ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (23 page)

In any other circumstance it would have been a direct challenge for his position. In a world where our animals ruled, threats just didn’t go down well. But Dalton would never fight me. And I didn’t want his position as alpha anyway. It was hard enough being the wife of one. Being pregnant with his child.

“Anything strange?” he asked. The scanner felt uncomfortable, pushing against my belly, and I swallowed. There had been a lot of crying. Hilary’s death had hit everyone hard. The sorrow in the pack hung all around me still, months down the line, and I could feel them all. It felt like dark clouds above me wherever I went, and every now and then it rained.

“Just a lot of emotion,” I finally said.

“That’s normal. I want you to—“

He stopped in the middle of his sentence, cutting himself off. I looked at him. He rolled the scanner back and forth, around the same spot, and narrowed his eyes.

“What is it?” I asked. It didn’t look like it was good.

“Are you sure there’s nothing strange?” he asked again. “Anything at all?”

I through back to the last couple of days. After the fight Dalton and I had lived past each other. We were getting so good at avoiding each other we didn’t even see each other, and we lived in the same house.

“There’s a bit of tension at home,” I finally admitted. “But with pregnancy… you know how it goes.”

Dr. Brian shook his head and looked at me. The skin had tightened around the eyes.

“Watch the screen,” he said. I looked at the screen and waited. It looked normal to me, as far as I could tell in a scan.

“What am I—“ I started asking, but the baby moved. I stopped talking and watched.

The little body stretched and moved like it was made of clay, molded by invisible hands. The head changed shape, nose pushing out into a snout. The little hands became blunt, and a small tail curved between the legs.

My blood drained from my face and fear clutched at my throat.

“It’s shifting,” I whispered, staring at the little monster that no hung where the baby had been moments before. I didn’t have a baby in my stomach now. I was pregnant with a little werewolf.

My breath came faster and faster until I was hyperventilating.

“Calm down, Andrea,” Dr. Brian said. He pushed a button on the side of his computer. I turned onto my side and tried to get control of myself. I could feel the wolf inside me, my own wolf, and it was angry.

A nurse came in, and she stood on the other side of me just in case I was going to change and cause havoc. There is nothing more dangerous than a freaked out wolf on the edge of hysterics.

“It’s just a panic attack, you’re going to be alright,” she said and rubbed circles on my back. It was calming.

“Take deep breaths, Andrea,” Dr. Brian said. “In. Out. In again, that’s it.”

I tried to do what he said but it was hard. The panic felt like it was crushing me, making it impossible to breathe. It felt like my body was made of concrete, impossible to move.

“I can’t…” I said and interrupted myself with another deep breath, trying to take it through my nose.  I felt light-headed and dizzy.

“I can’t do this,” I tried again. “I can’t have this baby.”

Dr. Brian nodded at the nurse. She glanced at me, probably checking if I was going to keel over or if it was okay for her to leave, and she walked out of the room.

“Let’s talk about this,” Dr. Brian said.

“I can’t have this baby,” I said again. The panic was still there, hanging in the air, threatening to trample me again. But I was in control. For now. My wolf was watchful, looking through my eyes. But I was safe for now. It wouldn’t come out. Dr. Brian knew what he was doing.

“Come, let’s have a look again,” he said, and gently pushed against my shoulder’s so I would lie back again. He pushed the scanner against my stomach, and the image of my baby popped up on screen. And it was human again.

“I don’t understand,” I said, feeling like I’d been hit by a bus. My whole body ached. I could feel how close I’d been to the change.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Andrea. I don’t know what’s going on. This shouldn’t happen. I’ve never seen something like this before. Younglings can’t shift until they’re six. It’s a common werewolf fact. Your baby shifting before birth is a complete medical phenomenon.”

I shivered. I was freezing.

“Get dressed first, then we’ll talk about it,” he gave me a wad of tissue paper to clean up, and disappeared to his office. I struggled into my clothes, fingers numb and fumbling. Finally I sat in front of Dr. Brian.

“I know this is hard to talk about, but we need to talk about Hilary.”

Her name alone sent chills down my spine and made my stomach turn. Something must have shown on my face because Dr. Brian’s eyes softened.

“I know,” he said. “We all feel her death like the loss of a limb. But something happened that night. Her baby shifted. She didn’t die because she couldn’t stop the change.” He took a deep breath and said the words I’d been terrified to hear for months.

“The same is happening to you.”

“I can’t go through this. I can’t do this to Dalton. He’s already got his hands full protecting the pack, and without me… if I die…” My throat swelled shut and I choked on the words. I was crying again.

“I know,” Dr. Brian said softly. He did know. We all understood what it would mean. The witch had cursed my baby that night. I remembered her, looking at me, the shift inside of me. I’d been to grief stricken to notice then.

“What do I do?” I asked.

Dr. Brian shook his head. There was nothing he could do. I could see it in his eyes, the apology already on his lips. I turned my head away. Dr. Brian scribbled something, and handed me a note. It was a name, Mariah. And a number.

“Go to her. She might be able to help you.”

“She’s not pack,” I pointed out. I’d never heard of her before. Dr. Brian shook his head.

“She’s not pack, but she’s werewolf. And she’s dabbled in some magic.”

I felt the shock ripple through me, and gasped. A wolf that dabbled in magic. It was unheard of. Witches were the enemies. We didn’t cross over to the other side, not even just to have a look. We didn’t do magic. We didn’t try.

“I’ve had about enough of witches,” I said.

“I know, but she might be able to help. She’s on our side, and if she can change this spell, do something to save you and your baby… the pack needs this, Andrea.”

I looked down at the number again. He was right. Of course he was right. The pack couldn’t afford the alpha couple to be ripped apart. And I couldn’t afford to lose this baby.

“What will Dalton say? If he finds out I’m going to a witch—“

“She’s not a witch. She just knows the black arts, but she’s not one of them.”

“She’s not one of us either,” I pointed out.

“Which means she’s the one wolf that won’t be affected by anything that goes wrong.”

I took a deep breath and sighed. He was right. I nodded, thanked him, and left.

Chapter 5

One of the biggest responsibilities of being married to an alpha is not the constant submission. That’s hard in itself but we’d managed. Until the pregnancy, even though I’d respected him as alpha, we’d been equals.

No, the biggest thing about being married to an alpha was the strength of unity. It reflected the unity of the pack. If we were okay, the pack was okay. The pack was as strong as our relationship was, which meant that if we fought we had to fix it as quick as we could.

It was good for us, trying so hard to keep it together. The kind of relationship we ended up building was stronger than any relationship I’d ever known about, because both of us understood that things were going to go wrong if we weren’t alright. It was a different kind of pressure, but it wasn’t impossible.

At least, I never used to think it was.

After I’d met with Dr. Brian I’d gone to my sister’s house. I didn’t have what it took to run into Dalton, not until I’d gotten my feeling back under control. I was on the verge of panic, and even though I knew Dalton could feel me, the fact that he hadn’t called after I nearly lost it at the doctor’s said enough about how far we’d fallen in the last three days.

In the human world the news of a pregnancy was generally a good thing. Cause for congratulations, excitement, celebration. In the werewolf world we didn’t react the same way. We took it more along the lines of being retrenched, or losing something. It wasn’t good news. We only celebrated once the child was born and everything was safe, when the very small margin of success was the one we fell into. Because until then, we assumed we would lose someone. It was a twisted sentiment, never daring to look forward to new life because there was too big a chance of heartbreak and sorrow.

The biggest cause of celebration in a werewolf’s life was coming of age. Only then were we out of danger for good.

All of that, the facts about pregnancy that made me think that being a werewolf really was a curse, seemed like nothing now. In light of my baby shifting into a wolf inside of me, a normal pregnancy and the dangers that came with it sounded like something I wanted. Rather that than this… thing.

The room grew dark, the sun setting, drenching the house in shadows. At night we all felt a little more alive, like we were allowed to be the people – the animals, rather – we really were. Tonight, though, I felt dead on my feet.

“I just can’t help but feel like suddenly he’s blaming for me everything,” I said. “And now with this on top of it all, what if he tells me it’s all my fault? I don’t think I can do this.”

I buried my face in my hand and breathed out with a shudder.

Cherise sat on the couch with me. Harold, her husband, was in the kitchen pouring us coffee. He was about the best husband any woman could ask for because he didn’t see it as the wife having to cook and clean. He carried his full half of the load. Cherise had her hand on mine and a dark cloud of gloom hung over us in the wake of the news. I’d explained what had happened during my ultrasound.

Harold stood in the kitchen, listening at our conversation through the service hatch.

“Maybe he’s terrified,” he offered. “Having a kid is about the scariest thing a man could ever go through, and that’s besides being Alpha and producing a future Alpha. You know how it is with wolves. He could lose you.”

“Now more than ever. It’s almost inevitable.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Cherise said and she looked like she tried hiding how scared she was. “You can go see that woman.”

“The witch? Sorry, the not-witch. Dr. Brian says I should but with how things are with Dalton… I don’t know.”

“Don’t let him bully you into sacrificing yourself. You’re noble, Andrea, but you can’t let yourself die. Go see her. He wasn’t even there, and in the end it’s your body. Even when you’re his female.”

I studied my hands. Dalton was a force to be reckoned with when he was angry.

“Dalton is Alpha,” Cherise carried on. “His male ego is about three times the size of any other male, and they are already a problem.”

“I’m right here, honey,” Harold reminded her.

“Oh, of course dear. I just meant… in general.”

“Sure…” he said and she rolled her eyes when he turned. Their relationship was beautiful. They’d gotten married a couple of years before me, but none of it had been about blood like so many of the couples. My sister had fallen in love with an average wolf with no wishes to move up in pack hierarchy so they’d married. They would have pure wolves as babies if they reproduced, but it had nothing to do with leadership. There were no kids but Harold had lost a wife and a baby during a transition neither of them could stop. Sometimes I wondered if my relationship with Dalton would have been better if he hadn’t been Alpha, if it had just been me and him.

I wondered what life would have been like if I’d gotten married to someone else.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath through my nose, blowing it out again through my mouth. “This is going to fine right?” I asked. “Just tell me it’s going to be fine. I just need to hear it.”

“Honey, I don’t know if can tell you it’s going to be fine. The only way you know it’s going to be fine is when you actively fight for that. That’s what it’s all about. Harold and I are both great people all by ourselves, but together sometimes we make a deadly combination, and when I say deadly I don’t always mean I a good way.”

We sat in almost complete darkness now.

“You and Harold are great. Just… even if you have to lie to me. Just for now. Tell me it will be okay.”

Cherise put her hand on mine and took a deep breath, looking me in the eyes.

“It’s going to be—“

“Something’s wrong,” Harold said, cutting her off. “The Alpha’s calling us together.”

“It’s not full moon yet,” Cherise said. We met in groups often but it was only once a month that the alpha called the entire pack together. Full moon when most of the wolves couldn’t stop the change and the younger ones had trouble controlling themselves.

“No,” I said, holding out my hand. “I feel it too.”

Something was wrong. I could feel it. Something dark hung in the air and I felt it all the way down to my bones. I felt it because Dalton felt it. As an Alpha he was a lot stronger than the rest of the wolves, and he sensed things. And I felt it directly from him, a link only the alpha couple had.