Chapter 171
Chapter 171
Quirin
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A pup? I’m going to be a father? It’s the next thought that makes my stomach twist into knots. Why didn’t she tell me? Is she so angry with me that she’s not happy that she’s having my pup? Is she …
The thought of her wanting to leave me nearly makes me vomit.
‘Let’s wait until she wakes up. Our mate has been through a lot. She and Echo aren’t just healing themselves. They’re also growing a pup. Our pup. I’m sure that the pregnancy is also making it harder for the two of them to heal. Echo would be using her strength to protect our pup, I’m sure it,’ Raif says diplomatically.
He’s right. Our mate would make sure that her pup, our pup, was safe and healthy. It makes Echo’s willingness to sacrifice herself for me even harder to bear. This woman and her wolf were willing to give me everything, every last part of themselves to protect me. I always knew I didn’t deserve her.
‘Then let’s make sure we DO deserve her, because she is going to have our baby and she is going to make one hell of a fantastic mother, Raif growls.
“How far along is she?” I ask Luna Yara.
“Not far. I found the results of her blood test. She must have only just realized that she was pregnant. It may also be why she wasn’t eating. I know she was busy, but women in the early stages of pregnancy can have nausea or an aversion to the smells of certain foods. It will probably be a week or less before you can start smelling the pup on her now that you know to look for it. Either her scent will become stronger or your scent on her will become stronger, depending on whether she’s having a girl or a boy,” she says.
“Are you okay, Quirin? Finding out you’re going to be a father for the first time can be a lot to take in,” Alpha Warren asks me gently.
I nod, looking at my mate. Kennedy has made me face a lot of hard truths about myself, about the person, Alpha, and mate that I am. I have a lot of shortcomings, and she’s always accepted those things about me. But now, it’s time for me to step up, to be the man and the mate that she deserves and the Alpha that she expects me to be so that I can be the father that our child needs me to be.
I stand, pulling her hand to my lips and kissing it. “I need to let my pack know that she’s stable for now. I know they’re all out there, waiting to get news about her. Will you stay with her, Luna, until I return?”
“Of course, Quirin. Everything is going to be okay,” she says. This woman, who glows almost as brightly as her daughter, has always been able to see past my tough exterior into the softer side of me. Her and Kennedy both.
“Thank you, Luna. For everything.”
I walk to the door and Alpha Warren holds it open for me. When I step out to the waiting room, he follows me and stands off to the side with his sons. It looks like the entire pack is here. Everyone turns to look at me and I realize that Alpha Harold and Luna Farrah are here as well, sitting with Henry. They’re here to support me as they have been since they day they took me under their wing.
“Kennedy is stable,” I say and it feels like the entire room breaths a sigh of relief. “She still has a long way to go. Echo put herself a great risk to escape and try to warn me that Alphas Jasper and Brogan wanted to kill me.”
The pack growls at that, and so does Henry. I look at him. “Brogan?”
“Dead.”
I look at Warren and Connor. “Their packs?”
“We’ve offered for them to join any of our packs. Not surprisingly, Alpha Jasper’s pack members chose mine and Henry’s
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Chapter 171
packs,” Connor says. I haven’t spent a lot of time with the man, but I can tell that he’s a lot like Kennedy. His strength is more outward where hers is internal, but he’s a powerful Alpha.
I turn and look back at my pack members. “Your Luna has said a lot of things lately. She’s given all of us some hard truths that we need to face about ourselves and this pack. But I will tell you this, she requires us to rise to the level of her expectations and we will do that. We will become the pack that she is proud to lead, to be the Luna of. We will do that for her and we will do it for each other. I have just as much growing to do as all of you. But she’s worth it. This pack is worth it. I think she will be proud of all of you when she wakes up. You either protected our pack lands or you hunted down our enemies to get our Luna back. You worked together and you protected each other. Maybe for the first time ever, we acted like a pack should. If not, I’m sure she’ll tell us what we did wrong and we’ll fix it,” I say and hear several chuckles around the
room.
“Go get some rest. Kennedy’s going to need some time to heal and for Echo to regain her strength. Get some food, keep yourselves healthy and strong and if you need anything, I’ll be here and Beta Kier will be available.”
“When can we see her, Alpha?” one of the omegas asks.
“Not until she wakes up,” I tell her.
“Is it okay if we wait here when we’re not busy? Just in case she wakes up? We want her to know that we love her and we’re here for her.”
I look around and see all of my pack members nodding in agreement. It seems I’m not the only one who loves basking in my mate’s light.
“I think she would really appreciate that, as long as you look after yourselves and each other,” I say to them.
There are several other things that I need to do, but the most pressing is one that I can do right now.
I turn to the man who I have hated most of my life, the man I’ve never done anything but reject and scoff at, but who has never once treated me the same way.
“Alpha Warren, may I speak to you in private please?”
“Of course.”
I turn back to my family, the ones who accepted me as a brother and son from the moment they took me in. “Will you all wait until I’m done?”
“We’re not going anywhere, Quirin,” Farrah says to me. As always, she’s one of the very few people who understands me, who knows what I need without me asking.
I nod, then lead Alpha Warren to the opposite side of the hospital from where Kennedy is. Her scent is strong here and I know from the couple of times I’ve been here, that this is where she spends her time when she’s not treating someone.
1 gesture for Alpha Warren to sit at a table. He walks around, but when he sees me standing, he remains standing as well. I put my hands in my pockets, unable to meet his gaze.
“Kennedy would tell you that I’m not very good at listening.” I smile sardonically, thinking of her frustration and anger when I haven’t listened to her. “She’d be right. I’ve never been very good at listening.”
I finally meet his gaze. “All those years ago, I wasn’t listening when you told me about my father. I wasn’t ready to hear what you had to say or to believe you when you told me you gave him an honorable death. But after what happened in the last couple of days, I realize that it’s exactly what you did. You gave him a death that was probably more honorable than he deserved. I wasn’t willing to listen to you then, but I’m willing to listen to you now, if you’re willing to talk to me.”
“I’m willing to tell you anything that you want to know, Quirin, and I’ll answer any questions that you may have,” he says.
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