The Porch Wolf

Alpha Leo Volkov’s POV

I took a shower and went to bed as soon as Vicki was down for the night. I was exhausted, but I couldn’t settle. My mind was going a mile a minute, trying to catch up on what happened over the past few days. My wolf was anxious about Olivia’s injuries and had spent a lot of time keeping Vicki calm. It didn’t help that we were in Corpus Christi, Brent was in Las Vegas, and Adrienne was in Dallas.

Dallas. OH CRAP! I sat upright, suddenly realizing that I’d never called my mate back. The last time we talked, I was waiting for the group to come back to their car. I looked over at the clock; it was just past eleven. Hopefully, she got a hotel room and slept through everything. I pulled out my cellphone and gave her a call. “Hello?”

“Hi, honey. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Of course not. I didn’t want to sleep until I’d talked to you again.”

Hmmm, maybe I’d escape with my fur intact. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier, we’ve had a little excitement here, and I forgot to call you back.”

“I understand you’ve been busy, after all, a PACK MEMBER IS IN THE HOSPITAL AFTER PASSING OUT AND HITTING HER HEAD, AND MY MATE ‘FORGOT’ TO CALL ME BACK.”

Oh. Crap. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

“Thank Luna that Brent called me, or I’d be sitting in the parking lot waiting to find out what to do next,” she said. “He called me on the way to the airport.”

“I can get you a flight,” I said.

“I already looked, nothing is rolling tonight. I’m south of Dallas already; I’ll be there early in the morning. I’ll call you when I’m close.”

“All right.”

“What’s the update on Olivia?”

“Observation overnight for the concussion and some stitches. Liv will be fine. Vicki is handling it well, and Anita has been a big help.”

“Good. I have to go. You wouldn’t think there would be traffic at this time of night, but construction zones suck.”

“I love you, Adrienne. Drive safe.” Hanging up, I texted an update to Susan at the Pack, telling her I would talk to her tomorrow when we had a plan. I set my alarm for six-thirty since visiting hours started at eight. Closing my eyes, I went to sleep.

“Unky Leo, wake up,” a voice said as someone tapped my shoulder. I opened my eyes, shaking my head to wake up. Vicki was standing by my bed in her Shark Tail pajamas, holding a phone. “Luna wants in.”

“She does?”

“Yeah, she’s coming up now.” I took the phone from her and set it back on the table.

“Let’s welcome her,” I said. I held her hand as we walked to the door and peeked into the hallway. We only waited a minute before the elevator door opened, and she stepped into the hall.

“Luna!” She ran towards her while I made sure the door didn’t close.

Adrienne picked her up and walked her back. “We have to be quiet; it’s four in the morning,” she said.

“Hi, my love,” I said as I kissed her and pulled her into my side. “We missed you.”

“I’m exhausted,” she said. “I need a shower, I’ve been driving all night, and my back hurts.”

“Come on.” I put Vicki back to bed as she showered, then I gave her a massage when she came to bed. She fell asleep halfway through, so I turned the light off and laid next to her. She turned into my side, and we were soon asleep.

My alarm went off, and I quieted it and used the bathroom before coming back in and getting Vicki ready to see her Mom. I left a note for Adrienne, kissing her before we headed down to breakfast. After watching Sharkbait’s breakfast disappearance act, Mike dropped us at the hospital before going to the airport to pick up Brent.

Olivia looked better, and Vicki climbed up in bed with her so her Mom could hold her tight. “How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts, but they’ll be releasing me soon,” she said. “There’s one problem.” I lifted a brow. “The doctor doesn’t want me flying, and driving long distances will not help me.”

“I have a solution for that,” I said. “Brent will be here soon, and Adrienne arrived early this morning. Would you let us take Vicki home, and you and Brent can have a honeymoon on the beach?”

“Could we? Does he even want that?”

“I was going to send you to Vegas before you got hurt. I didn’t have a chance to ask,” I said. “Mike and Anita can fly home; they have work and other stuff to do. Adrienne and I can have our own adventure with Vicki while you’re having fun. I think there are a half-dozen aquariums between here and home.”

“You have no idea what you’re in for,” Liv said with amusement. “If Brent agrees, then yes.”

“There are lots of fun things to do on the Islands before the spring break crowd arrives,” I said.

“Unky Leo, what are you talking to Mom about?” Vicki was sitting up on the bed, her hands on her hips.

“You, of course,” I teased.

The doctor came in, giving her the discharge instructions. Since Mike was at the airport and Adrienne was still sleeping, I had to call an Uber to take us back to the hotel. Anita took Liv to the deck overlooking the beach to eat breakfast while I went back to the room so Vicki and I could get in our swimsuits. “Liv is out of the hospital, and we’ll be down at the beach,” I told a sleepy mate. “Sleep as long as you need.” She mumbled something and went to sleep again. I updated the note, just in case.

Vicki was swimming and looking for sharks when Brent arrived. He came straight to his mate, picking her up and setting her on his lap while he made sure she was all right. Vicki saw Brent and went running up the sand to hug him. While they caught up, Liv linked me again. “We’ve talked, and if Vicki is all right with going on an adventure with you, we’ll stay here for a week or so.”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

Vicki was ready to go back to the water when Liv stopped her. “Baby, I have a question for you. Mommy and Daddy were thinking of staying here for a bit while Mommy rests. Would you want to go on an adventure with Uncle Leo and Aunt Adrienne?”

“Adventure?”

I nodded. “SeaLife Grapevine in Dallas, SeaLife Kansas City, St. Louis Aquarium, and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago,” I said. “We can take a week or so to drive home, and stop at each of them on the way.”

“Can we, Mom?” She looked to me and back to Liv. “You’ll be all right without me?”

“I’ll survive,” Liv said. “You’ll have to FaceTime me at least once every day, or I’ll cry.”

“Don’t cry, mommy. I’ll tell you ALL about the sharks.”

“Yay!”

“We have some other news, Brent.” She sent directly to me, asking to remove the Alpha command, and I did. “Vicki, can you tell Dad what we found out about Mommy yesterday?”

“She bonked her noggin,” Vicki said.

“No, the other thing,” I laughed.

“Mommy is gonna give me a baby sister!”

“Or brother,” Liv added.

Brent’s jaw dropped. “You’re pregnant?”

“Only a few weeks. Congratulations, Daddy.”

“OH, LIV!” He pulled her into a tight hug. “How?”

“The usual way. The pill hadn’t taken effect yet, and your animal side can’t put a condom on.” She moved his hand to her belly. “I know we talked about me finishing school first, but…”

“We’ll manage,” Brent said. “I’m so happy right now!”

I picked up Sharkbait. “We have to go look for the mighty Hammerhead. Why don’t you two go back up to the room for a while?”

“Adrienne’s still up there,” Liv said. “I guess we can be quiet.”

I turned towards the beach. “Send my wife out when she wakes up, we’ll be swimming.”

We never did find that hammerhead shark, but we did see some stingrays. “Come get dressed. We need to take Mike and Anita to lunch, then we drop them at the aquarium,” Adrienne sent to me. “And by the way, when were you going to tell me we were taking Sharkbait on an aquarium tour?”

“Communication, the key to a happy relationship,” I said. “You don’t mind?”

“It sounds like fun,” she replied. We got everyone ready and headed to Joe’s Crab Shack. It was no cheaper to feed a hungry Sharkbait seafood, we discovered. Brent took Mike and Anita to the hotel, turning in their car rental and getting his own. Adrienne had rented a Ford Escape, so we were good to go after moving her car seat in.

Brent and Liv took over the adjoining hotel room with its king-sized bed, leaving the dual full-size beds for us. I found a place nearby that rented jet-skis, and the three of us found out that ‘water snowmobiles’ were a lot of fun too! The sun and the swimming, followed by Whataburgers, wiped Vicki out. She was asleep by eight.

I kept Adrienne up until eleven, keeping things quiet as we played under the sheets.

I woke when she practically jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. When I heard her throwing up, I got up and went after her. She had just flushed, and I handed her a cup of water to rinse her mouth. “Are you all right?”

“It’s probably the shrimp,” she said. “I’ll go back to bed.”

When she came out, she grabbed my arm. “I need you to go to the drugstore and pick up a few things,” she said. She walked over to the desk and wrote them down.

I raised my eyebrows when I read it. “Really?”

“Maybe we got lucky. Sore breasts, morning sickness, food smells I suddenly can’t stand; it’s happened before.” An hour later, I came back, and she did the test.

Liv wasn’t the only pregnant female in my house.