Dragon's Secret Baby (Silver Dragon Mercenaries Book 1)

by Sky Winters

  He tilted his head a bit after and she got a sense that he wanted to say something but was holding back. “It’s good to see you.”

  “You should come sit at our table,” Jolene invited.

  Luke appeared less than enthused, but he didn’t say anything. The three of them sat back down at the tall table. Zebe pulled a stool over so he could join them. He sat beside his brother, looking across the table at Jolene with a strange, contemplative sort of expression on his face. She could not figure him out. Maybe if she weren’t so buzzed, she would have been able to understand why he was looking at her so strangely.

  Suddenly, Zebe scratched at his neck and she noticed a crescent moon shaped birthmark on it. It was near the back of his ear and it looked a bit like a brand. She realized that she had seen that exact mark on Luke the other day!

  Weird. Did twins usually have the same birthmark? Jolene didn’t know much about twins except that they could be identical or fraternal. These two were clearly identical.

  She narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to find the birthmark on Luke’s neck. Leaning forward, she kissed him on the mouth, moving towards his neck to kiss him there too. She was subtle, making sure Luke wouldn’t know she was searching for the birthmark on him.

  It wasn’t there. He didn’t have it. She sat back in her chair.

  That could only mean one thing…

  She fixed a stare on Zebe, and his eyes flashed. The corners of his mouth lifted up into a shy smile.

  The man who had brought the casserole… The man she had pounced on and had passionate sex with…

  That man had not been Luke. That man had been his twin brother, Zebe!

  Jolene felt sick to her stomach. She excused herself from the table, not knowing what to do, and went to the bathroom to throw up. The alcohol was finally getting to her. Well, that along with the realization that she had had sex with a complete stranger while dating his brother… without knowing! God, she felt horrible. So that was why he’d run away when she called him Luke! Zebe probably thought she was insane. She had been so brazen, so openly affectionate, and the guy had not known what was going on.

  To be fair, Zebe hadn’t exactly resisted. He had sex with her of his own free will. Jolene felt like she should be angry at him. He could have spoken up! How could she trust him now?

  But she remembered the way he had held her. He had been so gentle with her, so warm and loving… Luke was a rough, hot lover but Zebe was so tender with her… That should have been her first clue that something was up.

  Jolene sighed, walking back to the table. She couldn’t be mad at Zebe. It had been an honest mistake. A stupid, shitfaced mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

  She got the feeling that Luke would not see it that way. They weren’t officially monogamous or anything, but she knew that he was gruff and possessive just based on the way he acted about her. There was no way he would take this news lightly. Jolene wondered if she should even tell him.

  She sat back down at the table and Zebe continued to make eyes at her, giving her little lingering smiles and being awkwardly quiet.

  “Jolene hasn’t been in town too long, but we’ve already been here together, what, twice? Three times?” Luke looked over at her for confirmation and caught her looking at Zebe.

  “Uh, yeah,” she said, focusing back on Luke. “You’ve really helped to keep me from staying in my cottage all day.” She smiled appreciatively at Luke. She truly was appreciative. Except… now she didn’t know which of them had done what.

  “We’ve met,” Zebe revealed then. “I brought over a casserole for her, to welcome her to town.”

  Jolene blushed, wondering how Luke was going to take this news. She was worried that Zebe was going to anger him just by mentioning that.

  Sure enough, Luke suddenly caught wind of what was going on, what had happened between his brother and Jolene. He growled—literally growled—at Zebe.

  “You and me,” he said darkly. “Outside. Now.”

  Jolene attempted to place her hand on his arm and calm him down, but Luke was not having it. He rushed outside with Zebe who, for some reason, was going along with it. Compelled to go watch them, as if she would be able to stop them from fighting, Jolene followed them and wondered whose side she was on. Logic said that she should side with Luke, since he was the one she thought she was with the whole time.

  However, her heart told her something different…

  She got to the doorway and then let out a scream when she saw the twin brothers turn into wolves! That couldn’t have happened. That did not make any sense. How much had she had to drink? She couldn’t remember if she’d had one drink or two, and now she was starting to feel scared. What she thought she was seeing could not be real… Could it? The more she thought about it, trying to rationalize it even though it seemed remarkably irrational, she realized that this could explain a few of the random things that had happened. This whole time, Luke had been gruff and snarly because he was a werewolf! He was far more than just a run of the mill bad boy. He was a fucking werewolf. That was why they were called the Lone Wolves. And because they were twins, Zebe was one, too.

  “Jesus…” she said, watching the wolves bite and snap at each other. “Oh god!” She knew that she should have been running. But something about the two men that she had growing passion for meant that she stayed there in that doorway, watching them a little longer than she should have. Not only was she terrified of what she was seeing, but she also had this strange feeling that she had to know who would win.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Werewolf Twins

  As she watched the werewolf twins fight each other, she brought her hands up to the sides of her face, yelling even though they were not listening to her. Luke appeared to be the more dominant one, the Alpha, which did not surprise her at all. He bit into the flesh of his brother and threw him down onto the ground. Despite being the more submissive one, Zebe held his own and fought back each time, unafraid to go for the throat in order to get free.

  Jolene could not take it anymore. This was all too much for her. She’d wanted a bad boy rebound, but this was way more than she had been anticipating. Reason took over and snapped her back to sobriety. She started running from the club, not really knowing where she was going apart from away. Even if this was some kind of dream or illusion, she could not be there anymore.

  Suddenly, someone stopped her, tackling her to the ground. Dazed, Jolene looked up at the person who was on top of her, keeping her down and preventing her from running. It was a woman, dressed in leather with metal studs. Clearly someone from the bar and the club that Luke loved so much.

  “Stay down,” this woman said. She had blond hair cut into a spiky pixie cut. Her ears were covered with earrings of various shapes and sizes. As she looked down at Jolene, her eyes appeared more gold than anything. Was she one of them?

  “What is going on?” Jolene asked her. She was not going to attempt to fight this stranger. The woman was clearly stronger than her, though shorter. “Who are you?”

  The strange woman looked from her to the fighting wolves nearby. Jolene tilted her head just enough to be able to watch them as well. Luke and Zebe were really attacking each other, unafraid to go for blood. Jolene could not believe it. Weren’t twins supposed to be extremely close? She supposed that, since they were wolves, the normal rules did not apply.

  “You weren’t supposed to see this,” the woman said. “My name is Anjelica, but that isn’t important.” She moved her hands over Jolene’s belly, making Jolene blush out of embarrassment and surprise that yet another stranger from this club was feeling her up.

  “Are you like them?” Jolene asked nervously.

  “Also unimportant,” Anjelica said. “But yes.” Her eyes widened. “Just as I suspected… Wait here!”

  Suddenly, this Anjelica person—werewolf?—stood up and shouted to the men who were so viciously at each other’s throats.

  “The bitch is pregnant!” she bellowed to them. “
She’s pregnant with twins!”

  Luke and Zebe looked over, ears perking up on top of their heads. They were locked in struggle but they quickly got off of each other, licking their wounds, and came over to investigate.

  As they approached, Anjelica’s words sunk in for Jolene.

  Pregnant. She was pregnant. And not just with one baby, but two! And not just two babies, but two werewolf babies?!

  As Zebe and Luke got closer and closer, her vision became clouded over. This was too much for her. This was all too much for her. Before they could fully reach her side, Jolene fainted.

  The first thing she noticed was voices. Jolene did not want to open her eyes. She had been having such a weird dream, and she was afraid that if she opened her eyes, it might confirm that none of it had actually been a dream and it was all true.

  “Jolene?” the familiar voice of Zebe—or was it Luke—asked her.

  She felt something warm and wet on her forehead. It must have been some kind of a cloth. Had she fallen down? She knew now that she had not imagined Luke—or Zebe?—at the very least.

  “It must all have been a shock to her,” another voice said. This one was female and familiar as well… that young woman from Jolene’s dream.

  Slowly, Jolene opened her eyes. Three people were staring down at her, two of them identical. Luke and Zebe Weir. What had happened? Was she still in the club?

  “What happened?” she asked, slurring slightly in both her woozy and drunk state. She was regretting coming back to the club now. She had known that it would lead to trouble in the end.

  “You fainted,” Luke informed her. Jolene identified him by the lack of birthmark. That damn birthmark! That had started everything.

  “I’m sorry we were fighting over you,” Zebe said.

  She knew that she should feel flattered by that for some reason, but instead she just felt confused and a little annoyed. “Why were you fighting over me? And who is this?” She looked pointedly at the young woman who was there with them, gently pressing a moistened washcloth to Jolene’s forehead.

  Luke and Zebe looked at each other, and then they looked at the stranger woman. Jolene was starting to feel done with all of them, but she attributed a lot of that to the alcohol. Her head was killing her. Maybe she had hit the ground? Oh, that was right! This lady knocked her to the ground and then rubbed her stomach in a most unsettling way.

  “Anjelica discovered that you’re pregnant,” Zebe said, trying to break the news to Jolene in the gentlest, least confusing way. “You are going to have shifter babies.”

  “Two of them,” the lady known as Anjelica said, holding up two fingers. “Shifter twins! This is a big deal and you should be so excited!”

  Jolene’s stomach did a belly flop. It was a big deal all right, but she disagreed that she should feel excited. More like terrified. And confused. Always confused. She wanted to ask more questions but her head hurt too much for that to really be a good idea. Thankfully, the three werewolves that sat around her kept blabbing away with each other. She closed her eyes, feeling sick and sore and tired.

  She supposed that those three things were pregnancy symptoms. Why hadn’t she realized that something was going on before? Oh god, she had drunk so much, too. She wondered if werewolf babies could withstand alcohol in their systems, and then she realized that that was the sort of question she never in her wildest nightmares could have imagined she would ask herself.

  “I need to rest,” Jolene told her trio of caregivers.

  Zebe nodded decisively. She had literally known him for only an hour and already she could tell that he was on her side.

  “Of course,” Luke said, eyeing his brother with an irritated expression on his face. Jolene knew that the fighting between those two was far from over.

  She didn’t know where she was, but Jolene could not care less at this point. Her head was killing her and the only way she could think of to make herself feel better was to get some more rest. Fainting was not the same as sleeping.

  The three who had been taking care of her left the room. Jolene got comfortable in the bed she had somehow ended up in. She closed her eyes and was instantly asleep.

  Meanwhile in the living room Anjelica, Luke and Zebe convened to discuss what was to be done about Jolene now that she was pregnant. “I was certainly not planning this when we got together,” Luke said, seeming to be both amazed and proud of himself. “Although I’m not naïve enough to pretend like I didn’t know it could happen.”

  “Just one problem,” Zebe said. It was the first time he had gotten growly with his brother since Luke attacked him at the bar. “Why are you assuming they’re yours?”

  The two brothers growled and glared at each other. Anjelica rolled her eyes, feeling glad that she was sitting between them so she could prevent any more fighting but also feeling frustrated that they couldn’t keep their testosterone in check for more than eight seconds.

  “The thing that matters is that she is pregnant with twins,” Anjelica pointed out, trying to make them see reason. “This is a special rarity and one of you is the father. Please. You’re brothers. You’re family. I know you have a lot of masculinity to show off, but you are not going to help her if you kill each other.”

  Luke and Zebe looked down, ashamed of themselves. They got along well enough with each other to be able to live together in this house, so they could get along well enough to take care of Jolene. It was clear that they both loved her. The question was going to be whether or not she loved them…

  “It’s not a competition,” Luke said. “Except that it is.”

  He pushed off from the couch and stood up, pacing the room with a scowl on his face. Zebe watched him pace, annoyed that his brother was being so hot-headed towards him and annoyed at himself for letting Jolene entice him. He didn’t blame her—he thought she was beautiful and sexy and sweet—but she had jumped on him enthusiastically and made him feel things that it turned out that he should not have felt.

  Because he was not his brother.

  Jolene turned over in the bed and opened her eyes. She could hear faint music downstairs. She tried to remember where she was, but all she knew was that her head hurt. Slowly, she got out of bed. When she looked down at herself, she nearly fainted again.

  Her belly was swollen like she had eaten an entire Thanksgiving meal in one sitting. She rubbed her hands over it, remembering the mysterious woman who had leaned over her and felt her stomach.

  Twins. That’s what the woman had said. She was pregnant with twins. She was going to need to ask for more explanations about that.

  Blearily, Jolene left the bedroom. She found the bathroom and threw up, feeling oddly better by doing so. After flushing, she washed her hands and face in the sink with cool water, then looked at her reflection. Her long red hair was a scraggly mess and she looked like she hadn’t slept at all; like no amount of sleep would ever be enough. It felt as though she had used a pile of rocks as a pillow.

  She followed the soft piano music down the stairs of the house. The place was much larger than she could have guessed. She still did not entirely know where she was, but at least it was a comfortable place and not a cave or something. Jolene had yet to really let herself think about the fact that she was pregnant. Such a thing was far too heavy for her right now.

  What she needed was Luke. She needed answers from him specifically. Was this twin of his someone she could trust? And also… Oh god…

  What if Zebe was the father?

  Jolene stumbled a little on the stairs, but luckily for her it was near the bottom. Both Luke and Zebe leapt up from their places on the couch to try and help her, but she waved them off.

  “Are you all right?” Zebe asked her.

  She could recognize him by the birthmark, or possibly scar, on his neck. Originally, she had thought it was a birthmark, but now that she had seen the way that the two brothers fought she had reason to think it could be a scar given to him by Luke. Cuts could leave interesting marks behi
nd.

  Other than that, though, Zebe could be recognized by his kind eyes. He had the same hazel eyes as Luke of course, but there was something about them that seemed to be almost wise. Though Jolene had gone into this relationship with Luke in search of a bad boy who offered her thrills and no strings attached, she now found herself needing stability and she wasn’t sure if Luke was the one who could give her that. And maybe neither of them could.

  “I’ve been better,” Jolene said, smiling a small but appreciative smile at Zebe. She took both of their hands as she stepped down off of the last step, wanting them both to feel as though they had helped her in some way.

  “Now that you’ve had some rest, come sit and chat with us,” Luke said, gesturing over to the couch. “This is our sister Anjelica.”

  Jolene went over with them and sat down. Her head was spinning, so it was a good idea for her to sit down as soon as possible. She offered the familiar woman a smile. “We’ve met. But hello.”

  Anjelica had a serious face, and hair that was darker than her brothers’, but the same hazel eyes. Jolene wondered if she was their older sister, but then determined that it really did not matter. “Let’s get some food in her,” Anjelica said. “She looks peckish.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure that I’ll be able to keep it down,” Jolene said awkwardly. Her stomach was doing flops, especially now that she was sitting there surrounded by three honest-to-god werewolves. Luke had a scent to him that she had not noticed before, but it smelled like blood. It was not the smell that a pregnant lady wanted or needed to smell.

  However, despite her polite protestations, Anjelica got off the couch and went into the home’s kitchen. Jolene was at least grateful to be left alone with the two men. Now she could try and get to the bottom of things.

  “So,” she said, not really knowing where to start with this. “You’re werewolves.”

  Zebe smiled at her and nodded a little. “Yes.”

  “We normally try to keep it on the down low,” Luke explained.