Book 3: Updating

Chapter 28

I woke up to my alarm the next morning comfortably snuggled into my pregnancy pillow, with a fan blowing the perfect amount of cool air across my skin.

I reached for my phone and found a chocolate breakfast smoothie and a note:

Hey Beautiful,

I checked your schedule and went in early to complete your busy work for today so you could sleep in a few extra hours. You were just so burned out last night, I wanted to surprise you with a little more rest before your video conference today. I reset your alarm to give you three hours to get prepared.

Enjoy your smoothie, and I will take care of everything else.

I love you,

Jesse

The clock said 11:00am. My video conference was at 2:00pm. That would be plenty of time to prepare.

My body felt amazing after Jesse's massages inside and out the night before. I felt much better with a little more sleep, and it felt good to be pampered.

I sipped the smoothie and groaned with pleasure. It tasted so good. It had a touch of coffee and a hint of hazelnut. I enjoyed another sip before mind linking Jesse.

You have out done yourself. I accused him.

Good morning love. Jesse greeted me.

You didn't have to do all that. I informed him.

Yes I did. You deserve it. Jesse responded.

I got up and got dressed. I walked inside, sipping my smoothie, and found my new maternity dress suit ironed and hanging up for me to wear.

Jesse! You even ironed my clothes! I was stunned.

Only the best for my princess. He responded.

I should be there in an hour. I am going to grab a shower first. I informed Jesse.

I got you more of that scented shower soap you prefer yesterday. It is on the shelf in the bathroom. He told me.

Jesse this is too much. I feel spoiled rotten. I stated tearing up.

You deserve to be treated with love, respect, and care. How can you pour out from an empty cup? I want to make up all the days I doubled your work load by making this important meeting run as smoothly as possible for you. He explained. I want to be here for you.

I love you. I stated smiling as I smelled my favorite body wash.

I love you as well. Jesse responded. I want to try to split your work load around here and see how I do stress wise. I feel a lot better, more mentally regulated, and I want to try coming back to work with a lightened load. What do you think? Jesse pitched his idea.

You are the Alpha and better qualified than me to take over these responsibilities. If you feel ready, I will support you. I stated.

I don't want to replace you. I want to work with you. I always want to work along side you. I just don't want you to think I am trying to barge in and take over. You do amazing work. I just want to work with you. Jesse explained.

Of course not. We are one. Will you make it to the video conference? I asked.

I wouldn't miss it. Jesse affirmed.

Good. I will see you in about thirty minutes. I stated as I finished my shower, did my hair, applied light make up, put my hair up into a formal bun, and got dressed.

Lucian rode into work with me. He read my mood and smiled.

"Enjoyed that hot tub I see." He teased me.

"It relaxed my muscles. I was limping last night with soreness. I feel much better now." I explained.

"I saw Jesse leave early this morning. So is he coming back to work?" He asked curiously.

"Yes. Part time to slowly ease his way back into the work load. He feels he can handle it, so I am not going to stop him." I stated.

"I am glad in a way. You do excellent work, but it has got to be hard to carry triplets and work full time as hard as you do. I am glad he is taking some of the work off your shoulders." Lucian replied thoughtfully.

"As long as he stays within his limits and doesn't overdo it. I would hate to lean on him and have him relapse piling it all back on my plate in the middle of my third trimester." I worried.

"If that happens, you could hand some responsibilities to the Beta, temporarily putting the housing repairs on hold, until the babies are born." Lucian suggested.

"True. Thank you for the suggestion. I just hope Jesse does well. I will have to monitor him daily to make sure he keeps a balanced schedule." I explained.

"I will support you both however I can." Lucian promised.

Jesse met us at the cafeteria after we went through the security protocols. He hugged me and kissed me gently before walking with me, hand in hand, to the office.

He showed me all the work he completed. He had cleared my entire workload for the day.

"What time did you get here to do all this work that quickly?" I asked.

"7:00 am." He stated. "I am going to get changed for the video conference, and then we have to go give the final approval for the PR video before we finish setting up for the meeting." Jesse explained, kissing my forehead as he left the room with his clothes on a hanger.

As soon as he left, Sargent Davies smiled widely at me stating, "I don't know how you pulled it off, but we got our Alpha back!"

"He will only be working part time for now. I don't want him getting overwhelmed and going backwards in his progress. If you witness him having emotional instability I am relying on you two to remove him tactfully from the situation to a quiet location and to mind link me. As long as we keep checking in on him and keep him from being too over burdened I am hopeful that this return to normalcy will help his recovery." I replied concerned.

"Will do." Sargent Davies responded still smiling widely.

Jesse returned about ten minutes later dressed in a business suit. He looked powerful and impressive. I could not stop staring at him.

How do I look? You are looking at me like I am your next meal. He stated smiling at me.

You are, but later. I gave him a lust filled look from head to toe and growled over the mind link smiling at him. You look powerful and incredibly handsome. I bet if you walked down the hospital wing, those nurses that always flirt with you would agree. I teased him.

They do what now? Who is that? Jesse asked confused.

You don't remember those nurses flirting with you and checking you out when I broke my leg? I tried to remind him.

Not in the slightest. Jesse replied shrugging.

It is a wonder you noticed me when I used to check you out in the pack house. I stated rolling my eyes.

Well I was mutually interested. There are plenty of lonely she wolves to go around. I am just not interested, and I don't pay attention. I am taken. Jesse assured me kissing my forehead.

We walked hand in hand to a lecture hall with a video projector to give our final approval for the PR video.

The video began with the history of the Charter and the failure of the Northern Wolves Pack to come into compliance. It explored the pictures and video footage of the abuses we uncovered upon taking over leadership and then showed our steps to heal the pack and bring it back into compliance. The video then broadened its view to show how much the charter has grown over the last ten years, ending with an invitation to join us in ending the abusive aspects of our shared supernatural natures and joining our charter for the sake of peace for our children. The video ended with werewolf children playing with Lycans and shifters at the new community center playground. Each child looks similar and is equally having fun as the video fades out to infrared spectrum revealing they are a mix of species. The video ends as the screen fades into an emblem for the charter.

Jesse and I clapped and thanked the team who put together the video. It was exactly what we required.

It was about time to go prepare for the conference so we went to the room where we would be broadcasting. There was a technical team testing the cameras, microphones, video monitors, and sound equipment. We still had thirty minutes until start time so Jesse and I took a seat out of the way and reviewed our itinerary and notes together.

Before we knew it, we were standing inside boxes masking taped on the floor to center us inside the view of the camera, and awaiting for the other side to connect. This would be my first time talking with a real vampire. I was quite nervous.

Soon the screen came alive and a man and woman stood on the other side smiling professionally.

"Hello Grand Elder Wallace and your mate Lucile. We are greatly privileged that you granted us this audience to discuss peace." Jesse greeted them warmly.

"Alpha Jesse and Luna Rebecca, we were surprised to hear that you hold no ill will towards the vampire kind. Werewolves and vampires rarely cross paths due to our differences in dietary requirements. Am I to assume our kind does not repulse you?" Grand Elder Wallace asked skeptically.

"We have never met your kind, and hold you in neutral regard at this time. We asked for this meeting to understand how you have determined that we are your enemy." Jesse stated clearly. "As I stated. We harbor no ill will against you nor your kind."

"It has come to our attention that you are the source of the kidnapping of our young ones. We turn our kind after they have completed carrying their desired number of children, and raise those children as human until they have reproduced and decide they are ready to be turned. Our children are precious to us, and we take these actions of violence seriously." Grand Elder Wallace stated, anger in his eyes.

"We first heard of the kidnappings when our ambassador to our allies in El Paso located them, and our ally sent a strike force to liberate them. We would like to share our story with you in a short video if you would allow us to show you who we are rather than listen to rumors spread by our enemies." Jesse explained.

"Very well. Show us your evidence." Grand Elder Wallace replied.

We showed our video.

At the end Jesse stated, "We took over this pack from Alpha Alex about six months ago. He is the one spreading lies about us. He works for a human Cartel leader named Rapscalian. Alpha Alex wants revenge for losing his territory and Rapscalian wants the charter to die out because it is bad for the drug trade business. They have united against us and want to stop the good we are doing for this pack and many supernatural creatures who suffer under the violence of these evil men. We would like to be your friends and not your enemies. We would like to extend an invitation to our charter and see if we are kindred of spirit." Jesse spoke clearly and slowly.

"Interesting. You have given us much to consider. What of your mate? I see she is greatly pregnant. Is she as accepting of our kind considering our diet?" Elder Wallace directed his question to Rebecca.

"I have to admit I know little about your diet except tales and rumors. I have questions if you are willing to answer them: I assume you drink human blood. Must the human subject die or may multiple people be fed upon and allowed to live? Can vampires compel victims to forget like is rumored or is that a lie? Can you survive on animal blood? What is your coven's point of view towards killing innocent humans? Do you feed on supernatural creatures as well?"

The elder's mate Lucile answered, "Those are fair questions Luna Rebecca, and it is wise not to jump to conclusions. We can survive on animal blood, but we will become malnourished over time. We do best on a diet of human blood, though when we latch onto a human neck it is all but impossible to stop feeding until they are dead. Our coven runs a blood bank that both supplies donations to the local hospital, and feeds our entire coven well. We cannot feed on supernatural creatures. Their blood is toxic to our kind so your pups are safe from our dinner table. Wallace likes to weed out the prejudice wolves by hinting that we will come for your children, but it simply is not true." She elbowed her mate making Jesse and me chuckle. "Your mate's assessment may be accurate. We may be of kindred spirit after all." She explained smiling.

"Thank you for your honest answers." I responded smiling kindly, "If you feel comfortable, we would be willing to exchange ambassadors with you. That way you can get a report first hand from one of your kind to determine the extent of our honesty, and our ambassador can present the requirements of our charter to your council and after further review, you can decide your next steps. I just truly hope we can avoid war. I find useless death wasteful, and I would like to avoid conflict at all costs." I explained.

Grand Elder Wallace nodded in agreement, "We agree to your terms. Please send us the air strip information where you would like our ambassador sent and we will supply you with their flight details once we have their passage purchased. We will do the same for your ambassador. I would like to have a conference like this in one month's time to reevaluate the status of our relationship. We will call a truce and consider your proposal."

"Excellent. I hope one day we will become good friends and allies." Jesse said smiling.

"Yes. That would be a wonderful first. Peace with such a large portion of werewolf kind under this charter may be the answer we have been looking for all these years. Also, thank you for your help in rescuing our young ones. I believe your telling of events rings true. I can see it in your eyes." He grinned and winked at Jesse. "Until we see you next month, take care."

Jesse and I bowed our heads in respect. "Take care, and I look forward to expanding our budding friendship." Jesse stated.

The screen went black as they signed off.

Both Jesse and I breathed a sigh of relief and hugged each other tightly.

We just avoided war!

Sargent Davies and Lucian were sitting quietly in a corner watching the transaction. They now joined us cheering. Any chance to avoid war was a reason to celebrate.

Jesse and I called it a day at 4:00pm, sending Sargent Davies home early as well. We gave Lindsey some extra time to herself while we brought the pups to a fast food restaurant with a playground. By 8:00pm, they were worn out and asleep in their beds.

I wasn't far behind them, but I was limping again. The weight from carrying the pups around all day was making me sore. We decided to use the hot tub to work out my sore muscles before bed so I could sleep better. I was so thankful for my present.

Jesse worked out all my knots and held me tightly as we admired the starry sky and the beautiful evening while sitting in the hot tub together.

Love? I asked.

Hmm? He lazily replied.

Thank you for being there today. You really showed up when I needed you. I nuzzled into his chest.

Of course love. Thank you for being patient with me through this traumatic rollercoaster of emotions I have put you through. I am feeling better, and a large portion of that is because of you. Jesse complimented me.

You did the work. I was just impatient and selfish. I stated flatly.

You built me a guest house out of respect for my need to be alone in a quiet environment. You gave me space, but kept challenging me to fight and come back to you. You put up with my bullshit and fought for me. Trauma is not a linear road, and from my perspective you navigated it to the best of your ability. The result is that I am returning to work part time, and our relationship is healing. I would say it all worked out. Jesse summarized.

I feel like I was a blundering mess through it all. I admitted blushing.

Who wouldn't be? Your heart was shattered, as it should have been. I don't blame you. Our love is real, and you were denied access for so long. You love me deeply, and I hurt you profoundly. I am so sorry love. Jesse apologized as he kissed me gently.

I did the same to you. I shrugged. Trauma is hard and it tends to hurt those closest to us the most. I observed.

You were more mindful than me though. I did not do enough damage control. Jesse admitted.

You came back. That's all that matters. I have you back. That's all I wanted. I am satisfied, and I can let the rest go. I stated as I rubbed his chest with my hand before grasping his shoulder.

You are just so beautiful. He said staring at me under the starlight.

It was then a bird flew into our backyard and transformed into a fox. It whined and stomped its foot at me.

"Timmy fell into the well?" I asked. Jesse laughed.

"But seriously. There are towels in the guest house. You can shift and cover yourself if you would like to talk." I offered.

The fox opened the wolf friendly handle to the guesthouse and came back in human form, with a towel around his waist.

"Very funny!" He boomed in a deep voice laughing at my joke. "I saw the funeral and how you treated my comrades with respect after death. I think we were misled about you. I see how you care for the widows and orphans left behind. I would like to warn you. You are under attack."