Dreaming of the Wolf (35 page)

She melted against his chest and sighed heavily. “Then if they do discover wolf’s blood in the condo, they’ll assume I lied about having a wolf at the Crestview Motel. I’m just getting myself deeper and deeper into this. And dragging your family into the whole mess. Before long, don’t you think they’ll get a warrant to search your place to see if I’m hiding a wolf there?”

“They won’t find any.”

“But what if I shift? I thought I was controlling it, but anytime now I could just, poof, turn into a wolf. And if I do it in front of a bunch of police officers—”

“We’ll deal with it, Alicia. You’re one of us, part of a pack. We’ll take care of this in any way that we have to.”

Tom said, “You want me to take her home.” But the tone of his voice was more of a question—did Jake want to take her to see Doc Weber instead?

Of course the doc made house calls when necessary, but in Alicia’s case, Jake assumed he’d need blood work, a urine sample, and a proper physical exam to tell if she was pregnant and make sure she and the baby would be all right. At least he thought that’s what was needed. He was certain that if he proposed it in front of Alicia with Tom and Peter listening in, she’d be upset with him. On the other hand, he didn’t want to take her to the hospital under false pretenses.

“The hospital, Tom.”

Alicia tried to pull away from Jake, her spine stiff, her whole body posture saying she was mad at him for even suggesting such a thing, but he held on tight, forcing her to remain in his arms until he felt the tension drain from her. She relaxed again, but not of her own accord, he felt. Rather, she just wasn’t feeling up to fighting him.

He kissed the top of her head and enjoyed the feel of her soft supple curves, her feminine fragrance, and her thick silky hair beneath his cheek. He wanted to give her a life free of worry by sequestering her from the interrogations, taking care of Mario and his bastards, and showing Alicia the way of their people until she felt comfortable being one of them.

But now they had a new dilemma. Who was Alicia’s father? And why had he and Alicia’s mother died?

Jake expected Alicia to say something about the visit to the hospital, but she didn’t voice a word. He felt guilty for forcing this on her, but they had to know. If she was pregnant, she needed to be seeing the doctor anyway.

“Call ahead to the hospital, will you, Peter, and make an appointment?” Jake said to the sheriff. He didn’t want to let go of Alicia for a second to try and fish his phone out when she seemed content enough to relax in his arms.

Peter opened his cell phone and said, “Bethany, we need an appointment with Doc Weber scheduled for”—he glanced at the clock in the car—“two hours and fifteen minutes from now. Yeah, it’s important. For Jake’s mate, Alicia Greiston.” He paused, cleared his throat, and then said, “Possible pregnancy.” He spoke as softly as he could so that Bethany could still hear him, but not softly enough that Jake and Alicia couldn’t, what with their wolf’s hearing. Although Jake gave him credit for making the effort. “Thanks. We’ll be there then,” Peter said, and put his phone away.

“We’ll have to get married,” Alicia grumbled against Jake’s chest. “I’m not going to keep telling people I’m engaged to you. I didn’t think I’d ever say I’d want to again, not until you walked into my life and became my knight.”

“We don’t wear jewelry. So wedding rings are out.” Jake tried his damnedest to be consoling, but this was probably one of the hardest things for newbie
lupus
garous
to get a handle on. “We don’t need rings to stay faithful. But even so, it would be especially difficult for you to wear any jewelry because you don’t have the shifting under control. Trying to remove rings or necklaces and bracelets in the process of a shift could prove disastrous. As for marriage, we’re mated. That means more than a marriage certificate. It means we commit to one another for life.”

She frowned up at him. “If I am
pregnant
, I want to be
officially
married. With the paper to prove it. Blame it on my human upbringing.”

He looked down into her dark chocolate eyes and thought of how addicted he was to looking at her, to feeling her close, to being with her. He would be with her always. He wished she could understand that. “We don’t marry because we make a commitment…”

“
I… want… to… be… married
. I understand, or at least think I understand, how you commit for life without the need for a witnessed document. But I never knew who my father was and never knew if my parents had really been married. I want our baby to have the security of knowing we’re formally committed.”

He really wished they could have this discussion in private. He could just imagine what his brother and Peter were thinking. They were probably glad neither of them was trying to deal with an unreasonable newly turned wolf. He realized then her feelings might have something to do with her father, though—the fake birth certificate and not knowing what was going on with him. Her father’s abandonment of her and her mother, and then the mystery that surrounded her mother and father reuniting without letting Alicia know. Maybe, beyond all that, she was concerned Jake wouldn’t live up to his promise to be the baby’s father if she was pregnant.

“Any baby you have will be mine and yours, Alicia. And he or she will be raised as a werewolf, knowing how we live our lives and that a formal marriage isn’t part of the equation. You don’t have to worry about that.”

She let out her breath in an exasperated manner. “You’re a man,” she said sourly.

He wanted to tell her he wouldn’t be like her father had been to her mother. But he didn’t think she would believe him, even if he tried to convince her. All he could do was prove he’d stick by her side forever.

He kissed her cheek and stroked her shoulder. “You wouldn’t want me to be anything but.” He let out a heavy sigh. Hell, he was an alpha male and his mate was already dictating to him. If word got out, he’d never live it down. But he wanted her to be happy. Whatever it took. “All right. The judge can marry us.”

“All right,” she said grumpily, then gave him a smidgen of a smile.

He tightened his hold on her, giving her a somber smile back and loving her all the more. She hadn’t had a family to call her own. He and his family would be there for her in any way that she needed, even if they had to bend or break a few golden werewolf rules in the process. “All right.”

Never in a million years would he have thought he’d be the only one in the family or the pack ever forced to get a marriage license. Then again, he could just get the judge to sign off on one. No need to go through any kind of ceremony, even if he knew it would just be in the judge’s chambers. All she had to want was the paper proving they were man and wife.

The whole notion grated on him, no matter that he tried to think of it as important to her and meaningless to him. He squeezed her tighter against his body. Well, not so meaningless to him because it meant so much to Alicia. And her happiness was paramount to him.

When they arrived at the hospital in Silver Town, everyone on staff looked Alicia over curiously, and she avoided their inquisitive gazes. Doc Weber dismissed Jake, even though he wanted to be with her in the room. Instead, he was left to pace in the staff lounge.

Peter and Tom stayed with him while Tom broached the subject of Alicia’s fainting at the bank. “You said she got some upsetting news?”

“We need to learn everything we can about an Antonio Frasero.”

“I’ll get on it,” Peter said. “How does she know him?”

“He’s her father. And it appears he may be the one who Constantino had killed.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out.” Peter hurried out of the lounge, looking like a man with a mission.

Tom studied Jake. “The name Antonio Frasero sounds Italian.”

“Yes, it sounds that way.” Jake glanced back at the doorway to the lounge, wondering what was taking Doc so long in determining if Alicia was pregnant or not.

“If she’s pregnant, is it Massaro’s baby?” Tom asked.

“Most likely,” Jake said, trying to keep his voice even.

Tom nodded.

Then Doc poked his head in through the doorway. “Looks like the
lupus
garou
population of Silver Town is going to increase by another three early next year. I understand Silva’s struggling to knit a pair of booties for the first of Lelandi’s triplets. She’s going to have a lot of practice in the next few months.”

Jake couldn’t say anything. The first thought he had was that Alicia’s babies were his. He was a triplet. Darien was having triplets, although Lelandi had been a triplet also, whereas Alicia had been an only child. But still, what were the chances that they were Massaro’s?

Tom looked just as stunned.

“Thanks, Doc. Thanks,” Jake finally managed to get out.

Doc smiled. “She’s worried they’re not yours. But I have the sneaking suspicion they are. If I were you, I’d check out the guy who turned her. She said he had been murdered. The police would have done an autopsy, and if he’d had sex with a woman sometime before he was murdered—which would have been the case if he’d raped her from the timeline she gave me—the doctor who examined the body would have learned of it. Alicia said he’s the only one who could have made her pregnant. But we all know there are exceptions to every rule.”

“They’ll be mine, no matter what, Doc,” Jake said firmly.

“I understand. I’ve prescribed some vitamin pills for her. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest and plenty of nutritious foods to eat. Otherwise, she’s healthy and the babies will be fine. I’ve got other patients to see, but…” Doc uncharacteristically slapped Jake on the shoulder, smiling broadly. “You’ve got your hands full.” Then he headed out of the lounge.

Tom looked like he was dying to leave the staff lounge. He wasn’t the town gossip, like Silva was, so Jake wasn’t sure what was eating at him. Tom finally said, “I’m looking into this Ferdinand Massaro.”

Jake took a deep breath. His brother wanted to know the truth of the matter as much as he did. “Peter probably can get further with questioning the police than we can since he’s a member of law enforcement. Have him check to see if in the autopsy that was done on—” Jake paused when he heard footfalls approach the room.

Alicia peered into the lounge, then seeing Jake and Tom alone, she joined them. “I heard your voice,” she said, as if she was afraid they’d think she’d been eavesdropping.

Jake hurried to take her arm, alarmed that she still appeared pale and unwell. “You still look peaked, Alicia.”

“Deep down I expected to be pregnant. But I
never
thought I’d have a whole family in one fell swoop.” Her teary eyes studied his. “Doc said because they’re triplets, they’re probably yours.”

“That’s what he told me, too.”

She took a deep, steadying breath. “But if they’re not…”

He pulled her into his embrace. “We’ll have three lovely girls to adore.”

Tom gave a small smile as if to say that was wishful thinking and headed out of the room. He hoped Tom would tell Peter to see if an autopsy on Massaro revealed he’d had sex with a woman before he died.

If Massaro hadn’t, Jake would rethink the story Lelandi’s brother, Leidolf, had told them about the woman who was the product of her human grandmother and a werewolf’s intimate liaison.

“Let’s go to Darien’s place,” Jake said, but more than ever, he wanted a whole lot of answers to lots of new questions.

***

Standing in his living room and staring out his window at the brick wall surrounding his back courtyard, Mario listened on the phone as Danny ranted, “Someone was here… in my place. Looking through stuff.”

“How do you know?”

“I know, all right? I leave things around, just in case. But the house wasn’t broken into. Nothing taken as far as I can tell. But things aren’t…
the
same
.”

Mario shook his head. Danny was becoming obsessed with being watched. “How aren’t they the same?” he asked, trying to hide his exasperation with his cousin.

“I… I leave pieces of hair glued with saliva across my desk drawers. The hairs were broken or no longer there.”

Hair? Saliva?

Mario shook his head. “Are you sure they didn’t just drop on the floor? Fall off? That
you
opened the drawers and forgot to replace the hairs?”

“No. I check them every time I get home.”

“Did you have anything important in the drawers?”

“No.”

Mario let out his breath. “Then no problem.” He figured Danny was just being paranoid. That nothing had truly happened.

“I found a bug in my phone.”

His face heating, Mario said slowly, “Which phone?” It had better not be the one Danny was talking on now. Or if it was, he’d better have gotten rid of the bug.

“It’s gone,” Danny said, reassuring him. “But the Feds have been here.”

“How did they find out about your place?”

Danny didn’t speak for a while, then said, “Hell, I don’t know. Cicero said something about Tony getting my key and making a copy of it. But I didn’t believe it. And anyway, even if Tony did get a copy of my house key, he wouldn’t have known where my house was.”