Regina grumbled and complained the whole way. “My daddy’s limousine is bigger.” She pouted as they drove through the pack’s town center. “And it has a mini bar.”
“Good thing you’re not marrying Jarrod, then,” said Mary, who was starting to regret letting Regina come.
The Magister Pack members who didn’t live in the Alpha compound lived in a small town, with most of the houses either clapboard or brick. Werewolves tended to like their houses and their clothing somewhat on the old-fashioned side. Some packs still dressed as if it were the eighteenth century when they were on their pack lands. The Magister pack wasn’t quite that old-fashioned, but their clothing style tended towards the conservative.
Ignatius narrated for them as they drove, pointing out each neighborhood and feature. They toured the town hall, the rec center, the town center with all its little shops, the supermarket… They met dozens of people; store-owners, workers, Enforcers… Mary was starting to get dizzy from so many introductions. And her basket was overflowing with hand-wrapped gift soaps, bottles of perfume, jars of jam, flower-stuffed sachets, and other goodies.
Noticeably absent was Earvin, which was a relief.
Their last stop was the hospital, which, unlike the rest of the buildings on pack lands, was gleaming and modern. And oddly lacking one essential thing, which Mary might not have noticed if Constance hadn’t pointed it out to her.
“Was that the entire hospital?” Mary asked as she climbed back into the limo.
“Yes, why?” Jarrod asked.
“There’s no maternity ward?” she said, puzzled. “Do your women just go out into the woods and squat or something?”
“Ewww!” Regina cried out, horrified. “The woods?”
Jarrod laughed. “Why do people have all these misapprehensions about werewolves? We have a separate building for that.”
“That’s unusual,” Mary said. “Wouldn’t you want it to be connected to the main hospital in case something went seriously wrong? What if someone needed surgery?”
“Of course, the maternity ward is built to handle any emergency. We have surgeons on staff,” Ignatius said quickly. A little too quickly? Mary glanced at Jarrod. He didn’t seem bothered by it.
Regina, looking bored, pulled out her iPod and popped her earbuds in her ears.
“Where is the maternity ward?” Mary looked around. Wouldn’t it make sense that the maternity ward building would be right next to the main hospital? But there were no other buildings nearby.
“Oh, it’s towards the back of the property,” Jarrod said.
Curiouser and curiouser. “I’d like to visit that now.”
“Take us to the maternity ward, please,” Jarrod said to the limo driver.
“Fine, I’ll call ahead and let them know we’re coming,” Ignatius said as the limo driver headed down a side road.
“Why do you need to call ahead?” Mary asked. “You didn’t call ahead to let them know we were coming to the hospital, or anywhere else. Why do you need to call the maternity ward?”
“It’s common courtesy and pack custom,” Ignatius said, reaching for his phone.
“Hold it!” Mary cried out, at the same time Jarrod said, “Hold on there.”
Jarrod said to Ignatius, “It’s not actually pack custom. It’s not that I have any reason not to want you to call them, but why are you insisting on it?”
“I’d like to say something,” Mary added. “Let’s say this marriage works out and I give birth to our cubs.”
“Well, of course that’s what will happen,” Jarrod said, looking at her as if she baffled him with her silliness.
“I assume that I would be giving birth to our cubs at the maternity ward on these grounds?”
“Yes, that’s right.” He nodded.
“Well, I can assure you that if I’m going to consider giving birth somewhere, I want to tour the maternity ward first. You’ve got this mysterious building that’s hidden at the back of your property and you need to warn them before we come?” Her tone was as sharp as a knife.
“Is it the pack birthing custom that you’re concerned about?” Jarrod asked.
“Well, yes, actually, that’s part of it,” Mary said, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. “I’ve only heard rumors, though. Can you tell me a little more about it?”
Ignatius reached for his cell phone again. He had an uneasy look on his face.
“Pick up that cell phone and you’ll be looking at a bleeding stump at the end of your arm where your hand should be,” Jarrod said, baring his teeth. “Now you’re starting to make me think there’s something wrong, when I know there isn’t. Or is there? Tell me, Ignatius, is there something I should be worried about?”
“Of course not. Sir.”
Jarrod resumed speaking to Mary. “The pack custom is that male cubs are briefly taken from their mother immediately after she gives birth – just briefly. They are taken out of the room to be blessed by what we call a Mage. They’re returned to the mother one hour later. It’s supposed to guarantee them long life and health. It’s a custom that started when my uncle took over. We’ve been doing it for twenty years now.”
He saw the look on Mary’s face. “It’s just for an hour.”
Mary gave him the stink-eye. “Why can’t the mother be in the room with the baby when the Mage is blessing it?”
“I don’t know, it’s just part of the custom. The Mage needs to be alone with the baby for the blessing to work.”
“Well, that would be a deal-breaker for me.” She meant it, too. Not that she really thought she was staying here, but she definitely wasn’t handing her theoretical, non-even-conceived-yet baby over to some stranger.
“All right.” Jarrod nodded. “I understand. You’ve got a strong maternal instinct. I appreciate that. When the time comes, you do not have to send your cub to the Mage.”
As they pulled up to the maternity ward, Mary didn’t feel particularly reassured. There were security guards in wolf form pacing around the front of the building.
She raised an eyebrow, looking at Jarrod. “This is certainly a well-guarded building. Do you get many cub-napping attempts?”
Jarrod laughed at that. “We’ve never had one. Anyone, wolf or human, would be a fool to come between a mother and her cub.”
“Except you take newborn babies away from their mothers.”
“For one hour!” he protested. “In human hospitals, the babies frequently sleep in the nurseries.”
“That’s a little different. They’re not being snatched from their mothers immediately after birth and taken away to some room where they’re alone with a stranger.”
Jarrod sighed. “You’re making it sound very sinister. The mothers don’t mind.”
“You’ve asked them?”
“Well…” He looked sheepish.
“Let’s go in and ask them. Right now.”
Chapter Twelve
Petra Gratz, the nurse manager who met them out on the front steps, was Jarrod’s aunt. Unfortunately, that fact didn’t soften her up any when they approached her for a tour. Mary couldn’t help but notice the angry looks she shot at Ignatius, or the helpless shrug he gave her before quickly glancing away. Mary was really starting to get a bad feeling about this.
Regina pulled the earbuds out of her ears, looking around and making a face. “Where are we now?” she asked, looking annoyed. “Aren’t we ever going to go shopping?”
“We’re going to tour a maternity ward,” Mary told her.
“Jarrod, I simply will not allow it,” Petra said. “It’s insulting. I’m tired of all of this scrutiny. We’re being treated like criminals here.”
Now, that piqued Mary’s interest. What else had happened? What scrutiny? She’d definitely have to ask Jarrod about that later.
“And, of course, you know men aren’t allowed in here anyway,” Petra added.
“I’ll go in alone, then,” Mary said despite a ripple of trepidation.
&nbs
p; Petra still hesitated, standing in front of them, blocking the doors to the hospital.
“Do I really need to explain how this works to you, Aunt Petra?” Jarrod said impatiently. “Now that I have bridenapped my future wife, I am considered Full Alpha. Yes, technically I’m Alpha Regent until the wedding, but by law I now operate as Full Alpha. So I make the rules. I’m not asking you if Mary can tour the facility. I’m telling you that she’s touring. Now.”
“This is against our custom,” Petra protested. “We…we aren’t prepared.”
“Exactly what preparing do you need to do?” Jarrod demanded heatedly. “I’m here trying to convince my bride-to-be that she has nothing to worry about giving birth to cubs here, and you’re making it seem like you’re trying to hide some sinister chamber of horrors. Let her in so that I can reassure her – and, for that matter, me.”
Petra put her hands on her hips. “I won’t do it. This is my ward. I have to do what’s best for my patients.”
“You’ll let her in, or I’ll have you removed from your position immediately,” Jarrod said coldly.
Petra narrowed her eyes and drew in an angry breath through her nostrils, but she clearly wasn’t prepared to defy the pack’s Alpha Regent, even if he was her nephew. She slowly withdrew a keycard from her pocket and swiped it through a lock, and the front door swung open.
“I’m going too,” Regina said loudly, surprising Mary.
“No,” Petra said, shaking her head.
“Yes,” Mary said, just to spite her, and she and Regina rushed through the door.
They walked through a sterile-looking entry room where a nurse in scrubs sat behind a desk. She looked up at them, startled. Mary and Regina opened the only other door which led down a long, white-tiled hallway, with Petra on their heels, muttering under her breath.
Everything looked normal. They passed a small, sunlit lounge where several heavily pregnant women sat around a small, round table, glancing up at them curiously.
They went down a hall that had a dozen rooms on either side, a total of four of them occupied rooms by mothers who held their babies cradled in their arms. Everyone looked content and happy.
“See? Nothing wrong here,” Petra said, but her anxiety practically radiated through the air.
Mary saw a pregnant woman emerge from a room down the hall, holding her swollen belly. She started to walk towards the woman, and Petra moved to block her.
“I can’t let you near her,” she said huffily. “It’s not sanitary.”
“It’s not sanitary for me to talk to her?” Mary said, her face heating with anger.
Suddenly there was a loud commotion at the other end of the hall. Regina was standing there yelling at a nurse. “What do you mean, I can’t go in there? Do you know who I am? Nobody says no to me!”
Regina grabbed the keycard from the clip where it dangled on the woman’s collar, swiped it through a lock, and the door at the end of the hallway swung open. She raced through it, and Petra turned and ran after her, yelling.
That was the last time Regina was going anywhere with her, Mary thought – but she took advantage of Petra’s absence to hurry over to the pregnant woman.
“Hello, I’m Mary,” she introduced herself. “Recently bridenapped by the Alpha Regent.”
“Oh, this is an honor!” The woman’s eyes lit up. “This will be good luck for my baby! My name is Briony. Would you…would you like to help me pick a name for the baby?”
“Good heavens!” Mary said, touched. “I would be honored, but I would want to make sure it’s a name that you and your husband both like.” She glanced around furtively. “Speaking of your baby… I was wondering about a certain tradition, in which the baby is taken from you immediately after birth and given to the Mage for an hour. Are you okay with that?”
“Well…” The expression on Briony’s face was all the answer Mary needed. Of course she wasn’t okay with it.
“Or would you prefer the baby stayed with you?”
“You mean I could do that?” The woman’s eyes lit up. “I’m not from this pack, so that tradition is new to me. I was quite surprised when I heard about it. So…I’m allowed to keep the baby with me right after he’s born?”
Petra hurried up to them, along with a female security guard who was dragging a smug-looking Regina by the arm. “But I’m sure you wouldn’t want to,” Petra said, pursing her lips and giving the woman a severe look. “Since the blessing always ensures a strong, healthy, baby with a long and blessed life. You wouldn’t want to risk the health of your baby for purely selfish reasons.”
Briony’s face fell, and she glanced at Mary uncertainly.
“Healthy cubs are born all over the world without this Mage nonsense. This is the only pack that does it,” Mary said to Petra. “And the tradition only started when your brother took over as Alpha Pro Tem.”
“Really? I didn’t know that,” Briony said, starting to look more determined. “I was told this was the way it had always been done. I would like to keep my cub with me.”
“So what you’re saying is that you want to risk your cub’s health and his future rather than follow pack tradition?” Petra moved close to her, her eyes glinting fiercely.
“Excuse me, I’d like to talk to her alone for a minute, without you intimidating her,” Mary said.
“That won’t be possible. You and your friend have caused enough trouble, and you’ve upset this woman enough. You’ll have to leave now,” Petra said, grabbing Mary’s arm.
“She didn’t upset me,” Briony protested.
Mary yanked her arm away, but a large orderly bustled up to them and she and Regina were hurried outside the hospital in no time.
Jarrod was standing by the car, talking on his cell phone. It was obvious from the look on his face that he didn’t like what he was hearing. He hung up as Mary and Regina approached.
“Who’s that?” Mary asked.
“My uncle.”
“I’m surprised this is the first you’ve heard from him,” Mary said as they all climbed into the limo.
“Oh, it isn’t. He’s been trying to call me to complain ever since the bridenapping. I’ve just ignored him.” Jarrod shrugged. “He’s calling an emergency meeting of the council right now. I’m going to drop you off at the house and then go deal with it.”
“When you come back,” Mary said firmly, “We need to talk.”
Chapter Thirteen
Regina looked far too pleased with herself as she and Mary walked into the house’s enormous foyer. And suddenly the light dawned on Mary.
“Wait a minute,” Mary said. “You actually did that to help me, didn’t you? You deliberately created a distraction.”
“Maybe,” Regina said. “Since you were nice to me about my parents being mad at me. And you let me have half the presents..” Then the mischievous look returned to her face. “I’ve never done anything like that before. I practically broke the law!”
“What’s this?” Angela hurried up to them. She had a nose for trouble. She was like a trouble bloodhound, Mary thought. “She did what? Tell me all about it!”
After Mary recounted the incident, Angela was dancing with glee. “Oh, I wish I’d been there. You actually have potential, rich chick!”
Regina, however, was starting to look worried. “My daddy’s going to yell at me if he hears about it.”
“We won’t tell him,” Mary said quickly.
Angela made a snorting noise. “Screw that,” she said impatiently. “Won’t your daddy just yell at you anyway?”
“Yes,” Regina said, her expression glum.
“So you’ve got parents who’ll disapprove of you no matter what you do. Been there, done that, ran away from home. If they’re going to treat you like crap anyway, then you might as well at least have fun. I’m a member of the Disappointing My Parents Club. It’s a fun club. You should join.”
“I’ve never been a member of a club before,” Regina said cautiously. “Nobody ever invited
me.”
“I’m nervous about the direction this club is headed,” Mary interjected.
“You’re nervous about me crossing the street unless I look both ways.” Angela gave her cousin an impatient look.
“You cross the street without looking both ways?” Mary cried out, appalled. “Do you realize how incredibly dangerous that is?”
“Every now and then I like to live on the edge. Let’s leave granny-pants here to write her lists, and we’ll go out back and plan our next moves,” Angela said to Regina, who followed Angela a little too eagerly for Mary’s liking.
* * * * *
Two hours later…
The sun was on the horizon, and a gentle breeze ruffled Mary’s hair. Jarrod stood with a wicker picnic basket in his hand and a mischievous grin on his face. Craig, shirtless and sweaty, stood on the front lawn with a group of Enforcers who had just worked out for the second time that day.
“Not so fast,” Mary said to Jarrod, who was about to lead her out into the woods to enjoy their just-before-moonlight dinner. “You said you’d get Angela to like Craig.”
“Speak of the devil. I just sent for her,” Jarrod said.
The front door banged open and Angela strode towards them, frowning.
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked. “Me and Regina were just binge-watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix. We were just getting to a good part.” She cast a mischevious glance at Mary. “She posted on Facebook that she was watching it, and apparently her parents just about had a stroke. They sent her eleventy-leven text messages, but she’s ignoring them.”
“That guy you like, Craig.” Jarrod’s tone was serious.
“I didn’t say I liked him,” Angela said cautiously. “I just said he was hot. I haven’t really talked to him that much.”
“I’m not sure that I approve of you hanging out with him,” Jarrod continued as if she hadn’t spoken. He glanced at Craig, who was scrubbing his face with a towel. “Mary wants you to date a nice guy, and Craig’s kind of a heartbreaker.”
Bridenapped The Alpha's Choice Page 6