Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

“Tired. I’m so f*****g….”

“Wake up!” Eros demanded. “Your paper is due in twenty minutes!”

I blearily opened my eyes, my screen coming into blurry focus in front of me from where I laid on my stomach next to Quinn. I was working against a midnight deadline, and my body was revolting against me for not letting it rest. I looked over to see Quinn reading a textbook with a stressed look on her face. When she noticed me waking up, she gave me a tight smile. It wasn’t only me that working down to the absolute last minute affected; it freaked her out almost as if she was going to miss a deadline herself. I tended to procrastinate anything I didn’t want to do, and it didn’t help that most of my time was taken up by work or trying to spend any moment I could with my now-pregnant mate.

I wanted to experience all of it with her and be there when she needed me. It was more difficult than I wanted it to be with my schedule and school fighting for my time too. On top of all of that, school was on my last nerve. As I got to know my professors and listened to them talk, I was increasingly positive that they’d fail immediately if I handed them one million dollars in a suitcase to open a business. Now that we owned and operated a successful business, it was easy to tell which professors only knew business from a book and which ones practiced for real with their own successful enterprises. Along with school’s demands on my time, I was starting to wonder if it was worth the time and money we were spending for me to attend. I didn’t know how to talk about it with Quinn, so I forced myself to finish the paper the best I could.

Five minutes past midnight, I closed my laptop and gently put it on the floor next to my side of the bed so I wouldn’t lay on it at night.

“Get it turned in?” she asked. She’d learned that asking me as I was trying to get work done just stressed me out more, so she waited until it was done.

“Yea, baby. I’m sorry I took so long,” I apologized. I could barely talk without yawning, and her scent drew me toward her. I needed sleep, but I also needed a Quinn pillow. She opened her arms, and I crawled across the bed to fall into them heavily. The last thing I remembered was her whispering she loved me as she mindlessly played with my hair, and I drifted into a deep but hardly restful sleep.

–

I opened my eyes in much of the same way I had a few hours before. Quinn was out of bed, and her absence woke me up. I peered across the room towards our bathroom, where I caught blue hair peeking out from over the toilet. She was having her normal morning sickness again. I drug myself out of bed even though it felt like I was walking through molasses, and I joined my small, sick mate in the bathroom, dropping to my knees and holding her hair back to keep her from throwing up on it.

“Thank you,” she g*****d as she finished retching into the toilet.

“You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart. It’s what I’m here for,” I told her, placing a soft k**s on her clammy forehead. “Why don’t you brush your teeth and then get in the shower with me?” I asked, thinking it would help settle her and make her feel better.

“Mmmm,” she purred from beneath me, that sound coming from a desire I didn’t know how she could house in the same body as her morning sickness.

“I should probably get toast or something in you before we try anything like that, love,” I tried gently. I didn’t want to upset her stomach more.

“I know something you can put in me,” she answered quickly, her eyes filled with desire. Her moods were on a teetering edge between hunger for me or food, and there was little in between. I wasn’t complaining, but it did have its moments. Now my need to take care of her was fighting against my desire to bend her over the sink.

“Goddess, you’re worse than when you wanted me to put the pup in you,” I laughed, helping her to her feet. From there, it wasn’t long until we were in the shower, and I took care of my Luna as she wished.

–

I sat in my office, looking at my schedule in exasperation. It was so loaded down with so much training that I was constantly gone. With Quinn pregnant, that needed to change. I pulled Enrique into my office, and we talked about how to best start taking some of our travel time off of my plate. I wanted to ensure that I wasn’t gone more than ten days at a time during the first three months and then preferably longer as she neared her due date.

We devised a staggered schedule where I would go to a client first, begin training, and then Enrique would meet me there midway through. Then once I’d started the training cycle, he would finish it, staying for the second half to put them through their paces with sparring, review, and other live training exercises. He could also take most continuing education contracts himself now, and we were starting to look toward other potential wolves to start apprenticing with us the same way Enrique did to add to our instructor team.

Once we got the schedule through Quinn’s projected due date figured out, I felt a weight lift from my chest, and I breathed a deep sigh of relief. If I could, I would have dropped the whole schedule and not left Quinn’s side until she had the pup, and I could imagine that once she had it, I wasn’t going to want to leave the pack again, either. Having to adult was bullshit.

Now that we’d taken care of my schedule, I could look to my next point of order. With Quinn’s belly slowly growing as she grew more pregnant, I wasn’t going to let her keep doing all the physical work she did around the packhouse. I put it out into the pack in various ways that I was looking for someone to help cook, clean, and do other chores around the packhouse. I wanted them there all the time when I was gone and then every few days while I was home. I interviewed quite a few people, and I wasn’t necessarily sold on any of them. That was until I interviewed Judy.

–

“So, Alpha Daddy need help in the packhouse?” Judy asked, sitting across from me at the packhouse’s kitchen table downstairs from our apartment. She was a tiny old Korean woman, so small that she was literally the size of a child. Talking to her more, I discovered that Judy was extremely sick as a pup and eventually stopped growing. Her English was broken, but considering she also spoke German, I was impressed she could speak it at all. I couldn’t imagine trying to keep three languages straight in my head.

“You don’t have to call me that,” I laughed at her odd nickname for me. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt a warmth from Judy that I hadn’t from the others. It was almost motherly. “But yes. My mate Quinn, our Luna, is expecting, and I need to make sure that while I’m gone, she does as little physical labor as possible. She’s going to insist that she does it anyways, but I need someone who will brush that aside and continue to take care of the packhouse, so she doesn’t have to.”

“Oh, Luna Mommy not need to clean. I clean,” she said matter of factly. “I no let her.”

“That’s exactly what I’m looking for,” I said happily. As we talked, I grew more at ease. It turns out that because of Judy’s inability to grow, she wasn’t able to keep her wolf. She talked to it before it left her, but her body wasn’t strong enough to maintain a connection with it. I’d never heard of that happening before, and I felt deeply sorry for what she’d lost. She just waved her hand at me, telling me not to worry.

“I have mate, and he take care of me fine,” she insisted. “I do lots of things in my life. First, I was nurse in big city. Didn’t like b***d. Then, I cut hair for long long time. Now, I take care of Alpha Daddy and the packhouse. I can start tomorrow?”

I was sold. I could tell Judy was going to add a light to the packhouse that the others wouldn’t, and as I tried to shake her hand, she pulled me in for a hug. I knew Quinn would love her too, and I couldn’t wait to introduce them.

–

“Oh my Goddess,” Quinn exclaimed. “I love her!”

“I know; isn’t she amazing?” I asked, laughing at Quinn’s expression as Judy left, and we walked up the stairs to our part of the packhouse.

“She’s so tiny! Are you sure she can do what you want her to around here?” she asked in a worried tone.

“That woman has been through more in her life than most, and she genuinely wants to work here. She assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem.”

True to her word, Judy was back the following morning bright and early. She let herself in with the key I’d given her, and before we even came down for the day, the kitchen was sparkling. As we came down, she greeted us warmly with hugs and kept moving about her day, cleaning and going through the packhouse as she went. It looked like it Quinn’s body literally didn’t know what to do as she milled about the kitchen and realized there was nothing to clean or put away.

“You’re going to have to learn to relax,” I laughed as I pulled her to my chest, my nose resting in her hair as I enjoyed her scent. It was slightly changed but still the same. I couldn’t explain it. I could tell something was different, and we assumed it was the pup, like everyone said.

“I don’t know how,” she pouted, her bottom l*p poking out as she looked up at me. I playfully nipped her l*p with my teeth, and she giggled as I moved my mouth down her neck and towards her mark. As I bit down on it, she grabbed the back of my head for dear life, and I could instantly smell that it was time to take her somewhere private.

“Upstairs or the lake?” I growled low into her ear.

“Mmmm,” she g*****d as she thought. “Outside sounds nice.”

“Judy, we’re going out!” I called out across the packhouse.

“You go. I see you later, Alpha Daddy!” she said, poking her head in as we walked towards the door. “Take care of Luna Mommy!”

“I will,” I told her with a smile. I intended to take care of every inch of my mate and then some.

–

As we returned from our sexy excursion at the lake, I noticed Stephen parked in front of the packhouse. He was Hunter’s Beta.

“What is he doing here?” I wondered aloud. To my knowledge, we didn’t have any scheduled training with Timbering Towers, and we hadn’t planned for him to train with Nic. I felt Quinn shift uncomfortably next to me, and uneasiness washed through our bond. It probably had something to do with the fact that I didn’t like the guy. He was a total douche, and I’d never understood why Hunter made him Beta.

“So… I’ve been meaning to tell you,” she started. “But Stephen’s been spending a lot of time with Nic. Like, more than the scheduled classes.”

Irritation blossomed in my chest. Out of everyone, him? Did that mean she was leaving Stary to live in Towering Timbers? The thought made me sad, but I pushed that aside. If he really was her mate, I would have to be happy for my best friend, even if I didn’t want to lose her. I could find another Beta, but I couldn’t replace her as my friend.

“I cannot imagine the Goddess putting those two together,” I mumbled, trying to piece together this new information.

“Oh, I don’t think they’re mates,” Quinn admitted. “I think they’re just spending time together.” That changed things. If the Goddess didn’t want them together, then Nic could not have picked a worse chosen mate if that’s where we were heading. I didn’t know how to feel about it, so I decided to get out of the car and pretend things were normal. “Just be chill if he’s here, and don’t make it a thing.”

“Mhmm,” I grumbled. I knew it would happen eventually, but I’d hoped Nic would find her mate in Stary or they’d be willing to come here to be a pack member when she did. She was of equal status to Stephen, so I wasn’t sure how that would work. I couldn’t see Hunter wanting to give up his Beta, but why would it be fair for her to give up being Beta here if he didn’t? I was getting way ahead of myself, though, as I always tended to do. I hadn’t even talked to her yet. It could just be a fling.

As we walked into the packhouse, I could smell him there. We walked into the living room, and it was clear they hadn’t expected an audience. Judy’s car wasn’t outside anymore, so she’d gone to lunch or something. Nic was straddling Stephen’s lap, and they were too preoccupied with their lips to hear us come in. I cleared my throat behind them, and they stopped dead in their tracks.

“Oh Michael… I mean, Alpha, I didn’t expect….” Nic stammered, her face growing redder by the second as she moved off Stephen to sit beside him.

“Don’t worry about it,” I muttered. I turned to Stephen, nodding down slightly, “Beta.”

He returned my gaze before looking down, “Alpha.”

Goddess, why this guy? He was at least sixteen years older than her, and it just looked odd, like he could be her father. He was getting his driver’s license when she was born. Hell, the guy ate his steaks well done. That was all I needed to know right there.

Determined to end the awkward moment, I walked past them into the kitchen and toward our stairway. I could feel Quinn behind me, so I just kept going.

“Are you mad at me?” Nic linked as I left the room.

“What would I have to be mad at?” I asked.

“I guess that I didn’t tell you, or you walked in on us?” she replied.

“It’s not like you haven’t walked on Quinn and me. It’s whatever, but I would have thought that you’d tell me you were seeing someone.”

“It was just new, and we’re not mates. I don’t think I’m ever going to find what you have with Quinn, and he seems nice enough,” she admitted. I felt awful because I could almost hear the loneliness in her voice.

“She has someone out there for you, Nic,” I insisted. “I know you don’t want to wait, and I’m not going to stand in your way here. Just… don’t make any permanent decisions too quickly,” I didn’t want to tell her how I felt about the guy, and it was her decision to make. Still, I thought it was a mistake.

“Okay…” she said. “I think I’m going to stay with him tonight. I’ll be back to do Beta stuff tomorrow.”

With that, Nic started to spend several nights a week either driving back and forth or meeting in the middle of our two packs. She kept up with her Beta duties, but it felt like I’d suddenly lost my best friend. I wondered how long it would be until I lost her entirely. I couldn’t imagine Stephen being the one to give up his position, and the more time Nic spent with him, I worried she’d give up her own to make it work.

“You have to support her,” Quinn said from behind me as I looked out the window where Nic was pulling out of the driveway again.

“I know,” I sighed. “But I don’t have to like it.”