by Leela Ash
“Great,” the Wolf groaned. “A Lost Wolf. Just what every Pack needs.”
That was the final straw for Lucas. “Screw you and your Pack! I’m not sure I need you.”
Oh dear, this was not going well! Now the two Wolves glared at each other, eyes locked. Probably one of those horrid dominance games Wolves were infamous for. She hurried on, hoping a stream of cheerful prattle would interrupt the posturing before things turned violent.
“I’ve told him a lot about Shifter society but I’m sure there’s a ton he still needs to learn.”
Lily’s nose wrinkled. “You got a question, Lost-Boy?”
Lucas’ lips curled back from his teeth. “Yeah. Where’s the bathroom?”
“What’s wrong with those bushes?”
“Fine.”
Once he was out of hearing, Casey rounded on his Mate. “Lily, what is wrong with you?” Exasperation sharped his words. “Is this how you treat your brother? Your family?”
But Lily King wasn’t the Alpha of the Sand Pack for nothing. Not even an irate Dragon intimidated her. “Yeah, it is. Yesterday I found out I’m not related to my dad. You hand me new parents, a new brother… and you expect me to give a shit about them, just like that?” She snapped her fingers. “Well screw you. I don’t.”
“I thought you got over your anger,” he huffed.
In one day? Ash began to feel a bit sorry for the surly Wolf. Lucas wasn’t the only one who’d had his world turned upside down. And when Wolves got upset, they tended to bite.
Maybe some more peace-keeping would help? “I’m sure this is a lot to deal with, especially in just one day. In time, though…”
Lily rounded on her. “Are you banging my brother?”
“What?” Ash yelped.
“My brother. The dumbass in the bushes. Are you two an item?”
“No!” Her cheeks blazed red. “No, I wouldn’t say that we’re… anything. I mean, we’re not… not…”
“Did he knock you up?”
“Lily!” Casey sputtered. “Manners! Manners, please, I beg you!”
“What? I’m just asking a question. Did he get you pregnant?”
“No,” Ash stammered. “Why would you even think that?”
Lily waved at the empty air around them. “Because all the Wolves in the Spread are wandering over and sniffing you. Last time that happened was when I got pregnant.”
A baby? “That’s impossible. I’m on the pill.”
Did she really just say that out loud?
“So you guys are sleeping together.” Lucas was hurrying back now, zipping up his fly. The Wolf inched closer and lowered her voice. “Sister, if I was you, I’d pee on a stick real soon.”
Ash flinched away, fragments of thoughts fluttering through her mind like terrified birds. A baby. A Wolf’s baby. How could she keep working on her Ph.D. if… How could she even do this… What was her mother going to think?
Lucas caught sight of her shocked face – and at once, he jumped to the wrong conclusion. Slamming his hand down on Lily’s shoulder, he spun the Wolf around. “Get out of her face you…”
Ring and necklace clicked against each other.
FWOOM!
All the air around them rushed violently towards the two Wolves, like a tiny black hole had just erupted in Ringo’s Spread. The force dragged Ash forward and she toppled helplessly against Lucas.
BOOM!
Magic exploded outwards, an invisible tsunami of force that rippled through the air. Tossed like a feather in a hurricane, she flew head over heels, slamming into the ground with a force that knocked the wind out of her.
Gasping, Ash pulled herself to her knees.
Trailers rocked, rattled by the power that gushed across the desert. Wolves scrambled to their feet, cursing and yelling. Lucas and Lily lay, groaning. Only Casey had weathered the blast well. The Dragon rose to his feet, frowning at something on the ground.
Where they had stood, a plate-sized disk of white hide lay on the ground. Plain, unadorned, it looked like a small, delicate shield. Puzzled, the Dragon crouched and picked it up.
Light flashed around its edges and Casey tensed. This time, however, no explosion followed. A dark stain, like spilled ink, swam to the surface of the white leather. It curled and twisted, forming a small image of a horned Dragon.
Ash staggered to her feet. “What happened?” she croaked.
“I don’t know.” Casey turned the disk back and forth. Gingerly, she ran a finger along its edge. It was warm, like sun-baked hide.
Nothing happened when she touched it. Of course. She was just Kin, after all.
“The hell was that?” Lily mumbled as she hauled herself up.
She, too, poked it. To Ash’s surprise, no image formed. A moment later the Wolf scowled and began to scan the ground around her. “Where’s my necklace?”
Something that large shouldn’t be hard to find. Ash joined her search.
Lucas was the last to recover. Like Lily, he glowered at the ground around him. “Where the hell is my ring?”
A terrible suspicion bubbled up in Ash’s mind. Lily’s necklace was huge, a thick chain decorated with long, thin bars of silver. It couldn’t just disappear! In this sunlight it should shine like a beacon!
Wolves surged close. Lily waved them back, frantic to find her lost heirloom.
A scruffy man with a long salt and pepper ponytail shoved his way through the crowd. “What the hell is this ruckus?”
That must be Aaron King, the men’s Alpha. Ash didn’t know him by sight, but every Shifter within three states knew his name.
Before she could explain, Casey volunteered. “This is Lucas Clay, son of Lily’s biological parents.” The Alpha’s eyes widened, but he held his tongue. “When he and Lily touched, there was an explosion. Magic?”
He glanced at Ash for help. All she could do was shrug. “I’d guess so. But I’m just Kin, not a Hare.”
“Your daughter’s necklace vanished, and this appeared in its place.” He raised the white shield, with its lone Dragon image.
“My ring’s gone too.” Lucas shot Lily a venomous scowl, as if this was all her fault.
“Was this ring a gift from your parents?” When the Wolf nodded, Casey winced. “Then I believe this disk is both of those things. Ring and necklace.”
Ash swallowed as his reasoning became plain to her. “So you think Lucas’ parents broke this thing into two pieces and hid one with each baby?”
“Yes. And when brother and sister found each other again, it was remade.”
“But what is it?” Ash asked. Honestly, it didn’t look all that impressive.
Yet the Dragon handled it reverently, like he held the Holy Grail. “I believe I know. We need to speak to the wise, however. I’ll take this to the Sedona Warren.”
Angry and hurt, Lucas stalked up to him. “Wait a second. You don’t get to steal my ring and walk off!”
“I am not stealing anything.”
“Yes, you are! That thing ate my ring, the only gift my parents left me!”
“Ditto for my necklace, bro.” Her anger echoed his, though it was aimed at her brother, not her Mate. “You’re not the only one losing something precious.”
Around them, the grumbling of the Wolves turned darker. Lucas held his hand out. “Give it to me. I’ll take it to Sedona.”
“By yourself?” his sister scoffed. “You don’t even have a Pack to defend you.”
“I don’t need a bunch of drunken losers to keep me safe,” he sneered back.
Deep growls rang out around them, and Ash’s mouth went dry.
That was definitely not the right thing to say. “Look, um, my mother’s a Witch in the Sedona Warren. If you want, I could take it to her.”
Ever calm, Casey held tight to the shield. “I am a Dragon. This relic will be safest in my hands.”
A hard point to argue against. Still, Lucas made one doomed attempt to snatch it away.
Casey caught his wrist in an iron
grip. “Don’t do that,” he warned.
Lucas jerked back as several of the bikers Shifted into their Wolf forms. Yet, outnumbered, facing an unbeatable force, he didn’t back down. Despite everything, Ash found a grudging respect for his courage. No matter what the odds, he wouldn’t cave.
“That belongs to me.”
Aaron King waded through his swirling Pack. “Boy, you share blood with my daughter. That’s the only reason I’m not kicking your ass and dragging your carcass to Phoenix behind my bike. You want to stay in one piece, you need to leave. Now.”
Still he faced them, hands balled into fists.
Ash laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Lucas. We should go.”
“But…”
She could see the impossible odds, even if he couldn’t. “We’ll figure this out. Mr. Briggs, you’re taking this to Sedona, right?”
“I am.”
“Then we’ll meet you there. I’ll explain to my mother and her Warren why you, Lucas, have a claim on this object.”
Slowly he relented, allowing her to drag him away from the snarling Wolves.
Though, as they walked away, he couldn’t resist shouting, “We’ll see you in Sedona.”
Which they would.
Right after she stopped by a pharmacy to pick up a pregnancy test.
Chapter 7.
Lucas’ heart ached.
Literally. A nagging pain, a hollowness ate at him. Losing that ring felt like having a finger cut off – or maybe even an arm. The empty space where it used to be gnawed at his soul. Something, some part of him he’d never paid much attention to, was gone. Now that he’d lost it, he finally understood how important his parents’ gift had been.
From the couch, the Clays watched anxiously as he paced back and forth across the living room. Dodger simmered with rage. Her elderly canine brain didn’t understand what was wrong, but by God, when the thief showed up, that old girl was going to bite the hell out of him.
And the Monster…!
His Wolf raged, howling and snarling. It flooded his mind with commands. Some foolish, like ‘Run! Run until you drop!’ Some terrible, like, ‘Bite your Pack!’
He was not hitting his grandparents – or kicking Dodger, no matter how much the Monster longed to take its fury out on something, anything.
Run, then!
No. He was the master of his soul, not that Thing. Besides, his only hope of getting his ring back was here. With Ash Anderson.
Who was still in the bathroom!
“What the hell is taking her so long?” he snapped.
“Lucas, settle,” Gramps ordered. Like he was Dodger’s over-excited pup.
He did manage to sit down, still twitching with impatience. Finally, finally, the bathroom door opened and Ash emerged.
Lucas bounced to his feet again. “Will they listen to you?”
“What? Who?” She blinked at him, her face vacant and confused.
“Your mother’s Warren. The people who have my ring.”
Gramps rose too, frowning. “Are you alright Miss Anderson?”
Ash was pale, and sweating. Was she sick? Here he’d been so focused on himself, he hadn’t noticed that she didn’t look well. Appalled with himself, Lucas offered her a hand. “You don’t look so good. Here, sit down.”
“I’ll get you some water.” Gram scurried off to the kitchen. In Gram’s eyes, food and drink solved every problem.
Dodger hauled herself up and began to totter around the room. If Lucas was abandoning his Pacing Duties, the border collie would pick up the slack.
“I’m fine,” Ash murmured. Though she looked anything but. “Just a little dizzy.” She accepted a glass from Gram and sipped gratefully. After a couple minutes, color crept back into her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Lucas sat on his hands and fought not to go to her and attempt to comfort her as she recovered from… whatever.
At last, right when he was about to get up and move next to her, she set her glass down and got to business. “I’m afraid I don’t have great news. I’m nobody in the Warren. I’m not even a Shifter. My mother is an important Witch Hare, however. Hopefully I can convince her to intervene on your behalf. I’ll warn you, though, she doesn’t like Wolves very much.”
“Neither do I! Bunch of drunken, lazy, thieving idiots.”
Ash gave a weak chuckle. “That’s what she says. Maybe you’ll be the first Wolf she likes.”
Her eyes grew bright… with tears? What the hell was going on?
“Do you want to lie down for a bit, dear?” Gram patted Ash’s hand.
“No, we should get going. I want to talk to Mom before the Warren renders a decision. The sooner, the better.”
Fine by him. Lucas hopped to his feet. “I’ll drive. Where’s your car, by the way?”
“Back at the house where you found me. The Warren will let me know when it’s safe to pick it up.”
Gram and Gramps rose too, stiffly. Dodger came over for a farewell sniff.
“This ring worth a fight?” Gramps’ weathered face wrinkled in a frown. “If it is, then don’t back down. I didn’t raise any cowards in this house. But if it’s just a piece of metal…”
“It’s not. It’s not just an heirloom, either.” He rubbed his hands together, unable to make that ache go away. “I can feel it. Or, well, the fact that it’s not here. It’s like a piece of my soul got scooped out and thrown away. Sounds crazy, right?”
“No, not at all!” Ash actually brightened. “It sounds like magic. If there’s some mystical connection between you and this artifact, that matters. It makes it a lot more likely that the Warren will honor your claim to it. As long as, you know, Lily King doesn’t feel something similar.”
Run her off! his Wolf roared. Chase her away! This is ours!
Tempting… but no.
When I want Monstrous advice, I’ll ask for it, okay?
His Wolf snarled, following him in a distant sulk. Lucas ignored it and grabbed his car keys.
Chapter 8.
The drive – all five hours of it – passed in almost absolute silence. Lucas brooded, stewing about his lost ring.
Ash didn’t mind. It gave her time to think about her own problems.
She was pregnant. The test confirmed it. And the father didn’t even think they were ‘friends.’
Terror and fury hit her first. This was so unfair! It was one night – one! And she’d taken precautions! Now she was pregnant… by a Wolf, no less! Mom was going to kill her. She couldn’t do this, couldn’t juggle college and a baby.
She knew what her mother would say: ‘There are discreet clinics that will make this problem go away. Don’t do what I did. Don’t keep it.’
Tears burned at the thought, but Ash knew it was true. She was her mother’s biggest mistake. The thing Mom regretted most. After the divorce, she’d been forced to raise Ash by herself. Time spent with a child was time she couldn’t devote to the Warren. How often had her mother been passed over for promotions? All because of her. She’d told Ash that, a dozen times. She’d be Danielle LePierre’s right-hand Hare… if not for her.
My career will suffer too.
The emotion summoned by that thought shocked her.
Apathy.
She didn’t care.
I went to college to prove that I was worthy to join the Sedona Warren. And, well, that hope’s been shot down. I’m Kin. I’ll never be good enough.
Which meant her future was a blank slate. Anything could happen. Anything she wanted.
And she wanted this baby.
Ash had never considered marriage or a family. Why volunteer for all the misery her mother went through? Yet now, knowing that she held a tiny life inside her, everything changed.
I don’t have to be my mother. I could love this child. I could put my baby first, and not rail about how it ruined my life. I could be a mother. A real mother, a loving mother. Not like…
Not like hers. Ash winced, but those words held the steely b
ite of truth.
Things could be different. Better. I can raise a child.
Alone?
She glanced at Lucas who scowled at the highway. No, he didn’t want any part of this. Oh, she’d be willing to give him a chance, if he did. In a heartbeat. Sure, today was a bad day for him. Yesterday, though, when he rescued her, he’d shown her his true heart. He was a man who would risk his life to save a stranger, a man who came running when he heard a woman scream.
Ash couldn’t say she was in love with Lucas Clay; she’d only just met him… but she had a feeling she sure could fall in love with the guy, and quite easily. If he wanted.
He maneuvered the Honda into the passing lane to swerve around a slow driver.
Her hope died as she studied him. No, he’d made his feelings clear. For him, last night was fun, nothing more. She was the one who had to live with the consequences of their passion.
And… that was okay. Peace settled over her, and she smiled softly. She wouldn’t be the world’s first single mother. She and her baby would muddle through this, somehow. At least she was sure she couldn’t do worse than her own mother! Who knew? Perhaps the Clays wanted a great-grandchild. One morning – that was all it had taken for her to love them. Open, caring, and gentle, they were everything a family should be. Twenty-two years ago they opened their hearts to a foundling baby. Surely they’d welcome her and hers?
Whoosh! Lucas swerved back into his own lane.
He’ll probably lose his shit if I ‘horn in’ on ‘his’ family.
Too bad – for him. He didn’t get to decide what his grandparents would do. They’d talk. They’d decide.
Now was not a good time, however. She had nine months. Better to wait until all this craziness died down.
To her astonishment, Lucas and Mom did hit it off. Not right from the start. Once she spotted his Wolf, her mother scowled at Ash like she’d dumped a rotten raccoon carcass in the middle of the living room. That sniff of disdain lingered through the introductions and the first explanations. However as soon as Lucas began to complain about the Sand Pack, Mom’s face lit with joy. Ash leaned back on the couch and let the two of them bond over trash-talking Wolves.
