When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 242

Chapter 242

Chapter 242

Alpha Emris.

“Daddy!”

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Amira is first to see me before Milo, playing rascals in their indoor playground. I sweep her up in my hands and catch Milo right afterwards.

“Dad! DAD!”

“My boy.” I pick both of them in my arms and hug them tight against my chest.

Demetra didn’t tell me they were coming back at any point. I had asked over and over again, and she avoided that question like it was a landmine.

“Daddy, where have you been?” Amira’s little voice is muffled against my neck. “Why did you and Mummy not come with us?”

“Daddy was busy taking care of pack affairs.” Slade comes into the room, arms crossed.

“Pack affairs?” Milo’s eyes go wide. “Daddy, were you fighting bad wolves?”

I look at Amira’s pretty eyes waiting eagerly, her little hands gripping my shirt.

“Yes, my loves.” I place kisses on their foreheads and hold them against my chest. They’ve gotten heavier than I remember, especially Milo over here. It makes me chuckle…this little man is gonna to be built like a warrior.

“Amira, why don’t you show your dad how loud you can growl?” Slade grins.

“Rawr!” Amira lets out her best growl, then shyly hides her face in my neck right after.

I chuckle again, unable to hold it in for my life. I laugh like I’m being tickled by Demetra, tears are literally in my eyes—

“Has Demetra heard that?”

“Yes. Daddy, I taught her!” Milo puffs his chest. If Amira sounds like that, I’m genuinely concerned about what Milo sounds like. My little warriors in the making.

“I miss you both so much.” I drop them and bring them closer for what I’m about to say next. I straighten Amira’s dress and wonder how to land this. “You know you’re both my little prince and my princess, right? Are you both aware that you’re gonna have a little sibling soon?”

They both shake their heads no.

“Mommy is gonna have a baby. I’m thinking it’s a girl.”

“A little sister!?” Amira’s ponytail bounces with her.

Milo folds his arms and pouts,

“But I want a brother!”

“What’s wrong with two sisters?” I ask, but he continues to pout, his bottom lip jutting out. “Milo.” I tilt his chin up with my finger. “Look at me.”

His brown eyes go up to meet mine.

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Chapter 242

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“Two sisters means double trouble.” I hold his gaze. “I’m gonna need help. Which means you’re gonna help me protect Mommy, Amira, and your little sister.” I pause. “Do you hear me?”

Slowly, he relents and nods.

“I’m gonna protect my brother too.” Amira says.

“Of course you are.” I say, looking at her blue eyes now and not being able to fathom that my little girl is gonna be a tryprid that bends the entire pack one day. She doesn’t know it yet.

“You’re both going to look after your little sister.”

They nod obediently with mischievous smiles on their faces, but before they run off, I hold them back for one more thing.

“Since Mommy has a pup in her belly, she’s not gonna be able to run after the two of you all the time. So don’t give her trouble, you hear me?”

Amira’s face goes pale. “Is my mommy gonna be okay?”

“Of course. Mommy is going to be perfectly fine. I’ll make sure of it. Now go play.”

Once they’re out of the room, Slade unfolds his arms.

“Silver said you got your emotions back?”

“I did.” I get up to say.

“So why does my sister still…I don’t know…hate you?”

“Laura.” I say flatly.

“Emris. What the fuck is going on? If Laura is a problem, why is she still in the pack? Does my sister have to fight for her position to be your Luna?”

“Of course not. Nothing happened between me and Laura.” As soon as I say that, I close my eyes and I’m remembering a month of having no emotional regulation and no understanding that towels were a social requirement. I hate vampyr for

that.

“Why did you hesitate. Did you cheat on my sister!?”

“Of course not-”

“Swear. Right now!” He jabs a finger at my chest. “Swear on your fucking life and explain what you just stopped yourself from saying.

“I swear on my fucking life that I never did anything with Laura. But yampyr in control doesn’t care about decency. Do I need to continue?”

“Yes, Emris. Continue. Before I decide if I wanna defend you in the face of Demetra.”

I fold my arms with a gritted expression. “Laura, the four fangs and I spent a month in a shack after the Sahara. I would run in the mornings and use the waterfall afterward to manage what ease the madness in my veins. I didn’t know Laura was following through those runs until the day I actually caught staring. Which means there were probably multiple occasions where she saw me naked.” I close my eyes briefly.

Slade just looks at me like he’s lost for words.

“That means she’s clearly a thing you don’t want around-”

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Chapter 242

“I just need time.”

“Time for fucking what-”

“To take down the Sahara Den!”

I say it, and go shut the door behind us. The moment it slams in my face, I look at him.

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“I wanna find the founders of that damn network. What I saw in there, what they’re doing…they’re taking wolves from the very communities we’re supposed to lead. Bastards from multiple continents with enough money and insulation are funding it. I want them to pay and Laura is the thread I’m pulling to find the beginning of it.“”

Slade shakes his head, running a hand over his face like he’s trying to physically wipe away the weight of what I’m telling

him.

“Okay, no problem. Do your big one, Alpha Emris. But must it come at the risk of your relationship with Demetra?”

“Risk? If I had another way to this, Slade…I would have–”

“No.” He holds up a hand. “The other way is not to hurt my sister!”

“I would never hurt her!” I bark right back.

“Your first day back from the grave….her clothes ripped off, you being rude to her, you not caring about the news of the second kid y’all planned together. She’s suffering and this has nothing to do with her! It’s not her fault your father signed that agreement with the barbarian Alphas. You brought her into your world, Emris. Demetra was safe before all of this.”

“I will fix everything.” I grit with my hand in a plea. “Slade, my life is not a currency I would hold back for a single second if it meant not one hair on Demetra’s head was touched. What I’m doing right now is for her. It’s for our children.”

I come closer to him, eyes almost stained with tears, but I stare at him with seriousness because that place is hell to the bones. There are things I saw I haven’t told others about.

But I think this is the time I have to say it.

“I cannot let what I saw in the Sahara cannot happen to another person, Slade. They had children there!”

His eyes widen.

“Just like what happened to me when I was taken as a boy and treated like an animal…there were children in the Den. Ages of Amira and Milo. Gone missing from their families, held in those conditions.”

I pace a bit.

FI

“I have to do something. If I don’t, one day it could be my own. Amira is a Trybrid. She’s gonna have enemies just by the virtue of being my daughter and my blood one day.” My voice cracks slightly. “I heard the things those bastards said. When they saw me darkened and fighting in that ring, they mentioned my daughter. They mentioned doing things to my daughter because they thought I was a lost cause already.”

I let that sit.

“Give me one week and I’ll find one person linked to the network. Then I’ll find the rest of the syndicate. I won’t even take it to the government. I will carry out the force myself. It’s that important I’m bringing Regan back to help.”

Slade puts his hand against his face and rubs off the initial shock. There’s nothing to say. If he could even see a part of the memory I have from there, he wouldn’t be able to go in with a wedding. One look at that scene and vampry decided to protect me all over again, especially when I saw those children.

When the darkening left my eyes, I used the second month to find a place where the children would stay since we freed

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Chapter 242

KIKA

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most of them. But there’s still a transportation circle. Some of those kids were from West Virginia, others from the rest.

When I dismantle the circle, I’ll hand the rest to the Aegis unit. But first I’m turning everything that could rise against my family in the future to sand.

“I have someone tailing Laura. She won’t be here much longer. I have a use for her and until that use is exhausted, she has to stay.”

“Boys.” Silver knocks and opens the door. “Oh.” He looks between us. “Explanation time, innit.”

I exhale.

“The girls are heading out to watch Craig and Timothy’s game. What are we doing for the bachelor party?”

“We might as well just go with them.” Slade answers Silver, still slightly dazed.

“The Four Fangs.” Silver points at me. “They don’t speak to anyone except you. What do we do with them?”

I don’t understand the beef Silver has with them. But I rescued the Fangs, and in vow of that, they vowed to protect my pack.

“You have a guest room?” I look at Slade.

“Yeah.”

“They stay until the wedding is over and we’re back at the pack house. Since we’re going to the skates, they’re gonna come with us. Matter of fact, the kids should come along too so we don’t leave anyone behind.”

“A full house party at the hockey game.” Silver grins. “I like that. Do you guys also know that Wren and Seth are kinda dating? I just saw them kiss…”

“Wren.” I squint. “The Wren I hired. Big glasses?” *

“Yeah, that one.”

“And Seth, my brother–in–law?” Slade asks.

“Yeah, that one.”

“Seems like I’m not giving her enough research work to keep her occupied-

“You absolute douche face, that’s your first reaction?” Silver stares at me.

I tap Slade on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”