“Well, to be honest, I think Alynna’s fairly capable of saving her own life,” Liam confessed. “But if it’s going to make you stop acting like a dick around me, then you’re welcome.” He held out his hand towards the other Lycan.
Alex shook it. “The past is in the past, right?”
“Hey! Look who’s here!” Alynna burst into the room, pushing a big stroller through the door. “Mika! You haven’t met Uncle Liam yet,” she cooed to her baby. She stopped the stroller by his bed and picked up a small bundle. “Here you go, say hi, baby!”
Liam smiled at the baby Alynna was holding up to his side. The perfect little girl with a dark mop of hair and green eyes smiled at him. “She’s beautiful,” Liam said softly. He suddenly remembered Lara, and hurt stabbed at his heart. He looked at Alex and Alynna with envy, knowing he would never have this. That cold-hearted bitch would probably have taken the first chance to get rid of his pup.
“Liam, what’s wrong?” Alynna asked with a frown. She handed the baby to Alex, who was eager to cuddle his daughter. She sat next to him on the bed, a concerned look on her face.
“Yeah, I’m just…you know. Healing is a bitch.” He winced. “Now will someone tell me what happened?”
Alynna opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock.
“Come in,” he called in an annoyed voice.
The door opened slowly, and Vivianne Chatraine walked in. “Alpha,” she said. “I hope I’m not interrupting? I’d like to speak with you, if you’re feeling better.”
Alynna got to her feet. “It’s fine.” She took Mika back from Alex and put the baby back in the stroller. “We were going to go see Aunty Cady and little Zach anyway. It’s so convenient that everyone we need to visit is in the same place,” she joked. “Get well soon, Liam. We’ll visit again soon.” Alex put his arm around his wife as they left Liam’s room, flashing Liam a genuine smile before they left.
Liam swung his legs over the side of the bed, planting his feet on the cold floor. “Hello, Vivianne,” he greeted. “You’ll forgive me if I have a hard time getting up.”
She rushed to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. “Oh goodness, no, don’t even worry about it.”
He gave her a grateful smile and then relaxed his body. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s about Lara.”
Liam’s blood froze in his veins, and he felt the pressure building behind his eyes. “No.”
“But-”
“I said no,” Liam said, his voice sharp like steel. “I don’t want to talk about her. I don’t even want to hear her name.” Out of respect for Vivianne, he held his tongue, even though he wanted to call that snake all kinds of names.
“Alpha,” she said, straightening her back, as if she were mustering the courage to defy him. “Don’t you remember? Lara saved you. She jumped out of that window to save your life.”
Liam’s head snapped up in surprise, shock registering on his face. “What?”
“It’s true. They probably haven’t told you what happened, but you can confirm it with Grant or Alynna or anyone who was there that day. Everyone thought Wesley was dead, but he got up and attacked you. The two of you fell out of the window, and Lara went after you.”
“Out of a window?”
Vivianne nodded. “And she saved you. At least, she was able to slow both of you down before the fall became fatal.”
“Is she-” He stopped himself. No, he didn’t care about her anymore.
“Yes.” Vivianne gave a weak smile. “Children of True Mates protect their mothers, after all. Though in this case, he or she also protected their father.”
Liam’s head was spinning, and he was thankful he was already sitting down. “I don’t understand.”
Vivianne sighed. “This is Lara’s story to tell, but I’m afraid both of you are too stubborn, so I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands.” She took a deep breath. “Lara believes she’s cursed.”
“What?”
“Well, actually, maybe she was, I’m not sure. Blessed witches like her have an immense gift, but nature doesn’t give gifts so easily. There’s always a price to pay.” Vivianne hesitated for a moment, then continued. “When she was eighteen, Lara fell in love with a man named Jonathan.”
“I don’t see the point in telling me this.” Visions of Lara, happy and smiling in the arms of another man, filled his head. A stab of jealously went through him. He pushed it away, unwilling to feel anything for that woman.
“Shush, Alpha,” she admonished. “Let me finish, and I promise I’ll leave you alone and never bother you again. Then you can decide for yourself what to do.”
“Fine,” he grumbled.
“Thank you. Now, one day, he told her he loved her. Moments after that, he was struck by a truck as he was crossing the street. He died in front of Lara.”
Liam’s jaw ticked, but he said nothing.
Vivianne continued. “Lara confessed to me that she’d been dreaming of his death, before it even happened. She said everything in her dream came true, down to the last detail, from the road where they were standing and the color of the truck. She was hurt and confused, unsure of what was going on. And I had to tell her.”
“Tell her what?”
“The blessed witches have had the same experience. All of them fell in love, dreamt of the death of their lovers, and the dreams came true. And for Lara, it happened again.” Vivianne looked up at him, her eyes deep pools of green. “Liam, she’s been dreaming of your death. Of you falling.”
Liam’s heart leapt up to his throat. He shook his head. The bad dreams she’d been having. She didn’t want to tell him what they were and how he knew why. “No. It can’t be.”
“She’d fallen in love with you and was afraid that you’d die too, like Jonathan. So she did what she thought was best. To save you, she had to hurt you and make sure you didn’t fall in love with her.”
His head was spinning, and the bile rising from his stomach burned his throat. “Fuck. No,” he cried in anguish. Why didn’t Lara say anything? When she was having those bad dreams. She could have told him.
“She loves you, Liam. She said those things because she thought she was protecting you.”
“Godammit!” He pounded his fist onto the bed. “The things I said…Vivianne, she’ll never forgive me.”
“It’s true, she was hurt by your words,” Vivianne said. “But I don’t think all is lost. Besides, you have a child on the way.”
The baby. His wolf was going crazy at the revelation, growling and scratching at him. Lara loved him. His pup was growing inside her. He looked up at Vivianne. “I want her back.”
Vivianne gave him the brightest smile. “Good.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Are you OK, baby?” Graham asked his daughter.
“Huh?” Lara said absentmindedly.
“You’ve been staring out of that window for hours. Who are you waiting for?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” What was she doing? God, she was a mess. She hadn’t even been home for forty-eight hours, and she’d already gone mental.
Graham arrived in New York not long after her mother had called him. He was happy to make the drive back since he hated the city so much. As soon as Lara saw him, she collapsed in his embrace and bawled her eyes out. Her dad’s presence and his bear hugs made everything better, at least for a little while. She told him everything, of course. Frankly, she’d been scared to tell her father she was pregnant, afraid he’d be angry and disappointed. What father wanted to hear that anyway? But she should have given her dad more credit. All he did was hug her closer and tighter, and tell her everything was going to be OK. No questions about the father or any other comments. He just packed her up in the car and drove her away. Vivianne had stayed in New York for another night, saying she had some business to attend to, but she was back the very next day.
“I’m going to go sit outside,” she said, getting up from the couch. Some fresh air
would help clear her mind.
She walked out to the back porch and sat down on the wicker couch, staring out into the woods. This was a terrible idea, she realized because this only reminded her of Liam. Actually, being home reminded her of Liam. She thought about going back to New York, but her apartment would undoubtedly bring back memories of the Lycan as well. It’s not like she could do anything about it. The child in her belly would tie her to Liam forever. Liam would, of course, follow up on his threat, but what could she do? A child needed a father, plus as a Lycan, he or she would definitely need help from Liam. Maybe after some time away from each other, they could at least put the hate and ugliness aside and do what was best for the baby.
The sound of a vehicle pulling up to their driveway pulled her from her thoughts. Hmmm. Her parents didn’t say they were expecting company. She didn’t really feel like meeting people right now.
A bark and large paws hitting the ground startled Lara. “What the—Hugo!” she cried as the beast barreled into her. The dog leaped up on the couch and began licking her face. “Down boy! Oh, my!” He settled next to her, taking up most of the couch, his giant block head on her lap. Hugo seemed appeased when Lara began to scratch his head.
“He missed you a lot.”
She really shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s not like a dog could travel across the country on its own. “What are you doing here?”
Liam was standing in the doorway from the kitchen, looking devastatingly handsome in a pair of dark jeans and a blue shirt that clung to his muscular arms and shoulders. She turned away, concentrating on Hugo instead.
“We need to talk.”
Lara stood up, and Hugo let out a whine, obviously unhappy at the loss of his new favorite head scratcher. “There’s nothing to talk about.” She turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself.
“You jumped off a cliff to save my life. Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It was an impulse move. I’m not a monster, you know. I wasn’t going to let you die if I could save you.”
Liam stepped closer to her, close enough that his scent invaded her senses. God, why couldn’t he just stay away? When he put a hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off.
“Just go away, Liam!” she cried. “I don’t want to see you. Send your lawyers after me, I don’t care. Just leave me alone.”
“Never,” he said, his voice edgy. “Lara, I’m sorry for what I said. I was wrong to say those things.”
The memory of his words still brought pain to her gut. But it was her own fault.
“Lara, I lo-”
“Shut up!” she shouted, whirling around to face him. She gave him a hard shove, but Liam remained immovable. Her eyes grew wide when he saw the expression on her face. “Don’t! Don’t say those words!”
Liam gently placed his hands on her shoulders, a relieved look on his face. “You do care about me,” he said softly. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tried to stop me from saying I-”
“No!” She slapped her hand over his mouth. Realization hit her. “Wait. You know. About the curse.”
He nodded.
“Who told…Mother!”
“Yes, darling?” Vivianne’s head popped in through the doorway.
Her head swung over to her mother. “You told him about Jonathan!”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re being stubborn! Both of you!” Vivianne said in an exasperated tone. “And I’m doing what’s best for my grandchild!” She looked behind her. “Your father is coming out here, by the way.”
She gave herself a mental head slap. Oh, fuck me.
Vivianne moved aside and let Graham through, then followed behind him. The burly warlock walked up to Liam and sized him up, looking at him from head to toe. The scowl on her father’s face told Lara that he knew about Liam.
Without a word, Graham turned around and began to walk back into the house.
“Daddy, where are you going?”
“I’m going to go get my shotgun.”
“Daddy!”
“It needs cleaning!” he said gruffly as the door slammed behind him.
“He’s kidding,” Vivianne said, patting Liam on the shoulder. “It doesn’t need cleaning, he keeps it pristine. By the way, Alpha, your room is ready and I even bought a bed, a water dish, and some food for Hugo.” She patted the dog on the head, then left.
“What’s going on here?” Lara asked.
“Your mother invited me to stay.”
“What?”
“She asked me to come, and I offered to help around the compound.”
Lara’s head was spinning. “I don’t believe this.”
He gave her a cheeky grin. “I told you, you’d never get away from me.” He took her hand, and Lara fought the urge to pull it back.
No, she couldn’t. Shouldn’t. “Liam, I don’t know. What if…” There was no guarantee she still wasn’t cursed. If she began dreaming about Liam’s death again, then it would be her own damn fault.
“Everything will be OK, Lara. I believe in this.” He kissed her hand. “I believe in us and that what we have is more powerful than some curse. And I’m going to stay right next to you until you believe it, too.”
Tears burned at her throat. She didn’t know what to say. “I…I have to go.” Pulling her hand away from him, she went inside the house.
Chapter Thirty-Four
For the third straight day in a row, Lara watched Liam as he worked outside under the heat of the summer sun. He had been working with her father since he arrived, helping him around the compound, doing repairs around the property.
Every day he would get up early to follow her dad, doing chores and making repairs for the other families that lived in the compound, with Lara accompanying them. The other day, he helped repair the fence around Estella Rodriguez’s home (much to the delight of the wily old witch, who unashamedly stared at Liam’s ass each time he bent down). And yesterday he helped fix up the broken down playground in the middle of the compound. There had been fewer children each year and so it was just left in a state of disrepair. In the last year or two, however, a couple of the children had grown up and needed a place to play and gather. Liam and Graham fixed the broken swings and replaced the rusted out slides in the compound playground while the kids in the neighborhood played with Hugo. When everything was done, all the children looked up at him like he was their hero.
Most of the witches and warlocks he met or saw him walking around the compound gave him curious glances but said nothing. Of course, Lara was pretty sure that by now, everyone knew exactly who he was. Witch covens weren’t unlike other neighborhoods in suburban America. Gossip pretty much spread like wildfire.
Three days he’d been here. Still, she didn’t know what the heck was going on. They would get up, do work around the compound, go home, and then have dinner together. Afterwards, her parents would retire to their bedrooms. So did Lara and Liam, but separately in their own rooms. He would bid her goodnight and then disappear into the guest room, with Hugo in tow.
To say that she was confused was an understatement. What was he trying to do? Today, for example, he was helping Graham replace the steps on the back porch. Poor Hugo’s paw fell through one of the boards as he was running up, which revealed that the boards were rotting. Liam had his shirt off, and sweat covered his muscled back. She felt her mouth go dry, watching the way his muscled back contracted and stretched as he carried the rotted floorboards away.
“Are you ever going to talk to him?”
Lara whipped her head around. Vivianne walked into the kitchen, a basket of herbs in the crook of her arm.
“I do talk to him.”
“I don’t think ‘pass the salt’ counts as talking,” Vivianne said wryly.
“What do you want me to do, Mother?” she asked, putting her hands up.
Vivianne walked over to her, crossed her arms over her chest and looked her straight in the eye. “Well, w
hy do you think he’s here?”
“Damned if I know.” Lara shrugged. “I’ve been trying to ignore him.”
“Yet you go with him whenever he’s out and about.”
“I’m going with Dad. I want to spend time with my father, but Liam’s always following him around. What the heck does he think he’s doing?”
“I think he’s trying to gain your father’s respect,” Vivianne said. “Wants to show him that he’s worthy of his daughter.”
Lara remained silent.
“My, my.” Vivianne fanned herself with her hand as she looked out the window. “I think the temperature just went up 10 degrees in here.”
“Mother!”
“Oh pshaw!” Vivianne’s green eyes sparkled, and she waved her fingers at Liam. “I don’t know how you waited weeks before getting all over that.”
Lara put her face in her hands.
“It reminds me of the first time I saw your father without his shirt on…”
“Lalalalala,” Lara put her fingers in her ears. “I can’t hear you.”
Vivianne let out a rich laugh. “C’mon, darling, I’m just looking. Can’t blame a woman for admiring the goods.”
“Kill me now, please!”
“I didn’t know I raised such a prude,” Vivianne joked.
“It was probably thanks to all those times I walked in on you and Dad,” Lara deadpanned.
The older witch gave her a wicked smile. “Did you and Liam make use of the kitchen table while we were away? You know, your father made it the perfect height for—”
“Argh!” Lara put her hands up. “I’m going to see if they need my help, I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.” This was getting out of hand. She was going to put a stop to this here and now.
Vivianne’s laugh rang out, the sound traveling to the back porch as Lara opened the door.
Graham turned his head towards her. “What’s going on with your mother?”
Lara muttered something under her breath about horny old ladies.
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