I glanced at Bridget. “That’s all right?”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone,” I said, still hesitating.
“I’m not alone. I’ve got Bridget here, and Jasper moving in and out constantly. Besides, I might try to get some rest before the pain really starts.”
“All right,” I nodded. “But wake me if anything new happens.”
Adam wasn’t in the hallway when I left Christine’s room, so I hobbled down the staircase and found him with Jasper in the library. I stifled a yawn as I stood in the doorway.
“I think I might go lie down,” I told him. “Christine said I could use a room.”
Adam shrugged. “If you feel you need to.”
I rolled my eyes. “Unlike you werewolves, I actually need to sleep like a human,” I said. If they wanted, they could get by with only a few hours of sleep a night. I wasn’t so lucky.
Adam crossed the room and kissed me on the head. “You’re right. You get some rest.”
I kissed him. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
I woke up with gray light streaming through the windows. When I glanced at the clock, I nearly bolted out of bed. It was nearly noon. Had I missed the birth of the next duke and alpha?
As it turned out, I hadn’t. Christine’s contractions had only recently picked up, and the doctor said she more than likely still had hours to go. I found Adam still in the library, this time with Stephen. The two men were chatting in the alcove, sipping at their tea when I appeared.
“There she is,” Adam said. “Sleep well?”
“Better than I have in a week,” I admitted.
“Want to sit with us?”
“I’m going to get something to eat first, if you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead. We’re just here waiting.”
We’d be waiting for a while, as it turned out. I ate breakfast with Annabelle in the kitchen, then returned to the library with the men. I hadn’t brought any sewing with me or my sketchbook, so instead I curled up on the sofa in the alcove and read Persuasion.
The hours ticked past with little or no news. Sometime in the late afternoon Dr. Brighton began giving her ether to help with the pain, but otherwise nothing had changed. I was beginning to suspect we might be here another night.
Annabelle and I played mahjong in the parlor until dinnertime. We all ate in the dining room together, save for Christine, who was unable to keep food down, and Bridget, who insisted on staying by her side. Jasper only picked at his food, his countenance still pale and clammy. Poor man.
After dinner we lounged in the parlor. I was curled up on the loveseat with Adam as the men talked, their boisterous voices filling the room. I wasn’t paying much attention to their words, still reading the copy of Persuasion I had nicked from the library, when Bridget came rushing down the stairs.
“She’s about to start pushing!” she cried out before hurrying back up.
With the parlor just off the entry and Christine’s room at the top of the stairs, we could plainly hear her cries of pain as she pushed. The men shifted uncomfortably in their chairs as Bridget’s voice could be heard trying to soothe Christine. I glanced at the stairs nervously. Only Annabelle seemed unaffected as she played solitaire with a deck of cards.
“You’re doing wonderfully, Christine,” we heard Jasper say, followed by another cry of pain. We waited with bated breath, praying Christine and the baby would be all right. We’d heard nothing but good news so far, but all of us knew how fast that could turn in an instant. Ironic that something life-giving could be so deadly.
We didn’t relax until the wail of a newborn baby filled the halls of Wolf’s Peak.
“Christine, he’s beautiful,” I said, brushing away unexpected tears.
“Would you like to hold him?”
“Are you sure?” It seemed rude to take a baby away from his mother after only a few hours.
“Oh, absolutely,” she said. I had expected her to look worn and ragged, but instead she seemed to glow in the candlelight. I came beside her bed and she gently passed him to me. He was sleeping now, tiny eyes squeezed shut, and I slipped my finger into his palm. His fingers grasped around mine reflexively.
“Lowell Arthur,” I sighed as I looked at him. “That’s a lovely name, Christine.”
“Lowell is a name throughout Jasper’s family, and Arthur was my father’s name.”
“I love it.” The tiny bundle was warm in my arms, a thin layer of wispy hair across his head, dark like his mother and father’s.
“You’ll have your own soon,” she said.
“Annabelle first,” I said, motioning to Annabelle, who was sitting by the window. Her belly had only just begun to protrude.
“It’s my second; it’s not that exciting,” Annabelle said, waving her hand dismissively.
“I’m going to tell him or her that you said that when they get older,” I teased.
“Her,” Christine said. “We’ve already decided it’s going to be a girl so that she and Lowell can get married.”
Lowell yawned and let out a small cry.
“I don’t think it works that way,” I told Christine. She shrugged with a grin.
I sat down at the edge of her bed, still cradling the baby in my arms. “I don’t want to let him go. He’s so sweet.”
“Keep him as long as you want,” she said with a yawn. “I need a nap.”
“Actually,” said a voice at the door, and I turned to see Jasper, “do you mind if I hold him?”
“How could I say no to the proud papa?” I asked. He crossed the room, and I carefully handed Lowell over to his dad.
“He’s beautiful,” I repeated to Jasper.
“He takes after his mother in that regard.”
“Oh, stop it,” Christine said with an eye roll. “We both know he looks like you.” She paused. “Actually, he’s only a few hours old. He just looks like a potato.”
Jasper reached over and playfully swatted her arm. She pretended to pout.
Night had fallen over Wolf’s Peak. True to his word, once we realized how late it was getting, Adam had gone back to his house and grabbed my trunk as well as some of his clothes so we could stay the night again. I didn’t mind. This Wolf’s Peak family was beginning to feel more and more meaningful than my real family.
I left Christine’s room and found Adam downstairs. He stood when he saw me.
“I was hoping you and I could talk,” he said.
“Is everything all right?”
“I think so. Why don’t we go somewhere more private?”
We chose the back gardens. Much of the snow was gone now, and without clouds, the moon shone brightly down. I still needed a coat, but it was nice to be in the fresh and still night air.
“What’s going on?” I asked Adam once we had left the house.
“Well, we sort of had a fight before I left, and I wanted to make sure things were all right.”
My cheeks burned red in the moonlight. “I told you, it was just the pain talking.”
“Except you made some valid points,” he sighed. “I’m new to this, Hazel. Since I joined the council, I’ve never had to split my attention. Jasper and I had a talk about it. He told me that he was perfectly willing to let me cut back a little bit in order to spend more time with you before and after our wedding.”
“I don’t want you to have to cut back,” I said.
“But I want to. I want you to know how much I cherish you.”
I reached over and took his hand. “I know things will calm down a bit now that Seth is behind bars. But next time, I’ll try to talk to you if I feel ignored.”
We paused our walking and he leaned down to kiss me on the forehead. “And I’ll try not to work so much.”
“It seems to me you’re getting a break anyway. Isn’t Jasper going to want to spend time with his family?”
“That’s true,” he said. “We should take advantage of this
time.” He leaned down and gave me a heated kiss.
I had just wrapped my arm around his neck when a crack sliced through the silence. Immediately Adam was on alert.
“It’s probably nothing,” I said as he whipped his head around. “Just an animal. A rabbit.”
He relaxed. “You’re probably right.”
Adam leaned back down to kiss me again, but we heard another crack followed by a thump. It was coming from the lakeside.
“Stay here,” he told me. “I’ll be right back.”
“Do you really think it’s something dangerous?”
“Probably not, unless one of Seth’s lackeys is still free.”
While Adam went off to investigate, I used a gloved hand to brush snow off of one of the stone benches. Standing for too long made my ankle throb. I sat down and looked toward the lake, which is why I didn’t see it coming.
I felt something heavy hit my back and I landed hard on the frozen ground. Snow stung at my cheeks as I heard a snarling in my ear. I used all my strength to flip myself over, pushing past the heavy weight on my back, struggling and grunting as I tried to move. Once I managed to land on my back, I looked up into the sharp jowls of a wolf.
A gunshot rang through the air.
Chapter Seventeen
The wolf’s head snapped up at the sound. Another gunshot cracked across the sky and the wolf looked back down at me again, yellow eyes piercing mine. He gave one last snarl before jumping off my body and ran off into the thick woods. I took a deep breath of cold air, filling my lungs now that the pressure was gone. I coughed.
My whole body ached. I stared up at the starry sky, knowing I should move to get out of danger but unable to force my body to do so. A moment later I heard a flurry of footsteps and Adam knelt down next to me.
“Hazel, are you all right?”
I nodded. Words wouldn’t come.
He whipped his head around, searching for the wolf. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. It hit me from behind, knocked me to the ground.”
“Did you see what it looked like?”
“Yellow eyes. Brown and black fur, I think.”
“All right,” he said, tucking the gun into its holster. I had never noticed it before, but the handle of the gun glimmered in the moonlight, making it impossible to miss.
“You carry a gun?” I asked.
He nodded. “We all do, after what happened with Seth.”
I swallowed. I had just begun to get over the danger, and knowing that they carried guns made me sick to my stomach. I knew it was probably for the best, but I hated that they felt the need to carry one at all.
“Come on,” Adam said, extending his hand. “Let’s get you inside and get you cleaned up.”
My clothes were soaked. I hadn’t been injured much worse than I already was, but my body hurt, and I thought I could feel blood dripping from where the wolf’s claws had dug into my skin. I struggled to get to my feet, and so Adam scooped me up in his arms. I didn’t protest; I didn’t have the energy.
As we drew closer to the steps of the balcony, Jasper and Stephen came rushing out.
“What happened?” Jasper asked. “We heard gunshots.”
“Hazel was attacked by a wolf,” Adam said.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “I’m all right. Adam scared him off before he could do any damage.”
“I guess the guns were a good idea.” Jasper gave a tense smile, but worry filled his eyes.
I looked up at Adam. “You’d better be a good shot. You could have hit me.”
“I wasn’t willing to risk it,” he said. “I wasn’t aiming at either of you.”
“Let’s get inside,” Jasper said, eyes worriedly searching the yard. “Come on.”
Adam carried me up the stairs. Jasper held the door open for us and we slipped in the back hallway, but Jasper didn’t follow us inside right away. Instead he paused in the doorway, looking out over yard. There must not have been any sign of the wolf, because after a moment he returned to the house.
“Hazel, go ahead and get changed, then I’d like you to meet us in the library, if you don’t mind,” he said.
“Of course,” I told him. Adam helped me up the staircase, arm around my waist. As we reached the second-floor landing, Annabelle shut Christine’s door behind her and came toward us.
“What happened?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
“A wolf,” I said. “He attacked me while we were outside.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line. “I see. Library?”
“Yes,” Adam said with a nod.
“I’ll see you there.”
We proceeded to my room and Adam helped me peel off my wet gown. The skin underneath had turned bright pink in the cold, and I stood in front of the fire to warm it up. I had been right about the wolf’s paws; small spots of blood had formed on my chest and legs.
“Here,” Adam said, returning from the bathroom with a warm cloth. He gently dabbed at the spots, and I hissed as the water stung my cold skin.
“They’re small. I don’t think you even need a bandage,” he said.
“Thank God. I’ve gone through enough bandages in the last year.”
He offered a tight smile similar to Jasper’s as he set the rag down on the marble mantel. He pulled a warm nightgown out of my trunk and I pulled it over my head, the fabric soft against my stinging skin. I slid a dressing gown over my shoulders and retwisted my hair before we left to meet up with the others in the library.
Everyone had crowded in the alcove. Jasper gestured for us to join them, and Adam and I sat together on one of the loveseats. Jasper was sitting across the low table from us in a straight-backed chair, his glasses on.
“Hazel, did you recognize the wolf?”
“No,” I said, although something was nagging at the back of my mind. “At least, I don’t think so.”
“What did it look like.”
“It was hard to tell in the dark, but it had yellow eyes and I think its fur was brown and black.”
“Does that sound familiar to anyone else?” Jasper asked. Adam and Stephen shook their heads. Annabelle paused for a minute, narrowing her eyes as she thought.
“Annabelle?” Jasper asked.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think that’s familiar.”
“Is it possible we didn’t round up all of Seth’s men?” Adam asked. “Could one have gotten away?”
“I don’t think so,” Jasper said. “But just in case, I’d like you two to go out and take a look.”
I clutched Adam’s hand tightly, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want him to go, but there wasn’t much choice. If Seth still had a man on the loose, he needed to be captured so that all of us were safe.
“I’d go with you, but—” Jasper trailed off, eyes flickering to the door.
“Not at all,” Adam said. “You’re not leaving your wife and new baby behind.”
“Speaking of, let’s not mention this to Christine for now,” Jasper said.
Annabelle prickled. “Do you think that’s wise, keeping another secret?”
Jasper fixed her with a steely gaze. “She doesn’t need the stress right now. She just had a baby.”
“Fine. But if she asks, I’m telling her the truth.”
They each stared at the other defiantly, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“Fine,” Jasper said after a long moment.
Stephen and Adam got up from their seats. I noticed now that Stephen, too, carried a revolver.
“I’ll see you when we return,” Adam said.
“Please be safe,” I begged him.
“We will be,” he promised.
“I need you to come back to me.”
“I will.”
I bit my lip. “I won’t be able to sleep until I know you’re back here, safe.”
“Then I’ll see you when I return. I love you, Hazel.”
Annabelle and I watched the m
en leave. Jasper wasn’t going with them, but he did go upstairs to check on Christine.
“What a year,” Annabelle sighed, sliding down on the settee so she was resting on her back, staring up at the loft above her.
“I’m exhausted.”
“It’s not usually like this, honestly. Things have been insane since Christine and Jasper got married.”
“So I can blame her for all of this?”
Annabelle chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“You implied earlier that Jasper had kept secrets from her,” I said, not wanting to gossip. “What happened?”
She shrugged. “He kept certain things about himself a secret. Like that he had been married previously. She found that one out on her wedding day, or that her mother was killed by a wolf.”
“Her mother was killed by a wolf?”
Annabelle nodded. “Christine lived here as a young child. Her father was the doctor at Wolf’s Peak. She and her mother were playing in the woods when her mother was attacked. That’s why Christine and her father moved to Irvine. When Jasper heard of his death, he paid for and attended the funeral. He saw Christine for the first time in years. He couldn’t stop talking about her; he was completely enamored. That’s why I chose her.”
“Well then,” I said, fiddling with the tie of my dressing gown, “I’m glad he chose her. Especially considering one of his other choices turned out to be a lunatic.”
“That’s a kind way to put it,” she laughed. “Have you heard anything about Lillian since she was locked away?”
“Not a peep,” I said. “You know her family moved, and Hattie doesn’t talk about her in the rare moments she deigns herself to converse with me.”
“Like at Belladora’s?”
“That’s the last time I’ve seen her,” I said.
Annabelle hesitated. “This wolf, it’s not Lillian, right? There’s no way she escaped?”
I shook my head. “Lillian’s fur was gray and silver. It was a little hard to tell, but this wolf was more brown and black. I think I would have recognized Lillian in her wolf form.”
“That’s good. For a moment I thought maybe she came back to kill you.”
“Luckily she’s locked up pretty tight, or so I hear,” I said.
The Wolf's Betrothed (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 5) Page 13
