Ten.

Ten.
In her distress Isla wasn't thinking clearly and she shifted mid leap. Her claws extended as she aimed for Calum's eyes, looking for an easy spot to do damage and weaken her adversary. It was a reliable tactic, and one she had used successfully with several wolves in the past.

However, Calum was no wolf, and he was also much quicker than Isla had anticipated. At the last second he jerked his head to to off the side, allowing his mother in law to sail straight past him. Then when she was on her descent, Calum used the trail of the dress Isla was still partly tangled in, to grab her.

It had been a while since he had had to restrain another wildcat, the previous being his wife, and that still wasn't an incident he was entirely sure he was successful in. But, before that he tended to be just invested the scrap at hand as his opponent, and was definitely out to do more than simply restrain them. Normally, he left his rival bloodied and bruised.

However, this was definitely not one of those occasions. Calum liked Isla, the last thing he wanted to do was physically harm her. Especially, as even he had the sense to doubt his ability at surviving the retribution he would then be owed by his five brothers in law, and most terrifyingly, his wife.

The navy blue silk material in his hands was quickly coming under strain beneath Isla's squirming claws, as Calum attempted to continually wrap the fabric around his wife's mother while lowering her to the floor. It was a trick he had once seen on a YouTube video, however he was definitely not planning on forcing a worming tablet down Isla's throat. Calum only hoped the silk would hold up despite not being as naturally tough a fabric as that of the towels on the video were made of.

Miraculously, he seemed to have escaped with just a few minor scratches by the time he had Isla fully pinned on the floor, only her was now face visible, as she continued to hiss and spit angrily at him.

"A little help please?" Calum grunted, finally looking up to see the horrified, yet slightly awed faces of his captive's children.

Isla's angry yowl was what answered him, although her children seemed to take that as a warning not to dare aid him.

"I think you've said quite enough," he smirked, causing a quieter grumble from Isla, as her sons were still too stunned to move.

Emboldened by her mother's uncharacteristic submissiveness, Colt was the only one brave enough to approach. Even though she still did so cautiously. With how laid back her relationship could be, she forgot sometimes that Calum was still a territorial male, and one that did not like being separated from his wife. Tonight had been stressful enough, and she had to admit his response and how he had stop her Mom, was absolutely perfect to her. He had prevented any major bloodshed while still getting his point across, it wasn't a behaviour she was used to seeing.

"Mom," she began gently, "I'm going to take you to Dad now, but you cant move him okay?"

"No." Calum abruptly interrupted, "Asher can do that. You need to stay with me."

Colt could feel Calum's need, it was all she needed to know. Her husband was barely holding on to his temper.

"Okay." She agreed, "Asher, come and get Mom, she can't shift back undressed, and she can't pull at Dad while in this form."

"Why me?" Asher objected, not wanting to be mince meat by the time his Mom was through.

"Get your yellow ass over here now," Colt hissed, feeling Calum's need to hold her and calm down, but being unable to do so.

"Fine." He grumbled, getting up from beside his Dad, and walking over reluctantly to the death stare he was now receiving from both his Mom and his sister.

"Mom?" Asher began remorsefully, but for what he wasn't quite sure. "I'm going to take you over to Dad, but you cant attack the paramedics when they get here okay?"

Isla's feline eyes just stared at him as though she was turning his soul to stone.

"Fuck," he swore reaching forward to lift her.

Isla's hiss was instantaneous.

"Sorry Mom, I shouldn't have swore," he responded automatically, while fighting the urge to withdraw his hands.

As soon as Asher had moved their mother, Colt threw herself into Calum's arms, allowing him the contact he craved and her, the warmth of his body that always reached deep into her soul.

Colt watched, as her Mom took up a close position, cradled in as closely as possible to Kalvin as she could. But no purring was heard, Isla was too worried, too stressed and too stubborn to admit right now that her son in law had done her a favour.

Naturally her Mom's movements brought her attention to her Dad again, refocusing Colt on what she still didn't know. Her Dad was lying unconscious on the floor and no one had volunteered an explanation as to why.

"Mark?" Colt voiced, now leaning more into Calum for the support she needed, mentally and physically.

Her brother looked over, his own mate stood behind him with their children, staying as close as possible without interfering. His face was lined with concern.

"What, what happened?" Colt managed to whisper out to her stressed brother.

"We don't really know," Mark sighed, rubbing at his Dad's shoulder. "He complained about feeling dizzy to Jasmine, then ten minutes later he was unconscious. He hit his head when he fell, but that's the only injury we know of."

"The paramedics should be here any minute." Harris offered further, his hand squeezing Lewis' shoulder as he was worriedly hunched beside him. "Dad is stronger than any of us, he will be okay."

Colt nodded, staring at her Dad with empty eyes as she thought about her own relationship with him. Kalvin, was more that her father, he was an integral part of who she was as a person. His black hair sat on top of her head too, just like their wolves shared their coat colour, but their connection was so much more. He was the one who had taught her to hunt, to fish, gave her the knowledge to understand that if she wanted anything whatsoever in life, she would have to work hard for it. Then he stood working along side her to help her achieve those dreams. He wasn't just her parent, along with her Mom, he was her guide in life.

Colt thought back to when she was younger, and the time he taught her to ride a bike. He spent hours more than he needed to holding her onto the saddle. Colt had exceptional balance, she had it within the first ten minutes and they both knew it. But, Colt just wanted the extra time with her Dad, and so he gave it. Despite work being super busy for him at the time, having just started his own security firm, he never missed out on just being a Dad, and going the extra mile to spend time with his children. She had found out much later, that he found that time, squeezed it out of nothing by doing his office work when any other rational person would be sleeping in their beds; often going from one day to the next without any rest at all.

Kalvin was there rock, the sturdy foundation their family was built upon.

He just had to be okay.

Author's Note: I hope they have been worth the wait. I was quite ill in December and it caused a delay because I was just too tired to write to be honest. However, other than the occasional bout of baby brain 😜😉, I should get more out soon. B x