Page 12 of His Treasured Mate

With the next boom of thunder, doors opened and the pitter-patter of little feet ended with two more faces peeking into our room.

“There's room. Come on,” I told Audrey and Willow.

Thomas was watching me closely.

“I'm okay,” I assured him. “Better than okay,” I added with a sniff as I settled down next to him surrounded by all our daughters.

“This is why we have a king bed,” he muttered before wrapping an arm around Audrey and tucking her into his side while Willow wiggled her way in between us. “Everyone's okay. Let's try to get some sleep.”

Just as the girls were starting to settle, alarms went off on both of our phones followed immediately by his phone ringing.

We shared a look as our children clung to us.

Thomas checked his phone.

“There's a possible tornado in the area. It looks like it’s a little south of us, but we should prepare for the worst. It's been a while since an actual warning went off around here,” Thomas reminded me.

I shuddered. I'd heard stories of the storms that could rip through the area, but I had never actually experienced one. There had been a few scares over the years that had sent the whole Pack to underground shelters, but they never seemed to actually hit Collier.

The one time in the years since Thomas and I had mated that there had been a tornado touch down in Collier, I'd been out of territory visiting my family.

As I gathered my little family up to get them ready to spend at least the remainder of the night underground, a sense of overwhelming guilt washed over me.

If I'd had it my way, we'd already be in California sleeping in my childhood room. But what if something did happen? Thomas and I wouldn't have been here to handle things. My mind quickly spiraled into dark places.

“Mama?” Willow asked.

I shook the thoughts from my mind and leaned down to swoop my little girl into my arms. Confirming Cammie had Lilah, I grabbed Audrey's hand.

“Stay together and don't panic. We're just going down to the shelter as a precaution. There's nothing to worry about.”

Cammie shot me a look like she didn't believe me but would still put on a good face for her sisters anyway.

“Mama's right. It'll be like a fun sleepover,” she told them.

The shelter was massive. After the last tornado that touched down had left me feeling so lost and useless, I'd convinced my brother to loan us a team of moles who constructed an elaborate underground structure, well three of them, actually, strategically designed to save our entire Pack. The three shelters were each placed in the most populated areas of our territory to ensure the majority of our wolves would have easy access in an emergency.

We'd held an annual emergency plan mock crisis each year since, but this was the first time Thomas was sounding the alarm for real.

As Alpha and Pack Mother we had a direct entrance from our home and another from the Alpha House that led into the same shelter. Thomas would oversee this one while Luke was assigned to shelter two and James would oversee shelter three.

Personally, I hated that those I loved the most were scattered across the shelters, but I knew it was what was best for the Pack. While I would do absolutely anything, even give my life for any one of our Collier wolves, I couldn't help but want to protect those close to us too. Maybe that made me a bad Pack Mother. I often wondered about that.

At a time like this I knew I just had to push those thoughts down and act.

It took no time at all to gather up a few necessities and walk to the subterranean shelter below our house.

“We've practiced this, girls, remember? You know where to go and what to do,” I reminded them.

Lilah was clinging to Cammie, and Willow had a death grip around my neck as we walked downstairs and settled into our family suite. Not everyone got suites or even beds. Most of the Pack may not even have cots to sleep on tonight. It definitely contributed to my guilty conscience, yet I was also happy to have a safe place for my girls to feel at ease. We'd even taken the time to make our suite a bit homier than necessary. It felt stupid now as I thought beyond of my little family of six to our Pack.

Cammie helped me settle the girls down. I had no idea where Thomas was, but I knew I needed to get out there and see for myself that everyone was okay.

“It's okay, Mama. I'll watch the girls. You need to be out there to support our Pack.”

I hugged her. “When did you get so smart? Stop growing up so quickly.”

She giggled. “I’m going to be Alpha someday and need to know what this Pack needs, so I've been watching you and Daddy. Right now they need you both out there and visible because just like the little girls, people are scared right now.”