by West, Tara
He squeezed her. “I mean it.”
“We should never have brought Katarina with us.” Boris sat on her other side, brushing a strand of hair out of her mouth. “We realize now it was a mistake, but when she told us she was pregnant, we had little choice. Our sons and her părinti refused to take her, not that I blame them.”
She still didn’t trust them, but at least they were making an effort. She couldn’t help but feel guilt, though, when Boris spoke about Katarina’s pregnancy. Amara knew Katarina was faking the pregnancy. She wondered if it was her place to tell her fathers. They’d find out eventually. In the end, she decided they deserved to know now, rather than be beholden to Katarina’s tantrums.
“Father.” She turned to Boris, clasping his hands. “I saw the wolf in her eyes. So did Hakon.”
“We saw it this morning.” Boris grimaced. “She does not do a good job of hiding her anger.”
She shuddered, relieved they already knew. Katarina couldn’t blame Amara when and if her mates ever confronted her. “So she’s been lying to you.”
“I think she’s been lying to herself.” Boris rolled his eyes. “She’s desperate for a daughter of her own.”
“Because I wasn’t good enough.”
“You are more than good enough for us.” Boris cupped her cheeks, kissing her forehead. “We’re so proud of the caring and gifted woman you’ve become.”
Amara leaned into her alpha father, relishing his attention and love. Each father took turns holding her and telling her how proud he was and how much he loved her. She’d longed for this moment and was thoroughly enjoying it.
Much to her chagrin, their tenderness was interrupted by Katarina’s rude cough. She rattled off something in Romanian to her mates.
“Speak English, Katarina.”
Planting her hands on her hips, she exclaimed, “Nu!” Then she spewed Romanian swear words. She placed one hand on her stomach, the other on her brow, and acted as if she was going to faint.
Boris’s hearty laughter filled the room. “You don’t need to pretend anymore, Katarina. We’ve all seen the wolf in your eyes.”
Her mouth twisted, and she turned on Amara. “What did you tell them?”
“Did you not hear me?” Boris said pointedly. “We’ve all seen it.”
“I thought I was pregnant. I felt the bloom.”
Boris shook his head and her other fathers swore. “When we return to Romania, we are breaking the bond for good.”
She acted as if she was about to fall over. When nobody came to help her, she leaned against the side of a chair. “You would do that to the mother of your children?”
“We’ve been through this before,” Jovan said. “You lost our respect when you ran off with the Devoras.”
A litany of shrill Romanian words poured from her mouth, making her sound like a dying cat in heat. As her voice rose, so did Amara’s ire. When Katarina picked up a lamp, preparing to hurl it at Amara’s fathers, she’d had enough.
Jumping to her feet, she stormed over to the bitch and whipped the lamp from her hands. She jerked a finger at the back door. “Out of my damn house if you’re going to act like that.”
A firestorm swirled in Katarina’s silver eyes, and her lip pulled back in a snarl as a low growl erupted from her throat. Boris and Jovan jumped between them in an instant, then dragged a screaming and kicking Katarina out the door.
Amara’s legs gave out and Marius and Geri helped her to the sofa.
What the hell had she been thinking, going after a she-wolf while pregnant? Katarina could’ve ripped out her throat in an instant.
“It’s okay, fiică.” Marius patted Amara’s knee. “She’s too afraid of your mates to hurt you.”
She wished she agreed with him, but it was clear Katarina had lost her mind, and there was no telling how far she’d go to punish Amara for her own sorry choices.
Chapter Eighteen
“What happened to him?”
Takaani looked at the vet with the Ken Doll dimples and wavy blond hair. Though he was attractive, she considered him about as tempting as a vanilla ice cream cone. Tasty, but not worth the calories when there were so many better flavors. Then again, she felt that way about all mortal men. They just didn’t appeal to her.
She stroked Mako’s neck. “He was bit by a wolverine.”
Grimacing, he spread open the wound with gloved fingers. “Wolverines don’t go after large animals unless they’re threatened.”
“We stumbled across babies in her den,” Takaani answered, though she instantly regretted it. Why did she have to tell him about the den? Now he’d think she’d gone crazy.
He quirked a brow. “What were you doing in a wolverine den?”
The condescending look in his eyes made Takaani’s inner-wolf howl and claw to break free. “Long story.”
“My receptionist said you can’t pay for Mako’s care.”
“I will get money, I promise. I will find a way to pay you.” Emotion threatened to choke her. She’d lose her mind if he refused to treat Mako. “Just please save my dog.” Her eyes watered when Mako whimpered again.
The guy stared at her as if he was looking through her, showing no emotion at all. “She also said you came here in MacDonald’s truck.”
“MacDonald?” She froze realizing they knew the owner of the truck she’d stolen. Fuck. “Oh, Uncle Mack. Yeah,” she lied, doing her best to sound casual. “He let me borrow it to bring Mako to the hospital.” She sure as hell hoped her lie was convincing.
“I didn’t know MacDonald had a niece.” He gave her another long, condescending look. “Maybe you can borrow the money from him.”
She nodded eagerly, then cursed herself for acting overly enthused. “I’ll ask him.”
She shifted from foot to foot as he looked her over head to toe. She had on MacDonald’s clothes—a pair of old sweats bunched at the waist, a stained sweatshirt, and shoes that were at least four sizes too big. He must have figured she was a transient or druggie. She didn’t give a shit. At the moment, all that mattered was Mako.
“Look, are you going to save my dog or what?”
“I’m going to give him antibiotics and fluids.” He looked at Mako apathetically. “Not sure yet if he can be saved.”
Takaani clutched her gut, nauseated at the thought of losing her best friend. “You don’t know what this dog means to me.”
The vet rolled his eyes. “If I had a dime for every pet owner who said that.”
Red hot anger surged through her. “Mako is not my pet. He’s my brother.”
He shrugged, unimpressed. “I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you,” she breathed, praying to whoever or whatever was listening that the vet’s best would be good enough.
He scribbled notes on his clipboard, then pointed his pen accusingly at her. “You know, you remind me of a girl who used to work for me.”
“Oh?” She wrapped her arms around herself, working at maintaining eye contact.
“Yeah, she quit and then she came back and stole my dog.” The way he said it was as if he expected her to steal from him, too.
“I won’t steal, I promise.” She held out her hands defensively. “I just want Mako.”
He wagged his pen at her. “You’ll get your dog back after you pay for his treatment.”
Oh, that’s what he was getting at. He expected her to steal Mako after he fixed him up. That hadn’t been on her mind, unless she couldn’t get to the money she had hidden. Her plan was to drive by her apartment and see if it was being watched. If not, she’d run in, grab her stash, and run back out.
“I’ll pay.” She raised her chin, refusing to allow him to belittle her any longer. He turned back to his clipboard, scribbling more notes. “My techs will get him set up in the back with an IV while you get the money from your uncle.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”
I’m going to call MacDonald to make sure she didn’t steal his truck. His thought project
ed into her head like a mallet striking a tin can.
Fuck! If MacDonald reported his truck as stolen, the police would be waiting for her when she returned. The goddamn condescending little prick! She’d have no choice but to steal Mako. She’d have to sneak in at night and risk getting caught by the cops, or worse, by the agents who’d been tailing her.
When the tech came in to get Mako, she nuzzled his neck and kissed his dry nose. “Be strong, buddy. I love you.” She barely choked out the words before they took him away.
As they carted Mako through the double doors, her heart shattered at the thought that she might never see her best friend again.
“HUNGRY?” TATIANA CHUCKLED, entering the pantry with Amara.
Amara brushed crumbs off her chest and reluctantly put what was left of the chocolate chip cookies back on the shelf. “These pregnancy cravings are brutal.”
She took Tatiana’s hand and pulled herself up until they were standing eye level with each other.
Licking her lips, Tatiana eyed the nearly empty box. “So growing magical shifters takes lots of cookies?”
“I’ll share with you, but only because you’re my favorite sister.”
“Thanks!” Tatiana grabbed the box and took two cookies.
Amara hoped that’s all she’d take. They were down to the last few, and she had no idea when they could return to Fairbanks for more. Maybe Rone would make her brownies when they ran out.
Tatiana had been unusually quiet and aloof since moving in with Amara and her mates. Amara had been meaning to speak to her sister-in-law about it, but there hadn’t been time. One reason she was hiding out in the pantry was to get away from everyone and claim a little downtime for herself. Soon Hrod would wake and call for his milk machine, and then Hakon wanted to practice earthquakes again.
“Tatiana, you’ve been down recently,” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
Swallowing her last bite, Tatiana wiped crumbs off her jeans. “My future mother-in-law, that’s what.” She rolled her eyes so hard, Amara thought they might disappear into her head.
“I try to tune her out.” Katarina was another reason Amara was hiding. Just the sight of her put Amara in a shitty mood. Hiding seemed the best option to avoid her wicked stepmonster and just life in general.
Tatiana’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not going to be able to tune her out when she’s living with me.”
“What?” Amara snatched the cookies from her. “Who said she’s living with you?”
“Who else will she live with when your fathers break the bond? Her parents disowned her. That leaves her sons the only ones to take her in. I heard her talking to my mother outside. As soon as my mates finish adding a guest room to their home, she’s moving in with them.”
Amara blanched at the thought. “You can’t let her live with you.” Especially since the Ancients had told her that Katarina would have an unpleasant ending. She didn’t want Tatiana or her brothers around when it happened.
“I know.” Tatiana heaved a sigh. “She keeps cornering me and being fake nice to me.”
Ugh. Poor Tatiana. “She’ll ruin your marriage.”
“What do I tell your brothers?” Tatiana’s pitch turned urgent.
Amara chewed on another cookie, contemplating what to say. “Tell them the truth. They know their mom is a bitch. They won’t want her to live with them either.” Then again, where else would she go? Amara’s fathers had to have known they would be dumping a heavy burden on their sons, but she supposed their obsession with Eilea had robbed them of empathy, too.
The pantry door was flung open. The boogie man would’ve been more pleasant than the Queen Bitch who glared at them, nostrils flaring. Had she heard them talking about her? Amara didn’t care if Katarina had overheard her, but she was concerned for Tatiana. She didn’t want the bitch making Tatiana’s life miserable, too.
“What are you two doing?” she asked accusingly.
Amara held up the box of cookies. “Snacking.”
Katarina ignored Amara and focused on Tatiana. “Watch how much you eat, or your behind will get as big as Amara’s.”
Amara crushed the box, wishing it was Katarina’s throat. “Excuse me?”
“Pregnancy is no excuse for gluttony,” Katarina snapped.
Slamming the box down on a shelf, Amara imagined her eyes were empty, smoking guns and Katarina was full of bullets. “I don’t remember asking your opinion.”
The bitch turned to Tatiana. “My sons are used to a thin and pretty mother. They will be disappointed if their wife isn’t as well.”
Amara clenched her fists. “And Tatiana is used to a kind and caring mother. What a disappointment to have you as a mother-in-law.”
“What nonsense do you speak?” Katarina let out an obnoxious snort and waved Amara away. “Tatiana knows I care for her.” A smug smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “She is the daughter I’ve always wanted.”
Amara was momentarily dumbstruck by Katarina’s verbal barb. She wasn’t hurt by her words—she was past the point of caring what Katarina thought of her—but she was shocked that her stepmonster would speak to her that way in her own home.
Before she could think of a suitable retort, Tatiana said, “Amara is right. You are a disappointment.” She jabbed Katarina in the chest. “Your sons must be dreading taking a mate when they have a selfish and cruel shrew as their example.”
Katarina fell back, clutching the door handle. Her bulging eyes and slack jaw reminded Amara of a second-rate actress in a low budget horror movie. “Tatiana, how could you say such horrible things to me?”
“How could you?” Tatiana gestured to Amara. “If you wanted a daughter so badly, you could’ve had Amara, and yet you treat her like shit. You are spiteful and selfish, and I will jump off a cliff if you come live with us.”
Katarina straightened, her face hardening into a mask of stone. “I see.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” Tatiana advanced on her future mother-in-law. “You see everything through the lens of a spoiled bitch. Let me clue you in. Nobody likes you—not my fathers, not my brothers, not even your mates. I see it in their eyes when they look at you.”
Katarina snarled, then swung. Tatiana caught Katarina’s wrist before she made contact. Then she punched Katarina square in the nose.
Katarina cried out, covering her bloody nose with both hands. She turned and ran, nearly falling over her own feet as she lurched out the back door.
Fuck.
Even though everyone knew Katarina was a mega bitch from hell, she feared Tatiana would catch heat for that from her parents, especially Tor. “I’m so sorry you had to be put in that position.”
“I’m not.” Tatiana shook out her hand with a hiss. “She needed a good smackdown.”
Amara clasped Tatiana’s hand and sent healing magic to her swollen knuckles, which were already starting to bruise. Damn, she must have hit Katarina hard. “She’s going to make your life hell now,” she said as the swelling started to go down.
“She’s going to make my life hell either way. At least now I don’t have to pretend to like her. The way she treats you isn’t right.”
“I’m so glad you’re my sister.” Her eyes welled with tears, and her throat tightened with emotion. “I don’t want you to move to Romania.”
“That makes two of us.” Tatiana pursed her lips. “Even though I love my mates.”
“I knew you would.”
She remembered the sweet, blossoming love between Tatiana and her brothers when they’d spent time together in Romania. Her fathers still hadn’t set a bonding date yet, which had left Tatiana both anxious and relieved. She’d complained to Amara more than once she didn’t want to move into her mates’ “cursed house” after several bloodthirsty and manic werewolves were killed in the driveway.
After Amara finished her healing, Tatiana turned over her hand. “Thanks! That stung like hell.”
“No problem.”
“Do you mind if we st
ay in here a bit longer?” She bit her bottom lip, pulling the door shut. “I don’t want to face my parents.”
“That’s fine.” She wasn’t looking forward to leaving the pantry either, and she didn’t care who asked her. She was not healing Katarina’s nose. Let her have a daily reminder of what people really thought about her. Maybe she’d finally learn a lesson and be nicer, though Amara doubted it.
“Let’s finish the cookies.” Tatiana grabbed the box and frowned as she looked inside, no doubt unhappy by the crumbs.
“You can have them.” Amara cringed when she remembered her stepmonster telling her she had a fat ass. Maybe she’d lay off cookies for a while. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
“Of course not,” Tatiana said, around a mouthful of cookie.
Amara looked over her shoulder, trying to see down her backside to no avail. “Is my butt really fat?”
“Jeez, Amara.” Crumbs fell from Tatiana’s mouth as she spoke. “You’re pregnant.”
Not the answer she was hoping for. “So that answers that question, and I’m only a few days pregnant.”
“Yeah, but you just had a baby not too long ago.” Tatiana’s cheeks reddened. “You’ll lose all the weight when you can shift again. My mom said she gained a ton of weight with each baby. I’m sure Katarina did, too. She’s just a bitch.”
Yeah, Amara thought, but there was obviously truth to the bitch’s words.
WHEN HROD CRIED FOR his dairy cow, they slunk out of the pantry and sat together on the sofa, sharing secretive looks while Bunica, Mihaela, and Rone prepared lunch. The dogs waited patiently at their feet for someone to drop food. Amara’s fathers and Bunic Nicolae passed around Boris’s flask and played poker at the kitchen table. Everyone else was either downstairs or outside.
The front door banged open, and Skoll raced in, wearing nothing but a ripped T-shirt and boxers. “Boris!”
Boris dropped his cards and stood, looking alarmed. “What’s wrong?”
Skoll stopped at the kitchen bar, chest heaving while he struggled to catch his breath. “Katarina ran off.”