Alpha's Blind Luna



Vale contacted the pack to tell them we would be adopting the twins. Now, my days were split between the normal tasks around the pack and doing a bunch of research on babies. As much as I wanted a family, I'd never been close enough to having one that I needed to know all the in's and outs. I didn't have any friends who had pups either. Rose would have been the first. I felt wholly unprepared.

Hector moved out of his room because it was next to ours. He said we would want to be as close to them as possible and relented his room to us. We offered him one of the bedrooms on the third floor but he ended up taking Auri's old room. He was reverent about it. Not taking any of his furniture and swapping it. Instead, just using hers. It was hard, seeing him and what he had become. It wasn't that he was crumbling, at least not on the outside, it was more like there was nothing inside.

Hector performed every duty and task at 100%. Even with not shifting once, he took over training which freed up Jax and I. We had been taking turns for the morning and night sessions. There were complaints rolling in about how strict and that some of them couldn't move after training. Jax and I would just laugh. Hector also started my personal morning training and I knew exactly what the boys were feeling.

His style had changed and it was harsher than before. It was far more like Morgan's but with an over-the-top power behind it. The first few days I ended up having broken bones from our spars. Vale was angry but Hector invited him to a one-on-one and that shut him up.

Stirring the pot with the pasta in it, I was staring at my tablet reading a parenting book as I prepped part of dinner for everyone. Footsteps made me look up and I smiled as Vale came over, kissing the side of my head. The smile stayed until I felt his trepidation through the bond. My eyes narrowed and I pursed my lips.

"What Vale?"

"Can I not just kiss you? Do I need..."

Raising my eyebrow, I placed a hand on my hip. He sighed and shut the refrigerator after grabbing a soda. “I don't want you to be mad.”novelbin

"Me? Mad? Never." My sarcasm made him chuckle.

Turning back to the stove, I turned off the fire and pulled the pasta, straining it into the sink. After setting it aside, I moved the pan I had preheating to make the sausages and garlic sauce.

"I'm going to head to the High Council in a few days."

Slamming down the wooden spoon on the kitchen top, I spun around to face him. His head was down, looking ashamed.

"Vale Everfell! I'm up to my eyeballs in baby prep! You've given me your two cents maybe three times with the promise of helping me later. And instead you're leaving?"

"I know, I know. But if I go now, I can wrap things up and not need to go back for at least a few months...."

I threw up my hands. "We talked about this already! You can't just be galavanting around with the High Council anymore, Vale. I need you here. The pack needs you, I need you, and these pups are going to need you! You promised!"

"I know, Zeke. I know and I will. But I need to wrap things up. Just some last minute things. Then all the work can be done from here."

"You need to know how to delegate. Kings don't just go off with every issue. They delegate to their court. Your court is here. What happens if something happened to you?"

He chuckled. "Well, we haven't heard of a crazy strong Alpha being born, so I'm safe."

My anger flared and my fist flew before I realized it. I'd been training a lot and with Vale not expecting it, he wasn't fast enough block it. Knuckles connecting with his jaw, the sound of cracks was deafening. Shame and regret flooded me, as I realized what I had done. Vale was holding his jaw as he stumbled back out of the kitchen.

"Fuck, Zeke! The hell!"

"Don't joke around that! It's not funny!"

He rubbed his chin. "You didn't have to hit me. I think you broke something."

Turning, I went back to my pan. Turning up the heat, I tossing the meat in it. The sizzle drowning out the quiet of the house and Vale grumbling. "Hey, hey, Zeke. Come on." Vale's hand grabbed my waist but I stood my ground.

"Leave me alone. Like you continuously do."

He sighed loudly. "Don't throw that at me. You know I have to work with the High Council. Work with the other supernaturals to try and not let this situation devolve any more than it has. It's been a mess. Please..."

I grit my teeth. It was true, I did know what he was going through. What the world outside our pack was dealing with. I also knew I was being petty but it was larger than that. Vale had promised to help, which he was bailing out on. He was at the beck and call of the High Councilors and never said no to them since that stupid news program came up. Hell, he took over as Alpha as I requested just to be able to go. But since then, he's never said no. "Please, what Vale? You said you would help! You've managed to weasel your way out of pack management of every time. Now, when I asked you for help with the pup's room, you are literally leaving the country. What am I supposed to think?"

Throwing the sausage and sauce into the pasta, I threw it in the fridge for the cold pasta salad I intended on adding to tonight's dinner. The glass bowl was unnecessarily loud against the shelf but I slammed the refrigerator door shut without even letting the bowl settle.

"I need you to promise this ends. You can't be leaving like this. This process was started by you. You chose these kids. That you showed me. I'm excited to start a family with you, Vale." I walked over to him, running my thumb gently over his quickly bruising jaw. "But if this is what it's going to be like, then we need to stop this now.

"It won't. I promise." Vale took my hand and kissed it. "I'm sorry."

Sighing, I closed my eyes. "Before you go, you have to finish the inspection on the new warehouse and factory for the Delgado family."

"But I...!"

Putting my hand up, I peeled my eyes open at him. "No Vale. I need your help. It needs to be done so I can go with Lucy into town."

This time, Vale's eyes narrowed. "You can order everything to be delivered here. You don't need to go off territory."

I rolled my eyes. "I do and I won't be alone."

"Take Hector with you."

"I'm not gonna bother Hector, Vale."

"I don't care. Take Hector with you."

"Vale..."

“Don't 'Vale' me! I said take Hector. End of discussion." Vale closed the distance between us. Naresh had stepped forward, his eyes glowing bright. "We will not lose you, mate. Not again. This is non-negotiable."

I opened my mouth to argue when Hector's mind link filtered through my head. 'I don't mind, Zeke. Let it go. Pick your battles.'

Taking a deep breath, I let my shoulders fall, allowing Vale to tower over me. "Fine, Vale, fine. You win. But don't joke about you dying. You don't get to be reckless just cause you think you aren't going to die."

Not waiting for his reply, I turned and headed out of the kitchen. With my tablet in my hands, I made my way up the stairs. Turning into the bedroom next to ours, I pulled up my checklist I was making for the pup's room and started to go through it.

I'd mapped out a couple different options for the room but the baby forums were driving me nuts. Everyone had an opinion on everything. You had to have this, you didn't need this, this makes you a better parent. How was I supposed to know what was what? Picking up the measuring tape, I started to measure out a crib I found that I actually liked but it was bigger than the initial map I had done. I'd need to alter my design plans.

The front door shut and I knew Vale had gone out. The frustration bubbled over. Throwing the measuring tape, it slammed against the only piece of furniture left in the room. The wood chair fell over and a piece of it flew off in the opposite direction go the tape.

"It's rare for you to resort to violence."

Spinning around, Hector was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

"I'm just...frustrated. I didn't mean..."

Hector chuckled. “I'm not saying Vale didn't deserve it, Zeke. I'm just saying you're usually not prone to it. Though, I don't think the poor chair did anything wrong."

I smiled and righted the chair that had fallen over. Plopping myself down, I set the tablet in the floor and buried my face in my hands.

"I'm so overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed before all this but Vale promised to help. I thought it would be fine. I thought..."

Hands rested on my knees and I looked up to see Hector kneeling in front of me. He was smiling but it wasn't reaching his eyes, it never did anymore. "Give Vale a little bit of slack. While this might have been his idea to begin with, it doesn't mean he isn't scared. I think you forget sometimes just how young he is."

"He's not..."

Hector held up a finger, stopping me. "You weren't the first born but you did have to step up as the eldest once your brother died. That's a quick shove into Alpha adulthood that you wouldn't have normally had. Vale didn't have that." He sat back a little bit. "Vale was the last of Auri's kids, the baby. While Logan and Auri knew he was the Alpha King, Vale wasn't raised as the Alpha King. He was raised as the younger brother. His life's goal at the time was to be his brothers Beta, not lead an entire race."

Hector smiled a bit before looking me directly in the eyes as he continued. "Even when he chose to go to the High Council, the responsibility wasn't all on him. The High Council shouldered most of the burden of decisions, handing him missions. This is the first time Vale has felt the weight of his race, and the decisions he makes, on his shoulders. It takes more than a few years to feel comfortable with that but even then...having people around you who help make you better and you can lean on is important."

"I don't know if we are ready for this too." I gestured to the room. There were swatches of paint in the wall that I still hadn't decided that I liked or not. Blue painters tape also lined the doorway and molding on the bottom of the wall.

"No one is truly ready for kids. You could read hundreds and thousands of baby books and never be ready. You'll mess up, a lot. It's just a fact. Parenting isn't a science. You can't study it and understand it better. It's trial and error. What works for some pups won't work with others or work with you as a parent. You just have to muddle your away through."

I put my face in my hands again. "How do you not mess up then? How do I be better than my parents?" Hector pulled my hands away. "You already are. We are the product of our parents but when we turn to parent our own, we've leaned what not to do from our parents. We take the best of them and avoid the worst. That's already improving." He chuckled. “You're stressing about this too much and you're still in the mindset that you're alone without Vale and you're not."

"What do you mean?"

Tapping the tablet and handing it to me, Hector got stood up. "Don't bother getting two cribs. Twins tend to not want to be separated. Especially ones who've gone through trauma. They may not remember it as babies but they will be away the ones who held them close and loved them for the first three months of life are gone. So kept them together. Freya and Sif refused to sleep without each other within touching distance."

I nodded, opening up my notepad and writing. "Freya and Sif are Vale's sisters, right?"

He nodded. “If you don't have the information in your paperwork but make sure you get the same, or as close as you can, to food they are having. I'm not sure if they have a wet nurse out there or if it's formula but it's good to check. Try to keep it the same.”

"Right." I continued to take notes. "What about diapers? I mean..."

"Those depend on weight but seeing as they are three months you're probably going to be looking at size two unless you're going cloth."

I shook my head.

"Then Auri would be remiss for me to not tell you to get one of those diaper trash cans. She said there was no way she was taking out the trash every time of them pooped, especially with two. Those trash cans reduce odor are a must even if others say it isn't."

"I...thank you..."

Standing up, Hector ruffled my hair and I wrinkled my nose. "You have elders who either have helped raise kids or have kids of their own. Bryan may have you buy a ton of pool noodles for safety but he would be the one to talk to about baby proofing."

Taking a deep breath, I felt Faris settle down in my mind as I relaxed a little. He'd been on edge as well because of me. “Are you sure you're okay with coming tomorrow?"

Hector turned and headed out the doorway. Before he was out of sight, he flashed me a wry grin. "Whatever my king wants, right?"