Forbidden by Fate

Emersyn's POV

For a moment, I had felt bad for the array of torment that I planned to rain down on Liam, but as his smart-ass mouth kept talking, the feeling lessened. I don’t know what compelled me to consider the option, but I realized that while I could not deny our union, Liam could. If I showed him just what kind of girl he would be marrying, he may decide to actually search for his fated mate. It wasn’t a fail proof plan, but it was a plan, and I was more determined than most to make it happen.

I knew just the place to start. The small stone cottage held the adorable little terrors of our pack, and though I loved spending time with them, I knew Maverick loathed it. He was convinced that the pups were the very picture of evil in a precious child’s body. It always made me laugh to watch him try to outmaneuver their playful antics to tease him. Yes, it felt like the perfect place to start my day with the unsuspecting Alpha heir.

As we approached the gray cobblestoned fence, I could hear their infectious laughter from within the walls of the cottage. I could instantly feel the tension of my frustrations easing as we opened the creaking door pulling their attention to their unexpected guests.

I immediately heard their shrieks of joy as they realized that it was me. Alayah, our current beta’s granddaughter, was the first to wrap her tiny arms around my waist as she purred, “You came to see us, and you brought a friend!”

I couldn’t help but to smile back at her as I leaned down patting her beautiful blonde hair gently, “Of course I came to see my favorite pups! I had to show my friend, Liam, how fun you all are!”

I winked at Liam as I whispered under my breath, “Welcome to our own little madhouse!”

Liam doesn’t miss a beat as he smiles back slyly, “Game, set, match. Watch this.”

He doesn’t hesitate as he walks to the front of the room and whispers in Aurora’s, the teacher, ear. She looks at me with a surprised look as she nods in reply to his question. I have no idea what he is doing, but I find myself intrigued.

He raises his hand high in the air and whistles loudly, getting the excited student’s attention. “So, I heard that you pups like to hear stories, is that right?”

The pups erupted in cheerful glee, shaking their tiny heads in excitement. Liam smiled as he continued, “Well, that’s great because I have the perfect story to tell you. Why don’t we all come sit in a circle, and I will tell you a story that I am sure you have never heard before!”

The pups looked to Aurora for permission as she nods her head and replies, “A new story, how exciting! Let’s get in our listening circle, quickly and quietly.”

The children do as they are told with a few students, lulling behind and having to be rallied to the circle, before Liam takes his place in the center. He towers over their tiny frames, but somehow he looks like a natural in his own element.

He grins broadly as he begins, “There was once a boy, not much older than some of you, that loved any kind of creepy crawly bug, snakes, and even lizards.”

The boys in the group smiled widely as they leaned forward hanging on his every word, while the girls snarled their faces in disgust. I smiled, wondering where the story was going to lead. Liam continued, “But he had a secret that he could tell no one. He could talk to the creatures that he loved so much!”

The student’s all gasped as he continued, “So one day he was simply minding his own business as he walked by a tiny little pond when he heard the faintest sound from the brush. He tiptoed to the edge of the water, searching for the whimpering creature he had heard only moments before and he found a mother and father worm both desperately trying to figure out where to raise their innocent little babies.”

I roll my eyes, instantly realizing where this story is going now, but still quite impressed despite myself. Liam winks at me as he continues, “So the boy could not just allow these heartbroken parents to raise their little ones in filth, and he devised a plan. There was the perfect home just waiting for them in a room in the house. All he had to do was move them into the house and all their problems would be fixed!”

The pups are hanging on his every word as he leans down and says with a feigned sadness, “But there was only one problem.”

The class whispers back, “What?”

“The perfect house for the worms and their family was owned by an evil little girl who despised the worms! So the boy decided that he must do what had to be done, and he moved those worms into the girl’s room. She huffed, and she puffed, but even the girl could not deny that the worms needed the home more than she did, and that day the girl’s heart grew three sizes! Because she asked her father to move it to the pond, so that the innocent family worms could always have a safe place to live. And that is how the dollhouse by the pond got there!”

The pup’s erupted in questions but Liam simply raised his hand smiling as he said, “Raise your hands, one at a time, and I will answer your questions.”

Tiny hands shot up around the room as Liam chose a little girl with bouncing pigtails and ribbons tied in her hair. She smiled with a toothless grin as she asked, “How do you know this story?”

Liam grins as he leans down putting his finger to his lips as he mocks a shushing signal and whispers, “Because I am a storykeeper.”

Another hand shot up instantly, “What is a storykeeper?”

Liam grins as he replies back, “We are the one’s that keep the history of our packs alive by keeping the stories right here.”

He gently pats his chest above his heart, smiling at the students. “You should always keep your stories there because one day you will be telling your pups how the dollhouse made it’s way to the pond.”

Aurora looks at me from the corner of her eye as she whispers, “I think you may have hit the lottery with him.”

I smile back at her, but inside I groan because though I thought this was going to go one way it completely went another. I reply simply, “It does seem that way, doesn’t it?”

We stayed for a bit longer as he continued to play with the pups, before we made our way to the door with the reluctant students pleading with us to stay. I was about to tell them that I would come visit them next week, when Liam spoke up and promised them to visit before he left. I couldn’t help but to adore him in that moment.

I had literally threw him to the wolves, and he had only come back stronger. I laughed as the door closed tightly behind us. “You didn’t have to come back before you leave. I visit them weekly, I could have covered for you.”

Liam smiles with a genuine kindness in his tone, “I know, but those pups are the future of our packs and that means they deserve my time. That is why I visit our pups weekly as well. I told you, I am full of surprises.”

I laugh as I answer honestly, “Yes, you are. So, how do you feel about horses?”

“You have horses? We are wolves.” He says confused, as I grin back at me.

“While that is true, there is something fascinating about them. I love to ride, we could go see them if you want?”

“Lead the way,” he says with a perfect grin. “I have never actually rode one.”

“Well, we can remedy that,” I say smiling knowing that this may actually go my way.

As we head towards the stables, I hear Maverick’s booming laughter from behind us as he runs to catch up to us. He is in his sweats, and it is obvious that he has been training this morning. He smiles at the both of us before asking, “Have you seen, Callum?”

I hesitate not wanting to lie to my brother, but thankfully Liam replies, “No, your sister has been showing me the grounds. We just spent the last few hours entertaining pups.”

Maverick eyes light with amusement as he answers, “Emersyn, are you trying to torment the poor guy?”

Yes. Yes I am, I think to myself. But instead I laugh and say, “Maverick apparently not everyone loathes spending times with our little treasures!”

He laughs as he smacks Liam’s shoulder. “Well played.”

Liam grins as I walk ahead towards the stables allowing them to talk for a moment while I get the horses ready. I hear them before I even see them. My gut turns in knots as I turn the corner of the stable door knowing that I am about to find something that is sure to break my heart. I am not wrong.

Callie has him pushed against a post as she runs her hands down his body, seductively kissing a trail down his chest as she makes her way towards his zipper. I want to scream. I want to rip her perfectly placed head from her shoulders, but something inside me snaps me back to reality. My wolf is going irate with anger.

He wanted me to see him, and in that moment I realized that Callum Murphy was a coward.