Locked Hearts - Complete

Chapter 14

Daly places both boys down and grins at his brothers. My boys finally remember that they have a mother and rush to my side and hug me too.

"Thanks for picking Daly over the douche mum!" Tyler says candidly.  I hear Daly and his brothers chuckle.

"I can't believe we finally have a dad of our own!" Ryder says. I can feel the joy and pride Daly feels hearing that but it makes my heart hurt. Was I not enough for them!? Daly rushed to my side, feeling my hurt. Ryder too must of sensed something because he gasped.

"I'm sorry ma! I didn't mean that in a bad way! You're the best mum on the planet! It's just,..." he looks around trying to find words that won't hurt my feelings anymore but struggling.

"It's just that you're a girl ma! You don't get how boys act. You only have sisters and Alex always just did whatever you wanted. But you'll always be our number 1!" Tyler says.

"Personally I'm very happy she's a girl!" Daly says with a suggestive brow twerk to lighten the mood. It works too as I go red in the face and all 5 males laugh at me. I grin too. As we're walking up to the cabin Daly suddenly freezes and starts growling. He's staring daggers at Brady.

"Why are you fondling my mates clothing!" He says in a deadly growl. Brady looks down at his hands and sees he's still holding my t-shirt. He drops it like it caught on fire. Aiden steps in front of him, blocking him from Dalys sight.

"Calm down brother! The boys said that the healer must have done something to hurt Tessa, so we were just looking for something with her scent on it so we could hunt her down and rescue her if she needed it!" Aiden says calmly, I can see he's struggling to keep his voice regular instead of infusing it with the Alpha command.

I touch Daly to get his attention off his brothers.

"He's your brother Daly, he wouldn't do anything to hurt you!" I say calmly. But he jerks away from me like I slapped him, then he glowers at me.

"Oh of course you're going to stick up for him, you did try to kiss him after all!" He says angrily. This time I felt like it was me who was slapped.

He did warn me he would get this way, but I didn't expect it so soon, and I didn't expect it towards his brothers. I especially didn't expect him to turn on me so viciously.

I knew he told the boys he loved me, but he never claimed to love me to me. I knew that I loved him. But I wouldn't let him talk to me like that, ever!

"Hey! You don't talk to someone you love that way!" Tyler defends me like always, his fists clenched. I place a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. I hold my head up high and give Daly a hard stare.

"You are my mate! I told you that this was a lifetime commitment. That might be nothing but words to you, but it means something to me. I'm not Stef! I tried to anger you with Brady before because I was trying to push you away. Scared of how much I felt for you knowing that you'd meet your mate and be taken away from me, not knowing that you'd already met and lost your mate. Should I hold it against you that you admitted to bringing Beatrice to dinner tonight to make me jealous!" I ask him, still speaking calmly. I can see the anger leaving Dalys face and fear start to fill it.

"You did what!?" Growl Tyler and Ryder simultaneously. There's nothing worse than the look of  disappointment and disenchantment on your child's face when you've fucked up, and both boys looked like Daly had ripped out their hearts. Now I'm angry at him. He's not only hurting me he's hurting my pups.

"I don't want to fight with you Daly, because I've already fallen in love with you, but I won't be your verbal or emotional punching bag. If you haven't purged your feelings for Stef out of your mind and heart then you shouldn't have marked me! It's not fair! Not to me and not to my boys!" I growl. He's been staring at the ground but he raises his head now.