Page 3 of When Embers Become Ashes

She has long black hair in a braid going all the way down her back, a pair of boho-type pants, and a matching flowing long-sleeved tunic. She floats, is the only way to describe it, over to us and then, in what I now know is rapid Japanese, talks to the boys while trying to smooth out Ren’s wild hair and wipe the chocolate moustache off Jenson. Once she seems pleased with their answers and gives up trying to correct their appearance, she turns to me.

“Hello, my name’s Ainu. You can call me Mama Lou if you want, just like the boys’ half-brother does.” She smiles again as Margo fills the table with more food than I’ve ever seen.

Ren and Jenson all but pounce as I try to curb the hunger pains. I know I’m not allowed to eat until the supes are finished and only if there are leftovers, so I sip my apple juice. I notice Ainu watching me with a confused and worried look, which Ren also notices, and stops eating, looking from my empty plate to me, to the food, and back to my empty plate.

He frowns, then seems to have an internal debate while watching me, then proceeds to plop two slices of buttered toast, three sausages, four bacon slices, and two pancakes on my plate, and then says with a grunted growl.

“EAT”

I felt that strange feeling brush over me again, but I manage not to giggle this time. Ainu smiles proudly at her Sons as Jenson hands me the jug of Syrup that he was all but drinking out of.

While we finished eating, Ainu explains that she was the Pack Luna and that I would meet her mate, the Alpha once the guests left. She also tells me that she is 6 months pregnant, which has both the boys bouncing with excitement. They both want a baby sister as they already have two half-brothers. I’m not sure what that means, but unlike the fond look Ainu gives when they speak about Xander, she looks like she sucked a lemon when Decimus is mentioned. It was the most welcome and cared for I’ve ever felt, but that soon changes when I’m presented to Alpha Gerald Firefall.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? THAT WEASELLY CUNT PROMISED A VIABLE, MOULDABLE FEMALE THAT CAN BE TRAINED AND BROKEN IN TO BE THE PERFECT DOCILE MATE FOR MY HEIR, AND HE SENDS A WORTHLESS HUMAN THAT’S NOT EVEN WORTH WHAT IS BETWEEN HER FUCKING LEGS! GET THE BITCH OUT OF MY SIGHT!”. Spit was going everywhere as the red-faced Alpha yelled at no one in particular. Ainu looks horrified, and Ren quickly grabs my hand and drags me away before the Alpha can lash out more.

Jenson looks like he is going to be sick, and we can still hear the Alpha bellowing out hateful comments from behind us.

They take me through the woods until we reach a lake with a meadow around it. Jenson shifts and starts hopping around and playing, his four tails swishing behind him. His body starts off grey/blue in colour but swiftly changes to deep purple as he bounces onto Ren’s back, tackling him to the floor, which makes Ren shift, and they start to play fight.

Not long after, Ainu arrives with Xander, who is four years older than us. His mom is a nurse, so he spends a lot of time with Ainu; he also shifts, and the other two go from being competitors to being on the same team and taking down their big brother.

I help Ainu lay the picnic blanket down and start laying out the food they have brought with them. Nobody mentions the Alpha or what he said. We play, and Ainu reads quietly for what feels like a few hours while the three brothers and I run around the lake.

It’s the first time I have seen a shifted shifter, and I have to ask why Ren’s Wolf is so much larger than Xanders even though there is a four-year difference, Ainu explains that Alphas tend to be larger and because of evolution and Alphas need to survive to adulthood, they grow quicker to avoid being killed so they can’t usurp their pack Alpha. Xander is a similar size to a natural wolf, his head level with Ren’s shoulder, which is what he will grow to be, whereas Ren will grow a lot bigger; Jenson’s Kitsune is currently the size of a natural Fox, but he will grow to the size Xander is, maybe bigger depending on his power level. The boys even let me ride on their backs when I start to get tired, so I don’t miss out.

When Ainu calls to say we need to head home, we realize it has not been a few hours, but the whole day, as the sun is starting to set, we eat dinner in the kitchen again. The boys thought it was best to keep me away from the Alpha for a while.

A few months later, Ren and I are down at the stream with Ainu and Xander’s mom, Lenny. Lenny is an odd name for a girl, but apparently, it’s short for something. Lenny had a one-night stand with Gerald before he met Ainu, who is his fated mate, which is how Xander is the boy's half-brother, same dad but different moms.

We were all helping Ainu dye some fabric to make baby things. Lenny came as Ainu isn’t moving as well now that she’s huge ‘Jenson’s description, not mine.’ I’m sat drawing in a notepad until I need to help next. I hear a noise and look up to see Candice walking down the steps towards the stream.

She’s a beta wolf who insists on killer heels and full makeup 24/7. The night before Ainu arrived with her father, who was visiting packs to find her mate, the pack had a big bonfire and party, the Alpha ‘just in case he met his mate and couldn’t deflower any more virgins’ held a competition, the unmated females lined up and took a ride to see who could make him cum the most in a 30-minute session, all this was done out in the open where everyone including Xander could see it.

The next day, Gerald met Ainu. They were mated immediately and spent the next month locked in his room until he was sure she was pregnant. By then, Candice had found out that she was Pregnant. She spent the next few months trying to convince Gerald to take her as a mate and have Ainu for breeding while going around telling anyone who would listen that’s what was going to happen.

She had Decimus at 7 and a half months, which made him the older Alpha to Ren, who was born two months later. Unlike Xander, though, Gerald didn’t claim Decimus, so he didn’t get the Alphas name or become Heir.

As you can imagine, that didn’t go down well with Candice, and her efforts to get attention and recognition steadily got worse, but back to today’s drama.

As she makes it down to the stream, rocking on her heels on the pebble covered floor, she moves to walk over to Lenny, grabbing one of the bags filled with wet fabric and swings it towards Lenny, hitting her in the back.

Lenny falls hitting her head on one of the rocks in the stream bed, as blood starts to flow down the stream. Xander dashed straight to his mom, but as Ainu begins to follow him, Candice swings the bag at her. She lands with a yell, her hands going straight to her stomach.

Candice swings the bag a third time and slams Ainu in the face, throwing her head back with a thud to the stream bed smacking her head on the rocks too.

Ren pounces on Candice, shifting in the process and pinning her to the floor with his jaws around her throat, a constant growl vibrating through his wolf body. Some of the pack overhear the yelling and come to be nosey. On realizing their Luna was bleeding, they rush to help, taking Ainu to the Pack hospital, Lenny unfortunately was pronounced dead at the scene.

As Candice is dragged away to the containment cells, she yells to be unhanded, as now the weak Kitsune is out of the way; she will now be Luna and her son, the Alpha’s Heir. No one is really listening to her, though; their focus is on the Pack Luna.

After getting confirmation that Ainu was doing okay, but the fall brought on the birth and the baby might not make it; the Alpha went straight to the cells and snapped Candice’s neck, then told his enforcers to drop her off at the local human crematorium and pay them off to get rid of her, to dispose of the ashes down a drain for all he cared.

While Ainu was giving birth, Ren and Jenson are pacing. I just sit with Xander, holding his hand. He didn’t seem to acknowledge what has been said, and the shock seemed to be stopping him from crying.

Aimi was born at 4 pounds 6 ounces. She was a squishy little thing but just as pretty as Mama Lou. She was born through an emergency C-section as Mama Lou was still unconscious, but they needed Aimi to be born, or they would have lost her.

Mama Lou woke up, and all the Alpha did was nod at Aimi, kiss Ainu’s forehead, and then leave. Mama Lou was then moved to her room, where she sat propped up with pillows, feeding baby Aimi.

Ren, Jenson, Xander, and I all sat on the bed; I’m sketching. Ren and Jenson are on either side of Mama Lou, and that’s what I draw. I then draw one of Xander and his mum sitting with Ainu as it should have been, which he says thank you for when he sees. We all get to have a little hold of Baby Aimi. All of us but Xander are worried we will hurt her, but he was able to hold Ren and Jenson, so it's not his first cuddle with a baby.

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