Chapter 6

Thomas

I had only ever loved two women in my life. Seeing them walking away together, laughing and loving each other, made my heart swell.

Of course, it wasn't the same. I had never loved Sydney the way I love Lily, but she had also been one of my closest friends, and I would have hated to lose that.

Lily was the most amazing woman in the world, in my opinion, and instead of pushing Sydney out of my life, she'd befriended her and brought her even closer to our inner circle.

"Hey, are we doing this or what?" Luke asked, but I caught him staring after our girls, too.

"What's needed?"

"There's a tree down across Thomas Street. Sounds like its got your name all over it. Think you remember how to handle a chainsaw, Alpha?"

I rolled my eyes. "That was terrible, even for you."

He smirked and shrugged.

I grabbed the chainsaw he offered me and walked over to Thomas Street to get started on the tree. There were four other men that in the time we took to say goodbye to our mates, had already began working on it.

I couldn't have been prouder, but Luke had issued a challenge to my manhood that I had to respond to anyway.

"You guys better save me a cut on this one."

They all stopped and stared back at me with wide eyes.

"We've got this, Alpha," one man said.

"I know you do, but Luke will never let me live it down if I don't do something."

So they gave me the last cut of the tree and had the pieces removed before I could even set the chainsaw down to help.

I gave Luke a sheepish look and shrugged.

"It counts," I argued.

"That was pitiful."

"Whatever. It's not my fault they got to it first."

"So next one?"

I picked up the chainsaw and took it with me. "Next one."

But as we walked around town, there just didn't seem to be a next one. The entire Pack had come out and was working together to knock things out quickly. There were even tarps going up over the buildings damaged from the storm. And I knew that no matter what we were going to be okay.

James waved me down and jogged over to us.

"Just got word the airfield's been cleared, and the plane is being readied for your departure."

"Where the hell are you going at a time like this?" Luke asked.

I groaned. "Lily. Shit. I forgot all about that. She wanted to leave early for our trip to San Marco."

"Two weeks early?"

Nodding, I spoke again. "Yes, but that was before this storm. We were finalizing things last night before all of this."

"And now?"

"I can't leave with things like this. But I do need to talk to her and see if she wants to take the girls and go ahead without me."

Luke checked his watch. "It's about lunchtime anyway. We might as well head over to the club and grab something."

"Yup." I was too lost in thought to carry much of a conversation.

Lily had been so adamant about going early that I'd agreed just to keep her calm and happy. Too much stress right now wasn't good for the baby. Then again, how much more stress could we possibly be under than this?

It was almost comical to think about.

When we arrived at the country club, Lily looked as if she were holding court. She had everyone's attention as she gave instructions and stopped to talk one-on-one with people. Being Pack Mother came so naturally to her, like she was born for this role. Maybe it was because she was. Her mother was very outspoken about her belief that God never made mistakes when matching mates. It followed the concept that each of us had one perfect person out there to balance and perfect our life. Lily was mine.

Seeing her now, it was easy to imagine God creating her just for this role—to be my mate, mother of our pups, support our Pack, and somehow still be wholly, authentically, and unapologetically Lily.

God, I loved this woman.

When she saw me across the room, her entire face lit up with happiness and she gave me a little wave until she could excuse herself from the conversation she was in and walk over.

Giving me a quick kiss on the lips first, she then stepped back and eyed me suspiciously.

We never shied away from our affections towards each other, not even in front of our Pack.

"What's going on?"

"The runway is clear, and they are prepping the plane for our departure."

"Departure where?"

I stared at her like she had two heads.

"San Marco, Slugger."

She looked momentarily confused and then understanding set in.

"You can't possibly expect us to just leave now! Our Pack needs us here. There's too much to do. We have displaced wolves and hungry workers."

I silenced her with another kiss.

"I am aware of all of that, but yesterday you were very specific about your request to fly home early."

She looked around and shook her head. "First, I can't believe that was only yesterday. Second, this is my home, our home, Thomas. Our people need us more now than ever, and we have a responsibility to be here and be present for them."

"I know, but it's okay if you and the girls want to fly out early. No one would argue it, especially in your condition."

I saw the look of fury in her eyes before the words were fully out of my mouth.

"In my condition? My condition! What condition is that? Just because I'm pregnant means I'm worthless and incapable of doing anything?"

"That's not what I meant at all, and you know it."

"I don't know anything. What does my condition have to do with anything?"

"Nothing at all. It's just that everyone already worries about you overdoing things, so if you need the break and some downtime with your family, no one will fault you for it. That's all."

"Do you even know me? Do you think I'm capable of just abandoning our people in a time like this? We have a responsibility here first and foremost."

I kissed her again, and this time I heard Luke chuckle nearby.

"I love you. And I agree with everything you said. I can't leave right now. I just wanted you to know that if you still felt strongly about getting back to San Marco that I could make that happen still."

Her forehead wrinkled, but she didn't try to argue again.

"I'm staying."

"Yes, ma'am. Luke, tell the pilot to stand down. We aren't going anywhere."

*****

Life changed quickly in a week.

It was amazing to watch the transformation and realize just how much we'd accomplished in such a short period of time.

The debris was gone and so were a lot of the tarps. Lizzy had made record time getting an insurance adjuster out to assess the damage, but I wasn't waiting around for that money and had fronted the costs of the projects myself once we'd gotten approval to use our own team from within Collier for the repairs. I think the guy was a little shocked at just how quickly a community like ours could move in response to a crisis.

In all, we only lost seven homes, two storefronts in town, and ten head of cattle. Ruby and Emmett had done a fantastic job securing our animals that needed it and the rest free-ranged, finding places to ride out the storm. Since none of the barns or the dairy took any serious damage, things were good.

Still, I couldn't help but weigh the cost and potential damage of a large greenhouse in that storm, or even fields of gardens. It was exactly that kind of storm that had nearly bankrupted this Pack years ago and why we had gotten away from farming and into ranching.

I was going to have to reconsider things after this and was grateful I hadn't given my stamp of approval yet on Kenneth's project. If I had, it would have quickly turned into a very costly investment.

Luke was meeting me at the ranch to do a walkthrough with Emmett, Clay, and Ruby, but only Ruby was around.

"Where is everyone? I thought we had a meeting today."

"You didn't get the text?"

"What text?"

"Angel's in labor. Your whole Six Pack went over to support her and Austin. Sam was en route last update I saw."

"Angel's in labor, like right now?"

"Yes."

I couldn't help but feel guilty for not realizing how close she was to delivery. In my mind, we had plenty of time to get through the reunion in Westin and return before this, but if it hadn't been for the storm, we'd have already left and taken Sam with us.

It wasn't that we didn't have several fully qualified midwives in the Pack that could deliver. Heck, Sam was really only used for the high-risk patients and, at my insistence, Lily. But I knew that if we'd been away, and she went into labor with any complications whatsoever, I would never forgive myself.

"Well, are you sticking around or going?" my sister asked.

"I'm going already," I snapped.

"They're having a home birth," she shouted after me.

On my run back to the car, I remembered to call my mate.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Angel's having the baby," I blurted out.

"I know. I'm here."

I paused between jumping into the car and starting it up.

"You didn't think to call me?"

"I assumed one of the boys did. You always know everything before me."

"Well, not this time," I muttered, starting the engine and racing over to Austin's house.

By the time I arrived, there was excitement in the air.

I walked into his house unannounced to find him standing there as everyone congratulated him. I'd missed it all.

"Thomas! You're here just in time. I told them not to bother you. I know you've been busy."

"What the hell, man? I'm never too busy for something like this."

"Austin," Paige complained. "How is Angel?"

Emmett reached down and stroked her baby belly. She was due around the same time as Lily.

One thing was certain, my friends and I knew how to make some babies. There had been a recent Six Pack boom.

"Austin, answer her," Lily demanded.

"Oh right, it's a boy!"

"Dude, she had the baby already?" Emmett asked.

"Yes. They're getting cleaned up now."

We all went quiet, listening for the cry of our newest kid, but there was nothing.

"Is everything okay? Is Angel and the baby okay?" Kate asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah, they're perfect. Why?"

"There's no sound coming from the room."

"Oh, right. Angel was a bit self-conscious about being in labor and everyone hearing her. So I stole a dampener from Thomas's house."

"You did what?"

"Borrowed. He meant borrowed," James assured me.

"You could have just asked."

Lily scoffed. "As possessive as you are about those things? I wouldn't have had the guts to touch one."

"I'm sorry, Thomas. I should have asked first. She was just so nervous about everything."

"It's fine," I assured him. "I'm just really glad that Angel and the baby are okay."

"That was a super-fast delivery," Winnie said.

"Only because she waited so long to tell me. She's been having contractions off and on since the storm and every time I'd freak out, call the midwife, get everyone in place, and they'd taper off. This time she wasn't going to tell me until she knew for certain, so he was almost here by the time the midwife arrived and I started calling you guys."

It bothered me that I hadn't been on that list of people to call. He really thought I was too busy for this? Nothing was more important. I would happily welcome every pup to my Pack but being one of my brothers made it even more important to me. How couldn't this dumbass know that?

I tried to push it out of my mind. Now wasn't the time to address it. Today was all about celebrating our newest pup to the Six Pack family.

"When can we see them?" Lily asked.

We had all been wondering the same thing.

"Let me check," Austin said, but before he reached his bedroom door, it opened and Angel walked out carrying their child. "Angel, what are you doing? Get back in bed."

"I'm fine, Austin."

The midwife followed her out. "She's right. Getting up and moving is a good thing. You shouldn't be trying to confine her to the bed."

Still, he ran to her side, and she begrudgingly passed the tiny bundle to him.

"Everyone, this is Atlas. Atlas, this is your family."