Under the Alpha's Protection

by Doris O'Connor

  She pulled Nikita up gently when she tried to lift her head, and fluffed the pillows behind her head.

  "It's a miracle you're still carrying, my dear, but then you've beaten the odds at every turn. Here, sip this. It will help settle your stomach and give you some energy. I know my son is busting at the seams to see you up and about. He doesn’t seem to believe me when I tell him that this is all normal, and will pass. It's only to be expected in your condition."

  Felicia pushed a spoon of tepid liquid into her mouth, and Nikita dutifully swallowed. Her stomach roiled, but the slightly bitter brew stayed down, and Felicia urged several more spoonfuls down her, before Nikita put her hands up, and waved surrender.

  "Good girl, that's a start."

  "What did you mean in my condition? What the fuck have I turned into now?"

  She clamped a hand on her mouth when Felicia's eyebrows rose.

  "There's no need for that sort of language, my dear, not in my house. I'll forgive you this once, but don't think I won't make you eat the washing up liquid."

  Her face softened when Nikita burst into tears, and she pulled her in for a hug, which just made her cry harder.

  "There, there now it's okay. Just let it all out, that's it."

  Nikita eventually managed to stop sniffling and blew her nose on the tissues Felicia pushed into her hands.

  "I'm sorry, it's just my mum always used to say to that to me, and I miss her."

  Felicia nodded in understanding, and patted her hand.

  "I understand, my dear. A woman needs her mother at this time in her life, or at least her female friends. That's why I insisted that the big lump of my son brought you back here to the old pack house. I swear he may be the Alpha, and I know he loves you to distraction, but he's thick as two planks at times."

  Nikita gave her a watery smile and latched onto those few words.

  "He loves me? Are you sure? Even after what I let Draco do to me?" Nikita hated how small and desperate her voice sounded, and Felicia rolled her eyes.

  "Of course he does. We all do, in fact. You're something of a hero in the pack's eyes. You defeated Draco and lived to tell the tale. That is some kick-ass stuff, right there, girl. You single-handedly saved this pack, the neighboring ones, and no doubt countless clueless and defenseless humans."

  "Clueless humans like me, you mean. You all must have had a laugh at silly little Nikita, making moon eyes at Raoul, when all this time there was this whole other world, I never knew existed."

  Felicia's deep sigh raised the ends of her sodden fringe, and she dropped a kiss on Nikita's forehead.

  "You're overwrought, my dear, which is understandable, and you're blowing this all out of proportion."

  Nikita pushed away from her and pulled her knees to her chest.

  "Am I? Tell me you didn't think that deep down. Tell me you didn't want Raoul to settle down with some nice she-wolf and raise an army of cute little cuddly cubs."

  A curious smile appeared on Felicia's face at that comment, and she stood to leave.

  "I won't deny that there was some concern among the pack, and especially the council at the thought of Raoul mating with a human. One never knows how these things will go, but you're wrong, if you think for one minute that I regret Raoul's choices. All I ever wanted was for my son to find a woman who makes him happy. Who can meet all his needs and still be the strong Alpha female he needs to take this pack forward." She paused and ironed out the creases on her skirt with a swipe of her hands. "You've proven to all of us how strong you are by defeating Draco and saving the pack. It remains to be seen whether you can make my son happy."

  The inherent criticism stung, and Nikita barely resisted the childish urge to stick her tongue out at Felicia.

  "Has it ever occurred to you that he might not make me happy? He lied to me after all, and it's because of him that I almost died how many freaking times already?" Felicia flinched, and Nikita regretted her words almost immediately. Felicia had shown nothing but kindness to her whenever they'd met in the past, and she was in the woman's house now, and she'd been nurse-maiding her for God only knew how long. Nikita had long since lost any track of time, and she had no clue what day of the week it was or how long she'd lain in the bed recuperating. In fact she had no recollection of anything after Draco's heart disintegrated in her hands and her own stopped beating at the same time. By rights she shouldn’t even be alive, so none of this made sense.

  "I'm sorry. I don’t mean to be rude." She whispered the apology, and Felicia smiled.

  "Like I said, my dear, you're overwrought. I understand, and for the record, yes, Raoul should have told you from the outset, what and who he is, but tell me this. Would you have stayed? Would you even have believed him?"

  Her crystal blue gaze, so like Raoul's, held Nikita spellbound, and she didn't even dare breathe until Felicia spoke again.

  "My son has his faults. He is a man after all, but I know that he's loved you for years, has watched over you from the first moment he saw you. It's killed him seeing you go on dates that never worked out. It was his shoulder you cried on, always just his friend, and he never crossed that line, not once. So, yes, he made a wrong choice in not telling you his heritage, but he did that for the right reasons. He was afraid of losing you. He still is. I know my son. Behind all that bluster and for all his dominant ways he is still scared shitless that you'll reject him." She paused and smiled with a faraway look in her eyes. "His father was just the same. Which is how I ended up with Draco. He had no qualms about biting me against my will, of forcing a bond between us that I didn't want and yet I couldn't fight against, until he was turned by that vampire, and Lupe finally stepped up and saved me."

  She straightened her shoulders and smiled at Nikita.

  "So, you see, you're already far stronger than I ever was. You fought Draco and won. The only thing now is will you fight for my son, or will you break his heart?"

  ****

  Raoul paced the living room floor with ever increasing speed, until his father growled at him to sit down.

  "Rein in your wolf, son. Your mother will have your pelt, if you ruin her new oak flooring with your claws, and I'll have your head. I'm too old to lay this shit down again. Nikita won't come down any faster, and you’re making us all dizzy."

  Lupe tempered his command with a smile and a nod of understanding.

  "It will be all right, son, you'll see."

  Raoul balled his hands into fists, and slumped back against the floral settee. If only he could believe that. His brave little Nikita had saved them all, and it had been a long painful recovery for her. By rights she should be either dead or vamp, but Mother Nature had one last trick up its sleeve, it would appear.

  Nikita was carrying his baby, and it seemed that the fetus's stem cells crossing over into Nikita's bloodstream had saved her from the full turn. That and sheer bloody-mindedness on behalf of his girl. Raoul had been too worried about her to give that tiny cluster of cells nestling in her womb too much thought, but when he'd entered her room earlier, he'd scented his son or daughter as clearly as though he'd seen them on an ultrasound. Their child's heartbeat was strong and steady, and the pack's physician had decreed that there should be no reason for Nikita to not carry a healthy baby to term.

  No reason at all, but Raoul's deep-seated fear that she may not want his baby. Not once in the weeks she'd lain up in his old room at his parents’ place had she called for him, and surely if she loved him she would have done so.

  His mother and father simply said it was to be expected. She didn't know where she was, or who she was, and her body was struggling to accept the changes, changes brought onto her by his bite. A bite she hadn't given permission for either, which in Raoul's eyes made him as much as a bastard as Draco had been.

  His whole relationship with Nikita was based on trust, and he had lied to her, albeit by omission, but he knew how much she despised liars. He'd lied again by not telling her about the baby. They had all decreed to keep that
bit of information to themselves for now, until she was strong enough to be told.

  That day was supposed to be today, but she still hadn't made it downstairs, and the fucking wait was killing him.

  The creak of the door alerted him to her presence as surely as his wolf jumping to attention. Her scent called him, and he forced himself to open his eyes slowly.

  "There you are, my dear. I must say that emerald top suits you. You've even got some color in your cheeks, which is lovely. I told you the brew would work."

  Nikita pulled a face, and then smiled, and his wolf whined. He knew she'd heard him because she now had a shifter's sensitive hearing. Her body shifted in his direction, before she caught herself, and turned her back on him.

  It was the equivalent of a slap in the face, and his hands itched to just grab her, take her somewhere private, and spank her luscious ass into submission. His wolf smirked his agreement with this plan, and his cock, too, signaled its readiness with the raging hard-on he was sporting, and he pulled one of his mother's frilly cushions onto his lap.

  What was it with women and their need for scatter cushions?

  "No idea, son, but your mother loves them."

  His father's amused reply chuckled in his brain, and his mother's glare reduced him right back to a quivering five-year-old afraid of her wrath. Amazing how she could do that with just one look. No doubt Nikita would perfect that look for their offspring, too. His heart turned over and shriveled at the thought that this might never happen. He had no idea how she felt about babies. Other than a discussion about her being on the pill, following on from that first night when he hadn't used a condom, kids hadn't entered into the equation.

  He knew she hadn't fallen then. The physician's best guess had been that she'd fallen shortly before business had taken Raoul away. She'd come down with food poisoning the week before, which must have been when her contraceptive proved ineffective.

  "Well, I dread to think what’s in that concoction, but yes, I do feel better, thank you. In fact, I need to be out of your hair soon. I hope to be able to get my job back, and I've got things to sort for the start of term, and—"

  "Like hell you will." Raoul's growl stopped her, and she froze.

  Lupe shook his head and his mother fixed him with another glare, but he couldn't just sit here and not say something.

  "Dammit, Nikita, stop ignoring me, and if you're gonna chew me out, then let's get this over with. Fuck knows I deserve it, but there's no way on this earth, that you'll just walk out of here, as though nothing's happened. There's the … fuck it."

  He'd almost blurted the news out in anger, and that's not how he wanted her to find out.

  His mother came to the rescue, like she always did.

  "May I suggest a little turnabout in the garden? You've been cooped up in doors for far too long, and Raoul and you can chat in private. Plus if you kill him his blood won't stain my new flooring."

  That brought a weak smile to Nikita's lips, and she nodded her confirmation.

  "You mess this up, son, and you'll have me to deal with. That girl loves you with all her heart. No woman fights like she did, unless she's in love. Now swallow that stupid male pride, stop thinking with your dick, and sort it."

  His mother's reprimand rang in his ears, and he stepped up to Nikita and held out his hand.

  "Let me explain all this, please, squirt." He willed her to take his hand, but she just stood there, ramrod straight, and for once her usually so expressive face did not portray her emotions. Only her eyes showed such depths of pain and hope, it brought him to his metaphorical knees. He reached out, and cupped her face, and her breathing hitched. Electricity arched up his fingertips, and seared his heart as the bond his bite created worked its sexual spell on them both.

  The air heated between them, and time stood still as he waited with bated breath, until she slid her little hand in his, and the world righted itself again.

  "You better make this good … Sir."

  The whispered add on had his wolf howl in joy, and his cock tried to punch itself out of the rigid denim of his jeans, but now was not the time for sex.

  He coiled his fingers around her hand and tugged, so that she tumbled into him, and he fisted his other hand in her hair, and inhaled deeply. Nikita trembled in his arms, and then sank against him, her little nipples hard bullet points against his chest, and they both groaned.

  ****

  How they had made it out of that living room and into the relative privacy of the garden Nikita had no idea. From the minute Raoul had touched her, her anger fled. Whether this was just due to some of that mated mumbo jumbo bond thing they now seemed to have going between them, she had no idea. All she did know, was that she wanted to sink to her knees in front of him, audience be damned, and let him take care of everything. She was tired of fighting, tired of being scared, and she'd missed him so damn much.

  Every step he pulled her along was one step too many, and she breathed a sigh of relief when they came across a gazebo. Raoul pulled her inside and urged her to sit down on the stone bench. It was a beautiful spot, the air heavy with the sweet fragrance of the rose garden they had walked through. Nikita had always loved this garden. Parts of it were left overgrown and bordered on the forest—to encourage local wildlife—or so she had assumed. She knew better now. This was the perfect place to frolic and to let their wolf form roam free without fear of human discovery.

  "What does it feel like, when you shift?"

  Raoul looked surprised at her question, and in truth so was she. With all the things she could ask him, this is what she thought of first?

  "I mean, does it hurt? It looks as though it should hurt. At least it looked that way when Darius did it." She clamped her hand on her mouth when another thought occurred to her. "Oh my goodness, Darius. Is he okay? Is his girlfriend okay? He said they had her. Please, tell me he's okay."

  Raoul's brilliant smile lit up his features, and some of her panic subsided. He picked up her hand again, turned it over, and kissed her palm. Tingles of warmth spread up her arm, and she couldn't help her answering smile as his quiet assured calmness transferred to her.

  "Have I told you how much I love you, squirt?" Her eyes widened at the hoarseness of his deep voice and the suspicious moisture she saw lurking in his eyes. "After all you've been through your first question is about someone else, someone who was honor-bound to protect you and didn't, I might add." His voice firmed on the last word, and his expression grew murderous.

  "He couldn't help it, I'm sure. You haven't done something to him, have you?"

  "No, squirt, I haven't. He missed the birth of his son. That was punishment in itself."

  "He has a son? So he's okay and Lou too?" she asked.

  Raoul got down on his haunches in front of her, and the heated emotion in his dark blue eyes took her breath away.

  "Yes, they're fine and very happy together, thanks to you. My whole pack are, and we'll never be able to repay you for what you did for us—never."

  Nikita smiled and took a deep breath. It was now or never really. She had to tell him.

  "I-I didn't do it for the pack. I did it for you." His hold on her tightened, and he slid his hands into her hair and tugged her close. Every cell in her body contracted with need at this subtle shift signaling his dominance, and she blinked back tears. He kissed them away and then slid his lips down to the bite mark on her exposed shoulder. He licked the spot and murmured against her skin.

  "Is that so, my sweet girl?"

  "Yes, because I love you."

  Raoul growled low in his throat, and her heart turned into a jackhammer when she felt his fangs graze her skin.

  "I've already bitten you here once, though I doubt you remember, but I'd like to do this properly. Will you become my mate, the mother of my children, my sub, my everything?"

  He pulled away so that she could see him, and Nikita stared into the eyes of his wolf. Raoul's fangs showed in his smile, and her stomach flip-flopped in excitem
ent, only to suffuse with warmth when he cupped her belly. "After all we've already made a start on the children part."

  Nikita couldn't have heard him right, but when she searched his face she could see nothing but sincerity shine back at her. Love, lust, hope, and that hint of uncertainty, as though he was still afraid she would run out on him.

  "I'm pregnant, really? And the baby is going to be okay?" Nikita could scarce believe it. She was going to be a mother. It was like all her secret dreams having come to life.

  "Yes, squirt, the baby is fine. Our pack physician checked you over, but I don't need him to tell me that. I can hear our baby's heartbeat. It's strong, just like its mother."

  Tears clouded her vision as the truth dawned on her. She could have it all. The man she loved, and their baby.

  "So, does that mean, I'm now like you? Do I turn into a wolf?"

  Raoul rubbed his thumb over her lips and smiled.

  "Yes, you'll have inherited our shifter senses. One reason why you don't need your glasses anymore, though I will kinda miss that cute little squint you had whenever you didn't wear them."

  Nikita punched his shoulder, and he laughed.

  "You'll live longer, just like we do, and you'll be immune to most human diseases now, but you cannot shift. Only born shifters, or those with shifter blood in their ancestry somewhere can shift. Our baby will shift and probably scare the bejeesus out of you the first time he does it, but it doesn't usually happen until they can walk, so we'll have some reprieve, before all hell breaks loose."

  He winked at her, and Nikita giggled as a cloud of happiness descended upon her at the thought of having to chase after a cute wolf cub with Raoul's eyes.

  "I never thought … I mean … there is this whole other world out there, I never knew existed."

  Raoul simply nodded, and then she forgot to think all together when their lips met. He took charge of the kiss like only Raoul could, and her heart burst into tiny little slivers of happiness each carrying his name.

  By the time he broke the kiss, and slid his fangs to her neck they were both panting in need.