Alpha's Fate (Black Moon Saga Book 2)

Chapter 3-1: The Meeting of the Alphas

The next morning, Adam decides to get up early and join the Tall Pine warriors for training. Nate and Jonah will both be joining in as well, and he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to help with preparing Jonah for the Alpha challenge. He also would like to get a sense for what they can expect from the Tall Pine warriors.

Kylie rolls over in the bed and startles when she realizes he isn’t there with her anymore. She bolts upright and looks around until her eyes settle on Adam putting on his running shoes near the door.

“Morning, sweetheart,” he whispers. “Was hoping not to disturb you.”

“It’s weird, but it’s actually waking up alone that disturbs me,” she responds, then dramatically drops back down onto the pillows. “What have you done to me?”

He chuckles as he makes his way back over to sit on the edge of the bed and lean down to kiss her on the lips. “I’m the same way, if it makes you feel any better.”

She reaches her arms up and puts them around his neck, preventing his escape. “Where are you off to this morning?”

“Off to join your brother for a bit of Alpha-on-Alpha training. Figure it will be good practice for him,” he tells her, placing one last peck on her forehead before pulling away from her. “Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I can probably hold my own against him pretty well. I have been training with you, after all.”

She grins and gives him a flirty wink. “Toot that horn, baby. You’re amazing. And I bet it will feel nice to get back to normal training instead of all the crazy stuff Dorian puts me up to.”

He laughs again and nods. “No kidding,” he agrees. “But hey, speaking of, Dr. Dorian is great and all, but you have missed a few of your appointments with Dr. Williams. Might not hurt to go see one of the pack doctors here and get everything checked out. Plus, maybe your grandmother or one of your aunts would want to go with you since they missed all that with Abby.”

“Sure, I can do that. Are you sure you don’t want me to wait for you?”

“I do, but I also don’t know how many opportunities we’ll have while here. It feels important, and I don’t want you to miss the chance. Go without me if you have to, just take somebody so you don’t have to go alone and update me later.”

“Sure thing. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” He leans down to give her one final kiss, and then heads out for training.

She stays in the bed for a little while longer, but eventually comes to terms with the fact that she isn’t going back to sleep. She gets up to shower and change into a loose, summery blue sundress, then heads to the guest room next to theirs, hoping Tian is awake. She knows he mostly only sleeps when he needs to rest and recharge his powers, and since he traveled here with them in the car instead of teleporting, he has probably been up most of the night.

She knocks on the door and waits until she hears him quietly tell her to come in before opening it.

“How did you know it was me?” she asks facetiously, already knowing the answer.

“Hmm, let me see,” he feigns the need to think about it, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I heard you and am quite familiar with your footsteps, I smelled you and have your scent memorized, and I sensed you through our bond,” he ticks off his answers on his fingers as he lists them. Then he smiles broadly and motions her over to join him on the bed, where he is reclining against the pillows.

She giggles at his antics and makes her way over to him, climbing up beside where he sits and making herself comfortable.

“Adam decided to go be a warrior today, and I couldn’t go back to sleep after he left,” she explains. “Thought I’d come bother you until breakfast.”

“You’re never a bother, Kylie. You know that,” he reminds her, leaning over to put his arm around her and pull her into him a bit more.

She shifts around to settle into his embrace and puts her head on his chest, a position they’ve gotten more accustomed to lately. Adam makes a point of letting her have “Tian Time” as often as their schedule permits when he is around.

“I’m nervous about that meeting tomorrow,” she admits.

Alpha Mitchell contacted his allies and invited them to Tall Pines for a meeting the next afternoon, giving them all enough time to make arrangements and travel there. Though he did not warn any of them that she will be attending, fearing they might not take his urgency seriously enough if he did, he did tell her he will allow it but it will be up to her to handle the other Alphas who may react badly to it.

“Don’t be. You seem to be a natural at knowing what to do in response to a situation. I’m sure that when you get a sense of the room, you’ll figure out what you need to do to win them over,” he reassures her, patting her upper arm.

“I hope so. Part of me wishes I could just show up to their pack runs and shift and make their people decide for them,” she jests, referring to what happened at Spirit Moon. She is also partly serious, though.

He chuckles in response, then reminds her, “If only it were that simple. We must be careful not to reveal how special you are to the wrong people, though. We want to be sure that your father doesn’t know what hit him when you come for him. It’s best to determine who is on our side, and then show them what you can do.”

“I know, and this is why we keep you around, Tian,” she teases, then leans up to kiss him on the cheek. She hasn’t done that before, and it startles him, but he quickly recovers.

Once breakfast time rolls around, Kylie and Tian make their way downstairs to the pack dining hall. Tian takes his meals privately, of course, but has made a habit of joining his friends for their meals more and more recently. The experience has reminded him that mealtimes aren’t just for sustenance but are also good opportunities for socialization, so it doesn’t bother him to sit and watch them all eat. He finds that he likes to be there, even just as an observer of their conversations, and contrary to what he always assumed, no one seems to mind his presence. In fact, they tend to make efforts to include him.

The Luna and her daughters are already in the dining hall when they arrive, and Kylie is pleased to find that Jonah’s mate Elizabeth is joining them as well. She is eager to get to know her. She takes a seat across from her Aunt Evelyn, who is seated next to Elizabeth, and is surprised to see that Elizabeth is already wearing Jonah’s mark.

“Oh wow. You werewolves who were born with your wolves intact really do move quickly,” she comments, making the others laugh.

Elizabeth blushes slightly and nods. “Yep. Jonah seems pretty attached already. I had to bribe him to get him to leave me to go to training!”

“Bribe him how?” Isabel wonders, and Elizabeth blushes a deeper shade of scarlet and clears her throat uncomfortably.

“So, Elizabeth,” Kylie comes to her rescue, intending to change the subject, “Do you prefer to be called ‘Elizabeth’ or is there a nickname you would rather we use?”

“I go by Beth,” she informs them, smiling a silent thanks at Kylie for the assist. “But either is fine.”

Luna April has been studying Tian as he sits next to Kylie and decides to confront him about something she has been wondering now that the conversation seems to have lulled for a moment.

“I think I see now how you acquired such insight into our family’s curse and held such an interest in helping Evelyn,” the Luna comments.

It sounds a bit like an accusation. She has noticed how closely the vampire seems to hover around her granddaughter since they arrived the morning before and feels the need to confront him about it. Politely, of course. She is a Luna, after all.

Kylie regards her grandmother, sensing her concern, then looks to Tian beside her who seems to be considering how best to respond.

“Grandma, he’s my good friend. Adam’s and my good friend,” she specifies, making sure her grandmother knows that Adam approves of him as well. “And yes, he played a key role in helping Adam and I figure out how to break the curse and has been an important friend and support for me after. It was not easy for me to come to terms with having this whole other part of myself I was never connected to. He has helped me accept it and learn how to become my integrated, whole self. I’m also glad he cares enough to check in on my family when he thinks there might be a problem.”

“You and me both,” Evelyn agrees. “He helped me through one of the hardest days of my life. I hope you’re not suggesting there’s something wrong with him being here, Mom.”

“No, not that there’s anything wrong with him being here,” Luna April assures them. “I just find it odd how he hangs around a mated woman to such a degree.”

“Luna, I assure you, I have nothing but the utmost respect and affection for her mate and would never allow myself to be a problem for their relationship,” Tian begins to explain himself. “Yes, I am especially fond of your granddaughter, and I understand how you find this to be odd and perhaps inappropriate. If you would prefer that I not be around, I will gladly excuse myself to my guest room and thank you for your honesty and your hospitality.”

He begins to push his chair back as if to leave, but Kylie stops him.

“Wait, don’t go anywhere,” she tells him. “Grandma, I want him here. Adam is aware of our close friendship and encourages it. You can’t even begin to understand how much Tian has done for me, and for us, and how much we owe him and care for him. And you also don’t know all that is going on. I wish I could tell you, but you just need to trust me. We need him here, and I need him most of all. He stays, or we both go.”

Tian is touched by how she speaks of him, and that she would be willing to give up time with her family just to stand by him.

Luna April regards them both for a moment and then shrugs, as if to brush off the issue.

“Well, alright then. I do appreciate that you always seem to be willing to help, Tian,” she tells him, and then turns her attention to her youngest daughter.

Kylie turns to Tian and mimics her grandmother’s shrug.

“Alright then,” she repeats, and Tian smiles back as he tucks his chair under the table again.

“That’s just Mom,” Evelyn explains. “She likes to put people on the spot to see how they react. I actually think she likes you, Tian,” she reassures him with a smile, to which he nods graciously.

Kylie returns her attention to the stack of fluffy pancakes in front of her and allows Tian and her Aunt Evelyn to chat and catch up. Eventually she brings up the topic of seeing the pack doctor about the baby, and her grandmother offers to set that up for her. Kylie invites her to tag along, which she gladly accepts. Luna April also informs her that she shouldn’t expect Adam to return until after lunch, judging by all that Alpha Mitchell had in mind for the men today.

After breakfast, Tian heads out to do some exploring and Kylie tracks down Betsy so she can come with her to the appointment with the doctor in addition to her grandmother. She knows that Adam will be pleased that she brought so much moral support with her, and her mother is thrilled to be invited.

“Just don’t get too excited, Mom,” Kylie cautions her. “It’s just a standard appointment for checking up on things. No ultrasound or anything cool like that.”

“Well, I’d hope not. Not without Adam there,” Betsy says as she takes the arm Kylie is offering her.

Kylie leads her out of the craft room where she found her to join up with Luna April outside. Together, the three women make their way over to the pack hospital toward the back of the property. A few of the pack members who are out meandering through the back gardens do throw some curious looks their way, which is understandable considering that the three grown women linked arm-in-arm cheerfully skipping across the lawn do make a bit of a sight to behold.

The doctor is able to see Kylie right away, which her grandmother brags is a perk of being the Alpha’s granddaughter. After some basic measurements of her weight and belly to check on how the baby is growing, they chat with the doctor a bit about the pregnancy and he gives his assurances that everything seems perfect.

He does caution Kylie against continuing her specialized physical training until after the baby is born, to which she begrudgingly agrees. After so long of living in a body that couldn’t handle much physically, she has been enjoying the training. She reasons with herself that the health of her baby is a good reason to sacrifice it, though, and it will only be for a little while longer.

It is only a short time after they return from the pack doctor that their men join them in the common room. Kylie is pleasantly surprised to discover that Adam is not dirty and sweaty but is freshly showered instead. He is, however, a bit battered and bruised, but he assures her that it’s nothing that won’t be healed by morning. She doesn’t bother to ask who won their sparring match, because judging by how her brother is markedly less beaten up, she thinks she already knows that answer and isn’t about to bruise her mate’s ego by pointing it out. Not publicly, anyway.

Alpha Mitchell summons Jonah, Kylie, Adam, Nate, and Tian to his office so they can talk about and prepare for the visit from the allied packs the following day. Nate doesn’t necessarily have to be there, but since he has proven himself to be a talented and knowledgeable trainer, Alpha Mitchell has decided that he should be included. He along with the Tall Pines Beta, Beta Timothy, will need to be prepared to be called upon to report the state their warriors are in and give input about what sort of training to focus on in the coming months.

Their meeting goes on the rest of the afternoon, and afterward Adam decides to take Kylie out into the woods so she can let her wolf out. He can sense her nerves and anxiety and knows it will be good for her to have a chance to relax and ground herself. Alpha Mitchell directs them to the areas guests can use and assures them that there won’t be many people or wolves out there to bother them.

They walk the distance across the back lawn to the designated wooded area, greeting the few people they come across on the way with polite smiles and waves. As promised, once they get past the tree line there is no one around, so the pair pause to quickly strip down and bundle their clothes together so Kieran can carry them with his mouth. Then they shift, with Kylie going first simply because Adam enjoys watching her, and Kieran joining his mate soon after. Mirabella leads the way with Kieran chasing after, and they spend the rest of the evening running together through the Tall Pine woods.