Chapter 25

Lindsey

Keeping a low profile hadn't seemed to help keep us safe, and there was nothing Kyle could do to get us out of this mess. And although it seemed like everyone now knew we were mates, an official announcement still had to be made about our mating.

Alpha Leonard had orchestrated it all and used his little puppet, Roy Douglas, to manipulate the Grand Council. They thought they were in control of it all, but they had no idea what was coming.

The first thing Walker and I did after returning home and unloading all the things we"d bought at the store that suddenly seemed insignificant was sit Maya and Dante down for a talk.

"I told you both about how important Lindsey is to me and how she is my mate, remember?"

They both nodded.

"And we"ve sealed our bond now which makes us officially a family now," Walker continued. "But now other people can challenge us for our position and for our mate."

"That"s really dumb. You"re true mates," Maya insisted.

"I agree, but someone has challenged me that"s what Dante saw in his vision," I said.

"They won"t win. You"re going to kill her," Dante said with certainty.

"As much as I hate to say it, I hope you"re right, buddy," Walker said.

"Do you guys have any questions or concerns about that?" I asked.

Dante shook his head. Then reconsidered.

"How do you seal a bond?"

"Oh boy, that"s a question for another day when you"re much, much older. Next," Walker said in a panic.

"Well," Maya started. "I guess I kind of do. I mean, what happens if he bonds with you? Will anything change? Can we still live with you guys? I like it here."

Before I could say anything comforting, Dante interrupted.

"Don't worry Maya. We"re going to be fine. And they"ve already bonded, not just with each other, but with us too. Right, Walker?"

His mouth dropped open to speak but stalled in shock.

"Well, yeah,"

"See. They already sleep in the same bed and this place is already becoming our home. And they both already take care of us and love us and stuff. The only thing that"s really going to change is that we have a dad now, officially."

Maya lit up. "Can we call you Daddy, then?" she asked excitedly.

"I don"t know," he blurted out. "I"ll leave that up to Lindsey."

They both turned hopeful eyes towards me. This wasn"t something we"d ever talked about.

"I guess if he doesn"t mind, then that"s okay."

It stung a little to watch them attack him with hugs and kisses. I was happy for them, but they were my kids first.

Dante left Walker to hug me instead.

"We"re going to be a real family now, Mom."

"Mom?" I whispered.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Maya and I already call you that, just not to your face."

"It"s weird. I don"t remember much before you," Maya confessed. "So to me you"ve always been our mom and even though I know he"s not my real brother, we"ve always been your twins."

"And now we don"t have to just think of you as our mom, we get to call you that too," Dante said with absolute assurance.

They"d asked Walker if they could call him Dad, but they didn"t need that assurance from me because they knew I would always be here to protect them. Tears pricked my eyes, and I tried desperately not to cry.

"It"s okay, Mom. We"re all going to be okay as long as we stick together as a family," he continued, then leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. "I"ve already seen it."

Those words had settled into my heart and brought me comfort through the night. Maybe not as much comfort as Walker"s hands on my body had later that night after the kids were fast asleep, but a different sort of comfort, I supposed, that brought added calming to my soul.

I was still thinking about them the next day as we tried to instill a bit of normalcy to our crazy life. Shelby picked the kids up for school, but this time, I got up and made their lunches for them. And then Walker headed off to work, but not without hesitation.

"I can delay until after the Challenge."

"That"s not necessary. Besides, I want you to be there so we know exactly what the plan is. There"s so much riding on this. You have so many people counting on you."

"Me? You"re the one with the tough job."

I scoffed. "It"s just a wolf. I could eat her for a midnight snack. I"m not worried about that."

"I love you," he said. "And I hope you have a great day. If you need anything at all, just call me on that new fancy cell phone we picked up at the store yesterday along with everything else we never needed."

He chuckled, but I was just standing there with my palms sweating, my head spinning, and my heart racing. Walker had said he loved me before now, but this time, it was like the words pierced through all my shields and embedded straight into my heart.

"You really, truly love me?"

"Of course I love you. You swept me off my feet the second I found you."

We both laughed at that memory, because I had quite literally done just that.

"But . . ."

He silenced me with a kiss.

"Don't say, who could love a beast?, because that"s far too cliché. I love you, and I love your beast, and I love our kids, and I love the life we"re going to make together after all this craziness is behind us, and I love that thing you did this morning with your tongue."

I gasped and blushed, but he just kissed me again.

"I love you so much," I confessed, needing to say the words more than I had needed to hear them from him. "And we"re going to get through this. Dante"s already seen it."

Walker pulled back to stare at me like he was trying to ensure I hadn"t just lied or something.

"Dante had another vision about the Challenges?"

"No, not specifically about that, but about us as a family. And if there"s to be a long term us as a family, then that means I will win the Challenge."

He grinned, and it felt like a weight had been lifted.

"Okay then. I"m going into work so that I can focus on protecting our kids and the other witches that call this territory home. See you tonight."

It was kind of strange having this whole big house all to myself with the kids at school and Walker at work. I honestly wasn't sure I liked it.

I turned on the television and found a channel about cooking. I"d never done much of it before. My time with the Raglan and then with the Collectors mean someone was always bringing me food, so there was no need to learn.

The show walked through all the steps. I jumped up and gathered a few things and tried to follow along. They made it look so easy, and I knew the kids would love the cookies they were boasting about.

When the knock sounded at the door a short time later, I screamed in frustration and dropped the bowl of dry ingredients I"d been whisking for my second batch of cookies to answer it.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Callie asked.

I"d completely forgotten she"d asked to come over for lunch with the girls today.

"Come on in. I was just making cookies."

"Is that what attacked you?" Abby asked.

"You have a little something in your hair," Christine said.

I"d never met the fourth woman with them before.

"Hi, I"m Lindsey," I introduced myself.

"Mirage. I"m going to guess cooking is not your thing, right?"

I shook my head and frowned. "Does it really look that bad?"

"Go get cleaned up while we straighten up this mess you made," Christine ordered.

I sighed in defeat and walked to my bedroom and into the bathroom. One look in the mirror and I was cracking up. Egg was dripping from my boob. My hair looked frosted from the sheer amount of flour I"d managed to get dusted with. And there was chocolate on my face. I mean, who could resist eating chocolate chips? Though I wasn"t sure how they quite managed to get there.

I laughed so hard that Mirage came to check on me.

"I know we don't know each other, yet, but are you okay?"

"I"m fine. I genuinely thought I could make those cookies. There"s even a batch in the oven."

A second later, an alarm went off and we took off running for the kitchen. I skidded to a halt just in time to see Callie open the oven door to a billowing cloud of smoke and pull out a sheet of large black cookies.

"Well those don"t look like they did in the show," I said.

The girls all burst out laughing.

"Oh Lindsey, you"re going to fit in just fine around here."

Fortunately for me, they brought lunch, and we sat down for some girl chat to get to know each other. They explained a lot about Westin Force and Delta team in particular.

It was odd because I"d never really been good with other females. They made me feel awkward and insignificant, but not these women. Instead of mocking me and my disastrous attempt at making cookies, they offered to teach me how to bake.

I understood why Walker called these people family. Delta team was a unique group of people with a sometimes dangerous and demanding job. That bonded them together in a way I hadn"t really understood until they took me in and made me feel accepted when my whole life I"d always felt like an outsider.

"Delta is a family, Lindsey. And now that you and Walker have made things official . . ."

My gasp cut Callie short.

"How did you know?" I blurted out.

"Your mark is showing," Mirage said, pointing to my neck.

"And Michael texted me about it because Walker shared it with the team this morning."

"We"re all excited to welcome you to the family," Christine said.

"You guys really don"t mind what I am?"

"You"re Walker"s mate. That"s who you are as far as we"re concerned," Abby explained. "Trust me, from the nightmares I"ve heard about Annie and how these three rockstars still tried to include her, you're a big improvement." She blushed. "Ugh, you guys bring out the worst in me. I didn"t even know her."

"Who"s Annie?"

"Tucker"s late mate. He got an Abby upgrade after she past," Mirage said as the two women embraced.

"The ladies have been my lifeline since I moved here, and I truly hope that I can be included in making you feel just as welcome as they made me," Abby explained.

"Yeah, besides, Annie was the ultimate beast. Trust me when I say you"re just an amateur that doesn"t impress us on that level," Christine said, and we all burst out laughing.

I had no idea what we were talking about or what that woman could have possibly done to make them hate her so much even after death, but I was high on happiness to have them overlook that part in me and still be willing to be my friends.

Maybe Walker had been right all along and San Marco really was a different, more accepting kind of place. I knew only time would tell, but I definitely wanted to stick around to find out.

I was sad to see these women leave, but we had already made plans to get together again soon and I couldn"t wait.

Despite the Challenges looming over us, life here was better than I could have ever imagined. I have the perfect mate, who loves me unconditionally despite my flaws. We have the best kids in the world, who were fitting in and making friends. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I could just be me, and that really was more than enough. It was everything I never knew I wanted in life.

But happiness couldn"t drive away all the ugliness in the world, and a few days later, we got the call.

"The plans are in motion. You have a challenger. The fight will occur tomorrow. Are you ready?" Kyle asked when he called.

"Ready? I think I was I born for this."