Chapter 86
The rest of the dinner turned to lighter topics. Some of the more complicated situations within the pack. Or the gossip Nate had missed over the years. It was fun, getting to talk about the silly things with him. Especially, for the first time since I knew him, he wasn’t the first one to the gossip. Usually he was the one giving it to Mer and I.
Nate also talked about the pack he was living with now. It was the White Sun pack, lead by Alpha Jacob. Hearing he’d moved all the way to an island off the mainland of Greece shocked me. He didn’t give specifics of where, and I could tell he was being deliberate about that, but I didn’t mind. All he was doing was protecting himself and his pups.
Apparently, he was acting Beta for Alpha Jacob. He’d step in and do work when the Alpha requested it. It kept him busy, but it surprised me when he said he didn’t need to work. He explained Solaris had helped him, even after her death. Charles and I had looked at each other, thinking the same thing. This confirmed that she had thought their relationship was most-likely not going to work out.
Once we finished dinner, we walked around the area a bit. Nate ended up buying a couple of things for his kids while I picked out something for my mom and dad. Charles got something for me and I wanted to kick him, but I didn’t say no since I had actually wanted it. We had been trying to save up, cutting out extra expenses, in case we needed to move out of the pack house.
The pack would probably let us pick a place, but we didn’t want to do that without paying. We would need to be in and around the city so it was prime real-estate. It would be more expensive, but we needed to have a backup, just in case.
All too soon, it was too late, and we had to head back to the hotel. Nate walked with us to the hotel. I didn’t want to let him go. It felt like this was going to be it, and I couldn’t let him go. Charles wrapped his arms around my shoulders, his chin resting on my head as I cried, watching Nate disappear into the other side of the hotel.
Now, we were back in the hotel room, freshly showered, and I threw the boxers I was going to wear on the bed. Frustration oozed out of me.
“He didn’t even give us a contact! Does he really not trust us that much?”
My sexy mate was drying off his hair while the towel was hanging on for dear life around his hips. “I don’t think it’s us he doesn’t trust. We have a very volatile Alpha. One who could easily just decide to force Nate back.”
I huffed and threw my towel on the back of the chair, pulling on the boxers I’d thrown. “I want him back! I was prepared to force him back! Guilt trip him! Anything! You stopped me.”
“I did. Nate has pups now, sweetheart. He needs to think of their safety first. Coming back to the toxic environment to try again. Nothing has changed since then, other than the added alcohol.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I flopped back on it. “I just want our family back together again. Is that too much to ask for?”
“Well, let’s see what happens with Silas. He can’t possibly keep going like this. At some point, something is going to happen. The Elders have been on his ass lately over having a mate. I mean, they are getting creative.”
“What if Silas claims Nate? Officially. Like he tells the elders to shove it and makes sure that they can’t send another she-wolf. Maybe he’d finally realize he needs Nate? That he needs his family by his side in order for all this to work?”
Charles came over and kissed my forehead. “I love you. How about we just try to get through this weekend first? The last thing I want to do is run around trying to scrape Silas off the floor of some random bar.”
I wrinkled my nose. “He wouldn’t…would he?”
Picking me up and throwing me further onto the bed, I laughed as I bounced on the mattress. Charles climbed into bed next to me and turned off the light. I slipped under the covers and curled up against his chest. His arms wrapped around me and held me close.
His breath ruffled my hair as we laid together. I stared into his chest for a while before I realized it was going to be hard for me to sleep. Slipping my leg between Charles’ and closing my eyes, I rested my forehead on his chest.
“Nate looked good.”
“He did. He looks good with long hair.” Charles let out a single chuckle. “I also feel like he might beat my ass if we tried to spar.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He said he still isn’t at one hundred percent, that he never would be.”
“Maybe. But just because you have bad knees doesn’t mean you can’t kill someone with your bare hands.”
“Hopefully, he never needs to.”
For a while, I listened to Charles’ heartbeat before I said anything else. “I just…I want to talk to him or see him whenever. It’s not fair.”
“Leave it, Sam.”
Charles’ edge in his voice made me lean my head back to look at him. His eyes were closed, but there was a defined frown on his face. I didn’t understand. We had talked about wanting to bring Nate back before.
“But…”
He let out a deep growl. “Sam, did you not think about the damage Silas could do if he found out where Nate was?”
“I mean, he could force him back…”
“No, sweetheart. That’s not the worse. If anything, that would be the best-case scenario.”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Opening his eyes, Charles stared down at me. “He could force the twins to come to the pack. While exiling Nate and not allowing him to have contact with them.”
“I…what?” My blood ran cold. “How…how could…?”
“Far too easily. Silas is the Alpha. He is also the father of those pups. Nate really has no right to keep them from him. However, if Silas ever decided that he wanted them to take over as Alpha…he might force Nate to give them over, by pack law. On top of that, if Silas didn’t want to deal with Nate, didn’t want him on the territory, he could absolutely order Nate into exile.”
I shook my head slowly. “But that…wouldn’t that be contradictory to the laws? That would withhold the pups from their dad.”
“But Silas is Alpha, sweetheart. Certain rules apply to him and other ones don’t. If Silas did it, no one could say no to it. Not even the Alpha King. They might request Silas to revoke it, but he would be under no obligation to do that.”
Laying my forehead back on his chest, I stared into the darkness. That was horrible. He was right. I hadn’t even thought of that. I thought Nate getting dragged back when he didn’t want to come back was the worst thing. The worst part is that what Charles said was an understandable scenario in most Alphas eyes.
Silas didn’t have an heir. There was no one to take up Alpha after him unless he took up another mate or he took one of Nate’s pups. Just the mere thought of that happening sent shivers down my spine. My mate had done a lot over the years to learn the laws that governed us. Learning laws even I didn’t think about. This reminded me that everything favored the Alpha.
Charles moved his hand over to my back and rubbed it. “Let’s just hope Silas isn’t that far gone. If that happens…I don’t know if I would feel safe with you in that pack.”
I didn’t say anything, but the thought that we might have to leave Moon River never crossed my mind. My lips thinned as so many thoughts bounced around in my head now. Nate had said that I needed to look beyond my pool table. That it sometimes was keeping my thoughts far more narrowed than I realized. This proved his words, per usual.
“I still want Nate to come home…but I won’t push it anymore.”
Lips pressed on the top of my head. “Thank you. Now, come on, we need to sleep. It’s late and you know we are going to end up having to wake up Silas. We also need to make sure that he didn’t sneak off somewhere and have to explain to everyone at the meeting that we couldn’t find our passed out Alpha.”
“I mean…we could always just…not get him. It’s not like he listens, anyway.”
The rumble of laughter rolled through Charles. “I don’t need you being spicy on this trip.”
“I’m always spicy.”
He hummed and moved his hand down to my ass, squeezing it. “Spicy, huh?”
“We need to sleep, remember?”
Charles chortled. “I’ll be quick.”
“You are never quick.”
“No, but you are.”
I gasped as Charles caged me under his body, kissing me deeply. For a moment, I resisted, but between the sparks, the bond, and my need, I gave in. Throwing my arms around his neck, I kissed him back passionately.
When he disengaged to pull down my boxers, I sighed. “This needs to be quick.”
“Super quick.”
“I mean, we need to go sleep immediately after.”
“Yup. Right after.”
I arched my back as I felt Charles’ tongue on my shaft. “Mate!”
He hummed. “Real quick. I’m only going to make you come a few times.”
“Charles!”