Head Hunter

by Layla Nash

  Dodge looked over at where Deirdre and Evershaw canoodled. “Can you give us a minute?”

  “No,” Deirdre said before her husband could say anything. The witch didn’t glance at me, but I knew she stayed to make sure Dodge didn’t immediately assume it was me if he smelled someone pregnant. It wouldn’t last long as a deception, but she thought it would buy me enough time to say what I needed to say. She patted Evershaw’s cheek and pointed him over toward a pair of chairs on the other side of the room. “We’ll just sit here and let you two get to it, but we’re staying in the room in case Percy needs some help... interpreting all the growls and grunts that you use to communicate.”

  He gave her a dirty look, which earned a warning growl from Evershaw. “We don’t need a fucking peanut gallery for this.”

  Silas, still a wolf, snorted and flopped on his side near the coffee table. Deirdre gave Dodge an arch look and folded her arms over her chest. I knew he’d lost and it wasn’t worth a fight, particularly when I still wanted Deirdre there, and said quietly, “It’s fine. Let them stay.”

  Dodge grumbled but turned to face me on the couch. He caught both my hands in his, searching my face for something. He looked terrible – probably almost as bad as I did. He’d lost weight and his skin no longer had a healthy tan. The lines around his eyes had deepened noticeably, as if he’d aged years in the weeks since I’d last seen him.

  Even with all that... I’d never seen any man as handsome, as breathtaking. The warmth in his eyes nearly set me sobbing again, because I got the first hint that he didn’t blame me for being shot, that we might actually be together long term. That this day was the first day of the rest of our life together, instead of the last day I harbored the hope that things would work out.

  Dodge seemed content to just hold my hands, his thumb stroking the inside of my wrist over and over. Most of my anxiety receded, though I tensed against when Evershaw muttered, “What the hell is...” and started poking at Deirdre.

  Shit. He must have figured it out. If Evershaw announced that Deirdre was expecting, then it might tip Dodge to search for the same hint. Or the other couple would start celebrating and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to tell Dodge what I needed to before everything else went off the rails. Evershaw didn’t strike me as the kind of guy with a subdued reaction to good news. Or bad news. Any news, really.

  I steeled myself and reached deep for some courage. I managed to meet Dodge’s gaze, but just barely. “I missed you, too. I really did. I wondered why you didn’t... That’s fine. I just wanted to say...” I stumbled and my voice cracked. I got lost in describing the enormity of my feelings for him. It was such a strange depth and intensity...

  Dodge caught my shoulder and pulled me closer, against his chest, and rested his chin on my head after tucking me against his shoulder. He took a deep breath and exhaled, and more of the tension ran out of him. “You can tell me anything you want. Anything.”

  I believed him, God help me. And it made it easier to talk without him looking right at me. I squeezed my eyes shut and let the words out in a rush. “You said that you were mine as long as I wanted you. Or something like that. Well, I wanted to say that I want you. I want you for... for as long as I can have you. Forever, if you’re up for it.”

  He went still.

  I braced for rejection, some kind of back-pedaling or excuses, and tried to memorize the feel of his arms around me so I had something to remember later.

  Dodge dropped his chin a little so his mouth brushed my ear. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with supernaturals. Including me.”

  “I didn’t...”

  “I’ll give it up,” he said abruptly. His arms tightened and relaxed. “I’ll leave the pack. I’ll walk away from it, I’ll never shift again, if that’s what you want. If that’s what you need. I want you, too, Persephone. There are still things I need to tell you, but I promise, we don’t have to say another word about magic and shifters if that’s what makes you happy.”

  My heart started beating again. He wanted me. And he would walk away from his pack for me. I didn’t want that, not at all. I shook my head against his shoulder but stayed plastered against him so I could breathe him in. “I know I freaked out. It was... a lot to take in. And it’s still a little... overwhelming, so I need this to go slowly with all the supernatural stuff and magic. But in the last few weeks, I’ve really appreciated what a pack brings into your life. The support. I kind of like that.”

  He grumbled and his fingers drifted over the bare skin of my shoulder where my collar gapped. His voice held a curious tension. “But you want to join my pack, not Rafe O’Shea’s. Right?”

  I smiled and nuzzled closer. “It’s just, I’ve been on my own for a long time and I’m not used to being able to rely on anyone. It’s new. Very new. But I want to try it out. See how it feels.”

  Dodge rubbed his chin over my head, messing up my ponytail. He started to say something else, no doubt something unbearably sweet, but he paused. Took another deep, deep breath. Exhaled and made a curious sound. Then he pressed his nose to my hair, repeating it before moving to snuffle along my collar and against my bare skin.

  My heart immediately jumped and plummeted at the same time. He must have sensed something different.

  Dodge pulled back to look at me with a frown, clearly puzzled over something. I could only stare at him, my pulse pounding in my ears. Did he know? Had he guessed?

  His head tilted as he leaned in again and inhaled from behind my ear, then absolutely froze. When he looked up at me, he’d gone even paler than before. I held my breath and braced for an absolute freak out.

  Chapter 53

  Dodge

  Dodge focused all of his attention on what Persephone whispered to him, the quiet confession that she liked the idea of a pack and wanted to be with him. Victory thrilled through him. She would be his. She wanted to stay.

  A faint shiver of guilt slid into his veins. He hadn’t told her about the blood transfusions in the hospital and that she now had shifter blood in her veins. Perhaps not enough to turn her, but she deserved to know. There was no telling if it would manifest in any changes. Already her scent seemed different, tickling his mind with the possibility that she’d turned. Although she didn’t smell exactly like a wolf. It was her, just... tweaked.

  He pushed away the distraction as she floundered through an explanation about not being able to rely on anyone. He knew that had changed. She could rely on him always. Always. He just had to prove it to her.

  His wolf side sat up in alarm as he nuzzled her hair and stirred up a hint of her natural perfume. Dodge frowned and inhaled more, trying to tease out that tantalizing scent. What did it mean? What had changed? It wasn’t artificial like soap or shampoo or a store-made perfume. And yet it coiled around his brain and his heart and entirely captivated the wolf.

  He breathed in again. Her hormones and body chemistry had changed, and the slight hint of her sweat flared as she nervously wrung her hands and watched him warily. He pulled her shirt aside so he could press his nose to her skin.

  And then it hit him. She smelled like... like...

  The wolf knew. The wolf howled in sheer and ferocious joy. A pup.

  She was pregnant. His Persephone was pregnant.

  Dodge froze, unable to breathe or think, as that one thought bounced around between his ears but made no permanent impact. The world stopped turning and the rest of existence faded away. Persephone, in his arms. Carrying his baby. A surge of sheer lust roared through him, enhanced, no doubt, because he hadn’t seen or touched her in at least a month. It was all he could do not to drag her up to his room.

  He still couldn’t breathe. He managed to point at her stomach, as if he could see the proof, and waited for her to confirm. God help him if he knew before she did. He didn’t want to be the asshole who gave her that kind of news unexpectedly – good or bad. If she didn’t know... His heart thumped against his ribs as a new fear seized him. If she didn’t kno
w she was pregnant, what if she didn’t feel the same joy that he did? She wanted to be with him, forever as she claimed, but that didn’t mean she’d welcome a child. They’d only known each other a short time.

  He choked on nothing and kept pointing at her stomach, since he didn’t know what else to do. “Are you... Is this...”

  Tears slid down her cheeks and her face got a little blotchy. There was some commotion across the room with Evershaw crowing about something, but nothing could have drawn Dodge’s attention away from his Persephone. She cleared her throat a few times, as if she wanted to speak, then she only nodded.

  He started nodding, too, since there wasn’t much else he remembered how to do.

  When he said nothing, Persephone took a shaky breath and caught his hand, squeezing his fingers with her soft ones. Her hoarse voice lanced right through him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know until... I just took a test this morning and it said positive, but really I have to go to the doctor and can’t do that for a few days. I just thought you would want to know.”

  “Of course,” he said, the words escaping in a sudden, almost violent rush that set her back in surprise. Dodge shook himself, running his hands through his hair until it stuck up in wild tufts. “How did... I mean, I know how, just...”

  He stumbled to a halt, still trying to process what she’d said. A baby. A child. Which meant... he was going to be a father.

  The chasm of everything he didn’t know how to do and be and say yawned in front of him in a dark pit. He’d barely known his father, and his grandfather had been a puritanical, cold piece of shit. What the hell was he going to do with a child?

  As his world re-ordered itself yet again, Dodge was distracted by a snort and amused sneeze from Silas, who flopped on his side and thumped his tail against the floor. Something about his friend’s posture made Dodge think the bastard was entertained by his predicament.

  Not that it was a predicament. It was a joy, a wonderful incredible link to his Persephone. A miracle. More than a miracle.

  As his thoughts flew in a thousand different directions, he finally dragged himself back to reality and found Persephone still weeping, covering her face with her hands. His chest nearly caved in as he reached for her. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Are you – upset? About... this?”

  He tugged her hands away so he could see her face, ducking so he could peer at the miserable expression that gutted him. Dodge gathered her up in his arms and pulled her onto his lap, desperate to stop her tears. He couldn’t think with all the noise Evershaw made, despite Deirdre telling him to shut up. He didn’t want to share that moment with Persephone with anyone else.

  Dodge rested his forehead against hers and breathed her in, closing his eyes so he could memorize the first hints of his child. Their child. “My love, talk to me. Are you upset?”

  “It’s a lot to take in,” she whispered. She curled in on herself, trembling. “I don’t even know... I can hardly believe it, and now I told you and I don’t know how you feel, and it’s just too much. It’s too much.”

  She didn’t know how he felt? Dodge swallowed a curse and instead scooped her up in his arms. He didn’t give a shit about anything else. He carried her up the stairs and ignored Deirdre calling after them. Persephone felt so slight in his arms. He counted it as a victory that her arms slid around his neck and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  He kicked the door closed once they were in his room and put her on the bed. He needed to be close to her, to feel her. Dodge sat up against the headboard and arranged the pillows before drawing her up next to him. He looped his arm around her and held her close, listening to the soft hush of her breathing. At least it was quiet upstairs.

  Dodge exhaled and tried to think through the last few minutes, before the world changed forever. He rested his chin on top of her head as Persephone sagged against him. “Okay. I’m having trouble keeping up, love. Let’s start at the beginning. You’re pregnant?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. Her hand rested flat against his stomach, absently, like she didn’t even know it was there, and her eyes fluttered shut. “I took a home test. Well, I took two. They both said positive. I made a doctor’s appointment to be sure but they weren’t available for a couple of days.”

  He nodded, squeezing her tighter for a moment. The next question was delicate, the kind of thing he knew he needed to ask, but with an answer that could devastate him to his core. “And how do you feel about that? Being pregnant, I mean.”

  He damn near held his breath and braced for any number of responses.

  Persephone’s hand curled against his stomach, gathering his shirt in her fist, then relaxed and smoothed over the fabric. Her voice came out very small, uncertain. “It’s overwhelming. I didn’t expect it to happen for years, if ever. And I didn’t expect... expect to be a single mother.”

  He moved back so he could see her face. “What the hell do you mean, a single mother?”

  “After everything that happened... You were shot because of me. They said you went crazy and could have been lost forever in your own head. I drive you crazy. A baby would just make that worse.”

  Dodge caught her face in his hands and shook his head. “I thought we cleared this up already. You drive me crazy, yes, but in a whole other way. Persephone Lawson, I love you. I don’t care what happened. Even if you had shot me, I would assume you had a very good reason. But none of that was your fault.”

  She frowned at him, apparently not convinced, and Dodge swallowed a laugh of sheer exasperation. “Persephone, didn’t you just say you wanted to stay with me? To be with me forever? Isn’t that what you said downstairs?”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Yes.”

  “Then why the hell would you think you’d ever be a single mother?”

  “I didn’t know if...” She trailed off, then gestured down at her stomach. “It’s not like we planned it. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to trap you, if you don’t want to be with me.”

  He groaned and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. God help him, what did he need to do to convince her? Get her name tattooed across his forehead? His chest or arm for sure, the second he could find a good artist, but he’d brand every inch of his skin if that convinced her. Dodge dragged her mouth to his for a fierce kiss, wanting to mark her with his love. When he broke away, they both breathed a little raggedly. He rested his forehead against hers once more. “Listen to me, you maniac. I love you. I want to be with you always. I do not feel trapped. You couldn’t make me feel trapped if you tried.”

  Persephone watched him, apparently still not convinced.

  Dodge grumbled his irritation and kissed her throat, then planted another kiss at the hollow of her throat. “I love this part of you.” He moved down a little so he didn’t get a crick in his neck as he kissed down to her shoulder, then down her arm. “And this part.”

  A hint of a smile curled her lips as she leaned back against the pillows. “Are you sure?”

  He cocked an eyebrow and grumbled, catching the hem of her shirt and dragging it up so he could kiss her stomach. “I do enjoy everything about you, Persephone. Except...”

  He trailed off and did his best to look pensive, and was rewarded with a sudden tension all through her. Persephone started to sit up. “What? Except what?”

  He took the opportunity to remove her shirt. “Except your clothes. You wear far too many clothes.”

  She made an indignant sound and smacked his shoulder, and he couldn’t help laughing. Dodge shook with it, with the release of so many days of misery and fear, and fell at her side. He threw his arm around her hips and dragged her closer, halfway underneath him, and just lay there enjoying the sensation of her body close to his. Persephone might have laughed a little as she lay quietly with him and Dodge’s laughter wheezed to a halt. His breath caught unexpectedly. He’d never expected his life to turn out like that: a mate and a baby. A tiny miracle. He closed his eyes and pressed his face against her side, breat
hing her in.

  “Persephone,” he whispered. His large hand palmed her ass over her jeans. “I love all of you. Every inch.”

  Her fingers worked into his hair and stroked the back of his neck until he wanted to stretch and arch like a cat. She leaned down and murmured, “But you’re still an ass man, obviously.”

  Dodge chuckled and patted her butt, thinking of how much he wanted to give it a good smack. There was time for that. She wanted to stay with him forever, she wanted a pack, she wanted a family. All of that they could have together. He kissed her side and reveled in the way she squirmed. He’d spent the previous six weeks dreaming of her. Now it was time for that dream to become a reality.

  Chapter 54

  Percy

  Some of my nerves settled when Dodge took me upstairs to the privacy of his room, and when he held me close and murmured that he loved me. I still didn’t feel all the way normal, but I tried to give myself some leniency. After all, I’d gone from alone in the morning to suddenly being pregnant and having someone who wanted to be with me forever by early afternoon.

  And then we were tangled up in his bed. He held me close, breathing against my side as his hand roamed freely over my hip and what he could grab of my ass. My fingers found their way into his hair and I slid slowly down the pillows until we were lying face to face. Dodge’s eyes burned a brilliant gold, though they were nothing compared to the fire of his touch.

  I closed my eyes as he nudged me to my back and leaned over me, his palm resting low on my stomach. His breath made my breasts tighten in anticipation, then his mouth closed over the soft flesh and I sighed, holding him close. Dodge leisurely worshiped my breasts, all while his hand stroked my stomach and then down to my inner thigh. His fingers wandered close to where I wanted to feel him, but not close enough.