Werewolves 9

Leah:
            Shit. Double shit. I fled to my car. Alyssa was in labor, and Ares was with the rest of the pack running. Sure, Janet was with her, but Ares needed to be there. I sped to the pack's running spot.

            I checked my watch. It was three. Most of the pack would be crashed out in wolf form by now, but Ares should still be up playing guard wolf. Still, he'd be in the middle of the woods somewhere. I'd have to shift to get his attention.
            I stripped off my clothes and rushed my shift. The pain was almost unbearable when I tried to speed it up, but I needed to get to Ares. Once fully changed, I stretched to get everything realigned in my new form. I swished my tail and howled as I took off after Ares' scent.

Ares:
            A desperate howl ripped through the quiet night. Leah. I howled in return, waking up the wolves sleeping around me. Something was wrong. I didn't wait for the wolves to snap to attention before I tore toward the clearing. The only coherent thought my wolf could process was "something is wrong with my mate." I met Leah halfway back to the clearing, but I didn't stop running. I was vaguely aware of her spinning around to follow and of Jason, Abby, and Evan catching up.
            Once back at the clearing, I changed back. I actually reveled in the pain because it gave me a measure of clarity. Leah, Abby, Jason, and Evan were soon changing beside me. I was human first, and I pulled on my jeans, leaving the rest of the clothes to be picked up by someone else.
            Once I made it to the house, I couldn't even remember the drive there. All I knew was that I could hear my mate giving birth upstairs, and I had to get to her. So, I flew up the steps.

Alyssa:
            After what seemed to be an eternity of stress and pushing, but thankfully little pain, Ares finally came running into the delivery room. My eyes met his face, and I think I even managed a relieved smile.

Ares:
            "Finally." Alyssa said.
            "Just in time. The action hasn't really gotten started yet." Tim called out to me, and downstairs I could hear the rest of the pack arriving. Abby was doing her best to maintain order. Bless her. However, it wasn't long until the only thing I was aware of was the glorious woman beside me and the child she was having.

Leah:
            "I was terrified that I wasn't going to be able to find him in time." I sighed to Jason. The room was chaos, so I was thankful for werewolf enhanced hearing. Otherwise, I'd have to shout like a normal human would have had to do.
            "Yeah…" He looked over at me through amazingly long lashes. "How pissed do you think he'd be if we told him that we forgot his clothes back at the running spot?" Trust Jase to make me laugh when I was coming down off a stress high.
            "I honestly don't think he'd care. All things considered." I laughed. "But Abby grabbed them. She'd never forget something like that, and she'd never let us tease Ares and say that she did. After all, that'd be an insult to her."
            "I do not want to make her mad. She'd go for the knives."
            "I don't know why everyone says that." Abby scoffed.
            "Because it's happened. Multiple times." Jason replied candidly.
            "Has not. Has it Evan?"
            "It was really Jason's fault for taking me clubbing." Evan sighed. Abby glared at him. Jason and I laughed. She then glared at us.
            "Anyway," Abby declared "Jason, you need to get this room in order. You are the second in command, and I'm taking the night off from playing the den mother to all of you."
            "Well I'm not going to take charge of them. They're ANIMALS!" He joked. No one laughed, but I did shoot him a half amused smile.
            "I'll handle this." I decided. "HEY!" I shouted and waited until everyone turned to me. "Everyone be QUIET! We don't want to scare the baby back in."
            "Leah!" Abby chastised.
            "You're not the den mother tonight Abbs, remember? I am." That earned me more than a few wary looks. Or it did until Maxine ruined it.
            "Oh stop being so prickly Leah. We're excited." Max crooned.
            "Well be quieter about it." I sighed, giving up. "I'm too tired for this noise." Putting up with girl's night had been rough enough. Even the childhood videos of Jason and Ares wasn't enough to keep me entertained. Then after shifting twice in less than fifteen minutes, it was safe to say I was well and truly drained.
            Max snorted, but thankfully let it go. And the room did get quieter… marginally.
            "It's not easy is it?" Abby cackled at me.
            "Nope. So you can have the job back. I resign." I grinned.
            "Yay." She groaned.
            "So, den mother…" I batted my eyes at her. "Wanna grab some food for me?"
            "Only because you're half asleep, and I'm afraid you might destroy my kitchen if I let you stumble through it right now." She replied before hustling off to make food. It took her twenty minutes, but when she returned, she came with food for everyone.

            After we all finished eating, most of the pack fell asleep. The few of us still awake were split into small groups, talking quietly. The ones asleep were passed out in piles on the floor.
            "I'm so tired of being in this house." I complained to Jason.
            "So let's go for a walk. I'm just getting anxious from sitting here anyway." What he didn't have to say was that we could talk intimately outside without having to worry about being overheard. So, we went outside, and he led me straight to his silly van.
            "I'm tired." I warned him.
            He eyed me hungrily and promised, "I can wake you up."
            "And what if someone sees us?"
            "They won't. No one knows about us, and they won't find out tonight."
            I fidgeted as I thought about my earlier conversation with Alyssa. I started to tell him, but he yanked me into his van and began kissing me. The kisses started slow but quickly turned into passionate and insistent smooches that erased any lingering thoughts from my head. Energized, as he promised, I returned his kisses and maneuvered myself on top of him.
            I pulled of his shirt and gasped as his warm hands slid under my top and grazed my stomach. He didn't waste much time getting my shirt and my bra off. The closer to each other we came, the more fevered out kisses became. I peeled off his pants, and he impatiently snagged my underwear and jeans at the same time and removed his own boxers.
            Pulling away only to slip on a condom, Jason then rolled on top of me. Staring deep into my eyes, he said something that sent shocks straight to my core. "I love you Leah." He whispered as he plunged into me. I gasped, and I couldn't tell you if it was from the words he just spoke or the feel of him and the heat blasting through me from between my legs.
            "Jase…"

Ares:
            Alyssa looked sweaty and exhausted. I gently squeezed her hand and bent down to kiss her hair. Her eyes were stressed when she glanced at me, but she still managed a slight twitch of her lips that I took to be a smile.
            Finally I heard Tim announce, "It's a boy." He cut the cord and took the baby to the bathroom to clean him up. Mom came over from where she'd been standing, helping Tim, and squeezed my shoulder.
            "I'm going downstairs to tell everyone." She smiled.
            "Thank you Mom." I hugged her.
            She leaned down to kiss Alyssa and said to her, "I love you dear."
            "I love you too." Alyssa looked shocked.

Alyssa:
            Tim came back into the room holding my baby, swaddled in one of the towels from the bathroom. I almost couldn't breathe as he handing me my child.
            "David!" I exclaimed when I saw his beautiful face. I tore my eyes away from the child to look at Ares.
            "David." He whispered. To my surprise, his eyes were shining almost as much as mine. "Our David."
            "Yeah." I agreed. "Our David. No matter what."

Leah:
            Jason and I had only just managed to sneak back into the house before Janet came down to share the big news.
            "Everyone." She spoke quietly, but with enough authority that every member of the pack woke up and gave her attention. "It's a boy. They had a boy." I was surprised at how emotional she appeared. Janet might be a difficult woman to live with, but she loved her family. I couldn't be so sure that she'd ever love me like she did Alyssa though.
            "When can we see him?" Evan asked.
            "Once his parents are ready to share him." Tim answered as he glided down the stairs. "They're quite entranced at the moment." That elicited a small chuckle from the group.
            "I'm sure she'd like some water." Abby started to get up, but Jason stopped her.
            "Give them some time Abby. Ares can get her anything she needs."
            "Right." She replied, but she looked a bit flustered.

Alyssa:
            "We should probably go downstairs." Ares announced, breaking the spell.
            I blinked a couple of times, trying to focus. "Yeah. But I should clean up a little first. Will you hold him while I change?"
            "Of course."
            I reluctantly tore myself from them and fled to our bedroom as quickly as my sore body would let me. I changed and freshened up and practically ran back down the hall to them.
            Ares smirked at me. "Ready?"
            "Are you?" I asked, looking for the first time at how he was dressed. Or well, not dressed to be honest.
            "Yeah." He laughed. "It's not like they haven't seen all of this before."
            "Right." I grinned. "Sometimes it's easy to forget that you all strip down in front of each other a couple times a month." I took David back from him, and we headed down to the awaiting crowd.
            I had never heard the pack so quiet until we entered the room. "Meet David." Ares said simply.
            Janet was the first to reach us. "May I hold my grandson?" She asked. I passed David to her, and it wasn't long before I lost sight of him being passed around. The pack converged on me giving me hugs and offering me congratulations.
            When I was finally able to break free from the group, I sat down. My body was worn out, and I was feeling nervous without my child in my arms. Ares seemed to sense that though, in the weird way that he's been able to sense my emotions since our mating, and he brought David back to me.
            "I thought that you might want him back." Ares smiled at me. My nerves were immediately eased the moment David was back in my arms.
            "Thank you, Ares." I turned my tired eyes to him. "I'm about to pass out. Any chance you can start clearing people out?"
            "Of course." He then proceeded to run interference, and he began ushering people out. It didn't take me long to fall asleep with David also sleeping in my arms.

Ares:
            I began chasing people out of the house as soon as Alyssa started dozing off. "I'll call you over sometime when things settle down a bit." I promised to the pack members until only Mom, Abby, Evan, and Jason were still downstairs. Tim had already gone to bed.
            "I'll head out too." Jason decided, giving me a bear hug. "Alyssa's sacked out anyway."
            "Thank you." I hugged him back.
            "He's beautiful Ares, really."
            "I know." I gave him a half smile and looked over at David and Alyssa.
            A few minutes later, Mom left too. And right after that, Abby and Evan to their leave to their room. Then I, well I went to sit on the couch by Alyssa, and I fell asleep next to my mate and our child.

Leah:
            I was just crawling into bed when a knock sounded on my apartment door. So, I hauled myself back out of bed and went to answer it.
            "Jason?" I was shocked when I saw him on the other side of my door.
            "Can I stay at your place tonight?" He looked at me hopefully.
            Confused, I asked, "Isn't that against our rules?"
            "Rules need to be broken now and then." He then shot me a reckless smile that was impossible to turn down. So, I let him in.
            "Alright. But we really should talk for a bit." I couldn't keep my conversation with Alyssa a secret anymore. Even if it would ruin the moment. I didn't realize how it sounded until he tensed up.
            "Okay…"
            I kissed his cheek to calm him down. However, being so out of character for me, I think it actually made things worse. So, I just dropped the bomb. "Alyssa and Ares found us out."
            He pushed his fingers into his temples. "They aren't telling the pack?"
            "No." I laughed, "They wouldn't."
            "Ugh, Ares is going to give me hell for this."
            "Yeah." I said soothingly, "So will Alyssa."
            "Did you tell them?"
            "Hah, no. Alyssa caught us acting weird and used her deductive reasoning skills. She told me to be more subtle."
            He laughed. "She would. That woman knows us too well."

            We settled into bed together for the first time. It was infinitely better than our nights spent hiding from the pack in the woods.
            For the second time ever, Jason said "I love you, Leah."
            "I…" The words struggled in my mouth. "I love you too, Jase."
            "Goodnight."
            I smiled to myself in the dark. "Goodnight."