Bayou Heat Collection Two

by Alexandra Ivy

  “So, this Roch who found me,” Lydia began, trying her damnedest to sound casual. “Who is he?”

  “He works with my mate. They’re what’s called Diplomatic Faction. Or ‘Suits.’ They’re like politicians or facilitators in our world.”

  Suit. Diplomat. Well, that certainly fit. And made him sound even more attractive than he already was. She cleared her throat. “Does he have a mate?”

  “Roch?” Ashe started laughing. “Oh, no. He’s a total loner. Really enjoys the single life, if you know what I mean.”

  Lydia did. Dammit.

  “Totally unattached by choice,” Ashe added. “But a good guy. Loyal, and deeply dedicated to his work. Even more so than Raphael, I think—which is saying something.”

  A loner, and a workaholic. Kind of like her. “So, no family dinners,” she said with a forced smile.

  “No. Not unless he’s invited to one.” Ashe paused, then her eyes narrowed playfully and studied Lydia. “Wait a sec. I could invite him?”

  Lydia’s heart seized inside her chest. “No, no, that’s fine.”

  The woman smiled broadly. “I have more than enough lasagna.”

  “I was just curious,” Lydia explained, hoping her cheeks weren’t too pink. “He was the one who found me and brought me here. I wanted to thank him or…something.” God, she sounded like a moron.

  “It is pretty extraordinary how that all happened,” Ashe remarked thoughtfully. “Actually, it’s unheard of. Everyone’s talking about it.”

  Lydia didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

  “A male Pantera finding a pregnant human female.” Her brows lifted. “Especially one he’s never met. Or slept with.” She nodded. “Extraordinary. And something I’m sure Raphael and the others are trying to figure out as we speak.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Roch paced the small patch of moonlit grass behind Medical. Due to his erratic and overassertive behavior when he’d brought Lydia in, Raphael, Dr. Julia and Jean-Baptiste had all thought it best that any discussion involving the human woman be done outside the building.

  At first, Roch had blown them off, didn’t believe that he was acting in any way but professionally when it came to her welfare and situation. But then he caught himself sniffing at her door, even growling at any Nurturers who tried to enter.

  He’d gone willingly with them at that point.

  “We have both Hunters and Suits dispatched to this Haymore Center,” Raphael said, his tone just a decibel above a growl. “We’ll find out exactly who they are and what happened. And how a mistake like this could occur. If indeed, impregnating a human woman with Pantera DNA was a mistake.”

  “It has to be a mistake,” Doc Julia uttered, more to herself than to Raphael.

  Jean-Baptiste inhaled deeply. “So, the blood samples show—”

  “Yes,” she said, her tone a strange combination of excitement and concern. “The baby is both human and Pantera.” She lifted her gaze first to meet Raphael’s, then Baptiste’s. “Do you know what this means?”

  Jean-Baptiste lifted his pierced eyebrow. “We need to find the father?”

  Roch’s lip curled with irritation, but he kept on pacing. Down the path aways he spotted Chayton, the man who had been taken over by Shakpi not long ago. He was working with a Nurturer and the Shaman-in-training, Sage, Lian’s new mate, on some kind of trust exercise.

  Poor bastard, he mused. Forget trust. It was going to be a miracle if the man actually managed to have some semblance of a normal life.

  “Yes, we’ll need to find the father,” Julia put in. “When Lydia is ready to allow the testing. But it also means that with Shakpi gone, the curse has truly lifted. We could be seeing pregnancies throughout the Wildlands now.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment, letting that information seep in.

  “My Genny,” Jean-Baptiste uttered almost reverently. “She has wanted a cub so badly.”

  “This could be a new beginning,” Raphael agreed. “But before we start the celebration, we must know how this human pregnancy occurred. Roch?”

  Roch stopped pacing and turned to look at the three Pantera, who were all staring intently at him now. “What?”

  “Are you certain you don’t know her?”

  “Am I certain?” He cursed. “Do you really think I’m the kind of male who wouldn’t remember someone I bedded four weeks ago? That I’m that low, that vile?”

  Raphael didn’t answer. Just kept his gaze locked on the male. Whatever his personal opinion, he wanted an answer.

  “Christ, no,” Roch answered tersely. “All right? I’ve never seen her before in my life.”

  I would remember. Hell, I’d never be able to forget. Never be able to look at another female again after her.

  “It seems improbable,” Baptiste put in.

  Roch whirled on the heavily tattooed Nurturer and flashed him a feral glare.

  Baptiste chuckled and put his palms up in surrender. One had the name of his mate, Genevieve, inked onto it. “Easy, brother. My point is only that you went searching for her—”

  “I went to New Orleans. There was no search.”

  “And you found her, brought her back here. And look at you now.”

  “What?” Roch ground out. “Look at what?”

  “You’re acting mated,” Jean-Baptiste said calmly. “You’re acting like me and Raphael and Parish when someone gets too close or threatens our females.”

  Raphael nodded in agreement. “I have to say it’s true. I’ve never seen you like this, Roch.”

  “I’ve been ill, that’s all,” he tossed out.

  “Don’t think so.”

  Confusion, irritation and anger all rose up to claim him. “What the hell are you implying, Raphael?”

  But it wasn’t Raphael who answered.

  “That this child could be yours,” Doc Julia put in, her expression amazed.

  A knot formed in Roch’s chest. He ripped his gaze from them and stalked away. Just a few feet. Then he stopped and turned around. “Impossible,” he hissed at them.

  “Is it?” Raphael said.

  “I’ve never seen her before.” Roch looked up to the heavens. “I swear on Opela. And even if I had, I don’t take risks like that. Even when we were cursed, I made sure the females beneath me were protected.”

  “Beneath him,” Baptiste uttered under his breath.

  “Beneath me, on top of me—”

  “All right. Too much information, brother,” Raphael said.

  Roch snarled at them. “You can all go to hell.”

  “Hey,” Julia put in, her eyes bright with amusement. “I didn’t go there. I wanted to. But I didn’t.”

  “Oh fuck,” Baptiste said, his tone instantly grave.

  “What?” Raphael said. “What’s wrong?”

  “Remember back when we found out about the curse? We all had samples taken from us for the purpose of testing. Blood, urine, semen…”

  Something curled inside of Roch’s belly.

  “Oh fuck, is right,” Raphael said, his mind working behind his green eyes. “That was over fifty years ago. I had forgotten.”

  “Would someone have given those samples to a human lab?” Julia asked, the moon above casting an eerie glow to her skin.

  “It’s possible, I suppose. We were trying in any way we could to keep our race going. But it would’ve been covert, against our laws. The experiments were only to be done in our laboratory.”

  Jean-Baptiste looked murderous. No doubt deducing that whoever had leaked samples was probably a Nurturer. “We need to find out who did this.”

  “Maybe Hiss will know?” Roch put in.

  “I will take that bastard out with my bare hands if he’s in any way responsible,” Raphael threatened. Then he took a deep breath and cursed. “If this is true, we’re in deep shit.” His nostrils flared. “We can shut down The Haymore Center and recover the remaining samples, but who knows how many human women have been inseminated already.”


  “We could have males running off, going in search of their offspring,” Baptiste put in. “All we can hope for is what Roch did. Find the mother of the cub and bring her back here.”

  “The child is not mine!” Roch roared.

  All three of them went silent and turned to look at him.

  “Most males would be pleased to know they had sired a Pantera cub,” Jean-Baptiste said, his chin lifting a fraction.

  “Not this way!” Roch returned, his chest tightening around his heart muscle. “Christ. Not this way.” He cursed and uttered a battered, “Not in a lab.”

  “You have feelings for this woman,” Julia said, her eyes going wide.

  Roch didn’t answer her. In fact, he didn’t acknowledge any of them. He was done. Fractured by the possibility they’d just laid out before him. The impossible, amazing, horrifying possibility.

  Turning away, he headed down the path, shifting into his puma state just before he was lost in the shadows of the garden.

  ***

  Twenty-four hours ago Lydia had been in her apartment, standing at the kitchen counter, eating a supermarket salad and wondering what the following day would bring. Who knew it would bring so much: a firing, a possible Pantera baby, kindness, danger, beauty, confusion and—she glanced around the table at the small family gathered there—an altogether different existence.

  Truly, she didn’t know what was going to happen from this day onward, but here in the Wildlands she felt no fear about herself or her child’s future. Maybe that was naive. Or maybe she had an example of what was possible right in front of her. Standing over the long, rustic wood table in her lovely two-story antebellum home, sliding a ginormous piece of lasagna onto Lydia’s plate.

  She started to laugh.

  Ashe glanced up. “What? Does it look bad? Too runny?”

  “It looks amazing,” Lydia assured her.

  “I swear I didn’t go crazy with the sauce.”

  “Ma chérie,” Raphael put in, his gold-green eyes warm with love as he ran his hand over her hip. “I think she’s just worried she can’t eat it all.”

  “Oh,” Ashe laughed, her cheeks flushing pink. “Well, no worries about that. Just do what you can.” She gave Lydia a knowing smile. “But there is the growing baby to think of.”

  “Cub,” Raphael corrected, then gave Lydia a gentle smile. “It’s not too early to get used to that.”

  “Or how much the little fur ball likes to eat,” Ashe said, glancing down at her beautiful blond baby, who was fast asleep in her raised bassinet beside the table. “Even when they’re inside you.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Lydia said with a grin.

  Ashe sighed as she sat down and picked up her fork. “We’re so excited for you, Lydia. All the Pantera are. It’s such a blessing, and we just want to make sure you have everything you need. We want you and the cub healthy.”

  “Yes, we do,” came a male voice behind her.

  A ripple of heat moved through Lydia’s body as she turned and caught sight of Roch standing in the archway between the grand entryway and the dining room. Gone was the suit and tie. And in their place were black jogging pants and a black t-shirt. Both molded to his incredible body. He looked sporty and masculine and hot, and she tried not to drool as she stared at him.

  “How did you get in here?” Raphael asked good-naturedly.

  “Door was open.”

  “And you didn’t think to knock?”

  He walked over to the table and pulled out the chair beside Lydia. “I was invited to dinner.”

  “By whom?” Raphael demanded.

  Ashe cleared her throat as both her mate and Lydia turned to look at her. She cut another sizable piece of lasagna and slid it onto an empty plate. “He hasn’t been feeling very well, so I thought a little home cooking…”

  “Poor little cub,” Raphael said with heavy sarcasm, turning to his colleague and friend and giving him an amused grin.

  Roch tossed the male a fierce glare.

  “Are you going upstairs afterward and having Ashe tuck you into bed? Read you a story?” He paused, realizing what he’d just suggested. He rounded on his mate. “No, ma chère. Please don’t do that.”

  “Not a chance,” she answered. “Only one who’s getting tucked in tonight is you.”

  He growled softly at her. “Mmm, I like that.”

  “Hey,” Roch said, standing up. “I can go.”

  “No,” Lydia said without thinking.

  He turned to look at her, and the heat and hunger in his gaze was blinding. In fact, it made her heart race like a rabbit’s. He liked her. She was sure of it.

  “Sit down,” Raphael called out to him. “I was just giving you a hard time. Let my mate serve you a piece of lasagna the size of your head. It would make her so happy.”

  “Hey!” Ashe said, then started laughing.

  “Don’t get upset, ma chérie. You know I live to make you happy.”

  “And you always do.” She blushed, and he leaned in and kissed her deeply and hungrily until she sighed.

  Roch turned to Lydia. “How are you?”

  “Good. Fine.” Glad to see you. You look gorgeous. Then again, you always look—

  “Are you happy staying here?” he asked, his expression raw with concern. “You don’t have to. I’m sure you won’t get any sleep with the cub.”

  “We’ve already discussed that, Roch,” Ashe remarked after coming up for air.

  He turned to his plate and picked up his fork. “She needs more than food to keep her healthy and well. She needs sleep.”

  “Well, she wouldn’t get that at Medical,” Ashe replied, offering him some bread.

  “There are other options.”

  “Like what? Your place?”

  Lydia’s heart sprang into her throat. She didn’t want to hear his answer to that. Yes or no. Either option concerned her. “I’m happy here,” she stated quickly, resolutely. “And I love being around that cutie-pie over there.”

  Roch glanced at the sleeping baby. “She’s getting big.”

  Ashe nearly melted with motherly happiness. “She is.”

  “And she looks like you, Ashe. Which is lucky for her.”

  Raphael glanced up from his nearly consumed lasagna and gave his friend a good-natured growl.

  Popping a piece of garlic bread in her mouth, Ashe turned to Lydia. “So, is your family from New Orleans?”

  “They are. Were. They’re gone now. My mom passed away a few months back.”

  Ashe’s expression fell into a lovely mask of empathy. “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you.” She touched her belly, which now sported just the very beginnings of a rise. “I’m excited for new family to come into my life.”

  Ashe nodded. “Of course you are.”

  “What do you do for work, Lydia?” Raphael asked her.

  “I’m a lawyer. Or was a lawyer.”

  Roch looked up from his plate. “What do you mean?”

  “I was fired,” she explained, feeling slightly embarrassed and still pretty pissed. “Lawyers don’t have a lot of time to be mothers. Or so my bosses believe.”

  “Well, that’s bullshit,” Ashe exclaimed, then quickly turned to Soyala. “Sorry, honey. Mommy’s a little upset about the issue of double standards.”

  “I’m actually thinking I’ll go into solo practice,” Lydia said after taking a sip of water. “Maybe a little office near where I live.”

  “In New Orleans,” Roch said. It wasn’t a question and his tone was anything but pleased. In fact it sounded pained.

  “Of course, New Orleans,” Ashe said, giving him an impatient look. “That’s where she’s from.”

  Roch’s jaw tightened and he stabbed at a chunk of lasagna with his fork.

  “Obviously there’s a lot to consider,” Lydia said, feeling the wave of tension in the air. It was the last thing she wanted to bring into Ashe and Raphael’s home. “But if this baby is half Pantera, I would never cut the Wildlands o
r his species out of his life—”

  “His?” Roch interrupted, his eyes cutting to her. They were a dark and stormy blue. “It’s a male cub? How do you know?”

  “I don’t,” she said, flustered by his quick passion. “I’m not sure why I said that.”

  “And there’s no if, by the way,” he added softly.

  “What?” Her heart stalled and she looked around the room.

  Roch glared at Raphael. “You didn’t tell her?”

  “Not officially,” he uttered, uncomfortable.

  “Oh, Raphael,” Ashe scolded gently.

  “I was easing my way into it.”

  Lydia was barely listening to them. Her heart was flickering hard in her chest, and her appetite was gone. “The tests are back? You know for certain…”

  Raphael nodded. “Yes.”

  “Oh,” she exclaimed. Her child was part Pantera. Her child would be a member of this tribe. It would be able to shift into a cat form like Roch. Her throat tightened. A beautiful, powerful, remarkable cat, who might someday want to live here. Away from me.

  “Lydia, if I may,” Raphael began gently. “How do you feel about the father having a relationship with the cub? If we can find him, of course. If you decide that you want the testing…”

  “Do we need to talk about this now?” Roch put in darkly. He’d abandoned his food as well, and his eyes were pinned to Lydia’s face.

  “I don’t know,” she said, her voice reed-thin. “This is a lot to take in and I need to think about it.” She put her napkin on her plate and eased her chair back. “I’m really tired.”

  “Of course you are,” Ashe said with a quick and grim look at Raphael. “I’ll walk you up, make sure you have everything you need.”

  “Thank you.” She wasn’t about to put up a fuss, or act like she could manage on her own. Granted, she probably could. But she kind of wanted Ashe with her. She looked at Raphael. “Good night.”

  “Sleep well, Lydia,” he said gently, his eyes kind.

  Then she glanced down at Roch. She wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what. Don’t leave? I need you? To talk to you? Be around you? But she couldn’t form the words. Or she was afraid of them. Vulnerability was a terrifying gift to give another person. But, lord help her, she wanted to give it to him. Like it or not—understand it or not—she had this connection to him that couldn’t be explained or denied. And when their eyes caught and held, she saw in those incredible blue depths the same connection she felt for him mirrored back.