Riker grasped her arm gently. “I thought we both wanted it to be more than one night.”
“I know, and yes I did, I do, I don’t know right now!” She flushed and shook her head in confusion. “Look, the situation is complicated, but right now, we just need to get through tonight.”
Riker didn’t really like the sound of her indecision, but she was right – it was complicated, and they needed to decide what was happening with them, and what was going to happen in future.
He nodded and dropped her arm. He stepped back and allowed her to move past him into the hall. Riker followed, watching as she stopped at Mikey’s door, opened it to take a peek, and beamed in happiness. Something twinged in his heart again on seeing her expression, of seeing the love and pride there, and he had the desire to look at the baby. He leaned over her shoulder, and saw the baby sleeping as peacefully as when Carrie left him. He inhaled, taking in the soft, young scent of his pup – for Carrie was right, he could scent the early markers of a wolf shifter. That was his baby in there. Riker glanced down at Carrie and then back at Mikey, and a strong, possessive feeling bubbled inside. Mine.
Carefully, Carrie closed the door.
“We need to tell Mal,” said Riker suddenly.
“What?” Carrie looked up at him startled.
“He needs to know why I’ll be here more,” he said moving to the stairs.
“Well… well, yes, but, I need to break it to him gently. I mean,” she started wringing her hands, “he’s not going to be thrilled at all that Mikey’s father is a wolf shifter, and much less thrilled when he finds out I slept with his friend!”
“Nothing wrong with being a wolf shifter,” said Riker calmly.
His wolf chuffed. Though, there was something to be said for the fact that wolf shifters committed more crimes than all the other shifter groups put together. It was probably partly because there were an awful lot of wolf shifters in the world – the highest population of all shifters thanks to their tight-knit family packs. Though, it also had something to do with their aggressive natures and general feeling that they could do whatever they wanted.
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d met our father,” she said bitterly.
“I’m not your father,” he retorted peacefully.
Neither he nor Mal were friends that were big on sharing past hurts, but when Riker was training him, he checked on Mal’s family to see if any of them had a record. In short, Mal and Carrie’s mom had several citations for illegal drug possession, while the stuff his father had done would make even the most jaded hunter wince - multiple charges for fighting, domestic abuse, threatening behavior, driving under the influence, theft, receiving stolen goods, carrying a deadly weapon – to name but a few.
It was a shame the male had never done anything to find himself at the mercy of the hunters – all those things, as awful as they sounded, were all considered minor charges, and committed over the space of thirty years; not enough to find the male under the scrutiny of the Shifter Council. Though, after Riker put the word into the right council member’s shell-like ear, they were starting to look a little more closely at shifters who were repeat offenders of what they considered ‘smaller crimes.’ However, Riker wasn’t sure he would ever consider hurting a mate and offspring as a ‘small’ matter. Also, Carrie and Mal’s grandmother had an unbelievably high amount of parking tickets – but he didn’t pay that any mind.
Her eyes widened in horror. “I know you’re not like him, I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to…”
“I know you don’t but Mal needs to know.”
“But not tonight, right? Right?” Carrie grasped his shoulders, giving him a desperate, pleading look. “Mal’s my only family, and really, until we came to the herd, he raised me and took care of me – he’s more to me than just a big brother, and I don’t want to hurt him when he’s so happy.”
Riker hesitated and his wolf snarled at him. He didn’t want to wait. He’d been waiting months already, and didn’t want to wait any longer than he already had. But, as he looked into her beseeching eyes, he didn’t feel like he could say no.
“Fine,” he ground out, against the fervent wishes of his wolf.
Carrie sagged in relief and smiled. It was the ghost of her earlier smile, but it was still lovely.
“Thank you.”
“We’ll tell him tomorrow.”
Her mouth dropped open in dismay. “But that’s… that’s tomorrow! That’s like only a matter of hours away!”
“Carrie?”
Mal’s voice boomed up the stairs, and before she could argue further, Riker brushed a quick kiss over her lips and propelled her downstairs.
Chapter Twelve
“Have you got ants in your pants or something?” asked Tamra as Carrie fidgeted. Tamra’s eyes flashed. “Or something much more fun? Did you hear about that woman who went shopping wearing one of those…”
“Nothing like that,” muttered Carrie, cutting off Tamra before she told her a dirty story.
Besides, Carrie had already heard that one.
“Well, what then? You seem nervous. I haven’t seen you this twitchy since you thought Mikey was getting a rash and it turned out to be lipstick from my mom and sisters kissing him. Oh!” Tamra’s eyes flashed in concern. “Is my little godson okay?”
“Mikey’s fine and… wait, what do you mean, godson?” Carrie, despite her current worries, despite her agitated inner beast, frowned at Tamra.
“Oh that, well, Sheila at work was going on and on about how she was godson to her friend’s ugly kids, and how it was such a huge honor, and how important she is to them, and she insinuated that I would never be asked to be a godmother, so I figured I’d be a godmother to Mikey.”
Tamra explained all this as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Umm, right, ah, I hadn’t really thought about it… ah, you know that if anything happens to me that Mal and Ariel will look after him, right?”
Tamra tilted her head and looked mildly baffled. “What’s that got to do with being a godmother?”
“That’s usually a big part of it – godparents are supposed to look after the child if anything happens to the parents.”
“Huh.” Tamra shrugged, unperturbed. “I wonder if Sheila’s friend knows that, because I’ve seen the pictures of Sheila’s cat dressed up in a sailor suit, and that little critter’s expression was definitely saying ‘help me.’”
“You could be a godparent to your brother’s kids.”
“He already said no. I mean, I was supposed to be a godmother to Tank’s new baby, but he put his foot down and said no. I have no idea why! It wasn’t like it was me who gave all his girls home perms – I just sort of helped.” Tamra huffed in annoyance and then brightened. “So it’s gotta be Mikey.”
Carrie sighed, not really wanting to have this conversation given that her insides were doing summersaults. “Yeah, fine, whatever.”
Tamra squealed and Carrie hushed her. “Look, do not tell anyone but Mikey’s father is here and I’m kind of panicking,” she whispered.
Tamra dropped her jaw theatrically. “No way! Where?”
She eagerly started looking around the room, zeroing in on every male she didn’t know. “Is it him, he’s a total fox – though not in the literal sense, oh no, I think he’s a croc shifter. Hmmm, unusual, Mama likes.”
She caught his eye and he gave her a toothy smile.
“He’s over by the bar,” muttered Carrie, tugging on her arm.
They had erected a small bar outside for drinks, and Trini had insisted on being the bartender. So far they had lost five bottles of spirits as Trini tried to twirl them, but in general everyone was having a good time so they didn’t mind.
“Don’t look right at him!” hissed Carrie.
“Why not? He’s looking right at us.”
Carrie glanced over and Riker was staring in her direction. She blushed on cue and looked away. Throughout the speeches she had felt his eyes on
her. She hadn’t listened to a word of what either of Ariel’s brothers said, or Mal and Ariel when they both took a turn either. No, she had been too busy worrying and celebrating internally. She’d wanted to see Riker again like crazy for over a year, but now what? Would he want to stick around and be a father to Mikey? Would his idea of being a father be sending a check once a month and only turning up on birthdays and Christmas? Or would he want more than that? Did he want to actually – gulp – try to be a family? Could they even be a family? What would that entail? Her at home worrying with Mikey all the time while he was off hunting and nearly getting killed?
In truth, she had no idea what he wanted because she barely knew him. She had pined for him, dreamed of him, and wanted him, but she didn’t know him. Her brother knew him better than her and that was downright depressing. But, she didn’t even know what she wanted, so how could she know what he wanted?
“Oh, no,” she breathed as she spotted Mal making his way to the bar.
Carrie watched with mounting apprehension as Mal smiled and started chatting with Riker.
“Wow, he’s older than I expected,” said Tamra in her ear.
“He’s not that old,” snapped Carrie peevishly. Though, she actually had no idea how old he was.
“No judgment here, he is super hot and rugged – no wonder Mikey’s already such a heartbreaker.”
“I already told you, those two babies were not fighting over him – they were just rolling around on the floor,” murmured Carrie automatically.
Tamra once came with her to a mommy and me class, and she swore two of the little girl babies were trying to get Mikey’s attention and were fighting. Truthfully, they were just rolling around so much that they rolled into one another, bumped their heads, and started crying. But, Tamra wouldn’t hear the truth – it was far too boring.
“Oh, what are you laughing about?” asked Carrie under her breath as Mal and Riker chuckled at something.
She didn’t suppose it was the chuckle of, ‘hey, I accidentally knocked up your sister,’ so she relaxed a little. The problem was, she didn’t entirely trust Riker not to tell Mal.
“I don’t get it; what’s the big deal?” asked Tamra. “I thought you were praying for him to turn up, and now he has. Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“He’s one of Mal’s friends – that’s why he’s here.”
“Oh, I don’t think Mal will be happy about that.”
Carrie cut her eyes to Tamra and gave her a ‘duh’ look.
“Ah. So uh, what happens now?”
Carrie chewed on her lip. “I have no idea.”
*
“When are you heading out?” asked Mal as he swigged his beer.
Riker glanced at his watch. “It’s a little early, isn’t it?”
Plus, he was hoping to corner Carrie before he left for the night – she had been evading him ever since they rejoined the party. Also, he maybe wanted to get another peek at Mikey – his pup. His wolf smirked but Riker was still a little stunned by the turn of events.
Mal chuckled. “I mean heading out of town. Have you got another hunt lined up yet?”
“No, not yet.”
He looked back over at Carrie. He’d never really thought past finding her again, but now that he had…
“I don’t envy you,” said Mal. “Running off to god knows where and never seeing your family.”
“Wasn’t so long ago you were doing the same thing. Wasn’t so long ago you said you would never live in the herd,” Riker reminded him.
Mal ran a hand through his hair ruefully. “Yeah, well, things change.” He spotted Ariel mingling with their guests and winked; she blew him a kiss in return.
Riker had to admit he’d never seen Mal so relaxed or happy. Probably to do with the bouncy, blonde female who was absolutely besotted with him.
“You ever think about settling down?”
Riker stared at Mal, wondering if he had an inkling of the truth, wondering if he had noticed the tension between him and Carrie earlier, but he didn’t think so. He wanted to tell him the truth, but Carrie wanted to wait. Though, time really wouldn’t cushion the blow, and if they did wait, then Mal was going to have another reason to be annoyed. Not that Riker really thought Mal had the right to be angry. Carrie was an adult, she slept with him, and she got pregnant – she hadn’t done anything wrong. Though, his absence over the last eighteen months would need explaining – Mal could be pissed about that.
“Who’s that?” demanded Riker as his wolf snapped his jaws.
“Who?” Mal followed his stare to see the male currently leaning toward Carrie and groaned. “Just a member of the herd. He’s one of my enforcers. I think Ariel and Tamra – the female with Carrie - were hoping he and Carrie would start dating but Carrie doesn’t seem interested.”
Riker growled lowly, watching the bulky young man smile at Carrie.
“I think she’s still obsessing over Mikey’s father,” complained Mal grouchily, “whoever the hell he is, because she won’t tell me!”
Riker watched as the young man touched Carrie’s arm and something inside him snapped.
“It’s me.”
“Huh?”
“It’s me,” repeated Riker. “I slept with your sister.”
Mal gaped at him in disbelief. “What? But… but… you only met her like two hours ago.”
“Before,” Riker told him calmly. “We met when I was on a hunt and her car broke down. We spent the night together. I didn’t know it was her until yesterday. I didn’t know about Mikey until tonight.”
Riker turned his attention back to Carrie and was relieved the young man had moved along. He didn’t even see the fist coming until he was staggering backward. Jeez, he really was slowing down if he didn’t see that coming.
“You bastard!” snarled Mal, eyes flashing furiously as his chest expanded.
The hubbub of the party died down as everyone looked on in a mixture of horror and fascination.
Riker straightened, trying to ignore the pain in his jaw – Mal had a mean right hook, that was for damn sure. “I didn’t know it was her,” he reiterated calmly.
“Oh no, Michael!” wailed Carrie.
Mal visibly fumed. His nostrils flared and his limbs cracked with the effort of not shifting to his huge inner beast. He’d never seen Mal so angry before, and Riker had really riled him back when they used to train, really used to try and get him to lose his temper. Though, Riker had never tried fathering a baby with Mal’s sister – so clearly that was a trigger.
“What’s happening?” whispered Ariel, appearing beside Mal, dumbfounded by his sudden mood change.
Mal swiveled his attention to her and relaxed marginally. Then he looked around at the various party guests who were watching with morbid interest.
“Everything’s fine,” he said loudly. “Ignore me, enjoy the party.”
Mal glowered in Riker’s direction before stomping into the house with Ariel following. Carrie gave Riker a reproachful look and followed as well.
“Jeez, what did you do?” asked Mick with a smirk.
Riker quelled him with a look and went into the house too.
Chapter Thirteen
“What’s happening?” whispered Ariel to Carrie as she watched Mal pacing up and down. “Is this something to do with you and Riker?”
Carrie groaned as Mal stopped pacing the living room to scowl at both of them. “You knew?”
Ariel held up her hands in submission. “I don’t know anything, but I did think that Riker was trying to kiss her when they were in her room earlier. Sorry.” The last word was aimed at Carrie and said with a wince.
“He was in your room?” snapped Mal.
Carrie sighed and waved the baby monitor at him almost menacingly. “Unless you want to wake Mikey, hush.” Mal was suitably chastened – for the moment at least. “And yes, he was in my room – I’m not sixteen, I can have men in my room.”
“You tell him,” put in Tamra, who had natu
rally followed them. “Even now my brother doesn’t let me have men in my room so I have to sneak them in.”
“Tamra,” growled Mal in warning, “stay out of this.”
Tamra pouted and flopped onto the couch – silent but still present, not wanting to miss a thing. Well, she would just wheedle it out of Carrie later.
Carrie breathed in as Riker walked into the room. He didn’t seem in the least perturbed by the fact that he had just been in the middle of a scene, or gotten a punch to the face. Her reindeer hooted softly. He didn’t deserve that, no matter how foolish it was to break the news to Mal so suddenly.
“Are you okay?” asked Carrie, her worry for him far exceeding concern over the fact that her brother appeared like he was going to explode.
Riker nodded and smiled slightly at her.
“Good, get out!” snapped Mal.
“Mal,” murmured Ariel entreatingly.
“He slept with my sister!” howled Mal.
“Hey, we’re allowed to date your sister now?” chuckled Mick as he walked into the room.
“Get out!” growled Mal.
“Ooh, this is getting good,” giggled Tamra.
Mal glared at her. “You, definitely get out!”
“Soon there’ll be no one left but you in the room,” grumbled Tamra. “C’mon,” she said to Mick, “why don’t I show you around the garden?”
“I’ve seen it,” said Mick as they left.
“Then let’s just make out…”
Mal vibrated in fury.
Riker held up a hand. “I know you’re mad…”
Mal made a loud, hooting, angry noise.
“But I didn’t know she was your sister.”
“You wouldn’t have touched her if you’d known?” demanded Mal.
Riker paused considering his reply. “That’s not what I said. Look, Mal, your sister isn’t a child – we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Oh, that’s not going to work,” murmured Ariel, padding over to stand by Mal. She placed a soothing hand on his chest. “When Mal and I got together my brothers were furious and my eldest brother punched him too. Herd males are rather overprotective.”
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