(Willa)
His mother turned to me, and her eyes lightened. She reached for my hands and took a step back, looking me over. I don’t think I had ever felt as self-conscious before in my life.
“Well,” She smiled approvingly. “You are absolutely stunning. Strong genes there. My name is Grace, and it is my absolute pleasure to meet you.” Her face softened.
“Hi,” I said a bit awkwardly, “I’m Willa,” I took a deep breath, willing myself to stop shifting from foot to foot.
A man emerged from his office before I could say anything else. Dark brown hair and familiar blue eyes were set over a thick beard.
“I let him grow it out once we handed the pack to our son.” Grace winked at me, following my gaze.
“I figured I would let your mother at you first.” He came up, placing a hand on his mate's shoulder.
“I’m Rendell.” His dad smiled, reaching out a huge hand toward me. His smile softened his face, and it was everything I wasn’t expecting from a previous Alpha.
An Alpha King.
“Willa,” I repeated, placing my hand in his.
“We heard rumors and had to come ourselves.” Grace’s stern face returned as her eyes locked with her sons. “You wouldn’t have kept that from your parents, would you?” She asked me.
“Uh,” I said, trying not to wince.
I actually didn’t mention it to mine—this time. The first time they knew the same day.
But this...This was different.
“Your mother dragged me,” Rendell explained. Grace gave her mate a quick look with one perfect eyebrow raised. “We decided to come down to see if it were true.” The previous Alpha corrected himself.
I bit down on a smile.
“Well, welcome.” Caspien sighed. “Can I get you something to drink? Eat?”
“We’re fine for now, but let us go somewhere to chat, shall we?” His mother looked at me, smiling, but my stomach curled in anxiety.
Caspien was one thing, but his parents... They seemed untouchable.
Caspien's phone beeped, and he frowned, pulling it out. “One moment.” He walked away. All of our eyes were on his back. Caspien turned, looking angry for a second before settling into his cool Alpha demeanor.
“Pack business. If you want, you can wait for me in my apartment,” he explained to his parents, who didn’t argue. “Holden and Griffen are coming. Do you want to sit in?” he asked me.
“What about Emmett?” I asked.
“Nora is watching him. She’s been sitting out of things since her pregnancy, mostly because Griffen insists.” He shook his head.
“Who is Emmett?” His mom tilted her head.
“Um,” I started, taking a deep breath.
“Her son,” Caspien said, putting his arm around my shoulder.
“She has a son?” Grace’s brows furrowed, and my stomach dropped.
I knew how single mothers were viewed, even in the werewolf world. Especially since Caspien was an Alpha, my son would be seen as a threat, as competition. The real world was coming back again, threatening to burst the bubble we created. It wasn’t just Caspien and me; there were rules and ranks and college and life to deal with.
It was too easy to pretend it was just us, but that bubble burst.
“Isn’t that just wonderful?” His mom's eyes lit up, and she clutched her hands together.
I looked at Caspien, confused. I was sure I didn't hear her right. He shook his head once, and I swore he shrugged, but it was barely perceptible. Holden and Griffen arrived a moment later, and his parents left in the open elevator before I could say anything else.
Caspien gave me his seat at his desk and replayed an angry message from an Alpha screaming about borders.
“Alpha Jasper, the one that was supposed to be helping us with the rogue problem on our shared border.” Caspien closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Great idea switching up the units, by the way, Luna er Willa.” Griffen nodded to me.“A bit bumpy at first, but I think it's going to make us stronger than ever.” I remembered them mentioning that the units were surveying a shared border.
"Good." I tried to give him a smile despite my confusion.
“What is his problem?” Holden asked, running a hand through his shaggy blonde hair.
Caspien grabbed his phone and dialed him back, putting it on speaker.
“Alpha Jasper, I just received your message. You’re here with my Beta, Gamma, and Mate,” he added, looking at me.
“Let’s talk Alpha to Alpha. F.uck the formalities.” The man shot back. Caspien didn’t say anything.“Why is there an army at my borders?” He screamed.
“You didn’t hold your end of the bargain up. You didn’t secure your side. I don’t want to babysit you, but you brought this upon yourself,” Caspien stated coolly.
“This could be seen as an act of war,”
“They are on our borders. They haven’t crossed, nor will they unless there is a rogue sighting as we agreed on, or do you need me to send the contract to you again?”
“If you don’t remove them, I’ll contact The Elders.”
My eyes widened. Would this really be seen as an act of war? I knew they weren’t under Crescent Moon’s jurisdiction. I knew enough to know that packs within a jurisdiction had different rules on how to handle conflict than when they were faced with packs outside their territories.
“Do." Caspien challenged him. "We have a contract in place and haven’t broken it. Once we see you move more men to the borders and keep them there, then we will remove some of our excesses. Believe me; I'm not happy using my warriors to pick up your slack.”
The line was silent for a minute.
“Remove them now,” he demanded.
“Griffen, would you send a copy of the contract to Alpha Jasper?”
“Physical or digital?” Griffen asked.
“Both,” Caspien responded, “re-read the contract, and come back with any questions. I don’t have time for this.”
“I swear-”
Caspien hung up the phone and dropped it on the desk.
“What is his problem?” Holden asked.
“Power struggle and personal vindictiveness.” His shoulders slumped, and he looked toward me. “He has a grudge against my father that was transferred to me,” he explained, “Alpha Jasper challenged the previous Alpha for the title; my dad accepted any pack member that wanted a new start without completely uprooting their lives or going too far from their family that chose to stay.”
“Commendable,” I said.
“It was,” Caspien agreed, “Alpha Jasper doesn’t see it that way.”
“Generational grudges, the fun part of being an Alpha.” Holden smiled.
“I’m sure you’re going to start many grudges for yourself and your family.” Griffen looked at Holden with a stoic expression.
“I can only hope.” Holden flashed a smile, putting his hands behind his neck.
“What do you want us to do?” Griffen asked Caspien.
“Nothing, we hold our position; the contract will protect us. Inform those at the border that there has been some tension.”
“They can try to be more discreet.” Griffen nodded. “They already know they're to inform me of any news, big or small.”
“Good, then we’re done here.” Caspien turned his attention back to me. “Sorry, I thought that might be a bit more eventful, and I want to keep you in the loop, just in case.” He looked away from me, something he rarely did. “No pressure, though.” He reached for my hand.
“Just in case?” My mouth formed a thin line.
“I value your opinion even if you don’t want the title; we’ve accepted each other,” He took my face into his palms and titled it up, “I’ll still ask for your opinion and want you to join in anything you want to. No titles necessary.” His full lips tugged up, and I knew he meant every word.
“Okay,” I looked into his eyes, his intense stare meeting mine.
“Okay then, I guess we should maybe get out of here.” Holden coughed.
“Stop asking to be dismissed,” Griffen said, and I laughed.
“Let's go check on Emmett, and then I have to go see my parents. You can sneak away if you’d like,” Caspien said to me.
I was debating about whether to let Caspien spend time with his parents alone, but I didn't get to decide. When we opened the door to Griffen and Nora's apartments, his parents were there.
Grace was playing with Emmett on the floor, her legs folded under her. His dad was studying something so intently in his hand that I squinted to see what it was.
“Okay, so this one is going to work; I changed the wings as you requested and streamlined the nose.” His dad said.
“What’s streamlined?” Emmett asked.
“It’s uh, Grace; help me out here.”
“Making something more efficient, making it work better,” she responded.
“Mom?” Caspien stopped in the doorway, where I was frozen to the spot. “Dad? What the he- heck, what the heck are you doing?” His voice was steady, but there was an undeniable hint of anger to it.
“We wanted to meet him.” His mom stood up, brushing off her dress that was still immaculately pressed. This woman was a witch or something.
“That was out of line.” Caspien lowered his voice.
“If he is to be part of this family, you can’t keep him away from us forever,” she shot back, matching his tone.
“This is up to Willa,” Caspien stepped into the apartment. The entire room fell silent.
“Who is ready for cookies?” A cute petite brunette walked in, her stomach swollen.“Oh.” She paused when she saw the scene in front of her.
Griffen pushed past us and walked over to his mate, taking the plate from her. “You shouldn’t be lifting-”
“It's a plate,” she protested, giving him a look that shut him up.
“Hi, I’m Willa,” I said, walking towards the girl. “Those smell amazing.”
“That’s Nora.” Emmett bounded up next to me, ignorant of the tension. “She promised me two cookies,” he whispered, as if it were a great secret, “I’ll share with you,”
“Thank you.” I looked down at my sweet boy, placing a hand on his head. “And thank you for watching him.” I locked eyes with Nora, who gave me a sweet smile.
“He is such a pleasure, plus I didn’t do much; I had help,” Nora said, nodding toward Caspien's parents.
“Mr. Rendell was showing me how to make an airplane.” Emmet paused for dramatic effect, and I widened my eyes. “Out of paper.”
“What? No way, show me.” He tugged me towards Caspien's father was sitting on the couch surrounded by paper airplanes.
“Remember when-” His mom started to say.
“Yes, Mother.” Caspien cut her off.
“Don’t be so formal with me,” she scolded.
I felt Caspien come up behind me; he placed a hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed it before leaning down. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”
I put my hand over his. “It's fine.”
It was; it was bound to happen eventually. I was just glad that they liked him; I never thought that they would have wanted to meet him this bad; I was hoping for cool indifference at best.
“I used to make these with Caspien when he would come to my office,” his dad explained, holding up a paper airplane, “We would make them, and I would tell him stories of our pack history.”
“We got pretty good at them.” Caspien stood closer to me, and I settled into his warmth.
“That we did.” His dad swallowed. “It's so nice being able to do it again with another future Alpha.”
“He will be a good Alpha.” Caspien looked down affectionately at Emmett.
I smiled at him, but it hurt my heart. He would have been a brilliant Alpha, but that was taken from him. Even though I was finally coming to terms with everything else, that was one of the hardest things. Having a true Alpha stripped of his title before he got a chance to take it.
“He would have been.” I sighed, leaning into Caspien.
Whatever life would bring him now, I knew he would be great at whatever he chose to become, and that would be enough.
“He still can if he chooses.” Caspien looked down at me.
“I put that behind me; I’m not dragging him into any drama that is Blue Ridge.” After today, I put that behind us completely.
“I’m not talking about Blue Ridge; that pack would be wasted on his potential.” He waved a hand before him. “No offense, of course, but he's destined for far better things.”
“Like what?” I met his gaze. I was curious what he was thinking and happy that he thought so highly of Emmett. I guess he could maybe become a politician, mayor perhaps.
“Alpha of Crescent Moon.” Caspien’s voice didn’t waver, and he wasn’t looking at me anymore; he was studying Emmett.