Inevitably Yours

QUINN

We had years of relative peace. We grew alliances with our neighboring packs, our business grew, and two more pups joined our little Alpha family. We took in more wolves escaping maltreatment or rogue-ship. Stary was blooming.

Even with the fear we all hid inside for those little blue tufts of hair, we had peace and happiness. Yes, things were stressful. Life was stressful, and we weren’t immune to that. At the end of the day, Michael and I had the family and pack we had built, which was enough for us.

I woke up at home with Michael holding me in our bed. My head felt like someone was pounding the inside of my skull with a large hammer. It took a few days for the ache to subside completely, along with the pain in my back. Sapphire came back sluggishly during that time. It had been a long time since I worked that hard fighting off people. After pup number three, my training drastically declined. I was still capable, as proven by what happened, but I couldn’t move in the same ways anymore without causing pains to shoot through my back and legs.

The attack left a lingering fear among everyone aware. Michael and Jacky explained it away to our human employees present at the office that night as a random act of violence, an attempted robbery gone wrong. But for those that knew better, there was an unease in everything we did. Michael waited until I was feeling better, then started on a raging warpath to learn anything he could about the Fae and why they might be coming after me specifically. The whole thing left me feeling a bit of reproach toward leaving the pack or my pups.

Michael put his foot down. He was done leaving. No more long personal protection assignments or extended training courses. He wouldn’t even do two- and three-day classes. He canceled everything from his schedule and took care of me for three days until I felt better. After some time, I convinced him to do one-day classes again, but that was not very often.

Michael had a small b***d sample run with our doctor while I was out. She was able to find traces of wolfsbane and something unknown that had come from the attackers. I was lucky to have only had minimal effects, and she suspected it was because of my particular differences.

The next few months were a transition for us. The kids loved Michael being home at first. He was the cool parent because I was the one left at home when he was gone. Mom had always made them do their chores or homework or come inside when it was dark. Dad always squeaked out ten more minutes of fun that usually turned into an hour. I wasn’t mad that he was the fun parent, but he had to learn to be the mean parent now as well.

Belle was the most significant adjustment. She was Daddy’s little girl through and through. We had our things, but when it was time to relax as a family, she was climbing into his lap, not mine. She was unhappy the first time Michael yelled at her for disobeying my direction to clean her room.

To his credit, Michael held strong to staying home. He wanted to shift all the Alpha duties that Nic, Jacky, Andrea, and I had all been shouldering back to himself. Jacky and Nic were happy to oblige. Nic suddenly had more free time to revive her gardens that were barely limping through life. Michael did his best to act normal, but I knew he was trying to get ahold of the professor and talking with Marshall frequently.

Michael even took a few things off my Luna plate, leaving me more time to fix things with our business. Missing the court appearance had put us in a precarious position. Then the human economy hit a strange inflated trend, making workers demand pay raises that were practically unattainable. This left my staff and me scrambling to find solutions.

“I completely understand. I’m sure you can understand that we also need to keep our employee benefits competitive if we are going to remain capable of providing you the standard of service you expect,” I explained.

“I’ll talk with the accounts manager and see if we can find a counteroffer here, but if your prices are going to hike this high after being your client for six years, we will have to look for another company,” my point of contact admitted. I sighed.

“I understand. I guess that is the way of business. I hope we can talk soon about a solution,” I said, knowing this conversation was already over.

“I’ll call you in a few days,” he said, hanging up.

I dropped my phone onto my desk in frustration. That was the fourth client I had contacted that morning, and it wasn’t going well. No one wanted their bills to go up. It was even trickier when the clients thought their security services were easily expendable; many didn’t look at them like they would an electric bill or water bill.

“You okay up there?” Michael linked me.

“Yea,” I got it. “Just not the most fun part of my job.”

“I could come up there, and we could do the fun part,” he teased.

“Did you reload the packhouse expense account for Judy yet?” I countered.

“I hate and love how responsible you are,” he grumbled.

“s*x later, work now,” I laughed.

An email popped up on my computer screen from the hiring manager. I scanned it quickly, the pit in my stomach growing. We just lost another full-time employee to a company offering more pay. “Arggghhh!” I yelled. New security companies were popping up in our market, offering higher cash pay rates and skirting around payroll taxes illegally. Unfortunately for us, employees only saw higher earning potential.

On the one hand, I understood the choice. Many humans were far more motivated by personal gain than loyalty. Wolves tended to lean toward loyalty and pack lines. Our human employees were dropping at an alarming rate, and we needed our clients to come up on billing if we had a chance at keeping any of them. We were far too big now to rely solely on our wolf employees. Jacqueline and Enrique were basically living at the city office to help cover unmanned shifts and run interference with upset clients.

I pushed away from my desk. I needed a break. I had barely slept in days, and work was getting more and more frustrating. Michael was still struggling to juggle his Alpha duties alongside the Luna duties he promised to handle for me. Mix in four wild pups, all vying for his attention, and he was a busy man. I never really left the packhouse without him now that he had decided it was time to stay home, either.

I went looking for Rowan and Michael, finding them outside in the yard. Rowan had every type of ball imaginable in the yard while Michael sat to the side with his laptop in his lap.

“Mommy!” Rowan called when he saw me.

“Hi, sweetie. Are you and Daddy playing?” I asked.

“No, he’s doing Alpha. I playing myself,” he told me, sticking his tongue out at his father. I laughed a little as Michael scoffed.

“Can you line all the balls up from big to small?” I asked Rowan, distracting him so I could sit with Michael. He nodded enthusiastically and set off to his task.

I plopped down next to Michael and leaned against him. “How are you doing?” I asked.

“I forgot how hard it is to be Alpha full-time without everyone else doing things for me,” he frowned. “And before you offer, no, you can’t help me do anything. The whole point is me being home and helping more.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

I smiled softly and rubbed my face into his arm. “You got this. You were made to be an Alpha, remember?”

“I know. I just got used to everyone helping so much so I could leave,” he said.

“Well, you, my Alpha, are a smart one. You picked all she-wolves to help you lead the pack. Most Alphas choose other men to help them run the pack,” I pointed out. Michael smirked.

“Maybe I just speak your language better,” he said.

“He speaks our language,” Sapphire spurred.

“Sapphire is feeling needy,” I laughed.

Michael set his computer aside and turned to me. He pushed me back in the grass so he could hover over top of me. “Then maybe I shall give her some attention,” he nipped at my mouth. Rowan decided it was time to wrestle; he ran over and jumped on Michael’s back.

“Let’s get him, Mommy!” he shouted aggressively. Michael’s face fell, making me laugh more.

“You think we can beat the Alpha?” I asked Rowan, finding it comical that the kids were always interrupting Michael’s attempts to get me naked.

“Yea, Mommy, shift!” he cheered. Michael raised an eyebrow, wondering if I would actually do it. The kids loved our wolves, and Junior was determined he would get his early. Rowan was particularly enamored with Sapphire.

“So, Mommy, Sapphire, and Rowan versus Eros?” Michael poked.

“I think the odds might be stacked in our favor,” I winked.

–

I fixed my hair in the mirror as Michael brushed his teeth next to me. “Let’s keep the conversation on your mom tonight. I really don’t want to talk about work and everything else,” I reminded Michael. His eyes flashed for a second, but he nodded. We didn’t tell either of our parents about what happened, but I was pretty sure Melvin ended up with a rough idea.

After he spit out his toothpaste, he replied, “I like she is making time to visit every few weeks now, but I’m getting done with my brother’s s**t. He graduated five years ago and is still acting like a whiny brat,” he said. “We need to start pushing her to make him do something.”

“Just remind her they both have a place here. I bet practically no one would recognize Tyler at this point. He’s completely different, and it seems everyone has moved on from Lawrence’s time,” I told him. “Stary is a different place from when we were growing up.”

“All thanks to one very dedicated Luna,” Michael said with a small smile. He leaned over and pecked my cheek. “I just want my brother to man up at some point. Stop relying on my mom to take care of him. She told me last week she had to work overtime to pay his bills because he mysteriously got laid off, and they cut his last paycheck.”

“Is that why you sent her money?” I asked. Michael nodded.

“I hope you aren’t mad…” he said contritely.

“I’m not. Just warn me next time,” I sighed. Then a groaning sound came from the wall behind me, and I jumped a little. Michael swiftly stepped up to me protectively. “I’m fine,” I said. He watched me carefully for a second, then nodded. It only took a brief second for my brain to realize it was probably just a pipe.

“I’ll be downstairs. Don’t take too long; you’re already perfect,” he said, kissing me.

I took a steadying breath as he left our bathroom. I knew no one was trying to attack me in my own bathroom, but it still caught me off guard. I tried to shake it off and focus on the day. I had a day with family to look forward to.

–

“Dinner was delicious, Quinn,” Claire complimented me as we cleaned up. Michael took the kids outside so there wouldn’t be so much chaos in the kitchen. “I’m sorry you made a whole lemon cake for Tyler.”

“It’s alright,” I assured her. “We’ll wrap some up for you to take back to him tomorrow, and I’ll send the rest down to the warrior compound. They will eat anything we send over.”

“Oh, I’m sure. With all the training and exercise, I’m sure it’s hard to keep food in the building!” she laughed. “It’s so nice to see such capable wolves protecting the pack.”

“Michael and Melvin have really done a wonderful job with it all. I mean, half of them are competent with swords now. They don’t have to rely on their wolves anymore,” I agreed.

Claire brought dishes over to the sink and set them down. She looked out the back window. Diane and Belle were sitting with their feet in the pool chatting while the boys played catch with Michael. “I feel like I’m missing a lot being so far away,” Claire admitted.

“You don’t have to be,” I reminded her. “We can help bring you here. You could stay here in the packhouse with us if you wanted.”

She shook her head. “There is too much pain for me to live here again, even with all the happiness you two have brought back. But, I do think I might be ready to come closer to Stary,” she said.

“What’s stopping you?” I asked her honestly, all cleaning completely halted.

She frowned. “A few things. Tyler, for one. I just can’t figure out what goes on in his head sometimes. I think I might have babied him too much, sheltered him too hard.”

“Put your foot down,” I shrugged. “It’s tough, but it’s also love. My parents just had to do it with my brother. My mom found out she was paying his student loans when he didn’t even finish his first semester. Now, he has to pay rent and his own bills. He actually found a decent job and is talking about moving out.”

“It’s just hard,” she said. “Then, I think it would feel strange being back here as a normal pack member.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Alphas and Lunas retire, but we don’t necessarily work. It’s sort of the natural attrition of things that Alpha families are able to remain self-sufficient. We don’t take jobs as grocery store managers,” she explained.

“Claire, you aren’t less because you need to work. Michael and I work and run the pack. If we hadn’t started our business and Michael hadn’t traveled and taught, the pack would have been in big trouble. We could never have fixed the packhouse or paid Lawrence’s debts. Let alone afford to have four pups. And it can’t be all packs. Some packs are completely secluded from the modern world,” I reasoned.

“You’re right,” she said. She shook her head and started rinsing the dishes. “It’s just something I need to deal with myself.”

“We’ll help with anything you need,” I told her. “You just have to ask. Michael and I would love to have you around more for the kids. They love when you visit.”

Just then, the sound of screaming and crashing footsteps sounded through the house. We both went to the doorway to see what was happening. “Come on! Look at it! It’s so cool!” Junior yelled as he chased Belle and Diane.

“Get it away from us!” Diane screamed. Daniel and Rowan were running after Junior, unable to keep up with their big brother.

“Hey! Hey!” I shouted, stopping them. Diane and Belle darted for us, hiding behind Claire and me. “What is going on?”

“They were picking worms! Junior tried to throw them on us!” Belle accused.

“I was just trying to show her!” he said, holding up the worm. I pointed to the back door.

“Bugs go outside,” I said calmly, even though my skin was crawling.

“Aw, c’mon, Mom! Look at the segments! Plus, they are invertebrates, not bugs,” Junior whined.

“Nope! Outside,” I said, pointing again. Junior dropped his head and marched outside. I looked over my shoulder at Claire. “On second thought, are you really sure you want to be around for this chaos?”