Chapter 32

It had been a week since Ruby won the Position Challenge against Tyson. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that the entire pack was happy with this change since Tyson apparently did many things that were against Pack Law–Issuing a Sanction wide search for the previous Alpha so he could kill him? Against the law due to the Challenge being over, and there was a clear winner. Trying to kill rogues just for being rogues? Also against the law due to there being a requirement of the rogues having to break a law themselves to be killed by anyone.

Tyson also had gone into the neighboring towns, killed a few people, and hid their bodies so they would not be found when searching for Ryker. The only ones that knew about it were Tyson’s top five wolves, and he Alpha Commanded them not to say anything. With him being dead, the Command was canceled out. They were all too thrilled to explain how they felt like they were under a spell to hate the sanctuary of Wolf’s Den even though they thought it was an incredible place because rogues could feel like they had their own home.

Due to Ruby winning and becoming the Alpha of the Western Sanction, Ryker and she felt that they should return to the West Coast pack house to better govern the pack. Ryker did decide that, since they would be living amongst the West Coast pack again, they should have their own home. However, until it was built, they would stay in the pack house.

Ryker also decided that they would need to hand their titles of Alpha of the Wolf’s Den pack to someone else. Their first thought was Deacon and Tasha. They both knew Wolf’s Den inside and out and even had positive relationships with everyone in the town, but when Ruby and Ryker offered them the positions, they turned it down.

“No. We would like to become members of the West Coast pack,” Deacon explained to them.

Ruby was very surprised by this. “I thought neither of you wanted to be a part of a pack again. Wolf’s Den is one thing, since it is composed of, I guess used-to-be, rogues who have a similar mindset to your own, and you’ll even have the barrier in place. It’s a whole different thing to be in West Coast.”

“This is all true.” Tasha jumped into the conversation after she sat on Deacon’s lap. “But we want to be with you guys. You gave us back our faith in being part of a pack, but we never wanted to be in charge of anything, so Alphas would not really be the position we want.”

Ryker looked directly at Deacon and asked, “you do know that if you come to West Coast, you would still be Beta, right?”

Deacon’s eyes went wide, and it was clear he did not realize this. “Why?”

“Well first off, because your wolf is that powerful. That’s why you were Beta here in the first place. Second, because I know I can trust you to have my back. You’ve proven that since you came here, and I want it to remain that way.”

Tasha and Deacon looked at each other for a moment and then smiled. “We will gladly accept to be your Betas!” Tasha squealed.

Wolf’s Den was then handed to a wolf by the name of Blake. He was the next strongest wolf within the town, and he moved into Wolf’s Den shortly after Ryker. He cared about the town and was one of the wolves that came with them to rescue Ryker and made sure he was present when Ruby challenged Tyson. Good man and wolf. Not once had he tried to make waves toward Ryker, and he did his best to keep the town safe. Ryker trusted him and officially had him pledge to the Western Sanction so they could receive the benefits of being a pack. Blake had no qualms pledging his alliance, and the town was happily accepting that they were now part of the sanction.

I guess when the right person leads, rogues will be more accepting of becoming pack members again.

All rogues want a home. Some just won’t accept poor leadership and would rather live as a rogue instead.

It had taken a few days, but Ryker, Ruby, Deacon, and Tasha moved their belongings to the pack house. Many of the Omegas fawned over Tasha after Deacon fussed over the fact that she was pregnant and should not have to carry anything. The Omegas overheard and rushed to assist. Deacon felt extremely awkward to have Omegas taking over the carrying of things and whatnot since he was not used to having any type of help when living the life of a rogue. His face was full of confusion, and him not knowing what to do had Ruby belly laughing.

“How do I make them stop? I can carry my own things to our new room.”

“You can try, but now that they know that Tasha is pregnant, that won’t happen. Omegas tend to want to cater to any pregnant she-wolf.”

“I beg to differ. The Omegas I have met were not like this.”

“Were they younger?”

Deacon thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so. Older teens, early twenties. There weren’t many older than that.”

“There you go. They are young and still think that they will meet their mates and have pups of their own. Most find their mates when their wolves emerge, and most of them end up mated to higher ranking wolves and not having to take care of the pack anymore. Omegas that are younger hold out for that. These guys, though, they just love kids.”

“Wonderful. Tasha is going to get used to having everyone waiting on her hand and foot, and then expect me to do everything when they aren’t around!”

Ruby shot him a look, “seriously?”

Deacon rolled his eyes. “Fine. She already has that with me. But now this woman will really think she doesn’t have to do anything! Like ever!”

Ruby shook her head and gave him a shove. “Go tend to your mate, and stop acting like you wouldn’t do anything that she asked of you because you love her more than life itself.”

Deacon growled playfully. “I hate it when you are right. You know that?”

As Deacon turned to go find Tasha, Ruby said, “Love you, too, Fluff!” just loud enough for only him to hear it.

At that, Deacon stopped dead in his tracks, shot her a look that said I hate you, then proceeded to find his mate.

Ruby laughed as her friend walked away then walked up to the top level of the pack house and opened the door to the Alpha Suite. The main window looked out onto the beach, and the decorum reflected the beach as well. Just as she walked to the window, Ruby felt a little dizzy. Her vision went blurry, and then everything went black.

* * *

When her eyesopened once more, she found herself in the infirmary. The bright white walls and sounds of various machines running made her groan. She hated these rooms due to them always feeling so sterile, not to mention they were brighter than the sun. Ruby tried to move off the bed she was on, and her stomach twisted, making her want to vomit the entirety of the contents within it. She heard the door open and smelled baby powder. A smile plastered on her face when she looked up to see Nick’s face was looking down at her.

“I thought you were staying behind in Wolf’s Den.”

“I decided that my career would grow more if I came here. Though Ryker did reach out to some people and ask for another wolf in the field to move into Wolf’s Den to take my place.”

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday, while you were out shopping with Tasha.” He pulled out a chart and looked over the papers. “So, wanna know why you are here?”

Ruby moved slowly to reposition herself on the bed so her stomach would stop feeling like it was doing tumbles. “More than anything. I thought Shifters didn’t get stomach bugs?”

“They don’t. You aren’t sick.”

That’s when it clicked. Ruby could not believe it. “How far along am I?”

“Not far at all. Quite early in fact. Your levels were barely high enough to register on the test.”

Ruby thought about what that meant. We conceived the night of the full moon.

Most Fated Mate pairs conceive the first time they consummate their bond.

You think Ryker will be angry?

Why would you think that he would be angry about this? Are you still thinking that this man is like Tyson?

More like things are already crazy, and this will only add to it.

If he is not thrilled, then he is not the man that we know.

Ruby took in a deep breath to settle her upset stomach. “Have you told Ryker?”

“Like I would rob you of that joy.”

Ruby smirked at him. “More like you didn’t want to be the one to tell him.”

“You kidding? He would be so pissed if it didn’t come from you. How do you plan to tell him?”

“I have some ideas.”

Nick had kept it a secret and said nothing to no one. Deacon was the one that found her and did not even mention to Ryker that Ruby ended up in the infirmary. That worked out in Ruby’s favor. Ruby managed to get a pregnancy test from Nick and mentioned to Ryker that she felt like something was off when he came home from running a training session with some of the wolves.

The fact that all of the color in Ryker’s face immediately drained made Ruby think this was not a good idea, that maybe Ryker was not going to be happy if he learned she was pregnant–but the moment she showed him the pregnancy test and mentioned that she wanted to take it, he rushed her up to the suite and stood outside the bathroom door.

Well, truthfully, he paced outside the bathroom door.

Ruby peed on the stick and set it on the sink. After washing her own hands, she paced the bathroom floor. Even though she knew the answer, she still felt some anxiety waiting for the liquid to slide along the window of the test and the red strips to show up red. Ruby counted to one hundred and eighty in her mind as she paced. Ryker called out several times to ask if it was ready yet, and she almost lost the count. Once she counted high enough, she looked at the little plastic square on the test.

Tears filled Ruby’s eyes as she looked at the two little red lines indicating that she was, in fact, pregnant. Part of her could not believe it, but between the test in the infirmary and this one, it had to be true.

I am pregnant.

Ruby picked up the test and opened the bathroom door. Ryker continued to pace until he realized that she was watching him. He stopped walking and stood before her as he gently placed both hands on her arms in a comforting but anxious manner.

“Well?”

Ruby nodded as her breath caught in her throat.

“I’m going to be a dad?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said shakily.

“I’m going to be a dad!”

Ryker wrapped his arms around her, picked her up, and swung her around in a circle as he repeated that statement, and she couldn’t help but smile and laugh at his reaction. When he set her back down, he kissed her as fiercely as he did after she defeated Tyson.

“Thank you, Red,” he whispered into her ear as he continued to embrace her.

“For what?”

Ryker stepped back and stared into her eyes. “For running into Wolf’s Den and turning my world upside down.”

“How do you want to tell the pack?”

“How far along are you?”

“Nick said not that long.”

It was like a light bulb turned on in Ryker’s head with the face he made at her. “The night of the full moon?”

“That is my guess. But we have had a good amount of sex since then.”

“But we are Fated Mates. Usually the first time–”

Ruby cut him off, “–yeah, Scarlett mentioned that.”

Ryker took her hands in his, “how about we don’t tell the pack just yet? Let this be our secret for a little bit.”

Ruby smiled, put herself on her tiptoes, and kissed Ryker gently. “My, my, what a possessive little Alpha you are.”

Ryker growled and pulled her closer to him, “all the better to protect you with, Red.”