Their Mistake

Chapter Six

REMI

The three of us barely noticed how much time had passed when our mates were walking into my office. As soon as I laid eyes on them, a smile stretched across my face. Cullen looked passive as usual, but Calder smiled charmingly.

Alpha Remi moved straight to his mates, pulling each of them to him as they stood. He kissed them in turn, and I could tell they had different relationships with him just by their simple greetings.

Calder and Cullen both came to me, pulling me up from my seat then planting a kiss on either one of my cheeks at the same time. I returned each of their kisses before turning back to our guests.

“Would you like to join us for dinner this evening?” I asked.

Cullen tensed next to me, grabbing my hip. “We had plans, love,” he linked.

“We should at least extend the offer,” I told him. “Plus, I really like Catie and Cori!”

Cullen’s eyes softened; he nodded. I knew he wouldn’t be able to tell me no. I planned on texting Pip to come by as well. I knew she would get along great with Catie.

“Oh, can we, Remi?” Catie asked excitedly.

“Cori, do you want to stay awhile longer to have dinner with our hosts?” he asked his other mate. She gave him a small smile and nodded. Alpha Remi looked over at us. “As long as it isn’t too much of an imposition, we would love to stay.”

“No imposition at all,” Calder smiled, snaking his arm around my waist. “Why don’t we have our Beta show you guys around while we talk with our mate for just a moment?”

“Absolutely,” Alpha Remi said. He grabbed both of his mates’ hands and headed to the door. Cullen followed, probably to take them to Gentry’s office. Calder turned to me with a playful smile.

“You messed up Cullen’s plans,” he laughed.

My face dropped. “Oh no,” I said. “I didn’t mean to! I was being polite! We were all getting along well.”

“It’s okay,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. “Nothing that can’t be moved until tomorrow.”

“He’ll be so upset!” I said.

“I am sure you can make it up to him. Just pout this lip and tell him sorry,” Calder laughed. Calder’s eyes moved south to my bump, and his hands followed. He rubbed it gently. “You are long overdo for some maternity clothes,” he muttered.

He wasn’t wrong; my stomach had grown so large that it was stretching most of the clothes I could still manage to fit over it. I hadn’t wanted to make a fuss, though.  

“We can take care of that tomorrow,” Cullen said, rejoining us. I stepped away from Calder, going to my other mate. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck as he settled his hands on my hips.

“I am sorry if I ruined your plans,” I said softly.

“It’s alright,” he sighed. “We can go tomorrow.” His steely grey eyes didn’t look angry. I reached up and kissed his lips gently, hoping he wasn’t too disappointed.

“Where are we going?” I asked him as we broke apart. He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear.

“We thought we could go to the Ordinary Realm for a couple of days. Calder and I need to check on some things in the office, but we also thought it might be a nice opportunity to get away from the pack. We thought you could use a little break from things, and we could all just spend some time together.”

“Cullen, that is so sweet,” I said. “Are you sure we can get away?”

“You might want to tell our mom what baby shower theme you have picked to keep her out of our hair,” Calder said.

My shoulders slumped. I couldn’t decide; it was all so cute. “You two should choose,” I said. As I went over to my desk, I grabbed the folder and shoved it at them. “I can’t. You know what your mom likes best anyway.”

Calder laughed as he grabbed the folder. “This isn’t about our mom, baby,” he said.

“It’s about you and the pups,” Cullen said, nodding.

“It just seems like so much fuss,” I said.

“Of course it is,” Calder said, pulling me back close to him. “The whole pack is excited about your pregnancy. You are growing their future Alpha, baby. You are very important to them.”

I sighed. “I know,” I relented. “Can we pick together then?”

“We can do that,” Cullen said, coming to the other side of me. “After dinner tonight.” I nodded and leaned against Calder, letting him wrap his arms around me.

-

“Wait, so you are having twins?” Catie asked across the table.

“Yea, didn’t I mention that?” I said. Calder and Cullen both looked at me with pride in their eyes.

“You poor thing! Twin boys, I can’t imagine,” Catie said. I laughed at that.

“I am sure female twins are no better,” Calder said, rolling his eyes.

“Catie, that was rude,” Cori hissed at her sister from the other side of Alpha Remi.

“I think I have to agree with Catie here,” Gentry piped in. “Luna handled us well, but there were days where Alpha looked like he was ready to kill us.”

Just then, Sammy came rushing into the dining room. “Sorry!” she called. She stumbled, realizing we had guests. Gentry stood to greet her.

“Oh, Beta, is this your lovely mate?” Alpha Remi asked.

“She’s a witch, right? You have a witch’s mark,” Catie asked.

“Everyone, this is my mate Samantha,” Gentry introduced her. Sam looked nervously around. “This is the Alpha of Somber Plains, Remington and his twin Lunas, Catelynn and Corin.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sammy said. “Please, call me Sammy.”

“Catie,” one twin said, “Cori” the other.

“Wait,” Sammy said, looking between the three of them then across the table at Calder, Cullen, and me. “No way,” she laughed. I nodded at her.

“Strange, isn’t it?” I said. Gentry and Sammy took their seats.

“Fascinating,” Sammy said, dropping her chin onto her arm propped on the table.

Gentry laughed. “You’ll have to excuse her. She is very intrigued by the workings of our Realm and our Goddess.”

“Seriously,” Sammy said, defending herself. “Twins are not common among your race. Twin Alphas and Lunas. I don’t think you fully appreciate how exactly the forces of nature have to align for these things to happen. I mean Remi and Remington?”

The conversation continued amongst everyone as we ate and then well after that. Cori and Sammy seemed to hit it off. Catie was very handsy with Alpha Remi, and we could see his face getting redder as the night went on. Finally, he informed us they had to make their departure.

As we escorted them out, Nicole came bustling in through the front doors. “Oh, wonderful! My beautiful daughter-in-law!” she exclaimed.

“Mother, can this wait a moment,” Calder hissed as she rushed us. Nicole must have realized we had guests as her eyes went wide.

“I am so sorry,” she said quickly, straightening herself to full height. “My name is Nicole; I am the former Luna of Blue Moon.” She held out her hand to Alpha Remington.

“This is the Alpha and Lunas of Somber Plains,” I informed her. She opened her mouth with a slight ‘o’.

“Pleased to meet you, Luna,” Alpha Remi said. “I am afraid we must be heading out, though. Maybe another time.”

“Sure,” Nicole said. Calder nodded to Gentry, who led them out the rest of the way. “Sorry, dears, I didn’t know you had visitors today. I just had the most brilliant idea for your shower and wanted to come talk to you about it.”

“Oh, um, sure,” I said.

“Since we are getting so close, I thought that we could go ahead and move the date up to this weekend,” she rushed out excitedly. My eyes widened.

“That’s so soon….” I said. I felt one of my mates place their hand on my lower back.

“Yes, but the weather is wonderful, and we are only getting closer every day!” she said. She clasped her hands together in front of her, looking nervous.

“I wouldn’t want to put that much of a burden on you,” I reasoned.

“It’s no burden at all!” she said immediately. “I am sure Benson’s mate will be happy to help with all the preparations, too!”

“I…” I trailed off. I looked up at my mates for help.

“Mom, Remi hasn’t even decided on a theme yet. We were going to do that later this evening,” Calder came to my rescue.

“Oh, I had another idea for that as well! We can obviously adapt any of the themes we already gave you for two babies, but I came across some adorable photos that gave me an idea: DOUBLE TROUBLE!” she squealed.

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “Mother,” Cullen tried to warn. Nicole looked between her sons, calming down a bit.

“You all don’t need to lift a finger. I will take care of everything! We have plenty of staff in the packhouse to help as well,” Nicole said. She reached forward and grabbed my hand. “I know it seems overwhelming, but Cassius and I are really just so excited.”

I took a deep breath and looked up at Calder then Cullen. They both were giving me sympathetic eyes. I knew they would support me if I told their mother no, but this seemed important to her.

“Okay,” I agreed. “We can do it this weekend. And if you really want, you can use the trouble theme you mentioned.”

“Oh yay!” Nicole bellowed. “This will be fantastic, don’t you worry! This will be the best baby shower our pack has ever seen!” Nicole hurried away, telling us nothing else. Cullen and Calder both wrapped me in tight hugs.

“Are you sure about that?” Cullen asked.

“Not too late to change your mind,” Calder added.

“Yea,” I sighed. “Just look how happy it made her.” I cuddled closer to them.

“I am sure it will be fun, and you can tell us all about it,” Calder said. I lifted my head to look at him.

“If you think you are getting out of this, you are sadly mistaken, Alpha,” I scolded him.

“These events are mostly for the women,” Cullen argued. I shook my head.

“I think it would be better if it were for you,” I told them.

Calder sighed. “Alright,” he said. “We’ll see.”

SAMMY

Gentry stood behind me as we bathed Grayson. “I think I may have found a fix,” I told him.

“Really?” he asked excitedly. “That’s amazing. I knew you would figure it out.”

“Well, the potion will take almost a week to make, so I won’t know for a little while,” I told him.

“That is still great,” he said. He wrapped his arms around me, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “My little witch is the smartest in the realm. Nothing stumps you for long.”

“I appreciate your confidence in me,” I laughed. He kissed my cheek then settled himself back on my shoulder as I gently rinsed our son. “As long as this works, I should be fine in no time.”

Gentry was quiet for a minute. “What if it doesn’t?” he asked quietly. I stilled; If it didn’t work, I wasn’t sure what else to do.

“I have full confidence in you if you do think you found the solution,” he quickly added. “But I am a little curious; what will happen if it doesn’t work?”

“It should have no adverse side effect if I am wrong,” I told him airily.

“Is there anyone else that could possibly help with this?” he asked. “In our realm or the next?”

“Umm,” I said. I scooped Grayson up, and Gentry handed me the towel. I busied myself drying off my baby, not wanting to answer Gentry’s question. He seemed to drop it as we got Grayson ready for bed.

When we were finally alone in our room, he brought it up again. “Sam, is there something your not telling me? Is there someone that could help with this that you don’t want to tell me about?”

“It’s complicated,” I said.

“Uncomplicate it,” he replied.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. I pulled at it, piling it up into a messy bun on top of my head. “It has to do with my old coven,” I said.

“You said you left them years ago, right?” he asked. I nodded. “Why?”

I chewed my lip, debating if it was necessary to tell him about my mother and childhood. “Let’s just say that the only other witch that I can think of that may be able to help wouldn’t help me,” I told him.

“That isn’t very specific,” he said.

“Can you just trust me for now?” I asked. “She isn’t someone I want us involved with. I will fix this. I am sure this potion is the answer, okay?”

Gentry’s eyes held worry and concern, but he nodded his head. “Okay,” he said. “I trust you.”