Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-six
Parker
Genie's eyes roll shut when Cross pushes his knot inside her and she nips my bottom lip hard enough that I taste a little blood.
I want it. I want her to sink her teeth into me.
I need that claiming. The fact that I've been hiding a bizarre fluke of an alpha presentation my whole life doesn't matter.
I'm no alpha. I might have a knot, but it is solely for her. Genie. My Luna.
Submit.
My wolf's tranquil command fills my mind as Genie fills my senses. My head drops back without thought, my neck arching, naked and vulnerable to her. Cross's low, satisfied growl is warm in the background of the feel of Genie's tongue licking a wide path up from my shoulder and across my throat.
“Please.”
One word. That's all I've got for her in the intensity of this overwhelming need for her to claim me as her own.
Her bite is sharp, deep, and sudden. A bond I never knew could exist falls seamlessly into place between us, and in the echo of it I find Cross.
We all twist together in a tangle of everything we ever needed or will ever want inside her and it's perfect.
It's the most perfect thing I've ever felt in my life.
She collapses into my waiting arms, giving me her weight as she tends the deep bite just to the side of my throat.
Cross comes with her but he holds his weight above us like a shield of protective warmth.
His eyes are wide when I meet them. We just stare at each other for long breaths until Genie gives me one last lick and lays her head on my chest. She's asleep within a minute, leaving Cross and I still looking at each other, bewildered and fascinated and lost in a shared deep satisfaction.
“You belong to her now.” Cross's words are soft and quiet.
“We both do. I think we always have. I...” I stop, not wanting to sound stupid, but I have to say it. “I've had this dream since I was a kid. I...”
“Running through the forest,” he interrupts. “Running with a wolf you can't see.”
“Yeah.”
A small smile lifts the corners of his mouth. “It was her.”
“Do you think she had the same dream?”
His smile grows. “Probably.”
***
Genie's heat ends as suddenly as it came on and we are faced with the immediate stress of an impending attack on the pack that hasn't even fully integrated.
There couldn't have been a worse time for her to go into heat, other than during the fight.
.. or right as it started, but we have no regrets.
I can feel my bond with her singing inside me as I walk beside her back to the main pack house where her family has always lived; and the bond with Cross is singing just as loudly.
I can actually feel him inside me now though my connection with her.
It's a shared bond. Perfect for us in a way I never thought possible.
My cloud of giddy perfection crumbles around me when we approach the house to find Alpha Reeves sitting on the front porch sipping a cup of coffee.
He grins at us and raises his mug. “Welcome back to reality, kids.”
“Alpha Reeves,” Cross greets respectfully, but stops abruptly and puts Genie behind him. “I'm not sure if I should be happy to see you.”
The older alpha lets out a full-bellied laugh. “You should be, Drew Cross. I am waiting for my daughter and the misguided youths she has collected in her wake.”
Cross glances from Alpha Reeves to me and back again. “Does she know you are here?”
“Nope.” Alpha Reeves takes a long sip. “It's going to be a surprise.”
“Are you alone?” I ask, stepping up beside Cross to further block Genie.
He shakes his head. “I have four enforcers from my pack and five from Pack Steele, but they're just for show. I'm fully capable of retrieving our high-handed pups without an army behind me, but it's always good to have back-up.”
“It is.” Cross nods. “What do you need from us?”
Alpha Reeves stands and finishes his coffee. “Just stay out of the line of fire when they get here. I have spoiled Bella, I know that; but I never thought she'd go to this length to take something that wasn't hers.”
“I don't know why she thinks joining these lands to yours would be easy,” Cross says. “The distance alone...”
“It isn't the lands,” Genie says sharply from behind us, but she doesn't move to become more visible to Alpha Reeves. “It's Drew.”
Alpha Reeves smiles again and nods. “Which is a level of arrogance I can't understand, even from my own daughter. You three are goddess-blessed. We all saw it years ago. It's just sad that you've all been so stupid and too stubborn to accept it.”
“I accepted it, thank you,” Genie says, and he smirks.
“You'll find that men are slower to come to these types of conclusions, unfortunately.”
Drew rubs at the back of his neck. “So you're just waiting on them to get here?”
“They should be here within an hour or so. You three have impeccable timing.”
“Drew,” Luna Barrett calls from the door as she opens it. “Bring them inside so I can feed them. Alpha Reeves has this handled. Come on while it's hot.”
My stomach growls as the scent of cooking food filters from the house.
Yeah. Inside is the place to be. I pull Genie behind me and march straight to the front door, nodding at Alpha Reeves as I pass him.
Cross follows a little slower but we end up seated around Genie's mom's table to eat one of the best meals I've ever had.
I don't know how she managed it, but there is a casserole dish of cold spaghetti sitting beside a platter of bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos.
My favorite comfort food and Cross's, right here on this table.
“Eat, Parker,” Genie's mom orders. “I don't know if you've always been this skinny, but I'm making it a personal mission to try to put some weight on you.”
“Good luck,” Cross says, putting a couple stuffed jalapenos onto the plate in front of Genie. “His mom and mine have been trying for years. He can eat, though. No problem there.” He laughs and starts piling more food onto Genie's plate.
“How long has Alpha Reeves been here?” Genie asks.
“Just a couple of days,” her mom answers.
“He called to give us a heads up we didn't need and then got on a flight to beat her here.
He wants this to be a lesson learning experience for her.
We've had many discussions about how ready our heirs may or may not be to take things over.
He isn't nearly as confident in his daughter as we are of ours. And Drew was always going to be a wonderful alpha.” She reaches over to pat his shoulder.
“Even if he had to learn a few lessons of his own to get there.”
Alpha Reeves was right. We're still eating when the alarm sounds that Bella has arrived.
We do what he asked us to do. We stay inside the house, but we don't hide that we're watching from the windows.
It's kind of anticlimactic, but we're all relieved just the same.
We may not run from fights like this, but none of us wanted it.
And it's very satisfying to watch him issue the command that puts Bella and most of the rest of the people who followed her here onto their knees.
Jonathan doesn't have to kneel to Alpha Reeves's command, but he does anyway.
He knows he's not meant to rule a pack. He never should have come here.
This will be a black mark against all of them for the rest of their lives; Bella's only saving grace is that she's an alpha's heir.
Even that might not save her if she doesn't learn from this.
***
~One Month Later ~
The moon is full and silver above us. Every member of our conjoined pack has gathered in the same clearing we've used for mating ceremonies for generations upon generations.
The only difference between now and the first time we were here is that Cross and I are standing next to each other instead of across.
We're face to face with Cross's grinning and crying younger brother.
“Pull yourself together, Robbie,” Cross hisses, but he's smiling.
“I can't believe the Elders agreed to this,” I say. “Again.”
“You three are a phenomenon.” Robbie, smiles wider. “Phenomenon's get special treatment.”
The gathered crowd in the clearing slowly comes to a hush as Genie's scent floats to us sweetly on the breeze. I itch with the need to turn and look at her and Cross reaches over to touch my hand. “Almost.”
Pure, unfiltered joy rushes to us from every wolf in the clearing as the sound of Genie's footsteps come closer. Danner's voice cuts through the clearing, loud and full.
"Drew Cross, future Alpha of the Cross-Barrett Pack, Parker Merritt turn and greet your mate."
Robbie nods, wiping his eyes and smiling even harder. “Turn around,” he whispers.
Cross and I turn in unison. There she is.
Wearing a white dress similar to the one she wore the first time we were in this clearing together.
She tried to wear the first dress, but the growing swell of her abdomen wouldn't allow it.
I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life.
Cross's grip on my hand is bruising but I can feel his happiness.
His foot lifts to go to her and I tighten my grip on him. “You have to wait,” I whisper.
Time stands still as she closes the distance between us. Her bottom lip is swollen and red from being gnawed on with her nerves but she's so perfect.
“Eugenia Barrett, do you accept this bond?”
She smiles at us in turn and reaches her hand toward us, her palm raised to the moon. “I accept.”
“Drew, Parker. Do you accept this bond?”
“Yes,” we say together as we enclose her hand between ours.
Cheers and howls erupt in the clearing.
“Turn and face your pack.
***
Two weeks later, we have another pack gathering.
This one is a celebration of new life and new beginnings.
Everyone is here to take part in the joy of our pup.
Genie is radiant as she accepts well wishes, hugs, advice and small gifts.
Every person here wants to give a little of themselves to the moment and there’s so much happiness.
The little life we created is already so loved.
It is absolutely insane to me to think that only a year ago I was chasing rabbits for survival and doing everything I could to hide from, or run from, everything we were meant to be.
Now I get to spend all day doing what I always wanted.
I take care of my family. I help my pack.
I support my Alpha and Luna, and nobody cares that we all sleep together every night.
Nobody has mentioned anything about the possibility that the pup could be mine biologically, but we know it’s Cross’s.
He can feel it. I’m sure someone will ask eventually, but right now no one seems to care.
Cross doesn’t. Cross is beside himself with worry, though.
If Genie so much as stubs her toe, he comes running.
She’s trying to be patient, but I can feel her irritation growing with his well-meaning hovering.
She only has about seven more months to endure it. She'll be alright.
Cross is waiting until next year to fully take his place as Alpha.
The packs will be fully integrated by then; and besides that both his parents and Genie’s have made it perfectly clear that they are looking forward to devoting their time to spoiling grandkids instead of managing supply orders and attending council meetings.
The most awkward conversation we’ve had is where we will live.
It felt wrong to kick their parents out of the homes they’ve lived in since before any of us were born.
It didn’t feel any better to live closer to the center of one side or the other of the conjoined packlands, so we’re building a new house.
Right in the middle where the territory line used to be.
It’s already halfway finished. Everyone who can is pitching in.
We need it ready and cozy before Genie’s in the final stretch of her pregnancy.
I never knew it was possible to feel so happy or full.
When Genie decided that we were jumping into this new life headfirst, she meant it.
Cross and I followed her lead and now we're all completely, utterly in love with each other and our life.
I've been pessimistic about pretty much everything for as long as I can remember, but not anymore.
I have enough hope coursing through me to keep my head in the clouds.
It's ridiculous, unbelievable, and true.
My life, our lives, have changed so completely. We are finally who we were always meant to be. Everything is right. We have happiness. We have balance. We have love.