Page 8 of Alpha Talk

He was naked and still bloody which meant he hadn’t showered without me. A smear of deer’s blood marked his stomach and chest, dried on the tip of one of his nipples. Another smear was across his mouth and up on his temple. A dot on his earlobe and a spray across his legs. We’d let ourselves go primal on the deer once he was down for the count.

“Everything alright?” Micah asked, careful not to touch the doorway.

“Yeah. My wolf is….”

“Not going to work tomorrow,” Micah offered, arching a brow. “I think we might get held hostage, mate. By our own traitorous inner beasts at that.”

“We need to work. People are counting on us.”

“Other people work at Dark Soul,” Micah reminded me.

“Yes, but they’re not me.”

“We can go in on days you feel like it,” Micah said. “It’s not a bad thing to take time for yourself. It’s not a bad thing to take time off when you’re pregnant. Think about it. We’re legally obligated by pack law to give paternal leave to all of our employees!”

“Not everyone takes it---” I tried but Micah cut me off.

“I know but they are encouraged to. You encourage them to! Taking time off doesn’t mean the whole pregnancy. Maybe we den down for a week or two. Maybe he feels better in a few days,” Micah pointed at my stomach, and I wasn’t sure if he meant the wolf or our pup.

“Wolf,” Micah said, picking up on my thoughts over our mating link. “Your wolf. My mate. We’ll talk to Silas and them about it too. I’m sure Silas will agree…”

“We agreed,” I stood akimbo and narrowed my eyes on him. “We agreed we’d work as long as we could.”

“Yes we did,” Micah nodded. “We did, but that doesn’t mean we work until one of us falls over or has a mental breakdown. As long as we could is open ended. I think you should listen to your wolf. How about we just go in for those coregulation classes or whatever you call them.”

“What about Alpha Talk?” I asked.

“Alpha Talk centers operate around the globe without me, mate. I’ll keep in touch with the clients I think need the most attention but I don’t need to go in every day. I don’t want to go in every day. I missed too much of your pregnancy last time. Between being kidnapped, losing my hand, and trying to figure out how to live with that it felt like I let you down in every way known to shifterkind.”

“I don’t want to end up locked in bed again!” I growled. “You didn’t let me down but I can’t go through that again, Micah! That was the scariest part about it! Being locked in bed and told if I didn’t rest we’d lose the girls!”

Micah took a deep breath and glanced down at the black and white tiled floor. Whatever was on his mind I wasn’t going to like by how his scent turned.

“What?” I barked.

“Maybe if we rest when you want to, it won’t get like that. You couldn’t rest last time, Cody. You couldn’t take time and sit and not be upset. I should’ve made you wait to go back or---”

“Micah, people would’ve died. We’ve been over this. You did not fail me as anything – not as a mate, a partner, an alpha, or a protector. If you remember, I wasn’t the one kidnapped and tortured!”

“What do we do?” Micah asked. “I’m done arguing. I don’t want you upset. So, just tell me the plan, mate.”

“I--- I shouldn’t have said that,” I said, tripping over my words as I stepped toward him. “I meant, you saved me. I know it didn’t feel like it at the time. I know how I felt. I know how it must’ve felt over our link before he clamped it off. I’m sorry. I – I only meant I wish you wouldn’t beat yourself up, Micah, because you know how to make the hard calls better than anyone else. If anyone ever says you weren’t there for me I want you to punch them square in the nose or the balls or…” I was tearing up more with each word I said. “I know I can count on you. I can count on you no matter how hard this gets. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that – not just for making sure they did get me and the girls but for everything you gave up for my pack.”

“They’re family. That’s what family does,” Micah stepped closer and took my face in his hands. He bowed it and kissed the top of my head before pulling me into his arms.

“It’s not that I don’t want to take time off,” I said, still fighting against the tears rolling down my cheeks. “I don’t want to end up helpless again.”

“You were never helpless, mate. You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

We stood like that, holding onto each other in the laundry room for a long time before Micah scooped me up and carried me down the hall to the shower. Luckily, the water was still warm.

“Gilmore magic,” Micah winked at me as he sat me down on my own two feet.

We scrubbed the blood from each other’s skin in silence. We didn’t have all the answers. Hell, by the old crows, we probably didn’t even have most of the answers, but we had each other and that had to be enough. It was always enough for us.

Chapter Six

Micah

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