Chapter 5
Misti gasped, and her hand flew to her belly. Was Anders right? Her fatigue couldn’t be from that, could it? She had been moodier lately, that was true, but…
Yes, she was pregnant. He was right. Somehow, she knew he was.
They were going to have a baby together.
The sound of fighting down below pulled her out of her dream-like state. The werewolves—their werewolves—were turning the meeting into a battle.
Oh, hell no.
Misti shifted her mouth and howled once, loud enough to be heard over the din. Slowly, the werewolves stopped throwing punches and kicking each other. They pulled themselves back into place. Even in the expanse of grass below, they still managed to mostly keep in three sections, one for each of the packs.
“Look at you,” she demanded. “You’re fighting each other, and for what? What do you hope to accomplish? Can’t you see this is pointless? Our goal should be peace. And we can have that.”
“How?” a female shouted.
“From this moment forward…” Misti held out her hand. Anders grabbed it immediately, and she channeled his love. “From this moment on, you are not a Red Nightwalker. You are not a Shadowed Star. You are not a Wild Shade.”
Several werewolves began to stir, restless, agitated, reckless.
“You are now a…” Misti glanced at her husband.
“Feral Fire,” he finished without missing a beat.
Yes, that worked. They all were certainly feral. And fire needed three elements to survive—heat, oxygen, and fuel. It fit them all perfectly.
“The Feral Fire pack.” Miera nodded. “Wouldn’t you rather have unity than disorder? Harmony instead of chaos?”
“If we were to keep you in the three packs,” Anders cut in, “it would be impossible for the long term. I’m alpha of the Shadowed Stars. My wife is the alpha of the Red Nightwalkers and the Wild Shades. We will never be separated. None of you will be either by extension.”
“Take a good look around you,” Misti called over the growing rumblings of the crowd. “Look at your brothers and sisters.”
“They aren’t my brothers and sisters!” a male yelled.
“Maybe then you’ll find your wife among them then.” Anders smirked. “You never know.”
She could feel his desire for her growing, and she blushed. Now wasn’t about them, though. Once they diffused this, once everyone was happy, then she could have more time for her husband.
“Love is possible between us. We’re proof of that.” Misti couldn’t help herself. She gave Anders a quick kiss, although he pulled her close and made the kiss last much longer than she’d intended.
A few of the werewolves were eyeing the others with looks that left her unease.
Anders must have picked up on her feeling, or else he saw it too because he held up his hands. “Listen to me,” he demanded in the tone of voice she liked to think of as his “alpha voice.” He used it in the bedroom sometimes, and it turned her on so much she would do anything he commanded of her. “You can either work together and with us…”
The werewolves were talking now, not just whispering, and Misti had had enough of their insolence. “Or you can find yourselves new alphas. Anders and I will leave, and with our baby, we will form a new pack.”
The talking dropped back to murmurs.
“You’ll go back to the skirmishes,” Anders said.
“At first, it will just be small battles here and there.”
“But then you’ll go back to war. You know you will. And what then? Death. Death will come for you as it did to Dunn Kastner. As it did for my father and for Misti’s.”
Now, silence reined below.
“You have one night,” Misti offered, “one night to decide. Will you try for peace, real peace, true peace, lasting peace?”
“Or will you be choosing new alphas and bloodshed and shrouds for your dead?”
A wave of fear washed of Misti. They were at a crossroads, one that they desperately needed to cross together. Would the werewolves give in to their deep-seated hate? Or could it be rooted out of them so they could finally live with hope?
Anders brought her back inside, and Tia escorted them to the guest quarters. The funeral pyre for Kastner would happen in the morning. Afterward, they would learn whether or not they would be staying or fleeing.
The future had never looked more uncertain.
Even Anders holding her all night long didn’t help to make her feel better.
As soon as she woke up, she discovered the room was empty and found a paper bag sitting on the nightstand. Inside was a pregnancy test. Anders must’ve gotten it for her. What’s this? She opened the note at the bottom of the bag.
Because I know you’d like confirmation.
She chuckled. Peeing on a stick. How fun. It didn’t surprise her at all that the positive marker appeared right away.
The funeral was simple and over rather quickly. Misti tried to shut off her emotions during it, to not think of her father, but it wasn’t easy. Her stomach churned as the flames licked greedily toward the sky.
When the fire burned out, she and Anders faced the werewolves gathered in the clearing. This time, they were standing among them, but oddly, she felt no fear. They belonged together, all of them. Her and Anders’s child could grow up to be the heir of one huge pack, the Feral Fires.
“Have you made your decision?” Anders asked. “Should we pack our bags?”
A man stepped forward. He shifted into his wolf form, and he lay sprawled out on the ground, legs in the air. Complete submission.
A few others followed suit. Then more and more until all of them, every wolf, did the same.
The last two to turn were Anders and Misti. They kept their tails up as high as they could to show their dominance. Anders howled first. She joined in, and then all the others blended in their voices too.
Over and over, they howled, We are the Feral Fires! We are the Feral Fires!
One day, their child would be the one to lead the werewolves and the next generation. Until then, Misti and Anders would hold the line. Their love had made so much possible. Their hope would accomplish even more.
I hope you enjoyed my Forbidden Love series! Werewolves are so much fun to write about!
If you want more werewolves, be sure to check out my To Love and Defend series about sexy, hot werewolves and their amazing mates!
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Until the next book,
Daniella