Chapter 128: I think my father has a thing for her

“I need to go and talk to dad,” she told Graham.

“I see. I will miss you,” he said, kissing her and rubbing her belly one last time.

“Thank you, I will miss you too. We’ll be in the apartment,” she told him.

“I’ll come by and get you for lunch,” he smiled.

Bella smiled as she walked out of his office and greeted her father with a hug. She led him into their apartment, and they sat down on the couch.

“I’m sorry, dad. It feels like I have been ignoring you since you arrived. You did us this huge favour and now we are just the world’s worst hosts,” she said.

“It’s okay peanut. I know there are a lot of things going on. I know you want to think you can do everything, but sometimes even you need to prioritize.” he smiled at her.

“But I don’t want you to think that you’re not a priority to me,” she told him.

“Oh, I don’t think that. But you have a pack to run, your own pups and family. I’m doing alright, don’t worry,” he continued to smile.

“Speaking of, how are the beans doing?” he asked.

“You too?” she laughed.

“It’s a catchy nickname. They better get used to it. I have heard it used by the entire pack,” he nodded.

“Oh dear, well, at least we will have their first Halloween costume figured out,” she smiled.

“They are doing fine. They have moved a little. Not a lot, but enough that they let us know they are there,” she continued.

“I’m happy to hear that,” her father said.

“Can I ask how your meetings with Thomas are going? Or rather, how Thomas is doing?” Bella then asked. Her father became grim.

“I’m afraid it’s not good news, peanut. He had built his life around your friend. Now that she isn’t there, he can’t find something to hold on to,” he sighed heavily.

“What about Mavis?” Bella asked.

“She is so young. Thomas hasn’t bonded with her on that deep level yet. Me and Jessica have been trying to get him to spend more time with her. But it’s like he shuts down when she is around,” her father said.

Bella felt the tears threaten to rise again. She had promised Mikka to look after her family and she was failing.

“Is there something we can do?” she asked.

“We can keep trying, peanut. As long as he is still responsive and talks to us, there is hope,” her father tried to smile.

“Thanks, dad,” she said, taking his hand.

“Anything for you, peanut. And Thomas is a good man. I want to do what I can to help him,” he told her.

They changed subject and started talking about how things were in the Redheart pack. He told her about the latest fishing trip and that he and Eric finally had convinced Arnold to join them.

“Mark arrived at the pack earlier in the morning,” Bella told him.

“It is bad, isn’t it?” her father asked.

Bella knew he didn’t ask for details. He had been friends too long with Eric to not understand the line between what he could know and what needed to be kept a secret.

“It is,” she nodded.

“They are keeping you and the beans safe?”

“They are, everyone in the pack,” she smiled.

“I’m still going to worry, but it makes me feel better knowing that you are being kept safe,” he nodded.

‘Time for lunch, little mate,’ Graham mind linked her.

“What do you say about some lunch, dad?” she asked.

“I say that you should never deny a pregnant woman food. I learned that the hard way,” he chuckled.

Bella laughed and gave him a hug. She loved that he was here. Her recruitment campaign had taken a back seat to everything else that was going on. But she hadn’t forgotten it.

“So, you and Jessica are working close together, I presume. She is really nice, isn’t she?” Bella asked her father as they walked out of the apartment. To her pleasant surprise, she saw a pink tone appear on her father’s cheeks.

“She is a very kind lady,” he mumbled.

Graham raised an eyebrow as he wrapped an arm around Bella’s waist.

‘I think my father has a thing for Jessica,’ Bella mind linked him.

‘Oh,’ he replied with a smile.

After lunch, Bella, Graham and alpha Mikael got ready for their meeting. As usual, the screen in front of them was filled with small windows of the alphas. As the alphas had already gotten the most important information already from Bastian and George. Graham and Mikael gave a short recap of what Delilah and Mark had told them.

“Alpha Sam, has the traitor Mark given any more information?”

“He has,” Sam nodded, looking serious.

“He has told us that the rogues are working with a coven of witches. Mark gave this Devon the idea that it would be a good idea to suppress the fertility of alpha couples. If no alpha pups are born in the existing packs, they would be weaker,” Sam said, sounding bitter.

Bella grabbed hold of Graham’s hand and held on for dear life. Could this be why Sam and Alice hadn’t been able to get pregnant?

‘It’s okay, Ellie. We will call them when the meeting is over,’ Graham reassured her through a link.

“It seems Mark got the idea from watching my and my luna struggle with this,” alpha Sam said.

“How long has this been going on?” an alpha asked.

“Mark suggested it about a month ago. He had heard that Devon had contacted the witches a week or two later,” Sam said.

“I know someone who can handle this. They are already out in the field. Give me all the information you have on the coven, and we will get right on it,” alpha Jacob said.

“Thank you, Jacob,” alpha Sam said.

Other than that, the information that Mark had provided mostly impacted the Redheart pack. When alpha Sam was done speaking, alpha Brutus asked for the floor.

“Thanks to the information that alpha Graham and luna Bella has provided, my agent thinks they have located the headquarters of the rogues. It’s right in your backyard, alpha Richard,” alpha Brutus said, sounding amused.

“What, what are you talking about?” alpha Richard said, sounding terrified. Bella remembered what alpha Jacob had said about the Blueridge alpha and almost giggled.

‘This is a serious matter, sweetheart. Why are you so amused?’ Graham asked.

‘I was just thinking that this must be the proverbial dump truck that is being parked on alpha Richards’ private parts,’ Bella told him and watched as he tried to hide his snort with a cough.

‘Sometimes I wonder how that wonderful brain of yours works,’ Graham said with amusement.

Alpha Mikael and Graham then talked about their plan to flood the area of the rogue headquarters with as many warriors as possible. That way, they had a greater chance of ending this thing once and for all.

Everyone agreed that this needed to come to a stop before the humans found out about their existence. They all agreed that it needed to be their number one priority.

After the call ended, Bella and Graham followed alpha Mikael to his van. His men were already ready to go. They said a quick goodbye, and they thanked him for his help. As the van drove away, Graham wrapped Bella up in his arms and she leaned her back against his chest.

“Why don’t you have a nap while I talk to Bastian and Logan?” he said, kissing her on top of her head.

“It’s okay, I’m not tired,” she objected. It was followed by a yawn that almost dislocated her jaw.

“What ever you say, sweetheart,” he chuckled.

“Well, I guess ten minutes won’t harm,” Bella confessed. “But I need to call Alice first.”

“Good call. I was thinking we should have a family dinner with my parents and your dad tonight,” Graham said as he guided her toward the pack house.

“I would love that. But shouldn’t we eat with the pack, and I don’t know what to cook,” Bella said.

“The pack will survive a day without us. Even the alpha couple are allowed some private time. And don’t worry about the food. We can ask my mother to bring something or ask the pack cook to prepare us something,” he smiled at her.

“We can’t invite your mother over for dinner, for the first time, and ask her to bring the food,” Bella scolded him and hit him playfully on the arm.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Okay, you invite your parents, I’ll invite dad, I’ll take a little nap and you’ll wake me up in an hour maximum. Then the two of us will cook dinner and I will try to forget what we did on the kitchen table,” Bella said.

“Yes, Ellie,” he said, kissing her temple. “I love when you act all bossy,” he sighed.

“I’m not bossy. It’s just like with Sam and the gang. If I don’t take charge, then others do crazy things. Like asking their mothers to cook dinner for a dinner party we are hosting,” Bella grumbled.

“You are right,” Graham nodded.

“Are you saying that just to appease me?” Bella asked suspiciously.

“Yes,” he told her.

Bella laughed. It felt good to have a small moment of normality in the chaos that was their lives at the moment.

Bella went up to their apartment and called luna Alice.

“Alice, I just needed to call you. Are you okay?” Bella asked.

“It’s so sweet of you Bee. I’m okay, but it was tough to hear about Marks idea when Sammie told me,” luna Alice confessed.

“I can imagine so, it must have been horrible. Does this mean that all this time?” Bella asked.

“No, unfortunately not. I whished that was the case. No, Mark got the idea from watching us. He told Sammie that he always had thought that because we didn’t have a pup, the pack would go to his and yours pup when you had one,” luna Alice told Bella.

“I don’t know how I didn’t see this, Alice. How could I work with him and not know how he was?” Bella asked her friend.

“You aren’t the only one asking yourself that, Bee. Sammie has taken this hard and so have I. He was our friend, well, we thought he was. I knew he had a thing for you, most unmated males in the pack had. But I swear that I didn’t know he was this obsessed,” Alice said.

“I know, Alice. You and Sam would have done something if you knew. He was just good at playing his part,” Bella said.

As they hung up, Bella held up her end of the bargain with Graham, and went to lie down on their couch with a blanket. The days were really getting chillier. She was thinking about what to make for dinner as she slowly fell asleep.

She was woken up by Graham trying to slide down behind her on the couch without her waking up.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

“It’s about thirty minutes since we came up,” he told her as he made himself comfortable and Bella turned around so that she could snuggle in against him.

“How did your meeting go?” she asked.

“Good, we selected the warriors and Logan will join them,” he said, half asleep.

“Mickey won’t like that,” Bella said.

“It was him or me, he volunteered,” Graham said.

“I’ll have to thank him,” Bella mumbled.

“We will find a way,” Graham agreed.