Claiming Shayla (3 page)

It seemed a lifetime but was probably only seconds before Shannon lifted her head and moved to face Shayla. With her eyes gazing directly into Shayla’s, she told Alex, “She’s not sick.”

She could see the knowledge shimmering in Shannon’s eyes. Shayla opened her mouth, the word
don’t
on the tip of her tongue as she reached out beseechingly to stop her.

“She’s pregnant,” Shannon stated.

“Who’s pregnant?” Kiesha asked from behind.

Chapter Two

Kiesha’s question cut through the tense silence like a knife.

Alex watched Shay’s face close up tighter than a rock wall and just as hard. It was clear by her very lack of expression that her pregnancy was not open for discussion. Glancing at Shannon and then Kiesha, he didn’t believe they got her silent message, or maybe they were just ignoring it.

“Shannon?” Kiesha asked curiously.

Shannon shook her head, still engaged in her staring contest with Shay. “Nope, not me.”

“But it can’t be…
Shay
?”

When Shay didn’t respond, Kiesha moved to stand next to Shannon. “Shay, are you pregnant?”

Shayla finally ended the contest with Shannon by briefly closing her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But…” Kiesha began.

A very firm, “No.”

“Shay, if you’re pregnant…”

A surge of supernatural power suddenly swelled in the room, making his skin crawl. It was coming from Shayla. “I
said
…I
don’t
want to discuss it.” Her voice came out in a guttural growl, and her eyes flashed to gold and then back to brown. He doubted Shayla was aware of what she was doing.

Shannon obviously felt it too, for she took a cautious step back and pulled Kiesha with her. Alex’s wolf came to attention. New shifters, especially those as unaware of their power as Shay seemed to be, were aggressive, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous.

Kiesha’s mouth opened. Alex cut her off. “Kiesha, leave it alone. She doesn’t want to talk. Stop forcing the issue.”

If his mate continued to push, Shayla’s wolf might see it as a challenge and attack, either to establish or determine its dominance over Kiesha. The vibes he felt coming off Shay indicated that already her wolf was a force to be reckoned with, and Kiesha was still mostly human.

Kiesha turned on him. “I’m not
forcing
anything. She’s my cousin. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“And I’m sure she’ll talk when she’s ready. Right now I don’t think she is.” Alex nodded toward Shay, silently urging Kiesha to note her expression.

The phone rang in the background. Kiesha hesitated, obviously torn. Her gaze bounced from him to Shay to the office, and back to Shay again. Finally she gave in to its urgent prompting and took off for the office den.

“I know about you and Rory,” Shannon said quietly.

“That’s my cue to leave. I’ll go see if Kiesha needs help.” Alex turned down the stove and left the room. Shannon was also an alpha and her mate a vampire. Between the two of them, she was more than capable of handling Shay if her wolf got out of hand.

* * * *

“What did he tell you?” Shayla didn’t want to discuss this but sensed that unlike Kiesha, Shannon wasn’t going to let it go until she’d said her piece.

Shannon shook her head and took a cautious step forward. “Rory didn’t say anything. I figured it out on my own.”

Shayla felt a little twinge in the region of her heart. Surely that was relief she was feeling and not…
disappointment?

“You’re his mate,” Shannon continued.

“No, I’m not. We don’t even like each other,” Shay disputed.

“Rory claimed you,” Shannon insisted.

Shayla’s eyes lost focus as she thought back to that time. “That was just the effect of the blue moon madness. You’re the one who told me how it affected shifters. He’d never have touched me otherwise.”

Shannon disagreed. “It was more than that. You’re his one, his true mate. I know it, but more importantly, Rory knows it.”

“Even if I believed in all this true mate, true love crap you guys keep spouting, it doesn’t apply to me. The whole thing is just a fluke of nature, chemistry. Rory doesn’t want me, not really. I’m too…” She shook her head. “He just wouldn’t,” she finished sadly.

Shannon’s eyes softened, and she gave Shayla a look of understanding. “Shay, I know exactly how you feel. I…” She glanced around furtively. “Let’s go to your room. There’s a few things you need to know, and I don’t want to chance us being interrupted.”
Or overheard
was left unsaid.

Shayla turned and led the way to the guest bedroom, situated off the living room. Once they were both inside, she shut the door. Then, as an afterthought, locked it. “You were saying?”

Shannon leaned against the dresser, watching her carefully. “I know what it’s like to be different.”

Shayla snorted. “Of course you do. You’re a shape-shifter.”

Shannon shook her head violently. “No. That’s not what I mean. Even among my own kind, I’m an anomaly.”

Interested, Shayla crossed to the bed and sat, drawing up her leg to prop her chin on her knee. “In what way?”

“In wolf packs, strength and cunning are everything. Strength determines your ranking in the pack and cunning your ability to maintain it. So being strong is a good thing, unless you’re a female.”

“They want the females to be weak?” Shayla asked, startled. This contradicted everything she knew of wolves.

“No, that’s not what I mean. They admire strength in females too—within reason. A strong female means strong cubs. What they don’t like are females that are abnormally strong, like me. I’m as strong as Rory, which meant not only was I the alpha-fem—the strongest female—but I was also stronger than every other male in our pack.”

Shay bit her bottom lip before stating, “I don’t see what the problem is. You just said strong is good.”

The side of Shannon’s mouth quirked up in a wry grin. “How do you feel about weak men? You know, men you can run all over.”

Shayla winced. “I see what you mean. If a man is weaker than me, I can’t respect him. I’ll walk all over him, do whatever I want to do and dare him to take exception to it.”

“Exactly,” Shannon said, grinning hugely. “With shifters, it’s even more important that the male be stronger than the female, or at least equal to her in power.”

“Why is that?”

Shannon shrugged. “If the wolf can’t respect its mate, it has a nasty habit of killing them.”

“Well, hell! That’s mighty efficient of it,” Shayla said drily.

“What it is, is a huge pain in the ass,” Shannon corrected. “Until Nikolai, I didn’t think I’d ever find a man that could handle my wolf, and I didn’t want some male’s death on my conscience.”

Shayla sighed and rubbed her weary eyes. Man was she tired. “As happy as I am for you and Nik, what does this have to do with me and your brother?”

“I know you, Shay. The hair, clothes, and abrasive manner? That’s just camouflage to hide what I’m guessing is an extremely high IQ. Don’t you see? The very thing that makes you stick out like a sore thumb among humans is highly prized among wolves. Your intelligence and strength are what Rory needs. He’s alpha. That means not only is he strong, but he’s smart as well. He has to be to lead the pack. You’re perfect for him, his equal. He couldn’t have found a better match if he’d gone looking for one,” Shannon said earnestly.

Shayla was shaking her head by the time Shannon finished her little speech. “Perfect? I don’t think so. Maybe that vampire of yours has addled your brains. Don’t you remember all the fighting we did? Rory and I couldn’t even be in the same room with each other without going for each other’s throats.”

Shannon laughed softly. “That’s because you’re too much alike, which only proves my point.”

When she continued shaking her head, Shannon came and sat beside her. “Look, I’m going to tell you some things that Rory and I rarely discuss with others. At one time my mother
might
have been strong, but loving my father made her weak. My father, Magnus, only mated her because she was the first female to conceive from his seed, but she wasn’t his mate and she knew it. They both did, and we all suffered for it. My mother, because she loved the bastard dearly, even knowing he despised her. Rory, because my father was determined to beat any hint of supposed weakness out of him. I was basically ignored, because I was a female and therefore beneath his notice.”

“Your father was abusive?” Shayla tried to keep the distaste from her voice. Her parents were both so loving she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the horror Rory and his family must have lived with on a daily basis.

“Verbally and emotionally, but not physically or sexually, thank God—with me at least. It didn’t help that he was also the pack’s alpha, so there was no interference from the others. Dad called it ‘toughening us up.’ Ma was too busy trying to please him to stand up to him and was no protection for us at all. Rory protected us as best he could, mostly by taking the brunt of his ire whenever possible.”

Shannon sighed deeply and seemed to shake off the bad vibes these old memories were resurrecting. “The reason I’m telling you this is because growing up the way we did left scars. Rory’s so afraid he’ll turn out like our father that he’s refused to mate. But I think that’s only part of it. I suspect the real reason is that he’s never met a woman tough enough to stand up to him the way you do. He respects you. Yes, you aggravate and annoy the hell out of him, but that’s because he’s not used to anyone like you. No one’s ever stood toe-to-toe with him before, man or woman. He needs that in his life. You challenge him, and that’s a good thing.”

She grabbed Shay’s hand. “All I ask is that you give Rory a chance. With Nikolai being a vampire and me being a wolf-shifter, I didn’t think things could ever work between us. There were too many problems, too many reasons why we as a couple didn’t make sense, but it works. The Creator doesn’t make mistakes, so it will work for you too. And remember, this is more than about the two of you. There’s a baby involved now. One that deserves to know its father, and Rory is an excellent father. I know because he raised me.”

“Shannon, I have no intention of denying Rory his child. I know he or she will need both of us. As far as a relationship between us goes, even if I wanted to give Rory a chance, I can’t. I begin a new six-month assignment on Monday.”

Shannon dropped her hand like it was hot, and scowled fiercely. “Can’t you tell them you changed your mind? That circumstances have arisen that make it impossible for you to accept the job?”

“I wish I could, but the contract’s ironclad and there are no loopholes. It was so detailed I hired a lawyer to look at it before signing. The only reason I agreed to take it was because the money was too good to pass on. At least I’ll still be in the area.”

Shannon perked up, her manner suddenly intent. “What’s the name of the company that hired you?”

“Sparrowhawk, Inc.”

A strange expression crossed Shannon’s face, and her mouth dropped open. She seemed to convulse right before bursting into peals of laughter. “Spar…row…hawk…Inc.?” Shannon struggled to get out, still laughing so hard she was in danger of falling off the bed.

“Why? What have you heard about them?” Shayla was puzzled at her bizarre reaction, beginning to get annoyed.

“What…have…I…heard?” she gasped, laughing too hard to finish. “Oh God, this is too funny,” she added when she’d calmed, still wiping tears from her eyes.

Eyes narrowed in displeasure, Shay asked, “Mind sharing the joke?”

“Shayla.” She giggled. “You’re working for Rory.”

* * * *

Hours later Shay entered the small church where the wedding was being held, still pissed that Rory had managed to outsmart and outmaneuver her. Able to think circles around most individuals, her ego was smarting at being bested. She refused to acknowledge the tiny spark of respect flickering to life deep inside.

Fortunately Kiesha had lain off. Shayla didn’t know what Alex had said to make Kiesha give her space, but it worked. Instead of nagging her, her cousin was giving her wounded looks, as if she needed one more person to worry about. Now she simply hoped Kee had enough sense to keep her mouth shut around Shayla’s parents. As traditional as her mother was, if she knew her daughter was pregnant, she’d turn this wedding into a double.

It didn’t help that she and Shannon were the last to arrive. Shayla strode up the aisle of the church, trying to ignore her churning stomach.
Please, not again
. The last thing she needed was for her morning sickness to reappear. She’d thrown up once already at the house, causing them to be late.

Scanning the participants standing at the altar, her gaze came to a screeching halt when it landed on Rory. Their eyes connected. Lust slammed into her so hard that she grabbed ahold of the pew to keep from toppling over.

Images of their last night together bombarded her mind in full Technicolor, with all the associated textures and smells. The present faded as she was thrust back into the past…