Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Alpha’s Pregnant Bride Chapter 17

Troy

Finding Myrna outside in the middle of the night was jarring to say the least. My flock hadn't ever been the type to wander alone, and Myrna especially had always been particularly picky about where she went even if it was just for a stroll. To see her swaying between the corn path and the main path meant she was battling something inside herself. Was it me? Did it have something to do with Skye? Our resentments and battles had been laid to rest ages ago. Though I had to imagine that the trauma of war-and of a head injury-would reignite those feelings and memories. However, the way Myrna gazed at us didn't seem to be out of concern or misdirected grief. Her smile lit up her face as she drifted toward us, her skirts tickling the dirt path at her feet. As always, she was barefoot, and she wore a sweater that Claire had likely crocheted. She reached for Skye.

My mate twitched so subtly that no one else could possibly have noticed except me. Yet the strangeness didn't last long. The moment their hands touched, something quiet passed between them, an understanding of sorts. They were working things out through their energy. As a proud alpha and one focused on solutions, it was a beautiful thing to watch.

Within seconds, the two of them had come to a silent agreement. I could tell by the way they leaned toward each other in a way that close siblings might. Was this the beginning of our pack expanding and thriving, more than it ever had in the past? Or was this a trick of my mind? I had busted pretty hard back in the kitchen with Skye. The two of us were running on fumes with very little sleep and no food. Once I realized I was hungry, my stomach gurgled loudly. Yet the sound hardly disturbed the women bonding next to me.

"Are you okay?" Skye repeated. "I sensed you were searching for something."

Myrna smiled sleepily. "I just keep waking up out here. I'm not quite sure why. It feels like I'm looking for something that I lost." She touched her neck where a necklace might sit. "But I never wear jewelry much, so I'm not sure what I could have possibly lost." Skye nodded empathetically. "I get it. I have dreams like that when I'm feeling misplaced. Maybe it has something to do with you moving to a new place." "Maybe. That's not a terrible point."

"Would you like some tea?"

Myrna beamed. "I would love a cup, thank you."

"Perhaps some shoes," I teased. "I see you're still wandering barefoot."

"It's easier to shift that way," Myrna explained to Skye as they fell into stride next to each other. "I don't have to go looking for my missing shoes later on." Skye chuckled. "Makes sense to me."

"What do you usually do when you're feeling..." Myrna sighed the rest of her sentence. "...I don't know."

Skye patted her hand. "I drink tea and talk to my bestie."

"Is she awake right now?"

The women shared a laugh.

My smile only grew as I followed their pace. Skye was heading back to our home, taking her time with each step, and lovingly focusing on Myrna. Shock wasn't enough. I was downright flabbergasted at what was unfolding in front of me. Two pieces of my life-the past and the present-were colliding right at this very moment.

Yet it wasn't an explosion. It was far more cataclysmic, a gorgeous mingling of the old and the new. Like the swirling of familiar stars dusting the atmosphere. Watching them inspired me. It showed me things about myself and my mate that I hadn't recognized before this moment. And it just made me want to learn that much more about her.

When we reached the porch, the women skipped inside, leaving me in the wake of their laughter. At this point, it sounded like they had been friends for ages. I almost didn't want to interrupt. Simultaneously, their energy was attractive. I wanted to be in the sunny field they were creating together.

Skye floated around the kitchen while Myrna lounged at the table. I sat next to her and basked in the contentment of her grin as Skye prepared the tea. Within a few minutes, we each had a mug in front of us with steam rising in shivering wisps. Chamomile and lavender were the choice of the evening-a good choice, if I did say so myself. It was the most calming of all the tea we had available.

"There's something about you, Skye," Myrna commented, "that just makes you glow."

Skye blushed. I had the sense to react the same way, turning bashfully toward the window to avoid Myrna's questioning look. She had a way of reading people like me. While it was a long-standing skill of hers, she knew me intimately, even after all these years spent in separate households.

She would be able to figure it out on her own terms. But a little nudge wasn't a terrible thing. "We're expecting."

She gasped. "That's it. The glow." She grinned while reaching for Skye. "Are you excited?"

"I'm nervous," Skye admitted. "But yes, I am excited. I never thought I would want kids."

"Troy makes such a great leader. He'll be a wonderful father."

Another round of blushing erupted from my mate and me. It was unlike me to be bashful about compliments. But these particular ones were unfamiliar to me. Parenting hadn't been something I thought possible for my future. Mostly because my pack had disintegrated. Now that we were getting back together and expanding, things were different.

Things were hopeful. "I'll certainly give it my best effort."

"You'll do so much more," Myrna assured. "I can tell you two love each other. I never could quite fall in love with Troy. I had other things on my mind." Her eyes swept the ceiling as if she was searching specifically for the things that had distracted her from our relationship. "Not to drag out the old beaten cats, but we used to argue so much."

I chortled. "About everything."

"Those things are so small now that we've lost so much." She sighed. "I regret being such a pain." She turned to Skye, genuine admiration radiating from her grin. "But I don't get that feeling from you. I sense that you're committed to him entirely." "He's my mate," Skye stated, and the confidence of those words dug into the smallest parts of my heart.

Sure enough, she clawed deeper than anyone else could. My mate-hearing those words come out of her mouth was a declaration for the universe. Such simple syllables were impressive in their strength and affection. Tears stung my eyes while I tried to contain myself. I cradled my mug of tea and inhaled the healing wisps, turning inward to find my center.

Yet all I found was my family, my pack, and Skye. Her radiant brilliance, her blue expanse and fluffy clouds, her sweet desire to be close to me even if it made her question everything-this was all enough to confirm that this was the real thing. I saw her in my heart when I looked inside. And I saw myself in her heart when I peered into hers.

This was real. This would last.

I opened my eyes to see both women looking rather concerned. Tears streaked down my face, and I laughed them away, tipping my head back and barking like mad at the ceiling with amusement. Wild emotions cycled my system and inspired me to grip the edge of the table. I had to have looked like a madman. I had to have appeared insane.

At the same time, I cared about none of those things. It must have been the first time in my life that I didn't care about my appearance. In front of these two women, I could actually afford not to care for a split second, this sliver in time solidifying each feeling that had come up about this entire situation.

A hand rested on my shoulder, drawing me slowly from my laughing fit back into reality. I glanced up at my mate, seeing her face glowing with a recent giggle fit and recognizing that she understood precisely the feeling that had infected me. It had done the same for her too. My stomach gurgled.

Skye laughed. "Would you like some pastries?"

"Please." I nodded. "I'm sure Myrna will love the ones Laurencia made."

Soon, the table was full of baked goods like the coffee table had been about a week and a half ago. Skye sat snugly next to Myrna, and I found myself scooting closer to bask once more in their collective calm. I reached for a scone and ate it intentionally, savoring each new bite as Myrna and Skye talked.

"I did some vet work years ago," Myrna said. "Small animals. Cats, dogs, rodents."

Skye wrinkled her nose. "You know, no matter how much I work in barns, I never quite got to liking the rodents."

"They're just trying to find warmth and safety. There are ways of keeping them away without killing them. I couldn't get on board with mass pest control for farms. You always end up ruining the ecosystem or the crops."

Skye perked up. "Oh, I'd love any tips you might have on that. Our alpha has been getting into fights with the county because we refuse to accept their pest control crap."

Myrna nodded. "I've got plenty of solutions we used to use on our old farm. Right, Troy?"

I nodded but didn't dare say a word. How could I interrupt their bonding time? The more I watched it unravel, the more my heart settled into a happy rhythm. This was precisely what I'd wanted to rebuild-these loving connections. We wouldn't always agree on everything, but we could agree on one thing in particular.

That family was everything.

Myrna and Skye continued to talk about vet things with a focus on the horses. Once Skye mentioned that she wanted to host classes for teenagers and kids about horses, Myrna started spitting encouragements and ideas alike. Despite how much I wanted to imbibe their combined joy, I sensed something lurking outside. Something that drew me to the porch door without a second thought.

I squinted into the darkness. Some of the lights were faint from not charging enough in the sun. The yellow glow illuminated the path leading out to the fields, a barren wasteland at the moment without much field work happening. Another feeling lurked beneath the surface-like I had lost something and if I searched hard enough, I would find it out there somewhere.

The same feeling Myrna had just cited as the one that dragged her from her comfortable bed.

It was a hefty walk from the mansion to the cornfield. That wasn't just a whim that Myrna had. Real feelings were pesky things for shifters, as they could mean everything or they could mean nothing. Jealousy, for example, wasn't always particularly useful because it could make people possessive.

Feelings of loss, well, they were something else. Skye had noted that change could have a strong effect on a person. Myrna and Claire had showed up randomly, so I had to imagine that was the strange lost feeling I was picking up on. But the way it persisted made me want to step outside and check.

Just in case.

The door slid easily to the left, and then I slid it closed behind me, cutting off the jubilant chatter of two women discovering all that they had in common. It would be a late night for them, and that pleased me to realize as I searched the horizon, investigating the shadows for signs of life beyond that of the usual critters and nocturnal creatures.

A couple of deer fluttered from the field into the brush. Two raccoons scurried around the side of the house, and then the trash cans tipped. I had to guess they were rummaging around in our leftovers. Just on the other side of the house was a series of compost cans that were also about to get raided. I had no doubt about that.

But there was nothing else. No sounds beyond the curtain of bugs chirping. The moon hung in the sky like a milky stamp of a crescent, casting some light upon the farm. Wendell and Elias were likely tucked into their beds. Nobody else had been wandering around. So, why did it feel like I was being watched?

Something was missing here. I couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but I had every intention of investigating the matter to the fullest extent. Perhaps Blake could shed some light on the situation. He'd lost his parents. I'd lost mine. Skye was in the same boat as well. We were all chugging along trying to find our way through the muck and mud leftover from the war.

That was our calling-to proceed. The odds had been against us many times. We were faced with more challenges than most people, than most creatures, to be fair. Other supernatural beings experienced plenty of war, yet it seemed the shifters were the ones taking more heat than anything else that existed out there. Vampires could likely lay claim to the same feelings.

They were all valid, of course. But it was hard to miss how much it seemed to cloud around shifters, especially the packs in this area. Were we seated near an agent of chaos? That was likely just my midnight paranoia. I'd had plenty of tea and talk time. Perhaps sleep was in order to get my brain under control.

Perhaps sleep was what would chase away the feeling of being watched.