“You sure?” she cocked her head at me, her gray pony tail dancing.
“Sure I am. We’ll clean up and there is no reason for Ellis to even know.”
“No reason for Ellis to even know what?” Ellis asked from the doorway.
I looked up from where I was bent over, clutching something small and hard in my bag covered hand. I had found fire plug’s other ear it seemed.
* * * *
We damn near had to sedate the man. Samuel literally had to hold Ellis’s shoulders until he calmed down. Me, I wandered around picking up bits of people as if I were picking up debris from a party.
“What the hell happened?” Ellis finally managed, his voice barely controlled. As I passed, he pulled me in against him and wrapped his arms around me tight.
I broke then. Dropping the piece of denim I’d been clutching in my plastic wrapped hand. I started to cry. A silent cry that at least wasn’t too embarrassing.
“It’s been a bad day,” I said.
Ellis started to laugh and the rest of them joined in after a moment. Madeline, quiet Madeline, said, “Understatement of the year.”
I felt Ellis go a bit stiff against me. He wasn’t used to hearing her talk. Or seeing her for that matter. Ellis seemed gun shy at this point. We didn’t know who to trust or what to do.
“Madeline saved us,” I said. “She shot…them.”
“But not the main one,” she said as Peabody stroked her hair. He was so big next to her so tiny. It was cute.
“That creepy fucker got away,” Bertie said angrily.
Samuel nodded. “Frank’s replacement, if you will.”
“Lucky us. Like an evil gum ball machine. We kill one crazy violent wolf and a new one slides down the chute to take his place.” I tried to breathe deeply and calm down.
Ellis’s hand was on my belly protectively. I put my hand on top of his. “I’d like to lie down,” I said softly.
Suddenly woozy, weak, tired and inexplicably sad as opposed to scared.
“Of course, Little Bird,” he said.
In our room, I sprawled on my back and studied the exposed beams. Ellis climbed on the bed next to me and wrapped his arm around my midsection. I could feel my body shaking, a fine tremor that was like touching a piece of quietly running machinery.
“Are you okay, Ruby?” he kissed my hair.
“Yes,” I said. A slow trickle of hot tears rolled down my face into my hair and I determinedly stared at the ceiling. “No.”
“I can tell.” His body was full of tension. All he wanted to do was go and find and fix and act. Instead he was prone on a bed with a weeping wife and a baby bump. But he was here and the love he had for me made my heart feel fit to burst apart.
“I didn’t know what to do. I just sat there. What the hell? Do I have no self preservation? Do I have no instinct?”
“It’s been a rough few days for you,” he said, twining a piece of hair around his finger as he was apt to doing when we had a serious discussion.
“And for you.”
“For all of us,” he said.
“Right. But they all acted and I sat there like some sacrificial…cow!”
“It’s lamb.” He smiled at me.
I looked pointedly at my belly. “Cow.”
“Do not speak that way about my son,” he chided. “Or the love of my life.” Ellis kissed my temple and said, “Ruby, you do know that had you actually needed to, you would have acted. You would have defended yourself and the baby. I know this in my heart. The same heart that breaks apart only to grow bigger every time I look at you.”
Okay, so then I started to blubber. Big fat tears slid over my cheeks and my body shook with it. He held me to him, rubbing my back. “Now look what you’ve done,” I whispered and then sobbed.
Ellis chuckled. “Baby, this is kind of normal for you right now.”
I smacked his arm. Mostly because he was right. “But don’t you think ugly rogue wolf assassins who want to cut our baby out of my body is a good excuse?”
He stiffened almost imperceptibly. But I felt the rage coming off of him in waves until he got himself under control. “Yes, Little Bird. It is. Why don’t you try and sleep?”
“Will you hold me until I doze?”
“Of course. I’m right here, Ruby.”
I was almost asleep when my big noisy brain chimed in. Something’s not right…not right…not right…
I could hear them talking. A low sometimes angry, sometimes worried tone in their collective voice. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, took note of the fact that the air was purpling in the room which meant it was falling toward dusk. I had slept at least a few hours. Wiggling my toes, I tried to eavesdrop and failed. I waited to wake up. It seemed to take forever now that I was preggers. Now, I was slow to climb out of the heavy arms of sleep when I woke. I hoped that didn’t happen when the baby came. If it did, I’d never be able to take care of him.
I glanced at my toes and…saw no toes.
Weird.
I wiggled them again, and slowly it dawned on me, that all I could see was belly. Belly!
“Ellis! Ellllis!” I roared.
The door flew open and what commenced had the appearance of a Three Stooges movie. Ellis slid in, followed by Tyler, then Peabody, Roberta crushed in behind them and then Samuel. Ellis hit the bed and damn near bounced me off. “What is it, Ruby? What?”
“I can’t see my feet.”
He leaned in close to me. I wasn’t shouting anymore. I was too shocked to shout. I could barely muster enough voice to tell him.
“What? They’re right here, Ruby. You must have been dreaming. Don’t worry—”
I grabbed his collar and tugged him down next to me so he was at my angle. The whole flock of concerned friends clustered in the doorway. “Look,” I hissed. “Look from here. What do you see?”
Somewhat annoyed and clearly confused he obeyed, smashing his ear to my ear and looking where I pointed.
I heard him suck in a breath. “I…see…”
“Say it,” I growled.
“I see belly,” he said.
From the doorway Bertie said, “What are you, Ruby? Like ten days?”
“Maybe. Maybe ten days.”
“Good God.” She whistled. “You look damn near six months. Maybe more.”
I groaned. “This is so fast. Too fast.”
From the cluster in the door Madeline said, “That is so cool…”
Yeah. Cool.
And the pervasive feeling of not right hadn’t left me. I was screwed.
Chapter 20
“They came in with the moving van,” Iris said.
We were all sitting at the kitchen table. Well, not all of us. Me, Ellis, Iris and Madeline. The rest of them were moving around the kitchen or in Tyler’s case, leaning up against the counter. And there was a lot of eating going on. Werewolves and shifters seem to eat when they are nervous or angry. Or nervous and angry revs their metabolism and they need to replace the fuel. Either way, they were like machines with the eating.
“How do you know?” I readjusted in the ladder back chair. I was having trouble adjusting to having belly sitting in my lap. It was uncomfortable for lack of a better world.
“I saw them burst out just as the truck I’d gone down to help pulled away. Either they were smuggled in on purpose, or hid out. That way they crossed the perimeter without being spotted or questioned.”
“Are the vans usually empty when they arrive?”
Iris shrugged. “Depends. Some companies plot unrelated routes and pick up boxes at various businesses. They hit a bunch of smaller warehouses on their route instead of having a dedicated destination.”
“Are the drivers wolves?” I had to move again, because I had to pee again.
“Usually. The moving company we contract are located just over the town line. There’s a good chance they’re members of your community who commute.”
“Would make sense that they wouldn’t be checked coming in or
out,” Ellis said. “We’re being way too lax.”
“Gone are the days of looking for bad guys wearing bright orange T-shirts that say BAD GUYS.” I sighed, trying to make a joke and failing.
He shook his head. “What is this all about? Just some Frank bullshit? Like an homage to a crazy man.”
Samuel made a noise and we all turned to look at him. “I think it’s more than that.”
Ellis rolled his eyes. “Please don’t start with that prophecy stuff again, big man.”
“You believe all kinds of things, why do you have such a hard time with this prophecy? Because you’re who they’re referring to?” I crossed my legs. Pretty soon I was going to pee my damn pants.
“Because I do,” he growled at me.
I felt the fine hair on my arms and neck stand on end. I blinked even as my eyes started to well. “Okay,” I managed. Barely keeping myself together. I stood. “I have to pee. I’ll be right back.”
I rushed past him and he reached for me. I could already see the regret on his face, but I needed to leave before I embarrassed myself. I dodged his reaching hand and whispered. “I’ll be back.”
“Ruby—”
I headed for the bathroom, afraid at that point, I actually would pee my pants. I shut the bedroom door as I tried to swallow a sob that wanted to rip out of me. “You’re being stupid. He’s under an enormous amount of stress. He’s doing his best. Given the circumstances, he’s behaving like a god,” I counseled myself.
I barely made it to a sitting position before I let go. And as I did, the baby did the twist on my already full bladder. “Jeesh, you’re making me have to pee while I’m peeing.”
There was a knock. I knew who it was. I could feel his energy. “Out in a moment,” I called.
“Ruby, I’m sorry,” he said to the door.
“It’s fine!” I called, my voice forced cheer.
“No, it isn’t.”
“You have a lot on your plate,” I called over the water as I washed my hands.
He must have had his lips pressed to the crack of the door. “So do you, Ruby. More.”
“Not more.”
“Yes, more.”
I opened the door, said with a hitch in my voice, “Not more.”
“You’re having our super-fast growing baby.”
I touched his cheek as he crowded in the doorway. “You’re part of a prophecy.”
“And failing miserably.” His mouth was a tight line.
“Is that why you’re so…” I rolled my hand around at a loss for words. “Un-Ellis-like?”
He put his hands on my waist, kissed me. “Yes. It is. I am failing as Alpha.”
“No you’re not. And there are some crazy ass bad guys running around. In case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Yeah?”
“A few.” I grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you, Little Bird. It wasn’t fair.”
“I’m sorry you have to put up with this. That isn’t fair.”
He took my hand and led me back into the kitchen.
“All made up then?” Peabody asked, winking.
“We were never fighting,” I said. “Now, what did I miss?”
Tyler snorted. “Nothing. He wouldn’t let us go on talking until you were back.”
“Oh.” I felt myself blushing.
Samuel broke the good humor spell by saying, “It’s the baby they want. The baby is the key to the whole prophecy, I think.”
“But I thought Ellis was.” I took the cup of tea Bertie handed me with a wink. More tea.
“Think about it. It just said Ellis would be the format for change, basically. That he’d heal the rift and all that jazz. As with most prophecies, exact translation depends on who’s reading it. But who is the father of that baby?”
I bristled. “Duh. Ellis.”
He smiled. “Right. And who is the mother?”
“Me.”
“A what?”
“A big fat cow.”
Iris laughed but said, “Ruby!”
Madeline watched silently. Her big eyes seeming bigger to me because I was no edge and tired and stressed. “A human,” I amended.
“Has that ever happened before?”
“Not that we know of.”
“Female shifters mating with human men are more common. Easier for the species. Male wolves turning their partners and then procreating is also fairly normal. But not this, this is unheard of. He’s… …” Samuel waved his hand at my belly.
“An overachiever,” I said.
“Right.”
“So the baby, my heir, is actually the key to the prophecy, you think?” Ellis said.
Samuel nodded, soberly. “It’s a fair bet.”
We’ll cut it out of your belly. Gut you like a fish…
I shivered, held my belly, and made myself a promise. If they came for my baby, there would be no crying. Only blood.
* * * *
Ellis was on the phone for a few minutes before he turned to us all and said, “Town Hall meeting in an hour. Everyone be ready, every single one of you that’s brave enough, flank my wife. She needs it. I’ll be in your debt forever.”
“We don’t need to be in your debt, we love Ruby,” Peabody sighed. He ran a hand through his bristly hair and groaned. “How? How did this happen?” Then he sneezed mightily and Madeline, who seemed to have become a full-fledged member of our little team, handed him a tissue.
“Well, you are congested,” I said.
“And Tyler had…scent overload,” Roberta said.
Ellis shook his head. “Bertie’s lived in Town always, so smelling wolves is not abnormal or even noticeable. It’s like every other town, you can’t know everyone.”
“Ellis was gone, Iris tied up and Madeline’s human,” Tyler said. “That sums up.”
“That sums up,” Ellis said. “I wasn’t even here with my wife folks, so beating yourselves up is not something I recommend.”
I stood and put my untouched cup in the sink. “I’m getting dressed. Then we’ll go figure this out.”
I stomped past them all and could feel them watching me. The baby kicked, rolled and wiggled. “It’s okay. It’s just a rough patch—”
Kincaid
I stammered, shook my head. “It’s a storm that will pass—”
Kincaid
Ellis found me in the hallway. “Everything okay?”
“The baby,” I said. I felt my mouth moving but no words were coming out.
He rushed to me, touched me, my belly, my face. “What? Do I need to call Doc? What about the baby?”
“His name is Kincaid.”
That felt right. When I said it, some of my stress lightened, my chest felt looser. A sense of calm flowed throughout me and I laughed softly.
“Kincaid?”
“Yes,” I said.
It means battle leader…
I grabbed his hand and pressed it to my belly. “It means—”
“Battle leader. I know.”
“How?”
“My great-grandfather was named Kincaid and when I was very small he used to tell me that he’d been named wrong. That I should have had his name. Or one day…”
“Or one day?” I prompted.
“My son.”
A shiver worked its way up my spine. “I should get dressed,” I whispered.
“In a moment,” he said, his voice dark. He walked me back toward our room. I tried to protest or laugh or something to make his intensity less so. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe and despite the fact that this man was my husband, my mate, my friend and now the father of my unborn child, he made me tremble like a brand new lover.
“Ellis. There’s danger and we need to get ready for the town meeting.”
“I know.” He said it against my neck. He walked me back until my ass hit the nightstand and I heard him kick the door shut. The lamp hit the floor with a muffled thud thanks to carpeting and he was ripping at my
clothes, his breath a mad rush of air in his throat.
“Ellis I—”
His zipper sounded loud in the silence, his mouth crushing out the rest of my protest. And I let it, because my protest was just for show anyway. He ran the head of his cock to my wet entrance. I bit his lip and he growled, his hands sinking into the fleshy part of my hips that had become fleshier in the last week. I moved my legs up on his hips to open for him, let my head fall back as he drove into me.
I came almost instantly—all of me flush and plump and ready for his cock. The blood coursing through me practically singing in my loins. I moved up in short small bursts to take him deeper and he was speaking in my ear, a running lusty monologue. “God I love you, Ruby. I love you and our life—when it’s not insane like this—and our baby. I promise I will keep you safe. I will die a thousand deaths and then a thousand more before I will let anything happen to you.”
He grunted and growled and there was a flicker of flesh turning to fur for an instant, but my eyes were shut and I simply held onto him, letting his words wash over me. I was safe. I was loved. And I always would be. It would be okay.
“It will be okay, Ellis,” I said.
“It will, Little Bird, I promise.”
He shoved his hands under my ass, cushioning me from the dark wood of the nightstand and when he placed his teeth to that tender spot where my shoulder meets my neck and sank them deep but not deep enough to puncture, I came again and this time he came with me. Stiffening against me, swallowing his cries.
I touched his face and realized there were tears there. “Ellis, what—”
“Good tears, Little Bird. Don’t panic.” He let me go but promptly dropped to his knees and kissed my bare belly. Little soft kisses that were like physical prayers and promises. He kissed all along the growing arc of my stomach and then he said, “You get ready. I’m going to walk the perimeter of the building before we leave.”
“Don’t go alone,” I said, true fear bursting like a firecracker in my chest.
“I won’t. I’ll take Peabody and Roberta. I want Tyler in here with you all. Now that he’s on point, he’ll pick up the scent of a strange shifter way faster than any of us.”
I nodded, and gave him one more deep kiss. “I love you.”
Long Lost Page 11
