Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) (22 page)

His parents swore they didn’t know what the Council or Sophia’s family was doing. They didn’t even know my parents were helping him financially. Once their conversation started to lull, Ryan asked if I would join them. I looked nervously at Sam, but she nodded her head in agreement that I should go make nice with my future in-laws. She whispered that she would patrol the house with Devan to give us some privacy.

I settled comfortably into Ryan’s side and looked down at my hands, not knowing what I should do or say.

“Leigh, I would like you to officially meet my parents, Melanie and Ronald. Mom, Dad, this is my mate, Leigh Ann Alexander.”

I smiled at them, and they said hello to me.

“How do you feel about this?” Ryan asked me, referring to the idea of his parents joining us to go live with the Sullivan pack.

“As I’ve said, I feel they’re being honest about things, but I won’t have them or anyone treating our baby like an outcast. I’ve lived that way nearly all my life, and it wasn’t pleasant. If they and everyone else that wants to come can’t accept us, they’ll have to find somewhere else to go because it won’t just be us, and I don’t think Mr. Sullivan will take too kindly to people saying anything derogatory to a shifter baby whose mother is a human.”

“We would never,” his mother said, sounding honestly shocked that I would dare suggest she would do that. I hadn’t meant to offend her, but after all the years of hearing the things people had said behind my back, I wasn’t taking the chance my child would have to suffer the same thing.

She looked to Ryan for help, but he offered none. “Don’t look at me. The two of you have said some horrible things about Leigh, the Alexanders, and humans for years. I’ve tried to dissuade you from that line of thinking, but you wanted so much to be a part of the elite of Pine Hollow, you wouldn’t listen, and at times, I thought you actually believed what you said, so I’m not inclined to say what you would or wouldn’t say about or to my child.”

Melanie started to cry then. I felt Ryan flinch and start to get up to go to her, but his father shook his head at Ryan and pulled her to him. “We are sorry. I know we haven’t been model parents. Before you came along, the pack all but shunned us since we hadn’t contributed to the population. The business is all we had that is worth anything to them. Even that barely kept us in the pack. If it weren’t for my family going back so many generations, they would have kicked us out long before you were born. Your mother’s family has always had problems conceiving and carrying children. They left the pack as soon as we were married, not that the Council even noticed. They make a fuss over prominent families, but your grandparents’ deflection barely crossed their radar. Your friendship with Dave changed much of that for us, and we were trying to hold on to that prestige.”

“Does Mr. Sullivan’s pack treat people that way,” I asked Ryan.

“No,” Devan said, coming into the room. “We have a few who prefer to mate with their own kind, and some unkind things were said about Abby, but only because my brother was in line to be alpha. Some of our people weren’t keen on the possibility of a child of a human, one day, being their alpha. Dimitri has never wanted the title and has publically announced that if it should come down to it our nephew Dylan will take the reins. Most people have grown to love and accept Abby now though, so I think if the time ever came, he and his children will be welcome. Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Dad and the Alexanders are on their way back. They should be here in twenty minutes,” he said, then left the room.

Chapter 24 ~ The Decree

~~Ryan~~

Our conversation with my parents ended shortly after Devan’s departure with Mom asking Leigh and Sam if they would help her with dinner. I suggested that we order in since we had so many people to feed, but my mother was too old-fashioned and too southern for that. I was also sure she was trying to get into the Alexanders’ good graces, which I thought was ridiculous because the Alexanders weren’t completely in Leigh’s and mine good graces. Leigh had forgiven her family, but she was still unsure of everything, and they could tell. I overheard Danielle telling her mother that they had to give us time…that Leigh couldn’t forgive years of neglect overnight.

Leigh might not ever truly trust them, and I would support her in any decision she made in regards to her parents, but I gave her my honest opinion about it all. I thought she should give them a chance, learn to love them again, but if she found she couldn’t, then she couldn’t, and we would deal. I thought she would though. Leigh wanted to let go of the past. She wanted parents who love her and whom she could love. She wanted grandparents for our child; therefore, she would try to let things go and live in the now.

The Alexanders arrived a short time later with more bad news. Before they could get into things though, we all had to endure the awkward moment of Leigh reuniting with her younger siblings. They were apologetic, but they, out of everyone in her immediate family, had treated her the worst. They had repeated the horrible things said about Leigh in Pine Hollow to her face. They hadn’t known her and had seemed easily swayed to agree with others’ opinions.

Leigh had hugged them, smiled at them, and accepted their apologies. She and I answered all the questions they had and deferred to others when she wasn’t sure of the answer. Her parents hadn’t told them much more than she was adopted, so we had to go through some of that story again. Her youngest sister thought our situation was so romantic and fated and couldn’t see the danger we were in now that the Council had agreed to let us go. And of everyone, I think she was the most excited about the move to the Sullivan pack.

After that, Mr. Alexander told everyone about the Council’s decree that no one else after the Harts had left were allowed to leave Pine Hollow. While Leigh’s parents were packing, Dave and Danielle had gone home to get their things and shut down work on their home. They had gone to his parents to settle things with the house and contractors, and word had gotten back to the Council. Even though the Carmichaels hadn’t initially shown any signs of coming with us, the Council had panicked and made the decree.

“So no one else can leave Pine Hollow?” I asked. I couldn’t think of very many who would want to leave, but I knew of a few people who hadn’t been happy with the Council for a long while and who were pro-human that might want to now that they’d seen others leave and once they were told they couldn’t. I hoped these people didn’t cause problems for the Council because the Council would take it out on us if they did.

“Nope,” Dave said. “Mom and Dad were ambivalent to it all until the announcement came out that the entire town was on lock down until further notice and that no one else was allowed to defect from the pack for ten years. They were shocked and angered by it, especially after we informed them that we wouldn’t be coming back. They tried to blame Leigh at first. They still aren’t on your side and probably won’t ever be. They are too stubborn and traditional. But Danielle told them that they could think whatever they wanted about Leigh, but they had to keep it to themselves while in her presence or they would never see their grandkids. That shut Mom up right away and made her determined to come with us. The Council refused to see her. They may have let me go, but they won’t let my family line and money go.”

“We can’t leave them there,” Leigh said, surprising everyone. “What? They aren’t my favorite people, but no one should be able to force anyone to stay somewhere they don’t want to be.”

“Do you trust them enough to allow them to come with us?” I asked, letting my tone of voice show that I didn’t.

“Not really. And I don’t think Mr. Sullivan should trust them. No offense, Dave, but if they hate me, they’re going to hate Abby,” Leigh said.

“Maybe that’s the key to changing their mind,” Danielle spoke up.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Maybe if more of our kind see Leigh and Abby interacting in our world, showing our people that they aren’t much different than us, we can change public opinion. The movement to show ourselves to the world is making great strides in that direction. Leigh and Abby might be able to help.”

Leigh grew tense beside me, and I said what I hoped she was thinking. “I don’t know. Abby just had a baby. Leigh is pregnant. I don’t think we can risk their safety…their lives. I don’t want my kid paraded around the human or supernatural world.”

“I understand that, but…”

“No buts. It isn’t going to happen. Besides, I have a feeling that showing the world that we can mate with humans might hurt the cause more than help. Our people will see it as us losing ourselves to the humans, diluting our blood lines, and the humans might see us as trying to take over their world.”

Before Danielle could protest, I continued. “But that isn’t to say that we couldn’t try it out with Dave’s family. Someone will have to watch them, but, at the same time, they need to come into contact with Leigh and Abby in the hopes of swaying them to our side. If they can’t grow to accept them, then they’ll have to leave. They could bring more harm than help if they can’t side with us.”

“Agreed,” said Dave, “But none of us have asked Daniel if he’s okay with us bringing so many people into his pack.” All heads turned to the pack leader who was quietly watching the exchange.

“I can’t take in the entire Pine Hollow pack. I don’t have the space or the inclination to run a large pack. But we will help those we can for as long as we can. That being said, be very careful of whom you ask me to let into my home. If one person causes trouble, disrespects my son and daughter-in-law, or refuses to obey my orders than you will all have to go. I will not tolerate dissent in my pack. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Dave said. “We’ll wait until we are away from here and settled before we discuss getting my parents out of Pine Hollow.”

“I think that’s best,” Daniel said.

After dinner, Daniel left, taking Sam and a few pack members with him. He left Devan and two others to help us keep watch around the house. With so many people and things, our group would have to drive the two hours to the Sullivan pack the next day, so Daniel decided to go home and see how the arrangements for our arrival were going.

His pack had bought an old campground that sat nestled against his pack’s territory to restore and to someday give shifter and possibly were kids a place to vacation. They also thought that once the supernatural world came out they might be able to use the camp as a way of introducing supernatural kids and human kids to each other.

Most of the cabins were nearly complete, he had told me before leaving, and they would have enough for our group at its current numbers until we knew for sure we were all going to be permanent members of the pack or not, but the main house and dining hall was not. That wouldn’t matter right then, but if more families came, as Daniel feared, it would.

I sort of felt sorry for the man. He seemed worried about all of this. He wanted to help us, but he didn’t want a war and was afraid that was what was coming. I feared that as well. Martin was crazy and the other Council members were determined to keep control of the pack, making them dangerous and unpredictable.

That night, I had wanted to make love to Leigh to reassure her and myself that everything was okay, that we were okay, but we were both too weirded out that our parents were under our roof to do anything. We talked late into the night though. She asked all kinds of questions about shifters and shifter pregnancies. I reassured her over and over again that human and shifter pregnancies were the same. The baby would come out looking like a human and would look human until she was able to shift, which wouldn’t be until puberty.

Eventually, we slept, only to wake too early the next day to hit the road. We made good timing, but Leigh was a bit disappointed when we arrived to find that no one was waiting for us other than the same pack members that were with Daniel at the house the day before and the alpha himself.

They showed us to the cabins, and Daniel gave Dave a map of the territory and told him to bring us to the main building for lunch in an hour. Before he left, he ordered his pack members to help us in any way possible and to be sure to keep a close eye on us. I knew Daniel didn’t distrust us, but he wasn’t taking any precautions with us so close to his family, especially his newest granddaughter.

The cabins were nice, but this couldn’t be a permanent home for us. For one thing, our parents took up residence on either side of us, and my mother was being particularly annoying. She wouldn’t let Leigh carry even the lightest of suitcases. She wouldn’t let her stand or walk more than five minutes at a time without insisting she rest. Leigh was grinning and bearing it for the most part, but I wasn’t. When Mom’s pampering got to be too much, I snapped at her and made her leave, not that she would stay gone for long. I knew her better than that. She always popped back over with something else she wanted to tell us, or give us, or ask us. Most things had to do with the baby and the wedding she was pushing us to have.

Leigh’s mom was a little more standoffish. She feared that if she crowded Leigh too much, Leigh would go back to hating her. The thing was I could see the hurt in Leigh’s eyes when her mom didn’t voice her opinion or left after only a few minutes. Things wouldn’t even out until we were sure everything was over. If they didn’t, I would force the two women together.

We were all a little nervous when we drove to the main house for lunch that first day. We were so used to encountering pack members who disdained Leigh that, despite knowing that this pack didn’t feel the same way, we braced ourselves for it.

When we entered the building, Katelyn, Daniel’s wife, Daniel, Dimitri, Abby, and baby Kayla greeted us. Dimitri held his wife and daughter close to him, the same way I did Leigh, and he nodded and smiled at me in a way that told me he knew how I felt. Katelyn and Abby both hugged Leigh, making me automatically love the women. They welcomed her without hesitation, without reservations, without any regret, and Leigh nearly cried on the spot. No one in our world aside from me and her sister had been that accepting and loving of her so quickly.

Leigh and I sat next to Dimitri and his wife in the dining hall. Daniel’s pack as a whole accepted our group amiably, and they listened quietly to our situation. Most knew a bit about what was going on and readily agreed to help us.

After we ate, a group of us gathered to discuss how to get Dave’s parents away from Pine Hollow while another worked on a work schedule for the campground. Dave refused to allow us to stay here without contributing to the pack in some way. Luckily, he figured out what we could to do to earn our keep rather quickly. Since we were staying at the camp, we would do all we could to help remodel it and get it ready for next summer if we weren’t still here.

Abby insisted that Leigh help her with a few editing projects, and in turn, she would help Leigh with her novel. Leigh had been writing about her experience with the pack. No one but I had known about the novel, but when Leigh heard Abby talking about her job, she immediately brought up the book.

“I’ll have to fictionalize it, of course, unless the supernatural world comes out before I finish it, and then it can be creative non-fiction. Since I haven’t been able to do much these last few months, I figured the one thing I could do in my spare time is write,” she told me by way of begging me to leave her alone with Abby while I followed Dave. Abby thought it was a great idea and that it might go a long way in helping both the supernatural world and the human one see each other for who they really were.

I didn’t have a problem with her being so far away from the edge of the territory in the days to come while we worked and planned, but I didn’t like not being with her at all times.

“Don’t worry,” Dimitri told me, though we both knew I would do little else. “Our people won’t let anything happen to her.”

I wanted to remind him that the wolves had kidnapped Abby on pack territory, and if it hadn’t been for her niece, no one would have known. That wouldn’t have been fair of me, though, so I bit my tongue.

That first afternoon while Devan and Dimitri showed us around the camp, Leigh spent hours going over her novel with Abby. When Dimitri dropped her off at our cabin that night, she was the happiest I’d seen her in a long time, and to keep that smile on her face, I swept her up into my arms the second Dimitri left, carried her to the queen size bed Daniel had replaced a row of single bunks with, and began to slowly disrobe her.

“I’m so glad we are alone,” she said with a sigh when I peeled her bra from her body and began suckling one nipple.

“So am I. I feel as if it has been years since the last time I was inside you. I hope I’m able to last long enough for it to be enjoyable for you.”

“If you don’t, there is always round two.”

“Very true.” As I kissed my way down to the waistband of her jeans, I asked, “Do you put all of this in your book?” The flush of her cheeks told me that she understood that I was talking about our sex life.