Page 72 of The Married Alpha And His Arrow: Vol 2

He looked away then admitted, “I never suspected her fairy brother as the traitor, and I should’ve. Arion was not like Aiden. He was far more loyal to Fabian than Aiden was. When I discovered Haley was pregnant, I knew that if it was a girl Fabian would try to take her. To hurt her as he hurt my wife.”

He growled, “I knew King Damon would want to return them to me. He believed that would appease me. He’d lost his damn mind. I wouldn’t have stopped until Haley was by my side. I agonized over knowing if she went into labor before we got her back, she’d die. The vampires couldn’t have controlled themselves.”

He closed his eyes, “I worried she’d lost the pup, since I didn’t know she was carrying triplets at the time, and her miscarriage would drive them to drain her from the smell of her blood. Arion had to be our hope. Fucking Arion, her betrayer. He had to pop her out if she had any hope of living in that scenario. I knew Fabian would try to keep my pup from me.”

He opened his eyes emphatically stating, “This is different from that situation. We can stop this. The Moon Goddess herself didn’t visit you and tell you Lexi or your pups would be taken. We won’t let this happen. I swear an oath to you, I will not rest until your family is safe Alpha Chase.”

I looked up at him in shock. I stuttered, “What?” Alpha Eric smiled, “Your mate is very important to mine. You are my ally and mentee. I would never let any wolf go through what I did if I could prevent it. Maybe not even an enemy. Knowing she was pregnant with my pup, that turned out to be pups, and not be by side was harder than anything I have ever endured.”

He was more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him. He looked haunted as he recounted, “Simply knowing she was gone, even before I knew she was pregnant. I felt as if I’d been gutted. As if my reason for living had been ripped away from me. I won’t let that happen to you. Lexi has a Hackura guard now. I’m sure her brother will put someone on her too. We will keep her and your pups safe.”

I did actually feel a little better and nodded. Haley popped down to us. She quietly said, “The triplets are up, Eric.” I frantically asked, “What time is it?” Haley answered, “Eight in the morning.” I sighed, “Lexi has a doctor’s appointment I need to get to.” Alpha Eric snorted, “You can change it, you’re the Alpha.” I sighed, “I might have to, I need to change.” Haley snapped and I was clean and in fresh clothes.

I said, “Thank you Haley. For the clothes and for saving my life. It really doesn't seem like enough but thank you.” Haley shrugged, “Lexi is my sister. Which makes you my brother-in-law.” I told her, “I was told that your brother was probably looking for that knife.” Haley said, “I doubt he was looking. He knew where it was. I bet he was waiting for it to surface since no one would ever give it to him. That would be fucking stupid.”

I snorted, “He could’ve said that.” Haley laughed, “He’s a fairy. He doesn't share all his thoughts or plans. He evades like a mother fucker, and he’s very good at it. He told you more than he would’ve anyone else because of me. Aiden is a very shrewd and cunning. He always has been.” That was a far cry from his flighty reputation, which I was beginning to think was his intention. With the reputation he had in our realm, and the persona he had created no one saw him coming for them.

Haley smiled, “Let me know when the fucking Troll hunt begins. I’ve been preparing for that for so long.” I nodded and ran to get to Lexi’s appointment. Heath was waiting for me. We walked to the hospital in silence.

I admitted, “I could’ve tried harder to get a hold of you. I knew you’d just found Allie though. I was trying to give you some time together.” Heath snorted, “Bjourn had entirely too much fun interrupting us.” I nudged him, “There’s a soundproofed room that is empty on the third floor here. No one would disturb you.” Heath laughed, “I’m taking you up on that.”

We made it right before Lexi and Allie walked into the hospital. Lexi spotted Heath; she looked like a little kid when she jumped into his arms. I snorted as Heath dragged Allie off. The doctor told us we might see the pups on Valentine’s Day. I felt joy and terror. I needed more time. I wanted them to be safe before they were born.

I linked Matt, “We need a plan yesterday. The twins could come on Valentine’s Day.” Matt laughed, “Valentine’s Day will be a big one then. Mating Ceremony and pups.” I replied, “If that’s when they come.” Lexi wanted to get back to work. I linked Kincade, “Lexi is going to work. Make sure she takes it easy.” Kincade responded, “Yes, Alpha.”

I walked into my office. I ordered, “Let’s get to work.” Heath joined us eventually. We poured over everything we had. Heath assigned a Hood shadow to Lexi along with her Hackura guard. I added three more warriors to her detail.

I was so busy I’d barely done more than hold Lexi at night. I took breaks to see her, but our sex life was non-existent. That would change once I got on top of this though. Mid-week we met with Dustin, Ryan, and Katie Bishop. Katie’s mate, Prince Logan came too. He stood in the back within arm’s reach of her. Heath came in and nodded to him.

Katie took charge, “Dustin, you can start since you met Anne and Tony.” Dustin said, “I know who placed the magic on them. I suspect it wasn’t just on them. I think it’s all of those in your Shroud their age or anyone who could remember the Newcome’s.” I growled.

Heath demanded to know, “Who did this to my people?” Dustin gritted his teeth, “Our father.” We all stared at him, stunned. Dustin explained, “We can undo it, but it’s going to take time. We need to do more research. I could jump in, but we could erase all of their memories if we do it wrong. We need to take the dark magic down layer by layer. I took down the first layer. They will no longer pass out if you mention the Newcome’s.”

Matt tapped his chin then added, “I think I know why Noah attacked Anne, if it was Noah.” Heath turned saying, “I’ve been thinking the same thing.” I caught onto their train of thought. I sighed, “She recognized Hanson, but how? If he had plastic surgery….” Heath shrugged, “We won’t know if he did or not until we catch him, but I suspect she recognized Hanson or Betty. I also think Hanson attacked Anne, not Noah.” Those two men were a match made in hell.

Dustin said, “As for protections of this area we’ve done what we can. We can’t stop them from entering without a ward. We could do that though.” I sighed, “Let’s not go there just yet.” That would be complicated for our pack members.

Plus, the last thing I needed was to give permission to any supernatural who was passing through my area. If they stayed, they had to come talk to me, but a ward would keep out anyone who even needed to drive through.

Katie said, “I placed protections on Lexi herself.” I asked, “How did you do that?” Katie answered, “Haley conjured me a necklace Lexi wears. I put protections on it because Haley said some warlocks have directives to cause her to have a miscarriage. Now they can’t do that.”

I closed my eyes in relief. “Thank you, Katie.” She nodded, “Of course. I don’t want to even imagine the devastation she would go through. Haley conjured me your sister in laws wedding ring as well. I put the same protections on her ring as Lexi’s necklace. If some warlock is obsessed with her, I’ve actually wondered if that’s why she couldn’t get pregnant.” Cameron growled.

I asked, “What?” Katie said, “I asked Haley to describe what she felt when she healed Reagan. I believe Haley removed a spell on Reagan without realizing it. Magic that was preventing her from conceiving. Following that logic, I was afraid their coven would turn their magic on her to cause her to lose her child. As I said, took care of that.” Cameron was pacing.

Derrick put his hand on Cameron, “We will protect my sister.” Cameron looked at him and nodded. Cameron said, “No one will take her from me. I’ve loved her since I was ten years old. Honestly, probably before then, ten is a generous estimate. I’ll never let anyone have her.” It was a generous estimate. He was a goner for Reagan her whole life. I agreed, “No one will. No one will hurt our Luna’s or our pups, Cameron.” He nodded.

We had several more meetings throughout the week. Before I knew it, it was time for the female lead warrior tournament at the Conners. Matt said, “We need to get going.” I ordered, “Get everyone. Oscar can pop us there since we’ll be late if he doesn’t. I’ll get Lexi. Get everyone else into the main room.” Matt nodded, “Will do.”

I walked to Lexi’s home office that she’d been working from. She didn’t even try to go into the actual office. She told me she didn’t want to know about the plans with Noah and Hanson. Mostly, we were doing damage control. We were waiting for them to take something from Lexi’s fake apartment. They’d had another successful break in, but they didn’t take anything. I’m sure Hanson was forcing Noah to lay low since their last plan didn’t work.

I smiled when I saw Lexi. She was biting on a pencil studying her computer. My dick twitched. I closed my eyes trying to control myself. When we joined everyone, I noticed Derrick was glaring at Oscar. I linked him, “What’s your deal?” Derrick answered, “He flirted with Sally at Alpha Eric’s house.” I pointed, “He’s mated now.” Derrick shrugged.

Matt linked me, “Can I hurt my future brother in law? He keeps calling me Mattie.” I replied, “That might upset your sister, and as the Beta you can’t hurt people for using a version of your name.” Matt growled, “Dammit.”

I was trying not to laugh when Oscar mentioned playing catch the fairy. Matt linked me, “I beg of you get us out of here, and nowhere near him. Would you just stand here if Sebastian was talking about banging Susie?” I growled, “She’s six!” Matt retorted, “When she’s older!” Fine. Only because I wasn’t thinking about that.

Ted had taken to distracting Matt, thank god. Oscar popped us to Black Mountain and left. I bit back my growl when Lexi commented on Oscar being nice. Derrick said, “See? Oscar didn’t even flirt with Lexi. He wanted my mate not yours.” He pulled Sally to him. Before I could respond Susie squealed and took off running for Sebastian fucking Kyle.

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