Filed to story: Cara Nelson The Guardian: Werewolf Book PDF Free
The ranked members wake up first. Anders and Leander must have realized what happened when they woke up in our bedroom, barricaded in. After checking their mates and baby Liam, they moved the barricades and came rushing down the stairs.
Leander took charge of the situation, sending pack members as they woke to see the medical personnel. Lily reported what she had gathered about the dead and those impacted by the wolfsbane. When Alpha Christopher woke, his concern for his human mate and her fetus had him heading home to be treated by his medical team.
By mid-morning. Lily and I were exhausted, having battled through most of the night and into the morning. Once everyone was awake, we went to our room, showered and collapsed on our beds exhausted.
We didn’t wake until late afternoon. When we re-emerged, all the visiting Alphas, except Alpha Eric had returned to their packs. While it seemed that Alpha Benjamin had acted alone, they wanted to make sure their own packs were safe.
Anders and Leander sent word to the elder council about what had happened. Alpha Benjamin’s pack would be dismantled, and the pack members would face trial for their attempt to kill multiple Alphas and their collusion in the attack on Shadow Falls.
The event, while devastating to many, did strengthen the bond between Estella, Calista and Lily. The celebration of Liam’s birth was cancelled in light of all the deaths that had occurred in the pack, but before we left, Estella, Calista and Lily made plans to get together again.
Over the next couple of months, we hear that Alpha Benjamin’s pack was disbanded. Several groups of his now-rogue members attack our pack, attempting a retaliation. Lily and I are always involved in defending our pack. She and I have become a powerful fighting machine. We work in tandem, not needing communication. We just know and understand what the other person is going to do. None of the attacks on our pack present much of an issue when the two of us get involved.
Eventually, we hear that many of the displaced pack members join Alpha Jerome’s pack. He welcomes them with open arms. It makes us wary of his intentions, but other than the occasional unexplained death in his pack, their activities do not impact us or Shadow Falls.
Lily, Calista and Estella have developed quite a friendship and get together at least once a month for lunch or shopping.
Alpha Christopher’s mate had a little girl but died in childbirth. We were never sure if it was because she was a human, or if the drugs that Alpha Benjamin and his people gave her weakened her beyond her human body’s ability to recover. Either way, Alpha Christopher grieved, refusing to take another Luna and raising his daughter alone.
Alpha Eric mates with our previous doctor, Zoey, taking her as his Luna. Four months after officially making her his Luna, they welcomed their first child, a boy. We were invited to the Harvest Moon Pack’s celebration of their Alpha heir. It was nice to see Zoey again and see how she’s come into her own. I don’t know if they struggled with her being Luna and maintaining her medical practice, but they’ve made it work.
We stay the night at Harvest Moon after the celebration. That night, I curl up with my mate. “Are you still okay with waiting to have a child?” I ask her. We’re at an age where many friends and other packs are finding their mates and beginning their families.
She turns in my arms, facing me. “Are you?”
I smile at her, kissing her nose. “I asked you first. What do you want my sweet Lily bud?”
She looks thoughtful for a moment before focusing on me. “I’ve watched what has happened with Luna Estella. I know she loves her mate, and wants time with him, but being a parent and running a pack pulls her in many different directions.” She licks her lips, looking at mine. I can feel my body responding to the non-verbal cues she’s giving me.
“I’m not ready to give that up yet. I like that we’re both adventurous in the bedroom, or, wherever the urge takes us.” I smile, knowing she’s thinking of me taking her against the side of Harvest Moon’s packhouse during the celebratory party earlier tonight.
“I want more time for us to play, explore, be together without a child pulling our attention from each other. I want to try new positions that we haven’t thought of yet, have the opportunity to wake you in the middle of the night with my mouth because I want you right then, wake up early in the morning to your hands exploring me and making my body sing before we have to go train. I love that after you’ve made me forget my name, we can lounge in bed, while you learn a new song on your guitar to sing to me. We can eat naked, feeding each other if we want, have sex in the shower as many times as we want. I’m not ready for that to change. Does that make me selfish?”
I reach down, nipping at her bottom lip. “If it makes you selfish, then I guess we’re both selfish. Nearly a year after taking you as my mate, I still can’t get enough of you. I want you every minute of every day. So, if you want to wait, so I can take you every conceivable moment that we have, then who am I to argue?”
She giggles in my arms, and I proceed to show her exactly why it’s still a good idea for us to wait. I show her over and over, all night long, just because I can.
Alpha Benjamin’s pack joining Alpha Jerome’s doesn’t bode well for the future. But I love these private moments between Clint and Lily. I hope you do too.
Several years go by. Life with Clint is everything he promised and everything I knew it would be when I fell in love with him. On the first anniversary of our mating, he took me back to Maine. This time, we were able to do a full-on white water rafting trip, just like he promised me. I didn’t know that he had planned to take me there, so I had gotten him a picture of us in Maine. I had it blown up so we could hang it on our wall. It was a picture of the two of us in front of the ocean. He was behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist. His eyes were watching me intently as I laughed. My hair was blowing in the wind and my head was turned toward him, listening to what he said in my ear. He remembered the moment, remembered that he was telling me he’d never love anyone the way he loves me, which made it that much more special.
On our second anniversary, he took me to the Rocky Mountains. He made sure that where we were going still had snow. He got us a cabin removed from everyone and everything. We spent a long weekend letting our wolves run through the forest and making love in front of the fireplace.
On our third anniversary, he took me to the islands. He rented an entire island, so we let our wolves run free and we spent the weekend naked, lounging in the sun, making love in the ocean and learning the fun that could be had with bondage.
For our fourth anniversary, he took me to Oregon and the wine country. We spent our days tasting wines and our evenings finding creative ways to “spill” wine on each other before licking it off. Never in four years has my love or desire for this man waned. If anything, my need for him, my desire for him has only gotten stronger. Every day we find ways to touch each other, caress each other, flirt with each other. My heart is so full of love for this man that some days, it takes my breath away and brings tears to my eyes.
When we return from Oregon, Anders calls us into his office. We arrive to find Calista sitting in his lap. In front of the pack, Anders and Cali are still reserved in their affection. Behind closed doors, Clint and I see a very different side to them. Their love is obvious, even if they are not as outwardly affectionate as Clint and I are.
“We wanted to talk with the two of you. Cali and I have decided it’s time for us to begin trying to have a pup.” My mouth breaks into a huge smile.
“That’s awesome!”
Cali smiles at me. “Hear him out, Lily.” I sit back, not sure what to expect.
“Neither of us is aware of the two of you also wanting to have a pup right now?” It’s more of a question than a comment. I look at Clint. It’s been something that has started to push forward in both our minds, but we haven’t decided to start trying yet.
“Not yet, but what does that have to do with anything?” My mate asks.
Anders looks at Cali. “I’m concerned about both Cali and Lily being pregnant at the same time. I know I will become extremely protective of my sweet mate when she’s with child.” Anders says, kissing the side of her head. I know that look in his eyes. I’ve started seeing it more often in Clint’s. It’s the look of a man that wants to see his mate’s stomach growing with their child.
“I don’t want to keep the two of you from having a child, but I’m asking you to wait to start trying until Cali is pregnant. We don’t know how long it will take for her birth control to stop working but if I have my mate and a Guardian both pregnant at the same time, neither I nor Clint will be able to focus on anything, especially if we are attacked. I need to know that at least two of the three of us can be objective and focus on the protection of my mate.””
I look at Clint. “We want to start trying soon, but we’re not there yet. Maybe, the Moon Goddess will see fit to give us both pups within a year of each other. And if we’re really lucky, you’ll have a boy, and we’ll have a girl, and they will be mates one day. The future Alpha and Luna of the pack!” I say, practically bouncing in my seat and clapping my hands at the idea..
Anders and Clint laugh. “Lily bud, how about we get you girls pregnant first and we can worry about mates later.”
?? pulls me into his lap, kissing my temple. But as I look at Call, she’s giving me a thumbs up where Anders can’t see it. Perfect! We’re in agreement.
It takes six months for Cali to go into heat. When she does, everyone except Charles, Donna, Clint and I are ordered to leave the packhouse. Even I can smell Call’s pheromones and as much as I love my best friend, I would have preferred NOT to have heard her screaming our Alpha’s name all day and all night for a week.
During that time, Clint and I guard our Alpha and Luna and work with Charles to protect and run the pack. We get word of the death of Alpha Jerome’s son and also his Beta. The news that we got was that his Beta killed his own son and the Alpha’s son. Alpha Jerome beheaded his Beta for treason and banished his youngest son.
“Do you believe that?” Clint asks Charles.
“No. Alpha Jerome is vicious, cruel. There have been too many unexplained or poorly explained deaths in his pack and this is just one more.”
“I liked his Beta. He seemed like a good man when we met him at Anders’ birthday party. Emerson, I believe his name was. I can’t imagine him killing one of his sons and the Alpha’s son. That doesn’t make any sense. Does anyone know where the banished son is?” I ask.
“No.” Charles says. “I’ve sent men out and told our patrols to be on alert. But it’s unlikely that a 12-year- old boy, even one with Beta blood, will survive on his own.”
When Cali’s heat finally ends, Clint and Charles fill Anders in on everything that happened while he was out. I pull Cali into my room and ask her about being in heat. My sweet friend’s cheeks go pink, but she tells me about how intense it is, how her body craved Anders’ even more than normal.
“Be prepared, Lily. It’s intense. You don’t want to eat or sleep, you just want to…well, you know.”
I can’t help but tease my friend a bit. “Oh yes, I do know. You were screaming Anders name to the roof tops. I think they might have heard you two packs over.”
Her eyes go wide, and her cheeks turn a brilliant shade of red. “Oh my goddess, Lily. Was it that bad? I honestly was so out of it, I didn’t know and didn’t care.”
“All I have to say is, I hope it worked. If it’s that much fun to go into heat, I can’t wait.” I say and we both burst into giggles.
Two weeks later, we get the announcement. Calista is pregnant. The next day, I go off my birth control