Neela Whelan

Things had just been going so well. We really should have known better.

2017-03-27T03:53:30Z

Days and nights had only just started to take on a regular pattern. Maeve wasn't sleeping through the night, but she ate quickly and went right back to sleep. Nights that Jacob woke to get her from her crib, Neela never even woke. Those nights were lovely. And once both parents were getting enough sleep, Jacob went back to the day to day business of the pack. Once his family had breakfast, he would leave Neela to handle the baby. She showered and then handled any housework. Some days Orla or other pack members stopped in to visit. It wasn't a bad life at all.

And some days, Jacob took Maeve with him while he worked so the baby got used to being with the pack. And so Neela could get some extra rest. That was why she wasn't so surprised when Maeve wasn't in her little bassinet when she got out of her shower. He'd talked some about taking her soon. Neela dried off, did the breakfast dishes. Then she dressed fully and headed to the lodge to join the rest of her family.

She found Jacob at a table in the main dining hall with Sean. They were going over the books. She came up to Jacob, gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Then she asked who he had passed their daughter off to.

She had absolutely no idea that anything was wrong.

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Oh, and Paul

2017-03-26T22:23:03Z

Oh, and Paul.

It was enough to make him develop a complex.

In the years since he had joined the pack, he had been well treated and safe. What he hadn't been was terribly respected. Not that he was ever disrespected, he just wasn't ever listened to much. Or asked his opinion. The whole point of coming to a new pack was to move up in the world, wasn't it?

Only it hadn't been. Not that it was really a step down, either. It was...nothing. He lived there, worked beside the others and he was nothing. And then their Alpha came back. He came back with HER. That's when it all really started. Everyone but Paul was charmed by her, so sad for her poor sad childhood. To Paul is seemed like she was doing just fine for herself.

She had Jacob wrapped around her little finger the whole time and when she'd driven him out, Paul thought maybe that was his chance. He started working his way through the more senior members of the pack. For everyone he worked to find their weakness, the thing that they needed help with. And he helped. It was exhausting, but he was seeing some results, finally.

And then Jacob came back with his bitch. Neela was young, healthy, and quite beautiful. Exactly the kind of woman that Paul knew he deserved. The kind of woman who any man of worth would deserve. Of course if she was with him all that nonsense about ancestors would have to stop. He would be the one to lead, not her.

That's what was happening now. Jacob ran off for months and months because Neela left him. Then she lead him back by his balls. Everyone was thrilled. Everyone except for Paul. And when word got around that she was pregnant? That was the last straw. Now the pack was all saying that Jacob had accomplished something special. This was some kind of sign.

All Paul saw was his righteous future slipping away. He had to do something and he absolutely had to do it soon. He knew he had the strength to kill a baby, a mere pup, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to kill a real child. And he was going to have to do that once Jacob was gone. That's how this worked. You drive off, or kill,the Alpha, then you kill his pups and knock up his mate.

THEN Paul would get the respect he deserved. THEN things would finally be right.

Then he would be happy.

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Picking up where we left off....

2016-10-31T23:26:43Z

Neela wasn't at all sure what to think about what had happened. It was the final proof that everything she'd been told by her own family was a lie. Her ability to see the ghosts was a blessing. It was a way for their people to connect with those who had come before, to protect the ones who had need now. But it was so damned hard to shake the sensation that she was doing wrong.

They were back on the train, lying together in an exhausted heap. They hadn't really spoken the whole run back to the train. Jacob hadn't been able to see the ghosts, of course, so he was probably still trying to make heads and tails of what had happened. Neela had that to do as well as all the adjustments from her past. Her head ached and she moaned softly.

To reassure him that she was fine, she found his hand and squeezed it softly. There wasn't much he could do for her at the moment that he wasn't already doing just by holding her. Maybe he could remind her to take deeper breaths so she settled her body more. Maybe he could pet her so her body would relax. She had the feeling she wouldn't feel right about any of this until they had the pack well and settled.

Of course, there was still the task of convincing a group of terrified and exhausted wolves that they had found a safe place. What could they say to explain just how they'd found out about that particular bit of woods? 'Well, we were having a tumble, you see, and there were these ghosties...' Neela groaned loudly. It would never work.

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