Pregnant For The Alpha I Never Met

Quiet Support

CALLIE'S POV

A few days after the phone recovery confirmation, Renan and I sat in his apartment organizing evidence files for Will Reid.

It felt strangely domestic…me curled up on his couch with my laptop, him at the dining table with stacks of financial records spread out, both of us working in comfortable silence.

This was what being together looked like. Not just the passionate moments, but this: quiet collaboration, shared purpose, choosing to spend our time side by side.

"These payment records are interesting," Renan said, flipping through bank statements. "Sabrina worked for June for years. Steady fifty-dollar weekly payments from 2000 all the way through early 2004."

I pulled up the spreadsheet Millie had shared with us…the one from her mother's locked filing cabinets. "Right. Legitimate household assistant wages. Nothing suspicious there."

"But then look at this." He slid over another set of documents. "Starting in January 2004, there's a separate set of payments. All marked with just Sabrina's initials. S.N."

I added them to my timeline. January 2004: five hundred dollars. February: eight hundred, and one thousand. March: fifteen hundred twice. April: two thousand twice again. May: three thousand, then five thousand.

"The amounts escalate fast," I noted. "Within five months, she went from five hundred to five thousand dollars."

"That's not gradual extortion. That's someone who found serious leverage and exploited it immediately." Renan leaned back. "Something changed in January. Something that gave Sabrina power over June."

I thought about the letters Millie had found…warnings from June's friends about Sabrina being suspicious, hovering, acting strange. Most of those letters were dated between February and May 2004.

"Whatever Sabrina discovered, it was big enough that June paid her fifty-three thousand dollars in five months rather than just fire her and go to the police."

The last payment was dated May 10, 2004. Five thousand dollars. June died ten days later.

"She paid right up until the end," I said quietly. "Even when she was getting sick, she kept paying Sabrina."

"Because she was terrified of what Sabrina would expose." Renan's jaw tightened. "And when the payments stopped…whether because June couldn't physically make them anymore or because she finally refused…Sabrina killed her."

I closed my laptop, suddenly needing a break from the darkness of it all.

"Coffee?" I asked.

"Please."

In his small kitchen, I found myself smiling despite the grim subject matter. His coffee maker was the same brand as mine. His mugs were mismatched, clearly collected over time rather than bought as a set.

There were photos on his fridge…pack gatherings, him with Braham, one of him and me from last week that I didn't even know he'd taken.

"You put us on your fridge," I said, pulling the photo down to look at it closer.

He appeared behind me, arms wrapping around my waist. "Of course I did. You're important to me."

"Important enough for fridge photo status?"

"Important enough for everything." He pressed a kiss to my temple. "How are you really doing? With all of this?"

I leaned back against him. "Honestly? I'm terrified."

"Of Sabrina's trial?"

"Of what comes after." I turned in his arms to face him. "Once this is over, once Sabrina's convicted and Martha's sentenced, Millie's going to want to formalize things with Braham. The pack meeting. Becoming official Luna."

"That's good. She should."

"And when that happens, they're going to look at you." I met his eyes. "They're going to see that Braham's Beta is mated to a human too. They're going to judge you for it."

Understanding dawned on his face. "You're worried about pack rejection."

"I'm terrified of it." The admission came out smaller than I intended. "You're Braham's Beta. Second-in-command. You're supposed to be an example for the pack. But instead you're with me…a human who can't shift, can't bond through the pack link, and can't give you wolf children."

"Callie..."

"I've been researching," I continued. "About pack dynamics and hybrid children and what it means when high-ranking wolves mate with humans. The statistics aren't great, Renan. Most packs see it as weakness. As diluting the bloodline."

"My pack isn't most packs."

"But they're still wolves. With wolf instincts and wolf traditions." I pulled away slightly. "What if they force you to choose? The pack or me?"

"Then I choose you." He said it without hesitation. "Every time."

"You can't mean that. You've been with that pack your whole life. They're literally your family."

"And you're my mate." He cupped my face. "Callie, I don't care if you're human. I don't care what the pack thinks. I don't care about bloodlines or traditions or any of it. I care about you."

"But what if..."

"No." His voice was firm. "We're not doing this. We're not letting fear of what might happen ruin what we have right now."

"I just don't want you to regret choosing me."

"Impossible." He kissed me softly. "You're the best choice I've ever made."

My phone rang, breaking the moment. Millie.

"Hey," I answered.

"The preliminary results are in." Her voice was shaking. "Dr. Brown just called. Ethylene glycol was present in all three blood samples. High concentrations. Exactly consistent with antifreeze poisoning over an extended period."

My breath caught. "So it's confirmed."

"It's confirmed. My mother was murdered." She laughed, but it sounded slightly hysterical. "We have toxicology results, eyewitness testimony, everything. Will says the DA is filing charges tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow?" I looked at Renan, who'd gone very still. "That's fast."

"They wanted to wait for preliminary results. Now they have them." Millie's voice steadied. "Sabrina's being charged with first-degree murder tomorrow. Will says with the evidence we have, she'll never see the outside of the prison again."

"Good. She deserves it."

"Callie?" Millie's voice softened. "Thank you. For everything you and Renan have been doing. Organizing evidence, supporting us, just being there. I couldn't do this without you."

"You never have to," I said. "We're family."

After I hung up, I turned to Renan.

"They're filing charges tomorrow. It's really happening."

"I heard." He pulled me close. "One step closer to justice."

We stood there for a long moment, holding each other in his small kitchen.

"I'm still scared," I admitted quietly. "About the pack. About what they'll think of us."

"I know. But Callie?" He tilted my chin up. "We'll face it together. Whatever comes. And if the pack has a problem with you being human, that's their problem. Not ours."

"You make it sound so simple."

"It is simple. I love you. You love me. Everything else is just noise."

I wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe that love was enough to overcome pack politics and tradition and centuries of wolf hierarchy.

But I'd seen enough to know better. Still, for now, I'd let myself hope.

"Okay," I said. "Back to work?"

"Back to work."

We returned to our evidence organization. Tomorrow, Sabrina would be formally charged with murder. And soon, Millie would finally get the justice she'd been waiting twenty-one years for.