Mated to the Enemy (#4 of the Hyle pack)

Michael Spike was sitting in his living room, dark circles were accentuating the bottom of his eyes, and his face was resting on his hands, while screams filled the air all around him and his house. Screams that were coming from his very own mate who was lying in the bedroom, just one floor above him. Michael felt desperate and powerless, as he heard the pain in his mate’s screams. He wanted to help her, but he just did not know how to, at that exact moment. His mate, Carol Bassinger, was after all in the midst of delivering a pup. Michael wasn’t a monster, he surely wanted to stay with her, hold her hand and comfort her through the whole process, but the pack doctor had ushered him outside, claiming that he was only making matters worse right now, as he was starting to get worried, and his worry was projecting on to his mate. So, after a few minutes of being led outside, Michael Spike had still been staring at the wood of the closed door right in front of him, which blocked him out of his own bedroom. Away from the love of his life. Away from his true mate. He had finally come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t help his mate, for now. So, he had walked back downstairs, where he had found comfort in a bottle of scotch that he had stored inside one of the kitchen cabinets for occasions just like these. The cries and screams of his mate were cutting through him like knives, each scream cutting deeper than the last. And it almost made him turn mad. So, he searched for comfort in the liquid gold that was stirring around in his glass. Embracing it like an old friend, that would help him and comfort him, in this time of need. Carol and Michael were, after all, true mates. They had found each other on Carol’s 18th birthday. It almost felt like a fairytale back at the time. They were high school sweethearts, and sure enough, once Michael had turned 18, he already knew that Carol was his and would become only his, when she would become of age, just a few months later. And as every fairytale would go, Carol turned 18 and they fell in love, head over heels with each other. very, very deep and very, very hard. They moved in together fast, like most mates would, and immediately had their minds set on having a big family, where pups would wander around through the house, as their laughter and giggles would fill the air around them. Making it the perfect family home. Only... that was the part where it had gone so terribly wrong for them. The pups just never came. The doctors found it remarkable that Carol was unable to carry out a pregnancy. Especially for a she-wolf. The first pregnancy had been a gift from the Moon Goddess. Carol had been overjoyed, but far too soon, she had miscarried, and had lost the pup, which was followed by a time of great grief and depression for Carol. After picking themselves back up as a couple a few weeks later, they tried again, and again, and again. Each time Carol lost the pup, she seemed to be finding herself in deeper and darker places deep inside of herself, since she claimed that it was her body, after all, that caused all this grief upon them both. And it was her body that made them both without any pups and, because of that, without the joy of having a family. She felt as if she was broken, unfit to fulfill her one job in life as a she-wolf. Procreate. Carol had cried often, begging Michael to reject her, and to go and find another mate, a fertile mate. One who was able to grant Michael with pups, and therefore, was worthy of him. But he didn’t want to hear any of it. After all, Michael had come to learn that he actually only wanted pups, because his mate longed for them so badly. And he could simply not say 'no' to anything that his mate’s heart desired. But time after time, Michael had found a way to pull his darling Carol back up on her feet, glue the pieces back together, and try ‘just one more time’. Because he did love her so much. Even when the pack doctor had claimed that Carol’s body had suffered too much over the years, and it was better if both of them would stop trying to conceive, Carol did not accept the verdict at all. It even fueled her anger and stubbornness, and made her more determined than ever, to pursue with her wish for at least one healthy pup in her life. And sure enough, she got pregnant again. And from the day that she found out about the glorious news of her expecting pup, she had locked herself up inside her house, spending most time in her bed, because this time, she was determined to end this pregnancy the way she wanted them all to have ended. With a healthy and living pup inside of her arms. The months went by, and as Carol’s tummy got bigger and rounder, she herself seemed to become weaker and weaker. Michael spent most of his time next to her bed, holding her hand and whispering sweet things to her. It wouldn’t be long now before the pup would make his or her arrival, and Carol would have gotten everything that her heart had desired. A pup, a perfect blend of them both. Although Michael wished the pup would have all the features of his beloved mate. His Carol. After carrying the pup full-term, sure enough, Carol’s body started to get contractions, and Michael had rushed towards the pack doctor, who had taken his supplies and, with the help of a nurse, had come to Michael Spike’s home, where they both would help, to bring this pup into the world. Many screams, hours and glasses of scotch later, the bedroom door finally opened, and the voice of the pack doctor sounded, coming from upstairs. Michael ran upstairs as fast as he could, skipping two or three steps at a time. And sure enough, as he made it towards his own bedroom, he was greeted by an angelic sound, that of a small infant that was crying. The nurse came walking up to Michael Spike, where she laid his newborn son in his arms. Michael Spike lost the ability to speak, as he looked at the small but perfect creature that was crying in his arms. Ten little fingers, and ten little toes. Not only did his mate grant him with a healthy pup, she had also granted him with a son that would carry on with the Spike name. Saying that he was feeling beyond proud was an understatement. He felt so happy, he hadn’t even seen the harsh conditions that his own mate was in at the time. She had lost lots of blood during the delivery, making her look pale and very, very weak. Michael Spike, however, placed the pup in his mate’s arms, congratulating her on being such a strong mate to him, and granting him with a son. The doctor had pulled Michael Spike into the hallway, where he closed the door for some privacy between the two men while they spoke. The doctor warned Michael Spike, that Carol was very weak and had lost a lot of blood, not to mention that her body had suffered extremely, before this pregnancy had even begun. That night, delivering the baby, just seemed like the last drop on Carol’s body. The doctor urged Michael Spike to go to the store and buy some formula for the newborn. Carol was too weak and fatigued to breastfeed. She needed to rest and gain strength. So, in a hurry, Michael Spike left his house as he drove towards the first store that he could find, buying formula, baby bottles, diapers and wet wipes. He had cursed to himself plenty that night, for not buying all the supplies sooner. One would say he had still doubted that this pup would have made it out alive in the end. As he made his way back home, he unfortunately received a mind link, telling him to hurry back to his house. Carol was not well, and would probably not make it through the night. Driving home like a madman, Michael Spike had jumped out of his car, with the keys still in the lock as the car was still running and all the supplies for the newborn had still been lying inside the vehicle. He had rushed inside his house, where a few seconds later, a heartbroken cry sounded all over the pack grounds, as Michael Spike had walked into his bedroom, where he found his mate, Carol, who had just died after she had had another bleed and had lost too much blood. He did not even get the chance to say goodbye to her, to the love of his life, to his true mate. Consumed by grief and pain over the loss of his mate, the nurse that had been present during that awful night, named Daniella, had taken it upon herself to take care of the newborn for as long as Michael Spike needed to mourn over the loss of his mate, Carol. She only never had thought that Michael Spike would be gone the very next day. The body of his dead mate, missing from their bed, as they later had found Carol’s burned body deep inside the woods, where Michael Spike had probably tried to cremate his mate by himself. Tried, and failed miserably. Whereas of Michael Spike, there was no trail at all. It was as if he had vanished from the earth along with his mate. Which was what many pack members thought at the time. Poor old Michael, probably killed himself after the loss of his beloved mate, who had died because he had never stopped asking for a pup. A pup that he had now abandoned, living with a woman who wasn’t even related to him. But after eleven years, in which the newborn had grown up to be a feisty little boy. Michael Spike returned home. Where he came to knock on nurse Daniella’s front door, as Daniella had almost peed her pants in fear, seeing that Michael Spike had returned, and the state that the man was in at the time. A rogue, that was all that could be said about Michael Spike from that day. He was a rogue, and a true poster image of it as well. Daniella was, however, surprised, as Michael Spike had claimed, that he had returned home to his son. Or as he would claim to Daniella, the next Alpha of the Spike pack. Daniella, of course, thought that Michael Spike had gone mad over the years. There was no such thing as a Spike Pack, and she knew it. The man standing in front of her was a rogue who suffered from depression over losing his mate. But before she could call out for help, or even mind link to guards for their help in the matter, Michael Spike had already slit her throat, as he had snatched the young boy and had pulled him with him into the dark and dangerous woods. Because in those eleven years, when Michael Spike had been away from his own son, he had come up with a plan for himself. He had come to realize that his mate, his beloved Carol, had died at the hands of a life, living inside a weak pack. If they would have lived in a strong pack, there would have been better nurses and better doctors, they would have been able to save his mate, and nothing that had happened to the love of his life, would have actually happened at all. If they had lived in a stronger pack, he was absolutely sure that Carol would have survived. So, Michael Spike came up with a plan for himself. He would make his own pack, a strong pack, a pack that would make other packs shiver in fear. A pack where he would make sure that his loved ones would always be taken care of, he would make sure of it. And as he pulled his son with him through the woods, and the boy was screaming and crying for Daniella, who had been like a mother to him throughout his whole life, Michael Spike was certain of one thing, his mate might have been weak and frail, he would make it his life’s mission, that his son, THEIR SON, would grow up to become fearless, he would grow up to be an Alpha. The Alpha of the Spike pack! Even if it would be the last thing that he would do in this life and on this earth.