The Pack's Nemesis (Quirin's Story) novel Chapter 90

Quirin

Alpha Warren and I had walked the pack lands, testing the soil, finding the spots where there is the heaviest concentration of silver and the areas that are most important to clean up. He and I came up with a plan based on the most heavily trafficked areas in the pack, the places were pups were likely to be, and then the heaviest concentration of silver.

He began working on it right away, and I’ve never been so happy to have Warren in my pack. With everything going on, I need to be focused on Kennedy and my pups, not worrying about Jasper’s silver contamination.

However, Warren did tell me that he and Yara would like a house of their own. So we found a spot where the two of them wanted to build and added that the first part of clean up so we can break ground on their home. Until then, they are on our Gamma floor.

I can’t say I’m getting used to the noise that constantly seems to come from that floor, but I will say that it feels like good practice for me.

Today, however, Kennedy and I are going to her ultrasound. I can’t wait. I’m so excited to see my pups and find out how many boys I’m having. I’m excited about the girls too, of course, but I’m an older Alpha and I need an heir. Although, after seeing Warren’s struggles, maybe I shouldn’t rush retirement.

As I go to find Kennedy, I smile thinking of the possibility of having a couple of girls that look like her running around. We might even have some of our pups who prefer medicine over fighting. I’ve learned to be okay with that, as long as it’s not my first-born son. And I realize quickly that I’d better keep that opinion to myself too. My mate will hand me my ass if she thinks that I’m not going to let our pups decide their own future.

I find Kennedy on our floor working with Christy painting the nursery. She’s not on bedrest yet and as long as she’s not on a ladder or step-stool, I’m perfectly fine with her painting. I notice that her guards today are Leo and Terrance and Leo is the one up on the ladder, painting up by the ceiling. Apparently he doesn’t want his mate on a ladder or step-stool just yet either.

When I get there, my mate turns to me. ‘You know I heard those thoughts, right?’ she asks in the mind link, raising an eyebrow at me.

Since I keep my mind open to her all the time, I was more hoping that she was too busy to be paying attention.

‘Don’t you always pay attention to everything that’s going on in my head, Quirin?’ she asks, again in the mind link.

‘That’s different, your mind is a beautiful place.’

‘And your mind is a very structured, very regimented place, but no less beautiful to me.’

I smile, walking over to her and opens her mind even more, letting her golden light flow through me. I lean down and take her in my arms as my mouth finds hers. Her arms go around me and as always, she gives herself to me freely.

I had been surprised the other night when we’d been having our marathon sex fest that seems to be a nightly thing now when she reversed our positions. She’d had a tentative look on her face, something I rarely see on Kennedy’s face and never when its just the two of us. Then, she’d leaned down, nuzzling my throat.

I’d gone nearly rigid, knowing what she was asking. I’ve never submitted to anyone since my father died, not even Alpha Harold. I accepted him as my Alpha, but I never submitted. However, I knew that if this is what Kennedy needs and wants in our relationship, it’s what I’ll give her. Nothing is more important than she is.

Raif and I had growled softly, but we’d done it, lifted our chin and submitted to our mate. Rather than feeling powerless, I’d felt her pride and love blasting into me. It was so unexpected that I’d come instantly, the orgasm shocking me with its strength as she’d gently nipped my throat, accepting my submission while my body jerked underneath her.

And something about that moment had pushed the darkness away completely. It hasn’t been back, even when Kennedy isn’t actively in my head. That’s not to say that I don’t get angry or frustrated, I do. But now it doesn’t feel like a heavy, dark blanket covering my mind. It’s an emotion that I manage, control, and deal with before moving on.

I hear several throats clearing around us, but I ignore them.

“Alpha this isn’t your bedroom. We can leave if you need us to,” I hear Leo saying, and I feel Kennedy’s lips curve into a smile.

“We have important things to do Alpha. Maybe we can celebrate later,” she says.

“We are definitely celebrating later.”

I smile, taking her hand in mine and leading her out of the room.

I asked Warren what I could do to thank him for his help and to thank Luna Yara for saving my mate. At first he’d said there was no need to thank them, but when I pushed, he’d gotten a very mischievous smile on his face.

“You could fill your packhouse with flowers.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, my mate LOVES flowers and whatever she doesn’t put in our bedroom, you can give to the pack.”

So, I ordered hundreds of flowers. The best part was that my mate loved them too, something I didn’t know about her. The second best part was watching Luna Yara stomp up to her mate and blame him for the flowers. Even after he tried to pawn it off on me, she knew whose idea it was. She’d thanked me while still glaring at her mate who just smiled a big cheshire cat grin at her.

The pack ended up loving them too. I noticed several warriors snagging a rose here or a carnation there and giving them to the person they love or were trying to woo into bed.

As we walk through the forest of flowers and out the packhouse door, I let the feel of the pack flow through me. I can’t get over how different, how much better, it feels here.

I pull my mate’s hand to my mouth and kiss it.

“It’s not me, you know,” Kennedy says.

“It is you. You made these changes,” I tell her

“It starts at the top Quirin. You had to change for the pack to change.”

“I changed because of you. I became a better man because of you. I wanted to be worthy of you as my mate and in doing so, I’ve become a better Alpha, too.”

She stops, pulling me to a stop as well. She reaches up, cupping my cheek. “And you are going to be the most amazing father to our pups, even your daughters.”

“Yeah. If they look and act like you, I’m doomed. But who knows, maybe we’ll end up with four boys,” I say excitedly.

“Well, you know what happens then?” she says, beginning to walk again.

“What?”