Chapter 35

Stacey's POV

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"Stacey!! We have had a good bonding with Randell's family for years. It won't look good if you aren't here at the wedding."

"My decision is firm, Mom. I'm not coming, and that's for my final."

"You know that that's not the only reason we are calling you, right?"

"I'm still not coming."

"Your dad is retiring, sweetheart, and he is handing over the pack duties to the new Alpha of the pack, and as per the everyone's votes and everyone's first choice, the new Alpha is Derek, and if you do not come here, then everyone will think that you are jealous of me because your father gave half of his pack to his former's Beta's son."

"Do you think I give a damn to that part? I don't care what others will think, but I know Derek, and he will never think of me in that way. He is becoming the new Alpha of the pack because he has all the qualities of the Alpha. In today's age, An Alpha's son or daughter shouldn't become the next Alpha of the pack; instead, the one who deserves and has all the qualities of Alpha should become the Alpha and the leader of the pack."

"Still, princess. It's a big day for your dad."

"My answer is still NO and. No one…I repeat.. No one and nothing can change my mind. So please don't waste your both time and energy talking to me.", With this, I disconnected the call.

It had been five days since I last saw Derek.

Five days since I had engrossed myself in work.

Five days since, I realized how much Derek used to handle on his own and never let that issues come near me.

Five days since, I promoted Gamma to my Beta and my Delta to Gamma, and a newly hired delta.

Five days since I shifted to the packhouse instead of staying in the penthouse where I had nothing but the memories with Adams; though it didn't affect me now, but I still didn't want to stay at that place.

Five days of agony and non-stop crying at night. I felt completely empty inside without him. When Adams had left, he was there to handle me, but I didn't know how to handle myself now. On the top, my new illness was not at all helping me. Thankfully, I had asked my pack doctor to collect my blood sample and sent the report to my office as well as by email.

I lifted my t-shirt and checked my figure in the mirror. I looked completely normal, but at the same time, I hadn't forgotten that how I felt something moving inside my stomach last night. That fact scared the shit out of me.

Well, you can't blame me for getting scared. Because it was not every day that something moved inside you.

'Is it because you ate a pregnant rabbit that evening? And maybe she gave birth to a little baby inside my stomach?'

'Seriously, Stacey? Have you left your brain at the pawnshop for sale?' Alicia grumbled.' In a normal situation, I would have thought that we are pregnant, but then that is not possible.', She sighed, adding that. I agreed with her. I tried to get pregnant for an unlimited time before, and it never worked before, and I knew the reason why! So, there was no chance that I would be pregnant. I have, in fact, left the hope of being pregnant a long ago.

'Alpha, a vampire.', Blake, my Beta, informed me, bringing me out of the thoughts.

'What? Is that an attack?'

'No. That vampire's smell is coming from Alpha's Asher pack, i.e., from the northern border. It smells like warriors of Alpha Asher's pack are chasing that vampire, and unfortunately, that vampire is running toward our pack.' I cursed in anger and left the room, running outside the packhouse and soon letting Alicia take control of my body, shifting into a big brown wolf.

'Capture that vampire first, and if she tried to attack, then ask the warriors to eat his or her damn head.', I instructed before adding, 'I'm on my way to the northern border.'

The northern border was quite far from dad's packhouse, so he would surely take a lot more time to reach here than I. At the same time, I was wondering how that vampire could enter the dad's pack without anyone's notice and why anyone couldn't anyone trace him or her?

But all my doubts got cleared when the smell of fresh roses hit my nose.

Scarlett!!

Both Alicia and I almost got heart attacked when we realized that the vampire was Derek's adopted daughter.

Damn this little devil!

I told her not to use her powers.

We ran toward the northern border and found her surrounded by ten to twelve werewolves who were growling at her while she was crying and trembling in fear. I loudly growled at them for scaring our pup.

'Yes! Our pup.' Alicia agreed with me. Everyone quickly made space so that I could directly reach her. I shifted in my human form and showed everyone bowing their head and looking at the ground. One of the warriors came near me and handover a shirt. After wearing it, I looked at Scarlett, whose eyes were closed because of fear.

I carefully picked her in my arms. I didn't know what she felt, but she opened her eyes when she felt herself in my arm.

"Stacey," She happily cried and tried to throw her small arms around my neck, but I didn't let her hug me; instead, I glared at her.

"What are you doing here?" I growled at her, on which she whimpered.

"I… I'm sorry, Stacey.", She choked out through her sobs and started sobbing softly again.

"That's not the answer to my question. You are supposed to be at your home. What are you doing here? Why did you use your powers again? Did I tell you that you can get yourself killed by this way?"

"I…I want to meet you.", She whispered. I felt instant rage take over me, and I growled at her again.

"Meet me? At this hour? You could have told your daddy about it, and he could have brought you here. Do you realize what could have happened to you tonight if I wasn't here? You could have died. Then I would have told your daddy? That his princess died in my land by my warriors?" I growled at her as she started crying bitterly.

I sighed and both her close to my heart, seeing her crying like this. Damn it; It was breaking my heart.

I kissed her forehead to make her feel better. I made a mental note to scold her a little more and, if required, then spank her for this stupidity. I saw a lot of pairs of eyes looking at her and me.

"Does dad know about all this?" I asked the warriors of dad's pack who were chasing her.

"No, Alpha Stacey! We saw her running out of the pack, so at that time, we focused on chasing her away instead of informing him about it. Because we were scared that he might punish us by asking how she entered the pack in the first place!", The warriors of dad's pack said.

"Don't inform him about it. I will talk to him about it on my own.", I said, on which they nodded their head and curiously looked at the little vampire in my arms who had held me like her life dependent on me. "I will be introducing her formally to everyone tomorrow morning, but as for now, I can introduce her to you guys!! She is Scarlett, a dhampir, and more like my own pup. I know our feelings for vampires, but she is a baby, and you will get the same treatment from a baby in which you will treat them. So, the choice is all yours.", I told them calmly, not showing them any kind of authority.

"Scar!! Do you want to want to say hello to everyone?" I asked her softly, on which she turned around and looked at the face of everyone. Raising her hand a little, she waved it slowly.

"Hello"

"Hello, Hello Scar, Hello little one, hello..", A lot of voices came overlapping each other. Hearing everyone's greeting, she started waving her hand like a star, giving a flying kiss to everyone.

Okay!

That was too much for a baby!

"By the way, her father is this pack Ex-Beta Derek and your pack's next Alpha Derek." I cleared this statement to everyone because they were all aware of how protective and dangerous Derek was when things came to the person who was close to him. I tried not to smirk when I mentioned this fact because the faces of every one were worth watching.

"Alpha," Blake said, gaining my attention to him. "I will suggest that if she is going to stay in our pack, then pack members should be aware of her. So that…you know…not to hurt her in any way."

"Hmm. I think I agree with your point. That's why I will talk with Derek about it tomorrow. Until then, you all have to keep your mouth sealed." I ordered, using my Alpha tone. They nodded their head. "Great then, you all can move back to your original position. I said and internally cursed at my situation, knowing that now because of all this drama, I had to go to that pack for sure and might have to watch the wedding, which I was avoided.

This was so not done!

And everything was happening with me because of this little devil's run away from home.

I would also have to inform Derek about his daughter's whereabouts because he would be getting worried about her.

Keeping Scarlett down on the ground for a while, I shifted and held of nightdress near her neck in my mouth between my teeth to pick her up. She was startled when I did this but didn't complain about that part. I knew that she could run to the packhouse, but that was the last thing I wanted others to see; she was running like a vampire.

After reaching near the packhouse, I dropped her on the ground again and shifted back. I knew the tree where all the spare shorts and shirts were kept to use after shifting back to human form. So, again used a new shirt to hide my personal property even though I knew that no one was going to stare at my naked body.

I saw Scarlett opening her mouth to speak something, but a single glare from me was enough for her to check her mind. I picked her up in my arms and walked inside the packhouse. I saw a lot of members looking at Scarlett in shock and surprise, but she just waved her hand like a star at everyone with a small smile.

"Hello, Everyone!! I will be giving a small introduction for now and will be introducing her formally tomorrow in after the former Beta's wedding. She is Scarlett, my pup.", There were no similarities between Scarlett and me, so I knew that I didn't need to explain that she was adopted or anything. Moreover, I had to talk with Derek about it because Scarlett was legally his daughter.

'She is cute, Luna…I mean Alpha.", Shailey said, looking at Scarlett in my arms, and before I could have said thanks to her, Scarlett did.

"Thank you."

"Shailey, please get something for her and make sure not to make anything spicy."

"Okay, Alpha!", She nodded. "Here, this is for you.", She added, forwarding an envelope toward me. Before I would have taken it, Scarlett did instead of me.

"Thank you.", She said politely again. She would end up enchanting everyone with her soft skills, for sure.

I went toward the elevator and pressed the topmost floor of the packhouse!

"Are you still mad?"

"I will talk about it in my room. Till then, keep quiet.", I said, ignoring her cuteness and her pout.

*****

I placed her on my bed and then glared at her, which avoided, looking at her lap where she had held that envelope tightly in her hand.

"There is a thin line between being smart and stupid, and what you did today was not something that could be counted in SMARTNESS. Neither my pack nor your pack knows you! You could have been taken as some random vampire crossing the border, and they would have hurt you no matter if you were nothing but a little kid or worse, killed you." I scolded her again, on which tears started flowing from her eyes again. No, I didn't see her tears but yes! I saw the droplets of tears that were dropping on her lap. "This is so disappointing, Scar," I said in not such a happy tone and picked up my phone, where I had some missed calls from Derek.

Did he realize that Scarlett was missing?

Without wasting a single second, I quickly called him back. "Hello…Hello! Stacey! Is Scar there?" he asked in a worried tone. "She been missing from home from the moment she came to know that you're not coming to the wedding.", he said in one go. The way his voice was becoming heavier, I wouldn't be surprised if he would have started crying at that moment.

"Derek, calm down! She is here."

"Is she?"

"Yes! She is here with me in a one-piece.", I said again to reassure him and then switched the voice call to a video call. "Here! You can check on your princess on your own.", I added, bringing my phone near Scarlett.

"Come home, and I will make sure that you will be grounded forever.", Derek growled angrily, and hearing him, she hugged me tightly as if I would protect her from her daddy's angry form.

"It's fine, Derek. Please don't scold her. She has already got a lot of scolding from me." I tried to calm her down, petting my pup's back.

"Thank you, Stacey, for saving her. Because I don't think she would have reached near you crossing the pack security."

"It's fine, really. But at the same time, we need to talk about her. I mean, we should introduce her to the pack members instead of hiding her in the home because tonight, she almost got herself killed, and not to forget, now a lot of warriors have seen her using her powers."

"I don't know if that will be a good idea. Anyways, I'm coming there to take her with me."

"It's fine again. Tomorrow is your wedding. So, don't stress so much. I will be coming there with her.", I said, not liking the idea of traveling from his pack to her and then back to his pack that too at night. That would be too much for him. "And you can trust me. I will take good care of Scar."

"I know that, Stacey. You don't need to say that to make me believe me. It's just you are looking drained out and pale, and I didn't want to add an extra burden on your shoulder."

Did he observe that already?

Just like me, his eyes were dark and baggy, which was clearly indicating that his situation was no more different than mine.

"She's not a burden, Derek. And I will enjoy my little sweetheart's company.", I said with a smile on my face, a genuine smile.

"Okay! If you say so. And Scar! I don't want to hear any single complaint of yours, or you will see the worst side of mine.", he warned. Scarlett didn't look at him and kept her face hidden with my body. I could feel her fear of hearing her daddy's angry voice, but little did she know that he was angry because he loved her. "Bye!"

"Bye!", We didn't disconnect the call even after saying BYE and kept staring at each other without saying a thing. I sighed, knowing that I had to end the even though I didn't want to, so I disconnected the call with a heavy heart.

Tossing the phone away, I pulled Scarlett in my lap and made her look at me.

"I'm sorry, Stacey.", She apologized.

"It's not okay, but still, you are forgiven for the last time.", I muttered, kissing her cheek. She finally giggled before speaking.

"Here. This is for you.", She forwarded that envelope toward me. I saw the mark of pack hospital on the envelope and realized that this was what we were waiting for.

'Finally, we will get to know about that little thing in your stomach.', Alicia said to which I agreed. I opened the envelope and was about to take out the reports in this, that's when Shailey knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Alpha…I have brought dinner for the princess along with yours.", She said, bringing the tray full of food. Because of the change in the taste buds, she made sure to bring all kinds of food for me so that I could eat whatever I wanted, but today I wanted to have porridge as my dinner, which she had brought for Scarlett.

"Today, I will have porridge for dinner. You can take the rest of the things.", I ordered and kept that envelope on my desk. After that, I got busy feeding dinner to Scar and having dinner at the same time. I didn't notice when that envelope fell down on the floor, and because of the wind, it flew under the bed.

After I looked for that envelope but I didn't find it anywhere.

"Scar, have you seen the envelope which I had kept here?"

"No, Mommy," She responded, shaking her head. My eyes widened when I heard 'Mommy' from her mouth. Was I dreaming?

"What did you say?" I asked to confirm.

"No."

'No. Not that what did you say after 'NO'?"

"Mommy.", She said, on which my mind totally got distracted from that envelope to this new happiness that I just got. "I was told that day that I could choose my own mom. So, finally, I chose one."

"Okayyyy!! But on what basis do you choose me as your mommy?" I asked, getting interested in talking about that topic.

"I had made a list of the characteristics that I needed in my mommy, and today I come to the conclusion that you are the best mommy that I can even have."

"And what were those characteristics?" I asked curiously.

"1. BRAVE: Ready to fight with everyone for me.

2. Save me from daddy's anger.

3. Keep me on the priorities list.

4. Treat me like her own.

5. Smart and Beautiful; and on the top of this,

6. Love my daddy a lot."

"I..I don't love your daddy", I quickly cut that point.

"Yeah! Tell that story to them who can't hear your heartbeats", She said, rolling her eyes.

"Youuu…little devil", I grabbed her and started tickling her. She started laughing and rolling here and there. That was one of the best nights in those five days. We talked, and we laughed before it was time to sleep. I even read bedtime stories for her by checking the new story over the internet, and I didn't realize when I slept because the next morning, when I opened my eyes. I found myself on the bed sleeping peacefully, and my body was covered with the sheet.

That made me wonder for a while that who changed my sleeping position.

'She did.', Alicia said, and I saw a little human beside me, who had kept her hand over mine.

*****

I looked for the envelope again, wondering where it could go? And thankfully, I found it under the bed, and my hand couldn't reach there.

Damn!

Immediately I remembered that the doctor would have to send the soft copy of the report over the mail as well. I checked my phone and refreshed it at least thrice, but there was no mail from the doctor or her assistant.

'Dr. Nile, I didn't receive the soft copy of my report? I needed it urgently.' I mind-linked at the doctor.

'I had asked my assistant to send it last night. Let me check it myself. It's still early morning; if you don't mind me borrowing some time, then can I send it by ten?'

'Fine!'

'Thank you, Alpha. And congratulation for your pup.', he congratulated me. I looked at Scarlett and smiled, thinking about how fast news spread.

'Thank you, Dr. Nile. And I hope I don't have to remind you about the soft copy of the report.'

'Don't worry about that. You don't have to remind me again.', He said, and I closed the mind link.

"Is something troubling you, Mommy?"

"It was my test report, sweetheart, that has been missing. I'm afraid that I'm sick.", I responded by telling her the truth.

"Is that so? Let me cure you.", She said, holding my hand.

"No," I pulled my hand away. "Using your power at such a young age is quite a danger. You might end up killing yourself."

"Well, I have done a little research on that and found that nothing will happen to me in case of curing small injury or minor sickness.", She said and grabbed my hand again. I tried to pull my hand again from again, but her grip was tight over my hands.

All of a sudden, I started feeling good and normal.

"Scar!!",

"There you go!", She said, leaving my hand. "You are weak, not sick. I can feel that."

"How can you say that?" I asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Whenever I heal any injury, I start feeling weak, and right now, I didn't feel anything."

"It means you have done this before?" I asked, arching my brow, and she started looking everywhere but me. "I can't believe you. I think your daddy is right about sealing your power."

"Please, Mommy…you can't do that to me.", She whined.

"Knowing that you have some sort of power which can cause your death in case of its excess use. Of course, I can do that you do.", I pointed out angrily.

"I won't use my powers, I promise."

"You better not break your promise, young lady, OR your powers will be sealed. And mark my words about that part." I warned, on which nodded her head like an obedient child. A smile broke on my smile, seeing her cute expression. I leaned and kissed her cheek and earned a kiss in return on my cheek.

After an hour, I left for the dad's pack with Scarlett. The closer I was reaching the other pack, the more I was getting nervous.

"You are disturbed with the thought of daddy's marriage with Senior Scarlett?" Jr. Scarlett asked, on which I didn't bother to answer because she could sense my lie in her own way. "Do you know I told them to break their relationship, but it didn't work?"

"You didn't what?" I asked in shock.

"I told her the truth that daddy loves you, not her, and she should not come in between you two!!"

"You really said that?" I asked, not able to believe that she could do something like that.

"Yes! But apparently, it didn't work out.", She huffed, crossing her arms around her chest.

"You shouldn't have done that, you know! Because your daddy loves…

"You. I know it. Everyone can see this that how miserable he has been without you, including her, but I don't understand why they are even marrying each other."

I didn't argue with her knowing that she was just assuming things. A mate is supposed to love his or her mate.

'But Adams stopped loving us when we were his mates.', Alicia pointed out.

'And you expect Derek to do the same?' I questioned her, on which she shut her mouth. Exactly, just like I expected, we didn't want history to repeat again. I dropped Scar at Derek's place first before driving the car to my dad's place, not waiting for even a single second more at Derek's place.

To be honest, I wanted to run away from the place again, not wanting to see my love getting married to the person whom he loved. But then again, my nausea was back, and I knew I couldn't drive in this state for long.

"Stacey!!" Mom screamed like a madwoman when I pulled out of my car near the home. She hugged me tightly, and the moment her perfume hit my nose, I felt like I would throw up again on her dress.

I pulled myself away from her and tried hard to control myself from puking here and there.

"I'm so glad that you're here.", She expressed her happiness. "You're going to enjoy a lot today. The Alpha ceremony has been kept in the backyard of our place, and after that, Derek is going to mark his mate in front of everyone.", She explained, to which I nodded.

'It meant I had to leave the backyard after the Alpha ceremony.' I made a mental note about it. And the moment I walked in, a strong smell of Derek hit my nose. Maybe it was because of sickness; I didn't notice that.

I lifted my eyes and found Derek stopping near the stairs. He seemed like he was running a moment before by observing his breath.

Did he sense my presence here, and that was why he came here running here?

He was already in a three-piece suit for taking the oat, and maybe he was going to wear the same for his marriage. As usual, he was looking handsome. In fact, he was looking more handsome than he'd ever done.

I took a deep breath and started walking away from there, averting my eyes from him. I pulled myself together and promised myself not to cry.

"How big is the crowd outside?" I asked as I stepped into my room.

"Almost all the Alphas are here with whom we have a good relationship, and in case of if any Alpha is not here because of any personal reason, they had sent their Beta.", Mom responded, placing a beautiful royal blue gown on the bed. "Change the dress as soon as possible. I will be sending beauticians in the room as soon as possible.", She added.

I nodded my head before closing the door when she left my room. The first thing I did was run toward the washroom before I puked all over my room; that wouldn't have been a great view of my room. I washed my mouth and face once I was finished.

I changed my clothes after that and just like mom had said that she would be sending some beautician to my room and they came just after I changed my clothes.

I didn't give a damn about what they were doing to my hair, nails, or face because I was feeling extremely weak and drowsy at that moment.

Throughout the ceremony, I was just trying my best not to fall down because of the dizziness!! It's not just dad's important day but also a big day for Derek, and I didn't want to spoil it because of my dizziness, not when I was feeling his eyes on me all the time.

I grabbed mom's arms tightly to handle myself when I heard a loud howling of wolves, showing their happiness!

"Stacey!" Mom held me, getting worried.

I didn't want to stay here after Alpha Ceremony a second later, but I also didn't expect to reach the hospital after the Alpha Ceremony. I blinked my eyes at her but couldn't hold my eyes open any longer.

"STACEY," I heard the loud growl before I lost my consciousness.

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#TBC