The Unwanted Wolf

MARK

I walked into the conference room, and Rie and Scythe were already waiting for me in there. My morning had been delayed because of the argument with Adira, and I was running late for the meeting. I wanted to discuss Jori’s proposition with them before I brought it up with everyone else. They had helped me set up the pack in the first place, so I knew I would need their help to make this a smooth transition, if we were going to make this work.

“Are you okay?” Rie asked the moment I sat down.

I wasn’t in the best mindset right now. My stomach was in knots after the argument with Adira. It was our first real argument, and I didn’t like it. We were normally better at communicating with each other, and I wasn’t proud of myself for the way I snapped at her. In addition, I still wasn’t a fan of what Adira wanted to do, but she had a point. If we didn’t do anything to attack our enemies first, we would end up always on the defense, and it was exhausting.

I looked at Rie and gave her a smile. “There’s just a lot on my mind.”

Rie nodded, not pushing the subject more. “If you need to talk, you know where to find us.”

“So what’s this about?” Scythe asked, quickly changing the subject.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind. “Jori approached Adira and me yesterday. He said he wants to give up being alpha and give his pack over to me.”

A strange silence filled the room, and both of them simply looked at me, waiting for me to say something more. I wanted to give them a moment to digest the information.

“Is this a joke?” Rie finally asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Ever since he woke up, he hasn’t been the same. I’m sure you’ve seen him. He has no resolve. What happened to him broke him, and he doesn’t want to be alpha anymore.”

“We are talking about Jori, right?” Scythe asked in complete disbelief. “The man who dropped his best friend to protect his title of alpha. The man who was threatened because his best friend turned out to be an alpha, too?”

I nodded. “I know. I couldn’t believe it for a moment, but he was being serious. Being alpha takes a lot of confidence and strength. He doesn’t have that anymore, and he knows he can’t run a pack like that. He wanted time away to heal.”

“And what happens when he leaves, gets his confidence, and comes back to demand he gets his pack back?” Rie asked. Her jaw was clenched, and it was obvious she didn’t believe Jori’s claim.

“If he gives up his claim, that will be it. I will make that clear to him and anyone who decides to join the pack. I hope he has realized his mistakes and won’t try something like that, but if it happens, we’ll take it as it goes. What matters is Pack Sallow needs a leader. They have been through a lot. These are people we have known almost our entire lives. We can’t just abandon them in their time of need.” This wasn’t a discussion in my mind. I was already going to accept Pack Sallow into our own. I just needed help with the process. I needed Rie and Scythe to understand that.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” I continued. “That’s why I’m asking you for your help. We need to figure out how to do this transition as smoothly as possible and what to do about the two packhouses. Are you two up for the task?”

“If this is what you want, we’ve got your back,” Scythe said.

Rie added, “Please. This will be easy compared to the elaborate parties Scythe plans.”

–

ADIRA

I sat on the other side of the table, waiting for Ginger to speak. Her eyes were closed as she felt the energy of the small bottle that contained Cain’s powers. She was taking her time, looking at every aspect of the magic, to make sure it was safe. She didn’t trust Cain, which I couldn’t blame her for. No one, not even me, trusted Cain, but I still didn’t think he would do anything to intentionally hurt me.

After what felt like much too long, Ginger finally opened her eyes. “Girl, are you sure you want to do this?”

I nodded slowly. I didn’t exactly want to do this, but if I knew my family and I would be safe, I had to do this. If there was no threat, Cain’s magic wouldn’t be a temptation. I didn’t care about power, but I felt like my hands were tied. Every moment Xavier went unchecked would make attempting to destroy him forever more of a risk.

“If it’s safe, yes. I want to get rid of Xavier permanently.” I was confident as I spoke.

“All right. I have looked at this again and then two more times after that. I don’t sense any tricks or malintent in this magic,” Ginger said. Her face was pulled tight. “Just know that just because the magic itself wasn’t tampered with, it doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous to you. I have never heard of a sorcerer absorbing another sorcerer’s magic before. I don’t know how your body or the baby would handle it.”

If I had time to wait for this, I would. I only wanted to risk my own life, but the longer we waited, the more dangerous the fight with Xavier would become. I looked down, wondering what this decision said about me. “I know. We don’t have time to wait though. Will you be in the same room as me when I do this? I don’t know if you can do anything, but if something goes wrong, I want you to be there just in case.”

“I can’t promise you anything, girl, but I will make sure I’m there, and I will do whatever I can to help if it comes down to it,” Ginger said.

–

After getting the approval from Ginger, I met up with Mark. He and I had split up the morning to make sure we got everything done that we needed to. I know Mark and I had worked things out after our argument, but I still felt off from our fight before. We hadn’t fought like that before.

As I walked down the hallway, I saw Mark making his way towards me from the conference room. I paused for a brief second, but when our eyes met, I found myself running towards him. He enveloped me in his arms, and any lingering tension in my body melted away with his touch. I buried my head in his chest, and he buried his in my hair.

“How did your meeting go?” I asked as I pulled back, still keeping my arms hooked around his body.

He placed a soft k**s on my lips before talking. “It went well. Rie and Scythe helped me come up with a game for how we are going to handle everything. Now it’s just a matter of talking to everyone and putting it into action.”

I smiled. “Good. You’ll have to catch me a little later. Zayla is waiting for us. Ready?”

Mark smiled and let go, immediately grabbing my hand and leading me down the hallway. Before I even attempted to take on Cain’s magic, Mark wanted me to have another ultrasound and checkup with Doctor Zayla to make sure I was healthy enough to attempt it. If there were any lingering issues, I told Mark that I wouldn’t even consider absorbing the magic, and I would find another way.

We entered Zayla’s office, and I changed into a patient’s outfit. Now that Jori was no longer a patient, the office was quiet. It was a nice feeling. We hadn’t had any other fights or injuries recently, and I hoped we could keep it that way.

Once I was in the patient’s gown and situated on the bed, Doctor Zayla emerged from her office. In her spare time, I knew she had been working on some research, and she had a lot more spare time without any in-house patients. She immediately got to work, setting up the proper machine and equipment. When she was done with that, she squirted a cool jelly on my stomach, making me jump a little. I was more prepared for the sensation this time, since I was familiar with it, but the cold temperature was still a little bit of a shock.

Next, Doctor Zayla placed a small device on my stomach and moved it around to get a proper view of the baby. As she did this, her face twisted, and my stomach suddenly turned into a rock. I knew something wasn’t right by the way she was checking and then double checking. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and my heart started to race.

Mark squeezed my hand, sensing my stress through our bond. “Zay, is something wrong?”

Zayla didn’t look up at him and continued her work. She put a finger up. “Give me one more moment. I need to be absolutely sure.”

“Sure of what? Is something wrong?” Mark’s voice sounded as stressed as I felt.

“Ah, there we go.” Zayla’s face relaxed as she held the device at a specific spot.

“Zay,” Mark said, his alpha tone slipping in. He had very little patience, and I knew he was holding my hand as much for himself as for me.

Zayla pointed to the little screen. “Do you see these spots here and here?”

I looked at the screen and saw what she was pointing out, but I still didn’t understand what it meant. “What are we looking at?”

“There’s two of them,” Zayla said flatly.

My head snapped to Mark, who was still looking at the screen. His brain was still trying to process what she said. Finally, he looked at Zayla.

“Do you mean two babies?” he asked.

Zayla nodded. “Yes, you are having twins.”

“Twins?” I repeated, processing the information.

“Twins,” Zayla repeated. “It looks like both of them have strong heartbeats. They are very healthy, and you seem to be doing well, too. I’ll run your b***d sample to be sure, but you should be able to return to your normal level of activity.” She pressed a button, which started printing a picture. She handed me the picture when it was done.

“Thanks, Zay,” Mark said. “Can you give us a moment alone?”

“Of course. Link me if you need anything.” Zayla disappeared back into her private office where she did research.

Mark turned to me, and there was a bright smile on his face. “Twins,” he repeated again, letting the news sink in.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what to say. I barely felt ready to be a mother of one, and now I was having twins. My chest felt tight at the thought.

“Hey,” Mark said, drawing my attention. He cupped my face and made me look into his eyes. “We can do this, and this doesn’t change anything. You’ll still be a great mother. We’ve got this.”

“There’s going to be two babies.” A small incredulous laugh slipped between my lips. “Two.”

Mark kissed my forehead and pulled me into his chest. “Yes, there will be. Looks like we got it right on the first try. We won’t have to have any kids after this.”

This made me laugh, and some of the tension left my body. “And we weren’t even trying. Guess we are pretty skilled at this parenthood thing.”

“Other parents will be jealous of us.” Mark was beaming, and I could tell he was more excited by the news than scared. I was still more scared than excited, but seeing Mark’s smile made me feel a little better.

I let out a sigh, and I felt a little lighter. We still had time to figure out being parents to two babies, but there were other pressing matters. “Since Zayla said the baby–babies– looked healthy, and Ginger gave the clear on the magic, I want to take the magic today. If possible, I want to go after Xavier tomorrow. I think I can sense where he is, and I’m ready for all of this to be over already.”

Mark nodded slowly. “So, tomorrow we attack and end this business with Xavier once and for all. That sounds nice. One less thing for us to worry about.”