Northwood

The day came for Adline’s brothers to leave and head towards the Carriere pack. It had dawned on them faster than she hoped it would as a tidal wave of guilt filled her entire being in an instant. She had been so pre occupied with other things that she had more or less neglected her brothers.

Though she thought that it seemed her brothers had neglected Adline as well, they chose to spend time with Kane and develop ideas towards bringing down Ambrose and Luce.

It had become clear that Luce was the biggest issue in the entire thing, Ambrose thought he was pulling the strings but Kane knew his brother had manipulated the man with the promise of things he could not deliver.

It had always been that way with Luce. Kane had learned early on that his little brother was not completely what he made himself out to be.

“Hey Addle!” Adline sat on the bed in her room with the door open, she had woken many hours ago but found no one else awake at such a ridiculous time but now that the sun had risen over the horizon it seemed as though the house stirred. Looking up at the door way she saw Babel waddling towards her. Though less than a month had passed since she’d found out Babel was pregnant the baby bump had grown much larger.

“Frosty!” Adline called a little worried as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sauntered towards the door to meet a very round Babel. “What are you doing? Why are you up so early?” Adline couldn’t help but question quickly.

“I’m up cause I’m starving and all I want to eat is bacon!” Babel called from the door as she waited for Adline. “Come help me cook some?” She questioned as Adline soon joined her at the door.

Both girls walked as quickly as they could down the hallway and towards the stairs. Adline noticed how slowly Frosty took the stairs but it didn’t surprise her one bit. She was carrying a baby and didn’t want to endanger it by doing unnecessary things or moving faster than she had to.

“What’s it like?” Adline found herself asking rather enthusiastically as she helped her friend down the stairs and out the door towards the kitchen.

“Being pregnant?” Babel replied quickly. “It is so hard.” With a sigh she stopped and placed a single hand against her stomach. The pained look on her face worried Adline as she reached out to help her friend.

Babel held her hand up and stopped her. “No don’t! It’s fine I’m just getting kicked all over the place.” Thought Babel had heard beautiful stories of pregnancy hers had been far from perfect. She had bad morning sickness right from the start which made things difficult and her pregnancy had stopped her doing what she loved. She wasn’t even allowed to shift in to her wolf form until well after the baby was born.

“What’s hard about being pregnant?” Asked Adline quickly as she looked at Babel with sad, longing eyes. What could be so hard about pregnancy? She had seen how differently pregnant women were treated and thought it would be lovely to be waited on.

“For me it’s hard,” replied Babel quickly. “I imagine for you it’d be a completely different story. You will be the Alpha female of this pack so you’d naturally have many people fawning all over you. Including Kane,” though Babel stated matter of factly it bothered Adline to no end.

“Well I don’t know that I’d be the Alpha female of this pack, I don’t know that I’d even know enough people to fawn over me. I just want to know what it’s like so I can help you be comfortable.” Adline replied almost annoyed. It bothered her greatly that Babel would immediately jump to it being something Adline wanted for herself. She knew it would come eventually. The need for children for Kane was inevitable and not something Adline could ever get away from. If he treated her well enough she knew that eventually she would give in to wants, needs and desires but her desires needed to be ignited.

For as long as she had known of the opposite sex Adline had largely ignored it. She had always been awkward around men and found herself constantly comparing people to her brothers. Kane was the first man she’d accepted as himself but so far she hadn’t told him that.

Babel looked at Adline a little oddly, she was a little apprehensive but she much preferred Adline over Victoria.

“Can I tell you what it’s like to be pregnant when you are pregnant?” Asked Babel quickly. She didn’t much feel like explaining every little detail to Adline, not when she was so hungry.

“Oh.........sure?” Replied Adline a little apprehensively, she had the distinct feeling that Babel didn’t want to indulge her at all. “Well why don’t you sit, tell me something and I’ll cook breakfast.”

“Yeah sure,” Babel replied as she took a seat at the kitchen island.

Before long the pair heard another set of footsteps heading towards them, neither Adline nor Babel knew who it could be. Before long Kane rounded the corner with the morning paper.

“Babel don’t fill Adline with ideas. She and I have barely spent a moment together. Talking about babies would likely scare her off.” With a mischief grin he placed his papers on the marble counter top and turned towards the girls. “How about I cook breakfast.” Though he asked both girls his question was rather directed towards Adline.

Although he seemed to improve day by day Adline thought there was something different about him as he whistled while pulling pots and pans from the cupboards.

“Er.....Alpha do you think you could put a shirt on?” Babel mentioned quickly as she stared at his naked torso. Adline too couldn’t help but marvel at the wonder before her. She had tried her hardest to divert her gaze but curiosity always got the better of her when he was around. Kane himself was more than a little surprised to learn that the closer he got to Adline the less clothes he wanted to wear.

Kane looked down at himself and realised that Babel had the deepest, most disapproving scowl scrawled across her face. She was more like the little sister he never wanted and so he disappeared for a second only to return with a full length jumper on. He didn’t want to disappoint so went all out.

As Kane busied himself Adline couldn’t help the cogs turning in her mind. It bothered her that he thought he knew everything about her. Adline was still a bag of tricks that he didn’t know but she didn’t know when to reveal herself properly to him.

“How do you know babies would scare me off? You don’t know me,” she questioned him defiantly.

“If you like,” Kane began slowly, “when your brothers leave we can practice making babies,” he barely bothered to turn from the stove. From all accounts Adline still hadn’t felt a man’s touch and Kane was in no rush to be the first. She was his mate but he wanted her to be comfortable enough to come to him and seek affection.

There was a visible gag from Babel who sat at the kitchen island with Adline, “oh please don’t! It’s always too early in the morning for this.” She mockingly placed a hand over her mouth to emphasize the point.

“It’s going to take more than my brothers leaving to get me in to your bed Alpha,” Adline was rather proud of her resolve even if there had been times she’d dreamed of all the things she wanted Kane to do to her. She wasn’t going to give in so easily, she didn’t want to be like the other girls he’d been with. She wanted him to chase her, to romance her. It was in all the great romantic novels she liked so she expected it in her life too.

“You hear that Alpha! More than her brothers leaving. You better break out the fancy bottles of wine,” Babel found it more than a little amusing to see someone fighting against what Kane wanted. It wasn’t often that anyone had enough balls to go so but she’d noticed that Kane softened considerably when Adline was around him. Too bad it only lasted while Adline was around him.

“I imagine mother’s had all the wine by this point with all the stress she’s feeling.” Kane admitted with a deep, heavy sigh. It worried him that his mother had taken to drinking like a fish to alcoholic water. He worried for her mental state and what Luce would do to turn her against him. He needed his mother in his life. Despite all the fighting and bickering she was his teacher and she taught him a great number of things.

“How is she holding up?” Questioned Babel quickly as Kane flipped bacon in the griddle pan on the stove top. He seemed a little too focused on the pan and rather than answer Babel’s question he ignored it.

Adline pushed her seat back against the wooden floor. The soft scrapping noise seemed to alert Kane to her moving towards him. He turned towards the girls with a deep scowl painted across his face. He was about to say something but instead he threw his spatula down and stormed from the room.

“What did I do?” Asked Adline more than a little confused as she watched the newly vacant space he left.

“Just leave him. The stress of Luce being back is no doubt messing with him.” Babel replied quickly. “On top of that he has his mother to worry about and now you........he’s probably going to have a heart attack before long.” Although it was more than impossible for someone as young and fit as Kane to have heart problems it conveyed the seriousness of the whole situation. “Just give him time to blow steam off. It’s better he take it elsewhere then let it out on you.”

Even though Adline appreciated him leaving the room she still had a deep concern for his wellbeing and wanted to check on him. Hearing the back door open and slam shut she walked to the hallway and saw a messy pile of clothes sitting on the floor. He’d shifted and gone running which gave her an idea.