The Elf's Royal Match (Book 4 The Wolves of Winter Valley)

Chapter 8 - Oh, Baby

Megan POV

There could not have possibly been a more perfect little angel in all the world than the tiny cherub nestled against my breast, and she came out of me. It blew me away that Adam and I had created this sweet-faced micro human/wolf hybrid. Just a couple of microscopic cells from each of us coming together formed one of the greatest gifts I’d ever been given. My heart was so full of love that my chest actually hurt from the pressure. I didn’t know it was even possible to love someone that completely. It was so much more than anything I’d ever felt before, stronger than even the mate bond. And nothing would ever come close to matching it.

My mind drifted to the psychotic woman whose DNA I shared. How could she have not felt any of this for me? She made me. Just as I made my daughter. Instead, she hated me from the moment of conception. As a child—and even as an adult—I’d been her punching bag, her scapegoat, and her favorite source of cruel entertainment. She’d even tried to kill me after accusing me of murdering my own father. Looking into my daughter’s sleeping face, I realized just how evil a person would have to be to treat their own child that way. The sadness that had plagued every day of my existence before Adam began to creep up, and I stamped it out viciously. That woman had ruined every special occasion I had in my life to this point; I wasn’t letting her ruin anymore.

“She’s beautiful, Megan,” Sinead said as she sat down cross-legged next to me.

I smiled and ran a finger lightly over my baby’s cheek. “Thank you. She looks like her father.”

Sinead leaned a little closer. “She has your nose. Have you two picked out a name?”

“Cassidy. Cassidy Leighton Keller. We named her after my father and his mother,” I said, meeting Sinead’s eyes.

She smiled. “I’m sure he would have loved that. I know Elvira will and on behalf of that adorable little munchkin, thank you for choosing her maiden name and not her first or middle.”

I chuckled lightly. “Oh, that was never going to happen, no matter how much she campaigned for it. Elvira Saffron? Who names their kid that? And why would she expect me to? It’s awful.”

“I thought we elves had weird names, but that one has us all beat.” Sinead laughed heartily, then sobered. “I know this is probably the wrong time, but I owe you an apology, Megan and I don’t know when I’ll have the chance again.”

“Sinead, it’s okay. You don’t have to….”

Was she serious?

She’d saved my life and my daughter’s. She calmed me down when I panicked and helped me through childbirth. That, in my mind, was apology enough.

“No, let me say this. Please. There is no excuse for what I planned to do. It was selfish and cruel, and I am ashamed that I allowed myself to even consider going down such a dark path. I’m sorry, Megan.”

I reached out and took her hand. “Thank you. I appreciate that you felt the need to say that and that you stopped yourself from casting those spells. Part of me does understand why you thought about doing that. I can’t imagine having to search so long for your mate. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did when you tried to get me out of the car. If I had been thinking clearly, I wouldn’t have freaked out that way. It’s been eight months and you’ve done nothing to warrant suspicion.” Cassidy whimpered, and I smiled, feeling a rush of warmth as I looked at my daughter. “I guess my sleepy girl finally decided she’s ready for her first meal.”

While I got to work getting Cassidy to latch on to my breast, Sinead pawed through the diaper bag, searching for a cloth for me to use when it came time to burp the baby. “You prepared for everything, didn’t you?” she asked, pulling a small pink cloth covered in daisies from the bag.

“It’s a habit of mine. I started doing that after a boy tricked me into going skinny dipping with him in high school, then ran off with my clothes. I had to walk home naked, in the dark so I wouldn’t be seen. From that point on, if I was going somewhere, I prepared for anything that could happen,” I said, unaware of how nonchalant I sounded as if such things happened every day.

Sinead gaped at me. “You walked home naked?”

“I really didn’t have a choice. He took all of my clothes and my shoes. I couldn’t stay in the lake all night, so I waited until dark and set out through the woods. My mother thought it was hilarious.”

“Forgive me for saying so, but your mother is a hellbeast,” she stated with so much venom in her voice, I laughed out loud.

“I don’t know what a hellbeast is, but I’m sure that’s a pretty fair assessment.” Cassidy pulled away from my breast, so I shifted her to my shoulder while tugging down my shirt. “So, tell me about your mate. Where did you find him? Where has he been all this time?”

After draping the cloth over my shoulder, she resumed her seat. A wistful, yet sad look crossed her face. “Aside from his looks, the only things I know about him are that he’s a guest warrior with no previous training in combat. He rides a motorcycle, and he’s a winged panther.” Sinead picked at a piece of imaginary lint on her jeans.

“That’s all you know?” I asked, completely confused.

“He’s been very adamant about his privacy since he got here.”

“But you’re his mate.” I caught the slight shimmer in her eyes and felt the pull of sympathy. I had a feeling what she said next was not going to be good.

“He says he doesn’t want a mate.” As soon as the words were out, Sinead leaped to her feet. “Could we talk about something else? Anything else?”

Cassidy began to squirm, so I moved her to my other breast. “Of course…” I thought for a minute. “Oh! I tried to channel Adam after things settled down and I couldn’t get through.”

“It’s the dome. It was formed by elfin magic, no supernatural ability or spell can penetrate it,” Sinead answered with a frown.

“Oh! Well, what about technology? A cell phone, I mean. That’s not magic or a supernatural ability,” I asked, hoping that she would answer in the affirmative.

She thought for a few seconds. “I honestly don’t know. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to try. I don’t have mine. Do you have yours?”

“It’s in my purse on the front passenger floorboard.” Quickly, Sinead crawled into the car and came out with my purse in hand, sitting it down next to my free hand. I dug around blindly inside the main pocket, first pulling out my card file, then, finally, my phone.

Adam POV

Isabella couldn’t move the dirt on her own, there was too much, and even her powers weren’t limitless. So we relied on shovels, wheelbarrows, and our own muscles to keep the process going. Everyone was pitching in, working in shifts to maintain momentum. Naturally, I worked like a beast, refusing to take even five minutes to rest. That is until Natasha compelled me.

I still didn’t rest. Instead, I prowled the side of the road like a caged lion, waiting for the opportunity to pounce. When I saw Isabella walking toward one of the jeeps our security team arrived in, I raced after her. “Where are you going?” I demanded.

“I have nothing left,” she said, her words slurring.

It was too soon. She couldn’t be worn out yet. I’d seen her do so much more. “You can’t leave, Izzy! We need you! Megan and Sinead need you!”

“I have to rest, Adam. Jo is coming. Evan is here and Daniel come after shift. I have to….” Her sentence cut off as she swayed, then crumbled to the pavement.

“Izzy!” I shouted and scooped her up into my arms. “Drake!”

Drake was already running towards us before I finished calling his name, followed by Natasha, Harmony, Seth, and Evan. He carefully took her from me and cradled her against his chest. “She’s done,” he said, pressing a kiss to her brow. “I better get her over to the hospital. She’s going to need fluid while she recuperates.”

“The hospital? I thought all she needed to recharge was a nap.” Panic began to overwhelm me. Since Lucy had returned to Raven’s Crest, Isabella was the strongest witch in the Valley. While I respected her siblings’ abilities, they were still learning how to use and control them.

Drake ducked his head and whispered something in Izzy’s ear, then looked back at the rest of us, who all wore matching confused expressions. “Under normal circumstances, a nap would be enough. But since she’s pregnant, her energy drains much more quickly and completely, as we discovered when she was carrying Piper.”

“She’s pregnant?” Natasha squealed. “Why didn’t she tell us?”

“She planned to tell everyone at dinner tonight. Clearly, mother nature had other plans.” Izzy mumbled something, and Drake lowered his head to listen. A muscle was twitching in his jaw when he looked up again. “Okay. Apparently, it wasn’t mother nature. Izzy says dark magic caused the earthquake and good magic is why Sinead and Megan are still alive.”

Harmony huffed. “That figures. I suppose we should just start assuming that everything that happens is caused by the psycho b***h who wants to destroy us all.”

“Let’s be fair, we don’t know that the succubus is running the show. While it is highly likely, based on her attempts to get to the Triad, we have no proof that she isn’t working for someone else,” Seth admitted.

She shrugged, then started back toward the mound.

“Drake, go on and take Izzy to the hospital….” Natasha’s words were cut off by a shout.

“There’s a structure!” A middle eastern man I didn’t recognize, came running over. “Alpha, we’ve uncovered what appears to be a structure made of trees under the dirt.”

Natasha smiled. “That would be the good magic that Isabella mentioned. Sinead conjured it. The flipside of that coin is that we won’t be able to get through it. Only Sinead, or a higher ranking elf, can bring it down.”

The man scrubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “And we can’t reach Sinead?”

“No, I’m sorry, Colt. All efforts to channel her and Megan have failed,” Natasha told him with a pat on his arm. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

I watched the man walk away with his face drawn and his shoulders slumped in defeat. When he was out of earshot, I turned to Natasha. “Who is that and why is he acting like you just ripped his heart from his chest?”

“He is a guest warrior, and at his request, that’s all I can tell you.” She started to walk toward the mound, but I lay a hand on her arm to stop her.

“His request? Since when do we allow guests to keep things about themselves secret?” I asked, anger bubbling beneath the surface. I was the Gamma of this pack. I was supposed to be as well informed about the people coming and going on pack lands as every other ranked member.

Natasha stiffened her spine, a clear sign that she was primed for Alpha mode if needed. “Colt is a special circumstance. He passed the scan, so I have no problem keeping his confidence. He is not hiding anything that would affect the pack in any way.”

“Do Seth and Harmony know about this guy?” I shouldn’t have asked. It was petty and spiteful, but the words were out before I could stop them.

“No, they don’t.” She was fuming. “Now, are you finished questioning my integrity, so I can get back to figuring out a way to save your mate?”

I hung my head as shame stamped out the anger. “I’m sorry, Nat. You didn’t deserve that. I guess I’m just paranoid after everything that’s happened.”

She stepped forward and embraced me. “You can be a real asshole sometimes, you know that?”

“Yeah, Megan has pointed that out on numerous occasions.”

“Well, stop it. You need to learn to trust me, Adam. I would never keep anything vital from you. Colt’s secrets are personal and have no bearing on anyone else. That’s the only reason I am respecting his wishes.”

The sound of my cell phone ringing drew our attention to the back of a security pickup. Junior warriors were often tasked with collecting dropped personal effects when an unexpected mass shift occurred. I walked over and fished it out of the small pile. My eyes widened when I saw Megan’s name and image, identifying her as the caller.

“Meg?” I all but shouted when I engaged the call. Natasha rushed over. Our eyes stayed locked on each other while I listened to the two most beautiful words ever to be spoken.

“Hi, baby.”

“Megan! Oh, my Goddess! Are you okay?” I asked in a rush.

“We’re fine. Sinead saved us,” she said.

“Are you hurt? Is Sinead?”

“Nope. Not a single scratch.”

I lowered the tailgate of the pickup and pulled myself up to sit. The change in position revealed aches that I’d been unaware of previously. “Why did you wait so long to call? I’ve been going out of my mind out here, baby. I had to block Aiden because he hasn’t given me a moment’s peace since we heard about the mudslide.”

Megan giggled softly. “I’m sorry, honey. I was a little…busy,” she answered, then, after a brief pause, added. “Check your text messages.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear when the alert sounded and tapped the text notification. My heart swelled and burst in my chest as my eyes devoured the image of my gorgeous mate holding our sleeping pup.