Sacrifice

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

The first week after the battle, Gabriel felt certain that he wouldn’t make it in the pack. One of the first things he learned, which had been hinted at on the battlefield, was that as the alpha’s mate, he was able and expected to fill her role when she was incapacitated. Due to the nature of Sophia’s injuries, she was unable to shift, and her painkillers caused her to sleep most of the day anyway.

There was another downside to the fact that Sophia couldn’t shift, although it only affected Gabriel. Although he’d only been involved in one sexual relationship before meeting Sophia and hadn’t cared, he didn’t think he would last more than two days without sex. The doctor had said it would be about a month before Sophia could shift and Gabriel had been counting down the days in his head, sure Sophia was doing the same thing.

Acting as alpha did have its benefits, however. Gabriel had to learn very quickly how the pack worked, and he got to know more of the pack members. Some of them weren’t happy about him being in charge, not just because he was a lion, but because he had not taken the oath to be sworn into the pack. Gabriel would have done so in a heartbeat, but with Sophia unable to speak it was impossible. Fortunately, those that didn’t like the idea understood that he was Sophia’s mate and didn’t make a big deal out of it.

After his first week, Gabriel had even started to feel like he was part of the pack. Especially when Jason came to apologize. At first, Gabriel had no idea what he had to apologize for, but Jason explained.

“I heard about what Blake did,” the beta said. “When he pulled his weapon on you and made you shift with your injury.  And I’d like to apologize on behalf of my mate. Also, I’d ask that you not mention it to Sophia.”

“She doesn’t need to know,” Gabriel agreed, knowing she would probably explode with anger. Of course, having shifted while injured had made his separated shoulder worse, but he couldn’t hold it against him.“But you didn’t really need to apologize. Can’t really blame him. He must have seen how I was acting towards Lukas. Actually, I should probably apologize to him.”

“He gets it,” Jason said. “He knows you didn’t recognize him. And you were trying to protect Sophia. But hopefully he doesn’t tell Emma. I think she might react the same way Sophia would.”

                For the first time, Gabriel had a conversation with the pack’s beta and felt comfortable with him. Afterwards, Gabriel even felt like he had made a friend. Not counting Sophia, he couldn’t remember the last time he had a friend.

                Not everything in the pack was so pleasant. Patrick remembered his promise to figure out the consequences for what Sophia had done. Once she was off her painkillers, he immediately brought it up, not caring that she still remained trapped in her wolf form.

                A group of nearly twenty wolves was assembled together, and Patrick reminded them of the charges against Sophia. Almost immediately, someone spoke out against the old alpha, criticizing him. Most of the discussion revolved around how horrible he had been, and Gabriel noticed a sly smile on Patrick’s face. Finally, he got it. The old man had planned that. He knew that those who disagreed with Sophia would be gone after the battle, leaving only her supporters.

                Once that was over, the only bad part was waiting for Sophia to recover enough to shift. Gabriel had already taken his sling off, and his shoulder was mostly healed. There was still some slight pain and he still had to adhere to an exercise program to work the arm, but for the most part, he was back to normal.

                He sat at Sophia’s desk, the day before she would be able to shift. He had stopped counting down the days and had started counting down the hours. He was a little nervous, thinking that after so long, Sophia would have a lot of pent up energy to release. A shiver of pleasure ran down his spine as he imagined the things she would do to him.

                He glanced at the clock for the fourth time in three minutes, wanting nothing more than for time to go faster so he could have his mate once again. In the meantime, he had to try to distract himself with anything else. He looked at a pile of mail and started opening it. There was nothing much of interest until he came to a white envelope. When he looked at the return address, he saw it was from Lukas and Emma, which confused him. He had seen the pair just the day before.

                Wanting to know what they could possibly be sending them, he tore open the envelope and pulled out a wedding invitation. That only confused him more.

                “Lukas and Emma are getting married?” he asked as he looked over the card, wondering if it was some kind of joke. “But they’re mates. Why would they want a wedding?”

                “Emma’s human,” a voice that he hadn’t heard in too long said from behind him. Gabriel jumped in surprise, and soon found his body wrapped in Sophia’s arms. “The wedding is for the benefit of her human family. And Emma too, I suppose. And yes, we do have to go.”

                “Sophia,” Gabriel said, glad to finally have her back in her human form. He moved in her arms so he was facing her and then sat down on the desk. “You weren’t supposed to shift until tomorrow.”

                “I’ve waited long enough,” she said. “And I know you have. And there’s a ton of things I need to do. I’ve got to contact the other packs, make sure Pueblo’s doing alright, get to work on diplomacy with your sister, figure out what the hell we’re going to do with all that damn money we got from the pride. And of course, we need to get your ass sworn into the pack.”

                “Just my ass?”

                “Your ass is mine, not the pack’s,” Sophia said with a possessive growl, reaching under him and squeezing said body part just to make her point clear.

                “You said it,” Gabriel said. He had hoped that Sophia would be just as eager to become intimate as he was, but he knew he shouldn’t have been surprised by her list of things to do. He knew she took her duties very seriously, and he couldn’t fault her for that. He’d been expecting to wait an extra day anyway.

                “Gabriel,” Sophia said, a mischievous smile on her face. “Don’t look so disappointed. All that stuff. It can wait. You know what we’re going to do first?”

                He smiled, knowing exactly what she meant, and he had never been more ready for it.