The Alpha who Loved Me

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

(Rafe’s POV)

Standing up I stepped back and looked down at her. This was a huge step for her. I know from the little talks we’ve had over the last few months that she was leaning towards never finding out who she was and where she came from, because she felt that she didn’t need to know where she came from since her parents gave her up. In our world it isn’t often that werewolves give their children up, it isn’t unheard of just rare, typically if a werewolf is an orphan it’s because their parents died or went rogue and the Alpha of the pack didn’t want to subject the child to the life of being a rogue. “Are you sure?” I finally asked after looking at her for a few minutes.

“Yes. It’s time, and maybe finding out who they are will also let us know the threat that we may be under. I don’t know why but I have this feeling that Randolph and Marcus aren’t after me for themselves but someone else.”

Hearing this I was a little stunned. “What makes you say that?”

“I’m not exactly sure, just the last few nights or so I’ve felt like something or someone else is the reason behind them wanting me back so bad, and not just because they want me back as their slave.”

I had to close my eyes and focus on not losing my temper, the way they had treated her still angered me. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes. “Let’s go down and have Michelle draw the blood we’ll need while you’re doing that, I’ll start making some phone calls.”

“Phone calls?”

“Yes, in order to use the database, I’m planning on using, we have to have permission from the Alpha King.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open into an O shape. “I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s not a big deal, I am sort of friends with the Alpha King.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my grandfather and the former King were best friends, and while I’m not close to the current one as my grandfather was to the former, I still call him a friend.”

“Okay.” I watched as she maneuvered her chair around the desk and started heading for the door. When she reached it, she turned her head back to look at me. “Go ahead and start making your calls, I can get down to the hospital by myself, and if I need you, I’ll call.”

“Sounds good.” Following her out of the room, I stopped in front of my office door and watched her until she got in the elevator and the door slid shut.

Going into my office, I grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge I had in there and walked over to my desk taking a seat. Pulling out my phone I scrolled to the Alpha Kings personal number and pressed call.

It took maybe three rings when he answered. “Hello Rafe, to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing from you?” he answered with a chuckle, we may be friends, but I hardly ever called him.

“Hi Renaldo, hope you’re doing well.”

“I am, Megan is doing well also.” I heard a thump in the background and Renaldo groan. “Okay, she’s doing as well as she can be. She’s in her last month of pregnancy.”

I chuckled, that explained the thump, “I’m glad.”

“So, Rafe cut the bullshit, I know you. What do you need?”

“You’re right I do need something, but I didn’t want to be rude.”

“Uh huh sure. So, what can I do for you?”

“I need access to the database. Sooner, rather than later would be best, but I know it takes a couple months to get the approval.”

“Why?” was all he said in reply.

“I found my mate a few months back.”

“That’s great, still doesn’t explain why Rafe. I already told you to cut the bullshit.”

“I’m getting there, I figured you’d want the whole story.”

“Okay, okay.” He replied.

“So, I found my mate a few months back. The week after I turned twenty-five, I went to Lotus Grove to fulfill the arrangement my father had made with them.”

“I remember you telling me about going there to do that when I was there for your birthday.”

“Okay, well my mate ended up being the daughter of the Beta, she was the only female of the three families. Anyways, that was five months ago, the first two months of her being her at Black diamond she was in a coma.”

“Goddess why?”

“Her brother beat her and severed her spinal cord.”

“Tell me the bastard is dead.”

“Unfortunately, no. She was only seventeen when all this happened, she didn’t know I was her mate, all I was focused on at the time was getting Ava out of there, so I left it up to their Alpha, he banished both the brother and the father, the Beta’s of the pack, from the pack since they both had routinely been beating her since she was eight or nine.”

“Damn, if I ever come across those rogues, their dead. But still, this doesn’t explain why you need the database, you already know who her father and brother are.”

“They were her adoptive family. Randolph and his wife adopted her when she was three weeks old.”

“Okay, my next question is why did you wait so long to decide to use the database?”

“Ava wasn’t ready. We’ve talked about it off and on since she woke up from the coma. I left the decision to her instead of just finding out myself, believe me I wanted to, but I wanted her to make the decision so she didn’t feel like she didn’t have the freedom to make her own choices. She lived so long with not being able to do what she wanted to do. Hell, I just dropped fifteen hundred dollars at Hobby Lobby, because she loves to paint, but was only able to do so at school.”

“You have permission to use the database, expect me to be at your pack within the week to go over the details and sign the proper documents.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. You’re right normally it takes months to get permission, because regardless of what people think I’m not the only one who makes the decisions, I usually need to run everything by the council. But in this case, I have a suspicion. And No, I’m not willing to divulge anything more, because I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”

“Okay I’ll take it. When do you expect to be here?”

“Hopefully by Saturday. I have a few things to wrap up before I can make the trip. Also, I don’t want to be too far from Megan, so we need to get her cleared to travel.”

“I understand. I’ll inform my men to prepare for your arrival, and let Michelle know to be on standby for Megan, anything she has that isn’t pressing is to be handed off to our other Doctor on staff.”

“I appreciate that.” He said. After a few more minutes of conversation we both hung up.

Setting my phone down on the desk, I ran my hands through my hair and started to think about what Ava had said. It’s entirely possible that we have a traitor in our midst. But I just couldn’t figure out who it was. Sighing, I linked both Matt and Darek, as well as Eric to meet me in my office. All three of them replied they would be up as soon as they were finished with what they were doing.

After linking them I linked Michelle and told her to tell Ava I would meet her at dinner. Michelle immediately responded telling me Ava was going to go lay down before dinner, that the blood draw had made her dizzy.

Is she okay?

She’ll be fine. It happens sometimes.

If you’re sure. I said and heard her chuckle before cutting off the connection.

While I waited for the guys to finish their tasks they had been working on, I decided to get some work done as well. I haven’t been to my office at the company I also ran since before I brought Ava home. There were more important things going on here at home, and I hadn’t wanted to leave Ava. Mostly I was able to handle everything remotely any meetings where the client or a business partner wanted to argue about doing it over video conference I had just used the guilt card asking if they had a family member that they were really close to go into a coma, would they be by their side, or worrying about having a meeting that could easily be handled over a video conference in person.

Since the door to my office was still open, I heard when Ava made her way down the hall, and I listened until I heard her shut the door to her room. I really wanted to make sure that she was okay, but I had to have faith in not only what Michelle had said, but also that Ava would have stopped to tell me if something was really wrong.

After taking care of some of the paperwork I had been neglecting and answering some emails, I heard two sets of footsteps heading up the stairs, I recognized the thumbing of feet falling to the ground as both Matt and Darek, so I was honestly surprised when all three of them walked in. “Eric, how the hell did you make it up here without me realizing you were coming?”

Eric shot me a cocky grin. “I’ve been working on making my steps lighter, so it’ll be harder to detect when I’m coming. Figured it would be a useful skill if we’re ever in a situation where we need to be extremely stealthy.”

I shake my head and smile, “Well one of you close and lock the door. Then take a seat.” I waited for them to take their seats before I started. “What I’m about to say is to remain between the three of us until further notice. Understood.”

“Yes Alpha.” They all three replied, with grave expressions on their faces.

“Ava has decided to find out who her biological family is. Part of what initiated this decision is what Michelle told us about the possibility of getting her legs back. The other part, is Ava feels that we have an intruder or a traitor in our midst.”

“Do what?” Matt all but screams.

“I had the same reaction. While we were talking, she mentioned she’s had this unexplained feeling that someone or something else was behind Randolph and Marcus wanting her back. And even though they said two weeks it’s been nearly three and a half months and we haven’t seen or heard from anyone since.” Taking a deep breath. “Ava’s window was open this morning, and she swears she hasn’t touched it since we moved her in there. I figured it had just been wiggled loose from the wind or something, but after the tail we had this afternoon coming home and what she said I’m not so sure.”

“So, what do you want to do?”

“f**k if I know. For now, lets just keep our ear to the ground. See if anyone looks suspicious. I believe more that we have a traitor than I believe someone has slipped passed out defenses.”

“Okay, we can handle that.”

For the next hour or so, we discuss strategy and what our plans are for catching the bastard or bastards that thought they should betray us. When we wrap up, I drop the other bombshell I’ve got, “One more thing before we all head down to dinner.” Pausing I look at them to make sure I have their attention. “Renaldo is coming to Black Diamond.”

“Holy Shit.” Matt says. “What for? He hasn’t been here since your birthday. Is it because of the possible traitors?”

“Partially, he’s also coming himself so I can sign the documents needed to use the database. He’s already granted us permission to use it. Once I sign, we can send Ava’s blood over to the lab and they can give the data to Amy to run through the database.”

                                            §§§§

Going down to dinner, I see Ava has already made her way down and is chatting with mom and Michelle, I notice that Michelle seems tired, and I really hope there isn’t anything wrong with her. She was saying last night that she hadn’t been feeling well.

Walking up to the group, I leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Ava’s head, then turned my attention to Michelle. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She replied with a smile, “Just tired.”

“Maybe you should take a couple days off, especially before Saturday.” I said as I took my seat next to Ava.

“What’s happening Saturday?” Ava asked turning to look at me with a curious gaze.

“The Alpha King is coming personally to deliver the paperwork needing to be signed for the permission t use the database.”

I watched Ava’s face as her eyes grew round with wonder. “The Alpha King is coming here?”

“Yes, little one. He said he should be here by Saturday.” Turning my attention back to Michelle, “Megan is in the last month of her pregnancy and Renaldo doesn’t want to travel to far away from her. So, he is bringing her with him, I told him I would tell you to pass off anything you have that isn’t pressing to Maddison that way you are available if she needs anything.”

I watched as Michelle let out a sigh and nodded that she understood. I was about to ask her if she had a problem with that when Darek walked in and sat down next to her placing a kiss on her temple. It suddenly hit me that Michelle might not want to have to possibly deliver the Queen’s baby. Here lately Michelle referred all pregnancies over to Maddison because sometimes it just got to much for her that she hadn’t been able to conceive yet. “Michelle, I wasn’t thinking when I told Renaldo I’d have you on stand-by.”

Michelle smiled at me. “It’s fine Rafe, I’m just tired.”

“Are you still not feeling well?”

She chuckled, “Not really, but it’ll be okay.”

“If you’re not feeling well, I want you to take the next few days off. Hand everything over to Maddison before the King and Queen gets here, that way you can rest.”

Michelle let out a laugh at that. “Rafe, seriously, I’ll be fine. It’s to be expected when one is pregnant.”