Blake, Abby - Mikayla's Family [A Bride for Eight Brothers 6] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (4 page)

The doctors had assured them that it was quite normal for it to take several months for a human female to get pregnant. They’d even suggested it could take a year or more. Even though he knew Mother Nature often worked on her own schedule, Ty wasn’t sure how long he could watch Mikayla be disappointed over and over, month after month. The ovulation stick was in some ways an effort to bring science to their procreation efforts. But if he’d known the news that would soon follow, he would’ve reconsidered the whole getting-their-wife-pregnant thing. At least for the moment.

Unfortunately, the news their visitors were about to deliver to Mikayla wasn’t going to make things any easier. In fact, given everything that had happened over the last few years, Mikayla could very well call the whole thing off.

Ty shook his head and tried to concentrate yet again. He went through the machine’s diagnostic steps mechanically, but his waning enthusiasm plummeted to zero when he heard the proximity alarm sound.

* * * *

Mikayla was curled on the sofa reading a book when the proximity alarm chimed. Unlike the noisy clanging sound on the station, the proximity alarm on the farm was more of an announcement of visitors rather than a screeched warning of impending invasion.

Matt and Bryce both walked into the room, despite the fact that she’d believed herself alone in the house.

“Sounds like visitors,” Bryce said with a serious expression on his handsome face.

It was usually a delivery driver with supplies for the farm, but Bryce’s demeanor suggested that maybe this visitor was of a more personal nature. Intrigued, Mikayla followed her men to the communications console.

She recognized Rick’s voice immediately and held her breath for a moment hoping that Tracey was with him. As much as she loved living on the farm, she still lived a fairly isolated life. Having Tracey around, even for a short visit, was always enjoyable.

By the time the small transport craft landed on the front lawn, Mikayla was practically dancing with excitement. It had been months since she’d seen her best friend in person. Girl talk just wasn’t the same over the communicator. But one look at the woman’s face had Mikayla worrying about the reason for the impromptu visit.

“Are you okay?” she whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of the men. It didn’t help that Tracey had arrived with all three of her husbands. It was very rare that all three men—highly decorated police officers—could get vacations at the same time.

Tracey smiled but the expression didn’t quite make her eyes. “Jet Killarney was released on bail pending a retrial.”

Acid climbed Mikayla’s throat as the implications began to sink in. The man who’d betrayed her, who’d sold her into prostitution, was walking around as a free man. There had been overwhelming evidence to convict Jet for his part in the human trafficking ring that Mikayla had uncovered accidentally, but it had been Mikayla’s and Tracey’s testimonies that had given the judge reason to apply the maximum sentence.

The fact that a retrial had been granted at all was seriously questionable.

“But they have our testimonies on file. We won’t need to be involved in a retrial,” Mikayla said, trying hard to make it sound like a confident statement and not a frightened question. Tracey shook her head.

“It would seem that our recorded testimonies—and
all
of the backup copies—were somehow destroyed in an unfortunate string of coincidences.” Mikayla could hear the anger and sarcasm in her friend’s words. Somebody was going to a lot of trouble to erase the evidence that convicted Jet Killarney in the first place. “Rick, Tony, and Ashton believe that whatever is going on involves people high up in the justice system. They don’t trust anybody now, not even police officers, lawyers, or judges they’ve worked with for years.”

Mikayla could feel her knees wobbling as reaction began to affect her physically. Tracey’s husbands were all levelheaded, sensible men and not prone to overreaction or paranoia. If they didn’t know who to trust, then it was a safe bet that things were very serious and probably very dangerous for Mikayla and Tracey right now.

Tracey must’ve noticed Mikayla’s reaction because she grabbed her hand and practically dragged her into the house. Mikayla didn’t miss the fact that all eight of her husbands had somehow managed to greet their visitors despite their heavy work schedules. And she certainly didn’t miss the fact that all eleven men watched Mikayla and Tracey enter the house. Whatever they were planning, Mikayla had no doubt they’d keep their women safe, but she also knew they’d all lay their lives on the line to protect them. Losing any of hers or Tracey’s men was not an option.

Damn Jet Killarney and his interference in their lives.

* * * *

Peter watched from a distance as the color drained from Mikayla’s face. All eight of the brothers had discussed how to break the news to her but had finally agreed that letting Tracey tell her would be the best choice. Mikayla worked so hard to remain strong and independent that she would’ve denied the fear and refused their emotional support. At least with Tracey she would feel more comfortable reacting honestly.

Of course her husbands would give her all the support she needed, but at least this way she didn’t feel completely dependent on her men.

Peter, his brothers, and Tracey’s three husbands deliberately gave the women some time together as they stood on the front lawn and discussed how best to keep them all safe. It was a very real possibility that Jet, or someone working for him, would come after Mikayla and Tracey to make certain that their testimonies wouldn’t be rerecorded for his retrial. And it was also likely that they wouldn’t be concerned about collateral damage.

“We’ve organized for the research lab-ship to be taken out of orbit and parked permanently on the land behind the house,” Ryan said as he ran an agitated hand through his hair. “The local planning council took some convincing. We’ve had to promise to build a façade over the ‘ugly’ outer shell so that it blends with the local building code, but at least we’ll have the security and protective shields available to us if the need arises.”

“I don’t want anyone on the property besides us,” Ashton said with a worried frown. “If the work needs to be done, we’ll have to figure out how to do it ourselves. I don’t want any strangers wandering around the area.”

“Agreed,” Peter said with a nod of his head. “We have no clue who to trust. We need to keep this between the thirteen of us.”

“Terrific,” Matt mumbled. “Thirteen. Lucky we’re not superstitious.”

“Actually,” Tony said with the first genuine grin any of them had worn today, “technically it’s fourteen. Tracey’s pregnant.”

Peter smiled at the happy news and offered Rick, Tony, and Ashton his congratulations. Despite the fact that Mikayla hadn’t yet gotten pregnant, he knew that his wife would be very pleased for her friend. Hopefully, the good news would help lift the mood tonight at the dinner table.

* * * *

Mikayla smirked at the feigned disgruntled expression on Tracey’s face. As soon as she’d broken the news of her pregnancy, Mikayla had relegated her to a kitchen stool and taken over the preparations for dinner. Cooking for nine wasn’t all that different to cooking for thirteen—well, thirteen and a half—so Mikayla was quite happy to do the work herself.

Despite her assurances, Tracey looked tired. It had probably been a long couple of days. Between the pregnancy, the news of Jet’s release, and the obvious conspiracy to let Tracey be the one to tell Mikayla the news, it was a wonder the woman could stand up.

“Why you?” Mikayla asked impulsively.

Tracey didn’t even try to deny that she knew what Mikayla was asking. “I volunteered.” She shrugged. “I know how hard you try not to lean on your husbands—so do they, by the way—and between us we decided that at least by hearing the news from me, it would give you a chance to react before you plaster on your brave face.”

Mikayla wasn’t really sure how she felt about all of that. She worked hard to be a strong and capable wife so that they wouldn’t hide things from her, yet they ended up doing it because they felt she was too strong, too capable? Sheesh. Having eight husbands certainly had its downside.

“Don’t,” Tracey said with a finger pointed in Mikayla’s direction. “I understand how hard it is to deal with overprotective husbands,
and
I know that it’s necessary for our sanity not to be treated as fragile.” A crooked smile curved her face. “But in this case I feel that they did the right thing. If they’d told you last night, would it have made a difference?”

“Probably,” Mikayla conceded. It was easy to be angry at them for not telling her, but she couldn’t deny that with Tracey she felt safe to let her fear show without worrying that she’d end up wrapped her in cotton wool.

“They adore you, Mikayla. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let them spoil you now and then.”

Mikayla grinned at Tracey’s attempt to keep a straight face. “Which one of them told you to tell me that?”

Tracey laughed. “Um…all of them.”

But even as they laughed at the words, Mikayla realized that the one thing all of her husbands had in common was their protective streaks. Even though it was important for Mikayla to feel independent, it was just as important for her men to know that they were guarding her. Maybe she could consider relaxing her restraint just a little. She certainly didn’t want to end up as some weak-willed, pathetic crybaby, but she did understand her husbands’ need. After all, she was just as protective as they were.

* * * *

John was starting to second-guess their decision to settle back on Earth. Before they’d purchased the farm, they’d all carefully weighed up the pros and cons—Bryce’s history as an undercover officer for the drug enforcement agency, Mikayla’s involvement in a court case when she was seventeen, even the closer proximity to Jessie Evans—and had decided as a family that, with a few extra precautions, they would be safe on Earth. They hadn’t even considered the possibility of Jet Killarney being released from prison or the chance of him seeking revenge.

It had been so far outside the realms of possibility that none of them had even considered it as a threat. But as Rick, Tony, and Ashton had just spent the last hour explaining, money made a lot of things happen. Especially when they were talking the sickeningly large sums of money involved in human trafficking.

The type of people that must be involved to be able to pull off the sort of conspiracy they were discussing was completely mind-boggling. But the one thing that didn’t make sense was Jet’s obvious importance to such an organized criminal faction. He’d seemed like such a small player when he’d been convicted. “Is Jet a relative of someone higher in the organization?”

“That’s what we’ve been wondering, too,” Rick answered. “But our efforts to investigate have been blocked at each turn, hence, the decision to limit our trust to only the Davidson brothers.”

John nodded as more and more scenarios began to unfold in his head. With so much money being thrown in to help Jet overturn his conviction, it was more than likely that someone would be hired to eliminate Mikayla and Tracey. That meant that everyone was a potential threat.

“I want to get the women inside the station as soon as we can get it set up,” John said urgently. His stomach cramped at just how vulnerable Mikayla and Tracey were inside the old farmhouse. It had been modernized, and alarms had been installed, but the protection it offered was nothing like the security measures available on the research base.

“I doubt Mikayla will be happy,” Bryce said quietly. “She has her own bedroom and loves the big kitchen in the farmhouse. She’s not going to enjoy going back to the cramped conditions on the base.”

They all nodded in agreement.

Chapter Four

Mikayla wasn’t surprised that Matt joined her in her bed. It was a little unusual for him to come to her without Bryce, but she’d already figured out that the base would be the safest place for her and Tracey, so it was a safe bet that Matt was here to break the bad news.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled her into his arms and held her tight. “But the day after tomorrow we’ll need to move into the research station.”

“Matt, don’t be sorry. I know you’re just trying to protect me.”

“If there was any other way…” he said softly as he pulled her closer.

“It’s okay, Matt.” Mikayla took a deep breath. She knew that her reticence to lean on them frustrated her men, but it was damn hard to let go when she’d spent a lifetime holding herself together. “To be honest,” she said, trying to find the words to explain, “this stuff with Jet scares the spit out of me. He dumped me on a planet where my choices were starvation or prostitution. I have no doubt he’ll kill Tracey and me without blinking.”