21. Alexander
21
ALEXANDER
“ M ate is hurt.”
I continue stroking Maia’s hair, and nod. “I know. But now, we can move forward without any more lies.”
“She has a lie.”
My hand stills, and I sigh. “I know.”
I cut off the connection with Max, not wanting to get into an argument. He made his feelings very clear when she was talking about it. He doesn’t believe she’s entitled to her privacy, but I completely disagree.
Her secret clearly involves Ryan, and we’re not the nicest men when it comes to?—
“That dirty weasel,” Max cuts in. “He’s scum and deserves the death he now has. I hope he’s rolling in his grave knowing that we’re the ones fate found worthy enough to be Maia’s men—to be Phoebe’s dad. We’re going to give Phoebe so many siblings and let her be raised in a safe house full of love.”
“But we’re not going to say this to our mate,” I warn.
He growls in my mind. “Mate was alone when she was vulnerable because of him. She was pregnant with our child, alone because he was weak. We’re strong Wolfes. Our mate will never be alone again. ”
“Nice to know you agree to keep your thoughts to yourself.” I’m amused as Max retreats into his bubble of thoughts regarding a pregnant Maia, and I look down at my beautiful mate once more.
Doubt fills me, and I wonder if I’m the only one.
“She moved past her anger very quickly,” I mention. She’s flat out in my lap, her eyes still and steady as she sleeps.
She lost consciousness during her panic but came back around quite quickly. She was groggy and feeding off our panic and frustration and was quite unconsolable. Topher, somehow, managed to convince her to take a short nap whilst we waited for food, citing that she didn’t sleep well the night before because of the doctor’s appointment.
She chose to lay on the sofa with me and hasn’t budged as I run my hand over her beautiful curly hair. She’s so peaceful when she’s asleep, her eyes so still, her lips beautifully soft and plump.
There’s none of the strain in her face, no tension in her body. She’s so serene, so beautiful.
And the sparks between us are so tantalising. Minus the tension in the room, this could be our future.
“The only thing that would make this better is if her stomach was rounder,” Max says with a grin.
I roll my eyes just as his tone shifts in my mind. I can feel his anger across our bond, and my brows draw together as I try to figure out the fast shift in his mental state.
“Do not complain about her getting over her anger quickly, you fool,” Max hisses. “We don’t want her to leave us. Ever. You are right—this is our future. So shut up, be a good mate, and take what she gives us.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t have been acting in a way that would have made her want to leave us,” I say. This has been my argument with Topher over the last couple of weeks. It didn’t work with him, so it’s not surprising that it’s not working on my wolf, either .
“Mate needs protecting. She needs to be safe. She needs us to look after her.”
“She does,” I reply with a nod. “But you can keep someone safe whilst also being honest, and we didn’t do that. We initially reacted out of fear, and it took us too long to fix it. She’s allowed to be upset over that.”
My wolf huffs. “I don’t get this independence shit. Let me protect her. I’ll destroy her enemies whilst keeping her round and protected. She’ll be happy and never see any of the darkness.”
“Far too quickly,” Topher adds, giving me a break from my wolf.
“I, for one, think that’s a good thing,” Ben says. “I don’t like her being angry at me. It hurts.”
“Not good,” Seb says. He’s still holding Phoebe, and despite the begging from both Ben and Topher, he hasn’t relented. I can’t complain because I get to hold Maia, and she’s so beautifully perfect sprawled across my lap.
“Not good,” Topher echoes.
“Then explain that to me. She’s not angry, we’re happy about that, why is this a problem?” Ben demands.
“We broke her trust,” I say softly. “She doesn’t have a wolf, Ben. She doesn’t understand how we think, how the relationship between us and our wolves actually works. She can’t grasp how we function. And so she’s at a disadvantage already in our relationship.
“But she put all that to the side and placed her trust in us anyway. She trusted us to be in her life, to protect her, to protect Phoebe. She’s put effort in, whilst we lied about knowing who Phoebe’s biological father was. We not only knew him, but we are his family.
“She’s been thrust into a tricky family situation where her child is at risk, and the only people she knows in this world are us, the police officers who blew her world up, our parents, and a creepy doctor who hopefully doesn’t manage to repair his tongue .
“She’s terrified, and in doing her best to do what Phoebe needs, she’s willing to forgive us. She’s moving past the damage we’ve done to our relationship because Phoebe needs it. Not because she forgives us, not because she believes we did the right thing… but because she’s putting Phoebe first .
“But it’s not good because what Maia is missing is that we don’t just want Phoebe. We want her, too. Maia’s our mate, our partner, our equal, and we want her to trust us wholly and unequivocally. Because, otherwise, our lives just aren’t worth living.”
Ben’s eyes widen, and he makes a comically large head nudge as he gestures to my lap. My eyes fly shut for a brief moment, and I take in the scent change in the dark-haired beauty.
She’s awake. Groggy still, but awake. Her heart has sped up, and there’s a hint of longing attached to her.
“Fool. But at least you were whispering the good things. That’ll make her happy,” Max says dryly.
“That was surprisingly sweet,” Maia whispers, and my eyes dart down to where she’s laid. She hasn’t moved from where I was running my hands over her curls, but she’s looking up at me now with a dazed smile on her face. “Things would be easier between us if you opened up more.”
“What do you want me to say? I can open up,” Ben asks far too eagerly.
“Kiss mate,” Max demands, pushing on the edge of my brain. “Fuck mate. Give her our seed. She won’t think we’re sweet when she sees ? —”
“Stop!” I’m forceful in my push, and Max falls silent. “Do you want a quick fuck or do you want a lifetime with our mate?”
“Both.”
“You can’t have both. We can have her trust, her love, her entire soul… or we can have her body.”
“Human is sad,” Max says, and I can almost feel the confusion coming off him .
“Because we made the decision that we’d talk to her tonight, properly, and we waited too long and nearly lost her.” I run my hands through my own hair as Maia sits herself up. The lack of sparks flying between us causes my body to lose all warmth it had. It’s very symbolic of my life without her—cold, empty, not worth living. “We fucked up, Max, and nearly lost our mate in the process.”
“If we mark her, she won’t leave us. She’ll have her wolf then, and she’ll understand how it feels.”
“Maybe.” But I don’t dare even hope that we’ll get to that day.
“I don’t want you to say anything but the truth,” Maia says softly, and Ben grunts. She looks up at me, her hand reaching for mine. “Your words were very sweet.”
“And I meant them all,” I say firmly.
She smiles, giving me a knowing look. “I know. But to reassure you all—there are two reasons I’ve moved past my anger and hurt. The first is that you were open and honest with your reasons, and I truly can’t deny that I’d have left that first day if you told me the truth.
“I might have come back, but I can’t say for certain. You might’ve been forced into taking another choice away, for Phoebe’s safety, and it would’ve damaged things between us, maybe beyond repair.”
A shudder runs through me, and she squeezes my hand ever so gently.
“And the second is that we now have plans in place to move forward together . I’m still in a fragile mental state, and you gave me some more stability. There’s boundaries and rules, and I know what they are. You’ve levelled the playing field, so I can at least watch the game, even if I can’t yet play.”
“What game?” Ben asks, and Maia just giggles.
“It’s a metaphor,” I tell Ben across our shared quadruplet mind link. He nods and just shrugs .
“So you’re not mad?” Ben asks, and Maia shakes her head. “Thank fuck.”
“Thank you for sharing that with us. It’s very… eye-opening,” Topher says, and I can smell the confusion in his scent. He’s genuinely baffled that our mate is that forgiving.
I don’t blame him. I feel the exact same way.
Maia does a big stretch, and I flinch when her back cracks. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Twenty minutes or so,” I reply. “How are you feeling?”
“Better.” She wipes the sleep from her eyes and brings her knees up to her chest. “How long for food?”
“It’s just pulled up now,” Ben says, narrowing his eyes. “Could you hear that?”
“No?” My adorable mate scrunches her nose up and shakes her head.
“Hm.” Ben narrows his eyes as Topher goes to answer the door. We’ve got pizza from our local place, and the driver is a teenage wolf who is very eager to chat with Topher.
My brother doesn’t rush him along, and Maia watches the interaction with an expression I can’t decipher. Her lips are parted ever so slightly, her eyes a little wide, but there’s a twinkle in her baby blue eyes.
“See you later,” Topher says, finally escaping the chat. He closes the door, and Maia and Ben both grin. One because he’s now got pizza to eat, and the other at my brother.
“That was sweet of you,” Maia says, as Seb sighs. Maia’s head snaps over to him, a hint of panic in her gaze. “What’s wrong with Phoebe?”
“Milk,” he says with a pout. Maia smirks and takes her T-shirt off, nearly elbowing me in the head as she does.
“Sexy mate,” Max says as my gaze drops to her breasts for a moment. “Beautiful body. Perky tits. I like.”
“As do I, but her boobs are not ours,” I say as Seb hands Phoebe over to Maia .
“You’ve lost some weight,” Ben says, looking Maia up and down. “I like it.”
“Stop commenting on my weight,” Maia snaps as she narrows her eyes at Ben.
She undoes the strap on her vest top and helps Phoebe latch properly. Seb starts preparing Maia’s food from the bags, and Topher heads through to the kitchen to grab her a drink.
“Yes, stop commenting on her weight,” I say, giving Ben a glare. He raises his hands in submission and eagerly waits until he can grab food from the table. He’s tried twice, and Seb’s batted his hand away, refusing to let Ben eat before Maia.
“Mate is beautiful.”
“She is.” I watch in awe as she tends to our child. Maia’s full of love and contentment as Phoebe feeds, and those feelings are just as potent in our pup. Phoebe’s thoughts are only focused on Maia and the feeling of safety she provides.
The next ten minutes are a kerfuffle of us all getting organised before, finally, we get to sit down with our food and actually plan out the shit that we’re going to be dealing with over the next few weeks. Phoebe is still feeding from Maia, but she’s got her plate balanced next to her, the pizza all cut up, thanks to Seb.
I’ve got her juice bottle in between my thighs, so I can offer her sips periodically. She’s nursing our child, so it’s our job to make sure she gets her nourishment, too.
Maia makes a happy noise as she chews her slice of pizza, and despite the undercurrent of tension, there’s a peaceful aura surrounding us. We’re now on even footing—mostly—and we’re on the same page.
“So, your mum is thought to have killed my fiancé.” Maia’s words are a bullet straight to my chest, and whilst I flinch, her tone doesn’t falter.
“Apparently so.” Topher’s words sound dry, and Maia’s nose scrunches up, but he’s covering up his anger. I can smell it simmering beneath the skin, feel the desperation from Orion .
My brother is murderous on our mate’s behalf, but with our parents not even in pack lands, he’s got nobody he can truly target. Nobody but memories of the people we’ve made our enemies, that is.
“Is that something you believe is possible?”
“Mum’s always been a little psychotic,” I mutter to Max as I stay silent. I don’t want to be the one to confirm it with Maia.
“Unhinged, one might say.”
“Envious.” I cross my legs, getting more comfortable in my seat.
My mum might’ve gotten over the fact that Morgan was born a wolf where Talia and Iris were not, but she never once let the girls forget it. My sisters have spent most of their lives desperate to earn our mum’s affection and have yet to receive it.
She can be cruel and is a very talented manipulator.
But I never thought we’d add killer to her list of faults.
“I think it’s not out of the realm of probability,” Topher says diplomatically.
Maia nods slowly, looking down at Phoebe. She brushes a soft curl of Phoebe’s hair out of her face. “Where does the danger end?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, turning to her properly.
“It ends with us,” Seb says. Maia’s eyes rise to his, and he gives one nod. “You are safe.”
“Seb is correct,” Topher says. “You will never be harmed, if we can help it, princess. Not a single member of our family will get to you, or Phoebe, without our say so.”
She bites her lip, her eyes cast downwards, as the scent of her guilt fills the air. Ben’s mouth opens, but I slam against his mental barriers in warning.
“Do not push her,” I say with a firm look. He narrows his eyes. “It’s likely related to her secret that she’s keeping, and she needs to know we can trust her to come to us when she is ready.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Max says, and if he were in control of our body, I have no doubt there would be a pout larger than the one on Ben’s face on ours. “Maia is our mate. There should never be secrets between a bonded pair. She shares our soul. What secret could be greater than that?”
I don’t have an answer.
“So what happens next? Do we contact the police?” Her lip quivers, but she composes herself. “The werewolf police are subject to the whims of your parents, right?”
“Correct,” Ben says. “But a bounty hunter isn’t. I’m sure we can just?—”
“Our parents are not on pack lands right now,” Topher says, and her eyes snap over to his.
I breathe in the warm scent of orange and vanilla sugar that’s attached to my mate and let out a low grumble that should hopefully help soothe her. She’s frazzled.
“It gives us time to do a little investigating and prepare our plan of attack for when they return,” Topher says in a soothing tone. “They’re currently assisting another pack with some issues they’re having.”
“And how long will that take to resolve?” Maia asks.
“They’re expected back at the end of April—a month or so,” I reply, and tears well up in her eyes just as Phoebe pops off her boob and cries.
Maia’s voice is utterly broken as she murmurs, “Can one of you give her some love for a moment?”
I swoop in before Seb can, and I lift the tiny, precious bundle into my arms. Seb growls at me but comes to sit on the sofa after moving Maia’s food out of the way. He lifts her into his lap, as I adjust Phoebe so I can burp her.
She lets out a loud burp and settles down almost immediately. I press a soft kiss to her head, taking in deep whiffs of her scent. After her mother’s, Phoebe’s scent is the most potent in the world.
She smells of kin—of being a werewolf.
She smells like Maia.
She smells like Ryan .
But more than that—she smells like me, and Topher, and Ben, and Seb.
She smells like her daddies.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmur as I nestle the pup into my chest. She buries her face into my shirt, and I can see the little flashes of appreciation in her mind. She’s safe, comfortable, warm, and tired.
“Look how much our pup loves us,” Max says eagerly. “We’re amazing dads and amazing mates. We’ll love them both more than anyone else ever could.”
“Can’t you call them back sooner?” Maia asks.
“We could… but it would severely affect how we play things,” Topher says. “If we call them back early, they’re going to want to know why, and it’ll have them on the defensive.”
“We need to act normal,” Maia whispers, and Seb nods, rubbing her back.
“I’m sorry, little butterfly,” I say, and she nods. “No matter what, we will get to the bottom of his death, I promise.”
“And vengeance will be delivered.” Seb’s words are so much deeper than my promise was, and she shivers.
“Okay.” She leans heavily into Seb, who presses a soft kiss to her neck. There’s no jealousy as I watch him comfort my mate, and that’s not just because I get cuddles from the pup.
I can feel the love Seb has for Maia through our shared bond. I can feel his intentions, understand how badly he just wants to support her.
That’s what it boils down to—we all just want to support Maia the best way that we can.
“Can we just walk through the pros and cons of this?” Maia asks.
“So smart. So strong.”
“So fucking terrified,” I murmur back, keeping a keen eye on my mate whilst also listening out for any needs from the sleeping infant in my arms.
“Calling them tonight and asking for them to come home would be the logical step. However, my parents would know who Phoebe is and how you and she tie into Ryan and the rest of the Grey family. They’re still the leaders of the pack, still the rightful alphas and luna, which leads to us being… bendable to their will. It will unleash an entire can of worms. It may give us a head start against the Grey’s, but it will take the time away where we can get you up to speed and prepare you mentally,” Topher says, sitting forward.
My brother has a serious expression on his face, and I’m sure I look identical.
We’re in the beginning stages of this battle, and all my wolf and I want to do is protect our girls.
“In my opinion,” Ben says, and I cringe, waiting for what he’s going to say. “You’ll want to let us talk to you first, and then when it comes to dealing with my murderous mother, you’ll be able to advocate for you and Phoebe better with having this understanding.”
Maia nods slowly, and my heart slows down, surprised he wasn’t offensive.
“Because my parents are assholes and will try to take over and handle things their way,” Ben continues. “And you’ll be a weird little fish out of the water, unable to actually be helpful if you’re still ignorant of the issues.”
And there it is.
“Can’t I just be a normal fish out of water?” Maia asks, and Ben shakes his head.
“No.”
I facepalm, but Maia’s twinkling laugh makes up for it.
Whilst Phoebe sleeps tonight, Maia will protect her and look after her. My brothers and I will be starting the process here, doing what we can to protect them both.
Phoebe’s a Wolfe, just like Morgan was.
And where she failed, my daughter— Ryan’s daughter— won’t.