A Promise Made

Nineteen years ago.   In the heart of Amber, a city that housed, wolves, vampires witches, and fae, was the compound the werewolf alpha, Drake Stone, built to house his pack. All across the city, the other factions had bases where they had the most important of their kind housed. In a world where humans and all other beings coincided in, mostly peace, life was as good as it could be.   Simile looked down at the sleeping baby she held. Alpha Drake looking on, a proud father and loving husband. He'd decided to entrust her with the most precious thing in his life. Simile looked up at him, a question in her yellow-gold eyes. How was she ever going to thank him for the honor? He just smiled at her, and she knew why he wanted her for the job. Her father, was Drake's second, the one that he trusted most. And he'd trained her, she was top of her class, in charge of her own small team of guards. But if she took this job, she'd give that up, because being an Alpha family members guard was a full-time, forever job. She nodded and Drake's smile widened. Her father stepped forward, and with his knife, made a small cut in her hand, then he did the same with the baby. With his hands around theirs, he linked their wounds, their blood mixed, and their minds linked. From that day onward, and until one of them died, they would be linked, the only bond stronger was that of two mates.  Simile could feel little Emily's heart beating with her own, hear the babble of sound that the baby made in her mind. One day when she could form words, Simile would be able to communicate with her, without words, across any distance. It was a link not easily broken, and she'd only heard of it happening twice when the guard had taken advantage of their position. Something she would never do. Like her father, her loyalty was with the Alpha family and would always be. Simile let her words fill Emily's mind, the baby staring up at her in wonder. Her father let go of their linked hands and she let go of the small hand in hers. She watched as their wounds closed, Emily gurgled and wiggled her little chubby legs. Simile grinned down at her then handed her back to their Luna, Kris, it was harder than Simile thought it would be, to hand the baby back and walk out with her father, leaving the new family to bond.   Outside in the sunlight, she took a deep breath, letting the fresh air flow through her. She needed a run, a good stretch of her legs, to clear her mind and settle the new weight of having someone linked to her. Her father, who knew her best, nodded without another word and left her to decide where she'd go. They had woods assigned to them, where they could run free without worry of being hunted or stalked by other factions. Just like the other factions had their areas assigned. It was a rule that worked for all of them, since the tensions between so many apex predators could run high and in the past caused so much damage, that at one stage the powers in charge wanted to cut down on the territory of all the factions, keeping them bound to their piece of land. But eventually, it was agreed that rules would be put in place to keep everyone in check, so far, except for those that challenged the powers, very few did, everything ran smoothly.   Simile turned to the building that held the cafeteria, she knew her best friend, Andy would be there, she was always there, always hungry, Andy was with her mother, Jamey, their pack cook most of the time. Snacking on whatever her mom was making that day. So she made her way to the eating hall, not at all surprised to see Andy behind the kitchen counter, sitting on the prep table, stealing pies from the baking tray when her mom turned her back. With a laugh, Simile walked up to the counter and grinned.  "Hey, Mrs. Brooke, I think you have a pie thief in your kitchen." Simile laughed when Andy shot her the middle finger.  "I know, I see her, even though she thinks she's being sneaky. But what she doesn't know, is that for every pie that she steals I deduct from her for supper."  "What?" Andy jumped from the prep table and stared at her mom. "You can't do that!"  "I can, and I have." Mrs. Brooke smiled sweetly at her. "So far you're left with only six."  "Now that's a bummer." Simile laughed. "Want to go for a run with me?"  "Sure, before I eat all my supper for lunch." She scowled at her mother who only grinned at her. Simile knew that her mom would never hold food back from Andy, but the threat was enough to keep Andy in check. They made their way to the allocated woods behind their compound and stripped. Being naked in front of each other didn't bother them, since they spent most of their time naked anyway since shifting destroyed their clothes.  On a hunt or a search, they hardly ever take clothes unless one of the other factions or humans were with them. Shifting, where two women stood, now stood two magnificent wolves. One, pure white the other light grey. In the beginning, Simile had been disappointed on being the only wolf with just one color, and white, not the ash grey Andy was, or black the Alpha was, or even the mixes of colors. But she'd read up on her ancestry and found that only one in a thousand wolves have been born white. So she'd accepted her rare color and now couldn't think of any other color she'd want to be.   They ran together, a trail they knew like the back of their hands, they ran as only two best friends could. When their muscles burned and their breath was burning in their lungs, they stopped and drank water at the water hole. Simile shifted and sat down in the water, Andy knowing that she needed to talk shifted too, then just sat and waited. Simile gathered her thoughts, she didn't really know how to voice what she felt. How did one deal with the fact that your wolf had chosen a mate, and that mate turned out to be a newborn baby? She'd felt the shift in her being, in her soul, the second she'd laid eyes on Emily, then when their blood fused and their minds bonded, she'd known what had happened. Her heartbeat was aligned with Emily's, her world was now Emily. Everything she was, everything she wanted, was Emily.  "You okay bud?" Andy asked, her voice quiet, concern dripped from every word.  "I mated." Simile said. She didn't know how else to say it, or to express it, but she also knew that Andy would know what she meant.  "What?" Andy asked shocked. "But when? You left me three hours ago, went to see the Alpha, and then came back to me. When would you have had time to meet a man or woman?" Andy was confused, Simile knew the feeling.  "I went to see the Alpha because I will be baby Emily's guardian."  "That's great, but still doesn't explain where you found time to find a mate," Andy said.  "I found her, while with the Alpha." Simile said, not meeting Andy's eyes, she looked over the mountains, their peaks covered in fresh snow.  "So it's a woman, is it one of Luna's ladies?" Their Luna had two women, who helped her with the house chores and keeping her appointments, sort of like secretaries, but they called them ladies. Andy was still at a loss as to where Simile could have found a mate since they knew Luna's ladies.  "No, not one of them." Simile said.  "Well tell me then, I ran out of guesses," Andy said, throwing her hands up in the air.  "Emily."  "What!?" Andy squawked and Simile choked back a laugh at the sound.  "You mean baby Emily? Our Alpha's daughter?"  "Yes." She dropped her head to her knees, then turned her head so she could look at Andy. "It was like a shock to my heart, the second I looked into her eyes, my wolf knew, and everything came into focus, my whole world tilted and it was like my life never made sense until that moment."  "Did you tell them?" Andy asked.  "No, I'd already promised to protect her with my life, our bond made by blood. I couldn't risk them taking me off her, putting someone else in charge of her safety. She's mine."  "Okay, sure. But if the Alpha finds out you are mated to his daughter, his baby daughter, he's going to flip!" "I know that!" Simile groaned. "That's why it will stay between us, no one will know."  "He's going to know," Andy said with a smirk. "The Alpha knows everything."  "He won't, I'll be careful, especially around her." Simile looked intently at Andy. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone. Not even your mom."  "I promise, but man, this is a mess bud." Andy touched her shoulder, then squeezed lightly. "This is a real cluster fuckety mess."  "Yeah." Simile smiled at her friend. She'd known she could talk to Andy, they'd shared everything since they were kids, they'd met one day by accident, even though they'd known about each other they'd never really met until that one day when Simile had gone running in the woods and they'd literally bumped into each other. They'd shifted, stared at each other, and burst out laughing. Best friends for life, since then. There wasn't anyone Simile trusted more.  "Hey, when he finds out, and he will, I promise to go into banishment with you."  "Thanks, that's a relief." Simile laughed and jumped to her feet. "Come on, I'm starving and I have a baby to look after."  "Mm, your baby." Andy teased, shifted, and took off at full speed before Simile could reply. Simile snorted but nodded.  You got that right, my baby." She whispered into the wind, her words drifting away on the winter breeze.