~~
Emmalee
~~
The morning after my movie date with Carter I woke up sore, but happy. It was not a bad kind of sore though. It felt like something achy, like I had spent a lot of time working out and had stretched some good muscle. As I moved and felt the pleasantly sore spots twinge I couldn't help but smile.
While I was showering, I noticed the place where he had bitten me last night. The bruise around it was already fading, and I knew what the lines meant. He had marked me. I couldn't help but grin when I saw it.
But, I didn't want my family to see it, not yet.
I was glad that Mom had taken Katie to visit family and they wouldn't be home until this afternoon. And that Jordan wasn't often home since he, too, had found his mate. It was just going to be me, the staff, and Daddy.
Oh, that was even worse. I had to hide the mark as best as I could. After my shower I left my hair down, blow drying it so that it would lay properly on my shoulders. Then I wore a sleeveless turtleneck sweater in a soft shade of pink. I did everything I could to make sure Daddy didn't know what I did last night.
I may be mated, but I was still his little girl and I didn't want him to get mad at Carter. I would let Daddy think that we waited until we were married, that would be the best option for us all.
When I went down to breakfast I saw that my dad was already sitting at the table, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Good morning Daddy." I said as I skipped into the room. I kissed him on the top of his head as I pa.s.sed and then sat in my seat.
"Morning." His voice was gruff and he was looking at me sternly. "Where's Carter?" He didn't sound happy.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since we got home last night. Why?" I turned my head and looked at him curiously.
"Just wondering." He definitely sounded mad and his eyes were boring into me like x-rays or something.
"Is something wrong Daddy?" I asked him, making my voice sound extra innocent.
"Nope. Not a thing." He said as he folded his newspaper in half and left the room. I didn't like how that was going.
I had just sat there and watched on worriedly as my dad rose to his feet and left the room without another word. I just hoped he didn't know what I had done last night. I would die of embarra.s.sment if he did.
~~
Carter
~~
I had gotten the important things last night but I had to come back to get the tent, air mattress, and other odds and ends that I had left in the tent from the date. I had set my alarm to go off extra early so I could accomplish this before breakfast.
There was a spring in my step as I walked happily up the path to the tent. I even seemed to be whistling as I worked. This was the best I had ever felt in my entire life.
I worked efficiently but I still wasn't done in time for breakfast. I think it was the fact that I kept smelling Emmalee's scent and stopping to take long deep breaths, remembering the night before and grinning happily. That had delayed me quite a bit.
Once I was certain that there were no traces of the campsite left behind I headed back to the Jeep and started off back toward the pack house. I drove calmly, leisurely, and with the memories still dancing in my mind.
When I pulled up in front of the house I saw Bryce leaning against the porch, glaring at the Jeep as I got out.
"Carter?" He called out to me, his voice gruff and there was a deep line running between his brows.
"Yeah?" I called out, wondering what he needed.
"I need to talk to you." He stalked down the steps. For a moment I thought he knew about what had happened last night, but I knew Emmalee would never tell him. She had understood when I told her why we had to head home.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him, curious about his behavior.
"It's sensitive information, come with me." He tilted his head toward the trees, indicating that he wanted me to follow him out there.
"Alright." I agreed as I followed behind him.
We had walked for at least ten minutes before the silence got to me. Bryce, a stoic look on his face and a stern set to his eyes hadn't made a move to talk at all.
"What's going on?" I asked him again.
"How're things, Carter? Enjoying yourself?"
"I've got no complaints." I answered him, perplexed by the question.
"Enjoying your time here in my pack?"
"Of course. Things have been great." I didn't understand what he was getting at.
"Hmm." He seemed to hum, as if he was agreeing with me. Life truly was great in his pack, they didn't have to worry about everything that my pack had to worry about.
We walked a little further, Bryce in the lead. Finally, we came to a large stream that was running across the path where the two of us stood side by side. It wasn't something that would hold us up, we could have jumped it given the determination, or we could have just walked through it as the water would only come to our knees, maybe a little higher.
We stared out at the stream for a moment before Bryce started to turn. I thought that he was going to say something, that he was going to start talking again.
I did not expect that Bryce was going to swing around with his fist las.h.i.+ng out at me. By the time I realized what he was doing his fist had slammed into the side of my face so hard that it sent me sprawling, right into the stream.
I felt the water rush across my body and my face and into my nose. I rose to my knees quickly, coughing and spluttering.
"What the h.e.l.l Dad?" I asked him, p.i.s.sed and confused.
"Shut the h.e.l.l up, you a.s.shole." He screamed at me. "You couldn't keep it in your f.u.c.king pants could you?"
"What?"
"Don't what me, boy. I know what you did to my daughter last night."
How could he know? Did Emmalee really tell him? I didn't think that was likely.
"You're going to shut up and take responsibility. Do you f.u.c.king understand me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Bryce." I yelled at him. "You clearly know what happened and I don't know how, but I won't lie to you. Yes, I slept with her. But she's my mate, and I love her. I treated her with every ounce of respect."
"Shut up you p.i.s.s ant." Bryce was furious. "You couldn't wait?"
"Did you?" I asked him. "When you met Bree did you wait until you were married? The mating alone makes us as good as married in our culture."
"No, the marking makes us married in our culture. Did you f.u.c.king mark her too a.s.shole?" He wasn't going to like my answer, so I just hung my head in shame, still kneeling in the water. "G.o.d dammit, you're a real piece of f.u.c.king work."
Bryce was pacing, running his hands through his auburn hair as his temper fumed. I took advantage of his distraction to rise from the water and step back on to the gra.s.s.
"So not only did you take my daughter's virginity last night but you f.u.c.king marked her and knocked her up all in one f.u.c.king go. You had to hit the d.a.m.n triple sevens didn't you."
"What?" I looked at him, stunned by his words. What did he just say? I felt the need to ask that out loud. "What did you just say?"
"Oh, so you didn't know? You just banged her and left then?"
"That's not what happened and you know it." My temper was rising now. "I love her, I respect her, and I want to be with her in every way possible. I didn't mistreat or abandon her at all last night. I took her back to her room and kissed her good night."
"Where did you do it?"
"I don't feel comfortable talking to you about my s.e.x life with your daughter." I felt the blood draining from my face.
"You better get comfortable right now, if I have to be ok with the idea of you deflowering her and stealing her away then you need to be pretty d.a.m.n uncomfortable yourself." His deep voice was growling at me menacingly.
"I had a date planned for us last night. I took her to dinner, and then after the sunset, we watched a movie on a projector in the mountains."
"You took her on the dirt in the mountains?" He looked even more p.i.s.sed.
"h.e.l.l no." I felt offended by his words. I had a tent set up and an air mattress so we could be comfortable while we watched the movie."
"So you planned it from the beginning."
"NO!" I threw my hands up defensively. "No, I did not. I only planned for the movie. I wanted us to be comfortable, maybe cuddle and make out. But one thing led to another and it happened."
"It just happened. That doesn't sound too romantic. How could you be so cruel to my little girl?"
"It wasn't planned, Bryce, I swear to that, but I promise you I treated her right. Ask her if you don't believe me." I heard Bryce growl in anger and frustration. I had a feeling that he would not be asking Emmalee, no matter what happened.
After several more minutes of pacing Bryce finally spoke again.
"Let's get back to the house. You need to change, we have an appointment."
"An appointment?" I felt my heart stop. "You're going to try and make her have an abortion? I won't let you."
"No, I'm not. I'm going to go take you two to the court house. You're going to get married, today."
"Today?" I felt my stomach drop. "What about our friends and family? What about Emmalee's dreams for a big wedding?"
"You can still have that. The big ceremony and celebration, later anyway. Right now, you're going to get married and make an honest woman out of her."
I followed Bryce back to the house, my clothes still dripping and my heart pounding too fast. Emmalee was just coming into the yard where her mother and younger sister Katie had just pulled up when we got home.
"Hey sweety, what's wrong?" Bree asked Bryce as we walked up.
"Carter, why are you soaking wet and what happened to your eye?" Emmalee asked me.
I just locked my eyes onto my mate and walked to her. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her close.
"Stop, you'll get me all wet." She pushed against me playfully as she giggled. I just ignored it and buried my nose in her neck where I had bitten her, inhaling deeply.
"He was right." I smiled into the curve of her neck.
"Who was right?"
"Your dad."
"About what? What did he say?"
"Emmalee, marry me, please. Marry me right now."
"What? Carter what's going on?"
I was in a state of bliss. I was getting everything that a man could ever want all at the same time.
"I'll answer that for him." Bryce said, as he pulled away from Bree. "He's asking you to marry him so he can make an honest woman out of you."
"What?" Emmalee was confused.
"Seems your date last night was a lot of fun. A little too much fun." Emmalee blushed at Bryce's words. "He's going to marry you, today, because the three of you are going to be a family real soon.
"A family?" The shock was clear on Emmalee's face. "I'm, I'm, I'm-." She seemed to be stuck on repeat.
"Ooohh." Bree squealed. "My baby is going to have a baby."
"I'm going to be an aunt." Katie exclaimed.
"I'm pregnant." Emmalee finally managed to say the words, a smile very evident on her face.