ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (22 page)

“Why haven’t you been rotated into protection?” Dalton asked into the crowd and his voice boomed across the clearing like he had a microphone. She looked up at him, careful not to make eye-contact. It was an art to be able to look someone in the face but not in the eye, a matter of submission to authority.

“I was with Doctor Brian this morning. He oversaw a change. I can survive one more month before we’re in trouble,” she said. Carlton, her husband, stood next to her and wrapped his hand around hers. He was strong, he could help. I could smell the truth in her words, the conviction that laced them, and next to me Dalton nodded. She was out of danger for the moment, one less wolf to worry about for now.

The moon rose and fell through the leaves onto the ground in dapples. When the silvery light lit up the clearing, the first younglings lost it. Magic spilled out between the trees and it washed over me like a wave. The older wolves were around them, and I could feel their force, the walls they were putting in place to mentally cage the wolves as much as they could.

Young wolves were dangerous when they lost control. They couldn’t stop the bloodlust, the urge to hunt and kill. If humans were around then all hell would break loose. We don’t like harming humans. I’ve mentioned before we’re peaceful and we condone co-existence. But human blood is our kryptonite. It’s impossible to resist when your wolf goes rogue.

I felt Dalton’s magic creeping out of him, like fingers in the night, reaching the young wolves in slivers. He couldn’t afford to give a lot, but he gave what he had to spare. It was more than they bargained for, and they whimpered. Dalton was stronger than strong when he really wanted to be. Even I haven’t felt the full force of his power – I haven’t experienced him at full throttle.

Ghostlike figures appeared in between the trees. I felt them before I saw them, like ice water seeping across my skin. They were see-through, I could see the movement of the trees behind them when the wind rustled the leaves. They had black eyes that started soullessly through me, and I shivered in the sudden drop in temperature.

Ghosts. Witches could conjure them, call them and tell them what to do. They only followed the most basic orders, and they were sent to scare us.

It worked.

I felt fear ripple through the pack, and more wolves dropped into a change. Fear and anger pulls the wolf out quicker. Combine that with full moon and you’ll lose it before you can think about it.

The ghosts hung between the trees. They couldn’t do much else than scare us. They were dead, after all. Puffs of annoying cloud when you took the fear away. But the fear was very real, and it wasn’t just going to go away.

The witches appeared. They took shape like they’d made themselves out of nothing, and they were suddenly among us like they’d been there all along. More wolves changed, and growling rose up like rumbling thunder. The changed ripped through me, and I couldn’t stop it. The bones in my body shifted under my skin, moved and popped, and it hurt. But it was the kind of pain I was used to, the way that stubbing your toe is normal.

I unfurled into my wolf body, and my senses heightened. The smell of fear in the pack. Dalton’s power that reached like a hand and stroked the wolves. The witches that felt like pillars of ice.

Hilary suddenly screamed, a high pitched squeal that tore out of her throat. Younger wolves howled in harmony, but there was nothing beautiful about it. She sank to the ground, shaking her head. Carlton kneeled next to her, his fingers around his shoulders. His face pinched into a frown, eyes worried.

“What is it?” he asked. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Hilary kept screaming. The cackle of witches’ laughter danced around us, crawled on my skin and I shook myself to try and get it off. Dalton was suddenly a wolf next to me, large and dark and scary. His teeth were bared, and he made it to Hilary and Carlton in one leap. She was curling into a ball around her stomach, like she wanted to protect the baby. Dalton stood over her and snarled at the witch that was closest.

Carlton lost it and shifted. He grunted and groaned like it hurt more than usual.

“She’s forcing… this shift…” Hilary choked out, and her face contorted in pain. Her skin was shiny with sweat, and I saw her skin move on her belly. I suddenly realized what was happening. I looked up at the witch and her hands were stretched out to Hilary, a smile on her face. She was forcing a change, but not on Hilary. She was forcing the change on the baby.

Babies can’t change until they’re six. It protects them from damaging any initial growth. But this wolf had somehow unlocked that ability in the child much too early. She was making the baby change. She was killing it.

I growled and ran toward the witch, lunging myself at her with my teeth bared. I had one thing in mind, and one thing only. I was going to rip her throat out. I hit an invisible wall, and fell to the ground. The witch had set up a perimeter to keep her safe. My vision swam, and I tried to focus, but this close, even with the wall in place, I felt her power rush over me in freezing waves.

When I could focus again I looked at Dalton. He was still standing over Hilary, but there was ice in his coat. He shivered. She was freezing him.

Another piercing scream tore out of Hilary’s throat, following by a sickening ripping sound. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed next to Carlton. Hilary was dying. I could feel her draining away, her life force leaking out of her and into the earth. The other wolves felt it too. There were no human forms anymore, just wolves. They all launched themselves at the witch, and each of them hit the force field that was around her and tumbled to the ground. They kept on trying, but it didn’t work.

I looked around me, looking for other witches, but she was the only one left. She laughed, a cackle that danced around me. Her eyes locked with mine for a moment and they were shining with white light. Unnatural and damn unnerving. Something inside me moved, like the baby was much bigger and kicking. Goosebumps made my hair stand on end and I shivered. The witch smiled her awful smile again, and disappeared.

The wolves jumped into the space where she’d been, the wall removed now, and knocked into each other. It took time to notice the threat had gotten away.

I turned to Hilary. Carlton lay at her head, curled in a ball and whimpered. Dalton was slowly defrosting, but it looked like he couldn’t move. Not yet.

I felt something inside me rip, and my heart bled. Hilary was dead, and we’d each felt her die through the bond that connected us all. We felt Carlton’s pain like a fresh bleeding wound.

The first of the wolves threw its head back and howled. A low, mourning sound that sent shivers over my skin. More wolves joined in, and as the moon sank down behind the horizon, it was accompanied by a song of sorry and despair. When we were able to shift back to human form again, none of us changed. We just huddled around Carlton and his wife, and waited until he would have the strength again to get up.

Chapter 3

We’d failed, somehow. Dalton and I hadn’t been able to save Hilary. We were the alpha couple, the head of the pack, the strength. And the witch had beaten us with a spell we’d never heard of before. The magic she’d used wasn’t from the old country. It had never been part of a war. There had never been external danger to pregnancy, and it was unfair.

We were fighting the change to have a baby as it was. It wasn’t fair that our pregnancy, our only other weakness beside the moon, could be used against us.

When we got home Dalton and I both crawled into bed. He wrapped himself around me, his hands on my stomach, and I knew what he was thinking. What he was feeling. I felt just as ripped apart as he did, and the fear that that could happen to me was very real.

“I won’t let them get to you,” he whispered. His voice was fierce and his determination was so thick it hung around me like a cloud.

“I know,” I said. And I wished I believed he would be able to save me. We’d lost a wolf, not because we’d done something wrong, but because she’d been too strong. She’d looked at me and something had happened. I didn’t know what it was. But it was something to do with me and the baby. How were we going to fight this? I knew Dalton could feel my disbelief, my uncertainty. My fear.

As with everything, time keeps ticking, and we moved on. Pain takes a long time to subside, loss doesn’t just wash away. But somehow we grow stronger, and we keep going. Dealing with death is a very human attribute. Animals mourn for a short while, but then they focus on their own survival again. In the human world that doesn’t work, and even though werewolves have a very strong animal side, we can mourn death for months, years, a lifetime.

We fell back into our routines. We managed to take care of our duties. To comfort Carlton after the loss of his wife, to lend him strength. The fear of that night and what we’d seen – Hilary’s baby changing inside her and literally ripping her apart – also faded away. I had been terrified the first couple of weeks, scared that something similar would happen to me after what I’d felt. But when the next full moon had come there was no attack. There were no threats, and we didn’t lose more wolves.

The baby kept growing, and in month five of my pregnancy I started showing. My stomach pushed out, not a lot, but enough. The pack was jumpier around me, and the inner circle often came by to check on me when Dalton was out. Before, I would have felt annoyed. I could take care of myself. But after what I’d seen… I preferred being checked up on at least once a day.

Dalton rolled on to his back and his hands left my body. I felt the loss, the patches where his skin had been hot on mine cold now. I sat up and the room swayed, taking my stomach with it. I jumped up and ran for the bathroom, making the toiled just in time. When I was finished throwing up, Dalton came into the bathroom.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Morning sickness,” I answered. His face clouded and I felt his irritation. It was mixed with something else I couldn’t place. I didn’t know if he was irritated with me, with the baby, or with the fact that I threw up so often. Since that night we hadn’t really spoken about it. I’d assumed he was alright with the baby now. But he felt switched off from me and I was scared I’d made a mistake. I splashed cold water on my face, waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t, so I didn’t either.

The upside of the very human reaction of morning sickness is that it can’t last more than six months for us. I don’t know why. Maybe its was nature’s way of giving us our share, but not letting us throw up for two years. I got dressed and brushed out my hair. It was a rich auburn, but I liked the reddish gloss of my wolf coat more. Still, I let it loose and it hung over my shoulders like a cloak. I left the house before Dalton came out the bathroom.

I got in my car and drove to the center where we trained the young wolves. The boys and girls were all skinny, tall and pale, and it was hard to believe that after their coming of age they would look like seasoned predators, like us. They looked so small now.

“How are things going here?” I asked Zoe, the paramedic in charge. She watched the class that practiced in front of her.

“Well enough, considering,” she said.

A war was coming, and the children wouldn’t fight. Wolves only came of age around twenty five, and until then they were more of a liability. They were just kids that needed protecting. They were weak and their senses weren’t honed like ours yet.

“What are we going to do on the night of?” I asked. We had to rotate our best fighters onto the battle field to help. The witches wouldn’t be dormant forever, and full moon was coming up again. The kids were important to protect, but so was the rest of our pack.

“I was thinking we’ll let Lillian and her brother take the first shift, and then after midnight we can rotate out with Sorrel and Martha,” Zoe said. We tried to pair them with a man and woman every time, one who could fight, one who could tend to them with a kind heart when something happened. Men weren’t always patient with the weaklings.

“I’ll take Lillian’s place,” I offered. “We need her in the field.”  She was a better fighter than I was, and I could help here. Zoe nodded, only glancing at my stomach briefly, and made a note. We both knew what I was thinking. As an alpha’s mate, pregnant and now showing, no one wanted to take chances. She would send out a memo. I watched the kids practice a while longer and I knew that even if it looked hopeless now, at least one day their training would be of good use when they had the muscle and the natural talents to back them. I put my hand on Zoe’s shoulder, a silent thanks, and left.

I made my rounds, checking with the female wolves. Two other wolves were with child, the one looking like she was ready to pop. I felt suddenly nervous, looking at her like that. If her male couldn’t take care of her during this full moon we would lose them both. She was too far along to survive the change, and the image of Hilary was too fresh. It was ugly. I wondered how something as beautiful as giving life could be so dangerous for us.

“I think we should keep her and Donald at the center,” I said to her sister. “The other wolves can help stop the change when there’s no blood and direct threat.”

Away from the war, away from the unstable pack, it would be easier. Blood drove us crazy, and for a pregnant female that meant death.

Finally, after I’d done my duty as the Alpha female I went home. It was late afternoon and I felt dead on my feet. My back hurt and I was nauseous again. Another year and a half of this. I groaned inwardly.

“Where have you been?” Dalton asked when I walked into the dining room. He sat at the table with his laptop. He hadn’t been using his office because he’d been waiting for me.

“I did the rounds and double checked the charts for youngling duty,” I said. I sat down on the chair and stretched my body to the side, trying to relieve the back pain.

“Who’s on duty?” Dalton asked, not taking his eyes away from his screen.

“Jean, you know Lillian’s brother, Sorrel and Martha. I rotated myself in instead of Lillian.”

“Why?” Dalton asked looking up at me.

“It’s safer,” I said. “I also want Donald to bring Naomi to the center so we can watch her. If she changes now we’ll lose her.”

Dalton shook his head like I’d asked him a question.

“What?” I asked.

“Why did you rotate yourself in? You’re supposed to oversee the pack with me.”

“I know,” I said. “But with the baby… I don’t want the witches to find out and make me a mark.”

Dalton pursed his lips into a thin line. The silence before the storm. I could feel his anger build like a storm around me.

“What are you upset about?” I asked.

“You can’t just change the plans, Andrea.”

He’d used my name. “I thought looking after this child is priority. We can’t risk them knowing. They’ll find out soon anyway and things are unstable enough as it is. We can’t do that, Dalton.”

“That’s not the point,” he said, slapping his hand on the table. The wood made a dull sound. I pulled up my eyebrows and focused on keeping my voice steady.

“Then what is the point?” I asked.

“We have rules. Things we need to do. Roles in the community. You can’t just go and change them when you feel like it.”

I narrowed my eyes. I couldn’t believe he was being so unreasonable.

“Dalton, we’re talking about our
baby
. The child of the
Alpha
. Do you really think it’s wise to charge into battle with me pregnant at your side? They can tell, you know that. Especially now. And if they know, they’ll focus on me. We can’t do a night like that again.” I didn’t have to say which night I was referring to for him to know. It still haunted us, all of us.

“You can’t just act out without my consent,” he said.

“Oh, excuse me, master Dalton,” I said sarcastically, and his eyes turned an ugly yellow. His animal was glaring out at me, he was upset about my tone. But I kept at it. “I didn’t realize that I couldn’t protect our child without your say-so.”

“Don’t push this, Andrea,” he said and his voice was low with warning, but I was suddenly angry. Angrier than I’ve been for a while.

“I know you’re Alpha, Dalton. You’re the boss. I get it. But you’re also my husband. We’re a team. You’re not my superior. You can’t tell me that I should be stupid and run a risk of losing this child. Unless, of course, you didn’t want it in the first place.”

“You know it wasn’t my idea to fall pregnant,” he said with words so cold it chilled the air around me.

“Are you suggesting that this is my fault?” I asked and my voice was soft. He looked at me for a long time before answering, long enough for it to be an answer in itself.

“What happened to us figuring this out?” I asked. “You said it was okay. Dammit for months you’d let me believe you.”

“Well, I couldn’t very well make it go away, could I?”

I gasped. Really? Had he said it just because he didn’t have a choice?

I got up slowly, and walked to the kitchen. A moment later Dalton followed. He snaked his arms underneath mine from behind and wrapped them around my waist.

“Look, I just don’t want something to happen,” he said. I turned in his arms, facing him.

“That is why I made the change. It’s safer that way.”

“I don’t want you to undermine my authority. We have plans and the pack needs us to be strong for them, a unit—“

“What?” I asked, my voice sharp, cutting through his. “Did you just say you wanted me to risk our child so it doesn’t look like I’m going against you?”

Dalton looked at me without saying anything. I was really starting to hate how he answered me with silences.

“I’m not going to risk our child. And I’m not going to risk myself. You may be Alpha, god in our little world, but you don’t get to choose who dies. Not even you are powerful enough for that.”

Dalton’s face went red after that. I turned and left before I saw him change into a deep shade of purple.

“Don’t you dare leave, Andrea,” he said. “If you leave this room, I’ll—“

“You’ll what?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. “Don’t threaten me, Dalton. I married you because I loved you, not because I was forced to. Please don’t take that for granted.”

“Is that a threat?” he asked.

“You don’t monopolize threats,” I answered, walking out of the door.

Chapter 4

The only werewolf ob-gyn was a man. I didn’t always like him looking into my business, but no human would understand our pregnancies. I didn’t have much of a choice. Dr. Brian was good as far as doctors went. He knew what he was talking about, and he put his job before his rank in the pack. He wasn’t very  high up, dedicated his time to the medical world rather than the hierarchy of the pack.

And everyone respected him even if they were superior to him. It made it easier for him to treat them, even when he was beneath them.

When I walked into his office he averted his eyes, a sign of respect for the Alpha female, until I greeted him. It was the sign of acceptance, and he met my eyes and took up his role as doctor. I put on the blue paper shirt and lay down on the table. My tummy pushed out, like the baby wanted to show it was there too.

“Looking good, Andrea,” he said and smiled. I smiled back tentatively.

Dr. Brian squirted the cold jelly out on my stomach and I gasped. Why didn’t they ever warm it up? He pushed the scanner onto my skin and rolled it around. On the screen the black mass that represented my insides took shape. I couldn’t make out any of it. It was a gray mass, with dips and dents. Dr. Brian knew his way around, and suddenly there was a baby. The head was oversized, and it curled around itself like it was still unsure of its own existence. Small arms and legs. A little person. I swallowed down a lump in my throat.

“Have you been struggling with nausea?” he asked while he studied the screen and capture measurements. Standard questions.

“Not more than is normal,” I answered. He nodded.

I felt silly coming here without Dalton. We’d wanted to do the first scan together. This was where we would find out the baby’s sex. But he wasn’t talking to me. Apparently no one threatened the alpha, not even me.