” she said. “I overheard Jarrett talking to Ms. Hartzell not too long ago. I know they’re close friends, I’m sure you do too. I heard him saying that you were just friends.” She shrugged. “Like I said, be a little more careful where you place your heart.”

  It was like a knife in my gut, and the fact that she was shrugging it off, that she was smiling like she was doing me some kind of favor, only succeeded in making me feel all the worse. I leapt to my own defense.

  “Well, he says friend, I say fuck buddy, you know how these things are,” I said. “You’ve got to blow off steam every now and again and that’s all we were doing, blowing off steam, so don’t even worry about it.”

  “Oh,” she blinked. “Well if that’s the case then perhaps we’re worrying about nothing after all!” She laughed. “Everybody needs to blow off steam, you’re certainly right there, Mr. Bridges.”

  We laughed for a little, the two of us sharing a joke in the fucking frozen food aisle while my heart shattered into a million pieces.

  “Well, I’d better be going,” I said. “I’ve got a lot to be getting on with.”

  She grinned. “I’m sure. You have a good day now!”

  I didn’t know whether or not she bought the fuck buddy line. I didn’t know if that would save Jarrett’s job. But I did know that I needed to get out of here and I needed to get out of here fast.

  I left my cart where it was and walked out of the store, driving straight home to curl up in bed and stare at the ceiling. I still felt sick, I still felt hungry, but more than anything else I felt numb.

  Perhaps none of this was a good idea at all. Had I just exposed Emery to this only to have it taken away from her? Why would he do something like that to his only daughter? It didn’t seem right and yet he’d described me as just a friend. If he wanted me as just a friend then he shouldn’t be staying over, and he shouldn’t be filling my head with all of these ideas of forever. I wasn’t about to be played like this.

  And yet I so wanted him to want me. Perhaps I was never quite good enough for him. Perhaps eight years ago I was just a quick fuck despite us being fated and we were never meant to be. I didn’t want to think it, but there it was, clear as day in my head. I was unwanted and alone with Emery once again.

  I took a deep breath. We’d survived without him for eight years, we could carry on. I sighed. I just wished I didn’t have to.

  15

  Jarrett

  I was out on the playground at recess when I saw a commotion on the far side of the playground. I’d not seen a scuffle for a little while and immediately my thoughts went to Emery. It was instinct. She was my daughter but that didn’t stop the teacher part of me that remembered what a handful she could be.

  I ran full pelt across the playground, shouting for them to break it up, but they didn’t. Instead I saw Emery, her body shifting and changing before my eyes to her wolf form, fur across all her arms, snout lengthened, claws out. The other kids screamed and ran, even the kid she was facing.

  She was about to give chase when I grabbed hold of her wrist and stopped her. When she looked up at me, I saw her eyes all watery and sad looking. She shifted back to her human form, breathing heavily, completely worn out by the whole ordeal.

  “Dad, I-“

  “You don’t call me Dad here,” I growled.

  “Mr. Ewen, sir, please, I-“

  “We’ll talk about it inside,” I said, letting go of her arm and walking back towards my classroom. She followed me, having to take two strides for every one I made. I couldn’t believe she had done that. Everything had been so good or the last month, all that time we spent together outside of school had made her so mellow when she was here, I just didn’t understand why she would go off at someone like she did, why she would shift when Brent and I had told her not to.

  We walked into my classroom and I immediately went over to my desk, sitting in the chair and leaving her to stand. She looked frightened, the smallest I’d ever seen her, and there was a part of me that just wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, but I couldn’t do that. This was a teachable moment and I had to make it so.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  “It’s not what you think, Dad-“

  “Mr. Ewen.” I barked.

  “Mr. Ewen, it’s not what you think, it’s not that at all, I was trying to get him to shut up. Curtis was bullying me again, teasing me like he always does.”

  I’d spoken to Brent about Curtis, and I’d made sure to keep an eye on him over the last month or so and nothing had happened. I wasn’t calling Emery a liar, but maybe with her being a little more docile he wasn’t trying to dominate her so much.

  “What did he say?”

  She started shuffling her feet on the spot, suddenly more nervous, somehow even more unsure than she was a few moments ago.

  “Emery, tell me what he said to you.”

  “He was teasing me about how you were my Dad,” she mumbled. “He was pushing me and pulling my hair and wondering when my Dad was going to come and rescue me.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  “No!” She looked incredulous. “I promise you and Papa I wouldn’t so I didn’t.”

  “You’re absolutely sure?”

  “A billion per cent sure, Mr. Ewen, you told me not to and I didn’t.”

  My blood ran cold. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen, how on earth did he find out? It couldn’t be true, this was all about to come crashing down on me and it was all my fault for keeping it a secret in the first place. How could I have been so fucking stupid?

  There was a single hard knock on my door before it was quickly opened by Principal Sharon Mabbott. Her face was thunderous, her eyes piercing, her breath short. I was in trouble.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize you had a student in here, Mr. Ewen,” she said, eyeing Emery in a way that made me want to scream, looking down on her. “When you’re finished would you mind swinging by my office?” She smiled a cold sort of smile. “I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

  Principal Mabbott left and Emery looked over at me, a worried expression crossing her face. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out what it was I could say that would make this better, that would stop her from freaking out.

  “Don’t worry about me, Emery,” I said, trying to sound some shade of soothing when all I really felt was frustrated and a little scared. I didn’t want this to be in her head for the rest of the day, I didn’t want her to be worried about me. Kids weren’t supposed to be worried about their parents. “I’ll go speak to her, you go and carry on with recess. Avoid Curtis if you can, alright?”

  She nodded and headed outside. I watched her go. I couldn’t help but watch her go, so small, so vulnerable, my little girl. I didn’t want to lose her but every fiber of my being told me that the second I walked into Principal Mabbott’s office, that’s what would happen. I took a deep breath and started out of my classroom, taking what felt like an incredibly long walk to the Principal’s office.

  I knocked.

  “Come in,” she chirped.

  I walked inside, keeping my head bowed a little low, wanting to seem like I was already a little bit sorry before she even told me what I was sorry for. “You wanted to see me, Principal Mabbott?” I said, keeping my voice quiet.

  “Yes, take a seat, Jarrett,” she said sharply, gesturing to the seat opposite her.

  I did as I was told, taking the seat and staring her in the face, trying to relax, trying to stop my heart from pounding at a million miles a minute. Her chair was higher than min
e, no doubt some kind of power play to make me feel small. She absolutely towered over me and I hated it, her eyes fixing me with that withering stare of hers.

  “I need answer from you, Mr. Ewen, and I need to quickly,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “There have been rumors circulating for a little while about your relationship with Brent Bridges, father of Emery Bridges the child you were speaking to just a few moments ago.”

  I cursed myself. She literally could have walked into my classroom at any point during the day and she decided to do it then? That definitely looked bad. Fuck fuck FUCK.

  “I thought you would have understood the severity of the situation that you are in but apparently you hadn’t read your contract or really taken any notice of the rules of employment we have at this school,” she said sharply. “I need answers from you now, and if those answers aren’t satisfactory I will fire you, immediately, do you understand me?”

  I nodded. “I do, ma’am.” But I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea where to start. Did I just blurt the whole thing out without even knowing what exactly it was that she knew? That could be suicide. I needed to play this carefully but the only thing i could think of doing was not speaking at all which was was riling her up.

  “Okay, if you’re not going to speak, then I will start this off.” She leant forward in her chair, propping her elbows up on the desk. “I have heard word from a teacher at this school that you are in a serious relationship with Brent Bridges. That you have been spending time with him outside of school, that you have been spending nights at his house, I dread to think what else you have been doing.” I swallowed hard. I was nailed. I couldn’t deny it. “And do you want to know where I heard this juicy nugget of gossip from, Jarrett?”

  “Go on.”

  “This came from Brent himself,” she said, sitting back in her chair, knowing that she had me cornered, that there was no way I could even begin to deny the allegation. “What do you have to say for yourself?”