Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“I am sorry.” Clovio lowered his head. “I didn’t mean to make Rika think that I was her mate. I..I..I think that I need to apologize to her. I have a lot to make up for.”
“Yes, you do.” Joaquin growled softly at him. “You can spend the next several weeks and months making up for those things with her and us. You’re lucky that I am letting you live.”
“Wh..wh..what?!” Clovio recoiled and leaned back in his seat. “Wh..wh..what did I do?”
“YOU TOUCHED MY DAUGHTER!” Joaquin snapped at him. “YOU KISSED MY BABY!”
“B..but I didn’t hurt her. And I..I..I made sure she wanted me to kiss her.” Clovio was trying to help his situation, but he was just making it worse.
“DO YOU THINK THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!?” Joaquin roared at him. “SHE IS MY PRECIOUS LITTLE GIRL! SHE IS JUST A KID! AND YOU TOUCHED HER!”
“Sh..sh..she’s eighteen.” Clovio tried to reason with Joaquin and that just made it worse.
“SHE IS A LI-!”
“Shut up, Fido!” I snapped at him, cutting off his tirade. “He’s right. She’s eighteen. And whether you like it or not, she will find her mate soon enough. She will be getting married and having her own life. It’s just a matter of time. And the same goes to you two. Alyssa and Alexandria are adults now. They are not little girls that need their daddies to protect them. Lighten up.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
“No Riviana, they’re not adults. They’re little girls. They are babies. And we need to protect them.” Joaquin pleaded with me.
“Wrong, Joaquin. They are all grown up, whether you like it or not.”
“NOO!” The wailing sentiment was started by Joaquin, but it was soon echoed by Shawn and Dietrich. They were all sobbing and wailing at the thought that their precious daughters were all grown up.
“Yup, it’s all true. And before you know it, I am sure that all three of you will be grandpas.”
“I WILL MURDER SOMEONE BEFORE THAT HAPPENS!” Joaquin snapped and looked at Clovio with glowing eyes.
“AS WILL I!” Dietrich turned his pale eyes onto Warrick. I actually saw the man flinch. He did good though, he didn’t whimper.
“SHUT UP!” I snapped at them. “Deal with it. I have to. It’s the way that life works. And Joaquin, if you stay this rigid the entire time, you’re going to push the girls away when they do find their mates.”
I managed to get the terror triplets calmed down before Clovio and Warrick shit themselves, but it was only by a narrow margin. They looked so scared that they were flattened in their chairs and trying to get further away from the frightening fathers. In the end, we made sure that they both agreed to apologize to Rika and Alyssa. And then Warrick was going to try and win back his mate. Obviously, Shawn and Dietrich weren’t that happy about that part, but I told them that they needed to accept life for what it was.
I think that the only thing that Joaquin, Shawn, and Dietrich managed to push through, was that these two men, before they could apologize, had to go to Europe and be part of the cleanup crew. There was a lot that had happened because of the Jaegan, and we needed some men to help with the transition. They agreed immediately, probably as a means of survival.
And with that done, I was finally able to go back up to our home in the tower. I was getting hungry since I had skipped lunch and I was starting to plan for an early dinner. Not to mention, there was a lot that needed to be done still. And I knew exactly which item on my list was the first to address. I just wonder how everyone was going to take it.
****
Riviana
****
When I got up to the tower, I told Abigail that I wanted her to prepare for an impromptu party. I was glad that she had help in the kitchen these days, and that the immortality thing had reversed her age by quite a bit. Otherwise, I think that she might have killed me on the spot.
Don’t get me wrong, she acted perfectly polite and calm. And she was most likely genuine in that as well. The problem was that there was a small glint of annoyance and panic in her eyes. She was being asked to change plans at the last minute. I felt bad, but I really did have a reason. And I even asked that she join us for the meal this evening. She was not going to want to miss what I had to tell the group tonight.
I was glad that Carter was still in town and hadn’t gone back home yet. I wanted him and Emmalee at the family dinner this evening. I also wanted Cedar, Acacia, Juniper, Paul, Trevor, Aunt Glory, Athair m贸r, Daciana, Riley, Landon, Mom, Dad, Lila, Grandfather, Noah, Nikki, Olivia, and all of mine and Joaquin’s kids there too. It wasn’t that big of a party, but it was definitely more than the normal amount that we had at one time. The nineteen extra people was what made Abigail balk at the mention of the party.
After I had told them all that I wanted them all at dinner tonight, I started to think about what I needed to tell them. I knew that a lot of them were just going to think that it was a celebration of Joaquin and him still being alive. And that was a good thing, most definitely. But there was more to it. There was something a lot more special about what happened last night than we all originally thought.
I wanted to relax as much as possible before the dinner that night, and so did Joaquin. So, we decided to take a warm bath. I knew that hot baths didn’t affect me as a werewolf as much as they did humans, but I also knew that Griffin would tell me to err on the side of caution anyway. So, that was why we didn’t make the water all that hot. It was fine though, Joaquin’s body heat more than made up for it as I sat in his lap.
“Are you worried?” I asked Joaquin as he cradled me.
…..
“About what?” He sounded confused as he snuggled me closer.
“About having another baby?”
“Why would I be? It’s not like we can’t show it the love that it needs.”
“I know. And that wasn’t what I was talking about.” I turned in the circle of his arms and looked up at him. “What I am saying is, are you worried about having another baby when the last one was over ten years ago?”
“Did you forget how to change a diaper, Little Bunny? Because I sure didn’t.” He laughed softly.
“No, that’s not it either.” I shook my head. “Ugh! I am having such a hard time articulating this.” I turned all the way around then, straddling his lap and looking up into his eyes. “What I mean is, Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley are all going to be eleven when the new baby is born. Reagan and Rika will be nineteen. Is it too much of a gap?”
“Riviana, you do know that Valerian had a baby hundreds of years after his first one died, right? And your Grandfather and my mother had a baby. I am a hell of a lot older than my baby sister than the quads will be with this new baby. And let’s not even think about the difference in age between your mother and my baby sister. Oh, and another one, you are how much older than your sister? Not that Wes and Eve are your biological parents, but they raised you so you were the youngest for so long. This gap of ours is nothing.” He just shook his head at me as if I was being crazy.
“Well.” I batted my eyes at him. “Does that mean that in fifty years, if we want to try for number nine, you wouldn’t have a problem with that?”
“Why would I? We’re immortal Riviana, there is nothing stopping us from having another kid in a hundred years. Even if we have great, great, great, great grandchildren, we can still have another one. Because that is what immortality is all about.” He pulled me closer and kissed my lips gently.