Unbound (Shifter Night Book 2)

by Charlene Hartnady

  Ash grit his teeth. Who could blame a male? She was sexy as hell. Tighter than anything he'd ever felt before. More receptive than most. That was it. It wasn’t like he’d invested any feelings in her. That bite had meant fuck all. Full fucking stop! He’d given it some thought, and it wasn’t anything like Winston had suggested. Nothing like that. He just wanted to fuck the female. Just one more time. That was all.

  “Hey, hello.” The female waved a hand in front of his face. “Are you even listening to me?”

  “Sorry, what did you say?” His voice sounded distant. Shit! He was fucking this up badly.

  She parted her full lips and cocked her lush as fuck hip. Her tits practically spilled out of her dress. In short, there was nothing wrong with this female. Far from it. His cock didn't seem to agree though. Which was one hell of a problem. "My name is Jennifer, but you can call me Jenny. I’m starting to get a little self-conscious here." She licked her lips.

  He frowned. “Why would a female like you get self-conscious?” She was sexy. Not as sexy as … He needed to stop this!

  “That’s the third time you’ve asked me my name in the last five minutes.” She made a face.

  He put his arm around her and pulled her close. Ash needed to forget about Alice. His cock didn’t know what was good for it. This female. What was her name? Um … Jenny … yeah, Jenny. That was it. She was good for him. Good for both him and his cock even if the little asshole didn’t agree. “I’m just so taken with you, I can’t think straight.” What a pussy thing to say. Taken with her! He felt like laughing at himself but since that wouldn’t go down well with Whatsername, he held it in.

  She laughed, throwing her head back. Could clearly see that he was full of shit, which he was. “That’s good to know, sugar. What do you say we get out of here?” She pressed herself against him and all he felt was the need to pull away.

  Maybe it was that. Her eagerness. Or over-eagerness. Human females fell over themselves. Alice had never been like that. It was one of the things he liked about her.

  “Hello.” She waved a hand in front of his face again. “What do you say? Are you game?”

  “I’m sorry.” He really was a class-A pussy. Ash shook his head. “I need to go now.”

  “What?” Her eyes turned stormy. “What about being taken with me? What about …?”

  “I’m sorry,” Ash mumbled again. He didn’t wait to hear anything else she had to say. Her voice grew stronger and shriller as he walked away. All he could say was, good thing he had made that decision. Best one of the day so far. Coming here was a mistake.

  His eyes were firmly on the exit. Ash wasn’t in the right frame of mind for all of this, he was going home. To bed. The best thing to do would be to give Shifter Night a skip for a couple of months. With everything going on back home, the extra security was a must anyway, so—

  Jag grabbed his arm. “I have something for you.” The male reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a note. “Here you go.” Then he turned back around, the conversation clearly over. Jag was surrounded by a bevy of females. He was young and loving Shifter Night. Ash rolled his eyes.

  It was probably the telephone number of some or other female. They would do anything to get the attention of a male. Stoop to any low. That, or it was a message from one of his packmates. In which case, it could wait until morning. He suddenly felt exhausted, sick of all of this. Ash left, pushing the note into his pocket as he did.

  12

  The next morning …

  Ash pushed the crumpled piece of paper back into his pocket. His heart was beating fast. His mouth twitched with the need to smile. He wouldn’t allow himself to do it though. This was a problem. A big problem. Alice had reached out to him, and he was glad. He shouldn’t be there though, should just turn and walk away. Especially since he didn’t want to and even more especially on account of how happy he was that she’d sent him the stupid note.

  Shit!

  This would have to be the very last time. She had said it was urgent. His cock throbbed. Yup, it was urgent for him too. One more time and they were done. Alice was becoming somewhat of an addiction ‒ sexually of course ‒ and it had to stop. It was no good for either of them since it couldn’t go anywhere.

  Ash knocked on her door. Within a half a minute he heard the lock turn. Ash realized how desperate he was to see her. To touch and hold her. To kiss her. It couldn’t be helped, as the door swung open, a grin appeared on his face.

  By Claw! What a female. Her legs looked long considering they were on such a tiny female. Her hips were flared. Her breasts were large … very fucking lush. Even hidden behind the thick coat. He groaned low in his throat and reached for her.

  Alice sidestepped him. It was then that he realized how her eyes were blazing. Her mouth was set. Her shoulders stiff. Her whole stance was rigid. What? He felt himself frown. “Are you okay?”

  She turned and walked back into the apartment, her sweet scent hit him deep in the snout. So delicious it had his mouth watering. It was even better than he remembered. Two months was a long time, and he was fucked if his dick didn’t harden up a whole lot more despite Alice being pissed with him. Maybe because of it. They did like to play this little cat and mouse game. He loved the hell out of it.

  Once he caught sight of her in the living room, he felt his frown quickly return. Her eyes weren’t just blazing with anger. There was hurt in them too. What had he done? He’d left her happy, hadn’t he?

  He hadn’t texted her like he said he would, but he had ultimately been nothing but straight with her. Fuck! His gut was trying to tell him something. What though? “Are you okay?” he asked again.

  She walked towards the other side of the living room facing away from him. She seemed to be composing herself. Then she turned. Her eyes were on him, they still blazed. Alice folded her arms and huffed out a breath. “You said it would be okay. You promised me.”

  What the fuck! Ash had been extra careful not to make any promises. Truth be told, he shouldn’t have spent so much time with one female, but he couldn’t help himself. Look at her. Just look. So beautiful it took his breath away sometimes. Another pussy thing to say. If it wasn’t for how hurt she looked, he would leave right now. Moreover, this behavior wasn’t like Alice. Something was up. Something was wrong. His skin prickled. His nose twitched. It was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He didn’t like it.

  She played with the quick of one of her nails, and her lip wobbled. It fucking wobbled. A rush of adrenaline hit him. The need to get the fuck out of there rose up, but he quelled it. He needed to figure this out, and then he needed to leave. “I didn’t … I would never. The only promise I ever made was to give you plenty of orgasms.”

  She grit her teeth and gave a small shake of the head. If he didn’t know better, he would say that she was counting. To ten maybe? Why was she so angry? “You did make me a promise, Ash. A fundamental promise and you lied.” She sounded pissed. Alice wiped her face and blinked a couple of times. Her eyes filled with more tears. He could scent her anger. Peppery. There was something else there too.

  What the hell was going on? Everything in him told him to go to her, to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay and then to make it so, come hell or high water, but Ash stopped himself. That wasn’t how this was going to go down.

  “I would never lie to you.” It was true.

  “I’m pregnant,” she blurted.

  Oh fuck!

  Holy shit!

  He felt his eyes widen. Felt the room close in.

  Yes. Yes, she was.

  Now that he knew, it was glaringly obvious. The change to her scent. It was more enticing. Even now his cock throbbed. Her breasts were larger, even lusher. It was hard to tell because she still wore the thick coat, but the more he thought about it, the more certain he was. Her cheeks were flushed … glowing was the right word. There was even a slight bulge under the coat. Did she have an ever so slightly curved bel
ly? Maybe.

  Then the meaning of what she was saying set in and his hackles went up. His teeth sharpened. “Fuck,” he snarled, sounding more animal than human. His blood turned to ice in his veins. They had sex without a condom. No way it was his though! No damned way! She hadn’t scented of her heat. It couldn’t be his. He refused to even contemplate such a thing. “Who is the male?” Deep and menacing. The need to kill took hold of him.

  She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  Ash took a step towards her. “Who did you fuck?” Shit! He needed to get a grip. His eyes were probably glowing. His shirt pulled tight as his muscles bulged. If he wasn’t careful he was going to shift. He struggled to breathe. Yeah, that was it. She had fucked someone else. As much as the thought angered him, it was the best explanation. The only explanation.

  “You are such an asshole. I’m sorry I sent you that note. I’m not the one screwing anything with two legs. That’s you. All you.” She looked at him like he was a piece of shit on her shoe and tried to push past him. Ash blocked her path. Her eyes widened with even more anger. “Don’t you dare try to bring me down to your level.” Even though her eyes were filled with tears, she made a snorting noise. “Then again, I can believe you would think the worst of me.”

  “Who is he?” Ash forced himself to breathe deeply. Calm the fuck down! “Fine.” He moved to the side. “You don’t have to tell me, it’s none of my business.” It hurt though. No, it didn’t. What was he saying? Fuck! It felt like she had betrayed him. Then again, they didn't owe each other a damned thing. They had been fucking. No more and no less. What was he saying? He definitely didn't give a shit who she was fucking. He was done anyway. It was the emotions talking. If she thought for one-second that she could pin this on him, she had another thing coming. His chest squeezed so tight that he struggled to breathe.

  Alice threw him a dirty look as she moved past him. “You know what … you can go to hell!” she yelled. She opened the door and held onto it. “I would like it if you left now. I don’t need you. It was a mistake to involve you in the first place.”

  Ash wanted nothing more than to put her to his back and to never see her again. "You're welcome to come to me for a booty call if the father isn't going to be in the picture." For whatever reason, he felt the need to hurt her back.

  Alice turned to glare at him. Her eyes were filling with more tears by the second. He forced himself to ignore them. To harden himself to her. “For your information,” her voice was soft, “not that you care …” She paused, he could see that she was working to keep herself under control. “It’s yours.”

  What?

  What was she on about?

  Oh! Fuck!

  So she was trying to pin it on him. Of course she was. That’s what this whole thing was about.

  Alice narrowed her eyes. “You lied when you said that I wasn’t in heat. You lied when you told me it was all fine.”

  Ash stepped through the threshold and turned. “I didn’t lie. You weren’t anywhere near your heat.” He swallowed thickly. Adrenaline coursed. His blood rushed. His chest ached. “I don’t believe this whole little ploy, but tell me one thing, why didn’t you take that pill?” He shook his head. “The one that would stop this from happening.”

  “I did take the damned pill.”

  “Well then. The kid isn’t mine. I can’t believe anything else. I won’t.” The alternative was too horrific to contemplate. It was his worst fucking nightmare all over again.

  Ash took a step forward, but the door closed in his face. The baby. The. Baby. His. No fucking way! No. It was just a ploy. It couldn’t be true. Could it?

  He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to knock on the door and demand answers. No. No damned way. It was Alice who was lying. There had been no sign of her heat the last time they were together. He’d accidentally rutted her without protection, and she'd gone out and gotten herself knocked up just to get her claws into him. There was no way she could pin this on him. Ash ignored the nagging voice inside him. The voice of reason that pointed out that Alice wasn't like that. He ignored the hell out of that voice.

  He may have come inside her by accident, but there was just no way … Was there? No! He raked a hand through his hair, trying to calm the fuck down and failing dismally.

  13

  Alice’s eyes were puffy. She’d cried all day the day before, so it was understandable. She couldn't believe Ash’s reaction. She’d expected disbelief and for him to be upset. It was a huge thing to take in, but what she hadn’t expected was the accusation and outright denial.

  They’d had sex without protection. Was it so far-fetched that she was pregnant? Her eyes pricked with more tears. It was the hormones. She went from vibrating with anger to feeling unbelievably sad. Then she would get angry all over again, and afraid. Who could blame her? She was alone. A tear escaped down her cheek. Alice swallowed hard. Wallowing in self-pity wasn’t going to help. She sniffed and reached for one of the magazines on the coffee table. A lady sitting across from her gave her a smile. It was filled with concern and pity. Yup, single mom over here. That and unwanted pregnancy. It was written all over her. She smiled back. The lady was only trying to be kind.

  Her phone beeped again. She fished the thing out of her purse. It was Meredith. Her friend had been so supportive. She was just checking to see if Alice was okay. She’d wanted to come with her today, but Alice needed to do this on her own two feet. It was her and the baby. Just the two of them and best she get used to it. The sooner, the better.

  She was just texting her back when the receptionist called her name. “The doctor will see you now.” She was a sweet lady who looked to be in her mid-thirties.

  Alice stood up. “Thank you.” She walked through the open door and down the hallway to the only door that was open. Alice peered around the jamb.

  A very young-looking woman, dressed in a white lab coat looked up from her notes, pen poised. “Morning." She put the pen down. “I’m Dr. Evans.”

  “Good morning.” Alice walked in, closing the door behind her.

  “Take a seat.” Dr. Evans gestured to one of the two chairs on the other side of her desk. She opened the file to the left of her. “Alice Hargreaves?” She raised her brows, looking Alice in the eyes.

  “Yes, that would be me.”

  “Is this your first appointment with an obstetrician? Since finding out you were pregnant?”

  “Yes, that’s correct,” Alice noted.

  “Are we still waiting … for someone?” The doctor looked at the empty chair pointedly.

  Alice felt her cheeks heat. She shook her head. “No, it’s just me.”

  “I understand.” Dr. Evans nodded once.

  Alice seriously doubted that she did, unless of course she too was knocked up and all alone. Enough with the pity party, Alice!

  “Shall we begin?” Dr. Evans asked. Without waiting for a reply, she went on. “There is a changing room through there; you will find a blue gown hanging on a hook behind the door. Please remove all of your clothing and put it on.”

  Alice nodded once. She stood up, the chair screeched loudly on the tiled floor. She walked into the small changing room and there it was, the blue gown. She quickly undressed and put on the garment and went back into the office.

  Dr. Evans was waiting for her, file in hand. “First, we need to weigh you.”

  Alice stepped onto the scale and waited while the doctor made a note of her weight. Next, Dr. Evans gestured to the gurney style bed on the far side of the room. “Please lie down and relax. We are going to do an internal scan to find out what’s going on inside you. How far along do you think you are?”

  “Two months,” Alice replied without hesitation. Despite all the awful things that Ash had said to her, he was the only person she had had sex with since Terrance. That was two years ago, two whole years. Her eyes pricked, just thinking of the things that Ash had said. How he accused her of sleeping with someone else. Just because he was a
whore, did not mean that she was.

  Bastard!

  “You look nervous. Don’t be. I’m going to be performing a transvaginal ultrasound today.” She pulled on some gloves. Then she picked up a device that looked like a long, thick stick and rolled a condom over its length.

  Oh god! That thing was going to be going inside of her.

  “I will need to insert the ultrasound wand into your vagina. At around eight weeks, you’re not that far along, so by doing an internal ultrasound, we’ll get a much more comprehensive picture.” She applied gel to the head of the wand. “Ready?”

  Alice nodded. Her eyes felt wide in her head. She still couldn’t quite believe that she was here and that this was happening.

  “Right then. I need you to open your legs a little.”

  Alice snorted out a laugh. “That's what got me into this mess in the first place.” Then she squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. That was a terrible thing to say.” She covered her face with her hand and worked hard not to cry. Why had she allowed Ash to get to her like this? The things he had said hurt her so badly. Finally, she’d started to feel something for someone again, and he turned out to be an asshole. Whether she cared to admit it or not, she had felt something for Ash, or he wouldn’t have been able to hurt her like he had.

  Someone squeezed her hand. It was Dr. Evans. She smiled. “You’re going to be just fine. You know that don’t you?”

  Alice sucked in a deep breath. “I know.” She nodded once and opened her legs. “I’m ready to meet my baby.” There was a determined edge to her voice.

  Dr. Evans’ smile widened. “Good. You’re going to feel some pressure as I insert the wand. Try to stay completely relaxed. Let me know if it hurts at all.”

  Alice nodded. At this stage, her eyes were glued to the black screen. The wand was a little cold and certainly a bit uncomfortable.