Chapter 4
"Dad are you serious?" Vayle asks and Seth smiles at his Son.
"Yeah, I am. I missed so much while you were growing up because I was always off with the pack. I neglected my wife for years because the pack was my main priority and not her. It's time for Carina to be my main focus" Seth says and nobody speaks for a moment. I squeeze Fable to me a little tighter and take a deep breath.
"But I just started phasing?" Vayle says and Seth sighs nodding his head.
"I know, and that makes me even more sure that my time is over and this is your time" Seth says
"Dad?" Vayle chokes on his words and his eyes fill with tears, he turns on his heel and all but dives out of the back door. He shifts into a chocolate brown wolf as soon as he's clear of the house.
"Vayle!" Seth calls out but he doesn't stop.
"Newt go after him, you too Micah" Jake says putting his hand on Seth's shoulder to stop him. Newt heads for the door but Micah pauses and looks at Fable for the go ahead. She nods her head once then he bounds out of the door after Newt. Micah always looks to Fable for confirmation if Jake asks him to do something, maybe he always will. I think he feels like part of the pack now, but he never forgets that he's a cat first and wolf second.
"Seth are you sure that's what you want?" Fable asks "Once you stop shifting for any real amount of time, you may not be able to start again"
"I've considered that, I know the risks. The original pack all went through the same choice one by one" Seth tells her. He was right he was the last one left to make this decision, with the exception of Jake. He'd phase forever to be with Ness just like I will to be with Fable.
I looked around at the now very quiet room Kaden looked sad and withdrawn, Gypsy was sobbing into August's shoulder and even Teague looked lost in thought. Seth sighed. "Come on guys, you're making it sound like I'm dying. I'm leaving to be with Carina I'll still be around for a long time yet" he says but it doesn't lighten the mood much. I guess we've been through this before and we knew how it turned out. Fifty years ago the last pack had been strong like us and slowly over the years they stepped down and retired. Starting with Teague's Father the pack Alpha Sam. Then Jared then Paul and so on. They weren't all gone but most had moved away now though, being near the pack made it too hard to quit phasing. Gypsy's parent's had moved to Florida because the sun helped Claire's ailments. But the sad truth for Kaden and Teague was their parents had long since passed on.
That was the hard part about living so long you had to watch the people you loved go before you, we'd seen it happen before and the second someone decided to leave the pack it was like you could see it happening all over again, it was just a matter of time.
"I'm happy for you Seth, I hope you and Carina will be happy" I tell him and he smiles
"Thank you Skar" he says
"Well that's gonna be tough to follow but hopefully this will cheer you guys up" Ness says and we all look up at her "I guess we'll tell the others later, but Jake and I have an announcement too" She says, she's practically beaming as she talks "We're Pregnant" she sings the last part and jaws fall open all round.
"What?" Seth says looking from Jake to Ness and back again. I guess even he didn't know about this.
"Since when?" Gypsy says wiping her eyes and walking over to Ness
"I'm not very far along yet we only found out a week ago but Carlisle is gonna try and do an ultrasound tomorrow" Ness says grinning.
"Congratulations you guys, it took you long enough" I say smirking at Jake, he narrows his eyes at me but I can see him trying not to smile.
The walk home was quiet, for some reason Fable said she didn't want to phase, she said she was too tired from today so I didn't question her, I offered to phase and let her ride home on my back but she said the walk would be nice. In fact it actually made a pleasant change she was right the walk was nice. Sometimes Fable and I could sit in absolute silence and be completely comfortable around the other; other times silence between us was the most awkward thing in the world. And what had started out comfortable had turned extremely awkward by the time we reached the house.
I was about to have it out with her when my cell phone rang on the coffee table, I bent to pick it up and saw it was Jake. Weird I thought, considering we'd just left there. I answered the call and held it to my ear. "Jake what's up?" I ask
"Hey Skar, listen I wanted to run something by you, I didn't want to do it in front of Teague then things got so hectic with the pregnancy news..." he says
"Ok?"
"How do you fell about stepping up to Beta?" he asks and my eyebrows rise
"Me? Are you sure?" I ask and he laughs
"Yep"
"What about Teague? I mean his Father was Sam Uley surely"
"Skar I'm asking you, Teague's in no fit state to be Beta right now ,you know that as well as I do. Besides it's my choice and I've chosen you. Question is weather you wanna do it" he tells me and I nod
"I don't really know what to say" I admit
"Well then think it over and get back to me?" Jake suggests
"Yeah, ok will do" I say and with that he hangs up.
I was shocked to say the least, I'd have thought Teague was the obvious choice. Beta was something I'd never even considered.
When I got up stairs I found Fable in one of my T-Shirts also on the phone sat on the bed. "I know he's being difficult right now Whit, but loosing Jaide was really hard on him" Fable says. It was instantly apparent she was talking to Whitley about Teague.
"I know I just... Fable I've never felt like this before" Whitley complains from the other end of the line.
"I know sweetie, trust me give him time and it'll get better. How's police school or whatever it's called? It's not really called police academy is it?" Fable asks and I hear Whitley laughing.
"It's going really well. I should be at a local station soon if I pass my exam" Whitley tells Fable and she sounds excited
"That's great, listen Whit it's late I have to go just don't give up on Teague ok? I'll call you later" Fable says and after saying their goodbyes they both hang up.
"Whitley doing ok?" I ask even though I just heard every word
"She's fine, but you already heard that" Fable says smirking at me.
I move across the room and strip down to my boxers ready for bed, I climb in next to Fable and she pulls the covers back to join me. "So are we gonna talk about this anytime soon?" I ask gesturing at the bed, Fable frowns at me
"You don't like our sleeping arrangements?" she asks and I shake my head
"No, I mean the nightmares Fable" I tell her and her face drops "I really think you need to see somebody"
"Skar I don't need a doctor to tell me I'm stressed I already know that, and that's all this is" she tells me
"Then you need to ask Jake for some time off of patrols" I say and she nods, finally something we agree on
"I already did, I took him to one side at the pack meeting, he was very understanding" she shrugs.
"Really?" I ask and she nods
"Yes really. Skar I know this has been hard on you. But you need to trust me when I say I can handle this. Because I can handle this. I love you" she tells me and sigh. I really wanted her to see someone, I really wanted her better, seeing her like this was killing me because there was nothing I could do.
"I love you more" I whisper and she smiles at me. Fable crawls across the bed to me and sits herself in my lap.
"Make love to me? Keep the dreams away?" she says in a small voice and slowly begins trailing kisses across my chest.
"I don't think I can stop your nightmares, I wish I could" I tell her
"I love you" she says again
"Talk to me?"
"Make love to me?" she asks pleading this time, she looks into my eyes and I see the hurt and the fear and it breaks me. I pull Fable to me and softly brush my lips over hers. I positioned myself over her, letting my hands skim up her sides lifting the T-shirt away from her body.
Fable strokes her hands over my stomach, her nails slightly grazing over the muscle making me shudder. I catch a breath then begin trailing my lips over her jaw and down her neck. Her entire body trembles the second my lips find her collar bone. She moans and her hand travels down between our bodies then she strokes me through my underwear, she applies the perfect amount of pressure and a half moan half breath tumbles from my mouth.
I kiss lower and lower then sling one of her legs over my shoulder, plastering one hand across her stomach to keep her still; she always writhes around and bucks off of the bed like crazy when I kiss her here.
Her head falls back in a gasp and she grabs chunks of my hair. I suck at the skin at the very top of her inner thigh, until there is a red and angry circle looking back at me, I give it a lick then a quick kiss before moving back to her centre. I run the flat of my tongue along her then dip a finger inside her, my name falls from her lips and she grabs handfuls of the bed sheets.
I kiss and lick my way back up her body stopping at her ear lobe where I gently tug at it with my teeth. Fable whimpers in frustration and want and I decide not to torment her any longer. I thrust myself inside her as deep as I can go, we move together, our lips brushing and skimming against each other with every movement, our breath hot on each others face, sweat glistening on our skin.
When we collapse together hours later we're both exhausted, I brush Fable's damp hair back from her face and cradle her against my chest, she falls asleep right there on top of me. Just maybe being wrapped together like this will have a shot at keeping the bad dreams away.
My eyes snap open, I'm alarmed when I can't her Fable screaming, I'm even more alarmed when I feel something hot and syrupy on my hand. I don't need to see it I can already smell it, it's blood. I quickly flick the bed side lamp on and see a huge gash from my belly button to the top of my thigh, bleeding profusely. I breathe a sigh of relief when I realise the blood's mine. I scan the room my eyes quickly falling on Fable's cat backed into the corner with her fur on end and covered in my blood.
I kick the sheets away and sigh, it was gonna be another long night.