Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 192: Andrei POV
I woke to the sound of people whispering and banging around. Sitting up in bed, I noticed someone had closed our bedroom door. Looking down at Jonah and Sage they were both sleeping peacefully and I carefully climbed out of bed to not wake them as I went to find out who was in the packhouse and who closed our door.
I knew it must be pack members and my father because I would have woken to the feeling of trespassers on my territory.
Pulling a tank top on, I open the door carefully, closing the door behind me to find Zane, Malik, Casen and Vince along with my father in the surveillance room. Rubbing a hand down my face I walk over to the room to see my father stand up with a box in his hands. The room is bare and all equipment is being removed.
Touching Zane’s shoulder he nearly jumps out of his skin not realising I was behind him. His arms flailing about as I gave him a scare. Casen laughs, mimicking his flailing hands and the noise that left him poking fun and laughing at Zane. I chuckle as Zane turns around.
“f*uc*k, make some noise next time, nearly sh*t my pants. Why are you creeping around for” He asks.
“Well it’s my house” I tell him, stepping into the empty room.
“What are you all doing here, and what are you doing?” I ask. My father walks out with the box of equipment and walks downstairs.
“Well now Jonah is home, he needs his own room” Malik says and I nod while yawning.
“Yeah I wanted to move all this to the office downstairs” I tell him.
“Already done,” Casen says, grinning.
“Vince is about to go down and set it up again for you” Malik says, nudging Vince. He nods and ducks out of the room. I look around the room that was down the end of the hall from ours and off the landing on this floor.
“What time is it?” I ask as my father walks back into the room.
“A little after 2pm” He answers and I nod my head. I slept the entire day away.
“Now that you are up, you can help carry everything in” My fathers says, gripping my shoulder.
“Carry what in?” I ask him.
“Your father went shopping this morning, woke me up at 7 am to head into the City” Casen says clearly not appreciating the early wake up.
“Sage and Jonah?” Malik asks.
“Still sleeping, ” I tell him, looking back at my bedroom door.
“Well come on, we can bring everything up now” My father says and I follow him out of the room and down the stairs. Walking out of the packhouse I find my fathers old wagon with a trailer on the back loaded with boxes of all different sizes. The back of his wagon full to the brim, he wouldn’t have even been able to see out the rearview mirror.
I look over my shoulder at my father who shrugs. “I may have been a little excited about his return and I couldn’t sleep, ” he tells me.
“You brought all this for Jonah?” I ask a little shocked. I knew we had to sort him a room out but we would have gone and he didn’t have to spend his money to do it.
“Yes, he is my grandson. Come on” He says walking over to the trailer and undoing the straps.
We unpack the trailer and a few pack members come over to help unload the mountain load of toys and linen from the trunk of the wagon.
We haul all the furniture upstairs before Casen grabs the tools from the basement and places them beside me. My father and I started unpacking the bed to put it together and Malik set the mattress against the wall removing the plastic covering.
“He will love this,” I tell my father looking at the picture on the box. The bed was a green race car. My father and I set to work putting it together and trying to follow the impossible instructions.
We got the bed together only to have to pull it apart again when we realised we placed the bottom support railing upside down and couldn’t screw the slats down flat from the joins.
“How did we mess that up?” my father says while scratching his chin and staring at the instructions again.
“This is why I left the flatpacks to Shirley” He says and I laugh turning the frame on the side to see if we could pull the brace off without having to undo it completely.
“Hold that” I tell him, and he grabs the frame while I remove the screws before flipping the brackets over. Once in place we turn the bed back the right way up. My father starts pulling the bed slats out of their bindings when I hear feet in the hallway.
Looking up, I see Jonah rubbing his eyes and standing in the doorway.
“Hey little man” Dad says to him and Jonah looks at him.
“What are you doing?” He asks before looking at me kneeling beside the bed. His little eyes light up at the race car bed.
“We are putting your bed together that pop brought you” I tell him.
“ It’s for me?” He asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly as he stared at us.
“ It’s all yours, this is going to be your room” my father tells him.
“Really my own room, with my own bed. I never had my own bed” He says excitedly rushing over. I try not to let his words bother me.
“You want to help?” I ask him and he nods excitedly. We place the bed slats down in their allocated spots before I grab the drill. “Come here” I tell him, reaching for him before pulling him to stand in front of me. I p@sshim the drill and place the screw in the hole in the slat.
He struggles to hold it under its weight. Gripping the bottom, I show him how to do the first one before letting him do the next one. His tongue pokes out the side of his lips as he concentrates trying to line the drill piece up with the screw.
“Now pull the trigger and press down,” I tell him. He jumps when the noise of the drill starts before screwing in the slat.
“I did it” he squeals excitedly, jumping up and down only for the drill to drop from his hands. It lands on my toes making me hiss. “Ah fuuuuudgiickles” I only just managed to hold back the curses I wanted sling at the pain, my hands clenching and jaw locked as I tried to breathe through it.
“Sorry!” Jonah shrieks, his lips turning to an O shape before pursing his lips.
My toes throbbing to their own beat when I looked down to find my toes turning black and one was bleeding. I f0rce myself to wiggle my toes so they heal.
Jonah bends down examining my bleeding toe before he pokes it. “Does it still hurt?” He asks, jabbing it with his index finger. My father chuckles while I blink at the small boy as he continues to poke my foot.
“You should be more careful where you put your feet” He says like it was my fault he dropped it on my toe.
“Yes, I should make sure to wear steel caps around you from now on” I tell him, shaking my head and picking up the drill.
“Want to do the rest?” I ask him, his hands instantly reaching for the drill. I make sure to keep my feet away and a hand on the drill this time as we set up his bed.
Sage POV
I awoke to the bed empty, my heart hammering when I didn’t feel Jonah. Sitting up, I scan the room with my eyes to see the door shut but I could hear giggling coming from the otherside. Grabbing my dressing gown. I see the sun going down out the window before glancing at the alarm clock. 5pm.I slept the entire day away.
Opening the door, I walk down the hall to the open door at the end where I could hear Jonah’s laughter coming from. Pushing the door wider, I see the surveillance room has been turned into a child’s bedroom. Perfect for Jonah. A race car bed with red matching linen sat along one wall and a matching blue and green dresser that matched the bed sat on the other wall.
A bedside table with a car night lamp sat next to the bed and Dinosaur and car wall decor stickers covered the walls. Jonah was sitting on the floor in Andrei’s lap as they played with matchbox cars on the car track mat.
“Who did all this?” I gasp looking around the room.
“ I helped,” Says Jonah, climbing out of Andrei’s lap and rushing over.
“You did?” I ask looking around. Andrei climbs off the floor and stands up kissing my temple.
“Dad went shopping and came home with this, I woke to them pulling the room apart” He says laughing softly.
“Your dad got all this for him?” I ask.
“Yep pop pop, got it. I have my own bed” Jonah says excitedly sitting on it and brushing the covers with his hands. I loved how easily Jonah just slipped into the role of being our son, being everyone’s shining light.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” Andrei murmurs into my hair.
“Look, I have toys too” Jonah squeals, rummaging through a toy bucket. He pulls out a dinosaur holding it up.
“Wow, isn’t he cool?” I ask and Jonah makes roaring noises at me.
“Dinners done ” Derrick calls out from downstairs.
“Quick wash your hands and face, so you can have dinner” I tell him and he rushes to the bathroom.
“This is amazing, I can’t believe you all did all this while I slept” I tell Andrei as he led me out of the room.
Walking down the stairs, I reach the bottom when Jonah squeals. “Look at me” He says and my heart stutters frantically as he slides down the bannister before falling off the side. I shriek when Andrei grabs the back on his pants before he hits the ground holding him in the air.
“What did I say about doing that?” Andrei scolds him before setting him on the ground. Jonah picks out his wedgie Andrei just gave him from grabbing him .
“But Pop did it” Jonah whines.
“Pop is old and senile, don’t listen to everyhting pop says” Andrei tells him.
“I am not, and I am not that old” Derrick says walking out his hands in oven mits and a floral apron around his waist. Jonah laughs at Derrick’s attire.
“Quick dinner” Derrick tells him and he rushes off into the kitchen.
“I am not old” He tells Andrei.
“Not old huh, that’s why I had to peel you off the bannister when you got your leg stuck” Andrei tells him shaking his head and following after Jonah.
“ It’s my sciatica, has nothing to do with old age ” Derrick tells him, muttering under his breath when Andrei laughs.
“Something smells good” I tell Derrick.
“Roast and I made chocolate pudding, Kat always loved chocolate pudding” He announces leading me into the kitchen.
“Have any of you told Kat about Jonah?” I ask them.
“Yes, she will be over Tuesday when Dominic comes to visit,” Andrei tells me.
“Dominic is coming here?” I ask and Derrick and Andrei both nod.
“No, Idea but he said he is bringing Kyan his son with him” Andrei says.
“Kyan is strange, ” Jonah says, making me look at him.
“You met Kyan, was he mean to you?” I ask.
“No, he was alright, but he always looked sad, he didn’t talk much” Jonah says before looking up and licking his lips as Derrick sets his plate in front of him.
“How old is Kyan?” I ask Andrei who shrugs. “He is g, he has powers too. He showed me this black mist stuff. It was cool but also scary, it was so cold and sticky but then his dad got mad and said he shouldn’t show people” Jonah says and Derrick stares down at him for a second before glancing at Andrei and I.
“Well you should never be mean to anyone just because they are a little odd” I tell Jonah, slightly creeped out, surely he imagined it.
“No he is alright, I like him. He asked if I would be his friend” Jonah says before stabbing a roasted potato with his fork.
“You said yes, didn’t you?” Andrie asks him and he nods.
“Yep, he is my friend, can he come over to play?”
“He will be here on Tuesday” Andrei tells him though I could tell he was a little nervous about Dominic coming. So was I, what if he tried to take Jonah from us.
“Jonah, come here for a second, ” Andrei says, pushing his chair out. I watch as Jonah goes to Andrei. He swallows his food quickly and Andrei brushes his lip that is covered in gravy wiping it on his pants.
“Dad, can you p@ssme a can of lemonade?” Andrei asks and Derrick grabs one from the fridge, cracking the can for him and handing it to Jonah. Jonah sips it before placing it down.
“I thought I couldn’t have bubbles at night” Jonah says, knowing Malik and us never gave him a fizzy drink late in the afternoons, it always made him hyper.
“Just tonight ok, I need you to do something for me” Andrei tells him.
“Can I drink more lemon bubbles”
“Yes, but do you know how Clive took you away?” Jonah nods.
“Well we don’t want that to happen again so we need to make you a pack member until the adoption process finishes, if you are a pack member they won’t be able to take you from us”
“But I thought I couldn’t become a pack because of Uncle Clive” Jonah asks.
“You aren’t supposed to without parental or guardian consent, but you are ours now so I give you permission” Andrei tells him before looking at me nervously.
If this ever got brought up that he did this, he could get in some serious trouble. But Andrei was willing to take that punishment before anything had been legally documented to ensure he remained with us.
“I should have done it in the first place” Andrei mindlinks me and I press my lips in a line but nod, knowing what he was risking but this would ensure he stays here.
They wouldn’t pull a boy his age from a pack; it would cause him too much pain to sever a pack bond and they wouldn’t be allowed to remove him until he was old enough to decide for himself.
“I am going to give you some of my blood, then I need you to repeat these words okay?” Jonah nods.
“ I need you to say, I Jonah Marshall, pledge my life and my loyalty to Alpha Andrei Hartley of the Howlers Pack. Ok”
“Does that mean, I have to call you Alpha, I thought you wanted to be my dad” Jonah asks.
“You can call me whatever you like, and I want to be your dad. I just need you to do this to make sure no one takes you from Sage and I ” Andrei tells him.
“So I can still call you dad?”
“Yes, or Mr Andrei whatever you like”
“ I like dad better” Jonah says, smiling up at him.
“ So do I ” Andrei tells him before leaning forward and kissing his head.
“Ready?” He asks him. Jonah nods and Andrei bites his hand above his thumb and Jonah scrunches his face up before biting down onto Andrei’s hand.
“Gross, I am not a vampire” Jonah says and Andrei gives him a look.
“Oh, I Jonah Marshall pledge my life and my loyalty to Alpha Andrei of the Howlers Pack” Jonah says, his brows scrunch up and I feel the pack bond stretch taking him into its safety net and tethering him to the pack and us.
Andrei passes him his lemonade and Jonah sculls some.
“Good boy, now go eat your dinner, then you can have some pudding” Andrei tells him.
“So I can stay now?”
“Yes, you were never leaving once we got you back” I tell him.
“But I don’t have to drink dad’s blood anymore, he doesn’t taste very nice and I don’t want to turn into a bat” Jonah says while drinking more lemonade. Derrick snorts.
“Why would you turn into a bat?” I ask.
“Because Dracula did, he drank blood and turned into a bat, and not like batman, a real bat with wings” Jonah exclaims.
“You won’t turn into a bat, one day a werewolf but not a bat” Andrei laughs, shaking his head.
“A big wolf like Donnie?” Jonah asks.
“Yep, a wolf like Donnie and then when you are much older, I will make you an Alpha like me”
“But I don’t want to be an Alpha, Alpha’s have their own packs and I would have to leave, you said I could stay” Jonah pouts.
“You can stay Jonah, just means when you are older and I am old, I will make you Alpha and you will run my pack, it will become yours and you will be Alpha one day” Andrei tells him.
“But my mother was an Omega, and my father was the um… he was like an Omega…. I think” Jonah says, his brows pinching together. “ So I can’t be an Alpha” Jonah pouts.
“Pop is only a Beta. My mother was an Omega and Sage was an Omega before she was Luna, you can be whoever you want to be, and if you want to be Alpha one day, I will make you one, like my dad did for me” Andrei tells him.
“Other dad, not me” Derrick tells him when Jonah looks at him.
“Like my new dad” And Derrick nods.
“Yep, Anthony, Andrei’s other dad. He was a warrior and wasn’t Alpha, but titles can change when given and they are found worthy of them. Anthony became Alpha and became strong like an Alpha because the pack pledged to him and that gave him his title and all the things that came with it, there is more to being Alpha then just blood.
I believe that is why your dad is stronger then most Alpha’s because with most Alpha’s, the title is handed down, whereas your dad had to earn his just like you will have to and that sort of respect and loyalty makes him stronger, that’s how packs used to be formed, by challenging the Alpha’s now they hand the titles down but your dad had to do it the old way” Derrick tells him.
“You had to fight your dad?” Jonah exclaims. Andrei nods his head.
“So I will have to fight you?”
“Not now, when you are older and trained”
“Is that how your other dad d*ied, did you K*ll your dad?”
“No, but I had to make him submit, ” Andrei explains.
“Ok” Jonah says, turning back to his plate. We all sit and eat dinner while Jonah tells us what he thinks being Alpha means and how he will make Andrei submit to him. I listen and watch his excitement worried about what Tuesday would bring, also wondering what Andrei’s punishment would be when they find out Andrei initiated Jonah before the courts approval.