Destiny of His Pack, Book 2

Rafferty

Crawling out of bed later, I left Marissa to sleep, and after a quick shower, I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. It ended up with me not having to cook anything, though. Because sitting on the counter was a basket of food along with a note.

The note read, I thought you two might be hungry, so I fixed you a little something. There is also a taco casserole in the fridge for lunch. -Love Ma

“Thank you, Ma,” I said as I hungrily dug into the basket.

“Hey, wolfman, what are you eating, and where is mine?”

I turned, my mouth full of chocolate chip muffin, to see Marissa standing in the doorway. Reaching into the basket, I pulled out another muffin and held it out.

With a grin, she stepped forward to take it. Soon both of us were eating like we hadn’t eaten in days.

Finally, having eaten enough, I took my last swallow of milk as I smiled at Marissa. “So, love, what shall we do today?”

Swallowing the last of her juice, she said, “Right now, I’m thinking nap. I feel like I was up the whole night.”

I chuckled. “Imagine that.”

Marissa smacked my chest. “Rafferty!”

I looked at her with a pout. “Ow! Why did you hit me? And what happened to you calling me wolfman? I like it.”

“Wolfman, I hit you because you were naughty. You know, though, I kinda liked you naughty,” Marissa told me.

She was almost purring, and I knew her lioness was very much in control, so I asked, “You do, do you? Well, let’s go see how naughty you can be.”

Then throwing her over my shoulder, I headed to our room while she laughed.

Marissa

It was two days before we made it out of the house. Rafferty said it was like the honeymoon all over again.

When we left, the first thing we did was go to the pack doctor to confirm my pregnancy. Since I’ll only be pregnant for four months, the babes will grow fast.

Walking into the clinic, the little dark-haired receptionist looked up and smiled. “Hello, Mr. Rafe. Are you here to see the doctor?”

“Yes, Sue, we are. Is he busy?” Rafferty answered.

“Never too busy to see my future Alpha and nephew,” a man said before the receptionist could answer.

Rafferty grinned as he turned. “Uncle Ray, it’s so good to see you. I would like you to meet my mate, Marissa. I know you’ve been gone and haven’t met her yet.”

“It’s so good to finally meet the girl I’ve heard so much about,” Uncle Ray said with a smile. “Now, I understand you may be pregnant. Shall we confirm it?” He waved his hand toward the door he’d just come from.

“How... but we never said...?” I sputtered, causing the men to chuckle.

“Ah, Marissa, the Alpha only howls when the job is done, and he knows there is a pup on the way. But, of course, you also roared, so it was an assumption on my part, but I am correct, aren’t I?” Uncle Ray asked.

“Well, yes,” I muttered with a blush.

“Rafe will also let out a howl to let the pack know when the pup arrives,” Uncle Ray told her.

“Wow, always learning something new,” I said, taking a seat on the exam table.

Uncle Ray looked puzzled. “I thought I heard your father is a lion shifter. Don’t they roar for these things?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Since I wasn’t brought up in the shifter world, I’m learning as I go. However, I’m finding that some things are different when it comes to felines,” I told the doctor as he examined my stomach.

Uncle Ray nodded as he moved the instrument around and smiled. “There it is. The baby’s heartbeat.”

I frowned. “Only one? There should be two.”

“Two? I only hear... wait... there’s the second heartbeat,” Uncle Ray said with a grin.

Rafferty and I grinned at each other.

“One sounds odd, though,” Uncle Ray said as he continued to listen. “Maybe I should run some tests to make sure they’re both alright.” He looked up at us questioningly.

“Yer babes are fine. Tell the good doctor that the cub’s heartbeat is slightly different than the pups,” her lioness said.

“Um, doctor, my lioness says they’re both fine,” I said. “The cub’s heartbeat just differs slightly from the pup’s heartbeat.”

“Pup, cub? You mean you’re having one of each? I don’t think I have ever heard of that happening before,” Uncle Ray said with a shocked look.

Rafferty smiled and patted his shoulder before helping me off the exam table and saying, “Yes, Uncle Ray, we are, and they will both be Alpha.”

“Oh, boy, I grew up with an Alpha brother, and it was tough. I can’t imagine what life would have been like if I’d have been one also. It probably would have been one big fight.” Uncle Ray shook his head. “All I can say is, good luck.”

“Thanks, Uncle Ray. Now it’s off to tell the parents,” Rafferty said. “Come on, my love. Ma is probably standing on her head by now.”

Laughing, we headed out the door and to the Alpha’s house.

“Pop, Ma, we’re here,” Rafferty called out as we walked in the front door of the Wildee home.

“In the sitting room Rafe, dear,” Gina called.

As we walked into the room, everyone looked at us expectantly. By everyone, I mean both sets of parents, my brother, and his wife, plus Rafferty’s grandmother and grandfather.

Rafferty grinned. “In four months, I will be a very proud father!”

There were cheers all around, along with hugs. To celebrate, Gina brought out a bottle of sparkling grape juice.

When things settled down, the Alpha spoke. “You know Rafe, the pups... the...?”

“Just call them grandbabies, dear,” Gina told him when he stopped talking, a puzzled look on his face.

The Alpha nodded, then continued. “The grandbabies will be due just a few days after your ceremony making you officially Alpha.”

Rafferty nodded. “My twenty-second birthday.”

“You will become Alpha on your birthday?” I asked, looking at him.

Rafferty nodded. “It would normally be the twenty-first birthday, but to become Alpha, I needed my mate. I found you after my twenty-first birthday had passed.”

“You know Rafe, your father and I were together for two years before he became Alpha. We met when he was nineteen, but I was only sixteen. Because I was so young, my parents made us wait until I was eighteen. He marked me two months before he became Alpha on his twenty-first birthday,” Gina told them/

“Why two months before?” I asked her.

Gina smiled. “Because I let him mark me for my eighteenth birthday. I told him it would be his birthday present to me, and it was the best present ever.”

“That is so sweet,” I gushed.

“Jeff’s birthday fell on a full moon that year, so four months after he became Alpha, we became parents. We were so lost and clueless when we had Rafe. So much responsibility, but we survived, and I think Rafe turned out pretty well,” Gina said, giving her son a loving look.

I looked over at Rafferty and softly agreed, “I think so too.”

Then he kissed me.

Four months flew by so fast because Rafferty and I were extremely busy.

Rafferty was finishing his Alpha training, which was much more intense than I’d ever dreamed it could be. It was, though, and it was almost like running a company with five hundred plus employees to keep up with. You also had to be referee between disputing Pack members. Then, when it came to discipline, you were like a parent.

As for me, maybe I wasn’t busy exactly. However, I didn’t have it easy either because I was miserably pregnant with twins.

I am huge!

Let me paint you a picture. I am five feet four inches tall and have never weighed more than about one hundred ten pounds soaking wet. I’m having twins, both male. Male shifters usually are bigger, or so I have been told, and I’m carrying two. It isn’t unheard of for a male to be eight or nine pounds at birth, so I look like I have one of those jumbo-sized beach balls shoved up my shirt.

Thankfully, Ma and Da stayed. Ma has been a big help with the cooking and cleaning around the house because just walking has become a chore.

Gina is just the sweetest too. She comes daily and gives me lessons on what a Luna does for her Alpha and her pack.

Ma also helped by telling us a little of how things were done in the Pride. Although, it had been years since she had done it because my brothers were five when they left Ireland.

They also helped with the babies’ room.

“I want them in the same room and even the same bed for the first year. My lioness says this will make their bond as brothers stronger, and they will need that to run the pack together,” I told Gina and Ma as we sat on the porch, taking a break from everything.

Gina nodded. “That makes sense. Jeff’s mother said her boys stayed together until about six months until Jeff began to show signs of being Alpha, then she separated them. Although they stayed in the same room.”

I absent-mindedly nodded as I stared off into space. I rubbed my belly. It had been aching for a couple of days now. I figured this meant the babies were preparing to drop in preparation for birth. It’s less than a week now until Rafferty’s Birthday, and the babes could come any time after that.

“Marissa, would you like to tell us what’s wrong?” Ma asked.

I looked over at her, startled. “Nothing is wrong, Ma. Everything’s fine.”

“I’m your mother, Marissa,” Ma stated. “I know when you’re worried about something, and you are worried.”

I sighed. “It’s not a big deal, Ma. It’s just something my lioness told me, and I need to tell Rafferty, but I don’t know-how. I’ll figure it out, though.”

“Marissa, I don’t wish to poke my nose where it isn’t wanted but keeping things from your mate is never a good thing. You know, though, if you worry hard enough, he’ll feel it through your bond and question you anyway. You know that, right?” Gina said.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” I confessed. “I just... I don’t know how to tell him.”

“Tell us, dear, and maybe we can help,” Gina said softly, leaning forward to grab my hand.

“Yes, Marissa, let us help,” Ma added.

I sighed, decided to give in to their pushing.