ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (26 page)

“No, baby not again,” Dalton laughed. Jodie barked a small yipping sound, and jumped up bundling towards Dalton. He grabbed her, still laughing, and cuddled her.

She was the cutest puppy. I laughed and kept the camera on her and Dalton. She licked his face. We couldn’t get her to walk as a human. Every time it came down to it, she shifted and ran the distance as a little wolf instead.

Dr. Brian said that nothing was wrong with her. She was a perfect baby girl, and a perfect werewolf puppy. He couldn’t explain why the spell hadn’t worn off completely. Mariah hadn’t been able to explain it either, even with her knowledge of the magic from the old country.

When I’d given birth, I’d been taken to the training center. It had been on the night of the full moon, and Dalton had had his hands full with the pack. Zoe, the paramedic, had been there, and someone had managed to pull Dr. Brian out of the trees before he’d changed.

The contractions had been excruciating. I’d believed I was being torn up all over again. The contractions kept going with no promise of a baby any time soon. After twelve hours, I’d been exhausted and just about ready to give up.

The sun had risen casting a soft, natural light in through the training center windows. The younglings had all been sent home, and Dalton arrived in human form. The pack was safe.

“How are you doing?” he’d asked me.

“I was thinking maybe we can just go home, have this baby some other time,” I’d gasped. Contractions had ripped through my body again, fiercer than before, and I’d screamed in a tone that had sounded a lot like a howl. Movement had started up in my stomach, and I’d clutched onto Dalton’s shirt, wrenching him close to my face.

“She’s shifting, Dalton. She’s shifting again.”

“It’s going to be okay,” he’d said, and I’d felt him trying to calm me the way he did when it was full moon. But giving birth wasn’t like changing, and I pushed him out of my mind.

“Dammit, Dalton. I can’t do this.”

“Just a little more,” Dr. Brian had said, bending over between my legs. And then she’d slipped out of me. When Dr. Brian had held her up she was a pink baby, and she was beautiful. Dalton had growled at Dr. Brian until he’d handed her over to us. The alpha in him was ever protective. Dr. Brian had backed away with his hands up, and Zoe had snapped a photo of the three of us.

“No shifting, sweetheart,” Dalton had said and kissed me on the head.

We’d believed it had all been over. A healthy baby, mild witch attacks, no spell.

And then, three months down the line, I’d come to her crib and found a little chocolate puppy chewing on her rattle. Zoe had come to the house two days later to drop off the photo she’d forgotten to develop, and none of us had been able to explain how Jodie hadn’t been a wolf when she was born, but on the photo Dalton and I held a new born puppy, not a baby.

We were used to it now. Jodie would always be different, and she would also be stronger. The pack was headed in a new direction with this one, but a direction we were ready for. We were all alive and well and happy.

Dalton stood up and came to me, still holding Jodie’s puppy. He pulled me against him, crushing the camera and I switched it off. Family videos and happy photos were amazing, great to know we’d had those times. But it was the difficulties in between that we fought through – the ups and downs that we didn’t see on tape or on camera - that made us who we were, and taught us how to live and love.

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BONUS

NEWLYWED MATES

“Do we have to go?” Jared asked, dragging his feet.

Elena smiled, tightening her grip on her husband, perfectly-painted red nails lightly digging into the skin of his forearm.

“Babe” Jared whined, sounding like the cute puppy he used to be. Even as a fully-grown werewolf, it seemed some things could still make him whimper like a poodle. The latest thing: his impending week-long visit to his newly betrothed’s parents in Italy.

They had just landed in Pisa and were headed to baggage claim where they would hail a taxi to Elena’s parents’ house.

“Stop being such a baby” Elena’s blood-red lips stretched in a wicked grin as she began pulling Jared along faster. “I haven’t seen Mama or Papa since the wedding, you can afford to see your in-laws every few months.”

“But baaaabe” Jared tried once more, “your father hates me and your mother has her suspicions, it’s too dangerous.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Papa’s just protective and Mama merely thinks you lack good hygiene.”

“Lack hygiene?” Jared asked, affronted. He self-consciously lifted up his free arm and gave a tentative sniff. Reassuring himself that he smelt fine, he straightened his shoulders, making a mental note to give Mama Rosa a big hug so that she could smell just how hygienic he was.

Sensing her husband’s line of thought, Elena laughed. “It’s not your smell dear, although it is strongly reminiscent of the outdoors and a freshly-bathed puppy; it’s that you don’t shave. You have more hair on your body than the average man, even the hairiest Italians my mom knows. She worries you’ll shed.”

Jared stroked his beard proudly. “Shed? I’ll have her know that my beard is perfectly trimmed, my back hair is nicely maintained, my underarm hair is normal and my leg hair is manly.”

“Mhmm” Elena said, pulling them to a stop once they had reached the luggage carousel. “And what about your forearm hair and your uncombed luscious locks that haven’t been cut in a month.”

“You love my hair” Jared challenged, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug, “especially at night when you tangle your fingers in it and scream-”

“Not now babe!” Elena said while clapping a hand over his mouth and shooting an embarrassed and apologetic look at the disgruntled parents of two young boys next to them.

Jared guffawed, removing her hand to place a loud kiss on the back of it as he nodded to the dad of the family who had given him a covert thumbs-up.

“Fine, fine, we’ll talk about it over dinner tonight.”

“Not if you value your life” Elena smirked, pointing out their purple luggage set as it came around and Jared dutifully ran to get them.

Elena gave him a peck on the cheek in thanks when he returned and made a show of taking the heaviest suitcase and handing Jared her purse and zebra-striped carry-on bag.

Jared smiled good-naturedly, pulling the purse onto his shoulder and holding his head up high. “You know, I think my mom did a fantastic job picking out this purse. Great Christmas idea, I wish I’d have thought of it. But if I had, I probably would have just snagged this gem for myself.”

“It doesn’t go with those shoes” Elena said over her shoulder, exiting the automatic doors and raising her free hand to hail a taxi.

The taxi was small and Jared couldn’t understand a word the driver was saying with his heavy accent. It took him a minute or two to realize that it wasn’t the accent that prevented Jared from understanding him, it was the fact that he wasn’t speaking English at all.

He quirked an eyebrow in surprise as Elena began instructing him where to go in flawless Italian. He hunched his shoulders self-consciously in the small vehicle as Elena ruffled his hair and said something to the driver sending him into an uproar of laughter.

“What’d you say?” Jared muttered, huffing at the sly wink Elena gave him in response.

The taxi was tiny, laughably so. Or maybe it just appeared that way to Jared who was a hulking form of a man, standing at six feet five inches and with shoulders as wide as three women of Elena’s stature. While it did make him perfect for bear hugs and spooning, it was a rather unfortunate trait when it came to sharing the backseat of a small cab with his wife and two medium-sized carry-on bags. The door’s arm-rest was digging into his ribs, Elena’s elbow was getting dangerously close to his crotch and every time he shifted his head bumped the ceiling.

“How long until we get to your parent’s?” he asked.

Elena adjusted her seat, earning a quiet but pained grunt from Jared as her elbow moved. “Get comfortable baby, the main road’s down and there’s a bit of traffic. Normally it would take us forty minutes to get there but Bruno says it will take us at least an hour and a half.

“Who’s Bruno?” Jared asked.

The cabbie waved a hand at the mention of his name, smiling at Jared through the rearview mirror.

“When you say the main roads are closed…” Jared began, hoping the answer wasn’t what he expected.

“It means that we will be on back roads, dirt roads and cobblestone on the regular.” Elena shrugged, making Jared hiss in pain.

Jared groaned, already feeling the pain in his back. He settled back, ignoring the slight ringing in his ears as he bumped his head on the roof for the fourth time and shut his eyes; it was going to be a long ride.

-x-x-x-

It was dark when the driver pulled up in front of a large yellow-painted house. The home was old but refurnished. The yard was maintained, but wildflowers still sprung up sporadically, giving it a charmed look. There were toys on the edge of the lawn from the neighbors’ kids that Elena’s parents occasionally watched.

Bruno helped them with their bags to the front door, and after Elena paid him in currency she had been smart enough to get in exchange at the airport, he returned to the cab and took off.

While Bruno had seemed like a nice guy, Jared was glad to see him go, happy to be rid of the reminder of the long and painful car ride.

It was dark out but the porch lights were on and Elena bounced with anticipation as they waited for the response to the doorbell.

After a minute the door was thrust open and before Jared could comprehend what was happening his wife was swept up in a hug from two pairs of arms and she was lost to the exclamations of ‘how skinny you’re getting, you need to eat more’ and ‘you’re as stunning as ever my beauty!’.

“Mama, Papa! I missed you both!” Elena said, breaking free of their hug and stepping back. “And no I haven’t gotten any skinnier Mom, in fact, I’ve probably gained a few pounds since you saw me last at our wedding.”

Elena’s mother Rosa took a step back as well, grabbing Elena’s shoulders and looking at her scrutinizingly. “Oh my God” she drew out slowly, “you’re pregnant!”

“Mama!” Elena said in astonishment, laughing it off, “Of course not, it’s not even been six months.”

“Well, it could have just happened!” Rosa said defensively.

“Mama, we’ve decided to wait at least until we’ve moved out of our flat and got a house with a picket fence in a nice neighborhood with a good school, just like you said we should. So don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Second” Jared muttered.

“So you haven’t got my daughter a proper home yet I see” Elena’s father said gruffly.

Jared offered a small smile, rubbing his neck sheepishly, “I’m working on it sir.”

“We’re family now” Rosa said, waving her hands dismissively, “you can call him Geo.”

“No, thank you honey but sir and Mr. Lucciani will do just fine.”

“Giovanni” Rosa admonished, “go easy on the boy.”

Giovanni opened his mouth to speak but Elena cut her father off, “Why don’t we go inside, it’s getting a bit chilly out.” 

“Of course, of course” Rosa chuckled, wrapping one arm around Elena and using the other to take her bag and thrust it at Jared. “Let the two of them bring all the luggage upstairs, you can help me set the table; I made lasagna.”

“Hold it” Geo warned, “which bag’s Jared’s and which one’s yours bella?”

“Does it matter, they’re both going to the same place Papa.”

“They most certainly are not!” he said indignantly, “You can stay in your old room and the boy can stay in your brother’s room or on the couch, his choice.”

“Really Dad?” Elena asked, exasperated.

Rosa gently smacked her husband on the back of the head, “No, of course not. You two are adults and you’re married now, you have no reason to object Geo.”

Mr. Lucciani muttered something under his breath but acquiesced to his wife, dutifully picking up one of the suitcases and gruffly nodding towards the stairs in an indication for Jared to follow along.

Jared shot Elena a pleading look and, with a quick peck on the cheek Elena pranced off to follow her mother and effectively seal Jared’s fate.

With a longsuffering sigh Jared grabbed the rest of the bags and followed his father-in-law up the stairs.

-x-x-x-

“So, has Jared’s hygiene improved any since you’ve made an honest man of him?” Rosa asked as she  put on her hot mitts and opened the oven.

“He never had a hygiene problem Mama” Elena sighed, taking four glasses out of the cabinet and carrying them over to the table.

“You’re married now so I know you’ve seen him naked at least once. I remember when you two came over our hotel to swim; there wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t covered in hair. I bet it’s matted and tangled, it looked like it before, and that unruly mop on his head that he calls hair hasn’t improved, so I have no reason to believe that the rest of him has.”

Elena rolled her eyes, walking back to grab plates as she spoke, “He was wet; of course his hair looked matted to you. He is just as hairy as any other hot-blooded Italian man and is indeed very hygienic.”

“Ah, but he’s not Italian baby, so there’s no explanation for so much hair. It’s just not natural!”

Elena smiled at that. Being a werewolf made Jared anything but natural and she could only imagine the fit her mother would throw if only she knew the truth.

“Italians aren’t the only ones with a little hair on them Mama” Elena chastised, carrying the dishes over to the table.

“Perhaps not but still, I’m not so sure. With him as the father, I suspect all your babies will pop out with a full head of hair on them!”

“Perhaps” Elena sighed. Honestly, she had considered the possibilities. She hadn’t ever confirmed anything with Jared yet but she was always curious about whether any children they had would be born as typical babies or hairy little wolf pups.

Deciding to put away the thought for later she decided to put her mom on another topic. “So, how are things going at the bakery?”

Rosa shrugged, bringing the lasagna over and setting it in the center of the table. “It’s doing well, I’ve talked to Geo about opening up another shop. Nothing big like those ridiculous chains that sell their integrity with every increasingly cheap cupcake, but just another source of income with as much love as we put into the first one.”

“Really Mama?” Elena asked in surprise, “that’s unexpected. What’s Papa think?”

“Oh, that old man? He’s concerned about the money, but we’re doing well. Geo likes to think he knows my business, but the only business he knows is sticking his nose in my business. We’re doing fine, and I have a good feeling about this new store.”

“Well that’s great then Mama” Elena smiled, kissing her mother on the cheek.

“So” Rosa said, “are you and Jared going on the moonlight gondola picnic?”

“The picnic?” Elena asked in surprise. “They only do those on full moons.”

“Yes, I know dear, that’s why I asked” she said, bringing over the salad.

“But there isn’t a full moon this week, we checked.” And double checked. There was no way they were going to let Jared change under the watchful eye of her father.

“Oh bella, you crossed time zones, the full moon will be here before it gets over there to America.”

Elena froze, eyes widening comically at the realization of the giant mistake they had made. She had to tell Jared!

-x-x-x-

Jared sat anxiously on the edge of his wife’s old bed, shifting uncomfortably at the look Geo gave him.

Giovanni Lucciani sat in Elena’s old desk chair, one leg crossed over the other with an erect and dignified posture resembling that of a king.

“Should we maybe go downstairs for dinner, sir?” he asked, hoping that Giovanni would go easy on him and say yes.

“If we go down now Rosa’s just going to make me help her set the table. And while I love my wife, I think that this is just a little bit more important right now.”

“What’s more important?” Jared asked, knowing that he’d hate the answer.

“Just catching up with my son-in-law is all” he smiled, sharp eyes betraying his innocent words.

“Well, I’m doing very well. Work is good, the weather was nice, I’m hungry and dinner smells fantastic.”

Giovanni nodded, “Yes, I’m aware of how excellent my wife is in the kitchen; that’s why I married her,” he said.

“Really?”

“No” Giovanni barked out a laugh, “I married her because she’s the love of my life. And when I proposed she was two months pregnant with Elena’s brother.”