“I don’t know, Beebee. I just don’t know. But look on the bright side, honey. If you love Brig this much, just think how much you’ll love his young.”
“That is not funny, Hannah. You know I want babies and a family!” I scream, my mouth thinning when she grins and shakes her head, making ‘so slow’ comments with an eye roll.
“Bee, my super best friend after Scarlet, you need to seriously get with the plot sister. You are pregnant. As in—have a young inside your super-fertile womb. As in that shower sex you had with Brig is gonna bear fruit. Gross by the way. Stop reliving it, it’s nasty!”
For a second, all I can do is blink before I laugh so hard I fall onto the cot and have to clutch the side to stop from rolling off. I laugh until my eyes are wet, this time with humor, and then I laugh some more to stop from crying because it doesn’t feel good knowing that I will never have that.
“Why are you laughing? Just so I know what to say next,” Hannah says.
I shake my head, slowing the giggles to a stop, and roll over to face her, my breaths hard and panting.
“Because I told you he didn’t fully bite me, Hannah. There isn’t even really a mark there. We all know a male has to go deep for the essence to be enough for that process. There is no way his essence got deep enough to make it productive.” I sigh.
Which sucks! It sucks so much. I could totally do a mantrap scenario now. No, I couldn’t! God, what is wrong with me? I’ve been with Hannah too long. I’m starting to think like the maniac now.
“Not nice. At all. I would never…well maybe I would, but this is not me. This is you. Beeber, you are with child. Knocked up. Bun in the oven. Little bean in your jelly,” she says slowly, keeping our eyes connected as she says the words, her tone somber.
“I…I can’t be. He didn’t bite deep enough,” I say, as I breathe, my hands falling to my stomach.
“I’m afraid you can be, my little Barbie doll. We cougars have a little something extra.”
I look up at the rueful tone and almost scream when Mama walks in her smile filled with love as well as reluctant acceptance.
“Split, kid. Me’n my baby have a lot to talk about.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Beebee
My eyes are huge as saucers by the time Mama finishes schooling me on cougar genetics and our differences when it comes to wolves. At this stage, all I can do is gape while she explains that I have this hormone in my saliva that if ingested by my Fated will supersonic his sperm and turn his essence into a potent, one-drop fertility booster.
“Are you telling me that I could have kissed a guy—”
“No Barbie, no honey. Just your Fated,” she assures me, chuckling and patting my hand through the bars of the door.
Sitting down again, I don’t even know what to think when I look at Mama and feel my eyes tear again.
“Oh, mama! I’m so, so sorry I lied to you and got myself arrested. I even went and got knocked up, just like the story went, and now, now it’s not me who left,” I mutter, sniffing when she chuckles and shakes her head.
“Baby, I’m not even a little mad. Now your daddy is fit to be tied, but that is another story altogether. Me, I’m just glad you’re home and you’re safe.”
“But I’m a criminal, mama! People are never gonna let you live this down. Imagine, me, giving birth in prison,” I moan, eyeing the clean surroundings with a frown.
Shoot, I can’t even cite poor living conditions.
“Baby doll, I don’t care if you shaved your head bald, got a whole lot of tattoos, and started calling yourself Reginald, you’re still my baby. I can live with knowing my kid risked her life and her freedom to do right by a whole pack of helpless shifters. If no one else can, well, that is their problem. Me, I’m just glad you did what you set out to do and came home in one piece, and, well, I am happy about the young, sugar. Truly. I wish that boy hadn’t run out on you, but well, we take what we can and sunshine the rest of it,” she trills, making me laugh.
My mama is, well, she’s different. I guess her tolerance had to grow with me as her kid and knowing she’d never get a do-over. I giggle at the thought and touch my own belly, wondering what my young will be like, and I’m suddenly happy that it seems to be true.
“You shoulda told me about the spit hormones, Mama. I would never have kissed that gorilla if I’d known,” I gripe, smiling softly when she snorts.
“And have my only child scared spitless of kissing a male? No pun intended.” She laughs, shaking her head. “No girl, I wasn’t about to deprive myself of grandyoung and let Prissy win that war without at least trying. Besides Barbie, you’d only conceive with your Fated. Why do you think cougar packs are so small? Some of us never find our true love and live alone for the rest of our lives without young. That’s why I was so happy I found your daddy and why I clung like a leach once I did. No way was I gonna give up the chance to have me some young. Turns out we’re also not as hardy as wolves.” She sighs, her eyes going sad, thinking about the males she never got to give Daddy.
That would make me sad too, but honestly, I was a spoilt brat, no way my poor mama would be capable of raising males and me.
“Shit. This means I’m probably going to have to try and call the idiot.”
She laughs, her giggles making me laugh too, and I lean back with a sigh, thinking, Okay, maybe things aren’t great, but they could be a lot worse. Now all I have to do is convince Daddy to forgive me and find a way to talk myself out of an eternal jail sentence.
And stop hating Brig.
My plate is truly full.
Brig
I roll over with a groan and set my feet on the floor, my head spinning wildly when blood rushes to my limbs and reminds me that I am still suffering from a very serious amount of blood loss.
“Whoa! Whoa there, son.”
I snarl, shoving at Cyrus Harris’s hand and push up, keeping still until I feel as steady on my pins as I can. I’ve been in this shithole of a room for the last two days, recovering from two bullet wounds and a bite that almost ripped my throat out, or would have—if not for Jock and his rage.
After Beebee was arrested and Jock knocked me out, I woke up in his house on a couch with the male snarling enough to scare a whole village and have them coming at us with pitchforks and torches. Turns out his little firefly was just waiting for her opportunity to break out and escape, and by the time we got back, she was gone.
I would have laughed my ass off about that until I realized how deep he is with the female, his anguish and anger at the loss cutting so deep I saw him do something Jock never does.
Talk. About his feelings.
Apparently, while he doesn’t believe me about Angie not being his Fated, seeing as he’s a stubborn wretch, he did go and fall head over ass for Scarlet because, “She has a fiery passion in her soul that just draws me.”
Call me crazy, but having a female try to stab you after sex does not make me all squishy inside, but hell, that’s Jock for you. After I woke and got the whole story, even commiserating a little, it was time to be a male and clean shit up.
So, I came over here and started helping the Clayton pack move out of their mountain hideaway and down closer to the Greyriver pack, who have decided to fill out the ranks and incorporate the Claytons, under Nick’s rule of course.
Only, the move wasn’t that easy, not when an entire battalion of crazed scentless showed up and started attacking people. I don’t know what the hell drove that move, but I’m just glad we managed to kill most of them and scare the rest off.
It would have been fucking awesome if that had happened before I got shot. Twice. And definitely before that asshole tried to rip my throat out and end me for all time.
I would have appreciated that most sincerely because: MY FEMALE IS IN PRISON AND PROBABLY TERRIFIED FOR HER LIFE!
Still, I can make it home now that I’m not dead and possibly find a way to make her love me?
I pose that as a question because
I’m terrified that she thinks I abandoned her altogether, when the truth is I wanted to do something good, for her, to prove that I am capable of being good and worthy. For her.
My Fated.
Now that I don’t have to deny it anymore the call inside me, the need is so strong that I can barely walk on my feet, but I can’t stay still a moment longer.
I need her, now, always, and I need to get to her before my wolf loses his mind and turns me feral. Grunting, I take a slow step towards the door, blinking away a dizzy spell and snarl when Rylan Harris opens the door, his grin falling on me.
“You’d better shake that ass, Seers. Hannah just called and told me Nick is seeing Barb today. This is it, man. This is your moment!” he says sounding so excited I almost don’t want to punch him in the nuts for hugging my female a few days ago.
Almost.
Grunting, I concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and making it as far as the door where I look for Jock and find him flirting with a little nurse about a decade too young for him.
Guess his sorrow over Scarlet didn’t last too long.
“Stop flirting and let’s go. Beebee needs me!” I yell, getting an eye roll and grunt before he grins at the giggling female and saunters over to me, his Armani suit making me snort.
Seriously, Armani in the middle of vacation? Even I don’t have that much of a stick up my ass.
“Chill, man. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” He snickers, howling when I punch him in the gut and snarl.
“Watch your fucking mouth. That isn’t funny. She must be so scared.”
“Nah, man,” he quips, helping me into the Jag he has parked in front of the little cabin before running around to get behind the wheel. “Your sister says she’s been eating cake and laughing her ass off about stories she’s telling Beebee. Did you really run around naked—?”
“I was four! And I got my ass beat for it, so yeah, it was one time. Now shut up and let’s go. I need to get to Nick Silverton’s place before he decides to throw away the key. Beebee is a crier,” I mutter, my mouth quirking as I say it.
It’s so freaking cute that she just can’t stop tears, and even more adorable that she isn’t ashamed to show it. Hell, I love that about her because it tells me that she’s always going to be an easy read for me, something I look forward to after years of having to read into everything people say, every expression, every move they make.
“You know, I didn’t want to say anything after everyone’s been so happy…” Jock says after ten minutes of silence, his hands clenching on the wheel, making the thing creak ominously.
I know exactly what he’s going to say and cut him off before he can say it.
“I know. I don’t think it fits either, bro, but other than going around that room and questioning every single male in it, I don’t know what to do or think,” I say and sigh, running a hand over my face tiredly.
I feel like shit, my whole body is a mass of contusions, pain, and fatigue, and now Jock is bringing up something that’s more than been on my mind. Well, when I was conscious anyway.
“Too easy. Too clean. Too fucking obvious,” he mutters. “Who are we looking at for this?”
“The obvious,” I say, looking over at him just as he rolls into my pack’s land, the Jag getting looks when we pass through the small town and make our way towards the Alpha’s house.
“He just seems so…”
“I know, man. Trust me, I know. I’ve spent six years on this shit and to have to think that I could have ended it all within months sickens me. I’m hoping I’m wrong, and that it’s not him.” I sigh when Jock stops the car in front of Nick’s place and shuts off the engine.
“So what do we do now?”
“Can’t just kill my own brother without proof. Besides, I want to see what his next move is. Somehow, something about this and Blain just doesn’t fit.”
And it doesn’t. I’ve hardly stopped thinking about this shit since it happened, and trust me, I don’t want to have to even think it at all. My brother, the guy I look up to and have always seen as the patriarch of our family is…
“You can’t seriously think he has good intentions?”
“No. I don’t know. What I do know is that he’s spent his whole life taking beatings for me and Hannah when he knew dad was on a rampage. I know that I can’t just kill him after everything we’ve been through. I know that it will kill me if I eventually have to. The council is gone; things are up in the air; and almost all of those freaks they changed with that pathogen are dead, if not gone. We have time,” I tell him, looking out at the house with tension screaming through my gut.
“Yeah, okay, so what then? We stay here and keep an eye on him?” he grumbles, making me smile.
“Most definitely. Can’t be mated and be a superspy all by myself. You’re gonna have to stay and make sure I don’t slack.”
Jock laughs, the sound a boom of amusement and shakes his head slowly.
“I hope to fuck we’re wrong. I kinda like the little asshole. Come on, let’s go save all those people from one of her crying fits and tell your Fated you put a kid in her.”
I wince, not knowing how she’ll react to that and leave the car on shaky legs. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I follow Jock into the house. My eye roll when he doesn’t bother to knock, just shoves the door open, making him grin and grunt out when something hits him immediately, taking him to the floor.
“Oh! Sorry! I uh, got spooked when the door just opened. Hey, I’m Jules.”
I laugh harder when the little Silverton princess jumps off of Jock and smiles, waiting for him to rise, her eyes going big when he towers over her by more than a foot.
“Holy moly.”
“Nothing holy about it, princess. I’m all shaft—”
“Christ. You’re flirting now? Julia, could you please show me where they’re trying to trial my female?” I sigh, howling when a foot hits my nuts and brings me to my knees.
“Pig! You absolute pig. You, you elite, double crossing, bad lover, lying, Fated hiding, pig! I hate you. I hate you. I want to tie you to the ground out in the woods and let the real wolves rip you apart and only leave your penis because it’s too small to bother with!”
I groan, wondering what hurts more, my balls, or the fact that the love of my life is standing there—after kicking me in the nuts—yelling things about my anatomy we both know isn’t true.
Definitely the words I think when I look up at her to see her panting and puffing, her whole body stiff and on the verge of explosion when I grin up at her.
“Hey, mischia. It’s not nice to lie, baby. My dick is huge. Why else would I have to wait two whole minutes before I thrust? Your puss—”
“Shut up! How dare you…you leave me all alone without saying anything, and then…then come back here and…and what’s wrong with you?!” she yells when I groan and clutch at my still healing bullet wounds, the healing taking longer than it should because I refused to take blood from any female that isn’t Beebee.
My own little stab at fidelity, I think mirthfully, shaking my head when she pauses and finally takes a good look at me. I probably look like shit. There’s no elite in sight here, just a guy who hasn’t shaved in days, has messy, dirty hair, old sweat pants, a t-shirt that is a blinding shade of orange, thanks to Rylan’s sense of humor, and Crocs because that’s all the medical staff at the makeshift hospital had on hand.
“I…uh…kinda got shot,” I grumble, blushing when Jock chuckles and Jules glares.
Jesus, this female really doesn’t like me. I can see it in the way she…looks at me. It’s not like she’s trying to hide it. Right now though, all I care about is Beebee.
I can smell…
Taking a chance, I grab her and pull her closer before she can react and bury my face in her belly, my groan of joy echoing in the foyer when I press my face close to her and sniff.
Young. I smell my young inside her, I think, my cock going rock hard while my w
olf stretches awake lazily and purrs.
I want her right now, up against the wall, her hot sheath taking me as I pump into her. For some reason, knowing that my seed took root in her—I’ve known for a while, but here now, KNOWING—it makes me so fucking hard it hurts to breathe without having her wrapped around me.
She’ll be so warm inside and—
“Stop it! I’m not happy with you right now,” she hisses, trying to shove at my head to push me away.
“Mine. Aaaah, mischia, my mate. I can smell him inside you,” I groan, my hands going to her ass to keep her pressed to me.
I don’t care that she’s yanking half my hair out right now or that she’s angry. She can be angry with me for however long she wants, as long as it’s with me, by my side.
Beebee huffs, probably knowing that I have her beat, and drops a hand to my hair. I hear her sniffle and have to fight a smile when I hear others join us and feel their amusement.
“You’re such an asshole! And just look at you. How am I supposed to keep reminding myself that you’re an elite prick with no game when you come in here looking so normal?” she whines.
This time I do laugh, hard, because there isn’t and never has been anything elite about me. I hate suits and those boring fucking dinners. I hate the distinction at all and prefer sweats, jeans, and pizza.
If this is what Beebee thinks of me though….
“I told you he wasn’t that bad!”
“You did no such thing, Daddy! You said he was a pig with no brains and that you’d shoot him if you ever saw him.”
“That was before I saw how much the boy loves you,” the man barks.
Looking up, I meet his eyes and see him nod silently before I gaze up at Beebee and put it all out there for the world to see.
“Mischia. I love you. I said it for the first time when I was convinced I was going to have to die protecting you and I felt like my world was ending. I’m saying it now because I know that after everything that has happened, all the loneliness and lies, all the hard work that led to this moment, there isn’t anything I want or have ever wanted as much as you. I’ve fought the Fating for years. I’ve fought and lied and protected you any way I could. And now all I want is to love you,” I say softly, praying that she’ll listen to every word and know.
Greyriver Shifters Page 70
