The Wolf's Forbidden Baby: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (8 page)

Kyla stirred and grimaced at him. “The baby might be a girl, you know.” She placed her hand on his.

Devan swallowed hard and tried not to draw attention to himself. Maybe she just read his face, but he hadn’t said his thought out loud, he was sure of it. Infrequently, when couples mated, they were said to be able to read each other’s thoughts, but they hadn’t joined yet and the idea of something so rare happening across races… well, it was impossible to accept, or to hope for.

She shifted slightly, and he growled.

“I’m sorry.” Kyla opened the door and tumbled out.

He followed her, wanting to stretch his legs. Devan felt as if he was half-dead, as if he hadn’t slept at all. It would take some time before his body healed, time they might not have.

Again, she seemed to understand his thoughts. “They won’t wait long to come after us again.”

“I know.” He spotted the sign that read “Welcome to Wisconsin” to the east.

She followed his gaze. “They’ll just follow us,” she said.

“I know,” he repeated.

“We should head back and regroup with the others. Try to keep low and heal and—”

“Maybe find another wolf or wolves to join us.” He nodded. As solid of a plan as they could hope to come up with, besides, he still had to introduce her to his new wolves. If they were to balk and challenge him again, he wasn’t confident he’d remain their alpha. That could not happen, but he had to test their loyalty now. If even one turned or fled during an upcoming battle, the results could be devastating.

He still wasn’t up for driving, his body too abused, and Kyla assured him she didn’t mind. As she drove, he tried to gauge her injuries. She seemed fine, but he couldn’t help worrying. Kyla was the most important person in his life right now. If anything should happen to her… He didn’t want to think about it.

Devan held out his hand, and she grabbed it and drove the rest of the way back to the abandoned stores with one-handed. They set up in a different abandoned shop than the one she had waited in, and they slept a few more hours. When he was next aware, the scent of cooked meat greeted him. She and her siblings, the ones in their pack, were eating.

He walked over to them, and after a meal, he felt almost alive again. His body still ached, and he felt like he was hobbling around like a ninety-year-old, but at least he was up and about. Kyla’s brother stared at him. Devan couldn’t help wanting to smack the smirk from his face, and he winced inwardly. If he couldn’t put aside his prejudices, how could he expect his wolves, who had nothing personal to gain from protecting Kyla, to be able to fight alongside of coyotes?

“Kyla told us what happened,” Marco finally said.

“We can’t stay in one place long.” He reached for the last piece of meat then hesitated. “You should have it,” he told Kyla.

She shook her head and gave it to him. “You need it more.”

“But the baby—”

“I ate enough. Trust me.” She patted her belly.

He smiled. “If you’re sure…”

One of her sisters—Paula, he believed—sighed. “No wonder you fell for him. He’s hot and caring, and he’s probably great in the—”

“Don’t need to hear it.” Marco covered his ears.

Everyone laughed.

“You took on Father and survived.” Marco was back to appraising him.

“And Uncle Stephen and Uncle Frank too,” Kyla said proudly.

Devan rubbed his forehead. His right shoulder pained him worse than any other injury. Kyla’s father had bit him when the other coyotes entering the room had distracted him. When her father had fled, he had swatted the shoulder. It had dislocated, and he had managed to shove it back into place, and he didn’t think Kyla knew about it. He didn’t want to worry her, but that one swipe had alerted him to something important and distressing.

“Your father and even your uncles didn’t fight at their full potential,” he said grimly.

“Are you certain?” Kyla asked, eyes wide. “It must have been a warning then.”

“Trying to run us off.” He eyed each of her siblings in turn. “It’s for the best you weren’t there. They might not realize you are with us.”

“They might not,” Kyla agreed excitedly. “There were only five of them. If we had been all there, even without the wolves, it would’ve been six on five.”

“Good, good.” Marco rubbed his hands together. “I’m not looking forward to fighting them, but not everything in life is easy.”

“Very true.” Devan loosed a groan as he stood. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Kyla climbed to her feet. “I’ll come with.”

“You stay here.” He kissed her cheeks then her lips—just a peck really at Marco’s groan, although her sisters were howling and obviously hoping for more—and walked out.

His wolves remained in the warehouse they had fought in. As soon as he entered, they stood as one, gazes on the floor.

He approached them. “It’s time for you to meet the rest of the pack.”

One, the man who had attacked him first, glanced up in surprise. “The rest of the pack?”

Devan nodded. They fell into line, Greg bringing up the rear. As a group, they filed into the store. Kyla and her siblings were standing in a circle. She stepped forward and stood by Devan’s side.

“Wolves, I would like you to meet my…”

She squeezed his hand.

“Kyla is your alpha female,” he declared.

One of the female wolves rolled her eyes. At his glower, her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I just don’t…”

“Don’t what?” Devan growled. His shoulder was beginning to bother him too much for him to be able to stand there, feigning no pain.

“You’re acting like this, like she’s a big deal.” She waved her hand toward Kyla. “So you got her pregnant. Just make her your mate already and be done with it.”

Kyla eyed him, and at his nod, she shifted her face, revealing herself as a coyote.

Only the female wolf reacted. She gasped.

“I know this isn’t—” Devan started.

“You are our alpha,” the man-wolf interrupted. “She is yours, and our female alpha. We will not leave.”

The others murmured their agreement.

While the words meant a lot to Devan, he also knew words could be empty. Actions were all that mattered. When the next battle happened—it was only a matter of time—would they fight alongside them or turn around and run away? That they hadn’t reacted strong suggested they might have known already. His gaze sought out Greg. His arms were crossed, a satisfied smile on his face. So far, he had proven himself. Hopefully, he would be there for them when they needed him.

Kyla motioned the females over to her. All of them, including her siblings, approached. They shifted their heads and sniffed each other, feeling them out.

Smart. She was intelligent and funny and brave despite her fear. He shared that fear.

Once he and the wolves and coyotes seemed to get a sense of each other, he herded them into a group. Unsurprisingly, the wolves stuck together, and likewise the coyotes, but at least no fangs had been bared.

“We need to move and find a safer location.” He eyed them each in turn. “We need to heal.”

Maria stepped forward. “We shouldn’t go too far though.” She eyed Kyla’s belly.

Four weeks, maybe less. All the time they had until another joined their numbers. His chest swelled.

“Yes, not too far, and not toward the mountains.” Both wolf and coyote packs roamed there.

It took some time to find a possible location, and then they set off. Every four or five days they set out for a new place, not wanting to grow too comfortable. Other than a minor spat, the two species were living together rather well.

Two weeks after they left the abandoned store, a storm came upon them. Their line of four cars halted on the shoulder, the rain gushing in such a downpour that visibility was impossible, even with high beams on. Devan shifted his eyes to his wolf’s, but that did not help much either.

Devan, and Kyla and the wolves, had healed during this stretch, but his shoulder had forecasted the storm. He rotated his shoulder a few times. “I’m going to take a look at the road.”

“There’s no need.” Kyla shook her head. “We’ll just wait it out.”

He gnashed his teeth. Sitting here, waiting… It made him anxious. “You wait here.” A quick kiss and he climbed out.

Something hard slammed into his shoulder. He hadn’t even the time to close the door behind him before the attack. On impulse, he shifted. If the assailant was human, he would have to figure something out, but as soon as he claimed his wolf snout, he knew his foe was a wolf.

And not just any wolf, but Warrick.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the hatred in Warrick’s orange eyes. He stood on two legs and swatted.

Devan jumped to the side and howled. Doors slammed, but the answering howls were cut off by a crash of thunder. The storm worsened around them as wolves and coyotes fought wolves. All Devan could hope was that none of his pack attacked each other by mistake because of the storm. Although he wished Kyla would sit the fight out, he knew she wouldn’t. Besides, if Warrick had followed them all the way to Minnesota, he may have already learned about Kyla and her true nature. And if he hadn’t, he would learn now.

Thinking of her fueled Devan, and he attacked Warrick with a wild savagery. Blood filled his mouth—his or his brother’s? He wasn’t certain. All he knew was that the rain pounded him as much as his brother rained blows on him, and he gave as much if not more than he received. A ball of fur and claws and teeth, he launched at his brother again and again.

Another howl sounded in the wild of the nighttime storm. This one made Devan’s hackle rise in a new level of fear.

He recognized that howl. Once before he had heard it.

It belonged to Kyla’s father. And he sounded close, very close.

Devan barely had time to block a blow from his brother when Kyla’s father launched on top of him.

THE FINAL CHAPTER

In the chaos, rain and wind swirling around them, soaking them, beating them down, coyotes and wolves attacked coyotes and wolves. Their mixed-breed pack was taking on two packs simultaneously. Her father had brought along everyone this time, and from the sheer number of wolves, Kyla had to guess Devan’s brother had done the same.

But—she dodged out of the way of fangs—she noticed some of the other wolves were fighting against her father’s coyotes. Maybe because of the confusion of the darkness and the storm, or maybe just because the two species hated each other that much. In any case, she hoped that would help their pack some, because they needed all the help they could get.

Someone brushed against her, and she stiffened. One of her and Devan’s wolves. He nodded to her, and, incredibly, she relaxed. Trust. She trusted not only Devan, but his wolves too. When had that happened? It didn’t matter. Her focus had to remain on staying alive and surviving the night until the sun rose. And then all day tomorrow and the next night and so on until the baby came and even beyond that. Her life, Devan’s, their baby’s… that’s what she had to live for, to fight for.

To die for.

That her father had found her, that they had launched their attack on the same night as Warrick… were the two packs working together to bring them down?

Stop thinking. Start fighting.

One of her aunts snarled. To think she had once really enjoyed Aunt Jean’s rabbit stew. A part of her hoped this wasn’t personal, that it stemmed from the mixed-breed child she was carrying, but even that didn’t make her feel any less betrayed.

From years of rich cooking, her aunt had grown a little soft and slow, and Kyla was easily able to get the upper hand on her. By then, a wolf came over, sniffing at her aunt’s heels and attacking her. A foreign wolf, and Kyla hesitated, torn between old loyalties. But then lightning flashed and she spied claws coming toward her, aiming for her stomach, and her mind was made up. Her aunt had chosen her side, and Kyla had hers. While she hoped her aunt wouldn’t die tonight, she couldn’t defend herself and her baby and her aunt.

Kyla swatted back, the sound of claws clashing screeching in her ears almost louder than the roaring thunder. She pressed the attack when pain overwhelmed her, not from an attack, but still, her belly grew hard. A contraction.

A fake one, one to ready her body for the birth in two weeks. Nothing more.

She hoped.

The next one had her doubling over, and the wolf descended on her. She barely had time to maneuver so that his fangs avoided her throat. Another wolf and a coyote approached. She could smell them but only saw them in the flashes of lightning. They attacked together, beating her, aiming blows toward her stomach or her throat and nowhere else.

If they weren’t able to kill her, they were trying to kill the babe instead.

Rage burned within her at the realization, and she fought as if possessed. Claws and teeth and fangs, and then blood filled her mouth. Once the three slightly backed away, she bounded to the nearest car and jumped onto the trunk and then the roof. From there, she surveyed the battleground as best she could.

Devan was fighting a huge wolf and her father, although both of his foes also took turns snapping at each other. Twenty smaller battles were taking place in and about the cars and the street, not all of them involving her people. That was their only saving grace.

A contraction, this one stronger than the others, gripped her so hard she found herself falling. She landed on her paws, but barely, and she was panting heavily. The rest of her body felt numb.

A ring of coyotes and wolves encircled her. Snarling, she forced herself to stand and face them. Then she realized all of them were theirs. Only Devan was missing—still battling the two alphas. Rain drenched her, but her legs felt suddenly too wet for just the storm.
That babe. It’s coming.
She wouldn’t be able to fight to defend herself.

*

Blood had to coat him more than rainwater. He had felt fangs on him too many times tonight, and once Warrick had even had them on his throat, but Devan had clawed Warrick’s eye. Ever since, his brother had only been able to use his other eye, which meant skewed his depth perception. To combat it, his brother launched twice as many blows, and many still hit their mark, but his teeth never neared Devan’s throat again.