Alpha, Beta, Omega

Chapter Fifteen

Kali sat, gingerly, on the couch in Samson's apartment and tugged at the strings of the borrowed jogging pants she was wearing. It had been a couple of hours since she'd been released from the clinic by Doctor Becket and only after she'd shifted, twice, just to convince the doctor that she was well enough to do so. Because her clothes had been covered in blood she'd had no other choice but to leave the clinic in her wolf form.

Which hadn't been so bad, she supposed, at least she hadn't had to talk to Thornton, who stood in the hallway and watched as she'd left with Samson.

Now here she was, sitting in Samson's apartment, wearing his clothes, though they didn't smell like him so there was a good chance that he had never worn them, and she had no idea what to do next. Part of her knew she should go home, she knew Kay was going to be alright and her parents had to have realized she wasn't there by now and were probably worried, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Her instincts kept telling her that she was where she was supposed to be. That she was with her pack.

She knew part of that instinct was tied to the fact that she was mated to the pack's Alpha but it was also because she'd been accepted by the pack. It was as much hers as it was Thornton and Kay's. She had a duty here, one she didn't have in Henson, and, though she loved her family and friends, few as they were, there, she couldn't just give up her duty or pack. No matter what was happening between her and her mates.

Drawing a slow breath she stood, hand pressed to the spot where she'd been shot because, despite healing when she'd shifted, it still hurt and pulled, and carefully made her way across the room, trying to figure out where the phone was so she could at least call her parents and let them know she was okay.

Reaching a bookcase she paused, staring at a framed photograph, the only one she'd seen in the entire apartment. The photograph was old and faded but it had Kali's heart skipping a beat. It showed Samson hugging a girl who couldn't be anymore than eleven or twelve.

His daughter, she thought as she looked at their smiling faces, at how happy Samson looked. The daughter who had been...

"Her name was Annie."

Kali startled and turned, finding Samson watching her from the doorway, his face unreadable but his eyes full of sadness. "Sam..." She watched as he crossed the room until he was standing next to her, reaching up to take the photograph down from the shelf, looking at with an expression full of hurt and regret.

"She was eleven when this was taken," he said softly, his voice cracking ever so slightly as he ran his thumb over his daughter's face. "We'd just moved into the house. God she was so happy to finally have a yard. It was...It was two days before the hunters came..."

Horror and sorrow swelled in her then as she realized that the last happy memory he had of his daughter was so clearly tainted by the pain of her loss. She reached out, wrapping her arms around his waist as she pressed her forehead to his shoulder, ignoring the way her side ached, needing to offer comfort to a man whose pain had clearly been overlooked by their pack. How had no one else seen this? How could they be so blind?

She closed her eyes are tears prickled, knowing that this was why Samson drank so much, why he was always getting into fights. His grief was eating him alive. She didn't say anything, unable to find the words to properly tell him that he wasn't along, that she was there for him, but somehow he understood. In that silent way that only a pack member could.

"I wasn't home when they...when it happened..." He drew a stuttering breath and she knew he was fighting his own tears. "Was at work...but when word came...I've never run so hard before...but...I...I was too..."

He let out a deep whining rumble, the sound bubbled up from his chest and Kali hugged him a little tighter.

"They had Shauna...my mate...in the yard. She was..." He made a pained sound as the memories seemed to overwhelm him for a moment and Kali wished she could take away all he'd suffered. Wished she could give him back his family. "She was trying to change...to shift...but...but they...there was so much blood and Shauna she...I couldn't save her. I tore one of the hunters apart...the other...he ran...but I couldn't save my Shauna..."

He turned his head, pressing his face into her hair, and she felt his tears dripping from his cheeks and she rumbled softly, trying to comfort him as best she could.

"The entire time I...I...could hear screaming and...I...didn't realize it was Annie until...until I could smell the smoke...feel the...the...heat of the flames..."

Kali turned into his embrace fully, arms wrapping as tightly around him as she could, not wanting to hear anymore but knowing it was important that she listen. Samson had needed someone to listen for so long. She could be strong enough to do that. She could be a source of comfort and support when everyone else had just walked away.

"I tried...tried to get to the house but the fire...God...the fire was just...and then Kay was there...stopping me...he kept saying it was...it was too late...but I...I didn't believe him...even as I watched my house...burn...I didn't want to...think I'd failed my...my family..."

"You didn't fail them." Kali spoke immediately, leaning up to nuzzle his neck in support and comfort, ignoring the sharp ache in her side. Her pain didn't matter right now. His did. He needed her right now.

"I did...I..."

"Listen to me, Samson," she moved as she spoke, pulling back just enough to cup his face between her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. When he tried to pull away she held tighter. "Listen!" He stilled immediately, whether because of her tone or her status as an Alpha Mate, but she didn't care. She just pressed on. "It was not your fault. It wasn't. You did everything you could."

"It wasn't enough..."

"Sometimes it's not," she said softly, wiping his tears away with her thumbs. "Sometimes we do all that we can, push ourselves passed our breaking point, but it's not enough. But you can't keep living this way, Sam. Your family...Shauna and Annie wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

His expression was one of complete hopelessness and, for all the problems she and her mates were facing, she could imagine she'd cope much better than Samson had if something were to happen to Thornton or Kay. But she had to help him get off this self-destructive path before he did something terrible or before Thornton had enough and chased him from the pack.

"I don't know how...to...move on..."

"You take it one day at a time." She smiled, feeling her own tears prickle her eyes, but she blinked them away. He didn't need her tears right now. He needed her strength. Her reassurance and friendship. "You get up each day and say that it's going to be better. There's going to be bad days. But I'm here for you. I'm here to help you through the good and the bed."

The soft, almost purr, that bubbled from his chest as he hugged her close said more than words ever would and as she hugged him she knew she'd made a difference. It might not be a huge or world altering difference but she'd done something to help a man, her friend, when he was in pain and no one else would listen or help. She'd done what she was supposed to. It was her role in the pack. To comfort and protect and help.

Her heart leapt suddenly as something dawned on her.

Everything she had just done, everything she wanted to do, to help and care for her pack, was all indicators of a wolf's rank. For her entire life she'd thought she would never have a rank, even her status as Alpha Mate wasn't the same, but her she was, realizing as she comforted and supported Samson, that she'd been so very wrong. She had a rank. She always had.

She was an Omega.