The Pack's Doctor by Cooper

Chapter 125

Kennedy

| spend smore tlooking through the pup play area, not finding anything, so | head back imide. Before

dinner, 1 yo upstairs to change into easily removed clothes so that I'm ready for our run after dinner,

As I'm changing, | realize that | never opened the other gifts from my birthday. | begin pulling them out of the

closet and putting them on the bed. I'm not even sure | want them. They're all from the other Alphas who were

invited to my party.

| open the first one and find slacy, barely-there lingerie. What the

| quickly shove it back in its box and open the next one. This one is a nude sheer one-piece outfit that has a

thong for the bottoms. Uh, no!

| shove that one back in the box too and open a third. This one is a black version of basically the sthing,

Lingerie.

| decide that | don’t want to open any more of them and | shove them all back into the corner of the closet. What

in the world were those Alphas thinking??

“They were thinking they wanted to peel those clothes off their potential mate, Echo says.

‘Can you imagine what it would have been like to open those gifts in front of my family and friends? | ask,

mortified.

| reach up and wrap my hand around the pendant that Quirin gave me. | haven't taken it off since he put it on

me. | look back at the boxes of lingerie. My mate, for all of his faults, knowsbetter than any of those other

Alphas did. Unlike the other gifts, Quirin’s gift was thoughtful, and it was about me. Okay, maybe it was a bit

possessive making the necklace into Raif’s image, but he knew that diamonds were my birthstone, and he made

the eyes from my birthstone.

‘His gifts have always been thoughtful. That's why we still have them all,” she says.

That remindsthat | never put that picture of him from my birthday up on my nightstand. I get it out and put

it up, smiling at his very unhappy face. My mate hates having his picture taken, but he did it for me, because it

was my birthday. | remember his unhappiness from that day. It was my fourteenth birthday.

“Please Quirin, will you be in the picture? It'll be my birthday present,” | had asked.

“I already got you a birthday present, Little Pup,” he said.

“You can take it back and save it for next year. Pleeeeease!”

He had rolled his eyes, then cto stand in the picture. Because he did, very few other people were in the

picture with me. Connor was, obviously, and so was Henry, and just a few other daring individuals, like Yorick and

Wendy. Quirin’s face was a mask of irritation, but | didn’t care. I've always loved this picture.

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| set it on my nightstand and smile. | wonder if he'll remember this. It was four years ago.

‘Kennedy, where are you?‘ Quirin’s voice floats into my mind.

I'look at the clock and realize it's dinner time.

‘On my way,’ | say to him.

I walk downstairs, saying hello to everyone | pass. The omegas are all very friendly to me. The warriors range

from lukewarm to practically hostile, especially Slater and his friends. | wonder if he’s still angry about my

arrival.

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Chapter 125

“Hey,” Quirin says softly when | walk up.

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“Hey,” | say, and lift up on my toes to kiss him. After seeing that warrior yesterday and not having any kind of

intimacy with my mate, I'm feeling a bit possessive. Echo definitely is.

He doesn’t pull away, but he doesn’t pullto him like I've seen my father do to my mother hundreds of times

in my lifetime.

Tonight when we sit down, | can tell he’s got something on his mind.

“I want to talk about this weekend. I'm planning to go over to your family’s pack earlier on Saturday for your

brother's Alpha ceremony. | figured that you'd want to spend stwith your family and I'm guessing that

they'll want to see that you're alive and well,” he says drolly.

“That's very thoughtful, thank you. And I'm sure they know that I'm alive and well,” | say, rolling my eyes.

“Do you think | should contact them about staying the night? It'll be late when the party is over and | thought

you'd want to have breakfast with them in the morning before we head back,” he says.

I look at my mate for a moment. Who is this man? First, | know the feelings that he has for my father, so staying

in my family’s pack will already be a hardship for him. But he also hates parties. I've watched him for years

putting up with them for as long as he can manage, doing his duty, before ducking out.

“Are you sure you want to stay the night?” | ask him.

“Don’t you?” he asks.

“Well, yes. | would love to see my family and friends.”

“Then, we'll stay,” he says.

“Thank you. | know that will be tough for you,” | say.

“I'll manage,” he says. “And I'm guessing that you'll want to invite your family to your Luna ceremony, right?”

The warriors around us suddenly go quiet.

“Yes,” | say, uneasily.

“Ill talk to your parents and brother while we're there,” he says, as we finish eating.

“Maybe we can go outside and walk off dinner before we go for a run,” | say, wanting sprivacy to discuss

this more.

“Good idea,” he says, standing up. “Anyone running patrols tonight?” he asks loudly.

Several warriors say that they're in for dinner then going back to patrol duty.

“Your Luna will be running laps tonight. Try to keep up,” he says, with the Quirin equivalent of a grin as he takes

my hand and leadsoutside. Did he just make a joke?

| hear sof the patrols groaning while others start asking if Echo is really that fast.

“Why the frown, Little Pup?” he asks as we walk.

“Did you really just make a joke?” | ask him.

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Chapter 125

“Nope. | was serious. They need to get faster. Raif does too. But for us, this is more about you gaining stamina. |

want to see Echo run for two hours and try to keep up her fast pace. I'm going to have Raif nip her heels when

he catches her and she starts to slow down.

“He has to catchfirst,” Echo says and now Quirin givesa rare smile.

“Oh, he'll catch you. Never doubt that. It's just a matter of how long it takes him,” he says.

“Can we go back to my family coming for my Luna ceremony?” | ask.

“What about it?”

“I'm not sure that’s a good idea. There are a lot of warriors here who blmy father for the deaths of their

Alphas, mates, and family members.”

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“It's not ideal, Kennedy, but | know this is an important occasion and | want it to be right for you. Once we know

that they will definitely be there and for how long, I'll let the pack know that they can leave if they want. | won't

allow any aggression toward your family while they're in the pack. But anyone who leaves because they don’t

want to be around your father will have to accept you as their Luna before they go.”

“But this is their home, Quirin,” | say.

He stops and looks at me. “Are you going to chose them over your family?”

| open my mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. This pack is my family now, but | don’t want that to mean

that it excludes my biological family.

“If you have a better solution, I'm all ears. It's the only one I've cup with. They don’t have to leave forever,

just a couple of days. And depending on how many we're talking about, | can ask Henry to put them up overnight

so they aren’t out in the wilderness.”

“I'll think about it,” | say.

“Letknow what you cup with,” I say. “Now, is Echo ready?”

“Yes | am, mate,” she purrs at him, making him smile again.

| strip off my clothes, then shift. Once again, Quirin waits for me, then runs his strong fingers through her fur,

making her shiver.

He chuckles and stands. “Run, beautiful,” Raif growls.

Echo takes off, racing to the border, then turning left to begin her run around the pack lands.

Almost as if he had a timer, | feel her starting to slow down after an hour. We've run the pack lands four times,

passing the patrols each time. It isn’t long before | feel Raif catching us.

‘Keep running, Echo, | say, encouraging my wolf. She continues to push hard, the muscles in her legs straining

after two more laps. More and more frequently, we feel Raif nipping at her heels. At first, she was able to pull

away, but as the muscles in her legs get more tired, she struggles to keep ahead of him.

By the twe finish two more laps, she collapses where we left our clothes. We're both exhausted from her

hard run.

| feel Quirin’s hands in her fur again. “Shift back for me, beautiful.”

When she does, she whines from the pain in her muscles shifting. | feel him pull a shirt over my head and then

I'm in his

arms.

“I've got you, Little Pup.” He presses his lips to the side of my head. “This is why we need to practice. You need

more

stamina.”

I nod, too tired to speak. I'm asleep before he gets back to the packhouse.