The Alpha & Beta's Regret

CH 8

Luci POV

Standing outside her hut drinking her morning coffee, the headache she had been sporting from yesterday’s battle, had finally receded. The boys were doing well and had stayed with her unconscious body, didn’t seem all that bothered by it, apparently knew she was alright. Surprised her quite a bit, but not Alari at all.

Both boys were ready for school, they’d all had breakfast, she’d made them strawberry pancakes this morning, a treat for them being so very brave and well behaved yesterday. Looking after her while she was vulnerable to attack herself. They were good boys all the time. So very happy all the time. Seemed to just love life.

They were a good bit taller than the boys and girls their age, that they went to school with. Their bloodlines she knew. One pure-blooded Alpha and Kali stated that as far as they were concerned, they were both considered Alpha-blooded and, though only little Rafe was of pure Alpha blood. Little Jack was an Alpha as well due to them and their blood, but Luci still liked to think of little Jack as half Beta-blooded because that was what his father was.

Her keen eyesight was watching the other end of the lake, nothing though. It seemed they were not interested in finding out what had helped them or why.

Sighed to herself, just happy she supposed to have gotten the assistance, it wasn’t likely going to happen again anytime soon. It took a lot out of them to assist like that, and they’d been unconscious till late afternoon and woken with a splitting headache which had not eased off until the early hours of the morning.

Victor, that son of a b***h, had looked right at her, his curiosity would be eating him alive, he was going to come back at some point, that much she knew with full certainty. He was going to sneak right up to this lake and try to get his filthy hands on her, or that creature in the lake. She wasn’t exactly sure if his vision had been clear enough to see her, recognise her, but it wouldn’t matter to him, it was the power that he would be drawn to.

‘Good luck.’ Alari yawned inside her mind ‘I’ll explode his head first.’

Kali snorted, full amused at Alari’s comment.

Even Luci smiled, though she knew Alari was deadly serious.

Victor would come fully prepared; he would be expecting any attack he brought to be defended with deadly force. She did not know if the man had seen her crumple into the water utterly exhausted. If he had, he’d be looking to get her into that state again. The man was a particular kind of intelligent, always came fully armed with knowledge of what he was dealing with and ready to handle it. He wouldn’t arrive quickly, would go back to his pack, be researching everything he could about what he thought she was. Though that Siren call was a dead give-away to a man like him, she highly doubted that he had missed it.

“Mamma.” she turned to face her boys and smiled down at them.

“Yes.”

“School time.” they smiled up at her, happy to go and interact with the human children of the local town. A place of only 1100 people, a small resort town, but bloomed out to nearly 4000 in the holidays, it was very popular in the summertime and on long weekends. The population doubled every weekend, this lake was a magnet for humans. They loved coming here to swim, water ski, jet ski and relax at the weekends.

Luci put her cup down and squatted down to look at them, with both Alari and Kali looking as well. They were feeling to see if today was the day her shifters were waiting on. Would they shift today unexpectedly while in the human school? Sometimes their deep dark eyes were a little on the pale side, but not today. A good sign they were not going to shift.

Touched their little faces, “now you know to hide what you are.”

Watched as both boys looked at her and nodded “Yes mamma.” they stated together. She was so proud of them, knew what they were, how special they were, but happy to be human for the days and play with the other kids.

“Okay, let’s head off to school.” it was a nice 1 hour walk down the woodland path to the human town, at a casual stroll, and the boys chatted the whole way. She strolled along just behind them, smiling as she listened to them. Dropped the boys at the school and waved goodbye to them ‘a normal human life 5 days a week for them and her. She headed off to her job at the local gym, her first spin class to start in just 15 minutes.

Greeted her boss with a nod and a smile. She was a nice enough woman but could be a royal pain in the ass if she had a bee in her bonnet about something. Lucky for Luci, she did not have to come to work yesterday, or the woman would be berating her already for not turning up.

Luci walked into the staff room and placed her backpack in the locker that was hers, pulled her long hair up. It had once been a beautiful dark chocolate brown, now it was more of a golden brown colour, it changed when Alari had come along, a lot about her had changed too. She’d also gone from 5 foot 8 to nearly 6 feet tall. Like all Alpha’s and most warriors, when shifting for the first time, they had an instant growth spurt.

Not many would recognise her from behind, also didn’t have the same scent as before, that to had changed with Alari’s arrival. No more did she just scent of Kali, Alari’s scent of freshly Fallon rain was now with her too. Didn’t scent like a wolf anymore.

She did see the occasional pack member here in the town, just averted her eyes from them or glanced away from them. Sometimes Alari would send them away with her call if they got too close for their liking. She still looked just like her mother, a beautiful woman who had lied to her all her life now, it seemed. Her father, Orien, was clearly not her father at all. It was no wonder he never wanted her to take over his pack, she wasn’t his heir. His Mate's child to another.

Had no idea who her real father was, but her mother had always told her she was special, had doted on her even more than Thatcher and she knew it. Must have loved that man, whoever he was. Clearly, had to be a Siren, because otherwise how would she have gotten Alari?

Shook the thoughts of her family off, she didn’t really have that much trouble with the pack members here in town. None of them ever came to the gym. The Black Forest Pack had their own training grounds, they were massive and everyone was allowed to train. She also didn’t have to worry about the boys being seen. Their pack had a school from 5 to 12 years old, only the teens come here to the local high school and that was mostly just to get them used to dealing with humans and learning human rules.

That school was at the other end of the town, she didn’t have to worry about running into anyone that would recognise her. She’d been gone for a long time and those teens would have been just preteens or younger when she’d been in the pack.

Most pack members she found just drove through the town and headed for the city to get the things they needed. None had ever walked into the gym. The human gym was the safest place for her to go un-noticed so close by to the pack. And she only worked four days a week and only school hours, being a single mother of two so young. Meant she had some constraints, her pay was small, but they got by. They had a small but well maintained vegetable garden outside the back of their hut, and two fruit trees.

Their home had no electricity, so she’d bought camping gear for cooking that ran on gas cylinders, had a camp stove for cooking and an open wood barbeque as well. There was running water, which was good, but no hot water, so she had purchased a portable outdoor camping gas heated hot shower and a couple of privacy screens to surround it.

Though getting the gas to their hut was exhausting, she had no car, so she had to walk the empty bottles to the town's outdoor store and trade them for full ones and they were heavy buggers to carry back. On the bright side, it kept her good and strong physically.

Her money went into clothing, gas and school supplies. They mostly lived on fish from the lake and the fruit and vegetables that they grew. A very healthy diet, did buy meat in the cooler months of the year, when it was safe to carry it the one-hour walk home. She could move faster but did not. There were several cabins dotted along the woodland path they used, and the roads all had driveways attached to them. They couldn’t risk it. They looked like poor humans and with no electricity to keep things cold. Luci only bought what they would eat on the day or non-perishables.

Her day passed like every other day: a spin class first thing in the morning, then assist the gym members with weight training, then run the yoga class before lunch. Then the afternoon was pretty much the same, just a repeat of the morning.

Luci wore the standard gym uniform of three-quarter black tights that sat across her hips and a white crop top with the Gym’s logo across her more than ample breasts, not something she liked, it drew the men's eyes to her full breasts. Her very well-defined abs were on display, there was nothing soft about her build anymore, she was all toned muscled, her boss had been shocked by her abs when she’d had her try on the uniform.

But it had been expected, her mother was an Alpha-blooded female and her father, who knew. She’d only ever known Orien, though she’d called him father all her life, now knew him to be her stepfather. He was an Alpha Wolf. She knew she had been born inside the Nightfall Pack. So, her mother had been Mated to him while she was pregnant with Luci, she supposed. Must have had a Mate before him.

Though had not once ever mentioned the man, as far as Luci could recall. Had never even told Luci, Orien wasn’t her actual father. Not even when she’d been sent away by her stepfather to be a concubine for Rafe and Jack, for her unruly behaviour and continued sleeping with them against his wishes.

But how could she not? They’d always been amazing in bed. She’d enjoyed visiting their pack and when they had visited hers. Though they had tried to keep the s*x a secret most of the time. Her father or Orien was always disappointed in her, even when she’d been little.

Likely now, she realised, was to do with the fact that she was not actually his. She did have some good memories of the man growing up. He wasn’t ever cruel to her and was never ever allowed to physically punish her. Her mother would not stand for it. She actually heard her mother threaten to leave him if he so much as s*****d her and Luci actually believed she would. There had been full meaning behind her words.

To her surprise, Orien had actually apologised to her mother, for yelling at Luci and making her cry. She’d been like 12 at the time and her little brother, Thatcher, had been 4. Orien did love her mother. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for that woman. She was his Goddess Gifted mate. That thought brought pain to her. She did not have one of those. Or two of those. Sighed and pushed that thought away. Went and picked the boys up from school. They were happy to see her as always. She had never felt such a strong connection to anyone before, not even her Alpha and Beta.

The love that filled her, just looking at them filled her heart completely. They hugged her like always and then the three of them headed on home, back down the woodland path. It was well shaded and though it wound up and down hills they were all used to it.

Life was back to normal, it seemed.