Dear Readers,
It's been many years since Anne has been brought into the McKenna pack. Things have changed and new challenges await.
Enjoy,
KemMyst
*************
He was dying. There was no avoiding the fact. He could see it in their faces, the way they screwed up their noses when they entered the bedroom. They could smell the decay.
His wife, his love of 18 years, one of their saviors, was at the bedside with him. Tears streaming down her face that nothing seemed to stem. She wasn't eating and looked pale and drawn.
Duncan was already gone. And Marcus before him.
Most of his children had come in to bid him farewell, except for the baby. But Anne had brought him to kiss his father, and sent him off to play. Joy had even come from her new home, with the Cole pack, to witness his passing.
He called Callum in and sent Anne out to get something to eat. "Devon, I don't want..."
"Go on. This is between Alpha males." She left the room, closing the door behind her, and burst into fresh tears.
"Son, we've discussed a number of these items before, but I want to revisit them and add some additional instructions that have to do with your mother."
"What about Mom?"
"I want you to take care of her and the new life she's carrying, after it's born."
"Mom's pregnant?"
"Yes. I've apparently started another child in her." He took a deep breath, and coughed a little, releasing it. "She hasn't told me yet which means one of two things. Either she wants to spare me the thought of my child entering this world without its father, or... she's thinking of ending it."
"You really think she'd do that?"
"She's stubborn, analytical, and practical. She may think it's for the best. But I won't leave this life until I have her promise that she won't. But, Callum, there may be a hard choice to make when it's born, if my illness means deformity you know what must be done. Don't give her a chance to see it first, or she'll want to keep it regardless."
Callum nodded. "I'll take care of it, and her."
"Thank you. Now, as to the other things we should discuss..."
*****
"Have you given thought as to who will be your Beta? Your brother's still a bit too young to take on the role, although he will ready be with time."
"If I had to choose, well, I've been thinking about Alex. He makes some good choices and we agree on a number of things."
"Agreement is not the only thing you need from your Beta. He must be able to stand up to you, and disagree, if he feels it's in the pack's better interests. He'll also, of course, need to be ready to take over, if something were to happen to you."
"Dad. I do know all this."
Devon looked at his eldest son. At 18, Callum was going to have to take on the role of Alpha early and Devon prayed that the other packs wouldn't take the change as an opportunity to overthrow his family. His son looked much as he and Duncan had in their youth. Black hair, blue eyes, the scar on his forehead from his birth. The voice that sounded so much like his own. "I know, I know. Sorry. The only problem with choosing Alex is Amanda. She's a bit too concerned with status. She tried hard to hang onto Duncan and she tried to coax me into some things while your mother was carrying you. Alex understands, but she'll be very unhappy with the drop in status, once Edmund comes of age. Nick just, isn't suited. And William... Wesley... No, I agree. Alex is the best choice. You should probably speak to him sometime soon."
"We've already had some discussions."
"Good, good. You've been with me on foraging trips and know how to get into the store. It wouldn't hurt to leave some cash if you end up with some. Be careful when you're around the humans. Don't steal a license plate for the truck but take advantage if you happen to see one lying by the side of the road, especially if it's out of state. You know how to change the access codes on door. The solar panels are going to need replacement soon. You'll probably need to pull out some gold and take it in."
His father was rambling, trying to remember everything that needed to be taken care of after he was gone. Callum was pretty familiar with all of it, having been Beta for the past year or so after his uncle Duncan had died. Also, of course, he had been groomed from a young age to be Alpha one day. It was, however, coming sooner than either of them had expected.
"Now, as for your mother's place in this pack after I'm gone. First, you must realize she's a formidable force. Don't make the mistake of underestimating her. You're very familiar with seeing her defer to me but, when she gets into a situation, she becomes very commanding and decisive."
"She stood over me when I was wounded, looking to face off four members of the Matlin pack. After she ran off, and they caught her the first time, when they came back for her, I tried to get her to go back to the compound while we held them off. She refused to leave. She's brave and passionate and oh so stubborn. Once she makes up her mind about something it's almost impossible to move her."
"I know you've heard the story before but I need you to understand. Just after I got these scars and we got back into the compound she stood there and gave orders. Duncan should have been in charge but, through sheer force of will, she took over. And the rest allowed it. Her reasoning was that Duncan was Beta and she was Alpha, so she had every right to take command."
"She made good decisions, the right decisions, but we both know it wasn't her place to lead. I wish I had more time to prepare you for this, that you were older but..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Callum, she's always going to see you as her little boy. She's going to feel she should take over until you're older. You have to take command of this pack as quickly as possible, before she gathers her wits and counters you. While you will be Alpha, you aren't mated and she will still think of herself as the Alpha female. She won't take the reduction in her status easily."
"Ask her counsel, ask her ideas, but you will be the leader of this pack. It won't be easy. Her pregnancy may be enough to keep her occupied for a while but, then, you've also seen how she gets near the end. I'm not sure how she's going to react without me around to temper her."
"And, just as hard, you're going to have to send Temperance and your mother, since she's still fertile, out to bring in human males. Temperance should start soon. I would have done it earlier, if I had had any idea what was going to happen after Marcus died. But..." A heavy sigh. "Hopefully, by the time your mother has to go out, she'll be comfortable with you in command. Depending upon how things progress, you may need to send your sisters and some of the other young women out to do the same. Take it in stages, and be careful, you don't want a couple of them to get together and try to take over. If you think it will help, at that time, actually at any time, feel free to invoke my name with your mother. But don't use it often, or it will lose its effect on her." He coughed again. Callum brought him a glass of water.
*****
"You son of a bitch, where do you think you're going? You promised me decades."
He tried to laugh and broke down into a coughing fit. It was in his lungs now. He wouldn't last much longer. "Sorry, love, I didn't want to leave you until we were both old and grey. And being nuisances to our great grandchildren." He picked up her hand and kissed it. "Come up here with me."
She looked into those blue eyes and the arm he had put out to enfold her. Carefully, trying not to hurt him, she climbed up into his arms. He groaned as she leaned against him and she started to pull away. His arms went tighter around her. "No, stay with me."
He put a hand on her belly. "I wish I could be around to see what you have in here this time."
She wasn't anywhere near showing yet. "Devon... How do you know?"
He smiled at her. "I've never told you, but you smell different when you're building babies."
She gave him a halfhearted smile through her tears. "So, you've known, every time, before I told you?"
More coughing, his face red. "Yes. It was always so wonderful to see your excitement, how you would tell me." He tipped her face up towards his. "But you weren't gonna tell me this time, were you?"
The tears came a little harder. She shook her head. "Why?"
"Because I've been thinking about ending it." He looked at her, startled at her frankness but not necessarily surprised.
"Anne, no."
"Devon, think about it. We're running out of adults to take care of the children, to bring in food, to keep this place up, to protect everyone. It isn't fair for me to bring two more mouths into this pack..."
"Two. Twins? It's too early."
She put a hand to his face. "The way I feel, I can tell it's twins again."
His voice got stronger. "Promise me. I want you to promise me you won't try to get rid of them." She looked at him, trying to keep a determined look on her face. Stubborn, she could be so stubborn. "Anne." Now it dropped lower. "Promise." His hand snuck under her shirt and he caressed her breast.
Her breath caught in her throat. "Devon..." His face dropped towards hers and he nuzzled her neck. "What are you doing? You're not in any kind of shape..."
"Promise me. I just want to taste you one more time before I go. Promise me you'll keep the babies. Anne, wife, love, promise me."
She sobbed against his chest. "OK. OK, dammit. I promise. I promise. I don't know how I'm going to do this without you." She lapsed into a serious bout of crying as he held her and his hands continued to stroke and caress her.
"Thank you. Thank you." The crying slackened. "Now, take these off." With shaky hands, she struggled to remove her clothing and dropped the pieces to the floor. "There. I dreamt about you from the first time I saw you naked." She smiled a little again at the memory as his hands came back to her. "So soft. And you smell so good. Woman, I'm gonna miss you."
"Don't go. Please, stay with me."
"Shhh. Relax. Close your eyes. Focus on my hands."
She closed her eyes and felt the hands of the man she loved on her body. His touch arousing her, making her feel so alive. She focused on the sensations, tried to forget that he's dying. He knew her well, knew what she craved, knew how to send her over the edge, how to make her want him. She was wet, just seeping, as he stroked and rubbed her sensitive clit. She sucked in a breath and he dipped his fingers in. "Oh, so slippery. So wet. For me." He brought his fingers to his mouth and, eyes closed, sucked on the juices he'd started flowing from her. "Mmmm, good. Come up here, let me lick you dry." She got up on her knees and, carefully, knelt over his face. She let out a small cry as his tongue touched her. He coughed again, and she started to pick up a leg to move off of him, when he grabbed her hips, holding her still. The coughing abated. "No, no, I'm not done with you yet. Stay where you are." She settled back down, bracing her upper body against the wall behind the headboard. One of her hands went to her breast as he began to lick her folds, dipping into the space between, sweeping from back to front. She let out a small moan as his tongue caressed her. "Feel good?"
"Always." His hands gripped her hips and tipped her towards him. After a few more strokes of his tongue, he sucked her clitoris into his mouth. She leaned her head against the wall as her hands reached down to his head. He nibbled, he licked, he brought her up, and held her there. "Oh, gods..." Every time she thought she'd go over the edge, he slowed, and kept her there. "Don't..." "Oh, please." She shrieked as he now bit lightly on that sensitive nub and her hips started to buck. He held her tightly, chuckling a little, as he took her once, twice, three times over in rapid succession. And then released her, panting and shaking. She leaned against the wall again, sucking in air.
She took a few moments to recover, then pulled her knee over his head and moved to lie down once more beside him. He stopped her before she got all the way down and looked into her eyes.
"Now, if you wouldn't mind doing all the work, I'd like to feel you around me one more time." She looked down his body, sure enough, his erection was tenting the bedcovers.
