Mated To The Alpha: A Standalone Wolf Shifter Romance, стр. 49

Elam waved Emma back into her seat and rose to open a bottle of wine for the group, as Galen steered the conversation in an entirely new direction.

"There is a lot to be discussed on the brother front, for sure, but before you get too carried away with the wine- pour three glasses only, please."

"Do you not want a glass, brother?" Elam said the term with a big grin at Galen.

"Oh hell yeah, I do."

Kate interrupted them, saying, "It is me who won't be drinking."

"Since when do you turn down wine?" Emma ribbed her.

"Since I started carrying Galen's cub."

That news made everyone stop what they were doing and turn to the couple, congratulating them, hugging Kate and slapping Galen on the back.

"That's another reason we are grateful to you, Emma. Since Kate is with cub, you saved more than just her from Ziva. You saved them both. I owe you everything, Emma. Anything you ever need, you just say the word. I mean it."

Emma nodded, not really sure how to respond, so she teased Kate instead, trying to lighten the mood.

"Holy shit, Kate. What are your parents going to say when they hear? They expect you back, straightened up from our wayward path, at the end of this next year. Won't they be surprised?"

"Ah, but I have straightened up. I'm very happily married, or mated, or claimed, or whatever. Come to think of it, they very well may demand a church wedding, but..."

"I'm game." Galen reassured her. "If a church wedding will please your parents, I'll marry you in each and every church they require. I will want a wedding night though, after each wedding. I'm just sayin'."

"I'm just sayin'? Since when are you down with old human lingo?"

Emma couldn't help teasing Galen. She was so very happy for her friend, and she had an inkling she was carrying her own cub as well. She turned down her own glass of wine, feigning recovery. She hadn't told Elam yet, she was waiting to be sure. Hell, he'd probably scent the change before she could tell him anyway, but she was waiting just the same.

"Hey, I'm down." Galen responded, teasing back.

"Oh jeeze. Don't. Just don't."

"You think humans are the only ones who can be hip?'

"Oh God, hip? Seriously. Stop before you hurt something."

Once the teasing passed, and everyone was sitting together once again, Galen cleared his throat, and addressed the group in a more serious tone.

"If you think Elam and I being half-brothers is wild, wait until I fill in more gaps."

"There's more?" Emma asked, sipping her fruit juice out of a wine glass.

"Lots more," Galen continued, settling in.

"After you two first arrived with Henry, but before the challenge, Thomas called me to him. He knew he was dying, of course, and at the time, I was still favored to be the next Alpha. Plus, being his blood son- well, let's just say he had a lot of stuff he wanted to tell me before he passed on. To get off his chest, so to speak."

Emma tucked herself against Elam's body, smiling as he draped his arm around her as he sipped his wine and listened to Galen.

"Thomas knew he wasn't long for this world, so he didn't pussy foot around. He told me his story and wouldn't let me interrupt very often. I think he was afraid he'd pass before he got it all out."

"Before he got all of what out? How many secrets could he have?"

"Quite a few, apparently. He started at the beginning. Thomas told me that when he was younger, about twenty five or so, he heard his parents discussing him when they thought they were alone. They were discussing whether or not they were ever going to tell him that he was adopted."

"What?"

"You have got to be kidding!"

Galen shook off the reactions with a wave of his hand, carrying on over the interruptions.

"He said his dad, Alpha Aiden, reminded his mom that they had planned to tell him once he reached adulthood, but they still hadn't. It was his mother who didn't want to do it still. He listened in as they debated it, and learned that his parentage was, at best, a rumor.

It seemed that at the time, his mom had yet to be able to carry one of Aiden's cubs to term, so when a baby boy was dropped off at their den, they took him in. They tried, at first, to figure out who the cub belonged to, but all they ever heard in return was rumors.

The most insistent rumor being that Thomas was the son of a shape shifting father and a witch mother. I guess they reminisced, as Thomas listened in, about shape shifting things Thomas used to do as a young child, before they were able to corral him some and turn his shapeshifting into more of a wolf shifter only situation. As welcome as wolf shifters are, shape shifters are a totally different breed, and aren't welcomed usually. The shape shifter's history..."

Emma nodded her understanding, saying that Elam had told her some of this already.

Galen continued on, "Well, it seems that Thomas didn't take the news well. He started hanging out with those the pack didn't approve of. Witches, mainly, as shape shifters are harder to find. They introduced him to certain herbs and plants in the woods, and taught him spells and what-have-you.

Thomas said that since his parents never bothered to tell him of his origins, he never bothered to tell them who he had started hanging out with, or what they were doing when they were all together."

"Wait," Emma raised her hand, interrupting for a second. "What about Reine? Was she also adopted?"

"No. It seems that sometime after Aiden had taken Thomas in as his own, he sired Reine. Reine was the only cub the pair managed to actually have, together."

"So Reine and Thomas were not biological brother and sister after all? Wow. And Thomas never