Dreaming of the Wolf (26 page)

She couldn’t deal with this right now and tried to pull away from Jake. But he wouldn’t let her go.

“Can you get my bags from the police in Crestview today?”

“They’ll need to talk to you about what happened first, most likely.”

“I will. But I need my bags.”

“I told you I’d take you shopping as soon as you can manage. When the new moon appears, you won’t change at all.”

“I won’t?” She relaxed a little. Was that why she hadn’t shifted for two of the weeks out of the past seven? There was hope for her to live a seminormal life yet.

He caressed her shoulder with his fingertips in a slow, lazy pattern. “No. Only royals, so called because they have so few human links in their past, can change at will during any phase of the moon. The rest of us can’t. So it’ll be a good time for you to enjoy seeing the area, circulate a bit, and get to meet the pack.”

“That’s why for about a week, on two different occasions, I thought the virus had passed. That I was cured.”

He raised his brows.

“I guessed I wasn’t cured of the condition when I shape-shifted at the art gallery. I’m so sorry Mary thought you had gotten me pregnant.”

“I
will
get you that way,” he said, smiling, rubbing his hand over her belly. “Just a little later than she would believe.”

For a minute, Alicia barely breathed under Jake’s skillful caresses. She took a deep steadying breath. “I swore after my first two disastrous marriages that I’d never get married again. That was before I ran into you, or I should say, you began to follow me. I kept bemoaning the fact that I’d met you too late—after I’d gotten myself into this mess with the Mob—and I was afraid they’d kill you.”

His fingers stilled on her belly, and he finally really looked at her. “It’s not happening. Trust me in this. From the moment I met you, we were in this together.”

She sighed. “Then I was a werewolf. And if I came to see you in Silver Town, even though that’s exactly where I was headed because I had no other alternative, I
knew
I’d bite you and turn you.”

He smiled. “So see, that proves you wanted me.”

“Yeah, in the worst way. But I couldn’t do that to you.”

“No worries there.”

She looked anxious, but he couldn’t figure out what was still bothering her. Before he could ask, she blurted out, “I don’t want to have a child out of wedlock.”

“We couldn’t have had a child before you were turned. Well, except in rare instances. Lelandi’s brother, Leidolf, was telling us about a case he learned of on the Oregon coast. But it’s so rare that there’s nothing to be concerned about. If you conceived werewolf babies, they wouldn’t be considered born out of wedlock anyway. Not once you’re mated.”

She stared at him, then pulled free and sat up in bed. “Don’t tell me the rules for marriage are different for werewolves.”

Jake frowned at her. Then he slowly rose to a sitting position. “We’re dream mated, which means we were meant to be together. We consummated the relationship last night—several times, I might add. We’re mated, Alicia, for life. That’s how werewolves do it. Just like our wolf counterparts do. We don’t have a wedding per se. No divorces either. I thought you knew that.”

She closed her eyes and groaned, then opened them and tried to leave the bed, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. “I thought you understood.”

“How could I?” She pulled her hand free, and this time he let her go. She grabbed her clothes and headed for Jake’s bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Jake stared after her in disbelief. She was his. He was hers. Had to be, according to the dream-mating scenario. Hell. He would never have taken her without her first agreeing to the conditions. Although he would have worked damn hard early on at convincing her to agree. They were meant to be together, but he would have waited until she realized the truth.

He cursed himself for not better understanding her newness at being a werewolf. And vowed to make it up to her. But there was no taking back what they had done.

For life, that’s how werewolves mated, just like their wolf cousins. He wanted to join her in the shower and convince her how right they were for each other. But the shower turned off, and he waited instead.

She finally emerged from the bathroom. He caught sight of her reddened eyes, and he felt his whole world deflate.

“Alicia,” he said, moving to take her into his arms, “we’re meant to be together.”

“I think I might be pregnant,” she sobbed, her tear-streaked cheek planted against his bare chest, her fingers curled into fists at her side, her whole body language showing defeat. “I should have let you know before we were… mated. Now from what you say your kind practices, you’re stuck with me.” She gritted her teeth and looked at him with such a woeful expression, he quickly moved in close to her.

Being
stuck
with her forever was just how he wanted to be. He gathered her in his arms and tried to console her, but his thoughts were swirling as he tried to sort out the possibility of her being pregnant. “I wanted you from the first time I saw you. This changes nothing between us. But you said you only think you’re pregnant? You don’t know for certain?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah. I don’t know for certain, but… it’s possible.”

“I couldn’t have made you pregnant,” he said, glumly.

“So you already said.”

That’s what was eating at her. Only one person could have made her pregnant, he thought, if she was right in her assumption. The bastard who bit her.

“Ferdinand Massaro?” He tried to keep his tone consoling, but if the bastard had made her pregnant, he had raped her.

She let out a ragged sigh. “I didn’t think he’d done anything to me. Except bitten me. But I’ve been feeling…
different
. And my… period is… late. But I thought maybe it was all this stress with the werewolf shifting that was making me feel strange and had thrown me off my regular cycle.”

Jake hugged her tight. “No matter what happens, I love you, Alicia. If you’re pregnant, the child will be ours.”

She sniffled but wouldn’t look at him. He tilted her chin up and looked into her red eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Do you hear me? I’ll love our child as much as I love you. All right?”

She nodded, but she didn’t look like she believed him. He sighed and kissed her lips, then gently caressed her face with his thumbs to brush away the tears trailing down her cheeks. “Do you want to get breakfast?

She hesitated.

“I can bring something up here to you.” He hated to suggest it, feeling that she needed to be with the family, but he realized how difficult this might be for her.

“I don’t want to say anything about this to anyone,” she said. “Not until I know for sure one way or another.”

“About the baby?” he questioned. He wasn’t hiding the fact they were mated.

Her lips parted, then she nodded.

“Certainly.” But that didn’t mean he wasn’t checking into Massaro’s background. And deep down, Jake was disturbed about this whole matter. Not only about the fact she might be carrying Massaro’s child, although he’d love the child as his own, but because of the way Massaro would have gotten her with child. But also because she was reticent about being mated to Jake. He felt bad that he hadn’t given her a choice about that. Although ultimately, there would have been only one choice to make.

“You might want to dress before we go downstairs.” She gave his nude body an assessing look, then gave him a small smile.

He laughed. “Sure you don’t want to stay up here, and I’ll make us a special breakfast after everyone’s left for the day?” He waggled his brows.

“It’s tempting,” she said with a sigh.

He took a deep breath. “You’re really not upset about our mating?”

She gave him a watery smile. “When all I’ve wanted is to be with you, night after night? I could think of hardly anything else, and now I’m with you for real.”

“You’re worrying about being pregnant then?”

She gave a shallow nod.

He took her hand and kissed it. “Everything will be all right, Alicia. You’ve got me, and you have a whole pack to be your family now. You’re not alone in this. You’ll never be again. I’ll grab a quick shower, and we can head downstairs. I’ll show you my grandfather’s home where we’ll live once we resolve some other issues. We’ll have lunch and an afternoon nap after that. How’s that sound?”

“You don’t have to work?” She sounded as though she was afraid he’d leave her alone.

“Not anytime soon. Darien won’t need me for a few days, time enough for you to get acclimated to the pack and to our ways. Besides, until we know that Mario and his men aren’t coming after you, I’m staying with you.”

She shook her head, a small smile appearing that cheered him, and gave a breathy little laugh. “You must have thought it was funny when I said I’d protect us both because I had a gun.”

He chuckled and ran his hand through her thick curls, then held a handful with reverence. “I was thinking, ‘If you only knew.’”

When Jake and Alicia finally went down to breakfast, Tom and Darien both looked up at them as Jake steeled his expression and guided Alicia into the dining room, the large picture window facing out onto the woods, Jake’s photos of woodland flowers hanging on the walls, and the long oval table covered in golden sunflower place mats. Alicia’s attention was riveted on his floral photographs, and he saw real admiration in her eyes. But his brothers exchanged looks, and Jake knew that despite trying to keep his expression neutral, he’d conveyed strife in paradise.

Both observed Alicia, and he imagined they could tell she’d been crying.

“Good morning,” Darien said to Alicia, and Tom echoed his words, although Darien gave Jake a harsh look as if he’d been to blame for Alicia’s upset.

“Good morning,” Alicia said quietly, avoiding looking at them, while Jake only nodded.

Lelandi came out of the kitchen appearing tired. Jake imagined that the babies kicking in her belly were keeping her awake, although her expression brightened when she saw Alicia. A flicker of concern fluttered across Lelandi’s face when she noticed Alicia’s red eyes, but she quickly smiled and motioned to the table—where the yellow ceramic serving dishes were filled with eggs and ham, biscuits, and cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew melon.

“Have your pick,” Lelandi said cheerfully.

After Jake pulled out a chair for Alicia, she took her seat, and he sat beside her.

“I’m dying to hear about your chosen profession as a bounty hunter,” Lelandi said, her enthusiasm contagious as she took her seat next to Darien.

Jake thought Lelandi was the perfect person to help get Alicia’s mind off her troubles. Maybe the psychology courses were part of Lelandi’s need to analyze and try to help anyone in need, although he suspected those traits had more to do with her nurturing personality.

“You would not believe the kinds of cases I’ve been involved in.” Alicia forked some fruit onto her plate, and for the first time she seemed at ease.

“Coffee? Tea?” Jake asked her.

“No, neither.”

That surprised Jake because she’d had tea when she’d eaten breakfast before.

“Juice? Milk?” Lelandi asked.

“Milk.”

Lelandi returned to the kitchen and soon popped back into the dining room with a glass of milk. She handed it to Alicia, then sat across the table from her. “Okay, tell us about this bounty-hunting business of yours. It sounds like it could be fascinating.”

Alicia’s choice of beverages made Jake wonder if maybe there was something more to her being pregnant. He again glanced down at her waist, but she wasn’t showing yet. Too soon, he suspected. He wondered how he could get her in to see Doc Weber. Surely Doc could tell whether she was or not. Especially since seven weeks had passed since Ferdinand Massaro had turned her.

Alicia held up a finger as she finished chewing a sausage link.

Jake’s brothers had finished their breakfast, and it was past time for them to be on their way. Although as efficient as the pack was at running the town and the Silver businesses, they didn’t need the pack leader and his sub-leaders micromanaging any of it. Still, Jake had hoped they’d leave so he’d have more alone time with Alicia.

But they didn’t appear to be in any hurry to depart. He suspected that since Alicia was newly a member of the family, they wanted to know everything about her.

“Once,” Alicia said, “I was supposed to arrest a woman who’d stolen a good deal of money from the department store where she clerked. She would give a refund to a customer, then pocket a refund herself. It was a one-for-you, one-for-me kind of affair. She was addicted to gambling and was a habitual lottery-ticket purchaser. But besides the obvious shortages in her register at the close of her shifts and the camera’s catching her pocketing the money, she skipped her trial. I had the job of serving the warrant, but her family was hiding her. So I put out the word that she had won a lottery ticket.” Alicia smiled. “That did it. I delivered the search warrant in place of the winner’s fees and escorted her to jail.”