The Alpha & Beta's Regret
The Alpha & Beta’s Regret – Chapter 29

Jack POV

He cleared the area around the packhouse to be free of all wolves, didn’t need Luci feeling any more uncomfortable than she already was. Flare was pacing inside his mind, worried that all the wolves around her and the twins, might agitate her or Alari and he wanted nothing of the sort. Even his wolf wanted her to be calm and feel safe here in the pack.

They were the mother to his pup, and he wanted her comfortable, to be able to once again be happy, neither he nor Jack had liked seeing pain in her at just the sight of them. They had never seen that with her before, not with them anyway. It had hurt more than a bit, to know she had so much pain where they were concerned.

They had hurt her, and she’d not only run away, but had their child, raised and protected him as well. Not turned their boy against them and she likely could have, he knew from reading up on Sirens, they were all primal instincts, usually lived in small groups, in lakes or out in the oceans.

Stayed away from all, also knew they were well connected to each other, family groups fiercely loyal to each other. Likely why the boys had suddenly refused to have anything to do with them. They could feel their mother’s pain, stayed with her, to try and comfort her, had attached themselves to Addison quite quickly as well. She was their grandmother and love had poured off of her at seeing her daughter, also at seeing the boys.

Luci had no pain where her mother was concerned, though Jack was certain she had a lot of questions as did he, but he was not going to bombard her with them. That could wait until she was a bit more comfortable, with being back inside the pack and when she could look at him, he would not push her at all.

Rafe, on the other hand, had already tried to connect with his son, bloody Alpha genes, and his need to dominate and control everything had set not just his own son’s wolf off, but Alari as well.

Jack had watched on but not interfered at all. Alari had dealt with Rafe effectively and promptly, showed him just how much of a family bond she had to her children. Little Jack’s eyes had changed colour, his wolf, Spark on the surface, had watched everything and looked right at Jack himself. He’d smiled at his boy, it was not their fight.

He would not get involved unless he had to, watched as Spark receded and he found little Jack looking right at him. Goddess, he wanted to hug his boy, felt Flare push forward and look right at him. Damned near burst out laughing when little Jack poked his tongue out at him.

They were all going to be fine, though Jack had the feeling he was going to have to talk to Rafe, try and get him to step back and let the three of them do their own thing, not something an Alpha was going to want to do.

His own child in another part of the pack somewhere and not in his own suite. That was going to be a real sore point. But Rafe had to know that Luci was not going to be comfortable with being around Melissa or Maria, for that matter, that she was not going to want to be on the Alpha floor at all.

Jack was already trying to think of a place she might feel comfortable in. There were many rooms available inside the packhouse, plenty of suites on the first floor in fact. But Jack didn’t know if she would at all be comfortable inside the packhouse. If not? The question was where would she feel comfortable? Likely a house on her own, there were a few available, he might have to show her some and let her choose.

She was about to get a lot of looks from pack members, until everything settled down and he had the feeling Alari was likely to surface a lot if Luci got very uncomfortable. They had no connection to Alari, nor did the pack members, and although he was certain she would help to protect the pack.

That did not necessarily mean that she wasn’t going to take offense to being stared at, or hearing people talk in hushed tones, or openly, about the fact that Luci had run off pregnant with their twins and never told them.

It could well not be a pleasant few days, could be a rocky start, to the return to the pack, the twins could also react to this. That was of great concern to him. He didn’t want them getting upset and letting their Siren Wolves lose on the pack. It was unlikely he or Rafe would be able to contain them, only Alari, Kali and Luci would at this point.

He knew the four of them were following he and Rafe and that Petra was strolling along at a distance behind them. What she thought he was yet to replace out, knew she was unhappy about where the twins had grown up.

Alpha’s should not be raised out in the human world with bare minimum. He intended to go back to that dwelling later on to have a good look at it. Bring back all their belongings as well. They likely didn’t have much at all, what they did have, though, should be brought here. It would likely give them a feeling of comfort and he wanted that for both the boys as well as Luci herself.

At least Luci didn’t have the discomfort of having to come across his or Rafe’s Mates yet, she had never met them officially. But he was pretty certain she had seen them before, likely the day they’d walked them into the packhouse, Luci wouldn’t have been far away, would have been coming to them.

It had taken only an hour after they’d returned for her to be seen at the border and then she was gone from them. They’d not announced it officially for an hour, so she’d already been leaving them by then, had to have left within minutes of them arriving inside the packhouse.

He sighed internally, they had royally screwed this up, he’d always wanted to claim Luci, he should have pushed Rafe much harder, none of this would have happened if they had claimed her as he’d wanted to. He knew she would have said yes, was always happy and taunting them into mating her. Almost like she was their Mate.

Luci belonged here and they’d ruined everything and now the outcome of that was truly here, and there was so much pain still for Luci. He ran a hand over his face and felt Rafe’s hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ll fix it.’ Rafe’s voice came through the mind-link. He always knew or seemed to understand what Jack was thinking, especially if he was agitated or upset about something.

‘How?’ was all Jack could say back. He had no idea how they could repair the damage, they still had Mate’s. Though if Jack was one hundred percent honest with himself, he was way more interested in Luci than his own Mate Maria. Flare had no interest at all in his wolfen Mate, but now he was up and interested in Kali, even wanted to come face to face with Alari.

He had still not heard from Maria or his man Titan yet either. Something was definitely going on out in that pack, but what yet? He didn’t know.

‘Time will help.’ Rafe told him.

‘Your Mate?’ Jack had seen the way Melissa had wanted to gut Luci’s room after she had found out about Luci. Maria herself had never cared about it, he wasn’t her first and she’d not expected him to have waited for her. But Melissa hated that room, hated the fact that she still wasn’t allowed in it even all these years later. With nothing of Luci’s left in it. Was jealous of just the room itself.

When she got home and actually met Luci, saw how beautiful she was, found out about the twins, was going to go completely ballistic, he had a feeling Maria was also not going to be happy with him having a child with Luci.

The twins were going to be a real sore point for both women, more so Maria with the way she went on about having a pup. He was still waiting for Titan’s report on that as well, had his suspicions, and he was hoping right now to confirm his suspicion. Whereas a week ago he was hoping he was wrong, right this minute a part of him was actually hoping he was right.

Luci and the twins were changing everything for him. His very broken bond with Maria, may never be repaired and, prior to today, he had been trying to keep it intact, but right now he just didn’t know if it was worth it. He also had to consider Flare’s reaction to Luci, and he knew his wolf wanted to be with Kali and Luci, Alari even.

It was all a bit on the confusing side for him because they had a Mate, one that never cared for what he wanted or his needs either, denied him his true nature at every turn. As for Flare, he’d never been interested in his own Mate and she not him. But he was very interested in the mother of his pup.

Jack was actively denying Flare right this minute, he wanted to turn and look at her every few minutes, he never even raised his head when Maria walked into the room.

‘I don’t know how Melissa will react.’ Rafe admitted after a long silence, ‘She’ll probably be furious, we’ll just have to deal with them when they decide to come back, that is.’

It had been seven days now since they had both left the pack. ‘Has she called you at all?’

‘No, Maria?’

Jack snorted ‘Never once did, it was always me checking on her. I refused to call her this time.’

‘Why?’

‘I have my reasons.’ Jack muttered and he did, he was always the one to initiate everything, call her if she was not here, approach her for contact, even in their bedroom, and he was curious as to if she’d call him even once. Seems not, his own Mate did not miss him, and he knew it. Something was very wrong.

They stepped out of the woods into the central part of the pack, the packhouse in full view, ‘Orien looks pissed off.’ Jack sighed down that mind-link. He could see the man standing on the packhouse front steps, his hands were on his h**s and his expression denoted anger.

He would have seen wolves leaving the pack in a rush, known something was going on and with Addison off pack territory, where he would have likely felt her moving away from him at a great speed when she’d learned of Luci.

Their relationship was already extremely strained from what he could tell. If Orien wasn’t careful, he was not going to be met with a happy Mate, not with how he’d treated her, denied her rights and cuffed his own mate with silver. He was lucky she was still bonded to him at this point. Jack’s intuition told him it was on the cards, a rejection from Addison if her Mate couldn’t replace it in him to apologise and beg for forgiveness. Didn’t think the man had done that at all.

‘Yes, it does.’ Rafe sighed right back ‘It’s going to be worse when he sees the twins.’

‘I’ll put him in his place.’ Jack stated flatly, ‘He has no rights over Luci. Gave her to us, tried to de-rank her to a concubine. She also still belongs to us, I believe.’

‘He might not see it that way.’

Jack didn’t particularly care what Orien thought, he was not actually the girl’s father, and had tossed her aside and wiped his hands clean of her. Only Addison’s opinion mattered to him and Addison was happy to see her daughter, happy to see the twins as well, more than happy, loved them instantly.

That was all that mattered to Jack, he could and would kick Orien from the pack as easily as Rafe could. He might only be the Beta, but they ran it like they did everything else, together. If they had claimed Luci, he’d be considered an Alpha by right of Marking the Luna.

Watched him as they headed for the packhouse, saw him lay eyes on his Mate and then frown as his eyes moved to Luci and then, a moment later, have it dawn on him as he realised she was Luci. Yes, she was taller and fairer of hair, slimmer, but she still looked as beautiful as ever.

Heard him swear and knew he’d just registered the twins as his and Rafe’s. Stalked down the steps ‘He’s spoiling for a fight.’ Rafe warned Jack.

Jack could see it as well. ‘He’ll get one. Flare will deal with him.’ and he knew he wasn’t wrong. His wolf was up and tensed inside his mind, ready to rip out of him.