And a solid kick from inside of her landed directly on his palm, making them both jump. Angela knew he’d felt it as his eyes widened. Their gazes were locked on each other as she gently put her hand over his, pressing it against her belly a little more deeply.
He was the first person besides her to feel them move. No matter how many people put their hands on her stomach trying to feel the babies move, the babies always stopped the moment they did.
Another series of kicks, smaller this time. Why did that look like terror in Max’s eyes?
Tyler, unaware of what was happening between the two of them, sidled up beside her. He knelt on the couch, wrapping his arms around her waist and bending in to nibble at her neck. Pleasure swept through her powerfully enough that she let out a soft gasp and turned to accept his kisses. Her hands tightened on Max, but he only went rigid beneath her touch.
“You don’t have to be worried about being sick,” Tyler murmured, putting his hand under her shirt.
He found her nipple beneath the thin fabric of her old bra, stroking it as it hardened beneath his touch. She read in a romance book about nipples and clits hard and erect like a man’s cock but had never been brave enough to ask her boyfriends if it was true from their perspective. She could imagine asking Tyler, though. He’d know. He had lots of experience.
And so did Max. But she wasn’t sure she could ask him something like that. He was so…. Intimidating…
“The doctor and midwife we took you to said you were okay for more strenuous activity,” Tyler continued, his hands all over her like torches burning her flesh with desire. She had never known what it was like to have fireworks bursting under her skin until this moment. “And didn’t the midwife say that some light sex could be beneficial?”
“Yes,” Angela moaned, her breath ragged.
The bleeding had been determined to be from below her cervix. She didn’t remember everything the midwife and new doctor had said, except that her twins were in no danger and that it was more frightening than anything. She had made sure to get a third opinion anyway, and that doctor had agreed. And the midwife had said that the endorphins from sex would be very beneficial to both her and the babies—not only did it have benefits such as lowering blood pressure and helping to bolster the immune system, but it would help with stress reduction and help to improve her mood.
Angela had picked herself up a few toys to take care of herself, too embarrassed to actually tell this to Tyler or Max. But somehow Tyler knew anyway. She should have guessed.
Tyler chuckled in her ear. “Are you up for a little bit right now? We can be gentle.”
At that, Max snorted. He lifted her off him, not bothering to hide the bulge in his jeans as he stood. “Speak for yourself. I don’t want to waste my time being gentle,” he spat out the word as though it tasted disgusting. “I want to tie her up. Use the whip on her and give her some good bruises.”
Angela knew that the idea of being whipped shouldn’t sound so delightful—but it did. Her eyes widened as a tingle rushed over her skin. Her breasts tightened and she was left gaping at him. Tyler let out an agreeing noise, his hands still on her.
“That can wait until after she’s not pregnant anymore,” Tyler argued. “That’s too rough. But don’t you want to taste her creamy skin? Feel her clamp around you as she comes?”
Angela’s whole body flushed. She was so warm that she was tempted to simply start removing her clothing where she was. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she stared up at Max. If they did sleep together, would that start a bonding process between them? Would they be able to talk more frankly about her pregnancy? Would they be able to reach some sort of agreement?
She licked her lips. “I… I’ve always had a fantasy to try out some BDSM,” she admitted, then shrank back in on herself when Max’s expression turned credulous. “And we could always look on the internet for what is safe during pregnancy.”
Max swallowed, his eyes widening. Then his expression hardened, and he snorted. “What would I care about what’s safe? I didn’t want you to keep the parasites this long.”
Angela flinched. Tyler frowned at Max, but he didn’t argue the point, his hands still on her body. And it was that which made Angela push him off her. It was one thing for her to lose her head to these two. Quite another for her to lose her head when Max was still wanting her to terminate her pregnancy at five months. If the babies weren’t viable yet, they were very close.
And then to call them parasites and monsters? If he hated children so much, he had no business signing up for a surrogate in the first place!
“Not that I’d want to try out anything with you,” she snapped at him, her hands clenching. She took even herself by surprise with her forcefulness. She glared at Tyler. “Or you. You’re just a couple of man-whores that will probably give me some terrible disease.”
“Wolves don’t carry STDS,” Tyler said with a frown.
Max snorted. “You want us. You’re just afraid to admit how much you do. Don’t think that I haven’t heard you calling out our names in the midst of your buzzing—did you expect we’d think it was a toothbrush?”
Angela’s eyes widened in horror. They’d heard that? Both her hands flew to her mouth and Max grinned at her as though he’d just won the argument. Humiliation swept through her. She thought she had been careful! Only used it when they weren’t in the house. Most times when they went into town for work! Tears flooded her eyes.
“Hold on now,” Tyler said, standing beside her. “There’s no reason to start acting like that, Max.”
“Isn’t there?” Max glared at him and Angela shrank into Tyler’s side. The embarrassment was almost too much to bear. What else had Max been hearing? She didn’t even want to know! “She has consistently disregarded my wishes with this pregnancy. Even when I asked for a simple thing like a paternity test. You know why I can’t have children, Tyler!”
Tyler growled. “And that’s hardly Angela’s fault! If you were so damn serious about never having kids, you should have gotten a vasectomy! You have no right to demand that Angela go against her morals and principles when she clearly wants these babies more than anything—and then be so selfish as to deny her even that when you don’t want anything to do with them! What, do you want to wait for her to give birth and then chuck two helpless infants off a cliff?”
Angela whimpered. He wouldn’t! Would he?
Max howled and lunged. She screamed but Max’s hands were going for Tyler. Tyler pushed her out of the way; she landed on the couch just as Max and Tyler punched each other in the face in unison. Angela screamed, her whole body clenching with terror.
But they didn’t fight—thank God they didn’t fight! —and instead stumbled back, rubbing their sore jaws.
“I don’t kill children,” Max growled. Something shone from his eyes. Desperation. “Don’t… I don’t kill children. They’re not alive yet, they’re not real…”
“They are real,” Angela whimpered, cradling her stomach. “They’re alive.”
Max shook his head. “No. They’re not. You’re only twenty-one weeks. They aren’t alive until twenty-four weeks. They can’t survive outside the womb for another three weeks.”
“You felt them move.”
Max opened his mouth, then shut it again. That strange desperation entered his eyes again and he turned on his heel He stalked away without another word. Angela cradled her stomach, feeling as cold now as she had been hot earlier. She shivered with the cold, her shoulders hunching inward. What had happened? How had it gone so wrong so quickly?
Tyler sighed as he sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Sorry about that. I know it’s difficult to put up with him sometimes.”
“I… just don’t know what happened.”
“He got angry.” Tyler shrugged. “He does that.”
Angela leaned into him, shivering. What had Max meant, about him not being able to have children? She wanted to ask but Tyler felt so warm, so strong. So all sh
e did was lean into him and breathe in his scent, trying to calm the racing of her heart. Trying not to feel like somehow this was all her fault—and she should never have dared hope that she was worth anything to Max.
Chapter Eight
Tyler wasn’t used to Max being in such a surly silence. Normally when he got in one of his moods, Tyler would do something to break him out of it. Throw a surprise party or make all the arrangements to go hiking through the closest national park. Something to just restart Max’s brain, get him out of his head for long enough to regain equilibrium.
This wasn’t a normal situation, though. They couldn’t have a party with Angela here, and the thought of sending her off so they could have one made Tyler’s wolf growl and snap. She’d know exactly what he was doing, and it hurt just thinking about the look in her eyes if that happened. No. So a party was out of the question. And while it had been two months since the hiker that looked like Max turned up dead, Tyler wasn’t going to take any chance that someone had just been watching them all this time.
A knock came on the cabin door and Tyler gratefully answered it to find Sandra and Ian. He gestured them in, heaving a sigh of relief. Even Ian’s distrustful glare at him wasn’t as bad as Max’s anger and silence the last few days.
Although, Tyler mused, if Ian knew how close we came to seducing Angela he’d probably kill us.
“Thank you for coming,” he said. He had to get to town and do some work. Several more seniors had passed away over the last week and he and Max had been busy at the funeral parlor. Something that did not help with how angry Max was being. “Angela’s taking a nap, but she’ll probably be awake shortly. I just have to go and…”
He shrugged. They both knew that Angela had been having stomach pains again. The stress had been really getting to her.
“She should be living with us,” Ian grumbled as he gazed around the cabin in distaste.
Tyler fought the urge to roll his eyes. That option was there for Angela if she wanted it. The fact that she was still here was proof she wanted to be living with Tyler and Max. The best Tyler could figure was she was hoping that they’d seduce her—or maybe she was hoping to seduce them. Either way, she definitely wanted to convince Max to finally give up his rights to the babies.
She wanted Tyler to give up his rights, too. And that was getting harder to do the more he spent time with her. He could sense the little pups in her womb when he laid his hand on her stomach, could almost hear them if he put his ear to her bellybutton. And he loved listening to her laugh when he said that.
His wolf wanted her. Wanted her so bad that it was hard not to just go into her room at night and smother her with kisses. He saw the way she looked at him; she wanted him just as much.
But he had to hear her say it. She wasn’t getting off so easy as that. She had to tell him in detail what she wanted him to do to her before he did anything. She was too shy.
Tyler shook those thoughts from his head as Ian gave him a suspicious look, waved to Sandra and jogged down the front porch steps to his car. He drove off, noting that Ian stood watching him leave for some time. It gave him the creeps but whatever. Ian was like that, he supposed.
The last time Tyler had spoken at any length to Max, they had gotten into an argument about whether Angela should get an abortion. Still. She was twenty-two weeks pregnant and Max had felt the babies move—to Tyler’s jealousy—and he still wanted to force Angela to abort.
Tyler understood where he was coming from. With all the shit that had happened in his family history and the way it was drilled into him from the time he was a kid that they were genetically monsters… Well, Max had always said it was irresponsible of him to breed. But it was just as irresponsible to try to steal that choice from Angela.
“Fuck this,” he grumbled, turning his music up. “Don’t wanna be thinking about any of this crap.”
But the music didn’t drown out his thoughts. Because his mind immediately went to what if Angela decided she wanted an abortion? It was the reason he hadn’t yet told her about Max’s family history, why he had been doing his best to stop Max from telling her himself. Talking her out of taking a paternity test. Because he had never realized just how much he wanted to be a dad and it felt like this was the only chance he’d get…
It would be emotionally devastating for her to make that choice, though. And not just for him. She wanted these babies so badly. If she did decide to terminate this late in the game, it would have to be for health reasons. Anybody who goes through an abortion at five months has to have so much emotionally going on…
His radio cut out as the Bluetooth announced he had a call. Tyler shook his head, winding through the pines of Devil Mountain, and answered it.
A nondescript voice came over the line. “Do you have a dog named Marvin?”
Ice flooded Tyler’s veins. He brought the car to a stop, his heart thumping against his chest. He yanked open the glove compartment, pulling the gun out from where he kept it. “Who is this?” he snarled.
A click and the call was over.
With all his senses on high alert, Tyler gripped the gun in his hand as he started forward again. Every bend in the road seemed like a trap. A sniper could be hiding anywhere. So he stomped on the gas, sending peals of dust behind him.
“Call Max,” he ordered his Bluetooth.
There was no answer.
Tyler cursed. Was it because Max wasn’t answering or was it because he was dead? “Call Sly.”
Sly, thankfully, answered almost immediately. “What do you want, Vaughn?”
“I just got a call,” Tyler barked. “They used the old code that we had when we were working undercover in the Pack.”
The Pack had been a terrorist organization that all the wolf shifters of Devil Mountain had once infiltrated. Sly had been their commander, back when they were part of the military. Tyler had put that in his past. He’d locked those memories away and refused to let them out. Not that it had been easy. It’d taken years for him to hear gunshots from hunters in the woods and not have his body shift, ready to attack before he was even aware of it.
Now it was coming back? None of the wolves here now would use that code as a prank. Not when they all knew what sort of messed-up shit had happened to each other.
“Are you sure?” Sly asked urgently.
“Positive. And Max isn’t answering.”
“Where are you now?”
“Headed for the funeral parlor. That’s where Max was. I just left Ian and Sandra with Angela,” Tyler reported, falling back into that old habit quickly. “Your orders, Sir?”
“Get to the funeral parlor. I’ll have Kristoff and Lucas meet you there. Do not turn around,” Sly added with a growl, as though he guessed that Tyler was thinking of doing just that. “I’ll send Omar, Roman, and Theron over to your place to tell Ian what happened and help look after the women. You just get to Max. He’s the one who was targeted before, remember.”
Tyler did remember. And he was suddenly filled with terrible anxiety. He and Max had known each other since they were kids. What if something happened now? How would he feel if the last interactions they had were when they were fighting?
But isn’t Angela worth fighting for?
Kristoff and Lucas’ motorbikes were already outside the funeral parlor when Tyler pulled up. Keeping the gun tight in his hand, he entered smoothly, keeping to the wall and making sure he was ready to attack if need be. The two wolves were in the lobby, pretending to read magazines.
“Everything’s clear,” Kristoff told him without really looking up. “Max is in the back.”
Tyler let out a sigh of relief. He tucked his gun into his waistband and hurried into the back, looking for Max. His partner was leaning over Eleanor Thomson, one of the centennials—people in town who were over one hundred years old. She had passed peacefully in her sleep recently.
Max glanced up at him from where he was working on the body. “You didn’t have to call Sly.”
“You weren’t answering.”
Max shrugged. “Didn’t want to fight.”
Tyler breathed out a deep breath. He pulled out his cellphone, calling Angela to make sure she was okay. Once that was confirmed, he went to change into the scrubs he wore for preparing a body. The smell of the disinfectant bath stung his nose as he returned to help Max, treating Eleanor’s earthly remains respectfully as they washed her body.
“Guess it was too much to hope for that it was over,” Max murmured. “Sly thinks this is connected to that hiker and the vampires Angela saw at the diner.”
“It’s a common-sense connection,” Tyler agreed. “Don’t you think it’s connected?”
Max shrugged. “Guess I just can’t think of any vampire I pissed off enough to be coming after me. Or you.”
“Doesn’t mean there isn’t someone.”
“Yeah, that is kind of obvious.” Max patted Eleanor’s skin dry as he sighed. “I’ve never thought I’ll live to be as old as her. She had a long and healthy life… But sometimes you have to wonder. What hidden sorrows did she go through that nobody knew?”
Tyler looked up at him. “Have you considered there are reasons beyond being a mother that has Angela so determined to have those babies?”
“I don’t want to talk about Angela right now.”
Tyler helped finish drying the body and covered her with a blue sheet. “But we have to talk about it. When you didn’t answer… I thought maybe the last thing we ever did was fight. I thought maybe you’d been killed. I don’t know what I’d do if…”
Max’s shoulders fell. He stripped off the gloves he wore and threw them in the trash. “You’d survive, Tyler. Hell, maybe you and Angela could get married and raise the little parasites—”
“Max.”
He glared at Tyler a moment before he shrugged. “If you had any brains, you’d have taken Angela to the city and falsified a paternity test so that it looked like they were your babies.”
Surrogate for the Wolves Page 5
