“She had a baby all alone while being not much of an adult herself. You shouldn’t underestimate her.”
So, he knew all about Isabelle’s situation. What other secrets did they confide in each other? “Just be … be careful.”
Confusion passed over his face as his dark brows drew together. “Careful of …” Then his eyes lit up, and his lips turned at the corner. “Are you jealous?”
“No!” She slammed the menu down so hard it made a thwacking sound on top of the table. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not jealous of anyone.”
The irritating smile he wore on his face made her want to smack him with something. “Sure. Of course not.” Turning his attention back to his menu, he began to thumb through it.
She let out a huff, staring at him, waiting for him to argue. But the infuriating man ignored her. Thankfully, their waiter came to take their orders.
The rest of their dinner went by in relative peace and silence. He didn’t seem to object to the meals she ordered—ravioli, veal scaloppine, and a steak—but he did keep trying to push the extra veggie sides at her, which she promptly shot down with a freezing stare. When the server came back asking if they wanted coffee or tea after dessert, Delacroix dismissed him before she could order, which made her glare harder at him. When the young man came back and dropped a black folder at their table, he reached for it, but she immediately snatched it away.
“Don’t you dare,” she fumed. She dropped a couple of bills into the folder and pushed it toward him. “That’s my half. I don’t need any change.”
Not bothering to wait for him, she got up and made a beeline toward the exit. Then she realized he still had the car keys, and she also had no idea where he’d parked. “Damn it!’
“Did you have a nice dinner?” Isabelle asked as she came up to her.
“Of course, delicious as always, though you know I can always tell when it’s not Uncle Dante or Gio cooking.”
She laughed. “I’ll be sure to mention it to them. So …” She glanced back toward the dining room. “You and Delacroix, huh?” Her eyes dropped down to her belly.
“You know?” she asked incredulously. “Of course you know.” A long sigh escaped her lips. “Everyone knows, right?”
“Yeah, Lucas told us. Even Julianna knows, and she’s all the way in Zhobghadi. Hey”—she put a hand on Mika’s shoulder—“I’m happy for you, I really am. He’s a great guy.”
“Oh yeah, well, maybe you should have him. You two seem cozy.” Too late. A look of grief crossed Isabelle’s pretty face. “Jesus, I’m sorry. I’m an asshole, Isabelle.” She should have been more sensitive to her cousin, after what had happened. No one knew the exact story, really, only that she’d met her True Mate and had gotten pregnant, but he wasn’t in her life anymore. She wouldn’t tell anyone who he was or if he was even alive. No, Isabelle didn’t deserve any of the vitriol Mika had spewed, and she should have known better. “Forgive me, Isabelle. I don’t have an excuse speaking to you that way, other than that I’m a raging bitch.”
She smiled at her weakly. “No, it’s fine. Really. But D … he doesn’t … I mean … he gets all flirty and all, but that’s all he does. I even heard that … well, I’ve been talking to Julianna, who’s been talking to Deedee. She wanted to get the skinny on Delacroix, and according to Dee, he’d been on his best behavior the entire time he was there. Never went on a date or got together with any of the girls at the palace.”
What? Surely that wasn’t true. But before she could ask Isabelle any more about what she knew about Delacroix, the man himself came up to them. “Shall we head out, cher?”
She nodded, not knowing what to say. After saying goodbye to Isabelle, he led her outside toward where he parked the car across the street. Her mind was still in shock from what Isabelle had revealed that she let him open the door for her, and she went in automatically.
The drive back to The Enclave was silent and took no time, thankfully. When he pulled into her parking space, she let him open the door for her once again. “You can go home now,” she said. “I doubt I’ll get attacked between here and my apartment.”
“I am home,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“I live here too. In Center Cluster, actually, next to the Alpha’s building.”
Of course he did. “Fancy. Good for you.” She turned and walked away, ignoring his chuckle. Stupid ass. He might think he was so smart, somehow charming Lucas into making him her bodyguard. But if he thought she was just going to let him walk all over her and bully his way into her life, well, he had another think coming.
Chapter Eleven
“Hello, neighbor,” Delacroix greeted as soon as she opened the door of her apartment the next day.
“You again,” she groused. Having had no time to go grocery shopping, she didn’t have any food or coffee at home, and she was starving. “What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?”
He held up a large paper bag. “I have breakfast. Why don’t you let me in and—”
She snatched the bag from his hand. “I don’t have time today. I’ll eat in the car.”
He didn’t return her car keys last night, so she let him drive, too tired, hungry, cranky, and jet-lagged to argue. They were pulling out of the garage when she opened the paper bag. “What the heck is this?”
“Food, cher,” he said.
She opened the top off one container and stared at the gray goop inside. “Oatmeal? You said you got breakfast.”
“Oui. That’s a healthy breakfast. There’s also fruits, yogurt, a vegetable omelet, and some toast.”
“Where’s my coffee?”
“Coffee?” he scoffed. “I have orange juice and milk in the back seat, so you can have some folic acid and calcium.”
If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have screamed at him. “I was going to get pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon.”
“Then good thing I came along, eh?”
God, she wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face. Instead, she reached into the bag and pulled out a spoon, shoveling as much oatmeal as she could into her mouth in as short an amount of time as she could so she didn’t have to taste it. It abated the gnawing hunger in her stomach at least. As she was about to dig through the bag for more of the food, she stopped and glanced over at Delacroix.
Today he wasn’t wearing his suit, but instead donned his usual attire of T-shirt and jeans, his leather jacket slung in the back of his seat. He didn’t bother to ask her if she wanted him in uniform as her—she snorted—bodyguard, but that was him in a nutshell. Never asked, only did what he wanted, like worming his way into this position.
As he maneuvered the car with a relaxed ease, she couldn’t help but stare at his muscled forearms, the way the veins under the tattooed skin twitched as he changed the gear or turned the wheel. His scent wafted over to her nostrils, which her hussy of a wolf just loved. His handsome face was scrunched up in concentration—why had she never noticed that little line between his brows, and why did she want to just reach over and touch it?
He suddenly looked over to her and realizing she was staring, flashed her a grin. “See something you like, cher?”
“No.” She grabbed a piece of toast, shoved it in her mouth, and stared out at the road ahead. Stop it, she told herself. No staring. No looking. And definitely no touching.
For the next two weeks, she had to endure his hovering over her. He was the first person she saw in the morning and the last before she went home. He always brought her her meals or took her to dinner, and she was just too busy so she let him. While she grumbled about his food choices, he seemed to learn which foods she liked and which she didn’t, and as long as she always ate the healthy stuff, like broccoli and kale, he made sure that she got something she actually wanted for the next meal, like pizza or tacos. Also, he glared and terrorized anyone who came near her, especially Dan, who, after a couple of days, just suddenly gave up even trying to talk to her
. But, if anyone at GI had any opinions about his position as her bodyguard, they didn’t say anything, not even Wyatt or Lizzie whenever they had their morning meetings and he hung around the command floor.
“Any news on our shooter?” she asked Lizzie.
She shook her head, her pigtails swishing over her shoulders. “Sorry, Mika. I’ve exhausted most of my contacts. The mages must have used a professional that’s not from their usual list of contractors. I’ll talk to Astrid again, see if our guys got any more evidence.”
On the evening of the shooting, Astrid, Nick and the other members of the Lycan Security Force had searched the entire street. They found a car that had been abandoned a couple of hundred yards away. It had been modified so the shooter could lie down inside the trunk as he pointed his rifle through a hole drilled in the side of the vehicle. The shooter was definitely human as he left no trace scent except his sweat and urine, which told them he had been waiting there a long time. The gun was nowhere to be found, but they deduced he either took it with him or dumped it in the Hudson River.
“Thanks, Lizzie,” she said. “If you guys are good, we’re done here.”
As they left the conference room, she saw Delacroix chatting with Jacob just outside the door. “Hey, Mika,” Jacob greeted. “Welcome back. Sorry I haven’t been by to say hi. Cliff’s been keeping us busy with torture—er, training.”
“Nice to see you too, Jacob.” An idea struck her. “Say, it’s been a while since Delacroix’s done any training.” She smirked at him. “Wouldn’t want him to lose his touch.”
“Lose my touch?” he asked indignantly.
“Why don’t you take him to training for the afternoon?” she suggested. “In fact, it’s an order. I’ll be sure to tell Cliff what’s happening, that he needs to make sure you’re in your best shape since the guy who tried to shoot me is still out there.”
And so, for the rest of the day, she was finally free of him. No more hovering outside her office, intimidating any of the analysts who came near her. Sure, she missed his presence during lunch when no one was around to bring her food. And if she kept finding herself looking out onto the command floor every now and then, she told herself it was just because she wanted to make sure no one was slacking off, and not because she was waiting for him to stroll in. When it was close to quitting time and he still wasn’t back, well … he had the car keys, so she had no choice but to go down to the training rooms to find him.
The GI’s combat floors consisted of a main training hall with all the state-of-the art gym equipment, a sparring area, and a running track that ran around the room. It was modeled after the fifteenth floor of the Lycan Security Force’s training room, including the dormitories, common rooms, and kitchens on the floor below for their agents. Mika herself had lived there for a year when she was a trainee. She walked over to the main sparring area, and it looked like they had just dismissed them for the day. Jacob was there chatting with Cliff, but where was Delacroix?
Her question was answered by a girlish, high-pitched giggle, which made her ears hurt. Turning toward the source, she saw the pretty young blonde by the leg press machine, a wide grin on her face as she looked up at the man beside her. “Oh, Marc, you’re so funny.” Her hand brushed his bicep.
A burning rage shot through her, and her inner wolf growled at the female who dared touch what was theirs.
Theirs?
“Mika?”
Holy hell, when did she walk toward them? Straightening her shoulders, she mustered the coldest tone she could. “If you’re done here, I’d like to go home.”
Delacroix’s gaze darted from her to the blonde, an amused look on his face. “I have to go, Shelly.”
“It’s Shelby.” The blonde’s face twisted in anger for a fleeting second, before her sweet as sugar expression returned. “I’ll see you around, Marc.”
He gave her a curt nod before turning to Mika. “Shall we head out now, Ms. Westbrooke?”
The way he addressed her so formally shouldn’t have annoyed her, but it did. “Fine.”
“Where would you like to have dinner tonight?” he asked as they reached her car. As always, he opened the door for her, and she slipped inside.
“Nowhere.”
“You can’t—”
“I have food at home,” she said. “Just take me home, all right?” She didn’t want to argue, not tonight.
“As you wish.”
Not wanting to make further conversation, she turned the radio on, the music blaring out the speakers. He seemed to take a hint and didn’t attempt any conversation. When they arrived, she dashed out of the car.
“Mika, wait!”
She walked fast, but he was much faster than her. When he got in front of her, she stopped before she collided into him. “Fuck,” she muttered. “Goddammit.”
“What’s the matter, cher?”
“What’s the matter?” she repeated. “What’s the matter? Let me tell you what’s the matter: My feet hurt, and I feel fat, and none of my clothes or shoes fit. I’m so hungry all the goddamn time that a third of my day is wasted just eating, but then I wake up feeling nauseous. I have to pee every five minutes, which is really annoying when I have to be on conference calls with boring Alphas that go on for days. Some days I just want to chug down an entire bottle of wine, but I can’t stand the smell of alcohol. My breasts feel like water balloons being pumped bigger every day, and my nipples are starting to look weird. Not to mention, I’m so fucking horny, bumping up next to a dryer might set me off!” She let out a squeak and covered her mouth. Dear God, she prayed, I promise if you sent a lightning bolt to kill me now, you can reincarnate me as anything you want. A snail. Or a badger.
“Cher—”
“Please.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Mika.” He gently pulled her hands away from her face. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. Not with me.”
“I’m sorry I went off on you like that.”
“You’re pregnant, you’re allowed to be moody. Your body is changing, and that’s normal.”
“You sound like one of those pregnancy books. Maybe I should have read more up on this. I just … feel so unprepared.” She’d wanted this child for so long, that she didn’t even think about what needed to be done before it actually arrived. “I haven’t even seen Dr. Blake for an appointment.”
“I don’t think anyone can fully prepare for something like this, cher,” he said. “But you should let me help you.”
“You can’t help me,” she said.
“I can … especially with that last one.”
“I—that last one?”
“You know, about being horny—ouch!”
“Fuck off, Delacroix,” she said, swatting him on the arm.
He laughed like a hyena. “I only meant that I know a good laundromat around the corner. What did you think I meant?”
“Laundromat—oh you!” She smacked him again, but it only made him chuckle harder. Unable to stop herself, she began laughing too.
“See, cher? There’s no need to be worried. Everythin’ will be all right,” he drawled.
“I … you’re right. Thank you.” With a final nod at him, she turned around and headed into the elevator lobby. Dear Lord, what happened back there? These damned hormones, making her go crazy. Telling him all about her swollen feet, her bathroom problems, and … oh that last one. Being so horny all the time. It was true though, she was. But for some reason, that didn’t really start until she got back and was around him all the time. Maybe she should just ask him—
No, that was a stupid idea. It was the most idiotic idea in the world right now, even if her hormone-fueled body thought otherwise. She would have to forget about it and never mention or think about it again.
The problem with saying you should never think about something ever again was that it only had the opposite effect. She thought about it. Again and again. And the more she did, the more her brain began to ratio
nalize the merits of such an idea.
Orgasms releases oxytocin into your brain, which is good for you, and what’s good for you is good for the baby.
Studies have shown that sex during pregnancy lowers blood pressure.
You’ve already done it before, what’s the big deal?
Oh yeah, remember that thing he did in the bathroom with his mouth? And what about when he pushed you up against the—
“Argh!”
“Mika, you all right?” Cliff asked, his head cocked to the side.
She blinked. Did she just drift off in the middle of talking with Cliff? “Uh, yeah.” Damn it, brain, why do you do this to me? “Can you repeat that last part again?”
If Delacroix had any idea she was having such a crisis, he didn’t show it. After yesterday, he acted as he usually did. Even more helpful, if that was possible. Which was why she felt terrible asking him to go out on several errands outside because she didn’t want to be around him. Her damn horny body was conspiring with her brain, and she feared she would jump him. Why did he have to be so hot? And handsome? And so nice to her that it made her want to cry.
Hormones, remember?
Of course, now that she was done for the day, she once again had no way of getting home, because Delacroix seemed to have taken ownership of her car keys. She made a mental note of getting her spare keys from her brother and closed up her office. Delacroix had to be around somewhere. She decided to head to the training floor in case he was hanging out with Jacob. She took the elevator down, drumming her fingers lightly on her arm as she waited for the car to reach her destination. When the doors opened, the sight that greeted her nearly made her wolf burst to the surface.
“You’re such a sweetheart, Marc.” Shelly or Shelby or whatever her name was, had a hand wrapped around Delacroix’s forearm. “I’m looking forward to that lesson, then.”
He pulled his arm away. “I told you, only if—Mika?” Their gazes met, and his dark eyes widened in astonishment. “Mika, this isn’t—”
Shadow Wolf Page 12
