Her Fated Wolf

by Kristen Strassel

“I feel the same way, brother.” Shea shook his head and Delaney slipped her arms around his waist and tugged him closer, her disapproval coming through loud and clear. “I’m all for a fight, and we won this round, but they’ve got us by the balls. They’re gonna keep striking until they knock us out. And they’ve got the resources. We can’t fight them from every angle. There’s not enough of us.”

  “What the fuck?” I roared, my words echoing through the farm. “Stop writing your own eulogies. You’ve had a month to come up with a plan, and you’re both throwing up your hands and shrugging. Ember’s laughing her ass off at us. She doesn’t have to fight. You already rolled over and played dead for her.”

  Shea called after me, but I didn’t hear anything he had to say. I didn’t want to. This was bullshit. My brothers never shied away from a fight. This couldn’t be because they have mates. Now that Chandra was in my life, I wanted to fight for our forest harder than ever. We had a chance at a future, and my brothers were willing to let it slip through their fingers.

  Dallas had to agree with me. He’d been attacked, too, and he wouldn’t be satisfied doing what he was told. I found him in front of a sawhorse, cutting beams to place in the house. A small team helped him. I recognized some of the guys—they’d worked here when Ryker held us hostage. They stuck with the Channings when Shadow took over the land. Dallas pushed up his goggles when he saw me.

  “I’ve been meaning to come by the shop.” Dallas held his hand out in greeting.

  This was the guy I needed to talk to. I’d piss Major off, teaming up with Dallas, but everything pissed Major off. I was used to it. “Any word on the Montana contingent?”

  “Ember’s laying low.” Dallas had answers. “I’ve been up to the resort a couple times. The whole pack has taken over the villas. It’s quiet. Too quiet. They dragged her out of the forest. Chances are, she’s still a wolf. All the buzz in town has died. No new buyout offers, no new threats. A part of me thinks I should be happy about it, but the wolf in me knows this is just gonna make it worse.”

  “How do we get her out of here?” I cut to the chase. “My brothers won’t do shit. We need to handle this on our own. Fuck protocol.”

  Dallas set down tools and sighed, looking over my shoulder, back at the main building. No matter what Shadow did to it, it would forever be a memorial to what we had to lose. What we could be reduced to. Prisoners. Savages.

  “You’re right. I’ve been thinking. The fever won’t go away, she’s too close. Let’s come up with a plan, but let Major and Shadow do their thing.”

  Oh, fuck. “Not you, too?”

  “Hear me out. They might be on to something. Ember loves material things. And money. Let them make her life difficult. We’ll strike when she doesn’t expect it.”

  Finally, a plan I could get behind.

  I clasped his hand. “You’ve got it.”

  At one point, this land had been Hell on earth, and now it had frozen over. I’d just turned my back on my brothers to work with a Channing.

  Chapter Seven

  CHANDRA

  “Wanna come get the cupcakes with me?” Kiera asked. We had an adoption—two cats named Lucy and Ethel were going to a small family farm on the outskirts of town. The Forever Home ladies celebrated every victory, and cupcakes were their preferred method.

  But Kiera and Lyssie usually went together, and I was surprised she asked me instead. Thrilled, actually. “Sure.”

  I thought Cass would let up on me now that it was obvious X and I were together, but she had yet to wipe that look off her face, or change her tone. She waited with bated breath for me to fuck something up. What she didn’t seem to understand was that I had nothing to prove to her. I was a Sawtooth wolf, and we were going to be family eventually, so she needed to get over it.

  “I’m psyched we had an adoption today. Trina says this is the time we get holiday returns.” Kiera made a face. “I wish people would think before buying a living thing as a toy. If they want something without feelings, they should get a plant. Pisses me off.”

  “I’ll never understand it. Maybe because I’m a part-time animal.” I tried to make a joke, but something was clearly bothering Kiera. That’s why she’d asked me to come with her. “But now we have room for two more, and at least we know with us they’ll be taken care of.”

  “Right?” she said. It didn’t take long to get to the coffee place. For a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Granger Falls had everything it needed at its fingertips. After spending my life in the city, I was falling in love with this place as hard as I was falling for X.

  Keira cleared her throat and turned to me when she took the key out of the ignition. She didn’t open the door. “There’s no smooth way to say this. I’m pregnant. I didn’t get my period last month, but sometimes it doesn’t come. I didn’t worry, too much. But I missed it again this month too, and something’s...different. I took a couple pee tests, and they were all positive.”

  I reached over and squeezed her, but she stiffened under my embrace. Kiera was human, and the baby wasn’t. It was so easy to forget we weren’t all the same, until it smacked us in the face. “Does Baron know?”

  She shook her head, eyes brimming with tears. “I’m scared. I want this so bad, but I know...” She stopped and sighed. After squeezing her eyes closed, she forced a smile. “No, he doesn’t. You’re the only one I’ve told. When I give him the news, I want him to know we have nothing to worry about. I knew if anyone could help me, it was you.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. I had no idea if a human could carry a half-wolf baby to term. I’d researched it when I was with my ex, just in case my birth control failed, and all I found were old wives’ tales. They were more like nightmares. I refused to believe those stories were real.

  But there was no better news to dispute the claims. Fuck.

  “I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re healthy, but we don’t have a lot of equipment to work with.” More like none. I had no idea where to send her. Werewolves weren’t supposed to exist. I might have been more scared than Kiera was—because she was trusting me to make it right. “Were you using protection?”

  Kiera’s gaze flicked to her lap. “No.”

  The time to lecture her had passed. I pushed down the gnawing feeling of jealousy. I wanted this, too. But there were some months I didn’t shift anymore. I knew my time to have a baby was coming to close. The forest needed this baby, for more reasons than one.

  Kiera grumbled at the coffee shop when I insisted she get decaf, but we couldn’t chance anything. We didn’t say much else until we got back to the shelter.

  “Come with me.” I motioned to the exam room.

  Trina and Lyssie looked puzzled, but didn’t ask questions when I closed the door. Kiera kept her eyes down, a blush creeping up her cheeks. I didn’t expect her to be so shy.

  “I don’t have any johnnies.” I patted the table. “You can cover yourself with a towel.”

  She nodded, but she still wouldn’t look at me. I wasn’t used to examining humans, so I could’ve been making her uncomfortable. My patients were never willing participants in their exams. She sat on the table and pulled her shirt over her head.

  I did my best to hold in my gasp when I saw the tight, pink skin that marred her arm.

  “Iraq,” she said. “It was a bomb. I was lucky—I survived. The bomb, definitely dead.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” I smiled, and the Kiera I’d grown to love in a such a short amount of time was back. The scar tissue covered most of her left side, and she only had one breast. “How long did it take you to recover from this?”

  “Almost a year.” She was a bit more comfortable now, holding the towel loosely over her chest. “They had to do skin grafts and all sorts of shit. Never felt pain like it before.”

  “Then giving birth will be a breeze.” I put my stethoscope on her back. The least I could do was check her vitals, and make sure she was in basic working order. It was hard
to concentrate, my mind raced, thinking of every possible option to take care of her. I knew nothing about obstetrics. I could birth a baby animal, but I didn’t know how to take care of a human mama. Her gasp was even more audible through the ear piece. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Kiera turned to me. Under her towel, the swell of her stomach was already noticeable. “I have to believe everything’s okay. It has to be, right? Baron’s mom told us awful stories. Like, according to her, there’s a little horror movie brewing inside me. But I can’t believe anything that Baron and I made together could be that bad. The baby can’t be more than the size of a pea, but I love him already. I know it’s a boy. What would I do with a girl?”

  She tried to laugh, but it ended up sounding like a sob.

  “The good news is, you’re healthy. And you have the right attitude.” I sighed, taking the stethoscope out of my ears. “I don’t have all the answers yet, but I’ll do everything I can to make sure this baby has a fighting chance.”

  “DO YOU HAVE A DOCTOR?” I asked X as soon as we were alone. I had to be careful, this wasn’t my news to share.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. But I was thinking about it today, when I was at the shelter. Who do you guys go to for medical help? That vet Trina used to call sounds like a complete disaster. We’re supposed to be a big secret, but there are dozens of wolves living normal, healthy lives in the forest.”

  “There’s an older wolf that’s taken care of everyone as long as I’ve been alive. Dr. Aldo. I’ll introduce you to him. I bet he would’ve liked to retire years ago, but there’s been no one to take his place. We’re all too thick-skulled for medicine.” X laughed. “He’ll love you, and he’ll be psyched to show someone the ropes. I mean, if that’s what you want.”

  When I came here, I expected my life to be the same, just with more snow and a wolf mate. I planned to open a veterinary practice, eventually. But this would contribute to the future of the packs just as much as a baby would.

  It was torture not to share Kiera’s news. It was as exciting as it was scary.

  “Yeah, I want that. Maybe that’s why I’m here. To make a difference.”

  X crawled over to me and kissed me, pulling me into the center of the bed. Since the hot springs, we hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other. “You’re amazing. What you do for others doesn’t go unnoticed.”

  I shied away from him. “Tell that to Cass.”

  If this didn’t prove to her I was a Sawtooth wolf, I would never convince her.

  “Cass is tough. How do you think she puts up with my brother?” X turned my chin back to him. Our gazes locked, and in that minute, no one else existed. “You need to stop worrying what everyone else thinks of you. Be yourself. I want to fall in love with all of you. Don’t hide from me, Chandra.”

  “I never thought of it that way,” I said softly. I was a little biased, but X had a refreshing outlook on life. He simplified things. Everything that didn’t matter fell away. It was an ability a lot of people could benefit from.

  “You’ve had to deny what you are. I’ve been through some pretty shitty stuff, but I can’t imagine having to hide what I was. My wolf is such a part of me. Embrace it. Hiding only weakens you. Next lesson of the forest: we respect strength.”

  Chapter Eight

  X

  The forest was too quiet. I told Chandra not to hide, but it felt like that’s what everyone was doing. Sheltering in place, holding on to whatever they considered important for dear life.

  It pissed me off.

  We needed to be out, living our lives, fangs bared if need be. Like my brother, the forest was content to sit back and watch The Ember Show.

  I had no idea what the fuck was wrong with everyone. The wolves in Sawtooth Forest fought for what was theirs.

  The trees got thicker and denser the further we drove into the forest. Daylight didn’t last as long here. Chandra bounced with nervous energy in the passenger’s seat. We were on our way to meet Dr. Aldo.

  “Man, I remember coming here as a kid. Mom had to practically trick us to get us in the truck, and sometimes she had to drive around aimlessly before heading over here.” I shook my head, thinking what little assholes we were. And how much I missed it.

  “Just like puppies, not wanting to go the vet.” Chandra laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me. I bet it would be the same way today. Is it wrong that I’m ridiculously excited about this?”

  “Nope. Dr. Aldo can’t wait to meet you, either.” I don’t think he believed me when I called him and told him I planned to introduce him to a woman who not only was an unpromised Sawtooth she-wolf, and but was also interested in learning his practice.

  Dr. Aldo’s office didn’t look like the human medical center in town, rectangular and sterile; instead he saw patients in a side room of his house.

  I didn’t remember his home being so run down. It took me a minute to cut the engine when we pulled down the driveway, not convinced we were in the right place until the doctor came out to greet us. He’d been larger than life when we were kids and now he was tiny.

  But he was as happy as hell to see us. He came up to the car, moving fast despite using a cane. I wondered if he shifted anymore.

  “Xavier, you were always the good one. Your brothers are still raising hell. No wonder you landed this lovely lady.”

  I’d spare him the real story about how we met. “This is Chandra.”

  Chandra beamed at the old man, and the feeling was mutual as he clasped his knotted hands over hers.

  “Your folks were Charles and Lynda?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir.” Chandra looked as nervous as the day I brought her to the hot springs.

  “They weren’t forgotten, although not many knew why they left. But I did. Your mother came to see me, and we were fairly certain you’d be a girl. They were always free spirits. I urged them to leave, knowing that someday you’d come back to us.”

  No one had ever mentioned Chandra’s parents before. I wasn’t sure she was still breathing. “Here I am.”

  “And I hear you’re a doctor?”

  “A veterinarian.”

  “Even better.” The doctor motioned for us to follow him. “This guy has nothing but good things to say about you. I have a feeling he’s a little biased.” He turned back and winked at me. “If you’re anything like your parents, I know it’s true.”

  Nothing had changed inside his examination room. It was small and doubled as his office, but it was clean and neat. I felt like I was eight years old standing in here. Chandra was on overload, staring at the bookshelf behind his desk.

  “Do you mind if I look at them?” she asked. “I’m dying to know the difference between veterinary, human, and werewolf medicine. How you choose to treat your patients? Do you have to make a choice between human and animal?”

  “It depends on what form they’re in. And what they need.” The doctor ran his fingers along the bookshelf.

  “But werewolves are different. There’s got to be something chemical or physical that’s special to the packs.” She pulled a book out and opened it. “Or what if they’re both?”

  Dr. Aldo furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “A hybrid.” Chandra snapped the book shut. “Maybe I’m not explaining myself right. Are there things that the shifters have that humans nor animals don’t?”

  “That book you have in your hand will answer a lot of questions.” The doctor nodded. “Some of it is in my chicken scratch. There’s no formal studies in what I do—hopefully what you’ll do soon. They’re lessons learned from those who came before me. That’s how I learned, and that’s how you’ll pick things up.”

  She didn’t look satisfied with that answer. “Have you ever treated a human woman who’s pregnant with a wolf baby?”

  What the—? Fuck. No. We were smarter than that. I hoped.

  The doctor’s face paled before he sighed. “It happens more
than you think. Those Full Moon Fever parties are nothing but trouble. These boys won’t listen. The ladies in town don’t understand why they can’t get these gentlemen to commit to them. They think a baby is the answer, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

  “What do you do?” Chandra’s expression mirrored the old man’s.

  “There’s only one thing to do. Discontinue the pregnancy.” Dr. Aldo shook his head. “With you back, and Cass free of her awful husband, I’m hoping more she-wolves will break away from these contracts they’re locked into. Give this forest a real future. We’ve seen too much heartbreak.”

  Chandra didn’t say anything right away. Her eyes shined like she wanted to cry. “Can I borrow this book? And come back and talk to you after I read it over?”

  “I’d like that.” The doctor smiled. “Come back soon, Chandra. I’m sure you have quite a bit to teach me, too.”

  “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT about?” I asked Chandra as soon as we got in the truck. “Who’s pregnant?”

  She jumped in her seat, the old book falling off her lap. “Nobody. I was just curious, that’s all.”

  “Come on, we’re all still in the honeymoon phase. I’ve grown up with these guys. One of them is bound to knock their girl up.” Maybe if I made a joke of it, she’d relax. Nope. Chandra was a terrible liar. She picked up the book, smoothing the papers that fell out of it before closing the cover. I thought about which one of us would be stupid enough to make a mistake like that. “Please tell me it’s not Delaney.”

  “Delaney’s fine.” Chandra looked out the window. “And why can’t she have a baby? Besides the wolf thing.”

  “It’s not her I’m worried about, it’s my brother. Shea should not reproduce.” I tried laughing again. “You’re not doing anyone any good by keeping a secret. They need all the support they can get.”

  I wanted to tell her it would be okay, and the baby would be fine. But I was a terrible liar, too. Fuck, I wished it was different. Every single one of us deserved that kind of happiness. Even Shea. Especially him.