Episode 76: Cry Wolf

Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Characters: Kaya, Caleb, Connor, Eli, Charlie, Amanda, Vaughn, Joey, Brooke, Roberta
Word Count: 2,724
Rating: R
Type: Series
Summary: Roberta has arrived and, for the first time, Kaya and Caleb get a glimpse of their babies. Joey’s prognosis continues to improve. Meanwhile, Eli realizes he may have made a fatal error in his relationship with Brooke.
Warnings: Language, suggestive material, violence, strong sexual content, adult content, adult situations, nudity

“Ah, here she is now,” Vaughn stood as Kaya and Caleb entered the room. “Kaya, I’d like you to meet Roberta. Roberta, this is the pack Luna, Kaya and you know my son, Caleb.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Roberta smiled, extending her hand. “I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you.” Kaya’s eyes moved to Vaughn. He shrugged and stepped closer to his son’s side.

“Well I hope Vaughn hasn’t over embellished. I’m very grateful that you came; we both are,” Kaya replied, and tugged at Caleb’s hand.

“It’s great to see you again, Bertie,” Caleb greeted her with a smile before glancing down at Kaya. “So, will you be staying with us indefinitely?”

“That’s the plan. You know your father. He can be quite convincing when he wants something,” Roberta again smiled, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” Kaya scoffed under her breath, capturing the stares of both Vaughn and Caleb.

“Ok then, I guess you’re going to be my first patient,” Roberta stated, moving closer to Kaya and gently placing a hand on her belly. “How far along are you?”

“Nine weeks,” Caleb answered excitedly.

“Almost there,” Kaya added. “I can’t wait to have full use of my lungs again!”

“Well let’s get you on the table and have a look.” Kaya hopped up onto the table and pulled up her shirt as Roberta readied the ultrasound equipment. Caleb swiftly moved to her side. Sliding a chair closer to the bed, he took a seat and softly took her hand. “Is this your first sonogram?” Roberta asked, noticing the couple’s anxious behavior.

“Yes. We did our best to avoid the clinic in town for a couple of reasons. And after the first week, the babies were just growing too quickly.”

“I understand. So this is a really big day for the two of you.”

“It is,” Caleb replied and leaned forward. The grin on his face continued growing wider.

“This might be a little cold.” Roberta squeezed a copious amount of jelly onto Kaya’s skin before moving the transducer over her stomach. Before long, the image of three bulbous figures emerged on the screen.

Kaya gasped and squeezed Caleb’s hand tighter as the shapes of their babies’ heads became clearer. “Triplets!” she exclaimed in euphoric glee.

“I knew it!” Caleb replied while treasuring the whooshing sounds of their tiny heartbeats.

“Would you like to know gender?”

“No.” “Yes!” the expecting couple answered simultaneously. Kaya looked back at her mate and scowled. “I don’t want to know. I’d like to be surprised.”

“Yeah, but, wouldn’t it be great to at least know if the names we’ve chosen are fitting? Plus, just last week you were saying how you wish you could get the nursery painted one way or the other.”

“I’ve settled on neutrality; something that’s not gender exclusive. I don’t want to know the sex. I like the idea of not knowing.” Caleb again pouted but instead of putting up a fight, he nodded in agreement.

“Well the pups are developing normally. You have three active, healthy babies and you can rest assured everything is…hmm…” Roberta stopped and stared deeply at the screen.

“Hmm? What’s hmm?” Caleb asked, growing concerned by the doctor’s sudden pause. “Is something wrong?”

“Um…” she replied and continued moving the wand around Kaya’s stomach and staring at the screen. The image cleared up and she sighed. “Sorry, it must have been an air pocket. Now, I have some vitamins for you and I’d like to see you back in a week. But, as I said, everything looks good, there’s no need to worry.”

“Thank you,” Kaya smiled, jumping down from the table and glancing towards Joey. “He looks better. The color’s coming back to his skin. How’s he doing?”

“He’s stable. But aside from the occasional grunt or sigh, he’s still very much unconscious. He is making progress though. When I tested him this morning, the levels of Truesilver in his blood were down to less than 0.02%. His wounds have all healed so it is only a matter of time before his eyes open.”

“Good. I’m so glad to hear that,” she replied, took his hand and squeezed it.

“Knock, knock,” Amanda grinned with arms wide open as she rushed the pregnant Luna. “So…how many are we having?’ she asked, ushering Kaya out the door.

“Three.”

“YAY! Girls? Boys? Mixed?”

“Unknown and that’s how I want it,” she laughed at the frown on the blonde’s face and threw her arm around her shoulders. “Cheer up, Mandy. They’ll be here soon enough and then everyone will know.”

“I can’t wait.”

“You’re telling me.” Kaya nodded and absently rubbed her hand over her belly. “So what’s up?”

“Hmm? Oh. I came to tell you that Rosie and Emily finished putting the cribs together, one too many so gonna have to change that.” Kaya again laughed at the idea of four babies and Amanda shrugged. “What? We were all hoping. Anyway, Karri and I put in the final touches and everything is ready and awaiting your approval,” she expressed, dancing in her skin. “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will.” Amanda led her towards the nursery and the women gave Kaya the tour. And after a few adjustments were made, the room was completed to her satisfaction. With everything done, and most of her worries laid to rest for the time being, Kaya settled into the living room with the others. Eli was watching television while Connor sat on the floor working on a song. Charlie and Vaughn were in the middle of a conversation and Caleb rested in Kaya’s lap, waiting for Eli to pick a channel.

“Son of a bitch!” Eli suddenly shouted and jumped from his seat, spitting out a mouthful of cola.

“What’s up?” Connor asked noticing the color fade from the wolf’s face as he stared at the screen.

“That news reporter, I’ve seen him before.”

“Which should come as no surprise. Being part of a big music group, you’ll get your share of paparazzi,” Connor shrugged.

“No, that’s not what I mean. I saw that guy leaving Brooke’s place last week when I went to pick her up. She said he was some businessman looking to support local surfers for this new shop opening up.”

“What do you mean leaving her place? Like they were old friends and he stopped by to say hello or he had a hot scoop that needed to be rushed to print?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t say anything to him, he seemed like he was in a rush to get away. He jumped into a red jeep and peeled out.”

“Maybe there’s an explanation, Eli, I mean it could have been someone else right? Are you sure it was him?” Kaya asked watching him think over the events of that day.

“K, I’m fucking positive! That’s him! When I asked her about it she said he only wanted to discuss her life as a surfer!”

“Relax. What harm can he do? It’s ok if the public knows about your girlfriend. Trust me, we’ve dealt with much worse.”

“Kaya’s right. There’s always a reporter looking for some juicy piece of dirt, but Ulrick is great at handling them. It’s what he’s paid for,” Connor waved off Eli’s anxiety.

“Yeah but…I mean it’s deeper than that.” His pacing became more frantic and he nearly toppled the shelf near the door as he moved. “Why would she do this?”

“I don’t understand. What could she have possibly told him that would have you flipping out like this, E? You’ve only just joined Night Shift. You have skeletons in your closet we don’t know about?” Kaya asked with growing concern. “And if it’s because of the incident in California, we’re covered right? I explained to her everything that happened. There was no need for her to believe anything otherwise.”

“See that’s why I’m worried.”

“Why? She seemed fine after our chat. Unless…Eli?” Kaya pulled up from Caleb’s arms and moved closer towards the panicked drummer. “Eli, what did you do?”

“She was gonna leave me, K, and I couldn’t lose her. So I went to see her and I…I showed her.”

“You showed her what exactly?”

“You gotta understand, I was desperate ok? I’ve never felt like this for anyone before and she is just so…we have so much in common and I…I…”

“E, what did you show her?” Connor joined in moving closer himself.

“I shifted in front of her.”

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

“It was the only way for her to believe me.”

“She knows about you? What you are? How could you do that? You know how dangerous it is for humans to know about us? What the hell were you thinking?!” Caleb stood and slipped an arm around Kaya’s waist pulling her away from the wolf as he felt his mate’s anger swelling.

“I was scared, Kaya! I’m in love with her! And I swear to you I only did it because I trust her completely! I never expected she would do something to hurt me.”

“You didn’t tell her about us, did you?” Connor asked, running a hand through his hair.

“Well…no…not exactly. She just…kind of assumed. She saw you with Rafe when he was shifted and just put two and two together.”

“If the council hears about this…” Connor started. “Fuck! She’s dead, Eli! We’re all dead!”

“Wait, wait, wait ok wait. Let’s try and remain level-headed right now. We don’t know that she told him anything just yet,” Caleb reasoned. “It’s best we get to the bottom of things before we start damage control. Eli, go see her and find out what she may have told him and if it was anything concerning the existence of wolves. We can’t just assume she sold us out right?”

Eli nodded his head and turned towards the door, stopping just before stepping into the hall. “And what if she did?” He looked towards Kaya with sadness in his eyes and obvious remorse. He hadn’t fully thought out his decision to tell Brooke about his other side and now that recklessness was coming back to bite him. “What if she mentioned us or…wolves?”

“Then we’ll handle it accordingly,” Caleb stated confidently.

“W-w-what does that mean?”

“It means don’t get ahead of yourself. Go see what she said.” Eli nodded at his Alpha and hurried from the room.

Two hours later, Eli was walking the short distance up Brooke’s stoop. Knocking lightly, he waited for her to answer, all the while his heart pounded in his throat. “E!” Brooke exclaimed and threw her arms around his neck. “I wasn’t expecting you today.”

“I know but, something came up and I needed to talk to you. May I come in?” She stepped back and allowed the wolf inside. He walked into her living room and stopped just beside the couch.

“What’s up?” she asked, closing the door behind him.

“Uh…it’s um…it’s about my little secret.”

“Ok. What about it?”

“I need to know if you’ve told anyone about me.”

“No,” Brooke scoffed and threw her hands on her hips. “Of course not, I told you I wouldn’t.”

“Brooke, please, don’t lie to me right now. If you’ve said something, anything, I need to know so I can get in front of it.”

“E, what are you talking about? I’m not lying to you!”

“Ok then why did you tell me that guy was some shop owner when it turns out he’s a fucking anchor for TM fucking Z news?”

“What?”

“Last week, the guy I saw leaving here; you said he was interested in hosting a surfing competition and asked you to join. That guy is one of their lead journalists for the 3 O’clock show! What did you tell him?”

Brooke dropped to her seat. An expression of horror on her face as she thought over their conversation. “I um…I…h-he asked me about my hobbies and I told him I enjoy surfing, snowboarding and skiing. Then he asked me about my friends and if I knew anyone that would be interested in his competitions too and I said my boyfriend. When I mentioned you he seemed pleased he said he didn’t know very many couples who were into extreme sports together and would love to showcase us on his first event. Then he started…” she dropped her head in her hands with a defeated sigh. “He started asking me questions about you. Who you were, how we met, what activities you enjoyed most and…who you hung out with. I didn’t think much about it then but the way he kept pushing, E, I didn’t know! I’m sorry!”

“How did he know about you?”

“He said the owner over at Surf’s Up told him about me and a few other local surfers. I thought he was genuinely interested in surfing! I had no idea he was only snooping for information about you and the band.”

“Not the band,” Eli sighed and took a seat beside Brooke on the couch. He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arm over her shoulder. “He was trying to get information about the other thing.” Her eyes immediately shot up to him and she gawked at him in fear. “No. Brooke, what did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“Brooke, what did you say?!”

“Nothing I swear! He, he asked me for a glass of water and I went to the kitchen to grab one for him. But when I came back he was gone and so was my journal. I thought maybe it had fallen to the floor but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.”

“God, B, please tell me you didn’t write anything about you-know-what in that thing?!” Brooke dropped her eyes to the floor and Eli jumped to his feet. “What the hell? I asked you to keep this a secret not narrate it in your diary! Fuck me! Do you have any idea what this means?”

“I didn’t do this on purpose, E, I’m sorry!”

“Sorry? You have singlehandedly endangered us all! There’s no telling what these guys are going to do with this information if they find what they are looking for! Connor, Kaya, you, me, everyone is in deep shit!”

“I don’t know what to say, E. What can I do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Just tell me, anything, please. What can I do to make this right?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Eli shouted and cussed again. He felt sick. His head was pounding and he could feel his heart drop into his stomach as he tried thinking through the situation. Grabbing his phone, he quickly dialed Connor to let him know what was going on. But the tone of his voice and that of Kaya and Caleb in the background only made matters worse. 

“We have to figure out how much this guy knows and what he intends on doing with the information. The band has a public face…international. This kind of thing could damage the entire wolf community everywhere. It can expose us to some very bad people,” Connor explained as he and Kaya discussed the circumstances.

“The reporter!” Brooke shouted. “Why not just…you know,” she made a slashing motion across her throat, sticking her tongue out for effect.

“Because then we’d have to deal with the blowback of a murder. That kind of thing isn’t easy to explain either, B; remember Bane?”

“Of course, he was my favorite member of the band. I guess I have a thing for drummers. The news said he was mauled in the woods by…oh…” She paused and twiddled her thumbs a moment in deep thought. “You kill your own?” 

“We kill anyone that threatens our way of life, Brooke.” Suddenly her face dropped and the blood drained from her skin as she let his words sink in. “Exactly. We have to get in front of this before people come looking for you for payback.”

“Eli, I don’t want to die. Please. What do I need to do?”

“I don’t know,” Eli whined, watching his girlfriend’s eyes brim over with tears. “I don’t want you to die, either.”

“She may not have to, Eli,” Kaya replied, taking the phone from Connor “There may be a way to get out of this alive but…neither of you will like it.”

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