BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset)

by Parker, Kylee

  But I loved it. I loved that I was part of something bigger, and I relished the power, drank in the energy. It was so much more than just an ordinary human life.

  And I knew there was no way I could go back. It was the reason I’d married Reid in the first place, even when I knew he was a wolf. His power had touched me from the start, even if it hadn’t been that prominent then. A life without him just wouldn’t have been enough.

  It was the same now. A normal, human life just wasn’t going to be enough anymore. Once you taste magic, you never want to let it go again.

  When I got home I crawled into bed, tucking the covers under my chin. The night pressed against the windows, like it was searching for me.

  We’d been through a hell of a journey, Reid and I. But every time it had ended well. That was all I needed. It didn’t matter what came my way now. We were happy, I was happy. And that was good enough for me.

  I rolled onto my side and curled into a ball. There was only a future left now. A future that was going to be a hell of a lot more interesting that things have been so far. Just me and Reid, and nothing could come between us now.

  Chapter 1

  Allegra

  When Reid is away, everything is normal. I’m a military wife that lives at the base and sells beauty products to the other military wives. I take part in bake sales and stork parties and I plan events and meet-and-greets because that’s what we do here. We’ve always stuck together as the wives of soldiers to be there for each other and make sure that we all have someone to turn to.

  Charlene used to be the person that I could turn to. She’s married to John, one of Reid’s team members. They’re all Army Rangers. But recently things have just been different. I can’t really relate to her anymore, and not because she isn’t a good friend. There just isn’t anything in my life anymore that she can understand.

  Besides being Army Rangers, Reid’s team consists of werewolves. They’re all wolves, Reid included, and even though I knew that from the start, my life has changed a lot.

  And I couldn’t always say for the better. But now I can.

  There was a time when I understood that Reid was a werewolf, but he kept that part of his life as far away from me as he could. It affected our marriage so much we were about to break up. And then, to make things right, I decided to become part of his pack instead.

  And it wasn’t easy, but I did it. Sure, I had to fight a wolf or two to get here. But I’d made it. And we are better than ever.

  It’s when Reid comes home that everything changes. The magic builds, and my life as a human is turned upside down.

  I woke up one morning with goose bumps crawling over my skin. The atmosphere that hung in the room was static. I stretched my arm over Reid’s said, still made and cold with his absence, just to be sure that he wasn’t there already. The kind of magic I was feeling usually came with him.

  He wasn’t in bed, or even in the house. Not yet. But he was close. I could feel him coming closer, and as it seemed to work with these things now that we were bonded as the alpha couple, I could feel his pack crawling closer too.

  It was still something I had to get used to, being connected to seven other wolves besides Reid. Our little pack was nine large, and since I’d stepped into the role of alpha female completely, I was connected to each of them on some level or another.

  At least, most of them. Sarelle was the wolf that had challenged me. I’d had to physically fight her, she’d attacked me in a pack meeting when Reid had tried to replace me. I hadn’t been too sure about it all then yet. The rules had been changed a bit because I’m just a human, and I’d fought her and won.

  I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure how I’d done it.

  She wasn’t fond of me, she was fifth in the pack hierarchy and it bothered her. Somehow she knew how to shut herself off to me, so that even when I felt them all, I couldn’t really feel her. Her wolf was just a dim light in the darkness, where the other were blazing flames.

  It shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did. She shouldn’t have been a person whose opinion mattered, but it did. Maybe it was something along the lines of a queen having subjects that didn’t serve her.

  My phone rang and I snatched it off the night stand. I pressed the talk button and held it to my ear.

  “It’s time, Allegra,” Charlene said.

  “Be there in five,” I said and slipped out of bed. Charlene was pregnant. She and John were starting a family, and because he was still away, I was the one that stood in for him. I’d been with her to birth classes after he left on duty, because the chances were that I would be the one holding her hand when the time came.

  And the time had come.

  I threw on a t-shirt and yesterday’s jeans and kicked on running shoes. I was in the car in less than two minutes, tires squealing on the tarmac. When I knocked on her door she opened with her overnight bag in hand.

  “Let’s do this,” she said, but she looked pale and her eyes were big and scared.

  “You’re going to be perfectly fine. I’m here, and I’m not going to faint on you like some male.”

  She smiled at that. Men were heroes, they could kill on the battle field and not blink an eye. They could have a bar fight to defend their woman, they could conquer the world. But a woman giving birth?

  I took Charlene’s arm and walked her to the car. She waddled with wide steps, one hand clutching her stomach.

  “Three minutes apart,” she said and I knew she was talking about the contractions. We still had some time. I drove her to the medical center. Charlene phoned ahead in the car, and they were waiting for her in the emergency lane with a wheelchair when I pulled up.

  They wheeled her in and I reversed back out to park the car.

  When I found the maternity ward a male nurse held up his hand. “Family only,” he said.

  “Her husband’s on duty. I’m all she’s got,” I said. He nodded his head and let me through. Charlene was already propped up on the bed with her legs open, ready to give birth. A nurse forced me into scrubs and I walked to her bed, grabbing her hand. She was already sweating, her damp hair clinging to her forehead and cheeks.

  “She’s crowning,” the nurse said, crouching behind the sheet they’d thrown over her head. Charlene made a groaning sound that rolled over into a higher-pitched squeal.

  “You’re doing great, baby mama,” patting her hand with my free hand. She was squeezing the life out of my fingers.

  “Another push with the next contraction,” the nurse said. Charlene took a deep breath and did it again. Her face reddened with the effort and her body contracted, forcing the baby out.

  “That’s the head,” the nurse said. Another nurse was at her side, helping her. Charlene was breathing fast and shallow.

  “Deep breaths, slowly in,” breathed with her, “and out again.” I didn’t want her to hyperventilate.”

  “Okay, ready for another one?” the nurse asked. Charlene shook her head.

  “I don’t want to do this anymore,” she said and she was on the verge of tears.

  “Better to get her out, then it’s over. Otherwise we’re going to have to come back tomorrow,” I joked.

  “The hell we’re not,” she said and her face scrunched. She screamed a long, drawn out scream, and then the sound tapered off and it was replaced with the first cries of a newborn baby.

  “That’s my girl,” I said, touching her cheek. She fell back on the pillow, gasping. The nurse wrapped the baby in a hospital blanket and brought the little bundle to Charlene, putting her down on her chest.

  “It’s a beautiful baby girl,” she said. Charlene was crying, and I had to swallow down my own tears. She let go of my fingers and I moved them, circulating the blood.

  The little girl made small sounds, moving her mouth. New born babies are the most beautiful, ugliest little things in the world. Her face was squashed and she still had the waxy substance in her hair and around her nose. But she really was the most precious thing.


  Charlene smiled through her tears. The nurse helped her with her hospital gown so that she could get the baby feeding. I took a step back and watched.

  Charlene glowed. Her hair was damp and messy, she had dark circles under eyes and the nurses were still finishing up between her legs. But she glowed like only a mother could, and none of that mattered. She was beautiful.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. I wanted that. I wanted to miracle of birth. I wanted to feel a baby inside of me, and give birth to Reid’s children. I wanted all of this. And why not? We’d been married long enough.

  Charlene looked at me, suddenly realizing I was in the room with her. She held out her hand I came closer.

  “Well done,” I said to her. “She’s perfect.”

  “She is,” Charlene said. She sighed. “I wish John were here.”

  “They’ll be home soon,” I said. And I could feel it. I wondered if John knew. If he’d felt it when Charlene had given birth. I knew that if it had been me Reid would have known. But we were bonded differently because I’d accepted who he was. I’d accepted being a part of the pack.

  Charlene and John didn’t have that kind of link. To them it would be the same as with any other person. And that meant that he probably didn’t know. I sighed. This was another part of being a military wife that was hard. Sometimes we spent Valentine’s day, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanks Giving alone. That was okay. They came again and again. Every year. But having children?

  Charlene thought the same thing. She was crying again. So I found the camera I knew she’d packed and started snapping pictures.

  “So he can be as close to this as he can,” I said. Charlene smiled.

  I got another rush of goose bumps. It drew over my body like a blanket and I shuddered. The power rushed through the room like a wave before it died down again. I looked at Charlene for any reaction, but she was caught up with the baby. She hadn’t felt it.

  I didn’t think she could feel it at all.

  Strangely, it made me feel lost, like I was alone in this world where friends and strangers alike just wouldn’t understand me. I looked at Charlene, so wrapped up in her perfect life, with the baby that she’s always wanted, and I suddenly wanted that.

  My life was great, but it wasn’t perfect. Far from it. It was confusing and wild and every now and then things went so fast I struggled to catch my breath. And there were no children. Looking at Charlene now, her delirious smile, witnessing the birth process, I realized with a pang how much I wanted that.

  And I wondered why I’d pushed it away for so long. For Reid’s sake, the answer came to me right away. Because we’d been struggling for a long time to make things works. Starting a family as a military wife was already hard. Doing that when you were married to a werewolf just complicated things. A lot.

  But we’ve accomplished so much the last while. Look at how far we’ve come. Reid and I were better than ever, a tight unit. It included weird magic, but whose life didn’t have a kink here and there? I kissed Charlene’s hair, one that I think she barely felt, and left the hospital room, shrugging out of the scrubs they’d pushed me into.

  When Reid came home we were going to talk about it. I wanted a baby. I wanted to create new life. And I was sure he would want that too. We’d been married for long enough for it to be a good time.

  Another wave of magic rippled over my skin and the power that slammed into my chest made me gasp. I knew what it was, but it had been absent for so long I was almost inclined to say I had to get used to it again.

  He was close. He was going to be home soon. Very soon.

  Chapter 2

  Reid

  John pushed into my room. He literally beamed, and I could feel the heat rush off him. He was a werewolf and I was his alpha, and I could feel everything he felt. And today it was like a tidal wave, washing through me.

  “She’s here,” he breathed. “Charlene gave birth a couple of hours ago.”

  He held out his phone with a photo of the two of them, Charlene was in her hospital gown, looking spent and happy, and in her arms the tiniest baby was bundled up in lots of pink.

  “Isn’t she the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” he handed me the phone and I looked at it. Little babies always looked like old people, wrinkled and scrunched up. But she was swaddled in pink and Charlene looked so happy, so I nodded. John took the phone back and stared at the photo.

  “It’s a shame I missed it, but tomorrow I get to see her. I’m so happy,” he said. And I really believed he was. This was what John had wanted from the start. A wife, children, a family that resembled normal life. Being werewolves meant that our lives were very different, and John yearned for normality. No one chose to be a werewolf, but it happened. Most of us were turned during attacks. One scratch from a werewolf and you caught it, too. Some of us were bred, like me, but John had been made. And I think if he could have chosen, he would never have been one at all. Even after everything he knew, the extra strength, the power, the magic.

  I didn’t know anything else. I liked the power. I didn’t want normal.

  John disappeared again to show everyone else he could find, leaving me behind alone, wondering if that was what Allegra would want. We’d never really spoken about children, what our lives were going to be like five years, ten years, twenty years down the line.

  We should have, everyone had to discuss things like that before they got married. But we hadn’t done that. We’d talked about the fact that I was a werewolf, that I had a pack that needed me as much as she would.

  We talked about the army, the idea that marrying me meant that she might lose me if something went wrong, that if I came home at all it would happen very seldom. We talked about things that young lovers talked about, not things that married couples were supposed to talk about.

  And since then it had been a fight and a struggle to keep things together. And children hadn’t been in question.

  We gathered in the mess hall for supper, and my team sat together. The air around us hummed with our energy, and no one else joined our table. Almost everyone knew we were werewolves, but I had an idea that even if they weren’t aware that they felt it, they just didn’t like sitting in the constant wave of power. When six wolves sat together it built.

  We fed off it, but humans that could feel it tended to avoid it the way you avoided a live wire.

  When John sat down his delirium rippled through us, and we all smiled. He grinned at me and I shook my head and took a bite of my food.

  “Tomorrow we’ll be home and you can push all of that happiness into Charlene for a change,” I said. The others murmured agreement. They’d all seen the photo.

  “When are you getting started?” John asked me. Allegra and I were the only other couple in the pack. The other two females were just dating.

  I chewed my food, stalling for time, trying to work out an answer.

  “I don’t know. Not anytime soon, I think,” I finally said. “I’m away from home too often. If I had a son I couldn’t let him grow up without a father.”

  John nodded, looking into his food. He’d just gained a little girl, but he looked offended.

  “I also don’t think I have what it takes to be a father,” I added.

  “But you’re pack leader,” Charlie said. He was the quiet one in the group, he didn’t speak up often. “Isn’t your job like being a kind of father figure to us, in a way?”

  Carlos snorted. “That’s the worst analogy in the world, bro,” he said. Charlie shrugged.

  “I was just saying. He takes responsibility and looks out for us and keeps us in check. It’s almost the same thing.”

  “I don’t want to know what your dad was like,” Carlos said again and everyone laughed.

  Except me. It stung a little, to be honest. But Carlos was right. Being an Alpha was nothing like being a father. I took another it of my food and let the men bicker back and forth about the topic. The only other quiet one was John. He was
a father now, so no matter what the definition was, he was going to have to own up to it.

  “To be honest with you,” I said to him while the others weren’t paying attention. “I don’t even know if we want kids.”

  He pulled up his eyebrows, pausing his fork in mid-air.

  “How can you not want kids?” he asked. I shrugged. It was hard to explain.

  “I just wouldn’t know what to do. Allegra is human. That means that the baby will be human. And if it is a boy? Or even if it turns out to be a girl, I wouldn’t be able to relate to it. I wouldn’t be able to be there for the child and tell them what life should be like, how they should act. I’m essentially and animal. How can I teach humanity?”

  John looked down at his food. “Well, isn’t it the same with us? Little Carla is human too.” I realized that was what they’d named her. “And I can still be there for her, protect her, teach her how to stand up to the world. Charlene can do the human side. She’s the other half of the parent unit anyway, and she’s going to be around Carla the most. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “But Charlene is just a human. You and I both know that even though Allegra isn’t a werewolf, she’s a lot closer to being one than Charlene is because of her position in the pack. Because of the bond. I can feel her as we get closer to home. I can feel the power spilling over to her. We can’t raise a child in that.”

  John shook his head, not looking at me. “You’re wrong,” he said. “You can, and every child only knows what he knows. If your kid doesn’t know any other life, why wouldn’t he be happy? Allegra is a good woman. She’ll be a fair mom and do everything she needs to.”

  “But it’s not fair on her,” I said. I was a wolf, after all, and she’d had to deal with enough of that already without having to focus on bridging the gap for someone else. “Look at what she’s done for us.”

  “That’s the point, isn’t it?” Abdul chipped in. I hadn’t realized they’d fallen quiet and started listening to our conversation. “She does what she needs to do every time. She did it even when she was terrified, because she listens with her heart. She can do this. You’re not giving her enough credit.”