Dark and Forbidden Luca's Secret Baby

by Abigail Raines

  I was wearing one of Luca’s hockey jerseys for pajamas. It was thick and cozy and smelled like him and I’d just rinsed out my mouth after brushing my teeth when Luca came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and moving my hair aside to kiss my neck.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he whispered.

  Chapter Thirteen: Luca

  Everything felt nearly settled and that was a deceptive feeling. Blake was still out there, clearly with a vendetta against both of us and on top of that, Chloe’s brother was in danger as long as he played for The Fangs. But at least for this one moment, I could enjoy the woman in my arms now tilting her head so I could tongue kiss her neck as I rubbed her belly through my old Maple Leafs jersey. We swayed a little, content to bask in each other’s presence until Chloe finally turned around and threw her arms around my neck, standing on her tiptoes to kiss me deeply.

  We both parted our mouths and explored each other, licking at each other’s tongues, our lips sliding together. Chloe bit on my bottom lip and I hummed into her mouth, holding her tighter before moving my lips along her jaw and down to her neck and her shoulder, pulling aside the collar of the jersey. I bit her there, the lion in me taking over. I sank my teeth into that tender shoulder, almost hard enough to break the skin. The move made me hard in my pajama pants and Chloe moaned, pulling me closer as she backed up against the sink. She shoved her hand down my pants and held me and I breathed hotly into her skin, pulling the neck of the jersey down low enough to get my mouth on her breast, biting her nipple before lovingly lavishing it with gentle licks. My other hand found her thigh and her cool skin was delicious under my palm. I clutched at her ass and then ever so slowly pulled down her panties before palming her mound, raking my fingers through the hair I found there before teasing her clit with slow circles that made her gasp and moan.

  Chloe turned around then, grasping the sink, and the way she presented herself to me, her legs apart as she glanced over her shoulder at me with blown out pupils, made my already hard cock twitch. I growled and shoved down my pajama pants, my cock springing free. We were like animals then as I took her roughly, biting down harder on her shoulder again as I thrusted into her.

  “Yes,” Chloe said as I pumped into her, snapping my hips. “Yes, Luca...Ah...yes…”

  I felt like Chloe was all around me and somehow inside me just as I was inside her. I lost control of myself as I pounded into her but she begged for it and I came, biting her shoulder as I fingered her, vigorously rubbing her clit until she screamed into my other hand. We both seemed to peak at the same time and I felt like our souls were entwined somehow, the two of us merged. I’d broken the skin on her shoulder slightly, marking her. A few drops of blood oozed from the bite and I licked at them as the two of us came down. I almost felt as if we’d both shifted and was half surprised as my mind cleared, to find us both in human form. For a couple minutes we just stood there, leaned up against the sink, and I looked up and saw our reflections in the mirror.

  “Did you feel that?” I whispered.

  “God, yes.” She reached back and tugged on my hair, pulling my head forward, and I kissed that bitten shoulder, her neck, her hair, her cheek… “I felt you all over it was. It was like…”

  “It was magic.” I was still breathless and I sagged against her a little, running my hands all over her and up under the jersey.

  I had a feeling that we weren’t going to sleep any time soon.

  We ended up getting almost no sleep at all. We just couldn’t keep our hands off of each other and made love a few more times on into the morning before getting just a couple hours until Chloe had to drag herself out of bed. But she leaned over and kissed my cheek.

  “That was the most incredible night of my life, big boy,” she said. Her voice was low and throaty. Just the sound of it made my cock swell in interest all over again.

  It wasn’t a game day but we had a practice and just thinking about it made me worry about Chloe’s brother again and by relation, Chloe.

  “Call in sick,” I murmured, tugging on her jersey even as she headed to the bathroom.

  She shook her head and swatted me, smirking. “I’ll quit soon,” she said. “But I was gone without notice for a day. I have to give them notice. We’ll work it out. Don’t worry! I’m awake now. I never needed much sleep.”

  “ It’s not sleep deprivation I’m worried about,” I said, sighing and rubbing my eyes. I could sleep a little more if I wanted to but I knew I probably wouldn’t. I also felt some sense of solidarity with Chloe. If she was awake, I had to be awake. So I dragged myself out of bed too and did some jumping jacks and jogging in place to make myself alert while Chloe was in the bathroom getting ready for work.

  She had enough time for breakfast so I made her a bacon and egg sandwich and screwed up my face when she called me a good homemaker. But the truth was, I liked looking after my mate. I liked thinking about keeping her and my little cub fed. I drove her to work and still feeling a bit paranoid, stuck around for a bit, on the watch for Blake or anyone else who might bother her. When I checked my phone and saw The Fangs were probably at practice by now, I finally left.

  I went to the rink in Stone River first, only to find that Blake had taken his boys out to the frozen over lake in their woods for practice. I was irrationally infuriated by that, as if Blake had done it on purpose to throw me off. I hadn’t told the guys where I was going, having just left on impulse. But I was gaining a head of steam as I made my way out to the Stone River woods. My plan was to get Gabe out of Blake’s clutches, whether he wanted to leave or not. He’d spilled the beans on Chloe and it made me pretty angry that he’d betrayed his sister like that. That hadn’t seemed to register with Chloe at all, and maybe that was because she knew how threatening Blake could be. But I was Chloe’s mate now. It registered with me.

  I drove to the lake and parked by the woods. They were skating around not far from me. I could see Blake from my car. He hadn’t noticed me yet. Dimly, I could hear his shouts as he drove his guys in drills. He was a brutal type of captain but it wasn’t as if that was surprising. I’d seen him play enough in games. He didn’t seem any fonder of his fellow players than he was of anyone on The Cougars. It made me wonder what it must be like to go through life never loving anyone.

  I was being stupid, a voice in my head said. The voice sounded oddly like Miguel. I sighed and took out my phone, texting the guys that I was at the lake and about to confront Blake. I immediately got several alarmed replies telling me to hold off until they arrived. I didn’t answer but I took a breath and decided to see how long I could make myself wait.

  But I’d never been a very patient person.

  I waited about a full two minutes before I finally got out of the car. It was snowing out but I took off my parka anyway and pushed up the sleeves of my sweatshirt as I made my way out to the ice.

  Blake was right there, standing onshore in the thick snow, whacking his stick on the ice and yelling at his boys. I didn’t see the coach anywhere but that was about par for both our teams. We were coaches more than our coaches were. They were only there to steer us captains straight. Besides that, I had the distinct feeling The Fangs’ coach was likely afraid of him.

  “C’mon, ya goddamn pussies!” Blake shouted through cupped hands. “Where’s the offense! Perkins! Get your head in the game!”

  They were playing a mini game between themselves, their blades scraping on the lake’s thick ice. I saw Gabe go by and he looked at me behind Blake, who must have sniffed me out but who was pointedly ignoring me. Gabe’s eyes got big and I looked him up and down. He was all bruised up. He looked like he’d been somebody’s punching bag more than once. From what Chloe had told me, he would probably take abuse like that without complaint for the rest of his career as long as it meant he could still play hockey. But there was no reason for that to continue.

  It made my anger at Gabe dwindle, that was for sure.

  “Blake!” My shout was a bark that overpowered hi
s voice, and echoed over the lake.

  Everyone stopped the game and came to an abrupt halt on the ice, staring at us, no doubt expecting us to go at it any second. I had to think that at this point, everyone knew what Blake knew. I’d never loved everyone knowing my business. But that was small town life after all.

  Blake leaned on his hockey stick and slowly spun to smirk at me. He was wearing jeans and a Fangs jersey and his dark hair was blown back by the wind. He grinned with all his teeth, leering at me.

  “Still up and kicking, Barelli?” Blake said. “Thought I might have put you out of commission.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Takes more than a puck in the face or a hex to put me out of commission, asshole.”

  “Hex?” Blake was all innocence. “Don’t know what you’re talking about?”

  “Took me a minute to figure it out but I realized I was being cursed on the ice. You really need magic to win a game?” I laughed at that and got closer, the only sound the crunch of my boots in the snow.

  “Oh, that was just for fun, Barelli,” Blake sneered. He spun his stick in his hand and I knew it was a threat. That was funny to me too. As if we both wouldn’t shift when we fought. Neither of us would be using a stupid stick. “I could kick your ass on the ice any day of the week.”

  “Well, we kicked your ass last season,” I said, laughing. “But I’m not here to talk hockey and you know it.”

  “Oh? Is there something you wanted?” He tilted his head as if genuinely confused. “Is it about the whore carrying my baby? Could it be about that?”

  “I’m here for Gabe,” I said calmly, willing myself not to respond to whatever he said about Chloe. It was not easy. I was clenching my fists so hard, they ached.

  “Gabe Perkins?” Blake said, glancing at the kid over his shoulder as if certain I must be talking about something else. “What about him?”

  I smiled tightly at Blake and walked right past him, looking straight at Gabe. “How’d you like to play for The Cougars? I got an open spot. Callahan’s been thinkin’ of leaving for awhile now. What do you think?”

  Gabe’s mouth dropped open and from his expression, I knew that’s what he wanted. But he looked to Blake and was clearly afraid. “Um…”

  “Don’t look at Blake,” I said firmly. “What do you want? Forget the feud. Forget this thing with Chloe. Do you want to play for The Cougars?”

  He’d been beaten to hell and he was still skating. It wasn’t too surprising when he shrugged and said, “Yeah?” One of his fellow players hissed at him and he shrugged again, looking lost.

  “I’m gonna kick your ass, Perkins!” Blake bellowed. “I’ll see you dead before I see a Fang play for the Cougars!”

  Gabe looked dazed and he stared down at the ice. “Fuck,” I heard him say under his breath.

  Blake turned back to me, practically licking his chops. His eyes blazed. “You know what Chloe did to get her little brother on the team?” He looked back at Gabe, grinning. “Do you know what she did? Whoring herself out like-”

  I shifted almost before I knew what I was doing. It was just a reflex. I felt my body transform in the blink of an eye and I pounced on Blake before he could shift himself, tackling him down into the snow. What I didn’t expect was for Gable to shift to and join the fight on my behalf. But then Blake’s buddies shifted and leapt into the fray in his defense. Blake shifted quick beneath me and then it was two pretty equally matched lions going at it. He tried to claw my eye and I bit into his flank as hard as I could before he threw me off again.

  I was barely aware of what was happening. But I did see that just two of Blake’s buddies had shifted, the rest of them only standing by and watching with dispassionate interest. That didn’t speak well of Blake. He ruled by fear but he’d never inspired loyalty. I knew very well that the only thing that had kept the rest of my team from going after Blake during that game had been the rules and the facade that we were just playing.

  As if to prove my point, a mess of cars was pulling behind me. It wasn’t just my best friends and fellow alpha lions coming to defend me, it was the bulk of the team and it was chaos before it was over. But Blake was badly outnumbered and most of his team didn’t seem to care whether he lived or died. I had a hunch that most of them would rather he died.

  It ended in kind of a draw because I wasn’t about to kill him. Still, I had Blake’s neck in my jaws and blood oozed from the shallow punctures there. I had him and he knew it. He struggled at first and I shut my eyes, thinking I might have to kill him after all. But finally he went limp. I let go and we both shifted back, the others following our lead and raising their arms. My guys looked okay. Miguel and Dylan were the most banged up but that was probably because they’d also fought the hardest.

  Blake was on his knees in the snow and I stood over him. He wouldn’t look at anyone.

  He was a fallen man.

  “Does anyone in this goddamn town want Blake to keep being their alpha and captain?” I said.

  All the players on The Fangs kind of looked at each other uncertainly. One guy started to speak up and was nudged in the side. It looked like Blake had just been ousted. That hadn’t even been my goal but I guess this had been brewing for a while whether Blake knew it or not.

  “You’re gonna leave Chloe alone,” I said slowly, glaring down at Blake. “And Gabe’s gonna play for The Cougars. If I hear one whisper that you’ve made trouble on any level anywhere, we’re all coming for you.” I was using my “alpha voice.” It was sort of like becoming a different person for a while. “Do you understand?”

  He’d probably just leave town. He’d been completely humiliated. If he was smart, he’d take off. Maybe find a different pride somewhere.

  He mumbled, “Yes.”

  I don’t think Blake had ever mumbled in his life.

  We left him like that, kneeling in the snow, and Miguel clapped me on the back as the rest of us and Gabe headed out.

  It felt great.

  Chapter Fourteen: Chloe

  One year later...

  I was worried at first about bringing an infant to a hockey game but then Luca got all huffy about how Jack was a shifter and had the blood of both lions and men of the ice in his veins. When he said stuff like that, it was as if he was forgetting that Jack was Blake’s biologically. I liked that he forgot. Someday maybe even I would forget. But I did think about it less and less.

  So on a Saturday, I packed little Jack up in his stroller and packed up his baby bag and took him out to The Cougars versus The Puffins at the St. Dom’s rink. Like always when I was going anywhere with Jack, I ran late. But I found my seat a few rows back with a great view and cooed at Jack, pointing out Luca as he blurred by on the ice. When a timeout was called, Luca saw us and grinned, speeding over and scraping to a stop to tap the Plexiglas and wave at little Jack, who giggled when he saw his daddy. I waved and he winked at me and blew a kiss before skating back into the throng of players on the ice.

  “Can I get you anything, Mrs. Barelli?” Jeri, the team manager’s secretary appeared next to my seat where I was bouncing Jack on my knee. It turned out the mate of the team captain was treated like royalty even on a minor league team and it always surprised me even a year in.

  But I didn’t hate it. It made me feel special.

  I got food and drinks for free! It was awesome.

  “I’d love a popcorn and an iced tea, please, ” I said.

  “Absolutely!” Jeri said, her ponytail swinging behind her as she grinned and cast me a thumbs up. “No candy?”

  “No thanks,” I said, chuckling. I watched her go and shook my head. They gave me the best seats too. I would have been sitting in the front row, practically on the ice, but I thought it was a little too up front for Jack given all the noise and ruckus.

  It was a peaceful life, I’d found. Blake had left town, too humiliated to stay once he’d discovered that he had two few allies after a long career of treating everyone like shit. His replacement as both captain and
alpha was one of the other players on The Fangs who had been quietly biding his time and resisting Blake whenever he got the chance. I had a feeling that if things stayed peaceful, even the generations-long feud between St. Dominic and Stone River would be put to rest.

  Meanwhile, I’d quit my job at Tom’s early in my pregnancy. I’d worked for a while doing some administrative stuff for The Cougars part-time but I’d quit that too once Jack had been born, content to stay home with my newborn who continually fascinated me. Just like Luca had predicted, Charlie and Dylan and Miguel had become devoted uncles and babysitters when I needed them. Once in a while I’d walk in on one of them making faces or singing to the baby in his nursery and it was endlessly amusing. I loved that my little cub would have such a lovely family around him as he grew up.

  My father still lived in Stone River but after a teary conversation one day as I was moving the rest of my stuff out, he agreed to try Alcoholics Anonymous. He’d relapsed a couple times already but he went to meetings twice a week like it was his job. He was trying really hard and that was something. He hadn’t tried so hard since my mother had been alive.

  Gabe was playing for The Cougars. I snorted, watching him check one of The Puffins and get sent to the penalty box and he waved at me, looking sheepish. The only bruises and bang-ups he got these days were from opposing players and hockey games and it happened rarely. He was happier than he’d ever been and living in a rented room in St. Dominic. He’d made friends with a few other players on the team and he regularly came over to have dinner with me and the guys and visit his baby nephew.