Her Grey Men

Am I ready?

David

When Brian called me to explain what happened to Jen, I was floored, I was ecstatic, and excited, but mostly I was terrified. My mate is pregnant! I wondered if the baby was mine or Brian’s but either way I was going to be in this pup’s life. I couldn’t wait to be a dad. I knew that I wanted a large family since I had none growing up, but never thought that the opportunity would come to fruition. I knew that I only wanted a family with my mate, and now here I am with my mate and the family that she had already started. 

I already love Sammy, he’s such a bright boy, and has taken to me like I have always been in his life. Like an uncle or godfather. But to have a child to raise from the beginning is going to be something more. I don’t, know fulfilling. I was excited, and I couldn’t wait until Jen got home so I could spoil her and give her all the midnight snacks that she might be craving.

I absently was finishing up pack paperwork and daydreaming about our living situation. We were in a two bedroom apartment on the ground floor at the moment, but with a new baby we would definitely need to upgrade. Only issue is there were no open apartments in the pack house. I seriously debated on building a house in the village and letting one of the new pack couples take our current apartment. Yeah I need to have a house built. Maybe at the end of the road so that we can see the village and the training fields from the front door, but be far enough away to have a quiet life.

The next two days were going to drag on, I need to hold my mate, and talk to my pup. Wolves can start bonding before their pups are even born. I want to be there for every step. But first before I can start celebrating I need to finish this work. First order of business is to find a new captain to replace Mike since my old boss stole him away from us. 

I heard my office door open and looked up to see Astra, Jen’s sister step in. “What’s up?” I asked.

“I’m bored, and Jen told me to start planning my birthday party.” She huffed and flopped down in one of the chairs across from me.

 We haven’t spent too much time together other than family meals. I liked the girl, she is strong and smart just like her sister. But I didn’t have a lot of time to entertain her at the moment. “I’m sorry I can’t help you too much. I'm trying to sort out a new squad captain.”

Astra’s eyes lit up at my predicament. “I want it!”

“Whoa kid! I know you would be able to handle it just fine, but you have your birthday coming up and you might find your mate after that. I’ll be in the same position once you leave.” I held my hands up in a vain attempts to slow her enthusiasm.

“Puuhh, Like I would leave this pack? I want it. I want something.” She paused and came to her feet. “In fact I need it. I need this leadership experience. I’m an alpha and I’m not in charge of anything.” She slammed her hands on my desk with her last word. 

I shook my head. “As much as I believe that you could handle the responsibility you are still in high-school, and all AP classes. You barely have time for your friends let alone running a business.”

“Fine! I’ll apply for early graduation. Winter break starts next month, and I have the credits to graduate early.” She declared with a flip of her hand.

I was astounded. “Why the hell are you still in school if you can leave early then?”

“Because I’m on the soccer team and I was waiting for college recruiters.” Astra flopped back in her seat.

I rubbed my face in frustration. “Then stay in school and go to college. You don’t know what kind of head start that will give you.” 

“So what If I get a mate? You really think my mate is going to let me go off to college?” she fired back.

“If they care about you, they will support you and your education.” She was frustrating me with all of her arguments. 

“Fine I’ll stay in school and go off to college, as long as I can be the squad captain. Then that at least gives you enough time to find my replacement.” Ah, now here is her airtight argument.

I rested my elbows on the desk and buried my face in my hands. “You are so frustrating.”

“I’m also right.” she shot back.

“Fine, you can be the squad captain, but not fourth squad, you get fifth squad and training the pups.” I stated.

“Fine, I go to school with them anyway. It gives me full reign to keep them in line.” Satisfied with the outcome she jumped up and strode out the door. 

Gods and planets. Thankfully I have Brian to help me keep Jen occupied, because I don’t think that I could handle her by myself with how up front her sister is. I decided to link Hank and have him come in to formally give him fourth squad. I continued filing paperwork waiting for the old instructor to come to the office. After this I was going to take the rest of the day, probably go for a run before I needed to pick up Sammy for the night. 

A knock at the door let me know that Hank had arrived. “Come in.” I hollered.

“Hey boss what’s up?” He cheerfully asked before taking the seat that Astra vacated earlier.

“You want a promotion?” I asked, cutting out the unnecessary BS.

Hank was silent for a bit, thinking. “You want me to take Mike’s spot?”

I nodded. “Astra wanted the squad, but I think her being in charge of the new guys would be a better fit for her.”

“You think she can handle it?” The old man inquired. 

I shrugged. “She had some pretty good arguments for it. But I’m still going through people just in case she fails, or finds a mate from a different pack or goes off to college, either way it might give her a good dose of leadership.” 

“Well she’s got a good head on her shoulders either way. I hope she can learn from this. And hell all the new guys are in her class.” Hank agreed, echoing one of Astra’s arguments. 

I nodded. “Yeah that’s what she said.” 

“Speaking of a dose of leadership, how is it going without Luna here to back you up?” The man’s grey eyes studied me from across the desk.

“I dunno man, it feels like I’ve been here my whole life. Everyone just seems to want to follow me. It’s somewhat creepy, but at the same time I could see it giving the wrong person a power trip.” I admitted. 

“Yeah, I can see that. You haven’t had the chance to spend a lot of your life in a strong pack. Well I want to say that you are doing a good job. And thanks for taking this challenge.” With that Hank left the office.

I didn’t think that I needed that compliment, or the positive reinforcement. But it felt good. I think during our next meeting that I’m going to make sure that the channels of communication that Jen opened stayed open and everyone continued to feel comfortable keeping me in check. For now though, it was time to let my wolf out. Only two or maybe three more days until my mate was back in my arms.

…

The days dragged on before I heard the SUV pull back into the drive in front of the pack house. But when it did I ran out the front door to be the first to greet her. I flung open her door and pulled her out, planting my lips fiercely on hers. I missed her taste and smell. Knowing now that she was pregnant I could tell the subtle change in her scent that came with growing a new life. It made me weak in the knees knowing that our strange little family would have a new addition. 

I finally broke contact dragging breath into my lungs. “I missed you.” I told her with my nose buried in her short blond hair. 

She squeezed me hard wrapping her arms around my waist. “I missed you too.” She sighed against me. “So we have news.”

I nodded. “I heard. Are you excited?”

“Scared.” her hushed tone had me on edge. I stiffened holding her away from me a bit so that I could study her face.

My eyes roamed her features taking in every detail of her expression. “Why? I know having a baby wasn’t planned, but none of us really took any precautions against it. I was expecting it to happen eventually.” 

“I was expecting it too. Just not what we’re getting.” She said cryptically.

I needed more. “Okay let’s go inside, tell me what has you scared.” 

Instead of heading to my office she led me to our apartment and took a seat on the sofa in our little sitting room. After pulling me to sit down with her she opened up. “Okay first I’m very happy about the pregnancy. We’re getting a buy one get one free deal.” she laughed easing the tension in the room.

“Wait. You have two cooking in there?” I hovered my hand over her toned abdomen not quite believing what I was hearing, terrified that I was dreaming this blessing.

Jen nodded, bringing my hand into contact with her body. “Girls, and they are yours.” She grinned widely. 

My hand trembled against her. “You have given me everything that I have ever dreamed of.” I pulled my mate into my arms, kissing her soundly. She gave in to my assault on her mouth for a few breaths before Brian followed her into the room politely interrupting us.

“So judging from the canoodling, you only told him the good part so far.” He stated with a pained expression.

Jen cleared her throat, blushing slightly. “Well I was interrupted before I got to that part.”

I looked between them feeling fear and anger rolling in my chest. “Explain.” My demand was harsher than I wanted it to sound making Jen jump before she scooted away from me on the couch.

“Well, we ran into a problem while we were in the vale.” She paused to take a steadying breath. “Remember how the Dragon Emperor told us that we were each chosen by gods?” I nodded encouraging her to continue. “Well it seems that the goddess, the mother of the fairies chose me. So even though Brian won’t be their primary ruler anymore, it defacto goes to her chosen.”

My throat felt tight. I can’t believe that I managed to force out a response. “You.”

Jen and Brian nodded in confirmation. “The world has to be drastically changing to have a wolf as queen of the Fae.” Brian sighed and sat on the other side of Jen pushing her closer to me once again. “Now I need to take the power from Ahearn and become a dragon. At my age!”

Brian’s whining earned a laugh from Jen and an eye roll from me. I then asked. “So how is this going to affect our lives?”

“I think it would be best if we found your god, so that we could make sure that we are compatible.” Jen stated morosely. 

“I think it’s a bit late for that, you are mine no matter what!” I responded nipping at her collar bone earning a squeak.  

“N-no, that’s not what I mean.” She tried to retreat, but the chase is the best part for a wolf. “S-stop distracting me! This is important.” 

I looked over her shoulder, flashing Brian a knowing look, he grinned knowing what I wanted. I hate admitting that I could tell when he was turned on, but right now I was falling into it, I needed my mate, and having her in a quivering mess between us was quickly becoming one of my favorite past times. “Can this wait for a better time? I just got you back, and I need to make sure that you still want me.”

Her breath caught and she scanned my face. “How could I not want you? You’re my mate, I will never not want you. “But I need to get this out, before I lose all focus.”

I sighed before giving her one last nip and making space. “Fine, tell me what you mean.”

“Guh, you have gotten bossy since becoming Alpha! Okay, what I mean is, depending on your particular god, I would want the entire pack to become part of the Vale.” Her hands were shaking in her lap, and I knew that there was something more to this. 

“And if they aren’t compatible?” I quietly asked.

“Then I will be going back to the vale alone, without you, without Brian, and without Sammy.” her lip was trembling and tears began trailing down her cheeks. My heart was breaking at her misery, and the thought of losing my mate was leaving a heavy crushing feeling in my chest.

“How long do we have?” I was going to fix this. I will die before she is taken from me, from her son, hell if she had to lose Brian it would kill me.

“Till the girls are born.” If it wasn’t for my augmented hearing I wouldn’t have caught that. There would be no way in hell that I was going to raise my babies without their mother. This was unacceptable. 

I turned to Brian demanding action. “Call Ahearn, or think of him real hard and get him to show up again, he might be able to help. I’m calling Maggie.” I stood up to head to the office and get to work. “Oh and this. We are finishing this tonight!” I declared pointing at each of us, causing a chuckle from the fairy and a darker blush from my mate.

I stomped into my office knowing that there was a threat but also knowing that I was powerless to stop it. I didn’t like this feeling. It stunk of failure. Inadequacy. I wasn’t going to stand for it. I would do anything to stop it. So I punched in my old boss’s number and waited for her to pick up.

“What’s up Dave?” she greeted.

I grunted. “I didn’t want to ask for your help so soon, but here I am.” 

“Huh?” one syllable, it’s all she could muster.

“Can you come over so Jen and I can explain this?” I pleaded. “It’s big, and it involves gods. Bring the dragon too.”

The line was silent for a moment. “Oof yeah, no problem. Well big problem I guess, but yeah I’ll be right over.”

I said my thanks before hanging up and waiting for her. I didn’t know if I should assume that she would be right in with her magic, or if it would take her a while since I asked her to bring the dragon. Either way I would wait until she arrived or it was time for bed. I occupied myself with the paperwork that I had been finishing before Jen and Brian came back, but was interrupted by a knock at my door.

“Come in.” 

A shy young male that I had only gotten to interact with during training, and a bubbly woman… that smelled of fairy came into the office. The man introduced himself and the woman.” Uh Alpha, um I’m Casey with sixth squad and this is my mate Selene.” 

I stood offering my hand to each of them. “Hello, how can I help you today?” I figured they had an issue to want to meet with me.

“Oh um nothing really Alpha, I just wanted to introduce my mate to my pack… She drove Luna and um Sir Brian back from their trip.” He was nervous and I could see why. His mate wasn’t a pack member, traditionally a long time ago, if a wolf had a non wolf mate they had to leave their packs, and Casey didn’t know how I would lead this early into my job. 

Putting his mind at ease I smiled and said. “Welcome to the pack, as long as you want to join. Casey, do you have a home yet? Or are you in the dorms?”

The young man smiled brightly after that. “Oh I, um I’m taking care of my grandfather, in his house at the moment, Doc started hospice services for him last year, so he needs the help.”

Selene frowned visibly upset with the revelation, but it didn’t seem like she was upset that she was upset to be sharing a house with a dying man, it looked like she was feeling her mate’s heart ache. “If you need anything extra in taking care of your grandpa don’t be afraid to ask. I know Jen offered starter apartments for new couples in the past, but I have a feeling that you won’t want to be leaving him alone. If you need any renovations or anything make sure you check in with first squad I’ll let Tony know that he should send some guys over.” I know with him being in sixth squad he had a lot of medical training, probably a nurse or in the internship program before he got his doctorate, his grandfather was probably best in his care.

“Thank you Alpha!” Casey brightened and took his leave to introduce the fairy to the rest of his friends.

Right after Casey closed the door behind himself it opened again to reveal Maggie and Ahearn, followed by his little girl. I took a deep breath and stood up before addressing them. “Thank you for coming. Let’s head to the apartment.” I linked Jen and Brian that we were on the way.

“I need to play with Sammy.” Asha demanded standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

Not knowing what to do I just nodded. “Um we’ll pick him up on the way.”

Ahearn just had his face in his palm. “I’m sorry, she’s really insistent. And as soon as Maggie said the word Cape Fear she wouldn’t drop it.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure once mine are here that they will have me wrapped around their little fingers.” I don’t think that I had given it much thought about being a father of little girls before Asha showed up but now seeing a father with his daughter it highlighted what my future would look like.

Ahearn and Maggie stopped in their tracks. My boss quietly asked. “Jenny is expecting?”

I nodded with a giant smile on my face. “Twins from what the fairies say girls.”

She looked leery, but patted me on the back nonetheless. “Well let’s go and deal with the god problem you have then.”

We swung by the daycare to find Sammy waiting at the front desk politely sitting in the chair next to the head nanny. “Uh did Sammy get in trouble?” I asked before signing him out.

The woman shook her head. “No, about ten minutes ago he came up sat down and said he was waiting for his girlfriend.” When Asha popped out from behind Ahearn Sammy jumped up and gave her a tight hug. “Oh, well looks like he was correct.” the older woman smiled after signing the paper behind me.

I just shook my head not understanding how he would have known already, his wolf wasn’t awake, so he wouldn’t have been able to smell her or link but he had known. “You would think that he would be happier to know that mommy and daddy are back.” I sighed, waving to the daycare team and heading back to the apartment. 

Sammy and Asha took off running back to the apartment. At least they would get to play while the adults had a really tense discussion.