Bleacke Spirit (Bleacke Shifters Book 4)

by Lesli Richardson

  Chapter Nine

  Shock didn’t begin to describe how Beck felt right now. He knew Nami was in the same boat.

  Mate bond, duh.

  Once everyone else finally left and they were alone, he caught Nami’s hands, coaxing her out of the kitchen and into their bed, fully clothed, where he held her as she started crying again.

  Taking a deep breath, he nuzzled her head, breathing in her scent. “I’m sorry, babe,” he said.

  “But I was on the pill!”

  “I know. That’s why I’m sorry. I really didn’t pay attention. I didn’t think I had to. I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard, her misery shredding his soul. “If…if you want to talk to the doctor about—”

  “We are not getting rid of this baby!”

  Relief flooded him, so keen and sharp it brought tears to his eyes. “Okay, sweetheart. Thank you.”

  She leaned back so she could look up at him. “Why would you even consider that? Don’t you want this baby?”

  “Of course I do! I just…you’re in so much emotional pain right now, and… Well, it just kills me that it’s my fault.”

  She snuggled against him again. “It’s not your fault, Beck.”

  “Uh, unless you been fucking someone I don’t know about, yeah, it kinda is.”

  She draped her arm over his chest and squeezed, hard. “It just happened.” She sniffled. “Guess I should’ve known better than thinking about going back to school. I probably jinxed myself.”

  “Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean?”

  “I can’t go back to school with a baby.”

  “Why not?”

  “What do you mean, why not?”

  “I mean, why not? I mean, yeah, you’ll have to take a little time off after she’s born, but I can take care of her. Or him.” His hand settled over her tummy, his mind already thinking ahead, imagining feeling a kick.

  “You have to work, Beck.”

  “Yeah? So? I’m not out chasing people down every day. And we have Badger and Duncan. Look how great Duncan is with Bebe. I bet he’d love a chance to have another adopted grandchild.”

  Her hand finally settled over his. “You said her, first. Do you hope it’s a girl?”

  “I just hope it’s healthy. I don’t know what we’re having. Duncan and them can’t even tell that fast.” More tears stung his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a dad.”

  * * * *

  When Nami heard how choked up Beck sounded, she tipped her head back again and realized her blond-haired, blue-eyed hunk of wolf…was crying.

  She cupped his cheek. “Hey, now,” she gently said, blinking back her own tears. “It’s okay, baby. I’m not mad. I’m just…stunned. Shocked.” She finally laughed. “I never honestly thought this’d be me.”

  He kissed her, and the world stopped around them while she breathed with him, tasted him, filled her senses and soul with him.

  “I never thought I ever be happier than when I first saw you on the bus that day,” he said. “Then, after having to look for you, I found you. That was my happiest day. But then you said yes to me. Later, in Idaho, I was terrified I’d lost you, but we found you and Ken safe and sound, and I thought damn, having you back in my arms was the happiest moment of my life. And then you still married me.” He tearfully laughed. “Want to go paint shopping tomorrow for the nursery?”

  His silly, tearful smile looked so achingly sweet it left her undone and crying again.

  She buried her face against his chest. “I swear to god, Beck. Anything bad happens to you, I’m killin’ someone. I swear I will.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. I’ve got everything to live for.”

  He rolled on top of her, smiling down at her. “I guess this means we can really get crazy in bed now, huh?”

  She giggled. “So much for me thinking I was gonna lose me some weight.”

  Now he scowled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Why did you want to lose weight?”

  At first, she thought he was fucking with her. “Seriously, Beck?”

  “Yeah, babe. Why?”

  “Because I think I left voluptuous in the rearview mirror about twenty pounds ago, that’s why. I told you I wanted to lose some weight.”

  “I am being serious. I fell in love with you for who you are. I want you to be healthy. You haven’t had any trouble keeping up with me.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I think you’re beautiful. I’d think you’re beautiful if you were thinner or heavier. If you want to lose weight, I’ll support you, but only if you’re doing it because it’s what you want to do.”

  “Is this where we have our Hallmark moment? Because, I gotta be honest with you, I’m not sure I buy it.”

  “You don’t believe that I love you?”

  “Oh, I believe that. But don’t most men want their women not quite so thick?”

  He sat up. “Too many men are idiots. And I’m a wolf. My heart and soul fell for you. I think you’re beautiful, because you’re you.”

  She knew she shouldn’t say it, but it came out anyway. “Dewi was thin.”

  Okay, she had to say it one more time, even if it made her a teensy bit petty.

  He sat back on his heels. “Don’t you believe me?” he quietly said.

  “I guess I need to cover the ground one final time.”

  “I thought you loved Dewi?”

  “I do. That’s why I want this out of my system now.”

  She wanted to take the words back when she realized how sad he looked over them.

  “Was I in love with Dewi?” he quietly said. “Yes. I’ve never lied to you about that. But, I also knew she wasn’t in love with me like that. I knew we weren’t mates. We sort of fell together because we knew each other, and we worked together, and it was…easy. On both of us.

  “But I also knew we weren’t going to be together for the rest of our lives like you and I will.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart, pressing his against hers. Beneath her palm, she felt his heartbeat. “It’s like all my life, I had an arrhythmia. And I didn’t even know it. I didn’t know how bad it made me feel, or what it was doing to me. I didn’t know any different. I didn’t bother looking for anything different.

  “And then I met you. It was like a shock to my system. Like my heart finally started beating the way it should beat. I only saw it when I looked back. Dewi and I had fun, yes. I’m not going to lie to you. Then she met Ken. The funny thing is, some guys would be pissed off about how she literally brought him home, and that was it between me and her. I couldn’t be mad, though, because I got it. He was her mate. I had no claims on her heart as anything more than friends and family. I wasn’t even jealous, not really. I envied him, sure, but I envied Dewi just as much.

  “Then I met you. Like when I kissed you, remember how you still felt it later? It did that to me times a thousand, babe. Because I knew what it meant. It meant you were my mate, and you have no idea how crazy it drove me trying to find you. I thought Dewi and Ken and Badger were going to kill me. I needed you. I needed to find you and claim you.”

  He leaned in again, his forehead against hers. “Babe, you’re my heart and soul. My love for Dewi now isn’t romantic. The thought of being with her now that you’re in my life—of being with anyone besides you—it’s just wrong. I couldn’t be with anyone but you.”

  “And you’re really okay with this?” she asked.

  His gentle sigh brushed over her lips, through her soul. “I don’t have the vocabulary to express how okay I am with this. You took perfection and made it more perfect for me. You’re my mate. I swore when I met my mate that I would never force her to be with me.

  “That’s why I was so upset I had to claim you so quickly. If it’d been up to me, I would have wooed you until you agreed to go off with me for a weekend somewhere romantic, just the two of us, and a hotel room, and beautiful sunsets. I wanted to make sure you fell in love with me because you felt i
t, too. I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you.”

  She sniffled back tears. “You did pretty good. Maybe we could take some time off and go away on a honeymoon somewhere. Somewhere not Idaho. No offense, it was beautiful, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, but that was not a relaxing trip.”

  He laughed. “I was thinking Hawaii. Or Seattle, somewhere near the ocean there. Where would you want to go?”

  Nami playfully tousled his blond hair. “Niagara Falls? Isn’t that where honeymooners go?”

  “Don’t tease me—I’ll book tickets right now.”

  “I don’t know. Let me think about it. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. And I don’t want to be traveling with morning sickness.”

  “How about a week in the Keys? We can rent a house, drive down, and I’ll make you virgin margaritas every night with dinner.”

  The tears came again, unbidden. “I’m so scared I’m going to disappoint you.”

  He rolled them to their sides and tucked her into his arms, all while raining kisses across her cheeks, her forehead, her lips. His voice sounded deep, choked.

  “You could never disappoint me, Nami. You’re beautiful and perfect and so much better than I could have ever imagined.”

  Somehow, seemingly without even trying, he got them both naked and started trailing kisses all over her flesh, exploring every inch of her body with all the devotion of a recent convert to a euphoric god.

  “Only one thing I will regret, just a little,” he said, and she could tell from the playful edge to his tone that he was teasing.

  “What’s that?”

  He cupped her breasts in his hands and kissed her nipples, back and forth, lightly sucking and teasing, a gentle scrape of teeth, every touch lighting fires within her. “That I’ll have to share these with someone else. At least for a while.” He rubbed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples.

  When he looked up, his dirty smile and the sparkle that had returned to his blue eyes made her squirm with need. “I suppose I can console myself in other ways,” he added.

  * * * *

  “Like what?” Her breathy tone told him how close she already was to the edge.

  He buried his face between her breasts, licking a path up to her chin, over it, kissing her before sitting up and shoving her thighs apart.

  “Like this.” He bent his head to her pussy and licked her there, along her clit. A rumbling growl of approval rolled from him as he tasted her sweet juices.

  His mate.

  He could remember times with Dewi, sure, but they now held all the vibrance of an old, fuzzy, black and white photo.

  Nami was the present, in bright Technicolor, filling every corner of his soul so that no shadows remained.

  Savoring her and this, he settled in and held on, not letting her push him away even after the third orgasm left her shivering against his mouth and in his arms.

  He wanted more, to show her how he felt.

  To leave her without any doubt.

  All the while, he opened himself to her through their mate bond, whispered his love, sang sweet and tender ballads, growled all the dirty things he wanted to do to her. Every bit of it. Nami was maiden and matron and motherfucking hard-core miracle, every thought and feeling inside him was flavored by his love for her.

  She grabbed his hair. “Please!”

  Sitting up, he slid his cock inside her, just like that, his lips slanted over hers as her fingers dug into the back of his head and she held on tight.

  “I’ll claim you every night, baby, if I need to, to show you how much you belong to me and only me. You’re MINE. And I belong to you and only you.”

  He tried to take his time, but she was hot and slick perfection, her body milking his climax from him as he fucked her, and he couldn’t stop thinking about his baby now growing inside her—

  Sweet, blissful pleasure, piercingly strong, slammed into the base of his spine. From the cry she let out, and the way her body clenched around him, he knew she’d made it, too.

  “Mine. Mine. MINE.”

  He couldn’t stop saying it to her even as he kissed her, sucked on her tongue, shared the very air she breathed.

  She was crying again, and so was he. He knew why. Because he’d shown her his most secret dream now coming true, the two of them holding a baby, their baby, and he never wanted this moment to end.

  He cupped the back of her head and stared down into her gorgeous brown eyes. “And I’m all yours, baby. Always.”

  “I love you so much.”

  He smiled. “I hope you’re still saying that in nine months.”

  She tearfully laughed. “Reggie thought Lu’ana was gonna kill him before the epidural kicked in.”

  He grinned. “That’s okay, baby. I won’t hold anything against you except me and our baby.”

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, Malyah had already left for work while Dewi, Ken, Badger, Duncan, and Joaquin were having breakfast. Martin arrived shortly after Malyah’s departure, and joined them at the kitchen table.

  “What time are they going to be here?” Dewi asked Badger.

  He didn’t need clarification. “Trevor said their plane will arrive around two. Clearin’ Customs and the like, probably by four, at the latest.”

  “Do we know who’s coming with him? Is it his wife?”

  “That I do not know,” Badger admitted.

  Joaquin held up a finger. “I’m supposed to meet with Malyah, Nami, and a realtor to look at houses after Malyah gets off work. Nami already texted her about it. I think Beck’s coming, too.”

  Dewi nodded. “That’s fine. We can handle this, I’m sure. Whatever it is.”

  Last night, Dewi had told Beck to take today off. They didn’t have anything so pressing right now that he needed to be there. They had Martin and Duncan, in case anything cropped up. She could send the two of them out together.

  Although Duncan wasn’t driving solo yet. It wasn’t that he couldn’t drive, but it had been nearly fifty years. He wanted to settle in a little more first, get used to the roads in the area as a passenger, as well as get used to all the new tech their vehicles possessed. Dewi was leaving it up to him to ask for lessons when he was ready. Then they’d go car shopping for him. Probably a large truck she’d feel he was safe driving around in.

  Yes, she’d admit she was worried about him. She just got him back, and the last time he’d been behind the wheel hadn’t ended so well.

  Although, to be fair, Duncan had deliberately crashed that time. So, technically, it was an on-purpose, not an accident.

  Dewi opted not to wait until after breakfast to start their day, since they were all present. “Anything new on the Segura hunt?” she asked Joaquin.

  “No. I received an email late last night from Ramirez. Alvarez has been looking into it on their end, since he’s new to the area and less likely to be recognized. No one’s seen Manuel Segura. However, there has been an interesting development he’s looking into.”

  “And?”

  “Manuel Segura’s private jet was seen at a private airstrip outside Tehuacán, which is southeast of Mexico City.”

  “Assume I know nothing about the geography of Mexico,” Dewi said. “Because I don’t, except that the one peninsula is called Baja California, the Pacific is to the west, and the Gulf of Mexico is to the east. I also don’t understand why this is noteworthy, so please fill in the gaps.”

  Joaquin chuckled. “God, I missed this, being stuck down there.”

  “Lucky for you, I’m not going to send you back. Continue, please.”

  He sat back in his chair. “Manuel Segura lives in and has his operation based out of Oaxaca. That’s even farther south of Mexico City. Tehuacán is not a normal stop for him. I would expect him maybe to stop in Mexico City, because he does have some business ties there, or perhaps Mérida, because one of his daughters lives there.”

  “Faster. You’re losing me.”

  “Tehuacán is a sma
ll city he has no discernible ties to. Plus, his pilot is now missing. No one knows where the pilot is. No one’s seen him. They landed in the middle of the night, and that was that. The pilot’s wife hasn’t seen him since Segura and his men presumably left for what was the trip to Idaho, shortly before we encountered them. The pilot and his wife also live in Oaxaca.

  “However, Manuel Segura does have an uncle, Abundio, who is still alive, and who lives only a couple hours away from Tehuacán, to the east, in Tlilapan. He’s supposedly legit, made a fortune in mining and logging, when the rest of the man’s siblings, including Manuel and Raul Segura’s father, Berto, followed in their father’s footsteps with the cartel. Abundio’s father originally started the cartel. Back then it was bootlegging and drugs.”

  She sat back in her chair. “How old is the guy?”

  “Eighties. Father’s brother. Last remaining sibling of that generation.”

  “We have anyone who can check it out?”

  Joaquin nodded. “Alvarez already did. Guy lives in a fortified compound. We’d need a team of us to storm it, and even then we might take heavy losses. Looks like former military for security.”

  “Kind of funny thing for a guy in a legal business to have, isn’t it?”

  “Not down there in that region. Kidnappings and ransom are a way of life.”

  “Ah. Okay. Do we have anyone we can use to keep an eye on the place to watch for Segura?”

  “We have Alvarez, and he’s going to need someone to help Ramirez cover the rest of the territory while he’s doing it.”

  “Do we have any pack in the area?”

  He shook his head. “I evacuated the last family out of that region two years ago. Got them placed with cousins in Tennessee.”

  “Poor bastards,” Dewi muttered.

  Joaquin smiled. “It’s not so bad where they’re at. They’re near Nashville. Their family runs a chain of barbecue restaurants.”

  She smacked herself in the forehead. “Duh. Perez. No, wait. Lopez. Carmen and…Leo?”