Suddenly A Beta's Daughter

Chapter 6: I Should Have Known

Robert's POV:

The last thing I want to do is be stuck listening to these bitter Alphas argue, but we must get things settled as fast as possible. Especially now that my daughter is here, she is unaware of the dangers that are out there, no idea about our world and how it operates.

"Robert!" Matt shouted to get my attention. I looked up to see several faces staring back at me from the screen on the wall. "What do you say about sending troops to help aid in training and protecting the Blue Wolf pack." Both Matt and David were staring at me intently.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, it seems I was lost in thought. How many men do you believe will be necessary, Alpha Keppeler ?"

"Like I said to Alpha Stone, we would need at least a hundred warriors and some heelers. If you could spare some of your trackers that would be beneficial to all of us, we could try to pin down where these bastards are coming from. My warriors are way down after this last attack. We are spread thin in every department, and we won't survive another attack."

'What do you think?' Matt linked me.

'Being as though they are attacking from the Northwest the Blue Wolf Pack has blocked us from a majority of the attacks so far. If they go down, the attacks on Blood Stone could get more aggressive. We might not be able to give them as much aid as they want, but if we leave them defenseless, it could put us in a tight spot later.'

'That's what I was thinking. Plus, we're their closest ally. We'd be able to send aid faster than the others, that's if they'd even send any.' David scuffed at Alpha Gantt.

"Alpha Keppeler, I understand the stress you must be under, but we only have 500 hundred warriors, and that's including our trainers and trackers. To send you a hundred warriors plus trainers, trackers, and healers would leave us at a huge disadvantage as we are dealing with attacks, too." I informed him.

"So what do you suggest as a reasonable request, Beta Black?"

I took a minute to contemplate. " We can send you a hundred in total. 85 warriors, 5 trackers, 5 trainers, and 5 healers. It may not seem like much, but it should be enough of a cushion until our other allies can send aid as well. Does that sound agreeable, Alpha?" I asked Matt.

"That seems reasonable to me. What do you say, James?" Alpha Keppeler didn't seem completely satisfied with this outcome, but after a few moments of contemplating, he agreed. "Great, I'll have my Gamma get it set up, and hopefully, we can get them out to you the day after tomorrow."

"That will be great, I look forward to it." After making a few arrangements with other Alphas, everyone hung up. David went over to the bar and poured three drinks.

"So' how did it go?". Matt asked, taking a drink.

"I'm not sure. Marie is in really bad shape, and Gabi isn't exactly thrilled to be here."

David came over and placed a drink in my hand. " I'm sure she'll come around. Just give her some time." He plopped down in the chair next to me.

"Yeah, but how much time." I chugged my drink and stared at the empty glass. "This isn't the first time I've met her, I just didn't know she was mine. Now she doesn't want anything to do with me."

"What do you mean?"

I held out my cup for a refill and down my second glass. "I saw a pup in the woods. She was a cute little thing and came right up to Adonis. I don't know why, well I do now, but she made me think of Marie. When I went to the human territory to look for her, she was holding that little girl."

"Goddess, how did she get out of that? Not to be a creep, but I saw the two of you pull up. She looks just like you."

"That's what I thought."

Flashback

" Marie," there she is, looking up at me in shock, and she's holding that little girl.

"Rob, what are you doing here?" My eyes stayed focused on the little girl in her arms staring right back at me. "Robert." The shock in her eyes slowly turned to fear. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry. It's been a while, how are you?" She shifted the little girl out of my line of sight. "Who is she?"

"I don't see how that's any of your concern. Now, what are you doing here?"

The look she was giving me broke my heart. I could sense fear coursing through her. I just couldn't figure out why she was so afraid. She might have rejected me, but she never moved on. I would know because I never fully accepted, I never broke the bond. "I was in town. I wanted to see you, I thought maybe we could talk."

"I don't think that's a good idea. We have nothing to talk about anyway."

Looking at the blue eyes peeking over her shoulder that she was trying so desperately to hide from me, I couldn't help but think there was. Maybe this is the source of that fear, Marie probably thinks I'm going to take the pup. 'Mine' Adonis was at the surface. He wanted his mate and the pup in her arms. "I beg to dif -"

"Momma, Daddy!" The little girl shouted excitedly, hopping out of Marie's arms and running towards Dina, Marie’s best friend, and a tall man with black wavy hair carrying a little girl in his arms. The ache in my heart grew as I saw him bend over and scoop her up. Adonis whimpering and trying to claw his way out didn't help.

"How's my girl?"

"What took you so long."

"Robert? You haven't changed much." I snapped my attention away from the man and little girl to look at Dina.

"Not sure if I can say the same. Settled with two kids," I looked back at the now two little girls fighting for their dad's attention, "it must be nice." To say I was confused is an understatement. It's rare for a wolf to calm a pup that isn't theirs, so the fact that hearing her call out to that man hurt Adonis so deeply was astonishing. It felt like he was going to attack at any moment.

"Well, actually Stephanie -"

"Dina," Marie called out to her hurriedly. "I'm glad I could help out while you took Steph to the dentist, but I should get going." She looked between Dina and the girls before turning back to me, "You should go."

"Hello there, are you a friend of Marie's?" The man walked up to me, but before I could get a word in, Marie stepped in.

"No, he isn't." Dina looked concerned, but she chose to stay silent.

"Marie. I just want to talk. You just walked out on me."

"Because I didn't want to be with you!" She took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart though it had little effect. "You don't even know me. We talked for like a month. I told you then I didn't want anything to do with you, and that still holds true, so stay away from me."

I was at my breaking point. Every fear-stricken word from her was like a stab to the heart. I just wish I knew where it all went wrong. "Alright, my apologies. Take care of yourself, Marie."

End flashback

"Even still, I should have known she was mine. If for no other reason than Adonis claiming her the second, we spotted her in the woods."

David patted my shoulder, trying to give me some comfort. "Well, she's home now. That's all that matters. Once she meets the rest of her crazy family, she'll start coming around."

'Ben, make sure you guys aren't late for dinner.' I linked Ben from my office as I tried to finish up some last-minute work. Dinner is not for another hour, but with Ben, it's better to be safe than sorry. That boy has the attention span of a teaspoon.

'I don't think that's a good idea. She just cried herself to sleep a while ago.'

I immediately panicked.'What happened? What's wrong? Is she hurt?'

'Relax, she's fine, physically, that is. I just think it's all too much for one day, don't you.'

I let out a heavy sigh. I know he's right, not that I'll ever tell him that, but it's better to get this over with now. 'The sooner everyone knows who she is, the safer she'll be. 'It's just us, I'm sure she'll be fine.' A couple of minutes went by, and I still didn't get a reply. 'Benjamin! '

'If you say so, I'm just saying I think it's a bad idea.'

'5 o'clock.’

'Yeah, yeah.'

I decided to head down to the pack's shopping center to see if I could find a gift for Gabi. The only problem is I have no idea how to shop for teenage girls. Thank the Goddess for Luna Bethany, or I'd be completely lost.

"What about this?" I held up a brown leather bag for Beth to judge.

"It's cute. You know if you were shopping for your mom." She laughed at me.

"You're not helping as much as I thought you would." Frustrated, I put the bag back on the shelf and scratched my head as I looked around at all the merchandise.

"I am helping, I'm making sure you don't get anything atrocious, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna pick it out for you."

"Well, what did you get?"

"I got her a dress that she could wear to next month's bond fire." Just then, Beth's eyes lit up. "You could get her something to go with it." She pushed me over to the jewelry shop and motioned for me to look around.

I wandered around the store as Beth gave her suggestions, and then I found it. I thought it was perfect, and for once, Beth agreed. We had just enough time to get it engraved and wrapped before heading back for dinner. I gotta say I'm pretty nervous about giving Gabi her gift. I only wish I had more time to pick out something better. Either way, I hope she likes it.

When we made it back to the pack house, we were late, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the private dining hall and not seeing either of my children.

"Hey, what took you guys so long I'm starving." Matt got up from the table and greeted his mate at the door.

"Sorry, I was trying to find a gift for Gabrielle, but according to Beth, I have bad taste."

"That's because he does." Taking Matt by the hand, they made their way to the head of the table as I trailed behind them. "Where is my little niece, I can't wait to meet her."

"That's what I would like to know, I told Ben to be on time." 'Ben, where are you?'

'I was waiting for Gabi to wake up. She looked exhausted.'

'Come on, everyone's waiting for you guys.' I could sense his hesitation through the link and let out a heavy sigh. 'I know you're worried about her but she'll be fine and after tonight if she wants to spend the next week bundled up in bed she can but I would like for her to meet the rest of her family.'

'Alright, we'll be down in a bit.'

"Sorry for the delay, everyone. Ben is on his way down, along with someone I can't wait to introduce you to."