Filed To Story: Their Bullied and Broken Mate by Teri Petry
She took Phoenix and me into a room. It took him so coaxing, and finally, with the agreement that Mel could come too, he followed Maggie in. Mel sat in the chair next to me, and Phoenix securely in her lap. Maggie took out the test kit, and showed the little guy the test sponge. She used my mouth first to show him that it wouldn’t hurt, and I even laughed a little, pretending it tickled.
She put it in a pouch and labeled it with my name and put father on the line under my name. She then took out a smaller spongy stick and Phoenix opened his mouth wide. He let out a giggle or two when she swabbed the inside of his mouth, and she placed his specimen inside a pouch as well. She said she was going to put a rush on the results, and we would know by morning. We thanked Maggie, and, as promised, he got his lollipop. We asked Josh if he was free the rest of the day, so that we could take Phoenix to the park and to dinner. We wanted to spend some time with him before just taking him from the pack he had grown up in. We wanted him to want to come with us. Josh said he had some work to do, but when he talked to my son, Phoenix said that he wanted to go with us. He waved Josh away, and ran back to Mel. Then off to the park we went.
I knew it!
*MELIAN POV*
We stayed in the park until it was time for lunch. Instead of eating in the cafeteria of the pack house, we went to a Chinese take-out place nearby. We ordered enough to feed an army and went back to Josh’s place. He was surprised to see us with so much food, and Phoenix actually having an amazing time. We laid out all the food on the kitchen counter, and told Josh to make himself a plate. I made Phoenix a plate of rice, chicken and veggies, and Liam put him in his booster chair. As he ate, I made myself a plate and joined him at the small table he was eating at. I could tell he was starting to get tired, so I offered to lay him down for a nap. Josh said that it would very helpful, especially since the Alpha wanted to meet with my mates and Josh. I picked the little guy up and took him to the bathroom to wash up. I laid him in his twin bed, and sat at the end. “MeMe lay with me?” he asked. I gave him a small smile, and nodded my head. I grabbed the blanket I was sitting on and laid down with him. He snuggled close, and I put my arm around him securely. I was already feeling a bond created, and it made me happy. I think this is what I was meant to do in life. I was meant to take care of people. I was meant to be a mom.
We had both fallen asleep, and I don’t know how long we had been that way. I was startled awake by a man yelling Josh’s name. He hadn’t yet awakened Phoenix, and I wanted to make sure he didn’t. I walked into the living room and asked the man, “Can I help you with something?” Confused, he looked me up and down. “Who the hell are you?” he asked. I informed him that I was Luna Melian Young of the Blood Moon pack, and he smirked and introduced himself to me. “So, you are the great Luna of Blood Moon. The demon slayer. Liam and Loki’s special mate. Little girl, I am Beta Malcom Nightwater. I am the grandfather of one of your mate’s children. I am here to see said child.” he slurred. Great, a drunk Beta with an ego. “Well, Beta Nightwater, it’s nice to meet you. You can’t see him right now because he is asleep. Please don’t wake him from his nap. A child needs rest.” I recanted. You would have told him that the sky was green by the way he looked at me. “Sleeping? This late in the afternoon?” he asked. I nodded at him, my eyes never leaving him. “He has had a very busy morning. It tuckered him out.” I replied. He stood in the middle of the room, slightly swaying with his hands on his hips. He started to nod slowly, and turned his heel and left without another word. I quickly grabbed my phone and phoned Liam. I explained what had happened, and he told me to just lock the door, and they would be home soon. I went into the kitchen and made myself a cup of tea, and sat at the small table and picked up a book that had been sitting on it.
Liam and the others came in not too long after our call, and with them was the Alpha. Alpha Markus Downing. I can remember Scott and my dad talking about him. He was a ruthless but fair alpha. He demanded respect, but was also quick to return it if warranted. “Luna Young, it’s nice to finally meet you. I am Alpha Markus, I want to apologize to you for my Beta’s actions. Trust me when I say he isn’t himself lately. Losing his daughter has caused him great heartache and he is being irrational. Your mates have expressed that you are willing to take the boy with you, whether he is Alpha Liam’s or not. I approve your decision, but if he turns out not to be Phoenix’s biological father, I would like to arrange a meeting with my Beta and his mate, along with the three of you, to make sure that everyone is on board. I know Malcom only wants what is best for his grandson, even if he isn’t acting like that. I have known him since childhood, and I know his heart. I think he is being pressured by his mate, Rita. She isn’t Rochelle’s mother, and I think she is pushing him to rid any existence of his previous mate now that his daughter is no longer with us. That would include his grandson. I don’t have proof, just a suspicion, but I wouldn’t doubt that I am right either. She isn’t a very friendly woman,” he said. I had my own suspicions about how Beta Malcom was acting, but I chose to keep them to myself. I just politely nodded and thanked him for his apology. “Thank you, Alpha. I can understand his grief. However, I hope you understand whether he lost the loss of his daughter or not, his behavior is horrible. It is not a good representation of a pack when their Beta bursts into someone else’s home unannounced, and sloppy drunk. In that condition, I wouldn’t have let him see the boy, even if he was awake. Children are impressionable, and that isn’t a good impression to make,” I explained. Thankfully, he agreed with me and apologized again. We agreed to meet with him tomorrow after we find out the results to see where we will go from there. Liam mentioned that no matter the results, he would still like to meet with Beta Malcom. He wanted him to know that, no matter what, he was always welcome in Phoenix’s life. No one was going to exclude him from anything, but there would be guidelines and rules he would have to follow concerning Phoenix’s raising and parentage. The alpha agreed with us, and took his leave. Phoenix had awakened from his nap, and came into the living room. He climbed up onto Liam’s lap and cuddled with him until he was fully awake. The rest of the evening was spent getting to know the boy and letting him get to know us better. We watched cartoons, colored in books, played with cars and blocks, and after dinner, Liam gave him his bath and helped get him ready for bed. I hoped in the morning my husband would get the news he wanted to hear.
We were all so exhausted we fell asleep rather quickly, and slept peacefully through the night. We were awakened by the ringing of Liam’s phone. He picked it up and groggily answered, “Hello, Alpha Liam speaking.” I could barely hear the voice on the other end, but could tell it was a female. “Yes, Hi. Alpha Liam, this is Maggie. I have your results. Would you like them now or would you rather come in?” she asked. He turned to me and Loki and his brother told him they would go in. We wanted the test results in hand, so it was better to do it this way. “Uh, yes, Maggie. Thank you for letting me know. We will get dressed and come over immediately. Thank you again.” He replied. An hour later, we were at the physicians’ clinic. Maggie came in with a smile and handed Liam an envelope. On the front it had Liam and Phoenix’s names, and Liam held it in his hands like he was almost afraid to touch it. He looked at his brother and handed him the envelope. “I can’t. Will you please do the honors, brother?” he asked. Loki shot him a smile and nodded his head. Loki quickly opened it and read through the results. He took a deep breath and a huge smile spread across his face.
“When it comes to the paternal parentage of Phoenix Skye Nightwater, it is with 99.99999% surety that Alpha Liam Joel Young is the father,” Loki read. A squeal left my mouth in excitement, and Liam jumped out of his seat and clapped happily. “Woo! Hell yes! I knew he was mine. I just fucking knew it,” he exclaimed. I was so happy for my mate, and so was his brother. Loki was excited about being an uncle again. However, that isn’t how Liam wanted it. “Loki, I don’t want you as his uncle. You are co-dad to our other children, and that is how I want it for Phoenix too. All of our children are ours equally,” he explained to his brother. Loki fell back to his seat and tears filled his eyes. “Yes, absolutely. I would be honored to hold that title for that little guy. Thank you, Liam.” he whispered.
A Grandfather’s Explanation
*LIAM POV*
He’s mine! I knew in my heart this would be the result. Especially after seeing him with my own two eyes. My mate was just as happy as I was. In just a very short time, she had become very protective and close to him. This has turned out better than I could have ever thought. I overheard Loki say something about being an uncle again during all the excitement. I stopped in my celebration, and corrected him. “No, Loki. You don’t get it, do you? There is no Uncle Loki. You are co-dad to all our kids. ALL of our kids. It won’t be any different with Phoenix. You will be a dad, just like me. We share the same DNA, we shared the same womb sack, and we will share everything else in our life. We haven’t been ‘separate’ a day in our life other than personality-wise. Why start now?” I told him. The joy that filled his eyes warmed my heart. He thanked me multiple times, and agreed that is how it would be. He was honored that I thought of him like that. We left Maggie’s office after she agreed to get all of Phoenix’s files copied for us. She wanted to make sure we had all of his records for the pediatrician at Blood Moon.
When we returned to Josh’s cottage, Phoenix was awake and eating breakfast. He was about to go to preschool for the rest of the morning, and we were going with Josh to Alpha Markus’s office. He had left us a message while we were at the clinic, and said that Malcom had agreed to meet with us. He promised he would be sober, and we would work things out. Malcom didn’t know the results of the paternity test yet, and I hoped that would make things easier. Knowing he was with family, and not just a stranger who was willing to take him in and raise him. I had fond memories of Rochelle, and I never faulted her for wanting to be with her mate. I just wish she would have talked to me, and told me about her pregnancy. Explained what was going on instead of just getting up and leaving. I would never have held her against her wishes, and I would never have made her feel guilty. I would have been happy for her, and we would have worked out a suitable situation for our son. We can’t change the past, but I would make sure our son had a brilliant future.
We went with Josh to drop Phoenix off at pre-school, and went upstairs to the pack office. Josh knocked and we were summoned in. I held onto Mel’s hand, because I could tell she was nervous about seeing Malcom. I whispered to her that everything was going to be fine, and she gave me a little smile. Markus gave us a hearty welcome when we walked in, and Malcom stood and shook our hands. “Luna, I want to apologize personally for my actions yesterday. I’ve been kind of a…well, mess, since my daughter was killed. It doesn’t excuse my actions, but it does explain my state of mind,” he explained. She gave him a warm look, and she approached him cautiously. She reached out for him and embraced him in a hug. “Beta Malcom, I understand grief. It does crazy things to our minds and souls. I couldn’t imagine ever losing one of my children, and to be honest, I hope I never have to experience it. I know you are hurting, and I can imagine that your wolf is in a lot of pain as well. I don’t want you to see Phoenix coming with us as a loss, but as a gain for more family,” she said to him. I could see his body physically softened, and that he was fighting tears from falling from his eyes. “Thank you, Luna. I appreciate your kind words. It has been extremely hard. Please, sit. Let’s get this underway so that you can get back home.” he replied.
I can’t say I was shocked at how short he was with Mel, but I didn’t expect it to be so curt. Mel sat in between Loki and me, and Josh and Malcom sat across from us. Alpha Markus sat at the head of the table, and started the meeting by saying, “I’m thankful we were all able to get together to make sure there are no hard feelings or ill will towards whomever the child stays with. I am fond of the little guy myself, and want what’s best for him.” He turned to Malcom, and asked him very sternly, “Malcom, I am asking you here and now, why is it so important to you to send the boy away? I was under the assumption, by your actions and things you have said, that he was of great importance to you.” Malcom lowered his head and said softly, “Markus, it’s more for his safety than anything else. I don’t trust Rita around him.” So there it was. The hard truth. “Is she a danger to him?” I quickly asked. Malcom didn’t need to say a word, the answer was written all over his face. “So, she is. Then maybe it’s best he comes home with me,” I stated matter-of-factly. His head whipped towards me and our eyes met. “It’s not that she is a danger, at least I don’t think. I think she has always felt like she lived in the shadows of my first mate. Which has never been the case. Rochelle never took to her in a motherly manner. When our son came along, it was insisted by Rita that he come first before anything, even my daughter. When she had my grandson, Rita’s insistence became relentless. She insisted that Barron would be my replacement as Beta once I retired. She even knew that wasn’t how it worked here in Northern Sun. When Rochelle was attacked and died, she hadn’t been at the coroner’s for long. I hadn’t even had a chance for her proper send off. She told me that I needed to find a different situation for Phoenix. Then, when Rochelle’s mate committed suicide, she more or less demanded that I made arrangements immediately. To me, it felt like a threat to my grandson, so I met with Josh and Markus and asked them to contact you, Liam. I know I look like a schlep for allowing her to send him away, but if something happens to me, I would hate to see what would become of him. I would really like to remain in his life, and come visit, if that would be alright.” He said. I told him that we wanted that to happen. “We want you to be a part of his life, Malcom. However, there will be conditions that will need to be agreed on. Are you OK with that?” I asked. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess it will depend on the conditions. What are they?”
Last Day With Grandpa
*MALCOM POV*
Conditions? What conditions would there need to be to see my grandson? My flesh and blood. I asked Liam to go further in detail, and he did.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.