by Jade White
They paused for a moment, their breath mingled between them. She leaned into him, he to her, their lips touched and they kissed. Her knees weakened with his touch, her stomach tightened and she felt just like she did the first time they kissed. She ran her hands over his thickly muscled arms, his taut stomach and rested them around his hips. His torso was too thick for her to get her arms around him with her belly in the way.
“You know, the doctor said that sex will encourage labor,” she said with an impish grin.
“Well, if that’s what the doctor ordered...”
Reign paused for a moment, she felt a twinge, like the baby kicking, a smile lit her face and her hand went to her stomach.
“The baby’s moving,” she said.
Another twinge, it hit her hard, she dropped to one knee and screamed as fire erupted in her stomach.
“Richard, help me,” she said through gritted teeth.
Richard knelt beside her, a patient, pleasant smile graced his lips. “It’s okay, Reign, this is how it is, don’t fight it.”
“It hurts, Richard, it hurts.” She was on her back, eyes squeezed shut, writhing in agony. Her stomach felt like it was on fire and she could taste blood in her mouth. She screamed again as a clawed hand pushed its way through her stomach, she could see the outline of it. Tearing through her flesh...
Reign sat bolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat, panic gripped her heart, and her hands flew to her stomach. She was fine. No baby was clawing its way out, she wasn’t in any pain. She closed her eyes and breathed; she couldn't hear anything except how loud her heart was in her ears.
Just a dream, just a dream.
For the nth time, she wished Richard hadn’t gone away on business, that he could have stayed the whole time. Instead, she was alone, nearly at term, and terrified. The door flew open, and she let out a squeal. Silhouetted in the doorway, with her perfect hourglass figure, and long silky brown hair, was Cara, naked of course.
Reign tried hard not to be jealous of the women in the pack, but she was nine months pregnant; she saw herself as a walrus, who couldn’t see that? Cara, Skye, even Abbey, were a man’s idea of a wet dream. Add to that the wolves’ propensity for free love within the pack, and Reign found herself, on more than one occasion, questioning Richard’s fidelity.
Not that they were married, but she wanted to believe that she was the only one for him. With the baby’s due date rapidly approaching, her emotions were a roller coaster. Was she being hormonal, or was there something happening and no one was telling her?
Cara entered the room and sat at the edge of the bed. She moved carefully, as if afraid to startle the girl.
“It’s okay, Cara, just a bad dream.”
As Reign awoke, her feelings muted, and sense started to kick in, of course Richard had a past, and of course, she wasn’t his first. He told her he was not sleeping with anyone else and she believed him. Cara crawled into bed with her, a sleepy look in her eyes.
“Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll snuggle with you and keep you safe till you fall back asleep,” she said with a suppressed yawn.
“Sounds good to me.” Reign turned back over and pulled the down comforter up. Cara crawled in behind her and rested one hand on her thigh, and nuzzled the back of her neck. She let out a sigh of contentment, feeling safe in the wolf’s embrace.
“Cara?”
“Yes?” she answered, half asleep.
“What’s it like to become a wolf?”
Cara tensed, then relaxed her body.
“It’s not for everyone, now go back to sleep.”
She did, and she dreamed of running in the meadows and howling at the moon.
***
Richard hated crowds, and he hated flying, so airports were the perfect storm of annoyance to him. This one, Denver International, was particularly crowded. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and everyone was trying to get home before break was over, a terrible time to fly, but he had no choice.
He had made this trip to make sure his financial affairs were in order, and to check with his source in New York. Not for the first time in the last few months, did he question his judgment on his affair with Reign. She was so young, and vulnerable, yet there was a strength of spirit in her Richard had rarely met. If the blight had not happened, he would have offered her the family of the pack. Now, though, it was a death sentence.
It might be either way.
Richard received a letter from his source at the Lunar council. The Alphas were not happy. He made the trip to verify it face to face, and he was right. The Alphas had excluded him from their meeting, passing judgment on him and Reign without meeting her.
Their fear was justified, though. A long time before, longer than most of the wolves who were still around, several villages in France became aware of the existence of a pack near them. Because of the indiscretion of a newly turned wolf, fifty of them lost their lives. Burned at the stake until they were ashes. There was no regenerating that.
In his most somber moments, Richard could still smell the smoke. Feel Indigo’s hand on his shoulder, warning him. He could see her, bound, on the fire, looking right at him; he could hear her sweet voice telling him to let her go.
He and Sally had come to help the pack that was in trouble, but instead she joined the many who died. While Richard had loved since then, he had never loved as deeply or as completely as he had when he was with Sally McBride. That was – until now.
Reign captured his heart in a way no woman ever had, not even Sally. He was drawn like a moth to a flame, an apt analogy considering his current dilemma. There were two things he was sure of, he could not live without her, and he could not live with her, at least if she were human.
His nose twitched as he caught a scent, a half-forgotten perfume that flooded his mind with memories. Memories of a bygone age and a woman who he also had loved, until she betrayed him.
Heidi. Where...
He looked about, trying to be casual, but knowing he was late in smelling her; she had to know he was there already, even through the crowd.
“Is this seat taken?” Heidi appeared beside him as if by magic. Her blue dress stopped short of her knees, and silhouetted her upper body. She wore no underwear or bra, and with the light behind her, she might as well been wearing nothing at all. She looked just as he remembered. Blond locks fell from her head to curl around her face and shoulders, blue eyes like the sky, lips so naturally red it could have been blood.
That would be on her hands.
“By all means, Fraulein.” He motioned for her to sit.
“Oh, Richard, you're not still mad about that are you? That was such a long time ago.”
“Funny, seems like yesterday you stabbed me in the back.”
He flinched as she ran her hand up his back, and another up his leg, her lips parting slightly with the promise of pleasure.
“Now, now, your back is as fine as ever, and if we can slip off to somewhere more quiet, I promise I will make it up to you.” Her voice dripped with sexuality, and despite his anger he felt himself stir at its seductiveness.
You always were good at that.
He stopped her hand an inch from his crotch; he held her wrist in a vice-like grip.
“Cut to the chase, Heidi, why are you here?”
“You’re hurting my hand.” She spoke in a much lower voice now, the overt sexuality of her tone replaced by a mild amount of pain.
He squeezed, her lips thinned as she warded off the pain by tensing her muscles.
“Why. Are. You. Here.”
“You know why, now let go.”
She made an effort to break his grip, but it was futile. Worry crossed her eyes, and that was what Richard was waiting for, he didn’t want her thinking she knew him, that he was predictable. She was dangerous, always had been, he needed her to know he was too. He let go. She rubbed her wrist to get the blood flowing again.
“My, my, Richard, if I knew you were into the rough stuff I would hav
e brought the crop,” she winked.
Richard affected his best gaze of disinterest and picked up a nearby magazine to read.
“You’re not in a pack, I see, still not one to play the game, eh?” he said.
“You were the only man with balls enough to order me around. What would I do, sit at some Alpha’s feet, be his plaything, no, it’s the life of the Lone Wolf for me. The packs have their rules, and so do we.”
Richard nodded. There were many rules to follow, and by their nature, the wolves were self-policing.
“They sent me because they felt a familiar face would put you at ease,” she said. She took out a compact and began touching up her red lipstick.
“Is this an ultimatum?” He glanced around. Indigo and Skye were nowhere to be seen, which could be good. He wanted them to have nothing to do with this monster.
“Yes, of sorts, turn her or kill her, you have until the last new moon. Now, that nasty business is out of the way, let's find someplace more comfortable to talk.”
Richard stood, brushed her hands away from him, and said, “Goodbye, Heidi, I expect to never see you again.”
He turned his back on her faux pouting face and left. If she was here, at this time, then the planes being delayed were not an accident. He found Indigo and Skye in a nearby nook, their infatuation with each other had only grown, they kissed and cuddled, oblivious to the people around them. That is, until Richard’s scent caught them. They both turned as he approached. Indigo went a little pale.
“No fucking way.”
Skye coughed. “You never cuss.”
“No, he’s right, this is bad.” Richard waved for them to follow.
“We're not taking the plane,” said Indigo.
“I wouldn’t put it past her to blow the plane up just to get us.”
“Who’s ‘she’?” asked Skye.
“Someone I hope you never meet,” replied Indigo.
“Skye, get on your phone, find us a train or private plane, something to get us back home, we don’t have much time.”
Richard paused once they were outside. It was late, the moon was just rising in the sky, and it was close, even he could feel the pull of it. Two more weeks; two more weeks to kill the woman he loved.
*
Reign was worried as the doctor packed up his kit. It was one week to the new moon, one week when all wolves shifted. If she did not give birth to the baby by then, her nightmare would come true. Not that it wasn’t already a nightmare. Richard had been back from his trip for nearly a month.
Since his return, he was pensive and distant. Something happened and he hadn’t told her what. Now the baby wasn’t coming. She couldn't go to a hospital and have a C-section, she had to wait, and the waiting was nerve racking. A few more days and the baby would be a full month late.
Richard and Cara were in the room with her, and for some reason, this made her feel vulnerable instead of secure. The doctor smiled as Richard walked him out, leaving her with Cara.
Why was she feeling so alone, so awkward? As if this were a dream and she was waking up. It could not be right, she loved Richard, Cara saved her life, something else was going on.
“I don’t feel very good,” she said. She brought the cup of water to her lips.
“The doc cleared you, said everything was good, what’s wrong?”
Reign looked about the room. She was alone. No one near was a human, they were all wolves, they had their rules and their customs, and she wasn’t included in any of it.
“Cara, something’s not right, I don’t feel right, I feel like I’m alone, like I have nowhere to go, I feel trapped,” she said.
Cara glanced around the room; something flashed across her face that Reign did not recognize.
“I’m sure its just nerves.”
“Have you ever had a baby?”
“No,” Cara said.
“Then how do you know its just nerves?”
“Because you’re not the first girl in the history of the world to have a baby, and every one of them was nervous, and felt something was wrong. Don’t borrow trouble.”
“It’s weeks late, Cara, weeks. Something is wrong, and I can’t shake the feeling you aren’t telling me everything.”
“Reign, no one is hiding anything. We know what you know.”
Reign laid her head back down, something wasn’t right. She could feel the baby move, she could feel the life inside of her, but it was as if something was invading her mind. Almost as if some malevolent force was trying to force her to carry the baby to the New Moon. Where it, and she, would most likely die. Cara stood in the corner, silent as always. Ever since her abduction, she spoke very little, if at all. Now Reign felt like her presence was a burden, not a boon.
“There is something wrong. And I’m tired of being kept in the dark.”
Reign slid her legs out of the bed, and the momentum was enough to pull herself up. She was awkward and off balance, but she stood. Her oversized pajamas were warm enough, but they did not allow for much movement, especially since she weighed almost thirty pounds more than her usual one thirty three.
“Reign, this isn’t a good idea,” Cara moved, not to stop her, but to steady her. She didn’t really feel all that steady, but she was determined.
“Help or get out of the way.”
The dilemma she put Cara in was obvious, Reign did not belong to the pack, but she was Richard’s love. If she helped Reign, she crossed Richard, if she didn’t help, she crossed Richard.
Reign softened. “I’m sorry, Cara, but I need to know what I don’t know.”
Cara nodded and moved to support the girl. “He’s gonna be so mad at me.”
With Cara’s help, Reign made it to the door. She could hear the voices on the other side, Richard and Indigo, and the doctor. The wolves always thought they were whispering, but they were so loud.
“... I don’t know,” said the doctor’s voice. “Nothing medical.”
Well, that is something.
“Could it be the child is a wolf, is that what the delay is?”
“As I said, it’s nothing medical, she’s stressed, to be sure, her heart rate, BP, all of it is elevated, but physically, she’s fine.”
Indigo spoke up, “Boss, could it be pack m...”
Richard cut him off with a grunt. “Don’t even say that, it would take all of them
to --”
Reign couldn’t take it anymore. Something was wrong. In addition, she needed to know. She burst through the door, levelling her gaze right at Richard.
“Take all of them to do what?”
Richard glared at Cara, who turned beet red under the gaze of her Alpha.
“Don’t blame her, look at me. I may be nineteen, but I’m no idiot, you can’t hide something from me and think I won’t notice. Now tell me.”
Richard’s face showed the war that played out. Anger, frustration, and finally surrender. She knew he couldn’t hide it from her, she just needed him to know that.
“Richard, I can take it, I’m no wimp for god’s sake. I’m nine months pregnant, and this ain't easy, so spill.”
The doctor coughed politely. “Perhaps I should excuse myself, pack business is not my concern.” He did, being led out by Indigo and Cara, leaving Richard alone with Reign. Richard took her hand and led her back to bed, making her comfortable before sitting down himself next to her.
“You know about the rule, no humans can know,” he started. She nodded.
“Well, it’s not strictly true, obviously,” He gestured at the now departed doctor. “There are exceptions, doctors on rare occasion need to know, lawyers, etc. But never are we to date, or love humans. Love is a tricky thing and it, more than anything, can burn us. And I’ve broken that rule Reign, god, have I.”
He placed his hand on hers, placing her fingers against his lips. “I love you more than I ever have anyone, more deeply than I knew possible.”
Shame leaped unbidden into her heart for doubting him, his sincerity
and honesty; the tears in his eyes mirrored her own.
“Richard, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have questioned...”
He interrupted her with a raised hand. “Yes, you should have. You’re human, you’re young, pregnant for the first time, as if that wasn’t bad enough, you’re surrounded by the pack. We’ve lost touch with our humanity, and we forget.”
He took a deep breath, letting his pride and stubbornness out with his breath. “Do you recall that day on the cliff?”
