Reckless Regrets
Chapter 16

Morgan

“Who told you that?!” I jumped up and yelled.

Mitchell was in the kitchen, washing his bowl with his back turned to me, but I could still tell that he was laughing. This was not funny.

“No one told me. But your hair is extra glossy, and your freckles seem darker. I remember mom saying that happened to her with each of her pregnancies with us. So, I assumed.”

“Stop assuming s**t. It’s a new conditioning mask in my hair, and my freckles have always been this dark.”

“Sure. If you say so.”

He took my bowl from my hand and proceeded to wash it in silence, but I knew him. He had more to say.

“What? Just say it and be done with it.”

“No, if you say you’re not pregnant, then that’s what it is. I know you like the back of my hand, but you know yourself better than I ever could. So, whatever you believe is what we’ll go with.”

“Oh, f**k you, Mitchell. What I ‘believe’? Seriously. It’s what I know.”

After the dishes were dried and in the cabinet, he turned to me and smiled.

“How do you know? Did you take a test? As much as I hate to think about it, you and Kade have probably screwed each other’s brains out every chance you’ve gotten since you met. Did you use protection each time? Are you on birth control?”

“Since when did you become an expert on the subject?”

“Since I became an adult. s*x leads to babies; you two had s*x.”

“Stay out of my v*****s business, please, and thank you. Don’t you need to be at work or something?” I asked, changing the subject.

He stared at me for a few seconds then sighed.

“Yes, I need to grab a shower, then I’m out of here. You already know where everything is but take it easy and let me know if you need me to pick up anything for you on my way home.”

Argh! Big brothers were a pain in the a*s; he was still insinuating.

“I don’t need anything, but thanks anyway.”

I left the kitchen then plopped down on the couch. It was time for me to respond to some calls and text messages. I’d left them hanging for way too long. I picked up my phone and saw over thirty missed calls from Taylor, Tyson, Alaia, and even one from Xander.

The seventy plus text messages made my heart drop. I’d told them that I was leaving, but not much else. I couldn’t imagine how they felt. The first person I needed to talk to was Taylor. She was my absolute best friend, and I needed to put her mind at ease. I swear she must have been waiting for my call because I barely got one full ring in before she was yelling on the other end.

“Morgan! What the f**k is wrong with you?! Do you how many times I called? How many times I’ve texted? And you ignored them all. Are you alright?!”

“Yes, Tay, I’m fine. I just-”

“Good! Because I’m kicking your a*s as soon as I see you. I don’t give a rats a*s if you are a bear and stronger than I am; do you understand me?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Now, where are you? I’m picking you up and bringing you home right now.”

I heard her car keys jingle in the background and knew that she was dead serious. About the a*s-kicking and bringing me home. But Kade was no longer there, so it wasn’t my home. My home was wherever I was with him.

“I’m not coming back, Tay. You read the note. I can’t stay there, and I won’t. It’s too hard and what I’m doing now is my own way of moving on. You’ve got to let me do it.”

“No. You’re running away and hurting all of us in the process. What about us, Morgan? Don’t we matter?”

“Yes, you matter, but right now, I matter more. Sometimes you need to be selfish to be okay. I’m thinking of me now.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you. But I’m okay. And as soon as I’m ready to see everyone, I’ll let you know.”

“I don’t understand why you’re avoiding us. We’re a family; we were going to get through this together.”

“You guys cut me out! As soon as he was gone, so was I! You and your f*****g husband replaced Kade and me like we meant nothing. Do you know how that felt?! No, you’ve got your mate. You’ve got two of them, and my god damned job on top of that; so, you don’t know s**t, none of you do,” I screamed.

“Wow.” She whispered on the other end.

We didn’t say anything for a few tense seconds. I honestly didn’t know what to say at this point. I’d never gone off on Taylor like this before. Sure, we’d had disagreements in the past, but nothing on this level. It was her who finally broke the silence.

“I know you’re devastated and hurt, but to blame Matt and me for this is not cool. We did what our Alpha commanded us to do, and what was best for our pack. So, don’t ever speak of me or either of my husbands like that again. You don’t want to come home? Fine, we’ll do this without you.”

“Tay, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“We’ve never lied to each other, so let’s not start now. You meant every word. I’m done with this conversation. I love you.”

She didn’t give me a chance to respond; she just said what she needed to and hung up the phone. I was hurt all over again, but this time it was my fault for being a b***h to the one person who made sure to always be there for me.

“Wow. That was brutal.”

I didn’t even notice that Mitchell was sitting across from me, staring like I was an exhibit at the zoo. Thanks to me putting the call on speakerphone, he was able to hear both sides.

“She didn’t have to be so mean.”

“Bullshit. Taylor could have and should have been much meaner. You need to get it together. You may be avoiding them now, but one day you won’t be. Don’t burn bridges to the people who’ve always loved and supported you. You’re better than that.”

He walked off to his bedroom and shut the door, leaving me to wallow in self-pity.

f*****g great.

***

Kade

This pack was a disaster. I was tempted to tell Xander just to grab ten of our best men and attack the place. They were so disorganized and poorly trained that we could take them out without an issue. But then I remembered the laws which Xander always made sure to abide by. We needed proof that they’d tampered with the test before we could move in. Otherwise, it was an unprovoked attack, and we would be in deep s**t; we didn’t want that kind of heat.

I spent a few hours with Alpha Thorne and his team going over simple, fundamental changes they needed to implement to make this place safer. Right now, anyone could walk in here unchecked, and that needed to change. When everything was said and done, I left and headed up to my room. I needed my Sugar Bear.

I pulled out one of her favorite sleep shirts and held it to my nose as I played with her ring in its box. God, I missed this woman; more than I’d even missed my mother when she died, and I didn’t think that would ever be possible.

Maybe Xander knew where she was or had some kind of update. My first instinct was to link him, and then I remembered that the link to him and the rest of the pack was severed. And Morgan had a block up, I’d been trying to reach her nonstop, and she never let me through.

Xander had to find her. I called, and as soon as he picked up, I launched into my questions.

“Xan! Have you found her? Why isn’t she answering me? I’m tempted to leave to come and get her.”

“Kade shut the hell up for a second. No, I haven’t found her; she requested to be released from the pack, and given the circumstances, I granted the request temporarily. She has ninety days to do what she needs to do before she’s required to come back.”

“Ninety days?! You can’t be serious. Do you know what can happen to her in that time? What if she gets hurt? Where is she?”

“I do not know. I called her and got voicemail. The girls and Tyson called and also got voicemail.”

“Then go find her, damn it!”

“Man, you have one more time to yell at me before I drive to Oregon and f**k you up. I have three businesses and a pack of almost eight hundred wolves that require my attention. I don’t have time to go find her. Morgan left for a reason; she’s not missing, and she’s not a child. Focus on what you’ve got going on, once it’s over, you can go get her.”

“I can’t focus when I don’t know if she’s alright, Xander. And she’s blocking me; I can’t feel her emotions or anything.”

Xander sighed in the phone and mumbled something under his breath.

“This entire situation is screwed up for everyone, not just you and not just Morgan. Our pack is reeling from your departure. Matt is swamped at work, and now he has to keep up with all the warriors, their training, patrols, all of it. Taylor is doing both the Beta and Gamma female’s jobs. Tyson is trying to run his business while serving as Gamma. We’ve all had to make adjustments, and I’m sorry to say it, but you’re going to have to make most of them. This mess is on you, so you need to suck it up and work to fix it. Keep your eyes and ears open and get what we need so you can come home.”

“I hate it here, man. Seriously.”

“Sounds like you’ve got all the motivation you need then. You can do this, just buckle down and push through. Now I’ve got to go, but we’ll talk in a few days. I love you, man.”

“Yeah, yeah. I love you too.”

I tossed the phone down and buried my face in Morgan’s shirt, inhaling deep. I could do this; I just needed to focus. If I only gave this my all, there was no way I wouldn’t get back to Morgan. I tucked the ring and shirt back in my drawer and grabbed a marker from my art supplies.

I was thankful that I remembered to bring them with me. I was positive that I’d fill my sketch pad with pictures of Morgan by the time this was all over, and that was fine by me. From the day we met, she’d been my favorite subject to draw. I didn’t see that ever changing.

It was now time for me to play the part, the only part I was excited about.

I left the room and went in search of Cameron. It was time for him to get his first picture.

***

An hour after we’d sat down, Cameron was running around the room with his sleeve rolled up, totally geeked over the large slice of chocolate cake adorning his tiny little arm. It took longer than I expected because he was so excited and kept moving and squirming to see what I was doing. But when I finished, and he saw himself in the mirror, the smile that spread across his face was well worth the trouble. I was so happy that when the packs merged, I’d still be able to spend time with him, even though it wouldn’t be as his father.

“This is so much cooler than your pictures! It’s like a superhero!”

I had no idea what chocolate cake and superheroes had to do with one another, but I wasn’t going to argue with a four-year-old on the matter.

“It’s like the best superhero of all time, hands down!” I confirmed.

“Yeah!”

He stuck his arms out and began to run around the room, imitating flying and making me chuckle.

“I don’t remember the last time I saw him that excited,” a voice said from the doorway.

“Aunt Gabby! Did you see my picture? My dad made it for me,” Cameron rushed over and proudly announced.

“It’s so awesome big boy! Have you had fun?”

“Yeah! He’s cool and fun,” he replied while smiling in my direction.

Gabby laughed then leaned down to k**s his cheeks. “I’m happy to hear that. Why don’t you get washed up? It’s time for dinner, okay?”

“Okay!”

Cameron stuck his little arms out again and “flew” out of the room, disappearing down the hall.

“We didn’t get to be introduced formally, but I’m Gabriella Hayes; everyone calls me Gabby.”

I stood up and walked over to where she was standing.

“Kaden Thomas, you can call me Kade.”

She tilted her head and smiled up at me.

“You told Mari she couldn’t call you that.”

“I did, and she can’t. I wish she didn’t have to call me anything at all, to be honest.”

Gabby threw her head back and laughed; I was curious about what she found so funny.

“She said you were a d**k to her, and she was so pissed off. It was entertaining to see the steam coming out of her ears; no one ever tells her no.”

“Well, that’s all she’s going to get with me.”

“I see that. You really don’t like Marisol, do you?”

“Honestly, Gabby, I don’t know her. But everything I’ve seen makes me want to run the other way. If she wasn’t such a psycho or a b***h, maybe we could be friends, but that’s not the case. So, I stay as far from her as I can.”

“And she’s not your mate.”

“Exactly. No one can compare to Morgan, and I’ll never put on the illusion.”

She nodded and smiled again.

“I like you. You’re an honest, no-bullshit kind of guy; we need that around here.”

“You guys need a lot, but I’m more than happy to help.”

She turned out the door and headed down the hall with me following close behind.

So, Gabby and Marisol were close? Maybe I could get her to give me some info as well. She didn’t even need to know she was doing it. Before this was all over, I was going to flip all of them against Marisol. It was my mission.