Page 11 of Alpha Talk

“Speaking of sonograms,” Micah said the night before the BIG one. “We haven’t been out of the house since your last appointment. Well, you haven’t been out since then. Are we going tomorrow or do you want me to see if Clyde will make a house call? Do you want him to? I mean, you haven’t even had Silas over to visit and I think you like him more than Clyde.”

“Silas can come over if he wants to. Clyde too. Even Kodiak and Creon. Just not in here. In here is ours. This is where the pup will live. They have to stay out there,” I pointed to the door.

“Well, I don’t think Clyde can perform an ultrasound through the door,” he laughed, tracing circles on the zenith of my pregnant belly.

“Why not?” I teased.

My wolf wasn’t in a joking mood. I was in the middle of my second trimester, but he was already denned down for the birth. Often I’d fall asleep as a human and wake up in his form as if he trusted himself more than me to keep whatever threats he was worried about away.

“Dunno. Maybe one day,” Micah shrugged and stole a kiss. “So, where are we seeing the healer?”

“Here. I should probably go for a run soon but I don’t want to leave the room. This is the best place ever, you know?”

“I do know, because you’re here,” he whispered in my ear. “We can skip this one, if you want. A surprise baby never hurt anyone. It’s not like it makes that much difference to the rest of the supplies we need to buy.”

“I sort of want to know but I sort of can live without knowing,” I shrugged.

“Okay. Then I’ll tell him we’re holding off for a while. If you change your mind, let me know.”

“I will,” I nodded, and it was my turn to steal a kiss.

Eventually, I dozed off and woke up to Kodiak and Micah’s hushed voices drifting in from the living room.

“He did it again, Micah,” Kodiak said.

I couldn’t see him until I tuned into my mate over our link. Kodiak stood in the center of our living room with his arms crossed. His eyes narrowed on Micah as if my alpha was supposed to be the one who had all the answers for him. Part of me wanted to tell the overgrown bear to buzz off. The other part of me wanted to know who did what. We’d heard a rumor that Kodiak’s dead brother, Finn, was haunting the Nightshade Bears again but if that was his issue I didn’t know what he expected Micah to do about it. He was a Gilmore Witch but right now he didn’t have the time to travel that far away from me.

“Raziel?” Micah asked and I felt his eyebrow quirk up.

“Raziel,” Kodiak nodded.

“Man, come on. I’ve never had any trouble with him. I can’t find a single person who has. His parents are good people. Hell, if we did monarchy here, he’d be a prince.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s good. Brone thought he was some sort of god sent damned king,” Kodiak pointed out. “And don’t even get me started on Creon’s mother. Seriously, don’t get me started on it.”

“What did he do this time?”

“He left again – as soon as Creon walked in. He just up and fucking left! I want to go to his house and drag him out and…”

“Dude,” Micah warned. “I have a pregnant mate in the next room. Your mate’s best friend. So, let’s chill on the violence. Seriously, chill. You’re raising my wolf’s heckles and it’s not about Raziel. Unless he actually does something chill the fuck out. If he has some problem with Creon, he’s allowed to have a problem with Creon!” Micah threw his hands up in the air. “He’s allowed to feel however he wants. Unless he actually does something, we don’t have a problem. Leaving when someonewalks into a room isn’t treason. No matter how badly you want it to be.”

Kodiak huffed sounding more like a bear than ever. He opened his mouth and shut it again. It’d been a long time since Kodiak smelled so annoyed. No, annoyed wasn’t the right word. Territorial and ready to tear this other guy apart was the right word.

“Look, sometimes I wouldn’t mind punting Creon across the soccer field, okay?” Micah laughed, trying to break the tension but Kodiak’s spine went ramrod straight. “Hey, I’m allowed to think like that. He’d have offed himself if I hadn’t tackled him. I lost this,” he raised his prosthetic hand to emphasize his point. “But think about it for a minute. We’re always telling the alphas in the groups that they are more than thoughts and instincts. Thoughts are just noise unless you line them out or act on them and instincts are what the world trained into us. So, even if he despises Creon, that’s okay unless he does or says something to hurt him. If you’re right and that’s a big IF for me, he’s doing exactly what we tell the guys to do. If you can’t handle a situation you get up and you get your ass out of there.”

Kodiak rubbed the bridge of his nose before running his hands through his hair.

“Something’s off and I don’t know what, Micah,” he said, a growl tracing his words.

“You probably need a break. Dealing with other people’s problems all the time is fucking hard. If you need to pause the groups for a while do it or let someone else lead or---”

“You think I’m losing it, huh?” Kodiak asked.

“I don’t. I think it’s good for you to be protective over Creon. I’m not saying he might not have enemies out there. I’m just saying I don’t think Raziel is one of them. I’ve met with him a few times at his house. I’ve smelled him without the group required pheromone blocker. He’s not a bad guy.”

“I’m going to trust you on this but if my bear eats his bone marrow it’s not my fault.”

“He’s a wolf with dragon and elf heritage. If you’re able to suck his bone marrow out more power to you,” Micah said.

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