Michael assured Cal that it wasn’t going to be for long. He knew how it was all going to play out, and he knew that there was going to be strife and some pain before it was all over, but Michael was so sure that it was needed to make the pack stronger. It was going to give them the upper hand that they needed to get rid of their enemies, no matter how high the personal cost was going to be.
Cal wanted to ask more questions, but Michael assured him that this was the right thing to do. He’d seen it all, so he knew all. Cal was just going to have to trust him. He went to the elder because Cal had always trusted the man’s opinions. It was going to be one of those times that he was going to have to put his faith in him.
“Now go with haste, Cal. Some of the brothers here already know something is going on. She is starting to smell like one of them. Take her, mate with her, start the baby going that is so crucial to this all and then I want you to take her away from here. But the mating must go as it is planned. There can be no misstep from the ceremony. You know what you need to do. Make sure it is done right and everything will work itself out.”
Cal thanked him and left with a heavier heart than when he started. He wanted to think that everything was going to work out like the man said, but it was hard to see that happening now. The baby? It was all happening too fast and Cal was worried and wondered if she was even going to want him. He wasn’t going to force her; that wasn’t his way and it certainly wasn’t the way of his people. If he couldn’t get her to agree to it, none of that was going to matter because all would be lost according to Michael. How was Calum going to convince her that this was how it was supposed to be?
The one thought that really stuck with him was how little he’d really thought about the fact that she was turning into a vampire. Not once had he thought of ending her like he was taught to do. Cal had to wonder to himself if he would have been able to do it if it would have been suggested? He didn’t think he would have been able to and he was happy that it wasn’t a decision that he had to make. It would have been a devastating one.
Leaving his pack while there was danger afoot was not something that he wanted to think about either. He was terrified of what was going to happen.
Cal walked back to his house and found Ali asleep in his bed. It was early, but now that she was changing, her tiredness was easier to explain. It took a lot out of a human. He’d seen them change before, but it usually wasn’t that long to do so. Cal was under the impression that she must have not been truly bitten, only nicked. It didn’t matter where now. Neither him nor her had known about it, but maybe now she was starting to think that something was going on. She had to feel different.
“What the hell am I going to do with you now?”
He wasn’t asking anyone. Really, he was asking himself that question, the answer not quite clear now. He didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. He just knew that he was going to have to do something quick. The moon was going to be aligned that evening and there wasn’t much time until it would be coming through the ceiling. The window of time was a couple of hours. He was thinking about the baby that Michael had mentioned, and it made him nervous. It was all going to happen. Unless Ali didn’t want him.
He hadn’t argued with Michael when he said something about him falling in love. Cal hadn’t acknowledged it in his mind, but he had to now because it was right there in front of his face. Ever since he heard her cry out in the club, he’d known that there was going to be something about her. That she was going to be a part of his life. He just hadn’t realized that she was going to one day be his mate. According to Michael, it was going to happen tonight.
The idea of it had his mind racing as his body got hard as a rock. It was all he could think about and the more he tried to run it through his mind, the harder that it was to do so.
He said her name gently out loud because he didn’t want to scare her. There were things that he knew about her that were going to make her a little nervous to be his mate. Namely, Ali was a virgin, and he was intimidating to even the most experienced humans that did and didn’t know what he was. It was going to be a lot for her to take on if he didn’t figure out a better way to come to her. He wanted it to be right. She was to be his mate, have his child. There had to be some tenderness on his part so that she wasn’t afraid of him.
It was a lot to take on at one time, and it was the first time since this had all started, really in his whole life, that he was afraid of a woman. He wasn’t afraid of her in the conventional way of course, but he was afraid of how to be around her. He wanted to touch her and take her, right here, to hell with traditions, but Michael had warned him about it. He must have known that she was hard to deny and denying himself had never really been one of his strong suits.
Ali’s eyes finally opened as he nudged her on the bed.
“Wake up, sleepy head. It’s only eight.”
“Really? It feels later. I don’t know why, but I’m just so tired all the time lately. I’m not usually like this. I don’t want you thinking that I’m lazy or something.”
Cal just grinned at her and told her that he didn’t think that at all. The truth was far worse, and it was the last thing that he wanted to do, telling her what she was going to become.
“Why don’t we take a walk through the house? I want to show you something.”
She agreed and got up out of bed. Cal liked to see her hair all mussed up and her eyes all sleepy. She was a vision, and he smiled to himself, sure that she was the perfect specimen. Ali was going to be the perfect mate.
All the rest would come out soon enough, but if they only had a night before all the true craziness happened, Cal was certain that he wanted to make sure that Ali was his first. Michael knew something that he didn’t know, but his gut agreed with the old man’s cryptic words.
