FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY

STACY

Alpha Bernard arrives at Joseph's Pack at around midday. As usual, there are a bunch of leaders lining up as they wait for the guests. I'm among the leaders together with my mate Alpha Maurice, Alpha Joseph and his mate Rose, Alpha Bruno and his mate Sherry, Joseph's Beta na Gamma among other leaders.

When the cars make their way to the Pack House's compound, I'm waiting eagerly so as to see the famous Alpha Bernard of the South. I guess everyone is...

I spot a tall and handsome guy climbing down one of the prestigious cars followed by another equally tall gentleman, all well groomed such that I can't even tell who's the Alpha and who the other gentleman is.

They both walk towards us, the first one smiling broadly and that's when I notice that he's the famous Alpha Bernard. The Alphas, Betas and Gammas hug and chat happily as each of them introduces their mates. Before Joseph can introduce Rose to them, I notice a change in Bernard's facial expression as he scrutinizes Rose from head to toe.

“Rose?”

Oops! He knows her name already? No wonder the reaction earlier today when I asked her if she knew about Bernard.

“My long lost sister, where have you been all this while?”

Long lost sister?

That question leaves everyone baffled, including Rose herself.

”Do I know you Alpha or have you confused me with someone else?” Rose asks in confusion.

“You resemble my long lost sister who got lost when she was only 3 years old.”

“Alpha, this is not your sister!” The guy they came with who I assume is his Beta captions Bernard. It seems he has seen Joseph's reaction since his facial expression has totally changed. He's ready to protect his mate!

“But...but.. ”

“Yes, I am Rose and I don't belong to any Pack. I am a rogue!” Rose utters to Bernard's shock.

“What? Why are you here then?”

“She is my mate!” Joseph chips in so as to save the situation.

“Do you remember anything about your childhood?”

“Yes Bernard, and I perfectly remember you too my brother!”

Gosh! What a reunion! We are all speechless.

**************

Maurice and I are walking along Joseph's Pack's little shops where we stop for ice cream. After the shocking meeting with Bernard, we decide to let him and Rose have their moment first.

The turn of events still baffles me, but I'm happy for Rose. She finally has a family now! She's no longer a rogue! She's such a precious angel who deserves all. Through the snippets of dreams that I had of her life, I can understand that she has been through a lot, but I acknowledge that I can never fully understand the pains of living as a rogue.

“What's on your mind?” Maurice asks as he lifts his hand and wipes the side of my lip where I probably have smudged ice cream.

I react quickly and wipe it too, feeling embarrassed and making him chuckle.

“Don't laugh!” I pout and grab a tissue, but Maurice continues laughing.

“Such a messy eater.” He observes and shakes his head.

“No, it's because the ice cream is good!” I try to defend myself and furiously wipe the cluttered ice cream over my face which I'm sure isn't there anymore.

After I finish a cup, I get another one. These days, I've been eating more than usual, which makes sense because I'm feeding two people now.

Maurice is content with just one cup of ice cream, so he decides to just sit and watch me as I lick from the second cup.

“Dwayne would have liked the chocolate one with a touch of vanilla.” I say, remembering Dwayne who is probably crying with his workload right now.

“Excuse me? Are you thinking about someone else while I'm here?” Maurice asks. I try to detect amusement in his voice to see if he's joking or not. Finding none, I slowly raise my eyes up to meet his.

He holds the look for a few seconds before erupting to a loud laughter.

Wow, was that supposed to be a joke?

“Your jokes come off as a threat.” I say which makes him laugh even more and at the sound of that, I smile too.

I like hearing him laugh.

These days, finding him smiling or laughing isn't so rare anymore. It comes off naturally now and that makes me really happy.

He wasn't like that before, he was a hungered power-craving beast and he would stop at nothing just to get more of that. He was so stoic and looking at Bruno sometimes reminds me of the way Maurice used to be before and I honestly don't know how I was able to handle it then.

Well... I barely did....we always fought! We were never in good terms!

And to be honest, there were many times when I gave up because the obstacle was too hard, his heart was too cold and hard and I was tired too.

But in our own ways, we didn't give up at the thought of making things work and I think that's what I'm thankful for the most.

“So... let's think of a name for our baby.” I start making Maurice to look confused for a moment then he smiles in excitement.

“Maurice Junior.” He suggests happily.

“No.” I reject flatly.

There is no way I'm going to have a junior.

“Why not? It's a good name!” He whines and sits up properly.

“Absolutely not. How about Grant?”

“No, I don't like that one at all!”

What? And the way I thought Grant was a unique name especially for a prince!

We keep on suggesting names, but every time one of us suggests one, we just decline it and criticise the choice.

Tired of our suggestions, we get up and leave the small ice cream shop and aimlessly walk around the Pack.

We are still debating about the name, but then it goes to imagining what our child would look like.

“He will obviously look more like me since an Alpha's firstborn is always a male.” Maurice debates which makes me roll my eyes at him. Where did that logic even come from?

“Just because he's a boy doesn't mean that he'll look like you. My grey eyes are very dominant so I'm sure he will have my eyes.” I add and he disagrees and adds something else saying that his features will for sure be inherited from him.

Finally, after noticing that it's already late, we decide to go back to the Pack House.

When we get back, we eat dinner with only Joseph and Sherry since Bruno is supposedly in a meeting with his Beta back in his Pack and well, Rose is still with his brother Bernard, probably still catching up.

I can see that Joseph is worried because he barely even touches his food, but it is a good thing that Sherry is here to annoy him and force him to eat.

“Argh, you're so annoying! Go annoy Bruno won't you?” Joseph says with low spirits and upon hearing that, Sherry gasps.

“He's a grown man, he knows when it's eating time or not!” Sherry replies.

This leaves Maurice and I looking at each other and we just laugh.

After dinner, Rose and Bernard still have not returned. Understandable, they have a lot to catch up on anyways. As for everyone else, we decide to call it a day and have a meeting tomorrow morning before we depart back to the Dark Woods.

******

I've been lying on the bed, waiting for Maurice to come back from the shower, just staring at the ceiling.

It's quiet around me, but all I can hear is the water running down from the shower. Then thoughts of the future creeps in and I start thinking about the future ahead.

The very first is the safety of my child. Having been given a child at such a time like this is scary, that's true, but that's not what lingers on my mind. I think mostly about how I can protect him and still manage to fulfill my duties as a Warrior.

And then I think about our Pack, I can't heal too much because I'm scared that I might put the baby's life in danger again and there is no way that I'm going to put him through that again. But still, I have to protect the Pack an it's people.

And then I think about the other warriors, most especially the last warrior, Ephy. She's the last warrior, known as the seer. Sure, I have had dreams every now and then warning me about the future, but her ability is being able to see the future so she is vital for the very operation of defeating the stray wolves.

I'm sure she would be able to see this and if so, why hasn't she showed up yet?

Is she hiding? Why?

Suddenly, the door of the bathroom gets opened and Maurice comes out while drying his black hair, topless. I can almost swear that I see how droplets of water drip from his upper body. My heart skips a beat when my eyes meet his and I suddenly feel embarrassed for getting caught checking him out.

I turn around, fanning myself.

Why am I even feeling embarrassed as if it's my first time seeing that?! I scold myself mentally. Right then, I feel a light kiss on top of my head and upon turning around, I find that it's none other than Maurice. He has a smirk that I can't quite decipher, but I somehow feel that he's teasing me.

“Dry yourself and go to sleep.” I say, trying to ignore him, but I just hear him chuckle and makes me turn to him.

He puts his hand on my stomach and stays still, listening at the heartbeat of our baby. Watching the scene makes my heart melt.

Who would've ever thought that I would be living a moment such as this, but still all I feel right now is thankfulness.

“What are you worried about?” Maurice suddenly asks. He must've felt my anxiety. I think for a while and then start to talk.

“So, dear...” I start hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“I've been thinking... how are we going to handle what's ahead? To be honest, I'm scared. I'm so happy that we're going to have our own family, but I'm scared. What if I can't protect him? What if I can't protect the Pack? Wha--”

I stop talking when I see Maurice smiling. Why is he smiling? Can't he see how serious this situation is?

“To be honest, I was starting to worry too, but when we came here, I realized that we are not the only ones fighting this battle. There's Bruno, Joseph, Bernard, Sherry, Rose and all the others. And since you've recently met them, you probably don't know that although they are goofy like that, they're really strong. Knowing that they will be with us eases my mind. We'll be fine Stacy.”

I blankly stare at him.

Gone is the Maurice I met at the beginning. Here is the Maurice who knows how to rely on his friends for a battle he knows he'll otherwise lose if he doesn't have the others. It's so wholesome!

I smile at him and move closer to him for a hug.

“I love you Stacy, go to sleep.” He says and wraps his arms around me too.

“I love you too.” I murmur as I hug him even tighter. Mmmmh....his natural scent is so intoxicating such that I don't want to let go of him! He's teasing me.