“Dinner!” Anna called out and they all made their way into the dining room, chatting excitedly about the news.
As they sat and devoured all of Anna’s goodies, Luna leaned forward and asked if they had names for the babies yet.
Kari snorted. “We’re currently in negotiations for that. The boy name is hardest. We’ve narrowed it down to Maya or Helene for a girl.”
“Oh, that girl will have her daddy wrapped around her finger in about five seconds.” Perri laughed.
“Like her mom,” Sean said dryly, grinning.
“He’ll have a harem, like the old days!” Luna exclaimed and Kari looked at her, confused.
“Harem?” Kari asked, smiling.
“Back when Andreas couldn’t get enough of me and Perri and all of the Pack females.” Luna laughed.
Kari’s smile slid off her face and she turned to look at Andreas, who scowled in Luna’s direction.
“What’s Luna talking about, Andreas?”
It got very quiet.
“When a Pack Alpha is unmated, he often couples with the females of the Pack. That was all before you, of course,” he added. “Now that there’s you, there’s no one else.”
“Are you telling me you slept with Perri? With Luna? With Ellen?”
“Yes, but Kari, that’s all in the past. Why be upset?”
Which of course was sooo the wrong thing to say. “Hmm, because you lied to me? Because you’ve told me in detail about lots of other Pack history but completely left out the fact that you’ve fucked some of the women in our Pack?”
“All of the women in the Pack. Except for Anna. And Jade, of course,” Luna added and Andreas turned to her, growling.
Horrified, Henry grabbed Luna’s arm. “That’s enough help,” he whispered.
“What? So we had sex with him, big deal. It’s not like, even when it happens in the future, that she still won’t be his Mate, our Alpha,” Luna said lightly.
Kari narrowed her eyes at Andreas. “‘In the future’? You think you’ll be fucking other women in the future?” Her voice lowered dangerously.
He put his hands up in surrender. “No, no. Of course not. Kari, even though it can happen that the Pack Alpha Mates might share their sex with others in the Pack at Gatherings, I have no plans to do so. I have no desire for other women. You’re all I need, all I want.”
“Oh, how very grateful I am that you don’t plan to dole me out like a platter of chocolates to the rest of the Pack! Thank you so much.” She stood up and looked at Perri. “How could you not have told me?”
Perri looked stunned. “I...it wasn’t a big deal. It was all over a year ago. You’re his Mate, he loves you. I love Devon. It’s nothing, I promise you.”
Kari walked toward the door and Andreas got up and grabbed her, stopping her. “Kari, please. I’m sorry you’re hurt, but all of this happened before I even knew you existed. How can you be mad that I slept with women before I met you?”
“The point is that you lied to me. That day in my old apartment when you wanted to know my entire prior sexual history and I told you. You could have told me then but you didn’t. You’ve had a dozen chances to tell me before now but you haven’t.”
He winced. “Okay, I should have. I didn’t know how to bring it up. It was meaningless. But you said you weren’t interested in my past sexual life.”
She wanted to hit him. “That is so not what I meant and you know it. I didn’t want to know how many women you’d slept with but I had a right to know that you’d slept with women I know. With people I thought were friends. God, Andreas, how can you stand there and pretend not to understand what this is about?”
She looked down to where his hand was holding her arm. “You need to let go, please. I need to go to... Where can I go that isn’t someone else’s? This whole place is yours. God.” She pulled away roughly. “Jack, can I come to your cabin for a while?”
Jack jumped up and came to her side. He felt so bad for Kari and for Andreas too. The guy should have told her. “Yeah, come on, baby.”
“Phillip, Ryan, you too,” Andreas ordered.
Jade stood up. “Andreas, do something! You’ve hurt the poor girl.”
“I need you all to leave me alone,” Kari mumbled, letting Jack pull her into his arms.
“Phillip and Ryan will be coming, Kari. I’m not negotiating on that,” Andreas said, hands on his hips.
“Fuck off, Andreas. You have no room to negotiate anything,” she said and walked out of the house, Phillip and Ryan keeping a discreet distance.
“I told you to tell her,” Laurent thundered.
“What were you thinking?” Sean turned to Luna. “Why would you bring that up?”
“What? I had no idea it was supposed to be a secret.”
“But it was tasteless to bring it up on her birthday. Why would anyone bring up former women in front of a wife or girlfriend?” Elaine asked her.
“You fucked him too!” Luna said.
Elaine sighed. “Yes, I did but that isn’t the point, Luna. You were hurtful to Kari, a woman who’s been nothing but kind and generous to all of us. I don’t think that some decorum is too much to ask.”
“Andreas, you have to make this right,” Jade said.
“Sean, you and I need to talk,” Emma said quietly.
Sean nodded his head and they got up and walked outside. He hadn’t told her about the more casual sexuality the Pack had either. He wasn’t Alpha, so he hadn’t coupled with all of the women in the Pack, but he had slept with Perri and Ellen.
And then there was silence as the weight of what had just happened settled on Andreas. He leaned his head into his hands with a heavy sigh. Some mistakes came with a heavy price. He hoped like hell it wasn’t a toll he couldn’t pay.
* * *
“Kari, you know he didn’t mean to hurt you,” Jack said as he smoothed her hair back. She lay curled in a tight ball on his bed.
“He should have told me. My god, to find out in front of the whole Pack like that.” She shook her head and big tears fell down her cheeks. “I’m so mortified. They all knew and no one said anything. That bitch Luna! She did it on purpose.”
Phillip sat on the porch with Ryan, listening to Kari weep. “I hate this. She’s so upset. She was right about Luna. That one wants to be hurtful.”
“What do you mean, she was right about her?” Ryan asked.
Phillip told Ryan about Luna’s comments at the hospital and Kari’s reaction.
Ryan sighed. “Andreas has made his bed. He should have told her of this. She grew up human, she doesn’t understand this world.”
Andreas approached them and sat down on the steps. “I really messed up.”
“Yep,” Phillip said.
“Laurent told me months ago that I should have told her. That she was going to find out and that it should come from me. Fuck all, I hate when he’s right. I just didn’t want to hurt her, to have her think it meant anything. How could she think that anyone I’ve been with in the past means anything compared to her?”
“Andreas, if you don’t mind my saying, I don’t think that’s what she said. She knows you love her. Tonight she was humiliated in front of the whole Pack. Something she didn’t know was used to hurt her. That’s the problem. You not telling her something she needed to know created a situation where she was hurt ten times more,” Ryan said.
“I agree,” Jack said from the doorway.
Andreas turned around. “Is she okay?”
“What do you think?”
“You must think I’m an asshole.”
“I think you should have told her. I think that watching my sister cry is something I really hate and it makes me want to kick your ass. But since you’re a werewolf king and she loves you, I can’t shoot you. So I’ll have to stick with knowing you feel like shit.”
“Jack!” Kari called from the other room, sounding so alarmed they all ran into the cabin together.
She was kneeling on Jack’s bed, looki
ng pale, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
Andreas went to her. “What is it?”
“My water broke.” She motioned to the mattress. “Sorry about your bed, Jack.”
Jack began to laugh. “You’re so strange. You’re in labor, doofus. Who cares about my bed?”
“Let’s get you to the house. Elaine and Ellen will help with the delivery,” Andreas said and Kari just looked at him. “Kari, please. God, I’m so sorry you got hurt. I should’ve told you. I’ll make it up to you after you have these babies, I promise. For now, let’s be sure everything is okay. Please.”
“Phillip can carry me.” Refusing to look back at Andreas, she smiled sheepishly at Phillip. “I’m wet. You might want to wrap me in a blanket.”
“What’s a little amniotic fluid between friends?” he asked and she laughed as he picked her up.
Ryan reached out and squeezed Andreas’s shoulder. “Let’s go and get this all moving.”
They ran ahead. Jack and Phillip stayed with Kari and carried her up to the house.
“Kari, let’s get you in your bed. I’ve had Ellen go up and lay down padding. It’s a regular labor and delivery room in there now. Everything is going to be all right,” Elaine said. Kari wouldn’t meet her eyes. Elaine looked to Andreas.
Perri and Jade hovered around. “What can we do?”
“You’ve done enough already,” Kari said.
“Listen, Kari, I’m sorry. The last thing in the universe I’d do is hurt you. I love you. You’re my best friend. What happened happened ages ago. Andreas should have told you. I had no idea you didn’t know. I’m sorry. Please, please let us be in the room with you, to help you,” Perri said, tears in her eyes.
Kari sighed. And doubled over with a contraction.
Phillip settled Kari on the bed and Ellen set pillows behind her back. Elaine put on gloves as Perri helped Kari out of her dress.
“Just leave me naked!” Kari screamed out, batting away the gown someone proffered as another contraction hit.
“Kari, this’ll be a bit uncomfortable. I need to check your cervix.”
Uncomfortable would not have been Kari’s word for what it felt like. “Holy poop on a stick! Ouch! This is your idea of uncomfortable?”
Elaine smiled and threw away the glove. “You’re at seven centimeters, Kari. You’re moving quickly. I’m going to have Ryan bring up some warm towels for your back. This part is uncomfortable but pain medication isn’t very effective with our metabolism. We tend to burn right through it.”
“Oh, I’m so lucky tonight. This is early, is everything okay?” Kari gasped out.
“Yes. Twins tend to come early and you’re only two weeks from your due date anyway. Everything looked fine on the ultrasound. It’s all going to be okay, Kari.”
Andreas stood at the door, looking forlorn. Kari looked at him and he looked back, misery on his face. “I’d like to be alone with Andreas for a while, please.” Worriedly, those Pack members in the room looked between the two of them and quickly left, closing the door as they did.
He came to kneel next to the bed. “Please, Kari, don’t stay mad at me. I hate it. This moment...our babies, you... It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You shouldn’t have found out the way you did. I’m sorry you felt betrayed and humiliated. I love you. Hell, I adore you. You know that.”
She reached out and touched his hair. “I do know that. I just don’t know how I can face them all, knowing you slept with them.”
“None of them meant anything to me. As Alpha—as an unmated Alpha—they were part of the...benefits, I suppose. You’ve seen our attitude about nudity and sexuality in general. It’s more relaxed than human standards. The moment I saw you, I ceased wanting anyone else.”
“Okay, in the first place, put away the shovel, you’re digging yourself a deeper hole. ‘Benefits’?” She sneered. “But they were all mated, were they not? I mean, you say... OH MY GOD!” Kari writhed as a contraction hit her.
“Breathe, honey. Remember to relax through the contractions,” he urged softly, taking her hand.
“You breathe!” she hissed out, squeezing his hand so tight he thought he’d lose feeling.
It tapered off and he remained holding her hand. When she didn’t pull away, he let out a breath of relief.
“Yes, they were all mated. It’s hard to explain. Some mated couples do continue to share with others during Gatherings and still remain happy and committed to each other. It’s not my choice. I don’t want any other women. Believe me!”
“So I could? I could just go and fuck, say, Phillip, at the next Gathering?”
He scowled at her. “Well, it’s complicated. No actual fucking of anyone below you in rank except for Sean and Devon because they’re my brothers. Everyone else is below you in Pack structure. You could have some kind of sex with any of the others in the Pack, just no intercourse.”
“Oh for cripe’s sake! You people have everything stratified, don’t you? A blow job? Sure, but only the Fifth and above. What’s a hand job, Andreas? And wasn’t Luna below you? I mean, I know she was literally,” Kari fired back.
Andreas sighed. “I only coupled with Luna in wolf form. And as a male and Alpha, who else could I couple with? Everyone is below me.”
“Wait, are you telling me you had sex with Perri and the others in human form?” She raised her voice at that and screamed into another contraction.
He waited until the contraction had passed. “Just Perri and Johanna. Johanna because I was dating her, and Perri, well, it was a family party and we all drank too much. Devon was there of course, he knew. I wouldn’t have done anything without his approval or acceptance.”
She closed her eyes. Her best friend, her supposed best friend, had slept with her husband. Only he hadn’t been her husband then. Kari knew it was irrational to feel jealous about something that happened before she came along but it hurt nonetheless.
“So if I fuck Sean and Devon, we can call it even?”
“No! There will be no fucking of anyone but me, Kari.” Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair and it stuck up in all directions. “This has gone on long enough. I’ve been an ass. I freely admit it. But you would truly do that to me, to us?” The last was said with a depth of emotion that she’d never seen from him before, and it tore at her heart.
“How can I get past this sick feeling in my stomach? This fear that there’s something I don’t know?”
He put his head down on the bed beside her. “Kari, I have not betrayed you or our marriage.”
“Lying is a betrayal, Andreas.”
He sighed. “You’re right. But it’s now you who’s deliberately missing the point. What would you have me do to make this all right? Tell me and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t know! Maybe I need to leave. Maybe this is so big I can’t get around it. Do you want me to leave and take the children so you can have your life back?” she asked quietly. She felt desperate. She needed to shut up but she couldn’t. She wanted to make things right but she couldn’t see her way back.
“No one is leaving. Do you want to? My god, Kari! Would you end our relationship over this? A stupid mistake? I hate seeing you like this. You are my life. I don’t want another life. I love this one. I love your infuriating tendency to get pissed off at nothing in particular—although I admit, this is something to be angry over. I love waking up with you every morning. I love the children you’re giving birth to right now. I love you, Kari.”
“I don’t know how to find my way back to you right now. I’m scared that I’ll always distrust you. I’ve never had much in my life, and all of a sudden I got you and this big warm family who loved and adored me. But it was all a lie.”
“None of it was a lie! None of it is a lie. We do all love and adore you. I do, my parents do. The Pack does.”
“Except for Luna and whoever it is that tried to kill me. Oh, and Johanna.” She snorted.
“Luna was out of line to bring it up the w
ay she did. It wasn’t the time or the place. I’m not blaming her for you not knowing,” he said quickly, “but she did it on purpose. I see that now and I’m sorry for it. Let me love you, Kari. Let this be the last thing between us. I promise you on my life I won’t hide anything from you again. This can’t be the end. I know you love me. I can see it in your eyes. Let’s move on from this. You can extract whatever payment you wish from me for it.” He smiled hesitantly.
She sighed. She was so afraid of being hurt but she loved this man and her Pack more than her own life. “Okay. Okay, but, Andreas, I’m telling you now, don’t lie to me again. I’ll walk out that door and never look back if you do.”
He smiled at her, nodding, tears in his eyes to match hers. “Thank you,” he said. “Oh, baby, you won’t be sorry.” He leaned in and gently kissed her lips and used a cool cloth to wipe her forehead. “Now, do you want to walk for a while?”
“Yeah, let me grab a robe.” She huffed through another contraction and let Andreas help her up and put a loose robe around her.
When he opened the door she came face-to-face with nearly the entire Pack, all looking worried.
“I tried to make them leave but everyone keeps coming back up,” Sean said, looking expectantly at Kari.
“Walk with me, Sean. Andreas, please assure everyone that all is well. I don’t want to have to jump over thirty people, so everyone needs to wait downstairs.”
Andreas looked relieved to have a task to do. Each one of the brothers and Phillip took turns walking with her up and down the hall. Kari spoke to Sean and made sure everything was all right between him and Emma.
“Okay, enough whispering over there. It’s my turn,” Devon said and came to take his place with Kari. “You okay, sweetheart? I’m sorry, you know. It was a dumb way for you to find out.”
“It’s over. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Can you try to forgive Perri? Honey, she loves you so much. You’re her best friend. She’s torn up over it.” He must have seen her confusion over how he could be so nonchalant over his wife fucking his brother. “It didn’t mean anything, Kari. Not like you think. It’s part of Pack culture. It won’t happen again, not least of all because Andreas isn’t interested. But also because that’s not where Perri and I are anymore in our relationship. Neither one of us is bothered by it but it’s probably not something we’ll do again.”