To Feel Again [Welcome To Wolf's Peak]

Chapter Fourteen - Adrian

Adrian

I looked at the photograph of Harry while tying the laces on my running shoes. The familiar ache I felt every time I looked at it was still there but it didn't run as deeply as it once had. I knew I'd always feel it, he was an important part of my life that would never be forgotten but I was starting to heal. I now realized that there was more room in my heart for new love to grow without totally disregarding what I'd felt for Harry.

I finished getting ready and jogged downstairs passed Jacob and Kennedy who were looking at baby furniture online. I said goodbye to them both and jogged to the pack house where Owen and Niko were waiting for me. Owen had started to hang out there to get an understanding of shifter life. He was a big hit with a lot of the other shifters and they treated him like a member of their big family which he essentially was now that he was mated to Niko and I.

"Hi." I found them both in the back yard watching Casper and Vale sparring and I gave them both a kiss in greeting. "Who's winning?" I turned to watch.

"It's hard to tell," Niko told me. "They're both fast and agile but Vale has some mad skills. Casper has managed to block most of his hits though and has landed a few of his own."

"I'm totally lost," Owen admitted. "They're too fast for me to keep track of. I'm getting a headache from just trying to watch what they're doing."

"Aw, poor baby." I slung an arm over his shoulders and pulled him in to kiss his forehead. Niko and I shared a smile over his head. I was a very lucky man.

A shuffle on the field caught my attention and I was more than a little surprised to see Casper restraining Vale with his back to his chest. He was saying something in Vale's ear that was too low for me to hear but Vale reacted by snarling and struggling in his hold. "Those teeth look dangerous," Owen remarked about Vale's teeth.

"I wouldn't get too close to them if I were you," Niko warned him, his eyes riveted to the pair in front of us.

Vale managed to break himself free of Casper's hold and hit him with the base of his hand in the chest making the vampire fly backwards across the yard. "This doesn't really look like a friendly sparring session to me," I said.

"I'm not sure what it is," Niko admitted. "They were already fighting when we came out here."

We all watched in silence for a few minutes as the fight continued. Vale clawed Casper across the face which caused blood to seep from the marks across the bridge of his nose and under his left eye. Casper roared and retaliated by kicking Vale's legs out from under him but the elf managed to turn his fall into an impressive spin and right his stance in time for a blow to his ribs that had him huffing out a breath and stumbling backward into a tree. It was like a train wreck, you knew it was about to happen but you couldn't look away from it. Casper hit out again but Vale ducked and Casper's fist hit the tree trunk where his face had been. In the same moment Casper's elbow of his other arm shot out as the elf was standing back upright and caught the blow to the right side of his face. He spat out blood and threw himself at the vampire taking them both to the ground. Vale bit Casper on the shoulder through his T-shirt and they both froze. Vale jumped to his feet cursing and took off through the woods at the back of the yard. Casper slowly got to his feet and with a look at where the elf had disappeared he turned back to go into the house.

"What did we just witness?" I asked. "I thought they worked together for the council?"

"They do," Niko said narrowing his eyes on Casper's disappearing back. "I'm not sure what just happened but I don't think it's going to have a good outcome."

"I thought it was hot," Owen said with a smile while dramatically fanning his face. I laughed at him and rolled my eyes which caused him to swat at my arm. "It was, I think you guys have made biting a fetish for me."

I took pause at that statement and met Niko's eyes tipping my head discreetly in the direction Vale had gone mentally asking him, ~Do you think it was a sexual thing?~

Niko gave a tiny head shake. ~No it was violent for that. Mates couldn't hurt each other like they did. It could be a territorial thing though.~

~Do you know if either of them have been with anyone?~

Niko seemed to be considering that. ~I think Emery has been feeding Casper while he's been here but I'm not sure about Vale~

~Do you think this is about Emery?~ I asked in surprise.

~No he hasn't shown interest in either of them, that I've noticed.~ He told me.

Owen was looking from one of us to the other with an annoyed look on his face. "Are you two doing the mental conversation thingy? That's very rude."

"I'm sorry, baby. We're just trying to figure out what's going on." Niko wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. "We'll stop, I promise."

A baby's cry rent the air and Bram appeared with two baby carriers and another baby strapped to his chest looking frazzled. "Can someone hep me out, please?" He asked shoving a carrier at me with a red faced baby inside. I caught the handle on instinct and stared at the little pink bundle inside. Owen happily took the other carrier from him. 

"What's wrong?" Niko asked our Alpha. 

"My husband has to work at the security firm today. Since he took over the business with Austin after his father retired he's been spending a lot of time there. Our mother's are out shopping with Emery and your brother-in-law," he looked at me, "has taken a few hours off since he has an appointment with the doctor for a pregnancy check-up."

I looked at the crying baby again. "So.." I urged.

"So, I have a mountain of work to do and three babies that need feeding, changing and play time. I can't do everything so I'm using my status as Alpha to order you three to babysit." He unstrapped the harness he was wearing, carefully, and passed his son to Niko. "Think of it as practice for when you're parents," he said and walked away.

"Why do you get the older one?" I asked Niko.

"Because I outrank you." He chuckled while disentangling his baby from the harness and expertly holding him against his shoulder. "Isn't that right Jonathan?" He crooned to the little boy.

"Which one do I have?" 

Owen was sitting cross legged on the ground opening the clips that kept his little pink bundle in her carrier. I noticed his baby was crying either, only mine. Then I noticed something else and wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Uh, that's not the important thing right now. This little one has left us a present and her daddy didn't give us anything to clean her up."

"Everything you need is in the nursery," Niko laughed.

"You're not helping me?" I asked in distress.

"We're each responsible for our own baby," Owen joined in Niko's laughter and I shot them both a dirty look on my way passed them.

"You're both on nappy duty for the first year of our first three kids lives."I shouted behind me on my way into the house. 

I soon learned that just because a baby was tiny it didn't mean that what came out of them was. I ended up having to bath her just to get her clean. Then I dressed her in her purple one piece and gave her cuddles as we joined my mates and her siblings. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Owen cuddling a baby and I decided I would be a very happy man if one day he was cuddling a baby that belonged to the three of us.

A/N: Check the comments on my page for an update on future plans.