Wolf Tales 11 (14 page)

It was only his own ability he worried about, but he’d done okay as this amazing woman’s mate. Because of Manda. Always because of her.

She traced his cheek and showed him her fingertip. It glistened with his tears. Damn. She had the ability to unman him with a word, with a thought, with the slightest possible touch.

“Bay, you’ll be a perfect father. Absolutely perfect. And I would be honored to be your wife.”

Manda snuggled against his chest and he held her close. Her thoughts were open to him now. They mirrored his own. Thinking of the night ahead, imagining the two of them as parents. Trying to picture their child, a combination of the two of them. Each of them wondering about the child they would be bringing into their lives, of the vows they’d so quickly and easily agreed to make in front of family and friends.

She had no fears for the future. None at all, but he guessed that was because she’d already lived through hell and survived. What more was there to be afraid of? He would never be that sure of himself, not the way Manda was. Never that certain of the future. It made him ache, and yet, at the same time, the thought of his baby growing inside the woman he loved made him whole.

A sharp knock on the door snapped them both out of their thoughts. Jake’s voice, impatient as he could so often be. “You guys ready to go? I called a cab. It’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Coming right out.” Bay glanced at Manda. “You okay?”

Smiling, she nodded and touched another damp spot on his cheek. “What about you, big guy? Are you okay?”

He nodded, grabbed a damp washcloth off the counter,
and ran it over his face. “I’ve got you, haven’t I? I’m better than okay.” He took her hand, and they left the room.

She tightened her fingers around his and flashed him a saucy wink. For some reason, he felt light, almost free—and very much like laughing.

As the maitre d’ led them to their table, Bay heard Jake’s voice slipping into his head.
Will you look at this place? Hope you’ve got plenty of room left on your credit card.

Chuckling, Bay actually looked around and paid some attention to their surroundings. He’d been so focused on Manda he hardly remembered the ride from the apartment to this fancy restaurant across from the capitol.
Anton’s picking up the tab tonight. You can order off the grownup side of the menu.

Gee, Dad? You sure that’s okay?

Bay jerked his gaze to Jake, but Jake was busy seating Shannon at the table and missed his surprise.
Dad.
He glanced at Manda and quickly pulled her chair back for her before the waiter could help her to her seat.
Daddy.

The thick wave of emotion that washed over him from Jake’s teasing comment kept him shaken, even as he took his own seat beside Manda. Shannon and Manda talked quietly. Jake selected an eight-year-old bottle of Jordan cabernet sauvignon and sent the sommelier away smiling. The four of them looked over their menus, but it wasn’t easy for Bay to pull his thoughts back to the reason they were sitting here in this pricey restaurant near the nation’s capitol.

He glanced up as two men took the table beside theirs, both wearing dark suits with neatly trimmed hair and that overall manicured look he associated with life inside the Beltway. One was older, sort of heavyset. The other man was younger, with the hungry look of a guy who seriously
wanted to move up the food chain. The table was set for four. Obviously the others hadn’t arrived yet.

He thought he recognized the older man, but he couldn’t recall his name or department. The other guy was an unknown, but he had that buttoned-down, freshly trimmed look that practically screamed
government employee.
Bay had once looked the same. He’d loosened up a bit since his years with the agency, though he still wore his hair short. Turning away from the table beside him, Bay glanced at his lover.

Jake’s hair was long enough to curl around his collar, and no matter how often he combed it, he still managed to look like he’d just crawled out of a warm bed with a willing woman … or an equally willing man.

Bay never denied he was willing any time Jake wanted him. Couldn’t recall a time when he’d ever turned him away.

What was it about the guy? Bay didn’t think he could look that sexy if his life depended on it. Maybe Jacob Trent just had overdeveloped pheromones. That had to be it. Whatever it was, Bay was getting hot just looking at him.

Jake glanced up, caught his gaze, and grinned. You’re broadcasting, bro. Put a lid on it. You’re giving me a boner.

And just like that, he lost it. Laughing, Bay picked up his wineglass and quickly changed the subject. “I’d like to propose a toast.”

Shannon cocked an eyebrow and looked at Manda. Then a huge smile spread across her face and her green eyes twinkled. Bay raised his eyebrows and glared at Manda. “No talking out of turn, my love.”

“Yes, dear.” She dipped her head in a blatantly subservient manner, but he heard her snort.

Jake frowned. “What’s up?”

“I have asked Manda to marry me. Fool that she is, she has agreed. Wish the poor woman luck.”

Jake’s eyes went wide. “Marriage? You’re getting married?”

“We are.” This time when Manda gazed at him, she wasn’t teasing. “I love Bay. He loves me. And …” She tipped her glass to his, smiling his way. The crystal rang like a bell.

Bay finished her sentence. “And we decided that if we want to start a family, the least we can do is bring a child into a traditional home with two married parents.”

“Wow.” Shannon’s smile kept growing wider, but now her eyes were on Jake.

He blushed. He actually blushed. Bay chuckled as he sipped his wine. He didn’t think Jake had it in him to blush, but the proof was right there in front of them. “Okay, Jake. What’s got you so befuddled?”

“We’ve got to quit taking these weekends away. All they do is get a man into trouble.”

Bay cocked an eyebrow.

Jake reached across the table and took Shannon’s hand. Bay noticed that he studied his mate’s fingers with an unusually pensive expression on his face. “I proposed to Shannon tonight, too.” He grinned then and looked directly into his mate’s eyes. “I’m not really sure what got into me. Maybe it was making love in a bed without Bay’s ugly mug beside me, but I know it’s the right thing to do. We’re still trying for that baby—we have been for a long time. It hasn’t happened yet, but we’re not giving up hope. At least she’s agreed to marry me.”

“I’m not worried.” Shannon squeezed his fingers.

“About what?” Jake asked, dryly. “Me or the baby?”

“About any of it. You. Me. The baby we will have some day. I refuse to worry about…” She shrugged and added in mindspeak,
Lisa and Tala. It’s all going to work. I have to believe that.

Bay tightened his grasp on Manda’s hand. They all knew Shannon had been rendered sterile by an infection
before she’d become Chanku, knew that her body had begun to heal once she’d made her first shift. Whether or not it would ever heal enough to allow her to conceive was something else altogether.

The waiter brought their first course just as two more men joined the two sitting at the table next to them. They could have been clones of the first two in their dark suits, with neatly trimmed hair and bland, nondescript faces.

Bay kept his face averted. I worked with the two who just came in, though they were in a separate division and may not recognize me. If they do, just go with it. He winked at Jake. We’re celebrating, right?

That we are.
“So, have you two decided when you want this wedding to take place? Shannon and I haven’t set a date yet.”

Manda picked up the conversation, chattering away as if wedding plans were the only thing on her mind. Shannon and Jake added a few comments, but Bay sat quietly, closest to the four men with his back to their table. Listening.

He never really thought much about the fact his hearing had become so much more acute after his first shift. Even in human form he clearly heard conversations and sounds he never would have noticed before.

The four men spoke quietly, but he might as well have been sitting with them. From what he heard, he was thankful he was not part of their group.

Names, dates, information he could pass on to Anton later, once they left the restaurant. There was so much anger, but something else he hadn’t expected, something he felt with his Chanku senses, was the touch of insanity. The mental and emotional imbalance of the older man and the Machiavellian control he appeared to have over the others. It was chilling, the way they celebrated, all of them buoyed by the crazed plans of one man.

Celebrating because of what they knew would happen
in a few short hours. Toasting one another and referring to events by such foolish code names that Bay had no problem at all understanding their intent.

Dinner passed quickly. The four men completed their meal and left without ever noting Baylor. But what was there to notice? Four good friends, both couples newly engaged, celebrating their happiness. No reason to note their presence, nothing at all to draw attention.

But the four drew Manda’s eyes. Or at least one of them appeared to. As the older gentleman passed by their table, she glanced up, gasped, and clumsily knocked her wineglass over.

Red wine spilled across the pristine tablecloth. Bay grabbed his napkin to blot at the spill before it spread any farther. “Sweetheart? Are you okay?”

Slowly, Manda shook her head. She clasped her hands on the table in front of her. He saw that she held them together to keep from shaking.
Manda! What’s wrong?

That older man? I know him. He was Milton Bosworth’s assistant. One of the men who kept me caged all those years.

Shit. That’s the connection.

Just then the waiter arrived to clean up the spilled wine. Manda blinked, composed herself, and apologized for making such a mess. Baylor took her hand and wrapped his fingers around her smaller ones. “We’re going to skip dessert. If you don’t mind bringing us our tab …”

The waiter smiled and bowed. “You are guests of one of the owners of the restaurant. Mr. Cheval asked me to convey his deep congratulations on your recent engagements. He said he looks forward to hearing from you as soon as you have the opportunity to call.”

Jake laughed out loud. Shaking his head in obvious amazement, he turned to Bay and said, “How the hell does he do that?”

Bay shrugged. “I don’t know, nor do I want to know.
Nothing gets past him. Ever.” Then he stood up, left a large tip on the table, and helped Manda to her feet. She still trembled. He collected her coat, wrapped her in its warm folds, and the four of them left the restaurant.

Silently, he filled Jake and Shannon in on Manda’s discovery as they stepped outside, effectively killing the mood. With his arm around Manda, Bay glanced back at the beautiful façade—probably one of the nicest restaurants in all of Washington, DC. “Is there anything, anywhere, Cheval’s not involved in?”

No one answered him. Jake signaled to a nearby cab. Silently, they headed back to the apartment.

Darkness had descended by the time Ulrich and Millie met the rest of the pack and headed into the woods, though it wasn’t entirely dark. The moon rising above the mountain was already throwing a silvery glimmer across the snow. Daci led off with Matt and Deacon following, tails high, ears up, alert to danger, to prey, to the scents and sounds of the night.

It was impossible to ignore the added sense of expectation and excitement. Ric didn’t even try. While they often ran together, they always separated when they returned to the cabins—Daci and her two mates to theirs, he and Millie to their own larger cabin. Sometimes Matt joined them, but more often than not it was just the two of them. Aroused after running, loving each other, needing so damned much to lose themselves in the overwhelming passion that followed shifting and racing through the night.

It was always good, always fresh and exciting.

But tonight was different. Ulrich couldn’t ignore the thrumming in his blood, the arousal simmering at a level just barely under his control. It wasn’t so much the fact they’d be doing something different tonight, something they hadn’t, for whatever reason, done on any other night. No. It was more, the fact they’d discussed their plans,
scheduled their time, organized a sexual gathering as if it were some sort of fucking business meeting.

For some reason, the whole idea left him feeling practically giddy, filled his head with visuals and his libido with all sorts of wild expectations. Uppermost was the image of his beloved Millie, naked and aroused, tangled up with Daci, Matt, and Deacon.

She was so utterly perfect, so beautiful, and still, in many ways, such an innocent. Yet in her innocence was a carnality so powerful, so addictive that Ric knew he’d never get enough of her, enough of seeing her lost in passion, her body open, giving, awakening to each new experience.

He just hoped he didn’t embarrass himself before they finally got together, as aroused as he was already. He had to stop thinking of later. He needed to center himself in his feral presence and live for the moment.

Damned easy to say, almost impossible to achieve. For now, he and Millie followed the younger group, trotting along at that steady, ground-covering pace that could easily carry them up to fifty or more miles over the course of a night. With any luck, the physical effort of the run would keep his raging lust under control. He could only hope.

They’d decided ahead of time not to run as far as usual—not with the schedule they needed to keep. That damned schedule that somehow set his blood to boiling, made his body tighten and his balls ache. He almost wished they could pick up the pace enough to take his mind off their plans, but they kept things steady—racing smoothly along the narrow trail over hard-packed snow.

At least half an hour passed before Matt pulled to the right and led them through a narrow break in the trees. Slipping through barren, leafless brush, they finally broke through into a small meadow covered in snow and bathed in moonlight. Matt took the lead, circling the meadow,
sniffing trees and bushes until he finally yipped sharply to let them all know it was safe. Then he nipped Daci’s flank and urged her into the center.