Thirteen.

Thirteen.
"Colt, Calum," Isla beamed at the couple as they walked unannounced into her kitchen.

Isla had a strict no knocking policy for her children and their mates, because as far as she was concerned this would always be their home and should be treated as such. It once caused several arguments between her and Paul, whenever he would show up without Mark to drop the kids off; the boys would run straight in, to which he would try to instill respect and boundaries about people's homes. Then Isla would undermine him completely by telling the boys not too worry, Grandma and Grandpa's house would never have a boundary to them, that they should treat it as their own. Eventually Paul gave up, on the agreement with Isla that she reinforced that rule only applied to her home, and then eventually Colt's apparently needed to be included, then Harris and Asher with their mates, objected to being treated differently and at that point Paul, a previously solitary Eagle shifter discovered he was part of a pack, and while they could be territorial, boundaries and respect worked slightly differently to what he was used to.

Also, Isla did thoroughly enjoy the occasional surprise she got when her family would drop by unexpectedly.

"Hey, Mom." Colt sighed dejectedly, walking over to her by the sink and unexpectedly wrapping her arms about Isla as she sought out comfort like a child.

"Hey, Sweetie." Isla answered sympathetically, hugging her daughter back without thought. "Hard day?"

Colt couldn't help the tears welling up in her eyes, a change Isla detected straight away and caused her to automatically send a scowl Calum's way. Her pride was still damaged from the incident at Scott's wedding. But, when she looked at the worried expression on his face, she realised there may be something more at play, and began pulling Colt through to the lounge to sit her down on the couch and investigate. Calum followed along wordless at whatever was going on and slotted in at his mate's other side as Isla's concern grew. Something had happened.

"What's going on?" She asked worried, wiping at the tears on Colt's face.

But, Colt looked at Calum, silently pleading for him to explain on her behalf.

"We've just come from the doc's office," Calum began, understanding immediately that Colt was struggling with words at the moment.

Isla's face paled and she went rigid as she awaited the following information from her son in law, too afraid to voice her worst fears.

"They think Colt has preeclampsia, most likely from the stress she's been under lately." He finished explaining, moving his hands to pull his wife against his chest. "It can cause premature a birth; which would put the baby at risk obviously, but it also puts Colt's health and even her life in danger if we don't manage it correctly. They are running more tests, but for now we need to get on top of the stress in Colt's life."

Isla sighed out, with relief having believed the worst had already happened.

"Oh Colt, that's hardly surprising now. Your body can only take so much." She voiced out, squeezing her daughter's hand.

Colt's eyes popped open in shock at her Mom's words.

"How can you be so calm?" She blurted out to her Mom, before her voice wobbled, breaking into another fresh sob as she spoke again, "Ellie isn't even here yet, and I'm already failing her as a Mother."

"What?!" Both Calum and Isla shrieked out in objection.

"Love, no." Calum spoke softly to her, stroking her hair, as her vulnerability pulsed through their bond.

"Colt, stop it." Isla however, spoke more sternly. "While pregnant, you have dealt with a wedding, an idiotic male on your honeymoon; no offence Calum. A transatlantic relocation; due to worry over your daughter's future. Your Dad's health. Worry over these strange threat like letters for the resort; and then that stupid Mogert's appearance at Scott and Jasmine's wedding. It's hardly any wonder you're stressed out. But, now is the warning you need to stop and take a breath. You. Have. Not. Failed. Anyone."

Colt listened to her Mom as Calum stroked her upper arms soothingly.

"But..." She began.

"No buts. Your Mom's right." Kalvin's voice came firmly from the door way to the room.

"Dad? You're meant to be in bed!" Colt wailed, her worry for him increasing.

"There is no situation in this world in which I will smell my only daughter's tears and distress from a flight of stairs away and just lie in bed, not
coming to investigate. Princess, you're too important to me for that." Kalvin spoke, his tone only a degree softer than Isla's.

Isla quickly moved herself to Kalvin's side in an attempt to walk him over to the other couch in the room.

"Isla, enough." He grumbled frustrated, shrugging away from her, "I am capable of moving to sit on my own, my head won't explode from taking a few steps. Stop mothering me."

Isla hissed quietly at Kalvin's rebuff. She knew he wasn't intentionally being rude, but it still hurt when she was only wanting to protect him.

"Sorry, Beautiful," he instantly replied, upon seeing her annoyance. "I don't mean to snap, but the constant fussing isn't helping anyone."

He sat down and looked at her expectantly. Isla huffed out and begrudgingly sat beside her mate, leaning into his open arms.

"Anyway," Calum awkwardly diverted the topic back to Colt, "Love, you are amazing, you are strong, you have managed so much. It's just a sign that it's time for us to focus more on you. On your physical and mental needs. The rest can wait, and you have to at least try and not stress out over things you can't control."

Colt sagged, before leaning back further into Calum's natural warmth.

"As much as I'm loathed to admit it," Isla began, "Your mate is right."

Colt gave her Mom a half smile, noticing the strained tone in her Mom's voice when she spoke of Calum.

"Still sore, you couldn't best me Isla?" Calum openly teased his mother in law.

Kalvin couldn't help but smirk, to which he received a sharp back handed thump to his chest. Which only made everyone else laugh.

"You have no idea how much I could have used your technique advice on handling feral cats over the years," Kalvin added, causing Isla to roll her eyes.

"It's much easier, if you aren't worried about harming them in a room full of wolves to be fair." Calum laughed easily along with his father in law.

"I think I could have used your technique when I first met Isla, from what I've heard. I nearly lost an eye when I pulled you out of that tree." Kalvin smiled, reminiscing internally over those feline eyes that enraptured him all that time ago.

"Aye, like mother like daughter." Calum laughed back, making Colt smile as she thought over their first interaction, even if at first she was panicking at the thought of him being someone else.

"When I turned into my wolf form though, Casanova here, looked ready to piss his pants." Colt retaliated, making Isla laugh this time.

"You're your mother's daughter, Princess. Any man with an ounce of common sense would be ready to piss their pants having angered you in any way," Kalvin chimed in. "Even your brothers, as much as they adore you, have been half terrified of you all their lives; and that was before you could shift."

Colt shook her head, blushing at her father's words. She knew he was praising her, and the conversation was light enough to ease her stresses momentarily. But, one thing struck her as she replayed their whole conversation in her head randomly, and she was struck by why she had went on the defensive initially with Calum.

She thought he was Elijah.

"Wait, Mom?" Colt asked, bolting upright.

"Yes, Sweetie?" Isla asked.

"You said I had to deal with 'that Mogert'. At Scott's wedding? Did you mean, Elijah?" Colt asked, her hands shaking slightly.

"Well yes. It's an old fashioned Scottish word. It really means to be made useless, but there are connotations where it is directly applied to a beaten wolf. I think it's quite fitting for that man." Isla explained bitterly.

"I think Wanker, does the job nicely too." Calum remarked off hand.

Colt's eyes opened in shock.

"I think I know who is sending the letters to the resort." She stated, shocking everyone with the conversations turn.

"What?" Kalvin sat up, "Did you remember to bring them?"

Colt shook herself, cursing her failure at concealing this from her Dad.

"Yes. But we got another. It used... Oh Shit, I think I'm going to be sick." Colt cried out, her hand shooting to her mouth as she stood up and ran to the downstairs toilet.

"Colt!" Calum was on her heels, but she was surprisingly quick for a heavily pregnant woman and the door was swiftly closed in his face.

Calum was forced to wait, listening through the door as his wife dry heaved until her body followed through and caused her to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl.

"Love, please," he called through the locked door. "Let me in."

He stood with his forehead resting against the pale coloured, wooden door, both hands resting on the frame as he waited, listening as Colt eventually stopped and flushed the toilet before the faucet switched on and he guessed she was trying to clean herself up.

It was painful, but short of breaking down the door and it ramming into his wife on the other side in the process, his hands were tied; he had to wait. His knuckles were white upon the frames as he felt a strange new agony rip through the bond he and Colt shared. He didn't understand it, not any of it.

How could one word trigger such a reaction, and such an old rarely used word. A word he had never heard himself, a word that seemed to cause such a sharp visceral reaction in his mate.

A word that was linked to Elijah.

"Dammit, Colt," he whispered out.

Calum had to wait a few minutes longer, before the tear steaked face of his wife came into view behind the open door.

"Love," he sighed, pulling her into his arms. "What's going on?"

Colt leaned into Calum as he guided her back to the lounge where her parents were waiting with concern and a glass of water.

"Sweetie," Isla began, unsure of what else to add.

"Princess?" Kalvin interjected, "What do you know?"

Colt took the glass from her Mom, drinking it cautiously before sitting down beside her handbag and reaching in for the letter she had previously decided to hide from her Dad.

"They're targeting Elijah, or rather people that are close or were close to him." Colt spoke quietly, one hand slightly crunching the paper as her other wrapped around her stomach.

She glanced at the words once more, before handing it to Calum.

Calum had read the other letters, but this one was different, it was personal. It was a direct threat towards his wife, and his back was already prickling as it wanted to arch and he fought back the hiss in his throat. He handed the letter to Kalvin before addressing Colt.

"When did this arrive?" He asked, worry clearly etched on his face.

"It arrived yesterday, addressed to me specifically." Colt answered numbly.

"You didn't say?" Calum frowned.

Colt sighed, "I didn't want to worry you, plus there were other things on my mind." She glanced at her Dad as he read. "I didn't understand it all at first but I knew it was a threat meant for me."

Calum nodded, "Alba is the Gaelic for Scotland. You think Mogert, refers to Elijah?"

"Yes, and..." Colt cried out, "Elijah's from Georgia. The little peach has to be Nora, right? Who ever S.P. is..."

"They're the ones who attacked Nora's school, and she was their main target." Kalvin finished. "And, it's because of her link to Elijah. A link that could be perceived to also be connected with you still."

Colt nodded, looking with apprehension at Calum. But, it was his next words shocked everyone in the room.

"We need to call Elijah."

Author's Note, Thank you so much for your patience. I gave birth in the beginning of June, hence the radio silence on my end. I am exhausted from all the night nursing (He is a hungry boy) so cognitive thought and story telling has been rather difficult. But we are both healthy and I am writing, just very slowly. B x