Page 23 of Lightning Strikes

I nod into her shoulder, sniffling against her long, brown hair. I blink away my tears as I lean back and look over to Tom. He opens up his wide arms and I rush up to him and I start to sob. Gosh I missed them. I bask in Tom’s scent and apologize over and over into his tear-stained shirt.

“Hey, Ang… What’s going on?” Tom questions and rubs my back. I glance up into his warm brown eyes and press my lips together.

I sniff and step back, picking up Scout and cuddle her into my neck. “A lot. Can we sit before dinner? So that I can talk?” Ella nods and I follow her into their cozy, warm living room. Not much has changed. There are still photos all over the walls, tall candles on the mantle, hand-knitted blankets all over the couch and chairs, and bookshelves filled to the brim.

I sit at the end of the couch and call Max over to me for some more moral support. “I don’t really know where to start.” I lick my dry lips, glancing over to Ella and stare into her light green eyes that remind me so much of her son’s. So much love and compassion in their depths. I blow out a slow breath. “I don’t want to be here in this pack anymore – for so many reasons. My parents are gone, everything with Adam… The clinic is better now, but it’s still stressful.” I place my hand on Mac’s thigh and he curls his large, warm hand around mine. “I met a man several weeks ago and on his second to last night in town we… got to know each other. I drank the tea for days.” I sniff and clear my throat. “We figured out today that I’m pregnant. I…” I look up and stare into Tom and Ella’s calm, loving faces. “I can’t be here and raise a child. So close to humans in a small pack that doesn’t have a better community.”

Ella stands, hurriedly steps up to me before kneeling and pulling me into her arms. “If you want to leave, we can find another pack to move to. Give us a few weeks to find a community that checks all of the boxes. Are you going to be the pack doctor there? We can find a larger pack that’s secluded and needs help.”

I nod and bury my face against her neck. “Yes please.” She stands up and claps her hands.

“We will talk more after our meal. Let’s relax, eat, then we can go on a walk and figure this all out…” She sends her son a look and drags her mate into the kitchen.

Mac pulls me into his side, kissing my head and neck.

“I want them to know that this baby is as much their grandchild as my parents would have been… Are you okay with that?”

He chuckles into my back and growls. “I would love that, and so would they. I want to be in the pup’s life, preferably as the father, but I understand if you’re not ready for that. I want you to be my mate. I want you to move in with me and we will build a nursery together.”

I smile and breathe him in. If Adam never slithered into my life, I’m sure Mac and I would have been mated by now, maybe. And if either of us ever spoke up about our true feelings, we would have been together all of these years. Not hiding our feelings, pretending to be friends with benefits, and losing all of this time.

I’m scared, shocked, and anxious, but this is the best outcome that I have ever foreseen. Not that I would expect Cal, a stranger and a human, to step up for a supernatural shifter pup… Who knows if he even wanted kids or could leave his job or his home… I’ve always loved Mac… He’s a part of my soul, I just never thought that he would truly be mine.

“I would love that.” He helps me settle Scout and then we meet his parents at the table to sit down for a quiet meal. I smile to myself when I see the looks both Tom and Ella continue to send us. Hope, fear, and worry… Concern. After I have another serving of steak and potatoes, I help Mac gather the dishes and chuckle as he shoos his parents out of the kitchen. We smile at each other, toss around some water and soap, and eventually have all of the dishes and counters wiped down. “Are you ready for the walk?” I wink at him and he licks his bottom lip.

“Mmm… I want the night over with so that I can drag you into my bed.” I gape at him and he shrugs. “You really think I’m going to hold back?” He shakes his head and crowds me against the wall and places his nose against mine. “You’re mine now. Mine. I can share if Cal decides he wants to be in the picture and finds us in the future, if that’s what you would worry your little head about. Hell, I’ll share you with a hundred other wolves… But your body? At least for right now… All mine. No more holding back. No more sneaking out during the night. No more hiding your true feelings.” My eyes glaze over with tears and he kisses them away.

“I love you, Mac.”

He smirks at me as we step back into the living room and I watch as Ella feeds Scout and Tom is petting Max in his lap. “Already gearing up for being grandparents, hey?”

Ella gasps and bites her lip as she stares at us with wide eyes, so much hope. “Are you…”

Mac saunters up to her and hugs his parents. “I’m stepping up… Something I should have done decades ago, if I’m being honest… We were young, dumb, and scared. But we can’t be anymore. I’m going to be there for the both of them forever. Even if I didn’t step up, Angela has made it a point that you two are like parents to her anyway…” Tom claps Mac on the back and waves me over to the pile for hugs as we console Ella as she cries.

“I knew you would finally get your head out of your ass!” She smacks Mac on the back of his head. “It just took another shifter to knock your woman up?”

I furrow my brows and cock my head. “Cal was human. No shifter scent whatsoever anywhere on him or in his… hotel room.”

Ella sends me a droll look and shakes her head. “You would have learned this in the education courses as a child, hell a teenager, your parents should have had this talk with you, child… We cannot mate with humans, it’s not biologically possible. So either he was using old fae magic to hide his scent or knows a mage… He’s a shifter.”

I collapse down in the chair across from the couch and blink at them for several moments. “I have his number… And his P.O. box number in California that was attached to his check when he donated money for Max’s bills… We really can’t mate with humans?”

Tom clears his throat. “No. It’s biologically impossible.”

I must have a look of pure confusion plastered on my features because Ella sighs and wrings her hands in her lap. “Before I met Tom, I was in love with a human. I knew it couldn’t last and I didn’t bother with the Golden Melia teas. For over a decade never used contraception.” She shrugs and winks at me. “After I met Tom and we decided to mate, I was pregnant after my first heat. You can ask any of the elders and read any of our histories. It has never been done before. Humans are too simple, biologically. Totally different DNA… We’re technically not from Earth… Why didn’t you learn this from your parents or the Boise pack doctor?” She frowns and I shrug.

I pull out my phone and tap it against my hand. I stare at it… I wasn’t prepared for this. I just assumed he was just a rich human from out of town… Why was another shifter in Prescott and why didn’t he contact Adam? Why is he using magic to hide himself? Are they spying on us? Was this all a fucking trick?

I glare at my phone and scroll through my contacts, putting it on speaker after I press dial. It rings for two seconds before the robot yelled in my ear that the number has been disconnected. I toss my phone across the room and Mac grabs it before sitting on the ground in front of me.

“Is this his full name?” He shows me my contact for ‘Cal Winters’ and I nod briskly before leaning back with my eyes closed. “Okay… I’m going to do some searches on him and will let you know in a few days… Don’t you have a hacker friend?”

“Yeah… Melissa. I’ll send her a text. I don’t get it. Why would he do this? He seemed so nice and kind. Was he here for another pack? Checking up on us and spying? Is he a part of the psychos that are stealing shifters?”

Tom, Ella, and Mac try to change the subject, calm me down, and eventually just give up on our peaceful night. The adultier adults took Max on a walk while I messaged back and forth with Melissa on her hacking into whatever she needs to, to get me more information on Cal Winters. I was able to halt Mac on what he wants to do since he’s having issues at the precinct. All he did was shrug and roll his eyes and say how much it doesn’t matter since he will be handing in his resignation soon.

I was also able to convince him to let me go home and rest. By myself. I need time to think, work through this rage and pain, and not hop on a damn plane and search for that piece of shit. The city that the P.O. Box is in is a small town in the middle of nowhere… I should have linked that together. He had money, a lot of money, and wore clean, expensive suits. Why would he live in the middle of nowhere, a miniscule town with no more than two thousand people, if he wasn’t hired to run around to different packs and spy on us? Or steal us?

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