Betraying the Pack (20 page)

Hugging her superbly large
stomach, Bailey waddled to the front porch her mates had built her and surveyed
them as they worked on their newest present to her—a gazebo. She still hadn’t
quite figured out what one did with that structure, but she didn’t tell them
that, not when they seemed so darned determined to give her one.

Next on their agenda, they’d
informed her, was a play structure for the baby. Never mind the child wouldn’t
be big enough to play on it for at least a year or more. Apparently their child
would need one. And the list went on.

Truly, though, she couldn’t
complain. How many women had three men determined to make her life as wonderful
as possible? Sometimes she couldn’t believe her luck, but as Dana, her best
female friend, said,
“Three is so much
better than one. Especially all at once.”

Absently, she ran her tongue
over the inside of her bottom lip, the small, ridged scar from the small bite
Jaxon had given her—their mating exchange—tingling again. She’d told the boys
about her binding with Jaxon in the cell. They’d accepted it and then never
spoken of it again. However, she found it harder than them to forget the man
with the beautiful smile and dancing green eyes. She relived over and over his
death, his final words.

She dreamt of him sometimes,
calling to her from some dark, painful place. She woke from those dreams
sweating, allowing whichever man she slept with to comfort her.

What she didn’t tell them was
her belief that Jaxon lived—along with Roderick. Truthfully, she was pretty
sure they already suspected given the way they never let her out of sight and
the way the security for the compound never abated, even after that final
battle.

She knew one day Roderick, that
evil creature, would return, but this time, she’d be prepared for him. The pack
would eventually have their revenge.

In the meantime, she would live
life to the fullest with her mates. She would birth her child and become a
mother. And most of all, she would love.

Stepping down from the porch,
she’d barely hit the grass when the hum of male voices surrounded her, along
with their musky scent. She let their enthusiasm and affection roll over her,
feeling the baby kick in response.

In that moment, she believed,
that no matter what the future held, they would prevail—and be happy.

Forever.

The End

Eve Langlais, who is in her mid-thirties, has been married eleven years to a wonderful man who gave her three beautiful, but distracting children, aged ten, seven, and four. A military brat, Eve was born in British Columbia but ended up living all across Canada. She now resides with her family, that also includes a cat and a guinea pig, in the historic town of Bowmanville, Ontario. If you want to get to know her better, visit her website at www.evelanglais.com or friend her on FaceBook.