Unfortunately, before the group could even make it out of the kitchen, alarms in the house started blaring so loud that Talia almost leaped into Ken’s large arms. She wondered how she had slept through them the first time.
“Get to the safe room,” Ken shouted over the noise.
Talia was surprised to see the fierce look on his face and turned to see the same on Ryan. They were both in warrior mode and the danger they were in finally sunk in. She was instantly worried for the two of them and barely resisted the urge to beg them to come with her to the safe room. Instead, not wanting them to have any distractions, she obeyed Ken’s command. She bent down to where Nico was struggling to pick Tiny up and lifted the cat in her arms. He was heavy, but she was used to the weight and managed him easily. Holding out her hand, she waited until Nico gripped it and headed down the hall toward the basement door. She gave her men one last look before heading down the stairs toward the safe room.
With each step she could feel her heart breaking. This was the moment she had always hated with Xander. The moment she had to turn away as he walked out the door to head out on a mission. She hated knowing that it could possibly be her last chance to see him alive and her worst fear had come true. Now, she was going through it all over again, but this time she had two men who had the potential to rip her heart into shreds.
“It’s going to be okay. They know what they’re doing.”
Tessa’s words did nothing to calm Talia as she followed her and Jacqueline to the safe room. Talia only spared a glance at the room as she cuddled Tiny to her chest and sat in one of the chairs. She eyed the bed with longing before turning away. She knew sleeping her life away was no longer an option, but it was a very tempting thought. Instead, Talia focused on the two pregnant women locked in the room with her. They shared a couch and sat quietly while Nico went over to a corner and began playing with toys. Talia could tell that Tessa and Jacqueline were both worried, but neither looked to be on the verge of a panic attack like she was.
“How can you do it?” she asked. “How can you be so calm while your mates are out there in danger?”
Tessa let out a sigh. “I’m freaking out on the inside, but I know that Mitch is willing to do anything to protect his family. That makes him one of the strongest men I know. Seeing his lion in action with my own two eyes went a long way in calming my fears, though.”
“I helped kidnap my mate and kept him drugged until we finally got a chance to escape my father.” Jacqueline paused before continuing. “I thought Ben would hate me when he found out that I not only created the serum my father injected in him, to turn shifters rouge, but engineered the drug so that it eventually killed the rogue. Instead, he didn’t blame me, and did everything possible to track me down when my father kidnapped me.”
Talia sat stunned. She had so many questions floating in her head that she couldn’t even begin to figure out which one to ask first. What had these women gone through and how had they made it out with their sanity intact?
Jacqueline laughed. “You should see the look on your face right now. It’s not all as bad as it sounds.” She paused. “Well, some of it is. Get comfortable because we may be here a while and we’ll tell you all about it.”
Talia took Jacqueline’s advice and curled up in the chair as she listened to the women explain how they met their mates. She felt bad for Jacqueline. The woman was betrayed by the man she had grown up thinking was her father and now he was after her because she’d ruined his plans. Yet, after everything she had been through, Jacqueline had found happiness. She was able to laugh and not let what happened to her cripple her. So had Tessa. Talia knew her situation was a lot different than the other two women’s, but they had given her hope that she, too, could one day move on with her life and be happy again.
When there was a knock at the door, Talia jumped. She started to panic until Tessa grinned before waddling to the door. Looking at the clock, she realized an hour had passed since they had locked themselves in. She turned, wide eyed, only to find Jacqueline smiling at her.
“I think my work here is done.”
Talia nodded. “Thank you,” was all she could get past the lump in her throat. It seemed Jacqueline had done a wonderful job of distracting her while they waited.
When she had met Xander, he had become her world. She didn’t know if it was because they were newly mated, or because she had been shy all her life, but she had been happy to spend all her time with Xander. What she knew of the shifter world had been only what he had told her. She had been content with that little bit of knowledge as long as she had him by her side, but now Talia wondered what it would have been like to have friends like Jacqueline and Tessa on her side when she had first lost her mate. Maybe she wouldn’t have wasted the last three years of her life drowning in misery.
Ken and Ryan appeared in the door at the same time and all of the tension in her body instantly fled at the sight of them. Just knowing they were safe brought tears to her eyes and made her realize she wanted them. She wanted the connection of having a mate again. Talia was terrified of losing them, but she made up her mind right then that it was time for her to start living again. It wasn’t fair to deny them the connection of having a mate and Talia made a vow to be more open with them. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but all she could do was try.
“Are you okay?”
Instead of answering Ryan’s question, she wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed when he did the same and pulled her closer. “I should be asking you that question. What happened? Is everyone okay?”
Ryan shook his head as he passed her over to Ken and Talia happily went. She felt safe wrapped in his large arms.
“It was another false alarm,” Ken answered as he carried her out of the safe room. “Something tripped the alarm, but there was no one out there.”
Talia had a feeling there was more they weren’t telling her, but she kept quiet when she realized Ken was carrying her to his bedroom with Ryan following closely behind them. She wasn’t complaining because they had a lot to talk about and she preferred they did it in private.
“Put me down, big guy.” Talia patted Ken’s chest and stepped away when he sat her on the floor. “There’s something I need to tell you.” She held her hand up when it looked like Ryan was about to say something. “Please, this is hard for me, so let me get it out without you interrupting.”
Talia motioned for both men to sit before clenching her hands together in front of her to hide the fact that they were trembling. She was scared, but determined at the same time, so she took a deep breath and made herself continue. “I did a lot of thinking while I waited in that room, and I realized that it wasn’t fair of me to deny you guys. I know what it’s like to lose a mate and I wouldn’t wish that misery on anyone, but that’s exactly what I was doing to you. I’m drawn to you the exact same way I was draw to Xander and I can feel the bond between us growing with each passing moment, but it’s no secret that I’m scared to death. I want to start living again, hopefully, with your help.”
“Oh, thank God.” Ryan snagged Talia’s hand and tugged until she was sitting on the bed between them. “I was sure you were going to tell us that you couldn’t handle this and were walking away from us.”
Talia let out a small laugh, but it was humorless. “Believe me, as messed up as I am, me walking away is probably what’s best for everyone, but I couldn’t if I tried. Just seeing you and Ken walking away and heading into danger was enough for me to admit that I had been given a second chance at life and I was throwing it away.”
“Trust me. We weren’t going to let that happen.” Ken placed his warm palm on her thigh. “If you had walked out that door, we would have tracked you down and brought you right back.”
This time when Talia threw her head back and laughed, it was full of humor. Ken’s comment was typical male shifter behavior and she didn’t doubt he was telling the truth. She couldn’t remember the last time she had even smiled, let alone laugh, but Ken
had managed the impossible with one pigheaded macho comment.
Talia stood then placed a kiss on each of her mate’s cheeks. “We’ll take this one day at a time. In the meantime, I have an ultrasound promise to keep.” Even though she was willing to try with her mates, the emotional overload was too much. Giving Tessa an ultrasound sounded like the perfect thing to take her mind off everything at least for a little while.
Heading out of the room before Ryan and Ken could say anything, Talia was lucky enough to bump into Tessa coming out of her bedroom as well. “Hey, you ready for that checkup?” Tessa answered with a huge grin and followed Talia to the exam room they had set up. She helped Tessa up on the table. “Just lie back and lift your shirt up above your belly and push your pants down a little.”
Talia turned on the machine then grabbed a bottle of gel. While she got everything ready, she questioned Tessa about the pregnancy. “So, you haven’t had any kind of prenatal care before today?”
“No, it’s too dangerous to go out. I can’t tell you when the last time I even left the house was. Not that I’m complaining. Mitch makes sure that I have everything I need.”
Talia had no doubt about that. The difference between human and shifter men was that shifters went out of their way to care for their mates. It was in their DNA to look after them and to provide whatever they needed. She was sure there were human men out there with the same qualities, but not to the same extent.
“Have you had any pain or felt anything strange?” When Tessa shook her head no, Talia gently pressed on her belly and giggled when she felt an answering kick. “I see someone’s active, that’s a good sign.”
“If this baby tap-dancing on my ribs at all hours of the day is a good sign, then I’m doing excellent.”
“That’s to be expected. You’re almost due. That means the baby is going to only get more active the closer you get to delivering. In the meantime, I know you said you weren’t feeling any abdominal pain, but I would still like to examine you to make sure you aren’t already dilating. With this being your second pregnancy and you not having any prenatal care, we don’t want to be caught off guard.”
With Tessa’s permission, Talia pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and helped Tessa remove her pants and panties. She examined the woman and found her to be only two centimeters, but no sign she was in labor. She had a feeling Tessa would be delivering any day, though.
Once that was done, Talia draped a sheet across Tessa’s lap to give her some privacy. “Now for the fun part,” she stated. “Before I start, I have to ask if you want to know the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”
“I think Mitch will go crazy if he has to wait one more second to find out. I’m just eager to see if I’m giving birth to a lion or human.”
Talia smiled. “Well then, let’s get him in here and find out.”
The door opened and when Mitch walked in, Talia had a feeling he had been standing right outside the door the entire time. Tessa’s grin confirmed she knew as well.
“This will be a little cold,” Talia told Tessa when she squirted the gel on her stomach. She rubbed the wand over her belly until she heard the steady thump of a tiny heartbeat. Pointing to the screen, Talia turned to Tessa and Mitch. “See that? That’s your baby’s heart. It’s beating steady and strong.” She glided the wand around until she found what she was looking for. “You’ll be happy to know that your daughter has ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes.” She smiled down at Tessa, who was grinning despite the tears streaming down her face. “No sign of fur in sight.”
Talia turned the machine off and handed Mitch a wad of paper towels so he could help clean his mate up before heading out of the room to give the couple privacy. She leaned back against the door once it shut behind her and grinned. She had loved her job before Xander died, but hadn’t realized how much she missed it until she saw the joy written on Tessa’s and Mitch’s faces. It seemed there were a lot of things she had neglected about her life. Shaking her head, Talia headed off to search for her mates. She no longer regretted her decision to come there because it made her realize that she was done letting her life waste away.
Chapter 7
Percival put his binoculars down and sat back, laughing at Mitch and Ken’s latest attempt at finding the intruder. His plan seemed to be going just fine. Other than the fact that the enforcers had changed their routine when they responded to the alarm, everything else had gone according to plan. Percival didn’t care how they responded, just as long as they did. By the time he made his final move, the men would be too tired to even put up the smallest fight and he would have his revenge.
Moving away before the enforcers discovered his hiding place, Percival headed to his safe house. He still had some strategizing to do because he wanted his plan for revenge to be perfect. At this point, he had all the time in the world to make sure the enforcers and their families suffered. By the time he was done with them, stories would be told about their deaths. People were going to be too scared to speak his name for fear that he would come for them as well. Percival grinned as he strolled away. He didn’t mind becoming the boogey man one bit.
* * * *
Ryan rolled over and groaned when the security alarm went off for about the twentieth time in the past two days. With the constant up and down of having to be alert only to be let down from the false alarm, he didn’t think he had ever been so tired in his life. To make matters worse, for the past two nights, Talia had been sleeping between him and Ken. Ryan wasn’t complaining. As a matter of fact, he was thrilled their relationship had progressed to that point, but besides kissing, that was as far as it went. Sleeping beside her, but not touching her, was pure torture. The growl coming from the other side of the bed told Ryan that Ken was feeling the same way. He wasn’t sure if it was the frustration of the alarms or not being able to do what they really wanted to do with Talia. Either way, he and Ken were in the same boat. To make matters worse, Ryan hadn’t been able to touch Ken for the past two nights either.
With everything going on, they hadn’t talked to Talia about the relationship between him and Ken. Judging from how she had gotten so turned on the morning she had watched them from the bathroom, Ryan didn’t think she had a problem with two males being together. It was his and Ken’s decision to take things slow so that they wouldn’t make Talia uncomfortable. Ryan thumped his hard cock to try and get it to go down. Now, he was really regretting that decision. Add in the sexual frustration on top of everything else that was going on and he was ready to kill Percival with his bare hands if he ever found the little weasel.
“You take the rifle this time,” Ken told Ryan as he headed for the door, stripping as he went. “You’re a lot better with that thing anyway. I feel a lot better on the ground.”
That was fine with him. Ryan nodded and slipped on pants. He could shift and run if that was where he was needed, but he preferred to be up high with his sniper rifle.
Talia was out of bed and standing by the door, and from the wide-eyed look on her face, Ryan could tell she was scared but trying to hide it. It was something they had seen each time the alarms had gone off and she had to watch him and Ken walk away. It killed Ryan to see that look on her face, but there was nothing he could do. He and Ken, along with Mitch and Ben, had no choice. They needed to be out there, protecting their family no matter what. It was their job. “You have nothing to be afraid of.” He and Ken made it to Talia at the same time and pulled her into a three-way hug. “Ken and I aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”
Talia sighed. “It’s not me I’m worried about. You have no idea how hard this is for me. Having to watch you walk out that door over and over again is torture. All I keep thinking about is ‘is this the last time that I’m going to see them?’”
Ryan closed his eyes and rested his forehead on Talia’s shoulder. He knew it wasn’t easy for her, but there was no way of him calming her fears. The only thing he could do was keep his promise to stay safe
so that he could come back to her. Ryan knew they were short on time, but he couldn’t make himself walk away without offering his mate some comfort. Placing kisses on her shoulder, Ryan made his way up her neck, nipping her lobe when Talia tilted her head to make room for him. He could hear the kiss between her and Ken and echoed her moan. This was how they were meant to be. The three of them touching, connected. They were complete when they were all three together and Ryan made up his mind. He wasn’t trying to rush Talia, but when he got back, he planned on making her theirs. He couldn’t wait any longer.
It’s about time. For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to show you how.
Ryan ignored his lion’s sarcastic comment. His lion hadn’t been pushing him to mate because of Talia’s situation, but he knew it was only a matter of time. His lion wanted its mate just as much as Ryan did.
When Ken came up for air, Ryan took his place at Talia’s lips. He ran his tongue across her swollen bottom lip before pulling it into his mouth and sucking. Letting it go with a pop, Ryan covered her mouth with his and slowly kissed her. He could smell the lust rising from Talia and wanted nothing more than to lay her down right there on the floor and take her all night long, but reality was calling, literally, in the form of Mitch shouting for them to hurry their asses up.
Ryan sighed and forced himself to step away from Talia. “We’ll finish this when we get back.” He didn’t have to promise because he was pretty sure Talia could see the silent promise written all over his face and knew exactly what he meant. He felt like he had won the lottery when Talia finally nodded her head.
Ryan was tempted to do a fist pump and jump up and down cheering. Instead, he turned toward Ken. “Be safe out there,” he told his mate before kissing the man.
Until the End of Time [Council Enforcers 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 7