Song: Might Have Been by Kate Voegele

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I know it's choppy-ish but bear with me.

To you it was just picking flowers. To them it was a massacre."-Iain Thomas(Pleasefindthis)

Korali's Pov.(NOT EDITED OR LOOKED OVER SORRY IF THERE's A LOT OF MISTAKES)

Jordan stood silent, his arm tight around me. We had just arrived at the part of the forest where they had kept the intruder detained. She smiled upon our arrival, causing Jordan to tighten his hold. When I finally looked her over I looked at Jordan and Max not understanding why they didn't seem more excited.

Was I the only person who saw it?

"Arion?" My voice sent the three into a disarray. Three sets of eyes stared me down before Max and Jordan's went towards her.

"Who's she? She recognized me before you guys and I'm sure we've never even met." She smiled and it seemed truthful enough. Her skin was a dark brown with a golden hue to it. Her black corkscrew curls were lengthy and sat at the middle of her back. Her body wasn't over muscular, it was the perfect hour-glass figure, more towards the thicker side.

"No one should really be surprised since I know you've seen Mahalia." She shrugged stepping closer to us.

Jordan took us a step back before asking "How?"

"I've escaped. But that's beside the point. Jor and Maxie! All we're missing is Cai and we'd have our old group back together!" Her voice was excited and you could see the actual joy in her eyes, underneath were slight bags and she tried to cover the look of exhaustion.

"Escaped?"

"Your mom practically kidnapped a bunch of us and raised up as assassins. She's had hella guards around us, she calls us the elites. Your dad—"

"My dad is still alive?" I could hear the happiness in Jordan's voice. He held me a bit tighter.

"He's not the same Jordan." She smiled grimly. "He's a shell of his former self. He's still not crazy, but it's almost as if he has no mind at all. Just sits there blankly all the time looking into the distance. Time has not been his friend either. His hair is all white, his face has aged to make him look a lot older than just his 40's. Except when he looks at Mahalia." She flicked her brown almost black corkscrews over her shoulder. "When he looks at her, you can see the regret in his eyes. Which is understandable since that little girls a nut. Sorry Jor."

"How do we know we can trust you anymore?"

"I'm telling you all the information you need to be safe. All I want is to be apart of the pack again. To see my parents. To be normal. Growing up in that camp was not a life."

"Your parents don't live here anymore."

"What?" The tears were in her eyes, "Where are they? Do I have any brothers and sisters?"

"No. They moved to the city once you disappeared." Max spoke and she ran and hugged him. He appeared stunned for a bit before hugging her back.

"Well can you call them! I missed my mom and dad." You could look at her and see her mixture of Mexican and Sudanese, she was a blend of both parents.

"We aren't going to do that." Jordan spoke and I looked up at him. "As much as we missed you and are glad you're back. Before we're sure on if we can completely clear you of anything that can lead this pack wrong, we're not allowing you off territory, and we cannot allow anyone except Kaliko," Jordan shot me a reassuring look, "in."

She nodded solemnly, understand the truth behind the words and also not being able to do anything to change his mind.

After fixing her a plate of food that was in the kitchen Max and Jordan went into the office to go figure out where Arion came from.

They left me with her in the pack dinning room. She was eating a plate of mac and cheese and I was nursing a cup of apple juice and a plastic container of grapes.

I didn't get a bad vibe from Arion, but I didn't like her either. As irrational as it is, I didn't like that she was so accepted so easily. Everyone in the pack practically brought her in with open arms and smiles. When it took time for them to warm up to me. They practically hated me for 3 months, until I had to force my way into their hospitality. I know she was a previous member, but she was taken by the enemy and raised with her! She could be infiltrating right now.

"You're pregnant."

"What?" My head snapped to her. She looked me up and down, assessing me.

"You're pregnant." She repeated, " Before I escaped, I overheard Luna Gage—sorry, Jor's mom mention it." She spooned more food in her mouth and my stomach dropped. There was no point in lying about it.

I blinked several times. "Don't tell Jordan."

"I don't usually keep things from him." Bitch you just got here. I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth.

"Listen, Arion. I don't know you. And at this moment I'm not sure I even like you or how close you are to Jordan. But this is my thing to tell him. Not yours."

"You do realize that he doesn't want children right?"

"I know my mate!" I slammed down the container I was eating out of. "I know him better than you do. You've been gone for 8 years. A lot has changed."

"And for some reason despite that, you're the one who's jealous?" She raised an eyebrow and honestly I wish I was the one who was calm. But I wasn't. I was livid.

Feeling my nails grow and my canines lengthen I decided to leave before I tried to claw her fucking face off and probably end up hurt. I mean I was angry, not stupid. She was a trained killer.

***

I couldn't even touch Jordan without feeling some bit of guilt. Even when he wanted to have sex I refused to get naked, thinking that somehow he'd notice a difference. Which was ridiculous, seeing as I wasn't even showing yet. He always thought it was weird, but allowed me my exceptions because he was honored that I was even sharing my body with him. He was a weirdo. But it was cute and respectable.

Jordan's head was on my stomach. I was trying to rub his headache away. He said he was fine, but I think it was because of so much news of his past hitting him at once. I looked up that people with PTSD tend to have chronic pains in their head from the memories. As much as Jordan and I have sex, he still had trouble with intimacy. Abrupt hugs, touching, or not letting him know when you were coming—If he didn't hear you first, still had him on alarm. "Kore do you have an irregular heartbeat?"

"No," I frowned.

"Well, your heartbeat sounds doubled." I had forgotten that our hearing was so much better than a human's.

"Its—" he looked at me with a such a peaceful smile that I panicked and lied. "Oh its common for werewolf females. Especially when their mate is near."

"Oh okay" He gave me a look of confusion but just shrugged it off.

"I can't believe I resisted someone as beautiful as you for so long." He leaned his head onto my lap and peered up at me, toying with my shirt.

"Are you just trying to sleep with me?" I teased, forcing a smile, trying to get back into the mood of the moment.

"Not this time." He gave a gentle smile, "You look a little tired? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Really. I've just been thinking about your birthday is all" I wanted to change the subject altogether.

"Oh." His face twisted into a frown. "I've never celebrated it. And there's no point in doing it now. So don't stress over it." He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, because he thought I would invite the whole pack. I wasn't careless though, I knew Jordan wasn't ready for crowds and speaking too much.

"You haven't celebrated your birthday, is the EXACT reason why I'm going to do something for it." I tried to ignore the contrition rolling around in my belly.

"Whatever you want Kore."

I tried several things to ease Jordan into parenthood before he actually knew about the baby. They all backfired.

I stuffed my shirt with clothes while doing some laundry. Jordan laughed "Why don't you just grab a basket?"

"Because I'm lazy." I waddled around one hand on my hip the other cradling the clothes and Jordan just merely chuckled.

Then I tried "You want to get a pet?"

"No pets are like children. Plus, you have to take them out and care for them. What need do we have for pets when we turn into giant dogs? If you want to pet something, I'll just force Max to change and let you at him." I narrowed my eyes in a challenge to his comment.

"So you want me to give a rub down to Max. Stroking his fur and his stomach—" His choleric growl sounded throughout the room.

"You touch him and he's losing a limb."

"That's what I thought."

I even binged watch with him all the movies about pregnant women I could find.

Baby Mama, The Surrogate, Knocked Up, One Night Stand, What to Expect When You're Expecting, Back-up Plan, Life as We Know It, Away We Go, She's Having a Baby, Labor Pains, Juno, Fools Rush In, L!fe Happens, etc. We watched A LOT of movies.

He only said "pregnant woman are wrecks." Then he chuckled assuming the subject was now safe to joke about. "Good thing you'll never have to do that."

Or "labor looks shitty."

Or my favorite one of them all, and the only time he ever questioned the movie taste he said, "These are pretty much all good reasons why not to have children. And they're pretty interesting."

***

"Where are you going?" Jordan smiled pulling me into his arms. I was heading towards the door, passing him walking out of the kitchen. I was trying to get out without him catching me, but those odds were slim.

"To see the doctor," I decided not to lie, but I wasn't going to tell the truth completely.

His eyebrows furrowed in concern, "What's wrong? Why didn't you tell me? I could bring the doctor here. I'll go with you."

"No!" I said a little too quickly, then I backtracked. "Jordan, it's nothing serious. It's been months since he checked my feet. Remember the burns from the wolfs bane? And beside I need a checkup."

"You seem perfectly in shape to me." He said in utter serious. "We didn't go too far with that positio—"

"No," I chuckled setting my hand on his arm. "We'll definitely do that again. But Jordan, I am not a kid, I can go visit the doctor by myself. I'm a big girl." I gave him a big smile that made his eyes soften and his body relax. He looked at my face for a long time and I did my best to show him that I was fine.

"Okay, I have to visit Arion. Please tell Max when you're done. We have to be extra vigilant like Arion said."

"You've been visiting her a lot," I avowed a bit bitter.

"She was my childhood friend Korali and she has information on my mom" he shrugged, confused.

"Yeah, well I hope that's all you're visiting her for."

"Kore, are you doubting my loyalty to you?" He asked grabbing my hand. "I would never betray you in any way. I love you. Arion is an old friend and nothing more."

"Exactly you and she have history. And lets not act like she's not beautiful."

"What does that have to do with anything? You're very beautiful and I'm unhappily okay with you being around Peter."

"Yeah but Peter and I don't have that kind of bond. She was there through your rough childhood. She was a friend during your time of need." I was moody and irritable and I didn't like her.

"We have an even stronger bond. You're my soul-mate. She may have been there through my childhood, but she's not you. She's just a friend. You never question me around Kaliko?"

"Because I trust Kaliko, like how you should have trusted Max, like how you trust Cailo."

"Well let's be sure about one thing. I didn't cheat on you when we weren't having sex and especially now that we've mated fully, I'd never. I'm offended that you would even—"

"It's not you I don't trust! She's been with your mom! What if she has some nefarious thing planned to steal you away from me or something?"

"Nothing could tempt me. I practically worship you."

I bit back my insecurity and kissed him on the lips twice. "And you're the love of my life." I replied leaning my forehead against his. "I just can't help but feel a little uneasy. I don't know if you knew but you look good. Almost perfect." He smirked a little so I had to add. "If only they knew your attitude was less than great." He pulled me into a hug.

"Go to your doctor's appointment Korali. There will never be anything between Arion and I. Never has."

After another 10 minutes of making out, I headed out the house. I saw Arion approaching and I stopped. She waved slightly before making it up to our door. She knocked once and Jordan opened the door. She beamed and stepped right in. He came all the way out looking my way and shooting a smile my way. That did not help.

I frowned my face squishing up into one of melancholy and I was starting to cry. I saw Jordan's face turn into concern and he started down the steps until I waved him off walking towards the Doctors house.

I tried to have my emotions in wrap about time I made it to the doctor's office but I didn't. I just couldn't seem to stop the tears. I wiped at my face frantically, sniffling.

I knocked on the door and Max answered with Cailo. "What are you guys doing here?" I sniffled, still trying to contain my tears.

"Flower, what's wrong?"

"Arion's visiting Jordan," I wailed seemingly immature but I couldn't control the amount of sadness I felt.

"Okay? That's a bad thing? She's our old friend. Which reminds me, I need to go see her! I still haven't seen her yet." Cailo replied placing his hand on my back and ushering me into the house/hospital.

"Why are you here, Flower?" Max voice was laced with concern.

"Doctor's appointment." I whispered feeling queasy.

"You still didn't tell Jordan?" Max assumed.

"So you came alone?" Cailo added.

"Kaliko's at home, I couldn't tell Ailey because she has a big mouth, Zahara and Amiella are children, I don't trust or like Arion, and I don't want the whole pack knowing and Jordan not knowing."

"We'll stay with you then," Max accepted pulling me into the nearest room.

"If you want to."

Doc walked in, his scrubs fresh and a smile on his face. "Korali! Nice to see you, I heard you wanted to have a checkup?"

"I'm pregnant." I decided to not beat around the bush. There was no point for it.

"Okay," he blinked, "Well that's news. Way to spring it on an old man." I laughed, the doctor sure did have a sense of humor.

"No Jordan?" He asked, pulling a check board from the cabinet.

"He doesn't exactly know" I toyed with the hem of my shirt, not making eye contact.

"Oh Korali, that's no good" the doctor scolded shaking his head.

"I know, I know. I'll tell him. Soon."

"Well up on the bed," he gestured and I sat on it Cailo and Max waiting in two chairs inside the room.

"Because this a werewolf pregnancy, it'll be three months shorter than a regular human's. So the baby will grow a bit faster." I nodded nervously. "Let's see how far along you are."

After lifting my shirt and placing cold jelly on it, he placed the machine on me and we watched the screen. "There's a definite heartbeat." I should be sharing this moment with Jordan, but he wouldn't be exactly excited. I looked at his two best friends who were totally invested in the screen. "There's even a bit of shaping. You're about 2 and a half months." I nodded swallowing taking my eyes off the screen and back on the doctor." Jordan heard the heartbeat earlier."

"Why didn't you tell him then?" Max chastised.

"I panicked, okay. He was so relaxed and happy and I just couldn't."

He then proceeded to do a routine check up to make sure I was in full health. When he saw that I was, he ushered us out with candy in our hands.

"Wow. That just makes this so much more real" Max breathed out.

"He's not going to take this well at all is he?" It was a rhetorical question but Cailo answered it anyway.

"Not at all."

"Great." I sighed, "Now let's go deal with your best friend!" I said sarcastically skipping towards the house.

"Somehow I think that tone was meant for Arion." Max muttered and I glared at him.

"I don't see your problem. He's never shown an interest into Arion when we were kids and he has a mate. He doesn't want or need her because he has you."

"Thanks Max. But history is something that I'm not sure I can compete with."

"Don't be stupid."

"I know. I know." I was being very stupid and jealous for no reason. But I was still irritated.

We pushed the door open to find Jordan in the kitchen cooking and Arion at the table watching him, until her head flipped towards us and a smile lit up her face. But it wasn't directed towards Max or I.

"Oh how unique, I get Cailo as a mate." She got up from her seat and rushed over draping her body over the stunned Cailo.

"I'm supposed to know you? I'm sure I wouldn't forget someone like you." Cailo asked when she released him from her grip. I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen to Jordan.

"Max, was Cailo always this cliché?" The girl laughed and the two guys stared at her in wonder. Max only saw her the first day, he had different things around the pack to do, so he didn't really know she had humor.

"You're so, so normal" Cailo said in awe. The smile on his face was slight, but it was just because of the shock.

After watching Cailo and Arion gush over each other, Cailo decided to go take her to see his family and Max followed to give me and Jordan some alone time.

"Let's go to the garden?" Jordan offered. I knew he wanted to finish the bench he was putting together when he had the time. I doubt Ikea thought it would take this long and I didn't want to hurt his man pride by telling him that I could have put it together in an hour, so I just let him have at his project.

When we walked out we saw an unwanted sight. Jordan's mom was sitting in a square of flowers towards the outer exit of the garden.

"Ohh, so I see its started." A smiled stretched across Jordan's mom's face and it made me feel uneasy. She was sitting in my garden picking flowers and tossing them over her shoulder. I wanted to cry and I could tell it was making Jordan angry.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Jordan growled almost lunging for her, but he stopped himself and her smile visibly brightened.

"I guess you're not too much of a failure." She got up from the ground dusting the dirt from her lap carrying a dark rose. "Just like your father, on the first try." She took a step back slightly.

"What are you talking about?" He growled growing impatient.

"Your future alpha is growing inside her." She smiled with a bubbly laugh which made my stomach clench. My eyes widened and my hand went to my stomach.

"What?" He looked to me and I didn't look at him. I didn't want to see the disappointment, the disdain, the hurt on his face. "Korali what is she talking about?"

"Jordan maybe we should go talk inside." I placed my hand on his arm trying to move him slightly when his arm flexed in alarm and his eyebrows crunched together. "I wanted to—"

"No," He shook his head, yanking his arm from my hold. "The answer is simple."

"Jordan we should really discuss—"

"Are you—are you pregnant?" He spat the word out like he was about to be sick, when I was the one feeling nauseous all