La reunión del consejo
Punto de vista de amapola
“¿ Cuánto tiempo he estado durmiendo ? ” Pregunté con voz somnolienta . _ _
” Ayer dormiste a las 5 de la tarde y ahora son las 9 de la mañana ” , respondió . Damon me miró intensamente mientras trazaba la piel de mis caderas y subía hasta el costado de mi pecho . _ Había mil palabras por decir , pero quedaron _ _ _tácito porque estrelló sus labios contra los míos . Gemí en su boca mientras me aferraba a él . Lo necesitaba mucho . _ Estuvimos separados durante una semana y nos había pasado factura a los dos . _ _ _
” Joder ” , dijo con voz áspera cuando lo sacaron . ” No creo que pueda quedarme ni un segundo más fuera de ti ” . Diciendo eso , se colocó justo sobre mí y frotó su pene duro en mi centro húmedo . Gemí y arqueé mi cuerpo hacia arriba .Sus ojos fueron a mis pezones y se erizaron bajo su mirada . Se colocó en mi entrada y entró en mí en un movimiento rápido . _
Damon se tomó su tiempo para hacer el amor conmigo . Él adoraba cada parte de mi cuerpo y me deleitaba bajo su toque . Yo era como una flor que busca el sol . Me abrí a él en todas las formas que él quería .
Al final , a pesar de que ambos estábamos sudando y jadeando , sentí un hormigueo en mi cuerpo y tenía todo que ver con mi hermosa pareja . _ _ _ _ ” Vístete , amor ” , dijo mientras abofeteaba . _ _ _ mi culo _
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” ¡ Ay ! ” chillé .
Él se rió . ” Tenemos que reunirnos con mi papá y luego estar en la sala de reuniones en una hora . Mamá ha organizado una serie de reuniones . Y luego- ” se detuvo con esa sonrisa maliciosa de nuevo .
“¿ Entonces qué ? ” Me giré para preguntarle , atando mi cabello en un moño en la parte superior de mi cabeza .
” ¡ Entonces te llevaré a un lugar que cambiará las cosas para nosotros ! ” _
fruncí el ceño “¿ Y qué hay de la fusión de nuestras manadas ? ”
” Eso también va a pasar , pero lo primero es lo primero ” . Se levantó , caminó hacia mí y luego me golpeó el trasero de nuevo .
“¡ Damón !” Chillé mientras corría al baño , mis caderas se balanceaban excesivamente . _ _
“Ah, I love to see them red and jiggle!” he growled and came right after me.
An hour later, we were at the hospital where Mary was already there with Kevin. Kevin was still in a coma but I loved the way Mary bustled around him. “See who is here,” she said with a grin, looking
at me.
Slowly, I walked to Kevin, lifted his hand and kissed it. Then I
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The Council Meeting
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turned to Mary and hugged her tightly. “Can I call you mom as well?”
Mary’s arms enveloped me. “Of course!” she said in a hoarse voice full of emotions. “I would love that.”
I giggled as I squeezed her a little more. I had forgotten what mom’s love was, but I was sure that it was something akin to Mary‘ s. It would take time for me to adjust to her and all the love she showered as a mother, but I will adjust. I didn’t want to miss it again.
When Mary pulled away, I glanced at Damon who was smiling at both of us with pride in his eyes.
Mary said, “You both must go for the meetings. The council members are waiting for their Alpha and Luna.”
Damon pressed a kiss on his mother’s cheek before leaving. He held my hand all the way to the meeting room. When we entered, all the councilmen got up and bowed to us. I could sense that they were all glancing my way and those glances carried respect. Damon was only too proud as he grabbed my hand tightly.
He sat at the head of the table and made me sit on his right. Killian was on his left. He winked at me and gave a mischievous smile. I pursed my lips to stop myself from laughing.
I noticed that many members were still bruised. There were red bruises on their cheeks or chins or foreheads. But despite the injuries, there was a general excitement amongst them.
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Killian rose from his chair and said, “Alpha Damon, the council members would like to thank Luna Poppy for her timely support in our fight against the Howler pack. Along with her warriors, she showed valor that is so scanty these days. Had she not intervened timely, we don’t know how things would have been, but whatever has happened is just the opposite of what we could ever imagine.” Killian gave me an appreciative glance. “It was because of Luna Poppy and the Shadow warriors that we survived the attack of silver claws that were hidden in the claws of the Howlers. She gave us the potion to combat it.”
I forgot to mention it to Damon. I saw that too in my vision. The silver claws.
The council members started thumping the table in front of them, acknowledging Killian’s words. Damon’s hand slipped to my thigh and he squeezed it lightly. I blushed. I was never used to so much appreciation. But it moved me so much that tears stung at the back of my eyes.
When the thumping died down, Killian sat down and Damon said, “Yes, I couldn’t agree more. Poppy and her pack members helped us in taking down the Howler pack. Where is Nash Dawson now?”
“He is in the dungeons, Alpha,” said Terry, one of the council members who was about to retire the next year. “But he is still unconscious.”
Damon nodded as a shock went through me. He had hit Nash to the point that he was unconscious until now? And Nash was the son of an Alpha. He had Alpha blood running in him. Just how
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powerful was Damon?
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My reverie was broken when Damon spoke again. “There is a very important matter that I wanted to discuss with you all.” He studied every member’s face before he continued. “My mate, Poppy Vincent, wants to merge her pack, the Shadow pack, with the Umbra pack.”
There was a collective gasp and murmurs broke. Once again, a blush rose on my cheeks and I wondered if they thought I was weak and so I wanted to merge the pack. Goddess, I was mortified. Why didn’t I think of this angle before?
Damon grasped my hand beneath the table and squeezed it tight as if to say that it was all under control. He addressed his pack members, “It would be an honor to head her pack and I wanted to welcome the prominent members of the Shadow pack to join us.”
An awkward silence followed.
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New Alpha of the Howler Pack
Poppy POV
After a while of an awkward silence, Terry rose from his chair. He said, “Alpha Damon, your Luna is extremely powerful. Some of us suspect that she is more powerful than you.”
That statement took me by surprise. I stared at him wondering what he just said. I was in no way more powerful than Damon. When I gazed at him, he had his chin up and his chest was swelling with pride rather than jealousy. My cheeks heated a little when his hand squeezed my thighs again as if to tell me that he was so proud of me and that he was loving where this was heading.
Terry nervously glanced at me and continued, “Merger of two packs is amazing but it is different when you conquer a pack and when you merge them with mutual consent. We would like to draw conditions for the merger, if that is okay with Luna Poppy.”
Without waiting for Damon’s consent on this, I said, “I am okay with it. Please go ahead and tell me your conditions.”
Damon suppressed a smile as he looked at Terry whose cheeks pinkened at my readiness to accept the conditions. I was sure that he was anticipating resistance from me.
Once the meeting was over, I went to talk to my pack members
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who were all housed in the pack house of the Umbra pack. They were all pretty enthusiastic about it. After seeing how affluent the Umbra pack was and how progressive they were, my pack
members eagerly awaited the conditions. At the same time, I heard that one of my pack members smelled his mate in the Umbra pack. It was extremely surprising. All I could do was tell them to go to the Moon Goddess and pray to her.
The lunch was quick because Damon was in a hurry to go to the Howler pack to see how things were over there. So along with a large group of warriors all of us headed to the Howlers pack. I hadn’t talked with Eliza at all and so this time when Killian came, I asked if he could bring Eliza as well.
Throughout the drive, Damon was sullen because I talked my heart out with my friend. Eliza too wanted to talk about a lot of things. “I want to visit the academy just once!” she said.
“Me too!” I supported her idea. “How about we go there next week? I want to meet Anna.”
“That would be wonderful,” Eliza giggled. “Anna would love to see us. I heard that Gandal has also found his mate!”
“What?” I was surprised.
“Yes! Gandal has found his mate and she is a human.”
“Oh. My. Goddess.” I rasped. I couldn’t imagine the Norse Alpha to find a mate in a human. “That is pretty odd.”
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“I swear,” Eliza rolled her eyes. “I don’t think humans even know anything about mates.”
I tutted. “Poor Gandal. Maybe we can go and talk to his mate about it?”
“No need!” Damon growled. He glared at Killian as if asking him to control his mate to not give me ideas about leaving him. “You aren‘ t going anywhere. You have a lot of work to be done at the Umbra pack,” he growled with possessiveness. Though I wanted to protest, the wolf in me loved my mate’s dominance.
“Can we talk about it later?” I asked with puppy eyes.
Damon took a ragged breath when he saw me with my puppy eyes and snarled, “Okay… but I won’t allow you.”
I giggled and sat in his lap, resting my head against his chest. He curled his arms around me and soothed down. I knew that whenever I talked to him about going anywhere, he didn’t like it. He was just too possessive about me and I loved it.
We reached the Howler pack in one hour. As soon as we reached there, I was shocked to see how the pack members treated us. As Damon walked down the road to reach the pack house, all the pack members bowed to him and inclined their necks in submission. Damon walked amongst them with a broad chest and his head high, holding my hand.
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It was then I realized that since Damon defeated Nash Dawson who was their Alpha after his father’s death, the wolves of the Howler pack recognized him as their new Alpha. Goddess. How was Damon going to control three packs? Apart from his own pack, he now had to take charge of the Howler as well as my pack. A shudder ran down my body when I felt that I was giving him so much responsibility. He sensed my anxiety and a tender thought floated in my mind. “Don’t worry, I can manage it.” He squeezed my hand and I had this sudden urge to stop him and hug him tightly
All the council members of the Howler pack gathered at the pack house along with the previous Beta and the Gamma. They all were nervous and tension was thick in the air. I scanned the main hall that was full of the pack members who had come to see the new Alpha. Amongst them was the Shaman too. He bowed to us and said, “Alpha Damon, we would like to take you to the Moon Goddess temple where you have to formally take over as the Alpha of the Howler pack. After that you can hold your meetings.”
Everything was happening so quickly that I was dazed.
The Shaman shifted his gaze to me. He bowed to me again and said, “You have to accompany Alpha Damon in order to formally take over as the Luna of the Howler pack.”
As everyone waited for Damon to say something, I was bereft. I licked my dry lips wondering what was going on in Damon’s mind. Damon studied the room full of wolves looking up at him and said, “Since Howler pack is taken over by the Umbra pack, the new name for the Howler will be Umbra.”
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I was expecting a lot of resistance, but I saw that there was none. Well, that was the law of the werewolves.
Damon continued, “So I will go to the temple but all the Howlers will now be known as Umbra pack members.”
The Shaman bowed. “Yes Alpha. The ceremony will be held accordingly.”
As we walked to the temple, my eyes searched for Cynthia.
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Poppy POV
The ceremony at the temple was not an elaborate one, but the Shaman chanted relevant incantations. Once Damon and I offered our blood to the statue of the Moon Goddess, there was a ripple in the air around us as if something heavy shifted.
Strong wind gusted momentarily and when it settled, I could feel the bond with the Howler wolves. No. Now they were the Umbra wolves.
As soon as the ceremony was over and Damon and I came out of the temple all the wolves who were present over there, sank on their knees and inclined their necks in submission. Goosebumps pebbled my skin when I felt the sheer strength my husband had. He could actually open his mind link with all of them and force his Alpha aura on them in pure submission.
Damon, truly was the strongest of them. He didn’t blink an eye when he got connected with the new members which showed how powerful he was both mentally and physically.
We all headed for the meeting with the council members and the Elders of the pack. It lasted for two hours. After the meeting, Damon wanted to rest and so we were taken to a hotel where we were given the suite.
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“Where is Cynthia?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity down.
Damon jerked his head back. “Oh I completely forgot about her!” He picked up his phone and called Killian. As soon as Killian came, he said, “Did you find out about Cynthia?”
“Yes!” Killian replied and then pursed his lips. “She is still in Alpha’s manor and refuses to vacate it. She is saying that she will go to the tribunal against you and Luna Poppy because she feels Luna Poppy didn’t play by the rules of the war. She attacked Nash Dawson from behind without warning and that goes against the rules as laid by the Elders.”
“Interesting,” Damon gritted. “If she doesn’t vacate the property on her own, then use force against her. But before that I have to talk with her.”
After our evening tea, Damon and I drove along with Killian and Eliza to the Alpha’s manor. I was surprised to see that Cynthia was staying there all alone. Not a single servant was there with her. It was as if she was deserted by everyone and yet she threatened us that she would go to the tribunal against us?
She opened the door and when she saw us, a snarl escaped her lips. “You!” she pointed at Damon. “You were the one who gave Monica a silver dagger!”
A jolt ran down my body as I whipped my head at Damon.
Damon raised his eyebrow and very calmly said, “That’s untrue.”
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He pushed her way inside and Cynthia had to jump aside to let all of us in.
When we reached the main room, I couldn’t help noticing that the place was just as lavish as it was earlier. Memories of Nash fucking Cynthia the day I came to know that he was my mate, flooded my mind. Those memories were horrible but worse was the one that was associated with his rejection. I sat next to Damon on a couch and clung to his arm, hating the very air of this room. Damon covered my hand with his hand in assurance.
Cynthia rushed after us. “I still have the conversation recorded in which you said that you were sending Monica back to us!”
“And?” Damon asked, placing his arm around my shoulder.
Cynthia jerked her head back. “That is proof that you sent Monica with the silver dagger!”
“Cynthia-” Damon said, narrowing his eyes. “There is no proof that I sent her with the dagger because I wasn’t the one who gave her any silver dagger. I released her out of pure goodwill.”
Her jaw dropped. “You liar! You gave her the silver dagger to kill George Dawson.”
Damon cocked his head. “That is stupid.” He dug a note out of his pocket which appeared to be the photocopy of another note. “Do you remember this?”
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Cynthia strode to him and snatched the paper from his hand. “You bastard!” she shouted and tore it into many pieces.
Killian growled and was about to attack her when Damon stopped him. “You better talk with respect,” he snarled at her.
“I have several copies of that note, Cynthia,” Damon said, seeing how badly agitated she was.
“You tricked me!” Cynthia shouted at him.
Damon poked his tongue in his cheek and looked away. When he looked back at her, he said, “We both know who tricked whom. You tricked Monica into believing that George Dawson was against her, when in all reality, George had nothing to do with her. Then your gave money to rogues and some of your pack members to act as rogues only to go and attack Poppy’s pack. But, you only wanted to distract Poppy so that both you and Nash could give the final shape to your plan.”
Cynthia gulped. “What nonsense is this?” she retorted. “Why will I send my warriors to distract Poppy? She is nothing!”
“That is where you are wrong,” Damon growled. “She is everything to me. It was her pack that helped us out of a dire situation. It was because of her that we won against Nash. You wanted to confuse her with the attack so that when Nash attacked me, she never came for my help.”
“That’s b–bullshit!” Cynthia said, but this time her voice was low.
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Damon continued, “While Poppy was busy with the rogue attack, and while your pack was still wondering about why Monica killed George, you coordinated with Nash to take us by surprise.” Damon leaned forward. “Good plan, Cynthia, but it went down pretty badly. Now you see where Nash is. He is rotting in one of my prisons.”
“I–I am going to take you to the tribunal!” she threatened, glancing at Killian and me.
“For what?” Damon said, shaking his head. “In fact, I will be taking both you and Nash to the tribunal and all those who used silver in their claws in the war. Using silver is banned and you know that. Had it not been Anna’s potion and Poppy’s timely help, I can’t think what would have happened.”
Cynthia looked like she had seen a ghost. Blood drained from her face.
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Have I Burdened You?
Poppy POV
Cynthia took a shaky breath in as she sat on the couch opposite to us and held her head in her hands. She didn’t speak for a long time as Damon watched her like a hawk. From what I knew about Damon, I was sure that he wouldn’t let Cynthia go scot–free.
When she didn’t speak anything, Damon looked at Killian. He nodded and said, “Cynthia, we have framed charged against you which are as follows:
You have sent your warriors disguised as rogues to create unrest in Poppy’s pack, unprovoked.
– Nash Dawson, who was your betrothed, used silver in his claws with your knowledge along with his warriors. Using silver is banned amongst the werewolves and you broke that rule.
– You abetted Monica Dawson to kill Alpha George Dawson. This note here is a clear mimicry of Alpha George’s handwriting and was sent by you to Alpha Damon Lombard. Alpha Damon had asked Alpha George if he wanted his niece back. You had stolen that letter and sent us back this letter, imitating his handwriting.
Cynthia snapped her head to look at Damon. “You were party in it!” she accused.
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“Was I?” Damon shrugged. “Then prove it.”
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“I will get Monica as my proof,” Cynthia warned him with a growl. “You gave her the silver dagger!”
Damon chuckled. “By all means, please go ahead and use her as the proof that I gave her the silver dagger.”
His confidence was so high that Cynthia’s resolve wavered a bit. “If I am going down, Damon Lombard,” she snarled. “I will take you down with me!”
Damon got up and growled so loudly that the windows and the doors of the house started shaking. I heard wolves howling in distance because when an Alpha is this angry, there is no way that the pack members are not affected. They must be experiencing headaches.
Cynthia winced. She cowered and appeared to have shrunk. Damon’s aura was too strong for her handle. After all, now Damon was her Alpha as well.
“You dare to threaten me like that!” he snarled. His fangs slipped out of his gums. “It was you who wanted to kill Alpha George and it was you who gave Nash false hopes that he should become the Alpha of the Howler pack when the Howler pack already had an Alpha. Both you and Monica were thick heads who brought this pack down and manipulated Nash who thought with his penis instead of his brain.” He took a step closer to Cynthia who scrambled back. “Had you not gone after Poppy, things would have been the same. But you dared to go after her and I will not
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spare anyone who comes after my mate. I am going to destroy them so badly that it would become an example!”
Cynthia whimpered seeing Damon in so much rage. His wolf wanted to come out and kill her. His claws had slipped out and if he wanted, he could have ripped her to pieces. She started crying. “You are using your Alpha power on a poor woman. This is so unjust!”
I was taken aback. Now she was playing a victim card? Before Damon could speak a word, I got and slapped her across her face. She squealed and was half–lying on the couch. She turned her head towards me as she pressed her hand to her cheek that had my fingers marked on it. “How dare you?” she whimpered.
I narrowed my eyes. “You went ahead and gave silver to your warriors to kill my people. Didn’t you think of being a poor little woman that time? Now you are playing a victim card?” My chest was rising and falling at all the fury that was surging in my body. I didn’t know what came over me, but I shouted, “Guards!” Two hefty warriors came running inside the main hall. “Take her to the dungeons and see that she is not given any food for the next two days!”
“What?” Cynthia yelled as she got up. “How can you do this to me? You are no one! You have no right to punish me. You are nothing but a slut!”
That was it. I slapped her again on the other cheek and she was sent flying to the floor. “Take her before I allow my husband to rip her apart into pieces,” I ordered the guards with a deathly calm.
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spare anyone who comes after my mate. I am going to destroy them so badly that it would become an example!”
Cynthia whimpered seeing Damon in so much rage. His wolf wanted to come out and kill her. His claws had slipped out and if he wanted, he could have ripped her to pieces. She started crying. “You are using your Alpha power on a poor woman. This is so unjust!”
I was taken aback. Now she was playing a victim card? Before Damon could speak a word, I got and slapped her across her face. She squealed and was half–lying on the couch. She turned her head towards me as she pressed her hand to her cheek that had my fingers marked on it. “How dare you?” she whimpered.
I narrowed my eyes. “You went ahead and gave silver to your warriors to kill my people. Didn’t you think of being a poor little woman that time? Now you are playing a victim card?” My chest was rising and falling at all the fury that was surging in my body. I didn’t know what came over me, but I shouted, “Guards!” Two hefty warriors came running inside the main hall. “Take her to the dungeons and see that she is not given any food for the next two days!”
“What?” Cynthia yelled as she got up. “How can you do this to me? You are no one! You have no right to punish me. You are nothing but a slut!”
That was it. I slapped her again on the other cheek and she was sent flying to the floor. “Take her before I allow my husband to rip her apart into pieces,” I ordered the guards with a deathly calm.
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Even as she protested, the guards dragged her to the dungeons and I watched her go. When she was out of sight, I turned to Damon. He came to me and hugged me in his arms. I let myself feel him because he was the only wolf who calmed my nerves. I allowed myself to calm down, smelling his scent. He stroked my hair softly until my breath evened out. Once I felt quieter, I pulled away, but he didn’t leave my waist. I cocked my head to Killian and said, “Do we still need to go to the tribunal?”
He chuckled. “Not until anyone slaps a case against Damon. And then also we have an upper hand.”
I grinned. Damon cupped my cheeks and kissed my lips. “I am so proud of the way you handled Cynthia. That’s like my Luna. You can’t let people stomp over you ever again.”
I grinned wider. “Then let’s go home.”
“Of course. But there are a few things that I have to do here before we head home,” he said.
I understood what he meant. The Howler pack was the second largest pack in America and it wasn’t a child’s game taking it under the Umbra pack. There were way too many things that Damon had to sort out. It was good that the Howler pack was about an hour away from the Umbra pack and that was hardly a distance.
It took a week for Damon to settle things at the Howler. No. It was now the Umbra pack. When we returned, Damon had to settle matters with the Shadow pack.
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“Have I burdened you?” I asked him one evening after I had thrown everything that was in my gut.
He gave me light orange juice and said, “The only burden I feel is that my pups aren’t getting enough food!” He rested his head in my lap and kissed my belly. As I giggled, he addressed his pups, “My lovely little pups, your dad is here. I won’t let your mama starve you!”
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Poppy POV
When we had returned, I went to the doctor along with Mary and it was confirmed that I was pregnant. Mary was quick to announce it to all the pack members and there was jubilation everywhere. Not just in the main Umbra pack but also the Shadow as well as the Howler pack.
I sighed, but I couldn’t help thinking about them as Shadow and Howler. So while I drank orange juice, I suggested to him, “Can we please call the newly acquired packs as Umbra 1 and Umbra 2?”
He sighed. “No, that would be unwise. They will all be known as Umbra pack only.”
I pursed my lips because I think I gave a stupid suggestion. I continued to drink orange juice as Damon closed his eyes and I realized that he had drifted off to sleep. I couldn’t blame him. It was the middle of the day and he hardly found time nowadays. There was so much on his platter that I often wondered how he managed. I helped him as much as my health allowed but with all the morning sickness and mood swings, I think I was going to go mad. It was better that I stayed away from the meetings for a few more days.
Moreover, am I to blame if all I wanted was to have his babies and. make him happy. He was taking such good care of my people that
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it was only right to take good care of him. I stroked his hair as a smile curled my lips up. His face was towards my belly and his arms were around me possessively. “I love you,” I whispered.
A month later, Eliza came to me and she announced that she was going to the Umbra academy to finish her course. She looked angry and when I tried to push her into confessing as to what it was that made her angry, she didn’t reveal.
Surprisingly, she left the next day and Killian stayed back. I broached the subject. “Won’t you go after her?” I asked at breakfast. Damon had lifted my legs on his lap because they swelled when I would keep them down for a long time.
He clenched his jaw and stopped eating. Then he looked away. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said in a very strict voice that left no room for further talk.
Damon gestured to me to zip my mouth. He opened his mind link with me. ‘They are both having some tiff over an issue. Don’t poke him.‘
I replied, ‘What issue?‘
Damon shrugged. ‘I don’t know.‘
So we continued to have breakfast in silence. Damon held my hand and took me upstairs. “There’s a function organized by the wives of some gammas and they want you to come. It will be held. in the evening at 8 PM. Will you be able to make it?” He sat me on
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the bed and I plopped on the pillows, hoping that my guts didn’t rebel.
“What function is it?” I asked as he tucked me in the blanket.
“The wives of the new pack members who are in the sub–councils have come together and they want to celebrate this new union. with you. I guess there would be dances and music and other things,” he said, as he sat beside me. “I think you should join.”
“I will join,” I said with a smile. I really liked that Damon would ask me every time about my opinion. How did things come out to be so nice with me?
“Wonderful!” He leaned and kissed my forehead. “I will come over and take you there with me. Be ready at 7:30 PM.”
“Sure.” As he was getting up, I said, “You have to find out what is going on between Eliza and Killian. I don’t like that he is so sad. He has to open up.” I knew that feeling. It was suffocating.
“Sometimes, you should just let the couple deal with their problems,” Damon said, patting my hand.
I sighed and he smiled. He left me to go for warrior training, but I was not satisfied. I had to find out about it. So I called Anna.
“Bitch!” She greeted me. “You are preggo and you didn’t even tell me! I am super angry!”
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I laughed. I loved her dramatics and I was sure that Eliza told her. “I need a favor from you.”
“You aren’t getting any!” she clarified.
“Is Eliza with you?” I asked in a low voice. Eliza was a shifter and I was sure that she could have heard my voice if she was with her.
“Nope!” Anna said. “I am in my dorm and Eliza is in her apartment.”
I took a breath of relief. “Eliza and Killian aren’t talking to each other. I think Eliza has left Killian because of some tiff. Can you find out about it? I don’t like to see them sad.”
There was a lazy silence on the other side. “Eliza does seem like she has eaten a lot of sour grapes. She is pretty angry at everything!”
“Is it?”
“Hmm… Well, I will find out about it, but sometimes you must leave a couple to sort it out themselves,” Anna said.
“What the hell? Are you Damon’s sister from a secret mother?” | snorted. “He said the same thing!”
“Who knows?” Anna replied. “But bitch! I am super angry with you.”
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Their Problem
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I laughed again, shaking my head. “Fine, I owe you a treat. When and where?”
“Good!” she said and I could imagine her brushing her nails and using magic to apply nail polish. “I will call you tomorrow with the date and venue.”
She disconnected the phone and the day never seemed this long. I really wanted to know about Eliza and Killian’s problem.
Mary came to me and we sat down chatting with each other. She seemed very happy because Kevin moved his fingers and that was a sign that he was coming out of the coma.
In the evening, I dressed in a pale peach silk dress with a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. I wore matching pumps. Damon let out a low whistle when he came to pick me up. “If I see one wolf making a pass at you, I will kill him.”
I giggled and smacked his arm. “No one would dare to make a pass at me!”
He dressed in black pants and a pale peach shirt so that we looked like a couple. I couldn’t help but kiss him. He returned my kiss with equal fervor.
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Where is She?
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Where is She?
Poppy POV
It had been two days since I last called Anna and she hadn’t called me back. Every day I used to see how Killian was isolating himself.
He would come to share his reports with Damon. They would go together for the warrior training at the pack house where top warriors from the entire pack were trained. They would select warriors for patrolling and Killian would accompany him everywhere. But it was really sad to note that Killian was not as cheery as he was earlier. I was sure that it was because of Eliza’s absence and I was also sure that Eliza was missing him just as much. But why weren’t they talking to each other? When I was away from Damon for a week, I felt like my life was being sucked
out.
“Damon,” I asked as we lay beside each other one night with Damon resting his face near my tummy and drawing lazy circles. It was his way of talking to his pups.
“Keep your voice low, Poppy,” he hushed me. “My pups are sleeping.”
I chuckled quietly. “Why don’t you send Killian to Eliza?”
He sighed. “I told him to go to her, but he is a pigheaded idiot. He
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Where is She?
won’t go!”
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“Is it okay if I go to the academy? I really want to get Eliza here. I know what the feeling is to stay away from your mate.”
He whipped his head up. “I can’t risk my Luna into sending her to a place that is nothing but a hub of nefarious activities! It is not safe.”
“Damon!” I chided him. “Every other place is not safe for me. You are too overprotective.”
“I am!” He curled his arm around me in a possessive way and shifted closer. “I love you and you are mine.”
I wanted to be angry with him but I started laughing. “Don’t be like that.”
He slid up to my cheeks, cupped them and kissed me hard. “I am scared when you are not around me. With you in my home, I get a different kind of strength and support. You won’t understand.” He kissed me again and I closed my eyes. My hands went to his neck. and grabbed his hair. The kind of connection we had was surreal.
When he pulled away, I gazed into his eyes. “Baby, Killian is your Beta. While I know that this is very personal to him, there was a time when Killian and Eliza were always there for us. And boy! Wasn’t our relationship tumultuous?”
His gaze darted from my eyes to my nose as he remembered
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Where is She?
”
those days. Then he just rolled on his back and cradled his head on his crossed arms. “I remember,” he said. “And those were bad days!”
I turned to my side and placed my hand on his chest. As I played with his hair over there, I said, “And Killian and Eliza helped us a lot. It is time that we pay back.”
He couldn’t refute the argument. We were silent for a long time as we reveled in each other’s company and I let Damon think about it. I wanted him to feel that I was safe. After a while he said, “Okay, but you will go only for a day. You will go in the morning and return the next morning.”
“Yes,” I agreed immediately. “I will do as you say!” I lifted my head and pecked his cheek.
“Ah!” My mate sighed. “Why do I get convinced by you so easily and then regret?”
I laughed as he rolled me to my back and kissed me passionately. Soon all my clothes were tossed on the floor and we were making love.
I didn’t leave the next morning because I wanted to know what it was all about so that I could prepare myself properly to face Eliza. So I called Anna.
“Girl, something is terribly wrong. Eliza keeps crying all the time. She doesn’t even come to attend the classes!” Anna reported to
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Where is She?
- me.
”
That was the red flag. “I am coming tomorrow morning. Don’t tell Eliza or she will protest, okay?”
“I won’t,” Anna replied and sighed. “I tried to go to her apartment. but she didn’t open the door. I am pretty worried about her. Should I force open the door with my magic?”
“Hell no!” I scolded her. “That would be an invasion of privacy.”
Anna grunted. “Okay…”
I tried to talk to Killian about Eliza that day, but it was like breaking your head on a rock. He wouldn’t talk about her and carried his stubborn ass everywhere. He avoided me for the rest of the day. Well, he could do all he wanted to.
I packed up for a day, and without telling Killian, I went to the academy. Of course, my overprotective mate sent me in a helicopter and that too with two bodyguards. I was sure that he already had a few in the academy. When I arrived at the academy, I was shocked to see that there were five more guards that were waiting for me at the helipad. I wanted to ask them to leave but they said that they didn’t want to become rogues. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Alpha has said that he would expel us from the pack if we failed to protect you!” said the one who opened the chopper’s door for
- me.
Where is She?
I gritted my teeth, but what could I do? I let them follow me like my shadow because I didn’t want them to lose their pack status. I knew that Damon was going to go ballistic if anything happened to
- me.
When I reached the apartment, Anna was already waiting for me out there, pacing on the porch. “Poppy!” She hugged me tightly
“Why are you here?” I asked. “Why aren’t you inside?”
Anna pointed at the door. “It is locked and Emma isn’t here. I checked her schedule and she is not even in her classes. Emma is not in the academy.”
A shudder ran down my body and goosebumps pebbled on my skin. “Where is she?”
Finding Fliza
Finding Eliza
Poppy POV
Both Anna and I were clueless about Eliza. We didn’t know why she was behaving like this. It baffled me and I thought that I should call Killian or Damon, but it was too early to report her as missing.
“Break the door!” I said to Anna. “We have to get inside.” I was sure that Eliza must have left some clue about where she was going.
Anna pursed her lips as she positioned herself in front of the door. “Isn’t this going to be an invasion of privacy?” she couldn’t help giving that biting remark.
I smacked her back and growled, “Just open it!”
The next moment, magic in the form of white light crackled around her fingers and she hurled it towards the lock of the door. A click sounded and something fell on the ground with a clank and the door swung open. I rushed inside and didn’t stop until I was in her bedroom.
Things were littered all over in her room. It was as if she didn’t bother to clean it. “What the hell is going on?” Anna remarked as she scanned the place.
I walked to her bed where there were way too many clothes strewn across everywhere. I picked up all of them to check if I could find something related to her stress. It was as if she didn’t want to wear them. Anna went to the bathroom and returned empty handed. “There’s nothing!” she grunted.
Her table was also littered with small pieces of paper, some of which were scattered on the floor. I opened her laptop and was hoping that it didn’t have a password. To my surprise, she didn’t bother to shut it down, so as soon as I opened it, the screen blinked at me. I started checking her browsing history. “Anna!” I rasped. When she came over, I said, “Why was she checking so many hospitals?” My stomach twisted into a thousand knots. My fingers became numb.
Anna took over and started checking the hospitals that Eliza had looked into. “There has to be something common about these hospitals,” she said. “Wait let me go to the history if she hasn’t wiped it.” And when Anna hit the history, we saw that there was one hospital whose website she had visited fifteen times. “Could this be the place where she has gone?”
“Goddess, is she hiding an illness?” I asked, my heart thudding hard in my ribcage.
“Only one way to find out,” Anna said and rushed out.
I picked up the laptop and rushed after her. Outside my guards were standing. They looked at my face and froze. “Luna Poppy,” said one of them. “Are you okay? Should we go to a hospital? Do you want to eat something? Should we go back to the Umbra
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Finding Eliza
pack?”
288 Vouchers
“Oh cut it!” I snapped. “Do we have a car?” I asked him.
He nodded and pointed to a silver Porsche in front of the apartment. “Alpha Damon gave us strict instructions that you should travel only by car.”
Thank the goddess. “Okay!” Along with Anna I jumped in the car and asked the driver to drive to Clairmont Hospital which was an hour away from the academy and in a human town.
“If Damon would come to know about what you are doing, he is going to kill me!” Anna scolded me. “You are breaking like a thousand rules.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop acting like his mouthpiece!” Seriously, sometimes I felt like Anna was Damon’s sister from a secret mother.
We reached the hospital in one and a half hours because my stupid driver refused to drive any faster! And it was because of Damon’s strict instructions to not drive over sixty speed limit. I was so annoyed by Damon by this point that I was sure I would fight with him the moment I reached the pack. I could have run faster than this. However, my friend Anna was another Damon sitting beside me. She supported my husband and prevented me from getting out of the car and running.
I jumped out of the car as soon as we reached the hospital.
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Humans were walking around and no one even bothered to look our way. I rushed to the reception and asked about Eliza.
“I am sorry,” the nurse said in a nasal voice. “But we don’t give information to strangers about our patients.” She looked away and started flipping the sheets in front of her lazily.
I felt like jumping at her and shaking her out of her laziness. “I am her sister, not a stranger,” I said, managing to control my anger. “She had asked me to come with her, but unfortunately, I was caught up in the traffic. I should have come here an hour earlier, but you know how the traffic is.
Anna glared at the nurse and I could feel that she was simmering with anger too. This was the last place where we wanted to reveal our true identity.
The nurse sighed and glanced at Anna. “Who is she then?”
“She is a friend of ours,” I quickly responded.
The nurse flipped through several papers and after many agonizing minutes, she said, “She is in the Gynae Room number 503. Go right, take the elevator. Third room at the left.”
Anna and I froze. What was Eliza doing over there? We both gave each other a shocked look and before the nurse could say anything else, we ran to the elevators. “These young girls. No thank you. No curtsey,” the nurse muttered angrily as we waited for the elevators.
Finding Flura
HURRY
When we reached the fifth floor, we hopped out of the elevator and turned left. Both of us breathed a sigh of relief when we spotted Eliza. There she was sitting on a chair in a white hospital gown, perhaps waiting for her turn with a bottle of water in her hand which was half empty.
“Eliza!” I rasped and strode to her and Anna followed me.
Eliza was shocked to see us. “What- How-” she looked at us as we both sat on her sides. “How did you find me?” She was so bewildered that blood gushed to her cheeks.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I curled my arm across her shoulder. I knew that she must be very emotionally charged right now and it was no rocket science to guess that she was getting her ultrasound done to see whether she was pregnant or not.
Eliza looked down in her lap and then suddenly she started crying.
“Oh Eliza!” I hugged her tightly and Anna hugged us both. “Why didn’t you tell us about it?”
She sobbed and sobbed and we sat there patiently. “You have to tell us everything,” I said softly once she settled. There were two other women waiting for their ultrasound and they both looked at us with curiosity. The nurse came out and called one of them after glancing at us with a frown.
“I’m pregnant,” Eliza said, wiping her tears. “But I don’t want to be.”
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Marry Me
Poppy POV
“Pregnant?” Both Anna and I said in unison as we looked at her, shocked as hell, with wide eyes.
Eliza nodded and sniffled. “I don’t want to be pregnant.”
For a few seconds none of us spoke as our body tried to absorb the shock. When my heartbeat calmed down, I asked, “Why Eliza? This is the most beautiful thing you can give to your mate.”
She shook her head as a fresh bout of tears flowed from her eyes. “You don’t know anything. I can’t be a good mother. I want to study more and I don’t want to get tied so soon!”
Anna gave her a hanky to wipe her tears but didn’t offer to console her. She was too dumbfounded by the whole situation.
I processed her words and zeroed in on, “Why do you say you can’t be a good mother? You are such a wonderful person.”
Eliza wiped her tears but they didn’t stop. “My mom was an alcoholic and my father abused us so much that it was intolerable. He always said that I was a useless child and that I was a stain on their family.” She rolled her eyes through her tears. “I don’t know what he meant by the family when we practically had none.” She
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Mary Me
wiped her tears. “He wanted a boy but my mother couldn’t give him another child. One day she just snapped. She couldn’t take in more of his abuse and fled from home, leaving me with that monster. I was only twelve.”
“Oh god! I am so sorry,” Anna said and she too started crying. She hugged Eliza and rested her head on her shoulder.
Eliza continued, “After that my father’s abuses only increased. He said that I was a worthless child and that I had no reason to live. He always blamed me for mother running away.” She looked at me. “Now tell me Poppy, how can I be a good mother when my own mom ran away from me, leaving me to tolerate my abusive father? I am scared that I will be like my mom and so I can’t have this baby. What if I abandon it?”
Goddess. A lump formed in my throat. At least my parents loved me. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of low self–esteem Eliza was suffering from. And that was the only reason why she didn’t want the child. “But Killian is your mate and he loves you. He has never abused you, has he?” I asked.
“No, he has never abused me. I love him too, but I can’t have this baby. Killian just doesn’t understand that it is not right. When I told him my decision of aborting the pup, he was furious. I just ran away from him and he has shut down,” Eliza added, crying more. “Why can’t he just understand? He is so stubborn!”
“Eliza,” I said as I cupped her cheeks and turned her face to look at me. “I know that you feel that you are incapable of bringing up your pup, but that is far from the truth.”
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Mary Me
“Poppy-”
“Shhh… Listen to me,” I said. “Killian is your mate. He loves you and naturally he is protective about you and the pup in your belly. You are hell bent on aborting it and because he can’t support your decision, he isn’t pushing his decision on you. That’s why he has shut down. He’s not stubborn, Eliza. He is hurting. And since you are not listening to him, he doesn’t know what to talk. Killian will be a good father. He loves you. When I first met you two it was the nicest thing I had ever seen. You were staying together as a couple amidst so many tumultuous relationships.”
“But Poppy, what if-” her chin wobbled. “What if I can’t-”
“Stop beating yourself down, Eliza and give yourself a chance,” I said. Then I took her hand and placed it on my belly. “See, I am also pregnant. And you already know what I went through. Should I also abort this pup?”
“Oh God, no!” she rasped.
“I won’t. Because this marks my love for Damon and his love for me.”
She gave me an odd look as if contemplating things. The next patient came out and the nurse called Eliza.
“Can they come with me inside?” Eliza asked the nurse, pointing at the two of us.
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The nurse hesitated. After asking the doctor, she allowed us in. The doctor did the ultrasound and pointed at the baby in her womb. “Do you want to hear its heartbeat?” she asked with a smile
I could see that Eliza was already melting. She nodded and the doctor put a machine close to her belly. The pup’s heartbeats were heard and Eliza giggled. “It’s like a bullet train!”
The doctor smiled. “Yes, usually the child’s heartbeats are very fast” After the ultrasound, the doctor asked us to receive the pictures of the ultrasound from the reception before we left.
When we came out. Eliza was in a different mood. “So what do your think about it?” I nudged her.
She blushed. “My pup is beautiful.”
Anna laughed. “Then it is final. I will become an aunt of two pups next year and you both better make me their godmother!”
The three of us laughed our hearts out and then hugged tightly in the middle of the hospital corridor. I was sure that Eliza was going to make every effort to make her pup happy. She was going to be an overbearing mother.
While Anna stayed back at the academy, we came back to the Umbra pack. Killian was shocked to see Eliza with me. Though he was dying on the inside to be with her, he was controlling himself and it was so evident in his gaze that were just fixed on his mate.
Marry Me
Damon came to me and kissed me. “Gods above! I don’t think I can stay away from you even for a day.”
I giggled and winked at Eliza. She blushed, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think you two should talk,” I said to Killian who was looking for an opportunity to be with Eliza.
He jumped at my suggestion and said, “Eliza, I want to say something to you.” He held her hand and made her sit on the sofa as Damon and I watched with our arms curled around each other. “I am so sorry for my attitude. You can do whatever you want. I am always there with you.” He sat on his knees in front of her. He dug his pants pocket and took a blue velvet box out. “Please marry me, else I will die. I can’t- I can’t live without you!”
Eliza’s eyes became glassy with tears as her hands slapped her mouth. She looked at the gold band and nodded. “I love you!” she said.
“Oh thank the goddess!” He took the ring and slipped it on her finger immediately, lest she changed her mind.
Eliza took out an envelope from her purse and handed it to him. “Please see it,” she urged him. When Killian opened and saw the pictures of his pup, he was stunned. He shot her a surprised look. and she nodded. “Yes baby,” she said. “I am keeping the baby!”
Killian jumped up, scooped his wife and whirled her, shouting in joy. Damon and I laughed and laughed.
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Are You Waiting For?
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