Reckless Regrets
Chapter 30

Morgan

The two weeks that I’d provided Kade had dwindled to one. In one more week, I’d return to the packhouse for my appointment with Dr. Bennett, and I’d either leave with grainy pictures of a lima bean-shaped baby or pain meds and a broken heart.

I knew what I wanted in my mind, but lately, it had been harder and harder to get my heart and mind to agree. So, I threw myself headfirst into my bakery. Xander decided that after my 90-day leave from the pack was over, he’d set up the small business loan for me to open my place.

There was a small storefront right next to Fleur de Lune that was perfect. And being next to such a successful restaurant guaranteed me some of the best foot traffic in the city. So, I baked. I spent all day and night when I wasn’t sleeping, peeing, or eating, trying out new recipes and making Mitchell test them.

Thank goodness he had a professionally trained tongue and provided real and useful suggestions to make the treats really stand out. He was a godsend.

“Have you ever thought of becoming a full bear? It’s who we are after all,” I asked him.

“I’ve thought about it but decided that it wasn’t for me. We may from a bear family line, but that doesn’t mean it’s who we are. Don’t get me wrong; I’m so thankful that I have that b***d in me. Otherwise, that i***t Drew would have killed me for sure in the accident, but I’m content to be the way I am.”

“I get it. I was happy the way I was too. I think I wanted to change for acceptance.”

Mitchell dropped his spatula and turned to me angry.

“Acceptance? Who didn’t accept you? f**k them! No, f**k that, let’s go; we’re going back there-”

I just stared at him in shock. He couldn’t be serious about barging in on a wolf pack to get the guys who were “mean” to his little sister.

“We’re not going anywhere. Everyone there was amazing; I was worried they would treat me differently because I was human or a bear, but they never did. I was talking about my own acceptance. I feel like I let Kade down. I was happy just to be me, but if I’d been a bear, he absolutely would have been marked. It’s just hard to get over. I keep going back to this in part being my fault.”

“Then you’re an idiot.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You’re an i***t; you heard me. How can you take fault in something you knew nothing about? Your mate loved and accepted you. So did your pack. Nothing in your life was lacking, so why would you need to make such a huge change? Now, if you had some knowledge that this was coming and thought, ‘Nah, I’ll stay a human; everything will be fine.’ then you can say that in part you’re at fault and can take some of the guilt.

Otherwise, build a bridge and get the f**k over it. It’s done, you couldn’t change it, and you just need to figure out how to deal with it.”

He picked up the spatula and went back to folding the meringue into the cake batter.

“I don’t like you right now. You know that, don’t you?”

“You moved into my apartment full of hormones and attitude. You took over my bed, my bathroom, my god damned shower head, and my kitchen. My sanctuary! Trust me; I don’t like you too much either. But I’ll always love you.”

We worked in comfortable silence while I thought over what he’d said. Original Morgan was enough for Kade. He worshiped me, head to toe, as a human without a second thought. That was all that mattered. I made him happy, and he made me happy, this wasn’t my fault, and it was an old mistake on his part that came back to haunt him.

I was over punishing us for it. Well, someone else was punishing Kade. But as for me, I was going to live. I was going to deal with this with my friends who’d become my family. And whatever happened in a week, I wasn’t going to run from it.

“You can have your bed back, Mitch, and your workspace. I’m going home. I’m ready.”

***

I didn’t give myself time to think or change my mind. I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, then went and packed my bag.

“Do you want me to drive you? I don’t mind,” Mitchell said from the door.

“No, it’s fine. Tyson and Taylor are already on their way. She’s been waiting on this call since I left.”

He looked at his watch and frowned.

“Go. I know you have a date, and I won’t be the reason you’re late. You can see Taylor another time. I know you’ve still got a crush on her,” I joked.

“Are you crazy?! Don’t ever say that out loud again. As far as anyone knows, I only saw her as my little sisters’ best friend and nothing more. I don’t want Tyson snapping me in half because he thinks I’m after his wife.”

“Sure, if that’s the story you want to go with.”

He rolled his eyes then went to take a shower while I finished collecting my things. About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and I was surprised to see Taylor on the other side when I checked the peephole.

“Did you fly here? It’s only been thirty minutes since I called,” I said while wrapping her in a hug.

“We were at the office; I made Tyson reschedule a conference call, so he’s a little pissy,” she replied with a smirk.

She looked over my shoulder and whistled. When I turned to see what she was looking at, Mitchell was in the hallway in just a towel looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Hey Mitch, you look good. I don’t remember you having that body when we were growing up,” she teased.

His face turned red, and his mouth flapped like he wanted to say something, but his brain and tongue weren’t cooperating. Just then, Tyson walked up behind his wife and quickly surveyed the scene. He placed a massive hand over Taylor’s eyes, making her giggle, then growled in Mitchell’s direction.

“Stop standing there like an a*s and put some damn clothes on. What the f**k?!”

Taylor pulled his hand from her face and smiled. “I’ll probably go into heat in the next few days: it makes him and Matt crazy overprotective. Makes the s*x even more incredible though,” she told me with a wink.

“Heat? Really?” Mitchell asked.

“Clothes! Now!!” Tyson boomed.

Mitch rushed into the bedroom and shut the door.

“Was that necessary? It was me who was teasing him,” Tay asked.

“You’re a married woman, and he’s not one of your husbands. It was necessary. Where is your s**t, Mo?” he asked.

“See…pissy.”

Tay reached up, grabbed his face, and pulled him down, giving him a gentle k**s.

“Is that better, Cuddle Bear?”

“Much better.”

“How long does the ‘honeymoon phase’ last? This is insane,” I said as I turned away from the happy couple and grabbed the strap to my suitcase.

“I’ve got it, Mo,” Tyson swooped by me and said.

Right. One of the benefits of being knocked up, I didn’t have to lift anything. Tyson quickly grabbed everything and carried it down to the car before Mitchell came out of the room, fully dressed, but still a bit embarrassed. Just how Taylor liked him.

“This is nice too, but the abs and pecs were a better look, in my opinion.”

“Don’t you have enough abs and pecs to ogle between your two huge husbands? Stop f*****g with me, Tay,” he replied.

“It’s the heat. I can’t help myself. It’s nature,” she smiled.

She walked over and hugged him just as Tyson walked back in, making poor Mitch freeze midair like a statue.

“Uhh, it’s just a friendly hug. Nothing crazy, I promise,” my brother said.

“She can hug whoever she wants as long as he isn’t naked. Just remember that.”

With the awkward moment passed, we said our goodbyes, and I made Mitch promise to come to visit me at the packhouse soon. Once on the road, I settled in and prepared myself for all the drama that awaited me.

“So, what’s new at the house? It’s always something, I swear,” I said.

Taylor turned in her seat and gave a nervous smile.

“Well, there is one thing. It’s pretty big, but I’m not sure what it means. And the men refuse to tell me,” she said as she cut her eyes at Tyson.

“Okay, what is it?” I asked.

“Well…Cameron in there. He’s staying in the village with his caretaker for thirty days; asylum from Canyon Woods,” she said.

“Kade’s son is at the house? For thirty days?”

“He’s not at the house, Mo; they have their own place in the village. But he is there often playing with the boys,” Tyson chimed in.

“Asylum? Why would a four-year-old need asylum? Is he in danger?” I asked.

“He’s under Xander’s and all of Blue Moon’s protection; he’s never been safer,” he replied.

“Don’t feed me ‘the line’ Tyson. Is he in danger from someone in his pack?”

“I can’t say.”

Taylor looked at me and rolled her eyes, hard. Clearly, this was the same s**t she’d been dealing with, probably from both him and Matt.

“Whatever. How is he?” I asked Taylor.

“Honestly? He’s the sweetest little boy and so smart. I’ll miss him when he goes back: he’s precious.”

“Do you think I could meet him? Would that be weird? I just want to see what a child Kade made is like, let’s call it research.”

“Mo, I don’t know if that’s smart,” Tyson said.

“Why not? He’s basically my stepson, so why can’t I meet him?”

“How about this, why don’t you keep the ‘stepson’ and the fact that you’re his father’s mate quiet; we don’t want to confuse him. How is that?” Tay asked.

“Let’s ask Xander, baby. A lot is going on here, a lot of moving parts beneath the surface that you don’t know about. Let’s just make sure it won’t cause problems.”

“Or you can just tell us what’s so top secret; how about that?” I asked.

“If my wife couldn’t convince me to tell you, what makes you think that weak a*s attempt would?”

“I completely emptied my freaky bag of tricks; on both of them! And all I got was breakfast in bed and new boots. Love the boots, though,” Taylor said.

“And I love you in the boots, and nothing else,” Tyson replied.

“Ugh! Headphones going in, I can’t deal with you two right now!”

***

We made it back to the house with me only overhearing their wild s*x s**t a couple of times, thankfully. I was all for having honey licked off my a*s, but the only tongue I’d ever allowed to do that was in another state, so forgive me if I didn’t want to hear about other people enjoying the sticky sweet treat.

Tyson grabbed my bags and hauled them up to my old room while Taylor and I went to replace Alaia and Aires in the living room. When she saw me, Aires rushed over and gave me a crushing hug.

“I can’t believe it! Alaia said she had a surprise for me, but I didn’t expect that it would be you! How are you, mi amor?”

“I’m good, but I missed you and our Spanish lessons.”

“We’ll pick up as soon as you’re ready. I’ll have you fluent in no time. How is the baby?”

“As far as I know, it’s perfect. We’ll see in a week when I have my appointment.”

She gave me a sad smile but didn’t push the issue. Alaia then came over and hugged me before pulling me to the couch to sit. As soon as my butt hit the cushions and I sank into the familiar scent, a tear ran down my cheek.

“Honey, what’s wrong? Did we upset you?” Alaia asked.

I shook my head and smiled.

“No. I just missed you three so much. You have no idea how much you ladies mean to me.”

“We feel the same way. I almost murdered your Wolfie for making you feel like you needed to leave,” Aires replied.

I just laughed, knowing her, she was 100% serious, and if she didn’t love him as much as she did, at the very least, she would have blacked his eye and cracked a few ribs.

Before I could respond to her, I heard a shrill yell, then a small curly blonde ball of cuteness rushed into the room and jumped in Taylor’s lap.

“Ms. Taylor! I gave the babies their bottles, and they held them up and everything. It was so cool!”

I just looked at him, he was so comfortable here, and it seemed like the little guy had acclimated to the pack perfectly in his short stay.

“Well, they really like you, so I’m sure they were just trying to show off,” Tay replied as she tickled his ribs.

He giggled and squirmed and tried to get away. When his eyes landed on me, he smiled and waved.

“Hi! I don’t know you, but you’re pretty. All the girls here are pretty; are you married?”

He c****d his little head to the side and waited attentively for my answer.

“No, I’m not married. My name is Morgan,” I replied.

“Hi, Ms. Morgan. I’m visiting from Oregon; do you know where that is?”

“Yes, I do, it’s not too far from here.”

“Yeah, my dad is there. But he’s from here, do you-”

He stopped what he was saying and looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time.

“He has a picture of you,” he finally said.

I swallowed hard and took a breath. We hadn’t cleared this with Xander yet, and I wasn’t sure how to continue this conversation with him.

“A picture of me? Are you sure?”

“Yep! I’m positive. My dad says that all of his pictures are important to him, and he showed me his favorite; it’s of you, and it’s right here,” he said, pointing to his tiny rib cage.

I remembered when he got that tattoo, and it was perfect. It looked like a high definition picture; it was so detailed. So, if Cameron saw it, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize me.

“How come?” he asked.

“How come what?”

“How come you’re his favorite picture? Are you his favorite person?”

While I scrambled for an answer, he jumped up and kissed my cheek.

“You’re not married, my dad isn’t here, and you’re pretty. So, I call dibs,” he proudly announced.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief and laughed. Disaster averted.

“Alright, little man, you call dibs fair and square. I’m all yours.”