I woke up at around three in the morning, according to the cell phone Nick had dumped on the bedside table, and couldn't sleep. I could hear the faint sound of voices downstairs though and I slid out of bed after fifteen minutes of restless twisting and turning to join whoever it was. Not before I checked Nick though. I bent over to touch his head, where he'd clearly run into something, brushng the curls to one side to see the other spot. Just little lumps.
His wound on his shoulder was more or less done healing too, just a tender looking patch of pink skin, and it didn't look as upset as it had. He'd have his manly scar, a tiny little round one, and I could finally relax.
Downstairs Elena was still awake sitting at the table and still in the bridesmaid dress. She smiled a greeting at me as she was midway through drinking a cup of coffee, pale faced but alert, that energy a person got when they were exhausted but'd just had a enough coffee to keep them going. Whoever she'd been talking to was gone now.
I slid into the seat beside her and we sat there quietly, both unable to sleep. I was thinking how lucky it was that no one was killed. Well, except for Nathan. But maybe he had been taken away? Maybe they hadn't wanted to kill anyone, which was an odd thought, but we'd all been very clearly in the town when they'd set the houses on fire.
I asked Elena this, if she thought that, and she nodded slowly.
"It wasn't to kill us, no. It was worse than that in some ways. A single mutt invaded the core of our territory and set our home alight. It's... not a good sign, if they're getting as bold as to do that." She sighed and rubbed her head.
"You don't think that mutt was connected to the group?" I wasn't sure but when she said 'a single mutt' it didn't sound that way.
She shook her head. "I doubt they'd have been as stupid as to set a house on fire in such a amateur way or kill their own alpha's son. It's possible but there was only one scent around the house. We were talking about it, Clayton and myself, and we think this mutt was on his own. He might hope that he gets into the other pack though which provides us with another problem, if news about this group of mutts is spreading throughout the isolated mutts in the country. They're probably hoping that if they help them destroy us then they'll get something out of it."
I nodded and stood up after a few minutes, fixing us both food from the fridge. There wasn't as much here and we'd have to shop at some point. But I thought something would help us both relax a tiny bit. While I made the sandwiches I went over what she'd said.
I got the sense that it was bad, very bad, even if everyone was trying to stay strong. Even Elena seemed tired and I'd never seen Jeremy like that before. He'd always been the picture of calm, always knew what to do, what to say, like he was steps ahead of everyone else somehow. But he'd seemed to loose that when he saw the fire. For werewolves, I was starting to understand, territory and strength was the most important thing. If mutts started to invade it, expecting this pack to collapse and the other pack to take over, started to challenge us openly, and were even bold enough to burn the place down...
Elena moved to gaze out the window as she took her sandwich, her fingers tapping on the table. She seemed to want to speak, like something was there she was struggling with herself, and when I had sat down, she finally said softly, "Clayton's gone with Reece to hunt him down instead of protect the house."
"What?" I had not expected that, after all their careful watching the house plans. "Why?"
"Do you know how Clayton became the pack's protector?" When I shook my head she returned her attention to me. "When he was seventeen he cut up a mutt, every limb, every finger, every toe, keeping him alive till the last second and took photos of it. He spread them around, to every mutt, made sure that everyone saw what he could do." I cringed at that, at the brutal image of such a thing, and she nodded. "It was enough to send them a message that if they messed with the Pack they'd regret it. That was some time ago though and the past ten years, they've been getting bolder as Clay gets older and getting a bit too confidant, thinking he's a bit too old and weak now."
"He doesn't seem like that to me." He looked so young. HE and Nick both did. They might have been fifty but they would easily pass for thirties still. As for being weak, I'd never had an illusion about that with Clayton, even when he was being gentle with his kids. He was not like others and didn't pretend to be, seeming to be closer to his instincts than any other werewolf I knew and not caring if that was unusual. "Weak or old."
"No, he isn't really old, and he isn't close to being weak, but he isn't getting younger either. He decided it was time he starts to train someone else. Reece is old enough and proving to be a good fighter." Elena agreed. She glanced around, voice lower again, her voice so soft that I could barely hear it. "He and Reece are going to make it clear the pack's still not something you mess with."
I understood then. I didn't need the plans to understand. They'd gone to find the mutt and repeat the message. Elena didn't seem to be upset, exactly, but she didn't seem to like it either. If the mutts here were getting too cocky then...well, something had to be done. She didn't seem to want me to respond to that so I suspected it was between us only, for now. She looked almost relieved when I didn't comment and instead asked, "How is Jeremy?"
"Concentrating on helping your nephew, and no, you can't go down. Jeremy's asleep and he'll be having a rest for a few days. I'll be acting as alpha for a little while." She really didn't need to tell me that, I sort of sensed it already, but I nodded.
"He's not that good then?"
"He's going to need a while to recover from the shock but he'll be all right. Jamie's taking some extra time to stay with him and he's deciding to focus on your nephew while he pulls himself back together." Elena's eyes flickered down to my stomach then. "Any nausea? Can you see it yet?"
"Just when I smell onions and only after a lot of food."
"You seem to be having an easier start to it." She smiled a small smile. "I was already starting to show by then."
"You had twins though. I don't think that's what I'm facing."
"You never know. Maybe female werewolves have twins all the time." She smiled wider and shook her head. "It's a shame we can't do an ultrasound and find out."
"Why can't we? I'd almost like to see what's going on in there now." Get a photo even.
"If you saw a doctor for that she'd want blood tests done and the second she saw them she'd know you're not human. It's a shame though." She shrugged.
"Maybe we could get an ultrasound only. Tell her no blood."
"The last time Jeremy told a doctor no blood it went pretty badly. I'll think about it though. Either way, you'll probably have to spend most of the time here now."
"Does that mean I'm giving birth here?"
Elena nodded. "Jeremy delivered the twins."
I groaned softly and tried to think about that. Nick was afraid of the baby changing his life but he and I had a lot of fun getting it in there. Getting it out was going to be a hell of another story and it wasn't something Nick could join in with.
"You'll do fine. Your body seems to know it better than you do." Elena reassured me. "There's a lot of information online."
"I bet." I wondered if this house had the internet or a computer yet, suspecting it didn't, as no one really had needed it when the Stonehaven had it. "I guess I'll look when I can."
She nodded and yawned, going back to her half drunk coffee, eyes going to the window again.
After a while I spoke up, thinking of how Nick and I'd fit in the other room just fin."The twins and you two can use that room for however long you want. Months, whatever time it takes to build again. Our room is big enough for two of us."
"If it's months then it'll be three of you." Elena smiled slightly. "Thankyou though. It does help to have a little extra space with those two."
"How are they doing? Do they know about the fire?"
Elena nodded. "They're upset about all their toys gone but Logan's taking it better than Kate. They don't really understand it much more than that. Clay was just about ready to race for town and buy them everything they wanted but ...he was upset enough about the mutt to resist them for once. Oh." She stood up and went to get something from the pantry. "I rescued your wedding dress from Kate. I'll get you clothes out in the morning."
She lifted it out carefully and hung it across the chair beside me. I stroked the textured fabric.
"Thankyou." I'd have to find a way to stick it in the smaller wardrobe. What did people do with wedding dresses after anyway? Store them for their kids? I yawned, a tiredness returning, and agreed when she suggested I try and sleep again now.
Nick was awake when I came back into the room with the dress, the light on, reading a book as he waited for me. I managed to hang it in the wardrobe, glad it had a bag I could zip up, and crawled back into bed beside him as I kicked off the pants and tugged off the shirt. I'd fallen asleep in them and they weren't that comfortable.
"You all right?"
I nodded. Nick stood up, leaving the room for a second, only to return with a wet cloth. He started to wipe my face and I saw why- there was still traces of soot on it.
"Going in for me." He was shaking his head, as if he was still having trouble believing that.
"You were in there too long."
Nick's fingers slid under my panties, slowly, but he just held my lower stomach, feeling for that roundness hidden under the skin, finding it and keeping his hand on it. He shifted closer, breathing me in, head against mine on the pillow. "I'm sorry for getting afraid about this."
"I'm sorry for biting your head off when you were honest." I answered and he grinned, kissing my shoulder, as his fingers stroked my stomach. "To be honest it's scaring me a bit too. I agree about the sex part."
"Clay and Elena have a sex life. They just have to be creative. We'll have one." Nick went quiet as he pressed down, gently, more curious now than he had been earlier. "I wonder why I didn't notice it before."
"It's sort of hidden right now. You need to know where to look." Sleep was slurring my voice a bit, and yawns breaking it, but I had to add one last thing before I slept. "I told your dad. I'm sorry if you wanted to. I was a bit angry."
Nick shrugged. "One of us would have told him and he might not have believed me. How did he take it?"
"I think he was about to cry." Well, not exactly, but he looked happy enough.
Nick laughed, shaking his head against my shoulder. "He's getting soft in his old age. Why is it not as big as before?"
"I haven't eaten much so it's not being pushed out." I wondered if I should tell him what his dad had said in the car, about his mother. But Antonio hadn't said I shouldn't. I opened my eyes as I shifted again, finding a better position to sleep in, just on the cusp of sleep."Your dad seemed to think your mum looked like this, at this time of her pregnancy, she only showed when she ate."
"My mum looked like this?" Nick's body tensed slightly, as he lifted the blanket and gazed down at my stomach with a new expression, connecting the dots. Not 'baby' any more. It was his child. In me. Like he'd once been in his mother. He swallowed as he leaned closer, and I twisted so that our bodies were close, his hand slipping out so he could drape his arm across my waist. Nick said quietly, "Clay seems to like being a dad. Even when they're being brats."
"They're not brats all the time. We'll figure it out." I muttered, shutting my eyes, and let sleep come.
Nick woke me by accident late that morning. He was sitting on the bed on the other end, a laptop in his lap, a little wireless internet thing plugged into the side, fully dressed and looking like he'd come back. The laptop looked new enough, the packaging on the side of the room, so I suspected he'd snuck out early to get it.
"What are you doing?" I blinked at him sleepily, sliding up, crawling to the other side of the bed.
"Look, this is what it looks like." He twisted the laptop around to show me an alien. Not an alien, I realised as I read the page beside it, a fetus. "I wanted to see what was going on in there."
I sat up, his arm yanking me over, as he gawked at the page. Nick didn't seem to believe it. "It's got fingers and toes already and the heart's already working. And it can move its arms already. They don't wait, do they? I wonder if I could hear the heart?"
"Lots of growing to do, I guess. You probably need special equipment to hear it right now, it'd be so tiny." I yawned, relaxed, as he moved to look at other sites. He at least wasn't looking pale and a little freaked out, like he had last night, seeming to take it better now. I kissed him, leaving him with his task. Once I was done with the bathroom I headed downstairs.
Noah smiled, calling morning, from where he was kneeling beside the wall. I guessed that he was trying to repair the burnt part of the kitchen so it was more weather tight. He had relaxed around me, it seemed, as if being a 'claimed woman' made it easier for him to know how to behave around me. I could barely believe it, barely believe I was married now. We'd had a fairly unusual night last night, no classic sex till dawn, but with Nick seeming to recover from his shock I didn't really mind. As far as I was concerned we had a lot of chances. Maybe starting tonight. Or this afternoon, if I couldn't wait.
I still didn't really feel pregnant, I was just aware of it now, the test slapping it in my face and forcing me to notice all the little things that I'd just been too distracted to pay attention to.
"Morning." Elena called. She was still awake, though it looked like she was just about ready to collapse, dark shadows under her eyes. "Breakfast's in the fridge for you. I'm heading up to bed now, come get me if you need me."
I nodded and she went upstairs, slowly. The twins were in the living room, playing with something Nick must have brought back for them, adopting the new house easily. I wondered if they'd already been here over the past month, visiting. Jamie and Danielle sat with them, the two women playing, but their voices were low and lacking in energy, like everyone was still too stunned to really want to talk.
My attention was distracted by Antonio who had grabbed me, swinging me around, hugging me so hard I could hardly breathe. He, at least, was in a good mood.
"Nick told me he changed his mind." He put me down, smiling. " Sit, I'll cook you something hot while I instruct Noah."
I sat down and Antonio got to work, flipping eggs, bacon a bit too overdone, tomato a bit burnt, but he was trying hard and I ended up with a plateful of more or less edible food that was hot and smelt good. Actually, the charcoal parts smelt really good, I found myself enjoying every last bit of it. He even offered a cup of coffee, which turned out to be decaf, and I accepted it.
Jeremy came into the room while I was halfway through the plate and I paused gobbling it down to ask him about Matthew. He was downstairs, he hadn't seen me properly yet, and I decided to put my foot down about this.
So he sighed and sat down, taking a moment as if he was trying to prepare what he was going to say, whatever it was so difficult that even Jeremy seemed lost for words. Finally he started. "What I'm going to tell you won't be easy. But you need to know, first and foremost, that he is alive, he is eating, and he is talking, and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure he recovers."
I knew it was bad then. My heart sank, fear throbbing in it, skin going cold. "It's bad?"
Jeremy nodded. He glanced at Antonio who went to move Noah out of the room, telling him to come back in half an hour and have a break, before Antonio came to sit on my other side.
"Did you know about Clay's childhood?"
"Jeremy, Clayton's great, but..."
"Let him finish, sweetie." Antonio's hand found mine, so much like Nick's, and he held it. I swallowed the end of that sentence.
"Clayton was found already bitten when he was six, the same age as your nephew, somehow surviving the bite and thriving. He didn't know how to talk and it took some time for him to adjust to the human world again. His body and mind as a child was much happier with the wolf mind. But as an adult, he became one of the most feared fighters of the werewolf world." He paused.
"I know that."
"He's the kind of werewolf an alpha would be glad to have. Dangerous, closer to wolf than any other werewolf, and someone no mutt would dare enrage." Until recently, I thought, as Jeremy paused to let this information sink in.
"Clayton was the one who managed to get to Matthew before they got him on the ship. He was in his own container. He's emotionally in a very bad place, grieving for your family, thinking we'd killed his family and that the man who bit you was his real father. He also believed that you didn't love him." My jaw had opened, ready to protest that, and Jeremy cut me off "I know that's a lie. I know you love him. It was a manipulation in order to get Matt to do whatever he asked. When he bit Matthew, it was with Matthews permission, because the so called alpha told him that Matthew could be a great warrior with strength like a superhero. That was Matthews own words. We believe the mutt hoped it'd create another Clayton, his very own one, and he was found with the best care, his own personal doctor and nurse living in the container with him, caring for him while his body struggled with the bite."
"Wait, he bit him?" I smiled, a reflex to deal with what I'd heard, like I wanted it to be a joke. I didn't feel the least bit amused and my hand clenched. My mind didn't, couldn't, work this one over. It was confused. "Is he injured badly?"
"He's bitten now, like you, and his body is rejecting it very strongly. But right now he is alive and he is talking." Jeremy grabbed for my other hand as I swayed, slightly, my head light. "Breathe, Anne." After I managed to get some oxygen back in my lungs, Jeremy asked, slowly, voice almost calming me a little. "Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"That he thinks I hate him, that you killed his family, that asshole is his dad?"
"And?"
"And that asshole bit him because he made a six year old think it was what his fake dad wanted?"
Jeremy nodded.
Their faces yesterday morning flashed in my mind then, suddenly, how pale they'd looked, how I knew something was wrong. "This is what was wrong yesterday, isn't it?" When Jeremy nodded again, I went pale with rage. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We were going to tell you after. Not before the wedding. He couldn't come to it and you couldn't skip the wedding. He is too sick to leave the basement right now. Antonio was right to take him out with the fire but he has to stay there until it's the right time."
"We wanted to tell you, sweetie, but he was sedated and asleep. You didn't need to be there." Antonio said softly from the other side. "He didn't know you weren't around and he was better off drugged for that time."
"I'm his family. He needs me." I swallowed. I tried to push the rage down, tried so hard, because I knew that Jeremy and Antonio were trying to protect him and me. I had to calm down. "So now what? You keep him down there till he's well again, I make sure he knows I love him, and we undo the mindfuckery on him?"
"It might take a long time. He saw his family die in front of him, wolves attack them, his home burn, so you'll have to expect it to take a long time and be patient with him. But yes. And we'll all be there to support you and help you. You aren't alone and neither is he." Jeremy stroked my other hand as I tried to take it all in.
"Will he start changing as a teenager, like Logan and Kate?" Was that what it meant when a child was bitten? I wasn't sure how to take this, how it worked, if this bite thing only worked on bodies of a certain age or up.
Jeremy paused, just a fraction, and shook his head. "He isn't hereditary like them. For him, now that it's in his system, it starts now. He's already changing into a wolf and may do it quite a lot until his body settles down. Clayton wanted me to tell you that he will be there to help guide Matt."
He was already changing. I paled, picturing that tiny body, the pain of those changes, remembering the hell of the first six months, and how I'd only managed to control it out of sheer will and rage at the man who kept hurting me. Matt was six years old, five when I'd left Australia, and he was terrified and hurt and scared, and far too little for it. "He's too little for this."
"He is too little." Jeremy agreed. His face was sad now. "You might have to face the possibility that he might not survive it at all. It's not an easy process and grown men don't survive it. Or-" He hesitated, as his eyes met Antonio. Antonio nodded. "There is the smallest chance that he might not want to stay human. There is a possibility that he may give into the instinct to be a wolf. It's slight but I don't want to lie to you."
I wasn't hungry now. I ignored the plate of food, so afraid, so angry, I wanted to rip that bastard's teeth out of his jaw one by one, take the fangs out, make sure he could never bite anyone again. And bite a kid? Just so he could try and make a new Clayton? Was it because his own son had been a weak kid who didn't seem that bright?
"When you're done emptying the plate we can go down to see him."
"How is he?" I forced myself to eat, forced it to go down into my upset stomach, breathing in and out fast.
"Like a caged wolf. Right now he's sedated and has just finished breakfast. He may react badly to you but I don't think keeping you apart is going to help. We'll have you visit him twice a day for fifteen minutes for now. I want to keep your stress down as well for your baby's sake." Jeremy reminded me then, of my own baby, and I nodded, ate more, breathing in and out so that I didn't pass out.
I followed him downstairs. Matt was awake, eating, a little red wolf cub bent over a plate, hair rising and a long low growl at the sound of us. Clothing was half ripped across him, like he'd tried to wriggle out of it but his stomach had taken over, green eyes glaring at us as we came to stand near the bars.
"He changed again." Jeremy said softly, reaching out for something on the wall, marking it down. It was a clipboard with a daily schedule, he was tracking it, tracking every last thing Matt did. "I'm trying to find a pattern. Sit down and talk to him, or just let him smell you. It doesn't matter while he's like this."
I didn't know what to say so I sat down and he growled at me, clearly willing to sink teeth into me if I came close enough, no trace of conciousness in those eyes. He was tiny, adorable, the kind of wolf cub that people would see and think 'I can tame that adorable wolf, he's so cute', but he was very clearly not tame. I wondered if he was like this when he was human too. From the way Jeremy had been talking, I suspected he might have been.
He didn't look particularly healthy though, now that I looked closer, there was an air of something else there that set my wolf side on edge. Illness, or disease, I wasn't sure what it was called, just this awareness that he wasn't right at the moment. Some urge in me wanted to go in and groom him silly, clean out that fur that was all over the place, stroke it down, comfort him. I had to hold onto my legs to resist the urge to get up and go inside. He may have been little, cute and needing attention, but he had a mouth full of teeth that he was clearly willing to use.
Matt's nostrils flared as he growled, backing up, eyes fixed on me, ears down, fur up on his back. Sniff, sniff, sniff, stare. A quick lunge for his meal, gobbling it up, not trusting me, before he was backing off into the corner again, returning to the growl, stare, sniff, get some food routine. On the far wall of the basement was where Jeremy had clearly set up his own bed, clearly intending on spending as much time with Matt as he could, a pile of books and a little lantern with it. Some of them were even children's books. I wondered if he'd let me sleep down here as Matt got used to me, spend time with Matt, let him know I wasn't going anywhere.
After fifteen minutes, Jeremy guided me back upstairs and I went to sit back in the kitchen, feeling weak.
"He's doing better today. Has more energy than usual." He tried to cheer me up, rubbing my back.
"He's too young."
"I know and I'm keeping my eye on it." Jeremy reassured me. He went to get the plate of leftover breakfast from the fridge and ate it, his own face still a bit pale. "He's got a lot of support, a flood of pack uncles all willing to help him, and a aunt who loves him. Soon, he'll have a cousin too."
"It might make him more jealous." I muttered.
"It might but that'll settle. His instincts will urge him to accept some kind of family, I suspect, so he may accept a baby faster than he accepts you."
That meant this could take over a year or more. I would stick it out, of course, but the entire thing was daunting. I found myself being handed another plate by Antonio, who pushed it at me, and I ate slowly. I was a little hungry still, actually, I'd only had one serving. I wanted to scream, and yell, and throw plates around, but that wasn't going to help. The only thing that would help was getting those assholes once and for all.
"How are you doing?" I asked, as I ate. I was worried for him, I cared about him even, this alpha who'd taken me in and so willingly cared for me even when I wasn't stable. "With the fire."
Jeremy wasn't fine, and he didn't try to hide it, but he smiled weakly as he answered, "That house had a lot of memories and a lot of history." Jeremy said, finally, his eyes on the table now.
"Not all of them good memories or history." Antonio reminded him. Maybe that was why he wasn't as bothered by the fire, I wondered, if he and Jeremy shared bad memories there.
"No." Jeremy agreed with that. He went quiet again.
I was called upstairs by Nick and with nothing more I could say I headed up to find him on the bed still, asking me if I wanted to see a birth. That was not attractive in the slightest.
"Not for months, Nick."
"Neither do I." He shut the laptop and put it on the bedside table, shaking his head. "There's too much on the internet." Nick moved to the window beside the bed and gazed out of it. "I think Stonehaven isn't burning any more, I can't see smoke."
I went to sit beside where he stood, gazing up at him, as he stood there and looked out one of the smaller windows, one hand coming to run through my hair, looking in the direction Stonehaven was. Had been.
"Was that about Matt?" Nick asked, glancing down. When I nodded, he asked, "What's wrong with him?"
I told him. As I spoke he came to sit beside me, our legs pressed up, his arm wrapped around my waist.
"Clayton survived. I grew up with him after. I can try and help you with this, and I know Clayton will, he's probably furious about what he found." He reassured me, nuzzling against my neck, his fingers twisting around mine and squeezing.
"He might not even survive the changes."
Nick didn't say anything then, as if he couldn't think of anything positive or reassuring, so he just nodded a fraction, chin brushing against my shoulder. My hand found his thigh, stroking it, feeling it flex and react to my touch under the fabric of the pants. Nick was so alive, so warm, I just had to touch him and I felt reassured somehow. Jeremy was right- Matt had a flood of grown werewolves who were raised from kids knowing about this and all here to offer him guidance and Pav was a trained nurse. I had to let them do what they knew how to do.
Elena interrupted us a few minutes later as she carried in some of our stuff from the room she'd taken over. Nick squeezed my leg and went to help her, moving things in, and I went to put them away, the cleaning somehow distracting from the greater problems. I was already looking forward to going downstairs and seeing Matt again, angry or not.
We had to go to Stonehaven, very suddenly, just as lunch was about to be finished. There was the problem of Nathan potentially being in the basement in a cage, and while it was usually private, there would be investigations into the house fire now. He might have been burnt enough to cover his unusual genetics as a werewolf but if they found a body in a cage in a basement there'd be all sorts of assumptions and possibly worse trouble for Jeremy.
So we had to go and get it cleared out in under half an hour, slowly, carefully, without knocking down the fragile remains of the house, make sure there was no trace of the cage after, and then somehow re-soot the places our feet had touched. Only Nick and Noah went inside, Nick with enough balance to not lean on everything, and Noah being small and light enough to tiptoe behind Nick and follow his every footstep. I had a bag of fine soot from Forestwatch but went to gather soot from things, moving around to do it evenly, so that I could have an extra bag afterwoods so they could cover their tracks as they backed out again.
Poor Nathan was still there, halfway out of the cage, like he'd been so afraid that he'd been willing to cause himself who knew how much damage to get out. They had to slowly back out with him in a blanket, leaving him on the snow while they went back in, and I couldn't look at the blanket. I couldn't picture it because when I did I'd be seeing my Dad, or my nephew, or my mum, not Nathan. I did feel bad for Nathan, dying in that house alone, wondered how he'd been treated by that man, if he'd been abused for being too weak, too submissive to be any good. He'd tried to rape me, I knew that, but he'd also made it clear he'd hoped I'd love him eventually. He'd just been a screwed up kid that had no clue about the world.
They'd then tore the bars out, most of them already too ruined to put up much of a fight, and thrown them over to where Antonio was waiting to catch them and put them in a tarp in the back of the four wheel drive. If anything displayed the strength of werewolves it was this- grown men, snapping, bending and throwing heavy metal poles around like they were bamboo.
We'd hurried with the cleanup, including covering our feet around the house, and backed off as the investigators arrived with a minute to spare.
"We just can't believe it." Antonio told them, shaking his head. "Wedding yesterday, homeless today."
They seemed to accept that, apparently knowing about the wedding, and congratulating Nick and myself. We talked a little bit, about how we were postponing the honeymoon now, that we wanted to stay and help a little longer, before we headed off to let them do their job and do our job.
The bars had to be buried in an unmarked grave some hours away, in the middle of no where, a lonely death for the kid. Nathan would be buried on another site which Antonio had driven to with Noah. I helped Nick, or attempted to, before he remembered I was pregnant and yanked the shovel off me.
"I think you're not supposed to lift anything." He didn't seem certain about that, clearly not sure what pregnant women were and weren't allowed to do, but he was determined to make sure I stopped working anyway.
I wasn't sure if that was a myth or true but I decided it wasn't worth testing. So I waited, watching, as Nick struggled with the hard cold ground. I even perved a little, seeing as he wasn't letting me work, something it might be impossible for any hot blooded woman to avoid. He was sweating, shirtless, his muscles standing out as he dug the hole, curls clinging slightly to his damp face and neck.
"Should I get the poles?"
Nick stood up and shook his head, breathing hard. "No lifting." He went to get them, burying the pieces and remains of the cage in the deep hole, before he covered it up again, bit by bit, and dumped snow on top of the disturbed dirt.
We headed back to Forestwatch once he was done, the heater keeping us both warm, one of Nick's hands in mine. Halfway we got lunch, ordering enough from a drive through for six of us, and I got most of it before I realised that he'd been slipping me extra food.
The last stop was to shop. Elena had sent Nick a list to get on his way home, apparently Antonio had got the other half of it, and we loaded up with groceries, some toys, and pregnancy vitamins. Turned out such things existed and I needed them.
Sara was at Forestwatch when we returned. I wasn't sure when she'd come, hoping it wasn't long, but she was sitting with Elena and the twins in the kitchen and chatting away. She smiled when she saw me and I relaxed. The smile was a bit odd though, like she knew something, some secret. Elena moved away with the twins at the sight of us and we both sat down with her.
"I called up the house and Elena told me you were out for some private time away from her twins." Sara's eyes moved a fraction of a second to Nick's messed up hair and that smile widened just slightly. That explained the smile. She thought we'd gone off to have some fun in the back all afternoon while the twins ruled the house. "Elena said you'd be back by four," She glanced at the clock which said five now, "but I was a little late anyway so it's probably good you both enjoyed yourselves."
"We had to get some groceries for the extra mouths to feed here. I still have to get them out." I explained and she nodded.
"I'll get them." Nick volunteered, standing, and moved to get them while we talked.
"Suz would be so glad to see you like this." Sara said, softer, as she shifted her chair closer. "Happy, married, and with so many friends around you. I think she used to worry that you studied too much and had too little fun." Sara's face twisted with sadness as she said it, but she was smiling still, really genuinely believing what she said.
"I guess I wasn't a big fan of getting drunk instead of doing art."
"She was proud of you for that, believe me, but she kept wondering if you were a lesbian because you brought no boys home. If she'd have seen how you were yesterday... she would have been so happy. So would have your mum and dad." Sara shook her head, before she went for the bag beside her, pulling out a large wrapped gift. "I brought you this for a wedding present."
I took it and when Nick got back, arms literally laden with bags, I opened it. Inside was a photo box, filled with photos, as well as a number of CDs. It made a lump come back into my throat, eyes suddenly warm, these photos and images of my family that weren't horrible, just of them laughing, and smiling, and happy. Some were of us on holiday when I was young, some even before that, photos of my parents when they were young, black and white photos of their parents. I wasn't even sure how she got some of those- my parents had both lost their parents before I was born. I knew Sara had been around my entire life, almost, she'd been the only friend Susie had kept from her teenage years. A lot of her other friends had moved on when she got pregnant.
"We all got as many photos we could, all that were at the funeral, so you had something still. So one day when you have a child, you can show them what they were like, what you were like."
"Thankyou. This ...it means a lot to me." I reached out to hug her, her arms closing hard around me as she squeezed me.
"They would have wanted you to have a life, a family, and friends. I'm so glad you're building one here and with such a cute guy too." She turned to look at Nick, who was putting away the stuff, and he grinned at her, a confidant cocky grin, which made her cheeks redden slightly.
Nick moved to wrap an arm around me as he took the photos and gazed at them, looking at the family, at the people I knew he'd wanted to meet.
"We'll have to buy a photo album and put them in." He decided, squeezing my shoulder, as he stared at a photo. "Was this you?"
He sat down and we looked at the photo. It was me, when I was just a toddler, being held by Susie in one arm, Phill in the other arm. We looked almost like we were twins at that age, two toddlers with silver blonde hair, his just a fraction darker than mine, compared to Susie's redder strawberry blonde.
"She had the most amazing hair as a toddler, just like her nephew, we used to joke and call them twins." Sara shook her head at the memory. "You wouldn't think that two years later, Phill had brown hair and hers had started to darken and get warmer in color. See."
She flipped through the photos and showed him a photo of us when we were older, on our first school day, my hair a golden blonde now and his going a warm pale brown. We looked nothing alike at that age. My hair had darkened, and darkened, and darkened, until it was now the dark red-blonde color it was now, while his had stopped changing and remained that shade right into his twenties.
"What about this one?" He tugged out a photo of a baby, eyes darting to my stomach, for a second.
"That was Li- I mean Anne- too. She was adorable then. But then, I didn't have to change her nappies, I got to leave when she got a little too upset or smelly." Sara smiled weakly. "Wish I could do that with my own baby."
"You have a baby?"
Sara nodded. "She was born a while after you went missing. I love her but sometimes I miss sleep. And sex. And sleep. Funny how I want to have a break when I'm with her but when I'm here, halfway across the world, all I want to do is go rushing back."
Nick's face tensed, just slightly, but he managed to shake it off when she mentioned that she missed her baby. His smile returned, just as wide, a hand sneaking under the table to touch my stomach.
"Have you two thought about having a baby yet?" Sara asked, her eyes moving from Nick to myself, her curiosity overwhelming any attempt to be polite.
"We've talked about it." I nodded. Nick seemed to be fighting with the urge to tell her.
"You don't have to rush. You're both young."
We were interrupted by the sound of hungry kids, and Elena calling them back, so I knew it was time to start cooking dinner. Sara agreed to stay for dinner, but she'd have to go back, her flight home the next morning. She'd been offered a longer trip but she'd had to go back to her job and her baby.
Dinner was fantastic, with both Sara and myself knowing how to cook, except Nick kept getting funny looks when he kept offering to lift things. Or carry things. Or do something. I suspected she was starting to wonder if I was pregnant, from the way he was behaving. She raised an eyebrow when I told her 'Sorry, no onions' as she took one out, nodded, and put it away again.
We sat down and ate together, with apparently everyone else out and having dinner in town, which I suspected meant they'd retreated for a while to avoid the stranger. If I was learning anything about werewolves, they weren't keen on being social, and Elena was really trying hard to help. Or maybe she was trying to get the twins used to strangers, because they were fascinated with Sara, continuously asking her questions about Australia, about her job, about what she ate, like she was an alien visiting their home planet. I had to give it to her too, for a woman with jet lag, she took it all very well.
We entertained them with dessert, bringing out a treat I'd had as a kid a lot called a 'frog in a pond.' It was basically a chocolate frog sticking out of a cup of green and blue jelly. They seemed to love that, catching the frog from deep inside, and eating it up like the little hunters they were. We'd tried to make some extra for everyone else but Kate and Logan made sure that all the frogs were captured, leaving some very empty looking ponds in the fridge.
I went out with Sara as it got late, Nick promising to drive her to her hotel safely.
"You are pregnant, aren't you?"
Yep, Nick had given it away successfully. I glanced at him as he came out, blinking at her.
I nodded and she squealed and yanked my top up so she could stare at my stomach. Thanks to a big dinner it was there again, this tiny roundness to the stomach, and Sara was quick to touch it before I could blink. Some part of me suddenly wanted to shove her back, push her away from me, get her out of my personal space, and when she went to hug me, I flinched and stepped back out of her way, repressing a snarl.
She blinked at me, hurt suddenly on her face, and confusion. We'd hugged quite a lot when I was a child and a teenager, and even sometimes when I was in my early twenties, but for some reason now I could not do it. I didn't want to hug her. I liked her, I was glad she was here, but I couldn't hug her. Nick seemed to be a bit surprised too, but not too much, and he managed to hug her. I could see his body rejecting the idea. What was going on?
"What's wrong?" She turned to look at me, that same expression on her face.
"My chest. It's sensitive." They were, so to speak, and it was the only thing I could think of. "From the pregnancy."
It seemed to wipe off that confusion and hurt though and she nodded, giving me a sympathetic pat on the arm. "Oh, I understand. How many weeks are you?"
"Nine or ten, but please keep it quiet. We only found out yesterday." I wasn't sure who she'd tell but she nodded.
"Very early then. Don't worry, sweetie, they might hurt less in the next few weeks then." Sara nodded and turned on Nick again. "Congratulations, daddy."
"Ah, thanks." He glanced at me, a 'how the hell did she know?' question in his eyes.
"She guessed from the way you wouldn't let me carry a plate." I muttered.
"Good on you too. Don't let her carry anything heavy, or eat soft cheese, or eat seafood, except well cooked fish of course, or drink caffeine, or alcohol... and make sure you give her a back rub. She'll need it." Sara had turned on him listing off things she could remember. She turned on me then. "Cocoa butter is good for your skin, get some, it'll stop stretch marks. And it can't hurt to get ready now for the baby, get the nursery ready while you can still bend over, and plan the birth."
"Okay." What more could he say? He seemed to be torn between wanting to rush back into the house and probe her for more questions.
"Promise me you'll write. Email, I mean. Send me photos of your ultrasound too. Take photos of your stomach every week from now on, you'd be amazed how it changes. I'll show you mine." She seemed to thrive on this, on this news, her face warm and all traces of sadness gone. "Would your sister be happy! Wow."
I promised, I took her email address and told her mine had to be made again because it'd been deleted months ago. She grasped my hand, seeing as I couldn't hug, before hopping into the car. I watched as Nick drove off with her and I was left watching them leave.
I went inside to find Elena clearing the dinner table. I felt so guilty, so damn guilty, for rejecting Sara's hug that it must have shown.
"What's wrong?"
I told her what'd happened. "We used to hug all the time, even if I wasn't a big fan of it, but now I can't stand the idea of her getting too close." I felt awful. I kept seeing her face when I'd flinched and stepped back, the slight hurt there, but I couldn't stand the idea of a hug. Not even with Sara.
"It's the wolf in you." Elena explained. She touched my arm, so easily, so relaxed, and I found my body quite happy about that physical contact. It felt safe. "Not really your fault, just an inbuilt instinct to avoid close physical contact with other species. Including humans. You won't catch Clayton touching a human, not even a handshake, unless he has to."
"But he's hugged me." They were slightly awkward hugs, sure, but they were real hugs.
"Well, you're not human, you're apart of the pack now, and you're Nick's mate. Three points that make him feel at ease with you. No one here would behave the same way with humans or others, even friends, than they do with each other and you. That only changes between a werewolf and a human when sex got into it."
"Nick with his lovers."
She nodded, a small smile at that, and agreed. "Yes, Nick was a little less anxious about that before he met you. I'm not sure how he did it. But that's why no one wanted to stay for dinner with her. It isn't personal, it's just that we're more comfortable with each other."
"That explains why I felt like backing up every time Paige approached me with a brush or make up or..." I remembered that, this urge to back up, and how hard it'd been to stay still and let her do it. I'd even flinched a number of times but she'd ignored it as if she didn't care.
"Exactly. She understands though and wasn't offended by it. Sara didn't understand. What did you tell her?"
"She'd guessed that I was pregnant so I told her pregnancy made my chest too sore to hug." Not exactly a lie either, sort of, an exaggeration. "She has a baby so she understood."
Elena nodded. We dumped the dishes and started to rinse and stack them. Now that she mentioned it, I did feel comfortable bumping into her, but when I'd been in the wedding, or getting out of the car, being stared at or being the centre of attention had set me on edge worse than it had before I'd been bitten.
"This is going to take some getting used to." I muttered.
Jeremy appeared then, offering to escort me downstairs for the night's visit with Matt, and I watched him sleep. He was a little boy again, clearly exhausted, covered up in the blanket and looking just as unhealthy as he had as a wolf. There were bruises on his arms. Very fresh bruises.
"He's sedated to help him get some rest." Jeremy said softly as we sat down. "He didn't react well to the sound of Sara's voice."
"I would have-"
"It was just some bruising and I was quick to calm him. If something more serious happens, I will come get you." Jeremy's arm brushed against my arm.
I nodded and leaned against him. He seemed to relax, smiling somewhat, letting me. Jamie came down and raised an eyebrow but she seemed more amused than jealous.
"I'll be up in ten minutes." Jeremy glanced up to her and she nodded, before vanishing back up the stairs.
"She's a necromancer, huh?"
"Yes. A good one too." He nodded.
"Raises the dead?"
"Amongst other things. She can contact the dead." He seemed to regret saying that, stiffening, but I had no desire to contact my family right now. I kept it in my mind though.
"I've got more problems with the living right now." I muttered and he relaxed, nodding. "I guess then if she can talk to them then they're clearly in an afterlife. That's nice."
Jeremy smiled a fraction and squeezed my arm. We stood up and headed upstairs after a while to our own separate rooms.
I found something on my bed when I went in. It was wrapped up in white, with a orange bow on it, and it had 'from your bridesmaids'. When I opened it I gawked at what I found.
Oh my god. It was worse than the ones Nick had bought for Christmas.
I stared at it, lifting it up, distinctly seeing my own horrified reflection in the mirror on the wall. At least the ones he'd bought had fabric that was somewhat transparent. This white baby doll thing didn't even bother pretending that it was anything but to display every inch of the body, with just the slightest transparency to the bra and panties part. The fabric was with a kind of leaf pattern to it, all over, the babydoll open in the front like the other one. There was even a garter thing attached, that thing that went around the thigh, and I could already see his face when he caught sight of that.
I wanted to wear it. I wanted to see Nick's face when he saw it. But should I wear it? Was the world too screwed up right now?
I decided that damn them, and the mutts, and the fire, and the rest of it. Who the hell were they to screw with last night? Whoever had decided to give this to me, it only said 'from the bridesmaids', I decided that they were right and we'd have the wedding night tonight. My legs were still more or less waxed, something I had managed to do before the wedding, which Nick would probably never see again. Shaved, okay, that might happen now and then but never again would an eager witch with a waxing kit approach me.
It actually looked kind of good on. I was very clearly naked under it, the darkness of my nipples against the white fabric, another dark shape lower down, it did not hide a single thing. But my breasts were filling it out pretty nice and my stomach had that soft curve to it, thanks to that 'snack' after dinner as we'd cleaned, which actually worked well with the opening at the front of the baby doll and the very low panties. It made it look kind of sexy. I seemed to have gained weight as well, bones not quite as obvious, some shape back.
I felt kind of sexy right now. Screw those assholes out there. I was sexy right now and I had the freedom to be sexy. I'd come kick their asses later. Right now I had to surprise Nick and I could hear him coming up the stairs.
I hopped into bed, tugging that garter thing on as I managed to get in under the sheets, tugging them up to my head, as he came in. He looked exhausted. No, not just exhausted, he looked shell shocked too. Pale. Overwhelmed. I suddenly had this distinct feeling that my 'surprise' wasn't going to be as much of an impact as I'd hoped.
"You all right?"
"I had a very long lesson in how to take care of you for the next nine months." He grinned, crawling over, and collapsing dramatically on his stomach as if he was fainting. "You owe me one for that drive. She's sending me emails too."
"I didn't even know you know how to use the computer." I teased him.
"I have many skills I have yet to show you." He tried to flirt, but he just slid up. There was a tenseness there in Nick's face again. He smiled, leaning over to kiss me gently. "I'm going to have some more food and have a shower. Don't wait up."
Then he left me there, dressed up and without a werewolf to take it off again.
I sighed and undressed from the sexy stuff, feeling less sexy than I had before, hiding it and tugging on the bed shirt that he'd given me instead. I felt tired suddenly, exhausted, and really let down. Damn.
I woke early the next morning as I felt the bed sink. Nick was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the laptop again. He looked as pale as he had last night when he'd come home, dark shadows under his eyes, like he hadn't fallen asleep when I had. It looked like he'd been up all night on the laptop.
"What's wrong?" I slid up and stared at him.
"You really want to know?"
Probably not, if he put it like that, but I nodded anyway.
"Anne, I've been trying to be positive about this." He was staring at the pregnancy page again, at the 'what dads should know' section, and Nick's face was drained of all blood. "I just don't think I can do this. All of it. I'm not a natural father like Clay, is, I don't think I'll be a good parent even. I don't know how to cope with this."
The sound of activity downstairs made us both flinch. I sat there, stunned, unable to speak. What the hell, where the hell had this all come from?
"What are you saying?"
"I'm... confused." He frowned at the word. "It's too much right now. Maybe it's selfish to bring a child into the pack right now. Maybe we're not ready."
There was a call from downstairs, which I tried to ignore, but Nick was clearly eager to answer it. He stood up and dressed as I stared at him. The last time he'd said this, I'd yelled, I'd run off, but now I couldn't. I'd gotten used to the idea of this working out.
"Think about it." He turned to me at the door. Nick sounded tired when he spoke, quiet, like he'd been thinking these words all night. "I know you want a family to replace yours but you have one, Anne, we're your family. How can we protect a baby when we're struggling to protect our own pack?"
Then he was gone. I stared at the door. The words selfish smashed itself around my head, rebounding, unable to believe what I was hearing from him. Maybe it was the tiredness talking. I didn't care. He was being selfish, not me. Or was he?
I had no clue. I dressed, voice gone, and went downstairs. All emotions were faded away again, like they had when I was trying to recover from the funeral, and I felt numb. What if he was right? What if it was selfish to want this to happen now?
As I came down the stairs I heard activity. A lot of it. Jamie was in Elena and Clayton's room with the door shut, and locked I suspected, and feet were moving through the house below at a fast rate. I could hear Pav and Jeremy's voices downstairs.
"We're going to meet the container ship." Jeremy informed me, when he saw me, something in his arms. Laundry I supposed. Whatever he'd lost at the sight of his home burning had vanished now, he was back to his calm and confidant self. No trace of the indecision or self-doubt remained. He glanced at me, waiting for me to ask to go, but when I didn't he blinked slightly. "Elena and Antonio will meet Clayton and Reece. Anne, you can't go, but Nick, if you want..."
Nick moved forward. "I'll go."
Jeremy glanced him and then nodded. "Hurry up and throw some clothes together."
Nick nodded and back headed upstairs.
When I still didn't ask to go as well, Jeremy looked at me, and very softly, asked, "What's wrong?"
I shook my head. I wasn't ready to talk. I wished I could talk to Reece, suddenly, or someone. He was probably still angry with me though, I'd gotten no messages from him, nothing. I wasn't even sure what I'd say to him but...
I watched them go, Jeremy's hand on my arm, Pav on my other side. It was clearly war, or something like it, because even as they were pulling out, they were already discussing tactics. Who would stay where and who would be on the front line. My heart sunk as it faded from view. Something in me told me that this time Nick wasn't changing his mind. He hadn't wanted to deal with being a father. He wanted me, of course, I didn't doubt that. But he couldn't go a day without returning to that earlier panic and resistance to the pregnancy. We'd known two days and he'd only been happy about it for less than twelve hours.
Daniella was watching them as well, from inside the living room, her arms crossed, face white.
I sat upstairs all day, staring at the window, feeling myself starting to slip back into that depression that'd overwhelmed me after the funeral. It was almost like I was already grieving for the baby and it was still there.
The problem was, I wasn't sure if he was right or wrong. Maybe it was selfish timing. Matt needed me, those assholes needed my fist, and from the way Elena had talked it'd sounded like the pack was also suffering worse than they had been for a very long time. Mutts challenging their territory, burning down their house, it wouldn't be surprising if one tried to attack one of us at one point to add to the insult. An hour after he'd gone I wanted to scream at him. But he was gone by then. The text messages I sent to him only received 'talk later, love you', no matter how upset or angry I tried to be in them. He just brushed me off.
No one could tell me what was going on either. I heard bits and pieces, that there was a storm and the ship had been delayed, that they had to wait a bit longer, that they were doing this, or that, but nothing seemed to be happening. If Jermey was frustrated by the delay he didn't show it. Instead, he continued with the routine. Led me downstairs twice a day, even if I didn't talk, Pav made sure I ate the right stuff, took the right pills, and then I was left to do what I wanted. So I cleaned. For a week, I cleaned, I waited, and the ship still hadn't come in yet, delayed by the bad weather.
Reece got back to me on the third day though, prompted by Jeremy, and I almost burst into tears at the sound of his familiar voice and accent. He was so startled to hear me crying that he promptly lost any anger he'd had left. He didn't know what to do, how to fix it, and he went for Nick after five minutes. I hung up before Nick could show up. I didn't want to talk to Nick. Why would I? The phone started to ring, over and over and over, and I ignored it. Watched it vibrate on the desk. I was starting to get angry now, all over again, angry and crying and I knew it was probably hormones but damn them both anyway.
Reece then called Daniella who tried to talk to me, as awkward as he'd been when she saw tears, but she tried. Apparently they made up. That news just made me cry harder, feeling rejected somewhat, as neither of them had told me. Stupid reaction, completely illogical, but I wasn't feeling logical. I was stuck in a house, trying to decide if I was selfish or not, and not allowed to go out and kick the ass of the man who'd bit me. Why? Because I was pregnant. Suddenly this wasn't so much fun anymore.
Maybe it was because of this that Jeremy offered me to go shopping with Jamie and get out of the house for a while. We didn't speak, neither of us knowing the other that well, but we shopped in silence. Somehow that worked and I found myself coming back to my senses there, in the supermarket, with Jamie taking half the list and me working on the other half. The task distracted me enough to calm down for a few hours and I almost wished I hadn't stomped on my phone on the way out, almost wished I could ask them what they were doing in LA. Waiting? Watching the boat already? Attacking right now? Or was it still delayed? I wondered if it even was delayed, or if I was being told that in order to keep me calm.
I found that Elena had been right about physical contact with humans. The town wasn't large and apparently I was recognised as 'the bride' from the second I walked into the shop. This meant that I had to endure a great deal more hand shaking and back slapping than I was comfortable with. Maybe this was another reason Jeremy had sent me out here- to get me used to the world outside the property again?
As I wandered around, avoiding hugs, smiling politely, and shaking hands, I found myself yanking food I hadn't tried off the shelf. Then I took a look at it, how preserved and pre-packaged it was, forcing myself to throw it back there again. Australia was pretty awful with fake stuff in its food, preservatives, food colors and stuff, but America was mindbogglingly difficult to find food that was safe for us.
Us?
I swallowed, shutting my eyes as I held the fifth packet of potato chips, understanding. Even now, I couldn't even bring myself to buy food that might harm the baby. I could 'wait' but I'd regret it, every single day, I'd never stop wondering.
"You all right?" Jamie had found me, apparently done with her edge, her eyes fixed on me as if she had been standing there a while waiting to be noticed. "Anne?"
"These are junk." I muttered and stuffed them back on the shelf. "I want something potato, and salty, but they're filled with junk."
"We could get some chips on the way back if you want." Jamie offered, slowly.
"Thanks, that'd be great. Organic chips. Yum." I craved organic food, I suddenly realised, because the moment I'd said 'organic' I felt my stomach agree loudly. Organic vegetables, meat, whatever else was organic, I just wanted to eat it.
After a while I couldn't stand shopping beside her anymore. People moving up to me, congratulating me, and Jamie must have known something about werewolf space because she tried her best to distract them for me. It worked sometimes, I'd hear a 'Isn't that Jamie Vegas?' and they'd leave me alone and go talk to the famous 'medium'. But when someone joked 'Are you pregnant' and I found two pairs of hands on my stomach while they kidded about the fast wedding, that was enough. I got away as politely as possible, pretending my phone was ringing, and went to wait outside. I sent Jamie a message when I got to a safe quiet ally beside the shop so she'd know and waited.
The smell of werewolf didn't alarm me at first, I was so relieved to be outside, but when the wind brought it again down the snow covered ally the hair raised on the back of my neck. I didn't know the smell.
I turned to see a man making his way down the ally straight towards me, eyes fixed on me. The face was familiar somehow, which set me on edge further, because it was usually the other way around. I recognised the smell before the face.
He stopped beside me, too close for my liking, and tugged out a cigarette.
"Want one?"
I shook my head and started towards the street again. This was a strange mutt in the town just outside of where Stonehaven had been. I was no idiot, I remembered what Elena had said about the pack seeming weak, and a mutt appearing here was no coincidence.
"Hey, don't be rude. I'm Tyler Lake. What's your name?" He jogged after me, overtaking me, half blocking the exit. He frowned, crossing his arms, eyes going up and down me from head to toes. "Don't believe I've met you before."
I wasn't sure about this, not at all. Every instinct said to avoid him, to go find Jamie, and to wait with her. Or to kick him hard in the groin, that urge was also there. He wasn't supposed to be here. "Is this your territory?" I asked, cool, crossing my own arms. Eyes fixed in his, refusing to back down, refusing to be taken as submissive.
"Seems it's fair game right now." He stepped closer, only an inch between us, inhaling in my scent. "When did they get another female?"
Not woman, I noticed, 'female'. Both fury and terror flared up at the close contact. I could step backwards, get him out again, but this was a challenge and I felt insulted somehow by his comment about this territory. "This is still pack territory, Tyler Lake, and you're not welcome."
"You're not Elena." He ignored my warning. A hand came to touch my hair, pull at it, twisting it closer. His head ducked down so that he could bring it into his nose. Another long, hard smell. "That bitch's got blonde hair."
I hit his hand, hard, away from my hair, forcing him to swear and let go, backing up, staring at his hand. One of his fingers looked a little out of place suddenly. "Ow, what the fuck!"
Right, this was the point I could move, and so I did. I moved past the shop and found that Jamie was still there, surrounded by people. I went in, she took one look at my face, and decided it was time to pay and leave. I agreed, relieved as she started towards the checkout, and we waited impatiently. I couldn't see that mutt out there but again I wasn't kidding myself. He was probably pissed off.
She went to load the car and I waited, as she dumped everything in, head twisting to smell for him. I couldn't tell though.
"Everything all right?" Jamie asked when we got into the car.
"Some mutt deciding to test the pack."
Jamie swore softly as she moved the car out and onto the road. "I can't fight him and I know that you're not supposed to right now."
I didn't ask how she knew, guessing that as Jeremy's girlfriend, she probably picked up on a lot around the house automatically. "I just slapped him a little."
We made our way out of town and along the slippery ice covered roads out into the forests and paddocks that filled the area. She was trying to hurry but it wasn't so easy with roads like these.
I saw him before she did but she saw the car first, a car pulled up on the other side of a curve in the road, hazard lights flashing. Jamie swung around to try and avoid him and we ploughed straight into a tree, brakes making it just a soft tap, but when she went to reverse, we were stuck. The wheels spun on the wet ground.
While she concentrated on that, my attention was on the bigger problem. Tyler was watching us, arms crossed, clearly not pleased with me or my 'slap'. I didn't know if Jamie even had powers as a necromancer to counter a werewolf's hand to hand strength but I didn't want to find that out the hard way.
"I'll talk with him, and you get the car out."
She glanced at me and then back to Tyler. It took Jamie a few seconds before she understood. "Oh no, you're not going. I'll..."
"Get in a fist fight with a werewolf? Find out if he can yank a door off a car?" She clearly did not think that was a good idea and neither did I. Nor did I like the way he walked, in the mirror, so slow, so casual, so easy, like this was something he was already expecting to leave the winner of. "Get the car out as fast as you can and I'll get in."
I slid out before she could argue and found my feet up to my calves in snow. That wasn't a good sign. He stopped, waiting, on the edge of the road.
I made my way up, circling around a little to put distance between us, and he moved closer. There wasn't any polite indifference in his face now. He was pissed.
"What are you, some kind of pet for Clayton's pet while he's off scaring kid mutts?" He moved closer. "And don't give me the 'you're brave speaking his name' bullshit, he's well past his prime, everyone knows it now."
He stopped in front of me, staring down at me, all six feet something of him towering over my five foot five. I didn't care how tall he was. My hands were on my hips as I glared up at him.
Rage filled me at his words. For Clayton, sure, but also for the way he had no respect of Elena who was the alpha in training, and for using the wordpet twice. "I'd say you're brave for insulting Elena with the word pet, personally, mutt. Get out of the state." This feeling, this sense of territory and protecting it, it was new. And it felt right. The bastard was in my pack's territory, hoping to claim it, insulting the alpha to be, insulting the pack's protector, and the alpha himself just by being here. I felt like the wolf in me was in charge now, fur raised, teeth bared, willing and able to warn him away. Not just for Elena, or Clayton, or the pack, but for the baby. The more this mutt thought he could walk in here and take over, the more threat I felt towards my baby.
He laughed, a low humourless laugh, turning for a moment. Then he twisted around, hitting me so hard my body twisted and my head rung, and I heard a car door open from where Jamie had sat. She wasn't sure what to do though. I knew she wasn't keen on getting close to him. I turned around to return my glare to him.
"You think you and her are anything more to us than something to mount when we get bored?" He yanked my jaw up, inhaling. "You're helpless without one of us men around."
More rage, but also something else started to rise. I sensed his lust, I knew what he wanted, and I knew that it was his weakness. So I pretended submissiveness, stepping back, eyes struggling to stay in his. He liked that."I'm just to be mounted?"
"This is all you're good for." He moved closed, grabbing my hand and guiding it to his crotch, making me rub it, his hand closed so tight around mine that blood cut off for a moment. "I think I'll take you, now your pack's finished, see how well you work. That'd be a nice little insult to Elena for what she did to my brother, take her pet. Much better than Clayton's cock, isn't it? Do you like it?" His hand softened around mine when it was clear my hand wasn't going to move, guiding it, too filled lust to see the disgust in my face. It was the first one I'd touched since Nicks and I wasn't impressed or turned on.
The second his hand gave mine freedom I hurt him then, nails clawing, ripping and tearing at flesh, all my strength and rage into it. He screamed and fell back onto the snow, blood on my hand, rolling around.
"Love it." I spat at him. This side of me scared me a little, this aggressiveness, this anger, but somehow the less I fought it, the more I liked it. "I think I improved it."
"You bitch! Whore! Fuck!" He grabbed for me,trying to yank me down, but it just took a kick to the head and he was unconscious.
There really was a lot of blood. I wasn't sure how much damage I'd actually done but when he grabbed for me again, I kicked his head hard, and he slumped down into the snow unconscious.
A car speeding along the road made me jump and I turned around to see a car skidding to a quick stop beside us. Reece jumped out, his nostrils flaring at the smell and sight of blood, seeing it on my hand.
"What the hell?"
He yanked my hand up but saw no wounds, Reece's eyes going to where Tylar lay unconscious in the snow, blood covering his groin and flowing into the snow.
"Tyler Lakes." I introduced him, as if this was a regular meeting, and he frowned and moved forward to turn the man onto his back, grabbing his hands and yanking them behind his back as he ripped away at the man's shirt for something to use.
"You better bloody well not have been trying to be bait." Reece snapped. He yanked harder on the man's wrists, the backs of the hands against each other, and yanked him into the back of his car onto a tarp as easily as he might have been lifting a bag of oranges.
I tried to find something to clean my hand, using snow and a puddle, cringing at the smell of it. Urgh. "I wasn't trying to be bait. I was trying to get back to the house and he followed. Then he tried to ...well, never mind, he won't try it again. Wait, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in..."
"Jeremy told me to come back. Halfway to the house he tells me to turn around and go find you in town." Reece shook his head and slammed the boot of the car down. "Is something going on? Your smell keeps changing."
I blinked. Did I? Yet another thing I hadn't even thought of with all of the changes going on. But with a semi concious werewolf in the boot I really didn't want to speak of it right now. "I'll tell you in a bit."
"Okay. Here, let me check that face." He moved closer, inspecting the bruise, before shaking his head lightly. "I'd offer to kick his ass for you but looks like you did a better job than he did. I keep forgetting you're like me, I keep thinking I need to protect you and Daniella."
"It was easier than I thought. He was too busy thinking about what uses a female werewolf had." I felt a bit warm at his praise, though I tried to keep that down, reminding myself that the fights I had been in were more or less flukes with idiots. I'd also have to accept protection for a few months. "Feel free to step in though."
"Where's Jamie?"
I turned to point at where she stood beside the car, face white, staring at us. "I'm here."
"Jamie, leave that car, it's stuck. Someone needs to drive this dickhead's car."
"We've got some shopping in the back." I told him. He nodded and moved to help Jamie transfer it to his back seat, throwing it in, and offered her the keys.
"I'll meet you both at the house." Jamie moved to drive his car, going ahead.
I slid in beside Reece and we pulled away gently. He reached out to pat my shoulder.
"Good work. Brutal, but good."
We drove for a while, his hand finding mine and squeezing, and I was confused. Wasn't he still supposed to be angry? "Aren't you angry with me still?"
"Huh? Oh. No, I haven't been angry for ages.." He seemed to have forgotten about it even. "If Daniella doesn't like how I feel then tough."
"It's been a crazy few days."
I nodded and we drove back, quiet. When we got back Jeremy was waiting and Jamie beside him.
"You shouldn't have fought." He said, eyes fixed in mine, arms crossed. "Not while you're pregnant."
Reece twitched, stared sideways at me, and an understanding came into his face. "Sorry, I was a bit late. She had him more or less unable to move."
"I wasn't going to let him come and attack the car." I replied.
"No, but you could have called me." Jeremy glanced down to my pocket. I blinked. Oh yeah, I had a phone. "Who is it?"
"Someone called Tyler Lakes."
"Let me see him." Jeremy moved to the boot and cringed at the sight, just a tiny movement. Tyler was awake again, staring at us with his eyes glazed with pain, swearing when he saw me. Jeremy glanced at Jamie and then to me. "Move back, I'll see what the damage is."
In other words, he didn't want the ladies to see the damage. Even though I'd caused it. But I nodded and we went inside, carrying bags in. Reece visibly flinched from where they were behind the boot.
"What the fuck did that bitch do to my cock?" Tyler's voice was high pitched, angry, but also scared. Scared? I must have done a hell of a lot of damage then. His voice drifted in the window again as we put things away. "What the fuck are you going to do about it? That bitch..."
"Gave you a warning. Come back and it'll be worse." Jeremy was shoving something at him, fabric or something. "Pressure and wait. We'll escort you to the state line. Come back and Clayton will greet you next time. Reece?"
"If you apologise for calling her a bitch, I might even let you ride in the front seat." Reece sounded cheerful now, confidant, pleasant When all he got was swearing, he slammed the boot down, cutting off the sound. "Too bad. I'll be home for dinner."
He took off. I had to guess it was in Tyler's car now because the sound was different.
Jeremy came back in, looked at me, and shook his head a fraction.
"He insulted Elena." I muttered.
His lips twitched and then he said, firm, very clearly ordering me. "No more fighting. At all."
"Even if I'm defending myself? That's all I was doing. He's the one who put my hand there." I hesitated but I had to ask, I was curious. "What did I do?"
"In self-defence, maybe, but I don't intend on putting you in any more situations that will require actions like those." Jeremy sat down and rubbed his head. When he spoke, he was shaking his head, like he was trying to get it out. "Enough damage to make any grown man cringe. Try and avoid cooking sausages or meatballs for a while, please. You all right, Jamie?"
She nodded and he reached out to her a moment, face softening.
"She did pretty good." Jamie glanced up at me.
"She did. Good work, Anne, just try and keep safe." He nodded. He was relieved she wasn't hurt, I suspected, so I got off a bit lighter. Jeremy was right though. I should have phoned from the shop and waited there.
Dinner was homemade pizza, which entertained the twins and relaxed everyone. It also was easy for me, all I had to do was cut up stuff and put it out, and let people put what they liked on their own pizza. I even had them cook it themselves, telling them what temperature and how long, and surprisingly no one burnt theirs when they went back to make a second and a third one. Reece came back and Daniella stared at him, just a moment, before she muttered something about wanting to read a book. She vanished upstairs pretty fast.
I found Reece in my bed, reading a book, waiting for me.
"What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on you for Nick. Come here." He yanked me over, hugging me hard, lifting me up and shutting the door behind us. "You worried us when you didn't answer your phone."
"I didn't feel like talking to him."
He blinked and slid down onto the bed, still holding me, and snuggled up to me there. I shut my eyes and breathed out, slowly, feeling that ease come back into my body with this close contact. It was so different from Nick but it was comforting.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you. I did ask you what to do with Daniella." He rested down beside me, watching me.
I shook my head. "What's happening in LA?"
"Oh no you don't, girl, don't change the subject." He frowned. No easy grin, nothing, just real genuine concern. "You're scaring the crap out of Nick with the reports from Jeremy. He said you hadn't spoken a word to anyone for two days. Well, until I showed up."
"Nick keeps changing his mind about being a father." There. I said it. "Nick wanted me to put it off. Then he seemed to get used to the idea. Now he's changed his mind again." I muttered.
Reece moved to slide my sweater and top up, inspecting. Unlike Sara, who I'd reacted to badly, and the people in the shop poking, somehow this was fine. I could smell him, smell that he was like me, and suddenly it was okay to be touched as long as he didn't break the boundaries. Reece was careful not to, keeping his hand near my bellybutton. I gazed down as well and blinked at it. It had gotten bigger in the past week and I hadn't noticed.
"Did he say why?"
I nodded.
"Well, why?" Reece leaned back again. He didn't seem angry, exactly, though he was a little confused. "You're pregnant. That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"He said something about not being ready, and that the pack wasn't ready, that it wasn't safe anyway, and that we should wait a few years."
"Well, what happened that night?"
"He drove my sister's friend to her hotel room. Apparently she'd lectured him the whole way about how to treat me and how to be a father."
Reece exhaled slowly. He seemed to understand and I suddenly did as well.
"So he just got freaked out."
I sighed. "Maybe I should have tried to reassure him more that'd it be okay."
"I'll tell Clayton to speak to him. Probably better to let them speak because he's been there." Reece yanked his phone out. "Don't worry, I'll just tell him what's happening and to check on Nick. He doesn't have to know it was us starting it."
I watched as his fingers flew across the screen. Reece was probably right, that this was better between them. Two grown men who'd grown up together.
"I don't think this pack will fall apart because of another baby. We're too busy getting used to having all these shelia werewolves running around."
I hesitated. The problem was that I agreed with him, partly. "Well... I agree with some of it. It's not safe, is it?"
"It'll never be safe. We'll always have mutts trying to bite our tails." He shrugged as if this wasn't a problem at all to him.
"And I'm being chased around by those assholes."
"You did a pretty good job today of showing the mutts exactly what would happen if they touched you." Reece lay back and shook his head. "I almost felt sorry for the dickhead. I don't think he's ever going to look down and not think about you."
"He was just clear about what his weakness was. I suppose I can't keep doing that. Once they know my weakness, the tables turn." Once my stomach got big, in other words.
"That's why you're staying here. With us. We protect you when you're vulnerable, you protect us when we're vulnerable. Good system, huh." Reece slid out of bed as he heard feet pass by. "I'm going to talk to Dani. You have a good rest."
Before bed, I went to make an email address and give Sara the photos she'd requested. Last week's photo had been assisted by Jeremy, who'd found it amusing, but I somehow managed to do the this week's one with the webcam on the laptop. Now that I looked at the two, I had grown, my stomach starting to show even without a full stomach. I emailed it to her, the two weeks, and crawled into bed.
