The Lion's Surprise Baby

by Jade White

  Melissa sat on a chair with Rosy and Leona flitting around her. They’d braided her hair in several different braids and had picked small flowers from the yard to place in it. He couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Girls, you made her look even more beautiful. I didn’t think it was possible.” He crouched down in front of Rosy who threw her tiny arms around his neck.

  “She’s a princess,” she said and spun in circles so her dress flailed out around her.

  “You’re the princess, sweetheart,” Melissa said and stood, giving Leona and then Rosy kisses on their heads.

  She really was beautiful. Thomas’ heart beat a little faster as he watched her skip through the yard with his nieces to get some cake. She was going to be a wonderful mother.

  “That’s a good woman you have, brother.” AJ came up and clapped him on the back.

  “I need to let you know someone isn’t happy we are using treatments to make this baby. They trashed her office and I was attacked by two large men in suits at work. Someone is trying to get us to stop. I don’t think they’ll come after Mom and Dad, but I’m not sure if it’s a were thing or just a political agenda.”

  “Are you serious, why didn’t you call me?” AJ puffed up his chest, his protective big brother instincts kicking in.

  “I’m just not sure what’s going on, but I need to get to the bottom of it before she shows she’s pregnant. I’m worried they might try to hurt her or the baby.”

  “Anything you need, brother, you call me. I don’t care what time. I need to know about stuff like this.”

  “You got it.” The two hugged and went to enjoy some cake with the rest of the family.

  Thomas felt a little better about the situation now that AJ knew what was going on.

  Thomas came up to Melissa, who had wandered over to where his parents were sitting watching everyone. He sat next to her and she leaned her head on his shoulder with a wistful sigh.

  “I love it here,” she said to nobody in particular and it made his heart beat rapidly in his chest.

  “Now that you secured the Hilary Dalton account, will you be able to take some time off?”

  Melissa, of course, didn’t know not to mention the socialite in front of his dad, but Thomas closed his eyes as he felt the anger push off his dad.

  “Why would Hilary Dalton be a client of McMillian and Company?” Harold roared from his place next to his mother. He’d been mostly quiet the whole time they’d been there.

  “Because, Dad. I've expanded the company to include product launches. Hilary is now our biggest client in that department, but after her launch, I can see that branch becoming one of our most profitable branches.”

  “I told you no when you pitched it to me. Are you deaf? Do I need to take my father’s, your grandfather’s, company back so you don't run it into the ground? I can’t believe you would do something so disrespectful. I knew you wanted to rebel against me, but I never thought you were going to go behind my back and purposely disregard me.”

  Thomas was leaning toward his dad, and he noticed Melissa leaned into her chair as she stared in horror at them yelling at each other.

  “Enough,” Alma yelled over their shouting. “We have a guest. This is something we will discuss later.”

  Thomas looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at them.

  “Who’s ready for cake?” he said, putting the fight away for his niece.

  “I am!” both girls cried and the adults laughed, breaking the tension.

  Once Melissa and he had filled up on cake, they said goodbye to everyone. Melissa had to promise Rosy three times she’d come back before the little girl would let her leave.

  “You are really good with them,” Thomas said as they got back into the car.

  “I love kids, always have.” Melissa beamed. “I'm sorry I brought up the Hilary account. I knew that your father didn’t want to expand the business, but I didn’t realize he didn’t know.”

  Thomas grabbed her hand over the center console. “It was going to happen eventually. I’m glad it is out in the open now. My mom told me she would work on him tonight. Don't worry about it.”

  “I still feel awful. The day was so perfect. I adore your family and I don’t want to be the one to cause a rift.”

  “Hush, you’re fine. Besides you’re a part of our family now. And you’re going to be an incredible mother to our baby. Maybe it’s already starting to form in there.” He looked at her stomach.

  She blushed and put a hand across her abdomen. “Maybe so.”

  When they got to her apartment, he looked to make sure there weren’t any men in suits or suspicious cars outside.

  “It was a really good day, Thomas. I think we can do this friends-having-a-baby thing. It might not be that difficult. You’ll have to tell your mother the truth so she doesn’t wonder why we’re not getting married or living together, but I think we can do it.”

  “It was a good day. Let’s get through this part first. So what’s the next part? I don’t really know how this whole thing works.” He smiled and got out to go open her door. He really connected with her at his parents. He loved seeing her interact with his nieces.

  “I’ll let you know. It’s about a week until my next period and then of course you don’t really take a test until two weeks after that so we can check in periodically, but there won’t be any news for a little while.”

  “If it didn’t take?” He knew he didn’t mind trying again, he’d be happy to try again at that moment.

  “Then we’ll plan to try again.” She smiled and turned to walk in the door. “Talk to you soon.”

  “Good night, Melissa.”

  CHAPTER 12

  “I think we should use this picture because it shows off my good side, don’t you?” Hilary was talking to him, but he was only half listening. He looked up and nodded, the picture looked the exact same as one she’d already shown him. They’d met up for dinner after work and he’d been distracted the whole time. He told Janet to tell her he was busy, but Hilary ended up showing up at his office, making her impossible to get rid of. He had noticed that Hilary had been showing up more and more and it was starting to grate on his nerves.

  He was thinking about Melissa and wondering what she was doing. They talked every day just like they had been, but he noticed that conversations were becoming more intimate as they talked about their future plans and past failures. She was the first person he wanted to ask when he needed advice, and the first person he wanted to tell good news to. She seemed to be on the same wavelength because she would randomly call him up just to tell him about something that happened with one of her patients throughout the day.

  It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to focus on his relationship with Hilary, Melissa made it clear when he dropped her off after meeting his parents that a friendship was still all she was willing to give him. But even so, he couldn’t give his full focus to Hilary when he realized how much Melissa fit into his world. He couldn’t even bring himself to have sex with Hilary. This was not like him at all and he had a feeling that it was all Melissa's fault.

  “You’ve barely touched your meal, Thomas,” Hilary said, knowing this was his favorite restaurant. “Is everything okay?”

  He’d not told her about the baby. He felt that conversation would be better to have when the baby was confirmed. They weren’t exclusive, at least they’d not talked about being exclusive.

  “No, everything is fine. I’m going to eat. I was just listening to you.” He smiled and started to cut into his chicken. Something caught his attention outside the window. A guy in a suit and sunglasses peering in at them. It was one of the guys who’d attacked him in the parking garage. He jumped up from the table and ran toward the front door. The guy didn’t run, but he started walking briskly down the sidewalk into a crowd of people. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of him.

  “Stop, hey you, stop.” Thomas was yelling and running. The guy was getting further away somehow and
then he lost him completely. It was like he just disappeared. Surely, he wasn’t losing his mind. He sent the picture to Blair and asked him if he was able to get anything from it. Blair texted right back saying he was on it. He went back into the restaurant and walked over to a pissed-off looking Hilary. She waited for an explanation.

  “I’m sorry. A friend of mine had her office vandalized and I thought I recognized one of the people who did it outside. I lost him,” he said resuming cutting up his chicken.

  “Oh that’s awful. I’m sorry you didn’t catch him.”

  He was a little surprised by her understanding, but wasn’t going to question it. This was the first time Hilary allowed him to talk about himself. They finished up their meal and Hilary leaned back in her chair, sticking out her chest. He felt one of her feet traveling up his leg.

  “So I think it’s been long enough and we should go to my place for a little dessert.” She made her voice low and husky.

  There was no denying how sexy she was, but he was still holding back. He chalked it up to not being honest with her about making a baby. It had to be the reason he wasn’t all over her all the time as attracted to her as he was. His inner voice laughed at him. He flipped it off.

  “I don’t know, Hilary,” he started to say, but she stood from her chair and leaned over so he could see down her shirt.

  “Your loss, Thomas. There are many men who would be lucky to be in your position. I’m not about waiting.”

  With that, she walked out of the restaurant and didn’t look back. He was shocked but not surprised that she was fed up with him. Relief flooded his veins. It was a cowardly way to get rid of a female, but at the moment he felt like he was granted a reprieve. He paid for their meal and went to take a walk. He’d go the long way back to his apartment so he could do some serious thinking.

  As he walked, he wasn’t really paying attention to anything around him. His thoughts were once again on Melissa and the possibility that she was already pregnant. A thrill burst through him. The sidewalk wasn’t as crowded as it usually was and he wondered where all the New Yorkers were hiding. He turned down a side street and heard his phone beep. He hoped Blair had something for him. Stopping for just a moment to check it, he turned just in time to see a car speeding toward him. His phone clattered to the ground as he jumped out of the way just barely missing getting hit. He couldn’t shake the feeling someone was going to end up killing him before the day was over.

  ***

  “What a day,” Melissa exhaled into her car as she finally parked in front of her apartment. A hot bath and her bed were calling to her. She leaned her head back on the headrest trying to get enough strength to walk the couple of yards to her apartment. She wondered if she was experiencing the first signs of pregnancy or if it was the shots she was injecting into herself.

  The extra money in her bank account had just lifted a huge weight off her shoulders as she’d been able to pay some of her mother’s bills and pay her nurses for the coming months so she didn’t have to worry about somehow scraping it together.

  Bruce came over the day before and injected her. He had acted distant when she told him they had started to try. At first she wasn’t sure why he couldn’t be happy for her until she realized that Bruce had feelings for her other than being her colleague. Her stomach felt icky as she explained to him that he was never going to be anything to her except a friend. He left dejectedly after she told him she would find someone else to assist her in the last portion of her research.

  Melissa brushed away a lone tear that was tracking down her cheek. Bruce would have been the perfect guy for her, but her heart just wouldn't let her have feelings for him. She knew she was making a mistake in letting him go, but buried deep within the corner of her heart she hoped that someday Thomas would realize what a good couple they would be.

  “Idiot,” she hissed in the empty car before grabbing her purse and stepping out of her car. That bath couldn’t come soon enough. It was impossible to be around Bruce without leading him on. He was such a good guy, and she knew the flirting would continue. There was no way she could do that to him when the feelings just weren’t there.

  When she entered her apartment, she had a strange feeling that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Someone was in the apartment. She turned to run back to her car, but someone slammed into her, pushing her into the door. She screamed in pain and tried to fight but they had her hands locked behind her and their leg was in between hers making her unable to move.

  “Shhhh... baby, it’s just me.”

  Some of her fear dissipated when she heard Nathaniel’s voice. The putrid smell of alcohol rushed past her nose, but even in his drunken state, she knew he wouldn’t go any further than handling her a little rough. He usually punched a hole in the wall or broke a bunch of her stuff, but he never hurt her severely.

  “Nate, what are you doing? Let me go so we can talk.” She tried to twist her wrists to get out of his hold, but they didn’t budge. He had a tight hold on her.

  “Shut up,” he yelled at her as he grabbed a fistful of hair and started to drag her toward her bedroom. Melissa screamed and writhed around trying to get out of his hold. For the first time, she was really scared he might truly hurt her.

  He turned her head so she had to really look at him. Forcing his mouth onto hers, he kissed her hard. It didn’t feel very affectionate. He turned her body over and put her arms above her head. He climbed on the bed beside her.

  “I just need you to listen to me for a little while, Melissa. I don’t know why you’re screaming; I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The way he said he wasn’t going to hurt her was cold and it made her feel like he meant the exact opposite of what he was saying. His eyes were hard as he looked into hers. She’d never seen him the way he was in that moment, and it was really scaring her.

  Her door burst open and Nathan looked up, distracted. At first Melissa thought Thomas had come to save her, but when she got a look at the hulking man blocking her door frame she noticed the only thing he had similar to Thomas was his size. No, he was wider than Tomas.

  The large man assessed the situation, his eyes locked on Nathaniel’s hand tangled in her hair.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Nate put Melissa’s body in front of him as a shield.

  The larger man bellowed loudly and ran toward both of them. Melissa was disoriented when she landed on the floor. Another sound caused her to turn the exact moment Nate crumbled to the ground, knocked out cold.

  “Thank you,” Melissa wheezed out, a panic attack knocking at her lungs. The man reached down to help her up, but when she stood, he didn’t stop there. He threw her over his hulking shoulder and ran out of her apartment.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed, beating on his muscled back, hurting her hand. “Let me down.” She beat at him with both fists and every corner he turned she hit her head on a wall as she struggled. She wondered why there was never anyone in her building to see when she was in trouble.

  He didn’t say a word as he threw her into the back of an idling black SUV. She reached for the door only to find the child safety lock had been engaged.

  “Let me out of here!” she screamed, beating at the window as the SUV burned out into the street. She was thrown into the side of the van hard as they took off. Searing pain split the back of her skull before blackness took her over.

  ***

  Thomas was pissed by the time he made it to his apartment. The fact that someone had tried to run him over couldn’t just be a coincidence. That was what he tried to tell himself the whole way back. Janet was going to give him grief when she found out he needed a new phone. He had been doing so good taking care of his phones.

  Normally he lost or crushed one every other month. The disadvantage of being a were-bear. He realized he hadn’t had any mishap with his phone since he met Melissa, because some days that was his only connection to her. Now some crazy driver ruined his record. And now he wouldn’t be
able to find out what Blair might have discovered without going to his office.

  Because Thomas was fuming about his phone, he didn’t notice Hilary leaning against his door until she spoke.

  “Hi,” she waved at him, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked nervous.

  “Hey, Hil. I thought you were done with me.”

  He usually wasn’t so harsh, but he had almost been run over by a car, and he lost his phone.

  “Can I come in and talk to you?”

  He opened his mouth to tell her no, but she stopped him by putting her hand up. “I haven’t been exactly honest with you. There are things I need to tell you.”

  Thomas felt all of his energy seep out of him. He unlocked his door and motioned for her to come in.

  “Would you like something to drink?” he asked, getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.

  “No, thank you.”

  She sat on his couch and patted the cushion next to her. He sat down on the recliner facing the couch and as far away from her as he could be without being rude.

  Her face scrunched together and she pursed her lips together. “Really, some human doctor?”

  Thomas’ eyebrow shot up with surprise. “What do you mean by human?”

  “Exactly what I said.”

  “I'm still not following.”

  “I'm a were-bear. And I really thought you were going to be the one. Do you love her?”

  “I do.” Thomas was stunned how fast he answered, but he wasn’t surprised by the answer. He did love her. Now it was a matter of figuring out if he loved her as a friend who was giving him a child, or a romantic partner. That was what confused him.

  “Well, at least you’re doing this for the right reason.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m still not following you.”

  “Listen, Thomas. You’re in some serious trouble. When my parents found out you were a successful were-bear, they wanted me to get to know you and eventually marry you, extending the were-bear lineage.”