Chapter 20
Millie
I might be in my wolf form, but I was still me. Only better. The smells. The sounds. The sights. It was magnificent and surreal all at once.
This new body of mine was so intense, so extreme, I didn’t know what to do first. However, when I smelled my mate, and the adrenaline roiling off his skin, I instinctively knew what needed to be done. Protect. Destroy. Kill anything that threatened to harm him!
I homed in on Osyrius then. He was holding a knife in his hands, and my focus suddenly shifted from Ethan to ending this asshole’s miserable existence.
Flint howled then, breaking my focus. Getting in front of me, he nudged me back from the fight, telling me not to interfere, but I wasn’t having it. Nobody hurt my mate. Nobody!
Flint would not be dissuaded though. I tried to go around him, but he circled me again, effectively blocking my path. I growled at him, baring my sharp new fangs. He growled back, showing me bigger, sharper ones in return.
I didn’t care. I had to help Ethan. He was my only concern. When I tried plowing through my stubborn pack member once more, Flint grabbed me by the scruff and gave me a quick nip against the throat. I was pissed at him for that, but it caused me to stop and look at him. Exactly what he’d attended.
That’s when I heard it. The voice in my head, that, with a little concentration and less bloodlust pistoning through my veins, was getting louder and clearer with each passing second.
“Don’t interfere!” It distinctly warned.
“My mate needs me!” I angrily shouted back in a language I was unaware I even spoke.
The wolf’s keen green eyes leveled on my face, burning into my frantic blue ones. “Don’t interfere,” he repeated. “This is Ethan’s fight, little one. Have faith in him, like he’s always had in you.”
If a wolf could frown, I surely would have. Because I couldn’t, I anxiously pawed the earth in response, making tiny, yipping noises in frustration.
Ethan approached then, his hand extended with caution. “Easy, Princess. You’re safe. I’m here.”
I’d never doubted I that when we were together. For me, “mate” had become another name for home. Safety. Security. Family. I relaxed and bowed my head, melting back into the crowd to give Ethan a chance to do what I knew he would. Protect his family.
“Thank you,” he said, “I—”
Osyrius came from behind him then, exploiting his unguarded flank.
I snarled and prepared to jump into the fight.
But, in a move that was smooth and effortless, Ethan bent low and tripped Osyrius over his shoulder.
Before the enormous ware had even hit the ground, my mate had straddled the man’s back, craned his neck to the side, then soundly snapped it.
The crowd gasped at how quickly the end came. They were silent for a few heartbeats before the wailing began. The compound suddenly exploded in a hive of activity, as several people dashed forward to gather up Osyrius’s body.
We didn’t hang around the Tupilaq compound after the fight.
Stark, thinking quickly, had run to get the van and brought it around to the back of the house so we could jump inside and escape before anyone could counterattack.
In the chaos that followed Osyrius’s death, nobody seemed to even notice us speeding away.
On the ride home, I’d shifted back into my human self, and the men had scrambled to give me whatever clothes they could cobble together between them so I didn’t have to sit there in the buff.
Flint, unaffected by his nudity, had casually sat naked for the rest of the drive home like it was just another Tuesday.
Stopping at the hotel, we gathered our belongings and headed straight to the airport.
After killing Osyrius, Ethan thought it best we didn’t tempt fate and hang around Alaska any longer than was absolutely necessary.
No one argued the point, and we were packed and back on the road within twenty minutes.
I slept the entire flight home. Changing into a wolf for the first time certainly took it out of a girl. Ethan cradled my head against his chest as I slumbered, keeping watch over my prostrate form as I recharged my human battery. Every few minutes, I’d feel him kiss my head, or rub my back.
At one point, he whispered. “Sleep, Princess. You and the baby need the rest.”
I didn’t need a pregnancy test to confirm his statement.
There was a part of me that had known we’d conceived a child together in Alaska.
Something I was exceptionally happy about.
Ethan and I were going to be parents. We were going to have a little boy or girl in nine short months.
Or was it different for wolves? I didn’t know. I guess I was about to find out.
Gavin picked us up at the airport and drove everyone back to the cabin. Sadly, Colt and Stark had to leave that next morning, as they had jobs, and lives, to get back to living. I was pleased that Flint, my cousin, stayed for another week before he had to leave.
When we were finally alone, I realized I missed having a full house. I felt bereft that our pack wasn’t living close by, sharing their day-to-day lives with us.
One evening at dinner, I’d asked Ethan when we would see everybody again. He smiled as he’d considered my words. “Are you sick of me already, Princess?”
Tossing my napkin at him, I’d said, “You miss them, too. I know you do.”
Setting down his fork, Ethan steepled his hands together. “I do. I’ve been wondering how to broach the subject with you but now seems like the perfect time.”
My eyebrow cocked upward. “Subject?”
“Yes. I wanted to know if you would be okay with me asking the boys to come live with us permanently. Not in the cabin, of course. We could build them each a place, if they wanted to. I have over a hundred acres here and I’d love to share it with our family.”
Jumping out of my seat, I ran over to Ethan and straddled his lap. “Yes, yes, yes!” I gushed, kissing every inch of his face as I spoke.
Laughing, Ethan wrapped his arms around me and soaked in all of the affection. “I figured with the baby coming, we’re going to need as many uncles around to help raise them as possible. Ware children are hellions, you know.”
“All children are hellions,” I countered, resting my forehead against his.
“True,” he amiably agreed. “But can you imagine if we have a little Flint on our hands? Lord help us!”
We both had a good laugh at that. We sat for a moment, absorbing the gravity of everything that had happened over the last few months.
Me finding out I was a ware. Ethan coming forward as my champion.
My mother’s sudden resurrection in my life.
The death of Osyrius. And most wondrous of all, our pregnancy.
We’d certainly packed in quite a bit of activity over the last little while.
Yet there was still something else I wanted to do, and I hoped my mate would approve of the idea.
“Ethan,” I began, leaning back so I could look at him while we talked, “I’ve been giving something a lot of thought recently, and I wanted to know what you think about it.”
Ethan toggled his head to the side. “Let’s hear it.”
“Since we aren’t exactly struggling financially, I was wondering if we could share a little, maybe help others.
” Biting my lower lip, I pressed forward.
“I keep thinking about what Laurence did, and still does, for so many children in need. I was wondering, well, if you were okay with it, I’d like it if we continued his work here in Montana.
I’d like to open up the cabin to ware children who don’t have a pack of their own.
With our son or daughter on the way,” I placed my hand over my still flat stomach protectively, “I keep thinking about what would happen if we weren’t around to care for them and it breaks my heart.
No child should ever go without a home, pack or not.
Everybody deserves somebody to love them like Laurence does the boys of Cascia House. ”
Tears pooled in Ethan’s eyes as I spoke. When I was done, he didn’t speak. Instead, he pulled me close and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe and my ribs ached.
After a full minute of this, I began to giggle and asked, “Is that a yes?”
Ethan stood and tossed me over his shoulder cave-man style. Slapping my ass, he carried me upstairs and showed me just how much he liked my idea, three times over.