Bridenapped The Alpha's Choice (7 page)

Petra Gratz, the nurse manager who met them out on the front steps, was Jarrod’s aunt. Unfortunately, that fact didn’t soften her up any when they approached her for a tour. Mary couldn’t help but notice the angry looks she shot at Ignatius, or the helpless shrug he gave her before quickly glancing away. Mary was really starting to get a bad feeling about this.

Regina pulled the earbuds out of her ears, looking around and making a face. “Where are we now?” she asked, looking annoyed. “Aren’t we ever going to go shopping?”

“We’re going to tour a maternity ward,” Mary told her.

“Jarrod, I simply will not allow it,” Petra said. “It’s insulting. I’m tired of all of this scrutiny. We’re being treated like criminals here.”

Now, that piqued Mary’s interest. What else had happened? What scrutiny? She’d definitely have to ask Jarrod about that later.

“And, of course, you know men aren’t allowed in here anyway,” Petra added.

“I’ll go in alone, then,” Mary said despite a ripple of trepidation.

Petra still hesitated, standing in front of them, blocking the doors to the hospital.

“Do I really need to explain how this works to you, Aunt Petra?” Jarrod said impatiently. “Now that I have bridenapped my future wife, I am considered Full Alpha. Yes, technically I’m Alpha Regent until the wedding, but by law I now operate as Full Alpha. So I make the rules. I’m not asking you if Mary can tour the facility. I’m telling you that she’s touring. Now.”

“This is against our custom,” Petra protested. “We…we aren’t prepared.”

“Exactly what preparing do you need to do?” Jarrod demanded heatedly. “I’m here trying to convince my bride-to-be that she has nothing to worry about giving birth to cubs here, and you’re making it seem like you’re trying to hide some sinister chamber of horrors. Let her in so that I can reassure her – and, for that matter, me.”

Petra put her hands on her hips. “I won’t do it. This is my ward. I have to do what’s best for my patients.”

“You’ll let her in, or I’ll have you removed from your position immediately,” Jarrod said coldly.

Petra narrowed her eyes and drew in an angry breath through her nostrils, but she clearly wasn’t prepared to defy the pack’s Alpha Regent, even if he was her nephew. She slowly withdrew a keycard from her pocket and swiped it through a lock, and the front door swung open.

“I’m going too,” Regina said loudly, surprising Mary.

“No,” Petra said, shaking her head.

“Yes,” Mary said, just to spite her, and she and Regina rushed through the door.

They walked through a sterile-looking entry room where a nurse in scrubs sat behind a desk. She looked up at them, startled. Mary and Regina opened the only other door which led down a long, white-tiled hallway, with Petra on their heels, muttering under her breath.

Everything looked normal. They passed a small, sunlit lounge where several heavily pregnant women sat around a small, round table, glancing up at them curiously.

They went down a hall that had a dozen rooms on either side, a total of four of them occupied rooms by mothers who held their babies cradled in their arms. Everyone looked content and happy.

“See? Nothing wrong here,” Petra said, but her anxiety practically radiated through the air.

Mary saw a pregnant woman emerge from a room down the hall, holding her swollen belly. She started to walk towards the woman, and Petra moved to block her.

“I can’t let you near her,” she said huffily. “It’s not sanitary.”

“It’s not sanitary for me to talk to her?” Mary said, her face heating with anger.

Suddenly there was a loud commotion at the other end of the hall. Regina was standing there yelling at a nurse. “What do you mean, I can’t go in there? Do you know who I am? Nobody says no to me!”

Regina grabbed the keycard from the clip where it dangled on the woman’s collar, swiped it through a lock, and the door at the end of the hallway swung open. She raced through it, and Petra turned and ran after her, yelling.

That was the last time Regina was going anywhere with her, Mary thought – but she took advantage of Petra’s absence to hurry over to the pregnant woman.

“Hello, I’m Mary,” she introduced herself. “Recently bridenapped by the Alpha Regent.”

“Oh, this is an honor!” The woman’s eyes lit up. “This will be good luck for my baby! My name is Briony. Would you…would you like to help me pick a name for the baby?”

“Good heavens!” Mary said, touched. “I would be honored, but I would want to make sure it’s a name that you and your husband both like.” She glanced around furtively. “Speaking of your baby… I was wondering about a certain tradition, in which the baby is taken from you immediately after birth and given to the Mage for an hour. Are you okay with that?”

“Well…” The expression on Briony’s face was all the answer Mary needed. Of course she wasn’t okay with it.

“Or would you prefer the baby stayed with you?”

“You mean I could do that?” The woman’s eyes lit up. “I’m not from this pack, so that tradition is new to me. I was quite surprised when I heard about it. So…I’m allowed to keep the baby with me right after he’s born?”

Petra hurried up to them, along with a female security guard who was dragging a smug-looking Regina by the arm. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t want to,” Petra said, pursing her lips and giving the woman a severe look. “Since the blessing always ensures a strong, healthy, baby with a long and blessed life. You wouldn’t want to risk the health of your baby for purely selfish reasons.”

Briony’s face fell, and she glanced at Mary uncertainly.

“Healthy cubs are born all over the world without this Mage nonsense. This is the only pack that does it,” Mary said to Petra. “And the tradition only started when your brother took over as Alpha Pro Tem.”

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Briony said, starting to look more determined. “I was told this was the way it had always been done. I would like to keep my cub with me.”

“So what you’re saying is that you want to risk your cub’s health and his future rather than follow pack tradition?” Petra moved close to her, her eyes glinting fiercely.

“Excuse me, I’d like to talk to her alone for a minute, without you intimidating her,” Mary said.

“That won’t be possible. You and your friend have caused enough trouble, and you’ve upset this woman enough. You’ll have to leave now,” Petra said, grabbing Mary’s arm.

“She didn’t upset me,” Briony protested.

Mary yanked her arm away, but a large orderly bustled up to them and she and Regina were hurried outside the hospital in no time.

Jarrod was standing by the car, talking on his cell phone. It was obvious from the look on his face that he didn’t like what he was hearing. He hung up as Mary and Regina approached.

“Who’s that?” Mary asked.

“My uncle.”

“I’m surprised this is the first you’ve heard from him,” Mary said as they all climbed into the limo.

“Oh, it isn’t. He’s been trying to call me to complain ever since the bridenapping. I’ve just ignored him.” Jarrod shrugged. “He’s calling an emergency meeting of the council right now. I’m going to drop you off at the house and then go deal with it.”

“When you come back,” Mary said firmly, “We need to talk.”

Regina looked far too pleased with herself as she and Mary walked into the house’s enormous foyer. And suddenly the light dawned on Mary.

“Wait a minute,” Mary said. “You actually did that to help me, didn’t you? You deliberately created a distraction.”

“Maybe,” Regina said. “Since you were nice to me about my parents being mad at me. And you let me have half the presents..” Then the mischievous look returned to her face. “I’ve never done anything like that before. I practically broke the law!”

“What’s this?” Angela hurried up to them. She had a nose for trouble. She was like a trouble bloodhound, Mary thought. “She did what? Tell me all about it!”

After Mary recounted the incident, Angela was dancing with glee. “Oh, I wish I’d been there. You actually have potential, rich chick!”

Regina, however, was starting to look worried. “My daddy’s going to yell at me if he hears about it.”

“We won’t tell him,” Mary said quickly.

Angela made a snorting noise. “Screw that,” she said impatiently. “Won’t your daddy just yell at you anyway?”

“Yes,” Regina said, her expression glum.

“So you’ve got parents who’ll disapprove of you no matter what you do. Been there, done that, ran away from home. If they’re going to treat you like crap anyway, then you might as well at least have fun. I’m a member of the Disappointing My Parents Club. It’s a fun club. You should join.”

“I’ve never been a member of a club before,” Regina said cautiously. “Nobody ever invited me.”

“I’m nervous about the direction this club is headed,” Mary interjected.

“You’re nervous about me crossing the street unless I look both ways.” Angela gave her cousin an impatient look.

“You cross the street without looking both ways?” Mary cried out, appalled. “Do you realize how incredibly dangerous that is?”

“Every now and then I like to live on the edge. Let’s leave granny-pants here to write her lists, and we’ll go out back and plan our next moves,” Angela said to Regina, who followed Angela a little too eagerly for Mary’s liking.

* * * * *

Two hours later…

The sun was on the horizon, and a gentle breeze ruffled Mary’s hair. Jarrod stood with a wicker picnic basket in his hand and a mischievous grin on his face. Craig, shirtless and sweaty, stood on the front lawn with a group of Enforcers who had just worked out for the second time that day.

“Not so fast,” Mary said to Jarrod, who was about to lead her out into the woods to enjoy their just-before-moonlight dinner. “You said you’d get Angela to like Craig.”

“Speak of the devil. I just sent for her,” Jarrod said.

The front door banged open and Angela strode towards them, frowning.
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked. “Me and Regina were just binge-watching
Orange is the New Black
on Netflix. We were just getting to a good part.” She cast a mischevious glance at Mary. “She posted on Facebook that she was watching it, and apparently her parents just about had a stroke. They sent her eleventy-leven text messages, but she’s ignoring them.”

“That guy you like, Craig.” Jarrod’s tone was serious.

“I didn’t say I liked him,” Angela said cautiously. “I just said he was hot. I haven’t really talked to him that much.”

“I’m not sure that I approve of you hanging out with him,” Jarrod continued as if she hadn’t spoken. He glanced at Craig, who was scrubbing his face with a towel. “Mary wants you to date a nice guy, and Craig’s kind of a heartbreaker.”

“Oh?” Angela glanced over at him with renewed interest. “I thought Constance said he was a good guy.”

“Yeah, well, she always wants to see the best in people. The truth is, he’s left behind a string of broken hearts. He’s kind of a bad-boy type. Some say he’s reformed these days, but I don’t see it. I just don’t think there’s a woman out there who can tame him.” Jarrod shook his head dolefully. “I discussed it with Mary, and we both agree that I should fix you up with someone more reliable.”

“Hey. You are not the Alpha of me,” Angela said indignantly.

“So you won’t be dating Craig, I’m afraid,” Jarrod continued with a sigh.

“Watch me!” Angela stomped down the stairs and hurried across the field, towards where Craig was now doing pushups. Jarrod tried hard to smother his laughter behind his hand.

“Wow,” Mary said, shaking her head in reluctant admiration. “Well played, sir, well played indeed.”

“You can’t be Alpha without learning some finesse,” Jarrod said.

“I thought it was all brute force and making sure that people are afraid of you so they always follow your orders without question.”

“Nah. That’s my uncle’s style. It wasn’t how my parents did things, and it’s not how we will.”

Mary started. He’d just said
we
. As if she’d be ruling the pack by his side.

“Force is a last resort. I prefer to consider what motivates people and approach each situation individually.” He smiled at her smugly. “For instance, you’re motivated by concern for others, which is why I was able to win this dinner bet tonight.”

The grove he led her to was a ten minute walk from the house. In the center of a grassy clearing was a stone table, already set for two. There was a bottle of Chardonnay, two wine glasses, and platters of prime rib and mashed potatoes and a tray of desserts.

Mary described the events at the hospital as they ate.

“I’m very concerned,” she told him. “Something’s really wrong there. What was that whole deal with her saying they were being treated like criminals?”

He sighed. “Well, there have been a couple of incidents. One of them was a couple of months ago. In both cases, a woman claimed they’d returned a different baby to her. She insisted the baby wasn’t hers. We had the babies DNA tested – and the babies were definitely theirs.”

“Still. That combined with the way Petra was acting…”

He nodded. “I know. It’s just hard for me to tell if she’s trying to hide something or if she’s afraid of displeasing Earvin. She’s always been under his thumb. Earvin’s bullied a lot of people, and he expects every single order he gives to be obeyed immediately and without question. “

“How did the meeting go?”

He shrugged. “Earvin bitched and whined about me not bridenapping Regina and about what happened at the hospital. The council is split almost fifty-fifty, with slightly more in my favor. Ever since my uncle took over as Gamesmaster, we’ve won a lot of games and it’s brought an enormous amount of prestige to the pack. So that’s influenced some members to stand behind him no matter what he does. On the other hand, he’s a grade-A asshole, so a lot of people can’t wait until I’m Alpha and he’s off on the sidelines just handling the games. This evening, Earvin tried to pass an emergency motion to have you disqualified as my bride because of what happened at the hospital, claiming that you were a danger to the pack, but it failed sixty-forty.”

Jarrod had a slight frown as he poured himself another glass of wine.

“What is it?” Mary asked.

“In the past, my uncle has lobbied for the rule about disabilities to be changed so he’d have the option of challenging me for the position of Alpha. He was turned down. However, with our continued success in the Pack Games, he’s built up a lot of alliances in the Alpha Congress. He might almost have enough votes.”

When Jarrod saw the stricken look on her face, he shook his head. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. I could kick his ass in a fight. I’d rather talk about the wedding planning.”

She shrugged, chewing and swallowing a delicious, salty piece of prime rib.

“And why you actually believe I’d carry out a fake bridenapping,” he continued.

She set down her fork, tension tightening in her stomach. Might as well get this over with. “All right. When we dated, you’d never be seen with me in public. All my friends said they saw you dating other women. When you finally agreed to meet me for an actual dinner, you not only completely stood me up, I arrived to find all the jocks and cheerleaders sitting there waiting for me. Laughing at me.” Tears burned in her eyes.

“I… I’m sorry.” He looked shaken, and she could have sworn he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

“That, coupled with the fact that you keep dating women right up until the point when people expect you to propose to them and backing out of it, makes me doubt that you can ever commit.”

“You’re the one I bridenapped,” he pointed out, his expression serious. “Those other women…there was enormous pressure on me to make a political alliance. You had moved away for school, and I tried to put you out of my mind. But I couldn’t. You were the only one for me. Always.”

If that were true, she thought impatiently, why wasn’t he offering her any explanation for his actions years ago?

She glanced at her watch.

“I should go,” she said, pushing her chair back.

He flashed her a winning smile. “But you haven’t sampled the mousse yet.” He plucked a goblet from a bucket of crushed ice and slid it across the table to her.

She looked down at the silver cup, beaded with little dew drops from the ice. The delicious chocolate mousse, mounded up in there like a heavenly cloud of sweetness… Bastard. Mousse was her kryptonite. How had he known that? He couldn’t know that about her. It must just be coincidence that every single dish he’d served her was her favorite.

She plunged the spoon into the mousse and brought the chocolate to her mouth. Heaven. Ever so faintly bitter, sweet, delicious, sliding over her tongue… She let out a moan of pleasure.

She looked at him. He was watching her intently.

“What?” she said.

“I never thought I’d be jealous of a dessert before. Right now I want to grab that mousse away from you and challenge it to a Death Challenge for making you moan like that.”

She clutched the mousse closer. “I’ll stab you with my dessert knife.”

“Well, I can promise you I’m going to make you moan louder than that mousse.”

She snorted with contempt. “I highly doubt it.” She dove back in, eating a little faster than she would have liked to.

She kept glancing at her watch. Two minutes. She shoved another bite in her mouth and savored it. As long as she could get about two hundred feet away from him in time, she would be fine.

“Christopher Marlowe,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

“The author of one of your favorite poems.”

She was sitting under a moonlit sky, eating delicious chocolate with a duplicitous bastard of a werewolf who somehow knew who her favorite poets were. Why was doing the wrong thing always so tempting?

“How could you know that?” she asked suspiciously.

“Because you and I took the same English class in high school, and I paid attention.” It was true – she’d taken AP English, which had put her in the same class as him even though he was two years older than her.

Wait. She was under a moonlit sky. Moonrise.

Oh, crud.

And then it hit her.