The Werewolf's Mate (2 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“I will personally make it
known to Drake that he needs to see you and we will make sure he has no duties
to interfere with your time.”

“Thank you.”

“Did Elderman Amias know of
this?”

“No, sir. Pappy never knew
why I left until after I had Olivia, but I still wouldn’t tell him where we
were or name her sire.”

“Olivia?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “I named
her after the only woman outside my clan who didn’t treat me as a vile
pestilence. I named her after Olivia Roven, the greatest woman I knew who took
me under her wing and helped me believe in myself. Drake’s great-great-grandmother,
rest her soul.”

“So that’s where you’d scoot
off to every Saturday?” Pappy asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Is Olivia here? Can we meet
her?” Gwil asked.

“Certainly, but I have to
warn you, she’s a bit spirited for an eight-year-old.” Kalana smiled as they
called for Livi to be brought in and turned, taking her hand when Olivia came
to her side. “Olivia, these are the Elder Council, you remember me speaking of
them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Olivia said
then smiled. “Hi, Pappy!” She waved her hand.

“She looks just like him,”
Evan stated.

“Like who?” Olivia asked.

“Your father,” Kalana
answered with eyes on her daughter, meeting her gaze when she lifted those
beautiful amber eyes that were so much like Drake’s.

“You mean they know him; they
know my father?”

“Yes, they are his family.”

“Then where is he?”

“He’s not in chambers.”

“Why? He’s a great Lyken
warrior, isn’t he? Why isn’t he here?” Olivia asked as she glared at the
council. “I want to see my father. Please.”

Evan chuckled. “Yep, just
like him.”

“Your great Lyken warrior of
a father is taking care of pack business at the moment, but no worries, little
one, you’ll be meeting him shortly,” Gwil stated.

The corner of Kalana’s mouth
tipped up, at least they were smiling. But she knew that if she didn’t have a
heart-to-heart with Drake, they would make good on their promise of punishment.

“Now back to the first
issue,” Elderman Gavril of the Vampire Beven Clan said.

Kalana glanced up. “Yes, sir.
Livi, please go back outside and sit on the bench. I’ll be right out, okay?”

“Okay, Mamma. Bye, Pappy.”
She waved happily as she followed Yulin.

Kalana’s gaze didn’t waiver
from her daughter until the chamber door closed. Turning, she faced the council
again and knew this was not going to be a short meeting as they questioned her
about every possible thing she heard. Kalana was glad she’d had the foresight
to write everything down when she arrived back home so she could give them an
accurate account of information she’d taken in over the last three months.

“Did anyone ever insinuate
that they knew where you were from?” Elderwoman Noela of the Elfin Clan asked.

“No, ma’am. I had moved
around so much they just assumed I was an ousted Fairy because of my human
father, and I used his mother’s maiden name as an alias for both Olivia and
myself. But there is one thing I do need the Rovens to do.” Her hands came
together as she met their curious looks. “Phillip and Isla cannot know it’s me.
I’m sure Phillip was in the bar before they sent him in. If he sees me, he may
recognize me.”

“Understandable. Don’t worry,
Kalana, those two will be dealt with silently in case we have others in town,”
Evan stated.

Kalana stood there as they
ended the meeting four hours after it had started. Her shoulders sagged with
relief a bit until Gwil spoke her name, walking toward her with Evan at his
side. Kalana took a step back before stopping herself.

“Are you that afraid of us?”
Gwil asked.

Her face heated. “I, well I
suppose I could lie and say it’s habit.” She chuckled nervously. “But I can’t.
I know I wronged Drake and your clan by keeping the truth from you, but I…”

“Speak with Drake and
whatever he decides the clan will abide by.”

Kalana turned when she felt a
hand on her shoulder. “I’ll take Livi home and get her something to eat and
into bed,” Pappy said with a smile. “You stay here and take care of business.”

“Okay, Pappy.” Kalana turned
and met Gwil’s gaze and the gentle smile he wore. “I-I don’t know what else to
say, except I really have no excuse for what I did. I guess after the fright of
truth wore off, I pushed it to the back of my mind with the intention of
dealing with it later and before I knew it eight years had gone by.”

“Did Drake treat you that
badly?” Evan asked. “Although I’m a few years older than Drake and he of you, I
heard of the way others treated—and if I dare say—tormented you. But I didn’t
think Drake was in that crowd.”

“He-he wasn’t, at least not
until the night we, um, well, you know,” she whispered as heat ran down her
neck. “I never thought of it until after, when Livi was about four. The whole ‘after’
incident kept playing over and over in my mind. I think it was a setup on both
of us, but I’ll have to speak with him to clarify that.”

“You have to know, Drake
would never do anything to intentionally hurt you, Kalana. This I know for
fact.”

Her head tilted as she met
Evan’s gaze. He knew something, and like the loyal brother and Alpha he was, he
wouldn’t speak of it without his brother’s permission. Nodding her head, she
listened to their promises to have Drake at her door tomorrow as she left the
council chambers. It felt as if a great burden lifted off her shoulders. It’s
as Pappy always said,
‘The truth will lighten your feet, while to lie will
make your steps heavy.’
Now all she had to do was tell Drake.

Chapter 2

The scowl lining Drake’s lips
darkened as he opened the door to the Fairlawns’ store. His great-grandfather
had all but ordered him to come today to finish his talk with Kalana. Why the
old man was getting involved with his life eluded him, unless it had something
to do with her going before the council. He knew there was a town-wide meeting
called for tomorrow to discuss an extreme threat, but other than that
everything was being kept under wraps. Even Evan refused to open his mouth and
tell him what was going on, something very unlike his brother.

“Amias.” He nodded as the old
Fairy met his gaze with a smile. “Gwil told me I needed to discuss something
with Kalana. Is she here?”

“She’s out back breaking up
boxes, but before you go find her, I have someone who has a few choice words
for you.”

Drake snorted, arms crossing
over his chest. “Besides your granddaughter?”

“Oh, yes.” The smile turning
to a grin as he turned his head. “Sprite, the man you’ve been waiting for is
here.”

“I’m on it, Pappy!”

Drake swung his gaze to Amias
at the sound of a little girl’s voice. He turned when he heard a child’s
footsteps running from the back room toward them. A small girl child with black
hair and amber eyes stared at him meanly.

“So you’re the one who took
my steak and made me eat a grilled cheese sandwich, huh?”

Drake’s brow lifted as she
crossed her arms over her chest. Uncrossing his, he just stared at her, she
seemed so…his nostrils flared as he caught Kalana’s unique scent running
through the child as well as…

“I didn’t appreciate that,
you know. I need my red meat too. I’m half-Lyken and my father is the greatest
Lyken warrior there is, so you better not steal my meat again or when I meet
him, I’m going to tell him all about you.”

“Greatest…” He’d heard those
words before; Kalana had said them to him on the night they’d made love. Fear
clenched his stomach as he looked at the wee bit of attitude in front of him;
she had all the characteristics of
¼
whipping his gaze to
Amias he saw truth in the old man’s eyes. “Is she…”

“Yes,” Amias replied.

“She’s out back?” Drake
asked, not waiting for an answer as he stormed past the little girl to the back
of the store.

“Hey, where’s he going? I’m
not done with him yet!” Olivia yelled as she took off after Drake.

“Kalana!” He flung the back
door open, watching it bounce off the wall as she turned, startled. Kalana’s
gaze went to the little ball of fury running up behind him.

“I’m warning you, mister, you
better watch it!” Olivia yelled as she ran in front of her mother. “If you think
you’re going to hurt my mamma, you better think again. I’m no weakling!”

“Livi, stop,” Kalana said as
she put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

Drake stood there, his gaze
on the child, his brow lifting as her eyes glowed giving the amber color a
transparent look to them.

“Olivia, you need to stop.
Control, now!” Kalana ordered.

Drake stepped forward as
Kalana moved to kneel in front of her daughter calming her down. “Olivia?” he
whispered.

“Yes,” Kalana said as she
turned, meeting his gaze. “Named after your grandmother.”

“She’s my…” His hand lifted
motioning to Olivia. “I mean am I
¼
”

“Yes, Drake, Olivia’s your
daughter.” Kalana’s voice dropped to a low whisper as she rose, taking Olivia’s
hand within her own. “Livi, I know there are a lot of things you want to talk
about with your father, but I need for you to go with Pappy right now so your
father and I can talk, alright?”

“Okay, Mamma.”

Drake kept his gaze on the
woman in front of him as the child walked by and the door shut. “Explain,” he
demanded through clenched teeth, the shock wearing thin and anger erupting.

“The night that we…”

“Mated,” he growled.

Kalana winced. “Yes…you can’t
blame me for leaving after.”

“The hell I can’t!”

“You-you were in on it with
the rest of them; you helped set me up! I thought you were different, but you
weren’t! The minute, the minute you were done, you rolled off with a smile and
then the whole gang came in, didn’t they? They came in and you rolled up and
away from me as they heckled and tormented me and what did you do? You did nothing!”

“You ran before I could!”

“Did you expect me to lay
there after what I thought was the most wonderful night I’d ever had and be
attacked by your friends?”

“Marissa set that up, not me!
I had no idea they’d show up! And I did stop them; I punched John and Kendal in
the face and shifted to take on Kad and I kicked his ass for setting
us
up!” Stepping back, he turned, running his hand through the top of his hair.
Breathing deeply to calm himself down, he heard her low sobs and it tore his insides
up. “I didn’t know, Kalana, not until they showed up. I never would have done
that to you. I was smiling because I enjoyed loving you as much as you did me.
I spent three years trying to find you after you left. I hounded Amias’
doorstep daily, but he told me he didn’t know where you’d gone either.”

“He didn’t,” she said, her
voice barely audible. “I’d never tell him where I was, only that I was alright.
And I didn’t contact him until after Olivia was born.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was scared. I thought you
had set the whole thing up, and you never tried to contact me the week after.
When I found out I was pregnant, I ran, I ran away from you and from Alston. I
thought everyone would judge not only me, but my baby. I was so scared they’d
treat my baby the same way everyone had always treated me.”

“There’s no doubt about her
being mine?”

“No doubts.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t…”

“You’re the only one.”

Drake turned to meet her
watery gaze. “You’ve never been with anyone else?”

“No.”

“What if you’d had to heal?”

“I’ve never been injured
badly enough and if I needed some energies, there were
Other Kin
clinics
and healers I found in every city. You know she’s yours; you can scent your
blood running through her veins.”

Drake sighed, his arms
crossing over his chest. He knew all right and he had scented his blood within
the child the moment she stood in front of him, daring to take him on. Now,
what to do with her mother? His nostrils flared as he took in Kalana’s scent,
the act giving him an instant hard-on. Damn, the woman could still make his
body react to her with but a whiff. Her eyes lowered with submission when the
growl emitted from his throat. Well, at least she understood who was in charge.
“She’s my daughter, I want her with me.”

“Please don’t take her from
me.”

“She needs to learn our
ways.”

“I agree, but please, please,
Drake, don’t take her from me.”

“I have every right.”

“I know.”