The Alpha's Warrior Mate

A conversation

I followed the hallway until I heard voices coming from a large waiting room. Standing at the door I cleared my throat until I got their attention. 

“Uhh... Anna wants Miriam,” Thankfully, the grey headed woman stood up and brushed passed me towards Anna and Lizzie’s room. I turned to follow her before I felt a hand on my shoulder. 

“Ethan, I think it’s time we had a conversation,” Mason said darkly. I sized him up in that moment, all bark and no bite. 

“My Beta and his mate came with me here, I need to go speak with him before we sit down.” 

Mason nodded and went to sit back down. 

I mind linked Jacob to meet me at the infirmary which he and Emily did in minutes. 

“Hey! We’ve been waiting in the main hall for you. What’s going on?” Jacob asked. 

“Anna went into labor, she had our baby girl, Elizabeth, but she passed out right afterwards so I stayed with her,” I filled them in on the rest of the story. Emily’s facial expressions reflected everything I told them, starting with tears of sadness and ending with a beaming smile as I described baby Lizzie to them. 

“So... she’s been here the whole time?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” I responded weakly.

“Even after we thought...” Jacob added. I nodded my head slowly. “Wow,” was all he could think to say. Jacob had never been good with words. 

“Well she can come home now, right Ethan?” Emily asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be that simple, I don’t know if she will.” She sniffled at that, still reeling from the emotional roller coaster. 

“Can we see her?” Jacob asked.

“I... I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’ve got to go talk to Mason, maybe it would be better if you went home and let everyone know she’s alive.” I knew they didn’t want to but they would, so we said our goodbyes and I went to find Mason. He was standing talking low to his mate when he looked up and made eye contact with me. His jaw clenched and I knew we were in for a row. I had met Mason as kids but when we both became alphas of our own packs it became harder to visit friends and instead we saved our meetings for business. Jacob and Emily had basically forced me to come to the Mate Ball. I followed him to another room and he closed the door behind us.

“Ethan, what the hell man? Your mate literally washed up on the riverbed here. I had no idea she was connected to you. What happened?”He dropped his act and asked his honest question. I relaxed into a chair and put my head in my hands. 

“I don’t know. I’ve replayed it a million times. I don’t know,” I pulled on my hair and looked up to stare at the wall. 

“She said you were going to reject her and turn her over to Jack.”

“Wait, what? No! Why the hell would I do that?” 

“She said she heard you. That’s why she ran from you. That you didn’t want her to mark you and she put two and two together. Ethan, it’ll be hell before I let you take her back if that’s your plan” His eyes grew dark and I could tell he was reigning his wolf in. My stomach flipped as dread washed over me, not because Mason’s looming threat but because Anna thought I was going to reject her.

“Mase, you think I would do that? When I found her she was so... she was so numb. She was so incapable of feeling anything. She couldn’t even shift,” his eyes went wide at that. “I wanted her to take her time, I didn’t want to force her to mark me if she didn’t want to.” 

“Did you tell her that?” Mason asked harshly. 

“No.” 

“It sounds like you two have a lot to talk about.” He moved towards the door and waved me to follow him. He wound around the corner and stopped outside Anna’s room. He took a deep breath and opened the door. She was laying in her bed holding Lizzie and Mason’s mate was leaning over as both women fussed over the new baby. If alphas could be turn to puddles, I think we both would have. Anna’s blue eyes snapped between Mason and I as he cleared his throat. 

“Anna, I think you should hear him out,” the other alpha started in a low voice.

“Oh is that what you think, Mason? Since when have you been the poster child for good decisions?” Anna shot back vehemently. I had forgotten how much I loved her sass. 

“Nadia,” he addressed his mate, ignoring her “Let’s give them the room.” 

Nadia looked between Anna and Mason with her eyebrows raised. “You want me to take baby girl so y’all can duke it out?” She asked Anna who reluctantly handed baby Lizzie over to her. Nadia walked past her mate, giving him a small smile before giving me a strong side eye. As intense as she was, I was thankful for her loyalty to my mate and I made a mental not to thank her before I left. I watched them leave and an uncomfortable silence filled the room.