Chapter 15: Chapter 15

DEC

Goddess, she’s so perfect. I look over the beauty in my arms. It’s almost a dream having her here. My Kya.

“~Declan, we have a problem.~” My father speaks to me through our link~.

I grunt in my chest. Fuck! I kiss Kya and carefully sneak my arm out from under her head.

As soon as I make it out the door, I strip down and sprint to the pack house. It is the closest building to the western border. My father is growling as I approach the back of the building. Two rogues are squaring off with two of my guards.

Chase has the boy—Vin…Vir…Virgil—pinned under him. My father is guarding another scrawny wolf that’s covered in blood. “~What’s going on?~” I ask.

Chase doesn’t let up on the boy, who whimpers when he notices me. “~Looks like we have another stray. He’s the pup’s friend. The guards just attacked when those two showed up,~” Chase says.

I turn back to look at the boy under my father. “~Dr. Mason, I need you behind the pack house now~.”

My guards have taken care of the adult rogues. “~Back to your posts.~”

“~Father, Chase, stay with me~.” Virgil is whimpering and struggling under Chase. I shift, since I don’t have a connection with him yet. “What’s going on?” I ask.

Chase lets the pup up and he rushes to the blood-covered scrawny wolf.

“STOP. ANSWER,” I command.

Virgil wipes at his face. “He’s a friend of mine; he’s been looking for me. He heard about you picking up the rogues and he came here. I met him on the border to talk to him, but he was followed. The two rogues attacked. He got caught in the middle of it. Beta Chase pulled me out of the way, but the guards thought he was with them. He’s hurt.”

I look to the wolf that is barely breathing. “What’s his name?”

Virgil wipes at his face. I know he’s trying to be strong in front of everyone, but he’s crying. “Johnny.”

Father and Chase have shifted and are tending to the boy. I hand Virgil some clothes and we both dress.

“What you did was stupid and you almost got your friend killed. Any more visitors and they come only during the day, through the main entrance, with my permission.”

Virgil sniffs. “I told him not to come, but he said he was in trouble.”

Dr. Mason rushes around the corner of the building. He shifts and goes straight to the scrawny wolf. I nudge Virgil with my elbow. “Your friend is going to be fine. Watch this. Dr. Mason is a natural healer.”

Chase’s dad places his hands on the boy’s abdomen. His fingers spread open, covering as much space as possible. As he slightly curls his fingers, a white light shines from between the two connected bodies.

I’ve seen this many times before, but it is a rare gift. I never get tired of seeing it. I cross my arms over my chest, proud of my mate and her father. Dr. Mason knows when it’s just enough to keep his patients from death so he doesn’t overexert himself.

I look at the pup’s face; his mouth is hanging open. I smack his back. “Cool trick, huh?”

Virgil closes his mouth and nods his head. He looks at his own hands. “How does he do that?”

The light fades away, and Father helps the doctor stand up. Chase picks the wolf up and carries him away. “It’s a natural ability. Very few wolves have it. Your friend is in good hands.”

I walk Virgil back into the pack house and to my office. I set him down in my chair behind my desk. “Now, why was your friend in trouble?”

Virgil shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

I lean against the fireplace. “How many other pups were you hanging around with before coming here?”

He shrugs. “There were a few my age, we all stayed together. Johnny, Tyler, Natalie, Jason, and Abel. They’re already here.”

I pat his shoulder. “Get some sleep. You have school in a few hours. I’m going to need you to show the new pups around.”

KYA

I wake up to the alarm on my phone and an empty bed. I smell breakfast cooking, and I smile. I get ready for school and walk into the kitchen.

Dec is at the stove; he doesn’t turn around. “Good morning, beautiful. There’s coffee on the table for you.”

I sit down at one of the place settings. My mug is full of a light-colored coffee. I sip it. Mm-hmm… it has the perfect amount of French vanilla creamer.

I look in Dec’s mug; it’s completely black. I’ve never seen him use creamer before. He made it for me. I smile to myself. He’s so sweet.

He sets a plate in front of me and kisses my forehead. Oh no, we’re not having that. I grab his hand and tilt my face up. He chuckles, then leans down to kiss my lips. “Thank you, Dec.”

He sits beside me. “You’re welcome, Ky.”

Breakfast is perfect. My eggs are cooked the way I like to eat them. My toast is light and buttery, and the bacon is on the chewy side. I almost choke up at how well Dec knows me.

Which is funny because he can remember all this, but he forgets everyone’s name. It’s so bad, I swear he doesn’t even know my dad’s name. He just calls him Dr. Mason or Doc.

I giggle at the thought, then get choked up; they don’t know I’m back yet.

“You all right, Ky?”

I nod. “I was just thinking that you remember all these details about me, but you can’t even remember my dad’s name. And then I realized that they don’t know I’m back.”

He shrugs his shoulder. “I remember important things. And your dad’s name is Dr. Mason.”

I shake my head and laugh. “What’s his first name?” He gives me a ~damn it~ look. “Carl, Kevin… Kyle?”

I laugh. “Which one is it?” I watch him try to figure it out as I bite down on my bacon. “Kyle…?”

I laugh. “All right, what’s my mom’s name?” He thinks for a minute. “Chrissy, Chelsea…? Chelsea?”

I nod and laugh. “They’re in your pack. How do you not know their names?”

He shrugs. “I never call them by their first names.” I giggle, then finish my breakfast. I take a quick second to say hello to my parents through the link. They’re both at the hospital, working.

I stand up to clear my plate. Dec holds my wrist to stop me. “I got this.” My wrist is tingling where he touches me. He hums as he moves my bracelet out of the way, then sniffs my wrist.

He raises my wrist to his lips for a gentle kiss. The tingles become electrifying as they shoot down my body and into my core. My body reacts to him and I feel moisture in my panties. Oh, my Goddess!

“I’m going to mark you as soon as possible. Just so you’re aware,” he whispers before sensually brushing his tongue over my claim mark. I reach my hand up to run my fingers through his hair, hearing his soft rumbles as I do so.

He clears his throat, then stands up and takes the dishes to the sink. I wrap my arms around him from behind and rest my head on his back. “I love you, Dec.”

He turns around and picks me up. “I love you, Ky.”

I kiss his lips. His tongue enters my mouth, massaging my own. The gentleness of his tongue causes a stir in my lower belly. His hands shift down so they’re each gripping my ass cheeks.

I wrap my legs around his waist. I can feel his length hard against my mound. I hum, then pull away biting my lip, my face warm. He clears his throat then sets me down.

“Grab your bag. I’ll take you to school. Chase and I have errands to run. We need both trucks.” I kiss him once more then grab my backpack.

Alana and Chase are coming out of their house just as we pull up. Finn pulls in behind us. Chase rushes around to my window after opening his truck door for his mate. “Couldn’t wait until the weekend, huh?”

I shake my head. “Nope.”

He kisses my cheek. “Welcome back, sis.” He waves then walks back to his truck and jumps in.

We pull out of the driveway and head toward the school. “Finn is coming too?” I ask.

Dec nods. “Yeah, he’s on pack house duty for screwing around during his patrol. Mother needs the groceries restocked.” That’s not uncommon for a large pack like ours.

“Does Lan know about her sister?”

Dec shrugs his shoulder. “I don’t know if her parents told her. I haven’t said anything.” He takes my hand in his as we drive the long stretch of road.

“Dec. Where do you think she’ll go?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, Ky. I gave her fair warning and multiple chances. I feel bad that it has come to this, but what choice did I have? I gave her a direct alpha order to leave me alone.”

My mouth drops open. He’s had to deal with multiple advances from her and he still turned her down, with an alpha order no less. Holy crap! He really did keep his promise to me. My heart sings in my chest.

Spencer is waiting for me and Alana too, together with Bianca and Damon. I smile at them as we pull in. “Ladies,” he says with an exaggerated bow. I roll my eyes.

“Mate!” I hear from behind me. I look back to see Finn rushing forward to Bianca.

Bianca has a dreamy look in her eyes as she stares back at Finn. She’s seventeen and a junior. She and Damon are ten months apart. It’s not unheard of for a seventeen-year-old to find a mate, just rare.

Finn holds his hand out. “I’m Finn,” he introduces himself as he keeps his eyes locked on hers.

“Bianca.” She slightly giggles in reply. Damon growls beside the two of them. Bianca gives Damon a sisterly sneer. “Finn, this is my brother, Damon.” Finn barely glances his way.

I roll my eyes and sigh. “Hey, Spencer. Is Owen here today?”

He shakes his head. “I rode with Damon and Bianca. I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning when he got his ass kicked.”

I wonder how bad his hand is. It should have healed by now.

“Alpha Redd, that was so awesome yesterday. You didn’t even flinch when you got stabbed, insane,” Spencer continues.

Dec raises his brow to me. I shrug my shoulder and mind link him, “~I guess he’s a fan of yours.~”

Dec holds back a chuckle. He nods to Spencer. “Look after my mate, I’ll take it as a personal favor.” Spencer reaches out to wrap his arm around my shoulder. “Without touching her,” Dec growls out.

Spencer stops and scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, of course.”

Dec kisses me one more time before we walk into the school, dragging Bianca with us. The siblings head to their lockers, leaving the three of us to chat. Alana seems to be in a regular mood, so I assume she hasn’t heard the news.

“Have you talked to your parents?” I ask her. Alana scrunches her brows and shakes her head. “Sarah was banished last night,” I say.

Her hand covers her mouth as she gasps. “Oh my Goddess, why?” I run my fingers through my hair, then explain what happened.

Alana shakes her head. “She lied the whole time. I can’t blame Dec; he did warn her. I just can’t believe she was so obsessed with him that she would do such a thing,” she says.

I shrug my shoulder. “I think she was mental enough to believe he wouldn’t do it.”

Spencer joins our conversation. “Is she the one that was at the club?”

We both turn to look at him. “Yes,” we reply in unison.

“She came to our pack this morning. I saw her when I was getting in Damon’s Jeep.”

Alana and I both give each other the ~what the hell~ look. “I guess that’s better than being rogue,” Alana says with a shoulder shrug.

“Yeah, I guess so. But what relationship does she have with the Roberts pack? Rogues don’t usually just get to cross into another territory.” We all find our desks and let the conversation die.

DEC

Chase, Finn, and I watch our mates enter the building. I clap Finn on the shoulder. “Congrats, man. That’s the sister of the Roberts pack’s beta.”

Finn has yet to look away from the doors. “She’s perfect.”

Chase and I both chuckle. We know the feeling. “Go ahead and get started on your grocery runs. Leave the frozen stuff for last. We need to get the freezer first.” Finn nods but keeps staring at the door.

“FINN.” I finally get his attention. “Get busy. You can get her number from Kya later.” Finn looks like he’s just been kicked, but he gets moving. We watch as he drives off.

Chase and I get busy registering the new pups. Little D is in kindergarten, Anna is in sixth grade, and another pup named Hanna is in eighth grade. The rest are all in high school.

I handle registering the six in high school while Chase takes care of the other three. The whole process takes almost two hours.

The principal is in the Weston pack. He heard about my rescuing of the twins. “Alpha Redd. Word is spreading that you’re taking in rogues, is that true?”

I shake my head. “Only the pups that have been tricked by some wannabe alpha challengers. Those bastards have all been taken out.” He nods his head then finishes up with the paperwork.

“This one isn’t here today. He should be good by Monday. He got hurt pretty bad trying to get into my territory,” I say, handing over the info for Johnny as the last new student. The principal nods as he works on getting his schedule together.

We leave the school and hit the nearest home improvement store to pick up the appliances, a small sofa, and chairs for my office.

We head to the next stop—a clothing store—to pick up clothes of pretty much every size and school supplies for the new pups.

I shake my head annoyed that we have to drive at least an hour for supplies. It would be so much easier to have all this stuff in the territory.

A clothing store, a supply store, a grocery store, maybe even a greenhouse, are all options that sound very appealing at the moment. I know of a few members in our pack with a green thumb. I have ten square miles of expanse to work with.

We load everything into the back of Chase’s truck. The appliances, a small lounger, and some chairs are already in the back of mine.

We head to a local diner to grab some food with Finn, who can’t stop talking about his perfect mate that he’s only met for five seconds.

Chase and I give him shit for a little while, then head back to the school. We would be late picking our women up otherwise.

“What is all this?” Kya asks as she reaches the truck.

I shrug my shoulder. “Supplies for the new pups.”

She has a confused look on her face. “What new pups?” I fill her in as we drive back to our territory. “Dec, that’s very kind of you. I’ve never known an alpha to be so generous to rogues. But is it safe?”

I have no idea. “I don’t know, but it feels like the right thing to do.” She nods her head and lets the subject go. I call up for some help from nearby pack members to get everything unloaded and stored.

Finn rolls in just behind us with his truck of groceries. He rushes over to talk to Kya. She pulls out her phone and sends him a text. He checks his phone with a huge Cheshire cat grin across his face. I shake my head. Was I that bad myself?

Kya is outside with Alana and my mother when the school bus pulls in. I step up from behind them as the bus starts unloading.

“New pups, listen up. I want to introduce you all to your luna. This is my mate, Kya. She is to be treated with the same respect as you give me.” Kya’s face goes pink as she waves to everyone.

Little D rushes forward. His arms wrap around her legs in a tight squeeze. “I like you. You’re pretty.”

She picks the boy up. “I like you. You’re very sweet.” She kisses his cheek, and he quickly wipes his face. She giggles as she sets him down so he can follow his siblings inside.

Natalie is one of the three that Chase knocked out the other night. She’s at the back of the line. Kya stops her. “You and I need to talk.”

Natalie nods her head. “Yes, Luna.”

I have no idea what that’s about. “You can use my office.” Kya gives me a quick kiss and leads the pup inside.