A Friend To The Elements

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

*Adam's POV*

We tracked the fox scent from the baby to the road, but that's where the scent ended. After searching the area until we would have been useless in a confrontation we trotted back to the house.

We all split up to go back to our own houses. I followed the warm lights through our sliding doors and was met with worried glances from Josh sitting at the dining room table. He had a sandwich in front of him that looked like he had taken two bites of. I looked further into the living room to see Dad standing behind the couch. He had one hand on Mom's shoulder and the other gripping onto the back of the couch.

At the sound of the door sliding shut he glanced up at me and removed his hand from Mom's shoulder. "We'll be right back sweetheart."

"I'll be here." Her voice came out soft and...happy. I walked through the living room to make my way back out the front door when she started humming. Finally able to see her arms I noticed the baby. He was wrapped in a new blanket. A white one with pale yellow suns all over it. It was the one she had planned to bring Charlotte home in. She had a bottle poised at the baby's lips and he was sucking away with tiny pops.

I closed the front door behind me and rubbed my temples.

"Want to tell me how my wife who had finally started to resign to the fact that our lives were complete is now holding a newborn?"

I sat on the front step and dropped my forehead completely into my palms. "It's not like I put the baby in her arms. We found it at our checkpoint. I'm not even sure if it's a shifter. The only scent around it was fox."

"I also need to know why in addition to Josh out there you had two other non-pack members in a field search. Josh, I get. We aren't going to stop him. I don't think he would listen even if we tried and that's not a fight I would like to pick right now. But that Harmony and Cane couple?"

He began pacing with his arms behind his back. I couldn't tell if he was even listening to me or just trying to work it out on his own.

"And Parker? You roped Parker into this without notifying any of us. His father is furious that I didn't include him on a mission that both his sons were on. This was supposed to be a small search party that scouted slightly farther and then returned to base with intel on if we needed to launch a full campaign."

His voice was growing louder the more he let himself talk about the situation. My wolf was shaking inside begging to challenge his authority, but I just balled my hands into fists letting the forming claws dig into my skin. The last thing I needed was to challenge my dad and end up alpha. Running the pack would leave any freedom I had to keep searching for her out of the question.

"Now I have to go in there and rip a baby out of your mother's arms. A baby she believes was sent to her by the goddess because she couldn't carry to term. Do you even comprehend what you've done?"

At this one I flinched, and my wolf calmed down realizing he was right. The shame overtook my pride. As future alpha, this was my first mission. It was my first chance to prove I could lead my future pack members, and I screwed up. I didn't even gain any leads just more questions and a baby.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the step beside me. "Did you find anything?"

I shook my head and looked out over the yard. It had to be early in the morning by now, and the exhaustion was really starting to kick in. If I tried to focus in on something my eyes unfocused and blurred forcing me to blink it away.

"Harmony and Cane kind of ambushed us as we were preparing to head out. Harmony is Lily's other best friend. Josh hadn't mentioned her and apparently wasn't conveying information to her either. I vaguely remember Lily mentioning her but that's about all I knew. Cane, her mate, followed along to protect her on our land, I guess. For someone so small I doubt she would need very much protection anyway."

Dad chuckled and nodded. He must have gotten a dose of her as well.

"She is training to be a tracker or investigator as they call them. She said she has a gift of enhanced smell. I placed her with the protection of Jameson, Parker, and Cane at the cabin to search from there hoping she would pick up a scent we hadn't been able to. Turns out she beat us to the clearing. Did she say anything to you when they got back?"

He shook his head and scratched his chin. It looked like he hadn't shaved in days. A dark stubble lined his sharp jaw line. I had never paid attention to how much older he was getting or to how similar we looked. He was a few inches taller than me giving me hope that I wouldn't be one of the shortest Alpha's at only 6 feet. His eyes had grown to a slightly darker grey as he aged rather than the striking silver that he passed on to me.

I had always focused on Mom wasting away that I didn't notice the worry lines that were now permanent in between his eyebrows. His lips seemed to constantly turn down rather than lift up like I remembered them. His jaw was still strong and set, but his body was starting to lose some of the muscle that kept him at the top of the pack. His shoulders slumped slightly until he had to muster the Alpha energy that gave him strength. In this moment he looked years older than only forty-one. He needed me to step up, and to do that I needed Lily.

"To be honest she flew out of here so fast that she hardly said anything to me. She put the child in Josh's arms and drug the mate out of the house. Josh filled us in on the child while Jameson and Parker raided the kitchen. Before I could get take the child to the hospital your mother had came down and grabbed him."

The mention of Josh brought back our conversation from before the search. "When were you going to tell me, Josh was joining us?"

"When it was important for you to know. If I brought the request to his pack now, then we would probably lose all hope of calling on them if we needed. They may even deny it and consider a breach of the treaty we created." He dropped his hands onto the porch and leaned back slightly stretching his back. "He also may not want to stay if we don't find her, or she doesn't make it out of whatever battle ensues. If we give them the request, then he is branded as a traitor and not welcome home regardless of the outcome."

At the mention of her not coming back I shot off the steps and took his place pacing on the porch. "She will come back."

He nodded and looked at me with sympathy. "An Alpha's job is to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. If she, doesn't you still have to lead this pack. We are too weak to have an older Alpha and you're the only heir. Being a wolf pack leader is a young man's game. I am holding out as long as I can because you deserve the opportunity to graduate and be a teenager, but we had you late in life. The longer it is the weaker I become and...they need you."

I didn't respond. I couldn't. Instead, I did the very un-alpha like thing of walking away and slamming the door behind me. I didn't bother looking at Mom or Josh on my way upstairs. I just needed sleep.

*Sam's POV*

Janey didn't come back that night. She delivered the placenta and took all the medical supplied with her. With no baby or evidence in sight it just felt like I was empty. Almost like the last eight and a half months never happened.

If it wasn't for the extreme pain between my legs, I probably could have convinced myself it didn't. I'm not sure how I was going to explain all this to Henry or what his reaction would be. He had never laid a violent hand on me, and I had no real reason to believe he would, but that didn't change the feeling of going to battle.

After waking up I gently moved my legs to the side of the bed. She had left some light pain medicine beside the bed to get me through the next few days, and I immediately took two. I put my feet on the floor and held onto the underside of my stomach. It was definitely softer and not quite as round, but no where near my regular size. I hobbled to the bathroom using the wall and furniture for support.

The cleaning process was even more painful than Janey had told me it would be. I made a mental note to hold it next time until the pain medicine kicked in a little. The blood was also disturbing, but I was thankful Janey had also warned me about this too.

I pulled on the very unattractive diaper and made my way back to the bed. Cold toast was sitting on the nightstand, and I nibbled it slowly. The amount I had eaten in the last twenty-four hours was miniscule, but there was no way I was making it down the stairs to warm anything up.

After finishing off the toast I laid back and dozed off again. I should have been manic. Going insane with worry. Wondering where my son was. Instead, I was numb and exhausted. None of it felt real.