Chapter 3
1450 Words
It was later in the evening that same day that Taylor was discharged from the hospital. Taylor took up the first shift of caring for the twins. She pumped every few hours and changed them. Somehow she managed to get a few hours of sleep the first night. Mrs. Davies made sure Taylor was taken care of and took over when she needed a break.
Carson took some time away from running the pack. He gave Gregory the twins to run the pack for him. Other members of the pack started to come around more. More so, the women who wanted to get a look at Tyler and Delia. The day sped by fast.
"Did you hear anything from Ava and Ian since the hospital?" Taylor asked.
"No. I think they are waiting for you to grovel to them about the attitude you displayed," Carson reminded.
"Or they could be giving us space and adjusting to being new parents," Taylor suggested making the twins their bottles.
Taylor cleaned the kitchen up and gave the twins their bottles. Carson was just about to leave the room when Gregory strolled in. Gregory leans over and whispers something in Carson's ear. It was low enough that Taylor could not pick up on it. A howl rang in the air from the woods. As doing so, both men looked out the patio door.
"What's going on?" Taylor asked, trying to catch onto what they were seeing.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Carson reminded walking out of the kitchen.
Gregory followed him.
"Daddy is acting weird," Taylor whispered into her son and daughter's hair.
The twins put both of their feet in their mouths and gurl the entire time. Taylor took the twins upstairs to get them ready for their naps. She heard a car pull into the driveway. Out of curiosity, it was Ava and her brother. She knew she had to apologize to them. A knock came from the front door. Carson answered it.
"Where's Taylor?" Ava questioned.
"Probably upstairs with the twins. They should be going down for their naps. You can go up to see them," Carson told her.
Ava rushed up the stairs and walked towards the nursery. She saw Taylor had her back towards her. Taylor was rocking one of the twins to sleep. The baby fell asleep enough that she put the child in the crib.
"How are you?" Ava asked.
"I am fine. More tired than usual. I am sorry for how I left things at the hospital the other day," Taylor apologized.
"I get it. You were exhausted from delivering two babies. Naturally, I will. I will say you were probably in pain from dealing with all of your emotions at one time. If I were in your shoes, I shoo everyone from the room," Ava empathized.
"Still I feel remorse for doing so," Taylor apologized again.
"Stop apologizing. We are fine I still think apologizing to Ian will help more than just me," Ava suggested.
"Was my brother angry at me for how I acted?" Taylor questioned.
"I would not say angry per se, "Ava emphasized playing with the ends of her hair.
"He's angry with me. I know how he is," Taylor sighed.
"Ian just wants you to be less angry all the time. Maybe having the twins will change that for you," Ava explained.
"Okay. The twins are asleep and we can probably go downstairs. I am hungry anyway. Tyler and Delia have had an appetite since giving birth," Taylor mentioned to Ava walking out of the nursery towards the kitchen.
Ava excused herself to use the restroom before they went to hang out in the kitchen. Taylor walked into the kitchen to run into Mrs. Davies making dinner for everyone. She found a clear spot on the kitchen island to sit. Ava came back from the bathroom.
"You two make yourselves useful and help me," Mrs. Davies retorted by throwing a tea towel at them.
"Okay, what are we tasked with?" Ava confused.
"Taylor, I want you on peeling and chopping vegetables duty. I want you, Ava, to clean up the dishes. Gosh, forbid we both know you are. Disaster in the kitchen. I will handle the rest," Mrs. Davies barked orders.
The women spent the lather of the remaining afternoon hour meal prepping for the rest of the week. The baby in the kitchen started going off. Mrs. Davies put her towel down and excused herself to attend to the twins. Once she left the room, they took a break from all the cooking and cleaning to just sit down for a second. The girls munched on the leftovers, chopped vegetables, and hung out in the kitchen. Ava decided to play on her phone.
"The twins are changed and rocked. They are sleeping. I am going to check on the boys. They had been doing pack business for hours. I am going to take some food out to them. They never took a break," Mrs. Davies told them and left the room with trays of food.
Taylor nodded and Ava went back to playing on her phone.
Not sure what else to do, Taylor went back to cleaning up the kitchen and dishes. She wondered what the urgent matter was that the boys had to spend hours in the office. What irked her the most was that Carson was supposed to be taking time away but was rushed back into running the pack. Her thoughts went to her wolf who was telling her something was coming. Her skin started tingling and rippling underneath. She felt she was going to shift for the first time in months. Looking down at her hands, she saw her nails lengthen into claws.
"Ava!" Taylor called out panicking.
"What?" Ava asked placing her phone down on the island.
"Something is happening to me. It's too soon for me to go through the change. I haven't done so in months," Taylor grimaced from the pain and gripped the counter for support.
Taylor held her breath to keep from screaming at the pain running through her body. Ava immediately stood up.
"I am going to go to get Mrs. Davies," Ava said.
"Hurry," Taylor replied in agony.
Taylor stood on the island taking deep breaths. A bunch of howls sang out in the distance. The howls sang again except this time they sounded much closer than before. The howls were calling to her. She pushed off the counter and slowly walked toward the patio door. Then she pulled open the patio door to see the other wolves from the pack sitting in her backyard. The other wolves wanted her to run them. The temptation to shift grew stronger. At this point, Ava and Mrs. Davies both came back to the kitchen.
"What do you think you are doing?" Mrs. Davies demanded standing behind Taylor.
"I want to run with the pack," Taylor replied.
"You are not going to be running with the pack if you are not fully healed since giving birth," Mrs. Davies ordered dragging Taylor by the arm and back inside.
A wolf whimpered as Taylor was dragged away it was loud enough for Taylor to hear through the door. Ava locked the patio door. Mrs. Davies was busy making something on the stove and turned it off.
"Sit here. Drink this," Mrs. Davies demanded thrusting the mug into Taylor's hands.
"What is this?" Taylor asked looking at the contents of the mug.
"It's an herbal remedy to suppress the wolf until new mothers are fully healed. There's a mixture of wolfsbane and lemongrass. You drink this every day few a week. Until then, you are going to be rendered human," Mrs. Davies explained.
"So, basically this tea has wolfsbane in it to make suffer. How is my wolf going to handle this gross conaction?" Taylor scoffed in defeat drinking the dreaded tea.
"Don't be a Debbie Downer. It's an important ritual that all new mothers go through," Mrs. Davies added.
"Will I have to go through this eventually?" Ava asked hesitantly.
"Yes, you will at some point. You can around more about it. For now, I will leave you two ladies to hang out here," Mrs. Davies bid us good night and left the room.
Ava stayed behind to make sure Taylor finished the tea before taking the cup from her. They spent the night in their thoughts on the revelations from Mrs. Davies. The office door opened after how many hours. The guys came out. Ian fetched Ava to go home without looking at Taylor. Carson and Gregory looked to either as something important was going on. They could not tell her anything.
- Writer
