Soulmates Ch. 07

A big thankyou to Pixie for editing this chapter for me. Your a legend!

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The morning started late for everyone except for Ulisi. She had woken early so she would be there when Jessie woke. Just being around the cub made her have feelings she never thought she'd have again. But over the past week, her wolf had been crying with what she had missed out on due to Ulisi making her sleep. The only way she could make her wolf happy was being around the child as much as possible. As Ulisi started to make breakfast, she spoke quietly to her wolf. "Just remember, wolves can have pups into their old age so maybe, just maybe, one day we'll find our mate and be able to give you want what you want."

Her wolf started to pace back and forth in her mind before she settled down and huffed. Her human was right. They still would be able to have pups but only if they found their mate. Now she had something more to concentrate on. She wanted her mate.

Just after Ulisi had breakfast ready, Jessie ran out to her. She couldn't help but smile at the bear that ran out. As it sat down, he shifted back to human and reached out towards her. She wiped her hands and picked him up to give him his morning hug. "Good morning my sweet cub."

He gave her one of his biggest hugs and talked away in his baby talk. She just smiled and nodded as if she understood what he was saying. "Is that right? And are we ready for breakfast?"

He nodded and babbled on as she sat him in a highchair and brought over pancakes so he could make as much mess as he wanted. The evening before they had decided he must have been at least a year old. He was crawling well and his motor skills were better than expected. They would have to ask Bear when his birthday was so they would be able to find out his true age. But what had impressed the adults about Jessie. Was his human and his bear seemed to be kindred souls already. They understood already what the other needed; when he was scared or wanted to run around to catch up to the adults, he'd shift into a bear but the rest of the time he remained human. Even when he was a bear and picked up, he'd shift into a human so he could babble and giggle with the humans. So, even though he had by only had his bear for a little over a week, both sides understood what the other half needed.

By the time breakfast was over, Jessie was covered head to toe with maple syrup. He was slapping his stomach to feel the stickiness against his skin and was in a fit of giggles as Ulisi was shaking her head and saying how messy he was. "Time for a bath I think it is," she told him.

His eyes went wide and started babbling and reaching out to her. This was his other favorite pass time. He loved water and bath time was the best thing in his view.

She shook her head and got up. Picking him up from behind so he couldn't hug her and dirty her clothes, and she took him into the bathroom and filled the tub up. As she turned her back to get the water right, he stood up with the help of the wall and lunged towards her, giggling loudly as he reached her and gave her a big hug from the side.

She jumped when he grabbed her before then cringing. "Jessie. I just got dressed before we had breakfast." Ulisi scolded but then upon looking at him, she softly laughed. She would never be able to stay be angry with this child. The love and mischief that was in his eyes would always beable to make her drop her defenses around him and melt her heart. Since she was already dirty, she turned slightly and gave him a big hug which and he returned hugged her back just as tightly. "So you're happy now you got a hug?"

He babbled aways happily and nodding and pulled back from the hug. She shook her head at him and tickled his stomach which got a roar of laughter. Once the tub had only a few inches of water in it, she took off his nappy and lifted him into the water. As soon as he sat in the water, he peaked up to look at her and as soon as Ulisi reached over to grab the soap, he made a huge splash of water which covered her shirt and face.

Narrowing her eyes and she glanced at him. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

He just looked up at her beaming with that same look of innocence, love and mischief. He shook his head and then started babbling again. She just laughed. "Sure, you little ratbag. One of these days you won't be able to talk your way out of the mischief you cause!" Then Ulisi tickled his tummy again before soaping up a face washer and began to clean him up.

* * * * * On the floors above Ulisi, the day started later. Maria stretched out and felt a weight wrapped around her body and she snuggled back against the warmth. With a rumble against her back and the tickle of words on her neck. Eric softly said, "Keep wriggling and we won't be out of bed when our brothers and sisters arrive."

That made her stop wriggling enough to turn around in his arms to ask. "How many will be coming today?" Staring into his eyes as her fingertips traced the outline of muscles over his chest.

Eric moved the pillows before stretching and then lent back against the headrest, pulling Maria up to rest against his chest. His arm wrapped around her back and, his fingertips absently traced down against her back while his other arm rested against his stomach. "There will be four from the council, then the leaders of the cougars, eagles and coyotes. Thad will be here; he's the leader of the wolf pack in the area. Then there's the vamp rep from the city that will be here. And I'm pretty sure, Wolf and Bear will be here as well. I'm not sure about their brothers though." He replied.

Nodding as she listened to him. This really wasn't how she was expecting to be introduced to others of their kind, but knew there was no choice in the matter. They needed to help Bear and Jessie as much as possible, and who knew what else this enemy had installed for their kind. "What time will they be arriving and what time did you set the meeting for?"

Eric gently pulled her to lay on top of him. He grinned when she moved her hands to rest against his chest and then placed her chin on the back of them and looked up at him with her dark eyes. He ran his hands down to her arse and pulled her firmly against him as he pressed himself harder against her. "We'll have enough time for another round if you are up for it" then wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Grinning with the offer of another round, she shifted her legs to straddle him and pressed her warmth against his hardness and slowly inched back to sit up on him. "What time are they arriving and what time is the meeting?" She asked, arching her brow at him, letting him know she wasn't going to move until she got her answers.

Letting a deep growl rumble from his chest as she moved against him, he moved his hands to her hips and slowly rocked himself against her to both turn her on a bit more as well as cover his hardness with her juices. "They'll start showing up in about two hours, so it will be around five when the meeting starts." Then he grinned and without warning her, he lifted her up and impaled her on his cock.

Maria listened to his words more than concentrating on what he was doing to her body. She nodded a little thinking of what needed to be done before the meeting. She squealed in surprise when he pulled her down around his cock then let out a deep growling moan and began to move against him.

* * * * *

An hour and a half later, on the other side of the building, Richard and Dee had already started their day. It had taken them years to switch their vampire body clocks off into normal human hours. Even though, they were never able to wake earlier than just after midday, they at least got a few hours of the normal work hours to do what they needed for their outside business interests. Dee was at her computer going thru emails and replying to those she needed and Richard was doing the same thing with patient records that were sent to him during his time away.

They both looked up and smiled when they felt the first presence of their guests arriving and Richard chuckled. "I wonder if we should warn him?"

Dee shrugged, "We should at least warn her about it"

Eric heard the end of the conversation, as he walked through the office door and frowned at them asking, "Warn whom about what?"

Just as he asked, Billy ran in and staring wide-eyed at them, "That stuiped bitch is here. You think she's ready to meet her yet?"

Eric just looked at them with questions in his eyes. "Who is here?"

Billy cringed a little and said one single name, "Carrie"

* * * * * It had taken Eric an hour to calm down after hearing Carrie had come with Thad to the meeting. He didn't know what to do. But he ended up going down to Ulisi's apartment and told Maria and Ulisi that she was going to be there as well.

Maria didn't flinch at all and didn't even seem nervous either. She just smiled at him and gave him a soft kiss and telling him not to worry about it. She had everything worked out. She had known the day was going to come when she met his ex-lover and had things already planned with what she was going to say and how to act. Even though, she was a little nervous about meeting the woman, she knew she had Eric and no woman would get in between them.

* * * * * The vampires were last to arrive. And everyone was shown to the meeting room in the building which was on the floor below Ulisi's apartment and the studio.

Once everyone was seated. Maria looked around the room at the other people and held Jessie in her lap. She could feel eyes on her but she turned her attention down to the little boy and only rose her eyes again when Eric began to speak.

"Welcome everyone and I wished I had a better way of bringing everyone together than the current reason, but first, let me introduce everyone." he stood up and started to walk around the large table, he paused. Standing at the back of the chairs as he said their names. "This is David and Sam, from the eagles... Chris and Thomas from the coyotes... Trish and Bec, from the cougars... Gabriella, Nickolas, Marcus and Wyvren from the Council... and from this city these we have Thad and his daughter Carrie from the wolves and this is Michael who represents the vampire council in the city" then he stood behind Maria's chair, "and this is my mate, Maria and in our guardianship, Jessie." With that he sat back down.

As he said each of their names in introduction, they nodded to those others they didn't know and smiled to those they did. The spirit were's weren't interested in waiting around so Trish from the cougars spoke up first before anything else was able to be said. "Is it true that he is the last?" motioning to the child with a simple nod.

Eric nodded. "It is true and that is why I called this meeting. Over the last few decades, someone has been killing the spirit bears off. Bear went to the council for help and once a plan was in action, something happened and the enemy found out the location of the families. They were all killed at the same time. Bear and Wolf made it just in time to save Jessie and an adult but the adult's wounds were to fatal. Bear and Wolf have been tracking the culprits hence the reason he asked us to be the boy's guardians. The enemy knows that they escaped so that is why I'm asking for help. We don't know the numbers we're up against but I refuse to let a child die because some prick wants to kill the bears off."

They all nodded with the last statement. There were's knew how important it was to keep children safe. Even the vampires nodded, agreeing. Children are innocents and should never be touched or killed.

Gabriella spoke next. "We have the scent of the enemy so.." she looked over to Chris and Thomas, "I know the coyote's are some of the best trackers in our world so if you're willing, I'll give you the scent for your people to see if we can't track them down."

Chris nodded. "All of our people.." motioning to the other spirit were's as he spoke those words. "are all ready to move. They are just waiting for orders. So if you give us locations, we can start tracking from the last attacks and start the hunt."

Then Sam said, "We can add to the hunt as well. I'll send a couple with yours so we can give any warnings if they see anyone on the ground so we can catch them." Then looking back to Eric, "I guess you want a few alive for questioning?"

Eric nodded. "We need to know numbers and where their base is. So will need one or two alive for those answers."

Michael started to stare off into space then he blinked and looked over to Eric, "Can Richard and Dee still do that trick with blocking senses of vampires?"

Raising a brow and looking at the vampire. Eric nodded, "Yeah, why?"

The vampire lent back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "You know how we protect each other. Last night, a outsider came into one of the clubs and was asking about the were's around here. Just the normal questions with what type and that. It was like he was getting the feel of what our opinions were of yous. He was talking to one of my barmen about where he could find fighters and that hated the animals. My man told him to come back tonight. He'd asked around and seems he just showed up. You want him bought here? Even if he isn't part of what's going on with your boy it might be a good heads up for the pack to keep their eyes out for any new vampires in town."

He turned his head to the side and a moment later, Dee, Richard and Ulisi came into the room. Ulisi went over to Maria and picked Jessie up. Eric then said, "This is Ulisi."

Ulisi could feel her wolf acting excited and when she heard her name, she looked around and nodded. Then she saw why her wolf was excited. She couldn't help but stare at Thad and he was staring straight back at her. In a small voice she said, "Hello, if you would excuse us, it's time for someone's nap." Then she quickly left the room but not without raising a few brows and a few sly smirks.

Once she had left, Dee and Richard were told what to do and they reached out with their senses to find out who they were hunting for and once that vampire was in their reach, they blocked his communication along with his senses Then they, along with Marcus and Michael, headed down to one of the lower floors to speak with the outsider.

The meeting went on and phone calls were made with locations and meeting points for the were's to begin their hunt. It was early evening when the meeting was finally finished. As everyone started to leave, Gabriella spoke up, "Thad, please stay back. I'd like to go over a few more things with you after we've had some dinner."

Thad nodded and sat back down in his chair along with Carrie. Through out the meeting, her eyes didn't leave Maria's form. Thinking of how could Eric leave her for some little bimbo like Maria. Gabriella arched a brow when Carrie sat back down. "I didn't ask for you to stay, Carrie. You're free to leave and go back to the pack."

Carrie glared over to Gabriella and raised her brows. "I'll leave when my father leaves."

Gabriella shook her head. "I didn't ask for you to stay, pup. I asked for your father to remain because I have some personal matters for him."

Carrie just lent back in her chair and crossed her legs. "Then I'll wait here for you to finish speaking to him. He'll tell me about it anyways, so I may as well remain and hear it instead of him having to go over it again with me."

Thad let out a soft growl, "Go home, Carrie. Before you get yourself into more trouble."

Carrie didn't move and remained where she was. Gabriella looked at Wvyren and he just motioned to the door. A moment later, two large men came into the room and stood behind Carrie's chair. Then Gabriella looked back to the girl. "My men won't have a problem with tossing you over their shoulders to get you to leave. So it is either you act like an adult and leave on two legs, or be a child and get thrown over their shoulder. But I can assure you if they have to throw you over their shoulder, then they will smack your arse raw when you arrive back at the compound as discipline for being a spoilt little pup."

Carrie narrowed her eyes at Gabriella. "They wouldn't dare!"

Gabriella just lent back in her seat and Nikolas started chuckling. "She just told them what to do when they take you back, and they know better than to go against her words."

Carrie then looked up to the men to see the smirks on their faces and the looks in their eyes. She looked to her father and he just shrugged. He knew better than to go against the council. Letting out a deep growl as she stood up and marched out the door, swearing under her breath. The men who'd entered, followed her out to make sure she was going back to the compound.

When she had finally left, Thad lent forward and placed his face in his hands. "I'm sorry. Nothing I do to her changes her ways. She's to much like her mother and I'm at my last straw with her."

Gabriella smiled. "That is why I wanted to have you alone. I can feel the tension when she's around you."

Thad lent back in his chair and nodded. "She wants everything handed to her. I've told her it doesn't work that way. I've even had the thoughts of letting her take over and let her watch the pack break up from her leadership but I just can't let her break like that and I couldn't do that to the pack."

Nikolas then looked at Gabriella and grinned. "Maybe there is another way of teaching her."

Gabriella reached out to him and touched his cheek softly. "That is exactly what I was thinking, my love."

Thad just stared at both of them. "Mind if I know what you're both are thinking?"

Ulisi knocked and poked her head through the door and looked over to Gabriella and Nikolas. "Dinner is ready if you wish.." then felt the words catch in her throat when she saw Thad still there, "..to join us or I can have some bought up for you." She managed to stuggle through the sentance by quickly looking back to Gabriella.

Gabriella smiled and nodded. "We'd love to join you."