Oh fuck.
He’d mentioned before that Gran caused his dad to weaken, but I hadn’t put two and two together that as the cabin’s new owner, I was now causing him to weaken.
I was hurting my baby daddy.
“Then make me pack,” I declared.
I wasn’t leaving the cabin, that wasn’t even up for discussion, and we were about to have a baby together. I’d be spending a lot of time here. I couldn’t be responsible for weakening him, and alphas could bring humans and other magical creatures into a wolf pack on special occasions.
“Are you sure?” His eyes blazed as they held my own.
Was that arousal in his gaze, possessive alpha that he was?
“Yes… Alpha.” I grinned. Might as well have a little fun with this.
Desire flared in his eyes and I knew without a doubt that I was going to live to regret this decision.
But some bad decisions were worth making.
21 Alpha
Sending Cass and Molly to Gran’s cabin, I told them to check in with Mack, and get the full file on Calista. Something wasn’t adding up here. She was way too powerful. I wanted to know if she had links to any formidable witches.
I’d expected to be inducted into the pack via a formal ceremony, but instead, a naked Brock took me to his bedroom. Yes, I memorized every ripple and bulge of his flesh that I could take in, without being too conspicuous about it as he led me by the hand. I even managed to suppress my groan of complaint when he’d slipped on a pair of sweat pants and turned to face me, eyes laser sharp.
“Do you know what joining my pack will entail?” he asked, his yellow gaze fucking intense. His side had mercifully stopped oozing blood, but I wouldn’t be able to quit worrying until the wound fully closed.
I nodded. “You’ll be able to speak into my mind, hear my thoughts if I choose to share them. Draw on my power if you need it. You’ll also know where I am at all times, unless my whereabouts is magically overridden. Plus a bunch of other smaller stuff.”
He grinned. “They teach you right at the Bounty Hunter Academy, huh?”
“No, they don’t.” I answered with a smirk. “I learned that from an ex-boyfriend. He was a werewolf too.”
His chest puffed out fiercely. “Anyone I know?” I was amazed he could get the words out with how hard he was clenching his jaw.
“No, he lives back east,” I replied, trying not to reveal my amusement at his reaction.
Brock stepped closer. Clearly I’d ruffled his feathers, as intended.
He ran his fingers through my hair and my toes curled. “It means…” He moved closer to whisper in my ear. “That you’ll be mine. Mine to protect, mine to provide for. Mine.”
My knees went weak as his warm breath trickled down my neck.
“Do you, Evie Black, accept my invitation to join the Wild Hunter Pack, and all that it entails?”
Oh God yes. I restrained a moan. “Yes.”
My voice was husky and my panties were a little wet. Brock turned me the fuck on in all the right ways. My body reacted to him without waiting for my permission.
I smelled magic then, sandalwood and cinnamon, and Brock.
Mmmm.
“This will only hurt for a second,” he whispered, and before I had the chance to freak out about whatever was going to hurt, he sliced at my forearm.
A yelp escaped me, and I jumped backward. He’d transformed his hand enough for it to spring claws. Now they dripped with my blood.
He clawed his own arm, then reached out and yanked me closer, smashing our bleeding arms together. The second our arms touched, a tingle zipped along my skin and crackled down my spine.
My body pressed against his as magic swirled around us, and his scent overwhelmed me. His body heat surged, melding with mine, and suddenly I felt wide open, vulnerable. I could feel him, in my mind, my body… my soul.
Brock was my alpha now.
His blazing yellow eyes bore into mine. “You’re my family now.”
He probably hadn’t meant those words to sound so romantic, but they did. A lump formed in my throat. With Gran gone, I didn’t have any real family left, save for Cass and maybe now Molly. The rest of the Black clan disowned me when my magic never showed.
Brock and I were having a kid together, and now I was in his pack.
Family.
He leaned even closer, pulling his bleeding arm away from mine, and wrapping it around the skin of my lower back—which was bare between my low-rise jeans and crop top. I even liked the feel of his slick blood against my flesh.
His lips stretched into a grin. “From now on, every man that smells you will smell me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I bet you love that.”
His gaze fell to my lips. “I do.”
It was like time had stopped; everything stilled and I was just stuck in this bubble with Brock.
His mouth inched toward mine, and I closed my eyes, aching in anticipation for this kiss. I needed this kiss.
Just when his warm lips grazed mine, a loud knock sounded at the door.
Motherfucker. Couldn’t a girl get a break around here?
Growling, Brock ripped away. “Come in,” he answered, sounding every bit as annoyed at the interruption as I was.
Moving a respectable distance away from me, we watched Sabine enter with a portable ultrasound machine.
“I think we should do the viability scan now instead of waiting until the morning,” she informed. “That was a hard fall, and I want to make sure everything is okay.”
My cheeks were flushed—hell, everything about me was flushed; my body ached with need, but I straightened myself and nodded.
Sabine looked from Brock to me and smirked. Werewolves sensed desire.
Kill me now.
Yet, her smile was coy. “Shall we do this in the guest bedroom or here?”
“Here,” Brock growled.
She’d totally cockblocked him and he was mad. I would’ve laughed about it if I weren’t frustrated too.
Sabine rolled the cart to the edge of Brock’s bed. “This is an internal ultrasound, so I’ll need you to take off your pants and underwear. You can get under the covers if you’re shy.”
My eyes widened. I wasn’t shy in the least, but come on, this wasn’t just like walking around naked. This was… shit.
Brock turned then, giving me his back while Sabine fiddled with the screen on the machine. I quickly kicked off my boots, peeled off my jeans and panties, and jumped under the covers.
“You can turn around,” I squeaked. Yeah, I was all shades of uncomfortable.
When Brock turned, his eyes were molten lava, and I forgot about being uncomfortable. All I could think about was that I wanted Sabine gone, so I could have the wolf to myself.
‘I knew I’d get you naked in my bed again,’ he purred into my mind.
My eyes bugged. It was just like when I spoke with Cass. ‘Hey, get out of my head,’ I shot back, which only succeeded in making him grin.
He sat in the reading chair next to the bed when Sabine pulled out a huge, fourteen-inch long, uh, vibrator-looking thing. My eyes got so big, they were in danger of popping out of my head.
She chuckled at my reaction. “The internal ultrasound wand resembles a male appendage, but I promise I won’t stick it in that far.”
My gaze flew to Brock, who was tomato red, and it brought me some comfort that he was as mortified by this as I was. Only he wasn’t the one who was about to have that shoved up her hoohah.
After some finagling under the sheets, during which I was careful to make sure Brock couldn’t see a thing, Sabine slowly inserted the wand until gray and black blobs sprang to life across the screen.
I panicked.
The blobs didn’t look like anything I recognized. What if the pregnancy wasn’t viable? Would Brock still want me in his pack? In his bed? I wondered then how much of his attraction to me was because I was carrying his baby.
He reached over then and grasped my hand, giving it a hard squeeze.
“That right there”—Sabine pointed to a black, flickering blob on the screen—“is a viable pregnancy. That’s the baby’s heartbeat, and it’s strong.”
The breath I hadn’t realized I was holding tumbled out of me in a rush.
Brock leaned closer, squinting at our little blob. “Is it a boy?”
Both Sabine and I laughed. I would’ve laughed at anything just then after hearing our baby was okay.
“You can’t tell for another six to eight weeks or so. As with typical shifter pregnancies this one is slightly accelerated, which will bring Evie full term at six months.” Sabine explained. “But I can tell you now that the lining of the uterus is thick and healthy, and the fetus is well implanted.”
Six months. I gulped. I’d forgotten that shifters had faster pregnancies. That meant I had less time than usual to bring down this Siren before I blew up like a blimp.
She paused, looking between the two of us. “Every marker is strong, and just as I’d hope it to be. There’s no reason this child shouldn’t come to term.”
I started to cry. Way to go, badass Evie Black. Tears leaked from my eyes even as I tried to stop, and I dropped Brock’s hand to brush them away.
“Are you okay?” Brock’s voice was laced with concern.
I nodded. “I just… I didn’t realize how worried I’d been.”
Sabine pulled the ginormous wand out of me, while a few blob pictures printed from the machine. Immediately, I fussed to pull the covers back over my legs, and hide my embarrassment both at crying, and having a giant dildo pulled out of me in front of the alpha wolf.
“Well, I’m happy with this,” Sabine said, ignoring my mortification. “I’ll continue to monitor the pregnancy, of course, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We’ll keep up with the blood transfusions, and everything should be fine.”
I nodded, naked and vulnerable under the covers.
“Can I shower?” I blurted out then. I was soaked, and covered in grime from killing that giant demon—yeah, I wished I’d thought of that before jumping into Brock’s bed—and I needed time to think.
Brock stood. “Use mine.” He pointed to the attached bathroom.
“Brock, follow me out,” Sabine asked, already pushing her cart toward the door. “I need to check your wound.”
As they both left the room, shutting the door behind them to give me privacy, I yanked the covers off of me and streaked across the space, closing myself in his bathroom. It was nice, with clean gray tiles and a huge glass, walled-in shower. I let the water warm up as I started to overthink everything humanly and inhumanly possible.
Did the siren kill Gran? Did she summon the giant demon? And where the hell was she? Where was this damn gate, and how was I supposed to close it? What were those powers that activated when I used my katana? Was Brock as into me as I was into him? Or did he only want me because I was his baby mama, and if so, was I okay with that? I still had some pride left. Was joining his pack the right thing to do?