Mates: Werewolf BBW Romance (Running With Alphas Book 8) Page 5

  Lark and Holly both shrieked when they saw him. When they got over their shock, Holly spoke for them.

  “Oh, thank God. Where’s Cammie?”

  Hale ignored them and made his way to Taylor. She was propped up against the wall, water coming up past her waist. In each arm, she held a bundle to her chest. One bundle fidgeted restlessly, while the other was still. Neither made a sound.

  As he crouched down in the water beside her, Taylor’s gaze lifted to his face. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused. He could tell she was almost at the point of unconsciousness.

  Hale lifted her up into his arms. He tried to think of what his brother might say to her. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

  The words were meaningless. There was nothing he could do, aside from helping to keep her warm, but they seemed to calm her. She rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes fluttering shut.

  “The girl isn’t breathing very well,” Lark whispered, coming up beside him.

  Hale’s attention shifted to the two pups in Taylor’s arms. He had seen his fair share of pups, and these ones were very small. The one on the right was bigger and even had a small tuft of hair, though Hale couldn’t discern its color in the dark. Its mouth opened and shut, drooling a little as it lazily rooted for a nipple.

  The pup on the left was much smaller, smaller than any pup Hale could remember seeing. She looked like a little doll. Her head lay on Taylor’s breast, unmoving. She was breathing, but the breaths were uneven and labored. He had never in his life seen something so vulnerable, and the sight of her threatened to overwhelm him.

  “What do we do?” Lark asked him. “Can you take them through the passageway?”

  Hale didn’t answer. He didn’t have an answer.

  Seconds later, someone entered through the crawlspace. Hale looked up to see Glenn staggering to his feet.

  Finding his voice, Hale yelled, “Go get Cammie. Now.”

  Chapter 7

  “You’ve done everything you can,” Cammie said, putting a hand on Taylor’s shoulder. “The rest is up to them now.”

  Hale looked down at his mate and pups. It had taken two hours and a concerted effort from the pack, but they had managed to stymie the flooding and clear enough of the rocks and water to get Taylor and the pups to safety. Hale had brought them to his room, secure in the knowledge that it was both on an incline and had two viable exits.

  Taylor had only regained consciousness a short while ago, which had left Hale to not only worry about the pups, but also whether she should ever wake up. When she did awake, his relief was short-lived, as she immediately asked after the pups. The larger one, a male, appeared to be doing well. He’d even managed to latch onto a nipple and nurse, something Cammie said was impressive, given his prematurity. The female, however, made no effort to nurse and continued to lay prone on Taylor’s chest, her breathing showing no signs of improvement.

  Cammie pressed a hand to Taylor’s forehead. “You’re still a little warm. I’m going to go get something for that.”

  Cammie gave Hale a quick pat on the back and stood, leaving the room. It was the first time Hale and Taylor had been alone since he’d found her. Lark and Holly had gone through the passageway several times, communicating his orders and aiding in rock clearing, but one of them had always stayed by his side. As annoying as their repeated efforts to make conversation had been, he found himself wishing one of them were there now. By himself, Hale felt woefully inadequate, and the feeling only intensified when Taylor began to speak.

  “I just met her,” she said, her bleary eyes focused on the smaller pup. “How can she die when I’ve only just met her?”

  Hale blinked, once again at a loss for words. His entire life, he’d always been strong and decisive, but the longer he was with Taylor, the more he doubted everything he once believed about himself. She created so many problems for him that he couldn’t solve by gnashing his teeth and extending his claws. Any other time, he would turn to Alder and let him deal with this sort of situation. But right now, it was only him.

  He looked between Taylor and the small pup, trying to think of what to say. He considered his own feelings. He was exhausted and deeply concerned, but as he considered the pup, he realized that he didn’t believe she would die. All he had to do was find out why he believed that, and then figure out how to make Taylor believe it as well. He had a general idea of what to do, but his thoughts lacked the cohesion to form a compelling argument. So instead, he just started talking, beginning with a memory.

  “Snow was only a little bigger than her the night she was born. I don’t really remember what happened to her mother. Fern said that she just wouldn’t stop bleeding. Even so, none of us really thought that Dawn would die. She was such a bitch.” He cast Taylor an apologetic smile, and to his amazement, one corner of her mouth twitched.

  “People like her,” he went on, “you sort of expect them to hang on just to spite you. When Fern said that she’d died, it…it didn’t feel real.

  “Fern had already told us that the pup would probably die, so when she came up to say that Dawn was dead, too, Alder just sort of snapped. Not in an angry way. He became very calm. He stood up, and walked out of the den. We didn’t see him again for a few days.”

  “What happened to Snow? How did they save her?” Taylor asked.

  Hale continued with the story, not answering the question directly. “Everyone assumed that Alder was pissed with me. At that time, and for a long time after that, they all thought that I was Snow’s father. Fern made me hold her. She said that the least I could do was make sure that my daughter didn’t die alone.”

  Hale remembered Fern thrusting the tiny bundle at his chest. He hadn’t wanted to touch her, let alone hold her, but he had been put on the spot. The eyes of his former pack mates, his family, they were all on him. So he took her.

  “As soon as she was in my arms, I didn’t want to put her down. I remember sitting and unwrapping her, and just holding her against my chest, right over my heart. I remember thinking that if I just kept her right there, nothing bad could happen to her.”

  Tears trickled down Taylor’s face. “I don’t feel like that at all. I feel like every breath she takes will be the last.”

  Hale hesitated, before reaching out and taking the small pup from her chest. “You’re tired. Why don’t you focus on feeding the little guy and then get some rest. I’ll take care of her.” He reached out and stroked her hair. “She’ll still be here when you wake up. I promise.”

  It was an impossible promise, but once again, Taylor seemed to find strength in his words. Was it that she liked being lied to, or did she somehow have faith in him when he didn’t even have it in himself?

  Hale leaned back, propping himself up on the furs. He unwrapped the small bundle, placing the even smaller pup on his chest. He put a hand over her body, cocooning her in his warmth. For the first time in a while, he felt like he was doing something that even his brother couldn’t. He was right where he needed to be.

  * * *

  The valley smelled like springtime and home. It was also flooded to hell. Alder’s boots were caked with mud, and each step felt heavier than the last. He was tired. Not just because he’d been trekking through mud for days, but also because he’d forgone sleep the day before in favor of getting back to the den before nightfall. He missed his pack, but most of all, he missed his mate.

  Leaving Snow with the humans had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. Somehow, it had also been one of the easiest. Once they’d set out for Shaderunner territory, he’d had a long talk with his daughter and really got to know her. He had never known that she designed all of her own clothes, or that she dreamed of becoming a doctor. She was so much more mature than he’d realized and he found himself amazed by his daughter. So much so, that he decided to trust her judgment and bypassed Shaderunner altogether, taking her to the human territories without consulting Cain and Sarah.

  It wasn’t fair to them at all, and whe
n he’d gone to their pack on his way back from Virginia, Cain had nearly killed him. Sarah had talked him down, and over the next few days, Alder had explained to the both of them how much being with humans meant to Snow.

  His daughter had taken an immediate liking to Mrs. Smith. Hale had been much more skeptical, and had stayed with the human woman for over a month, making sure she really did have the best intentions with taking Snow in. During his time there, he’d had long conversations with Mrs. Smith. The aging woman had showed him pictures of Taylor when she was younger, and he could tell from the fondness in her gaze that she had cared for Taylor very much.

  After Taylor had left, she’d never taken in another foster child. She hadn’t said as much, but it was apparent that she hadn’t taken the loss well. A year later, her husband had died and she’d been alone ever since. Alder could see that she needed Snow as much as Snow needed a place among humans—her own kind.

  Alder told Cain and Sarah about the day he decided it was time to leave. Snow had been out of the house for hours and he’d gone to find her. She’d hitched a ride into town with a neighbor girl and was trying on clothes at a local department store. She’d been holding a Slurpee in one hand and trying on a pair of oversized sunglasses in the other. She had looked so human, and she had looked like she was where she belonged.

  If she stayed amongst her own kind, her life would revolve around taking a mate and becoming a mother. There was no shame in that, and for some women like Sarah and Taylor, it was what they wanted. But it wasn’t what Snow wanted. In the human world, the possibilities for her were endless, and as much as he had wanted to keep her by his side, she deserved the opportunity to pursue the life she wanted. He had told Cain and Sarah as much, and after a few tense weeks, they had come around to seeing his point of view.

  By the time he had arrived at Shaderunner, the Appalachian Mountains had been completely snow-locked. He had made the difficult decision to stay until the end of winter, not because it was the safe thing to do—he’d really wanted to get back to his mate—but because his brother’s pack was being threatened by a tribe of coyotes.

  With their combined efforts, he and Cain were able to ward off the smaller and less powerful shifters. In aiding Shaderunner, Alder had also taken another major step in bridging the gap between himself and Cain. It would take a lot more work to make up for the years he’d lied about being Snow’s father, but Cain was starting to come around.

  As the foothills of Halcyon Mountain came into view, Hale came to greet him. Alder hadn’t expected to see him so soon. Usually Hale feigned disinterest in his returns and tried to make it look like he had more important things to do.

  The white wolf broke through the tree line, shifting into his human form. He kept his distance, and Alder found himself tensing as he felt that something wasn’t quite right. Hale looked haggard and appeared to have aged a few years since the last time he’d seen him. There were dark circles under his eyes and his lips were pressed in a flat line.

  “Hale?” Alder asked, the name coming out as more of a question than anything.

  Hale stared at Alder, his eyes hard. After a tense moment, he said, “I wanted to kill you.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Alder said, trying to keep his tone light. He could tell that his brother wasn’t joking, and it disturbed him.

  “I love her,” Hale said, his eyes drifting towards the mountain. “And I didn’t think I could share her.”

  Alder gave a slight nod. He had known for some time that Hale was in love with Taylor. Before he’d left with Snow, Alder had sensed his brother’s inner conflict and had hoped that time alone with Taylor would help him to deal with whatever demons were plaguing him.

  “Do you still think you can’t share her?” Alder asked evenly.

  Hale sighed, some of the tension on his face breaking. He ran a hand through his dull golden mane. “I have no fucking idea. Sometimes I still think I want to rip your throat out. Others, I think I should be the one that goes, that she’d be better off with just you.”

  Hale paused, and then went on to say, “But most of the time, I think she needs us both. There are things only you can give her and things only I can give her. I think she deserves both of us.”

  Alder nodded again. It was a conclusion he himself had drawn a while back. It was the only thing that had allowed him to stem the font of jealousy that surged in him each time he’d seen the way Taylor looked at his brother, or the way she looked when she mated with his brother. He’d had to recognize early on that although Hale held a certain allure for her, she didn’t fit into Hale’s arms quite as well as she did into his. Nor did she smile at Hale with quite the same tender affection that she always seemed to have on hand for Alder.

  “She loves us both in different ways,” Alder said, approaching Hale. “And I’m grateful for it.”

  Hale gave him a quizzical look. “How can you do it? How can you see us together without hating me?”

  “I remember that it’s because Taylor loves you that I get to have a mate and a brother. The only thing that would be harder than seeing the two of you together would be knowing that I didn’t have you at all.”

  They’d been together their entire lives, even before they were born. For the love he held for Taylor, Alder couldn’t imagine life without his twin.

  He pulled Hale into a tight embrace. The other alpha was briefly stunned, but soon returned the gesture. When he pulled back, Alder gave Hale a once over.

  “You look like shit. Don’t tell me you’ve been beating yourself up over this since I’ve been gone.”

  “I haven’t slept in three days,” Hale grumbled. Then, for some reason, he grinned. “Shadow cries any time Taylor takes him off the breast. It’s driving me crazy.”

  “Shadow?”

  Hale folded his arms across his chest. “She keeps calling him Henry,” he said distastefully. “Apparently it’s a boy’s name. Don’t worry, it won’t stick. I’ve already told her that Henry isn’t a wolf’s name, let alone a name for a future alpha.”

  * * *

  “Please tell him he can’t name our son Shadow,” Taylor said, cuddling deeper into Alder’s embrace. How was it possible that such a hard, muscular man could be so comfy to lie against?

  Alder didn’t respond. He held Henry in the crook of one big arm, utterly enraptured. Taylor was quite amazed herself, only because it was the first time Henry had let anyone but her hold him without howling. She was pretty sure that he was the loudest baby she’d ever encountered.

  “It’s either Shadow or Fang,” Hale said obstinately. “There’s no way I’m calling him Henry.”

  Hale stood a short distance away, giving the two of them some space. He held their daughter against his chest with one hand as he gesticulated angrily with the other.

  “Fang is stupid,” she said, for what felt like the thousandth time. “And you can’t name a white wolf shadow. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Alder interrupted them both. “Can I hold her?”

  He passed Henry back to Taylor. The pup quickly and efficiently found his way to her nipple and latched on. Reluctantly, Hale approached them, carefully settling Fawn into his brother’s hold.

  “Henry doesn’t even mean anything,” Hale said, though his voice had softened.

  “At least it isn’t a dog’s name,” she hissed back. “Besides, I let you name Fawn. Fair is fair.”

  “Yeah, but you liked the name Fawn. It’s not fair at all.”

  “Oh my God,” Alder said, staring down at Fawn with reverence. “She’s even smaller than Snow was. Is she really going to be okay?”

  Taylor gave him a reassuring nod. It had been almost a week since the traumatic birth of her pups. Henry was positively thriving and Cammie was confident that given another week or two, he’d be almost indistinguishable from a full term baby. Fawn still had a long way to go, but just as Hale had promised, she had made it through the first night and was continuing to show progress. Up until tod
ay, they’d been painstakingly feeding her expressed breast milk with a small sponge, but she was finally starting to show interest in breastfeeding. Taylor suspected she was mirroring her brother and hoped to be able to get her to latch within the next few days.

  “It was a little touch and go at first,” Taylor said. “But she’s doing great now.”

  Even thinking back to that first night, Taylor found herself a bit choked up. Fawn had, in glorious fashion, taught her the first lesson of motherhood: from the moment you bring a child into the world, you’re forever forced to live with your heart outside of your body.

  Fawn’s little green eyes cracked open. She took one look at Alder and began to cry. Alder did his best to placate her, but Hale briskly extracted his daughter from Alder’s arm.

  “Fine, call him Henry if you want,” Hale said, putting the pup against his chest. Her cries quickly tapered off. “He’s Alder’s pup anyway.”

  Taylor hid her grin in the crook of Alder’s neck. “You can’t possibly know that.”

  “He’s whiny. Alder was always the whiny one,” Hale said. “Besides, Fawn looks more like me.”

  Taylor gave a snort of laughter. “You’re identical twins.”

  For all his bluster, she knew that Hale cared about Henry. He was definitely bonding more with Fawn, but she’d seen firsthand how protective he was of his son. The day before, Lark had been holding Henry. As usual, he’d been crying and she was trying to calm him down with a bouncing that was a little too intense for his age. Taylor had gently asked her to be a little less rough, inadvertently garnering Hale’s attention. The alpha had snatched the baby from Lark, yelling at her loud enough to make Taylor jump. Lark had fled the room, and although Taylor had later made Hale apologize to her, she had yet to work up the nerve to come back.

  Alder kissed the side of her head. “They’re beautiful, Taylor. You’re amazing.”

  Warmth spread through her chest. “I love you.”