“Jesus, Piper, are you all right?” Rhonda stepped into the stall behind her and lifted her hair out of her face.
Piper could only shake her head as another round of violent spasms rocked her stomach.
Rhonda began to rub Piper’s back in soothing motions, murmuring inconsequential words that made little sense.
Long moments later, Piper raised her head. “Grab me a couple of wet paper towels, please.”
Hurrying from the stall, Rhonda yanked down a handful of paper towels, wet them, and brought them back. “Here you go.”
Piper wiped her face and mouth before pushing to her feet. She flushed the toilet and turned to face her friend. “I must have caught a bug.”
“Not that fast,” Rhonda argued, leading Piper over to the sink. “They usually take a day to bring someone to their knees like that.”
Piper took a shuddering breath. “I haven’t been feeling too good for the last couple of days. I thought it had passed, but I guess not.”
Rhonda pressed the back of her hand to Piper’s forehead. “You’re not fevered.” Her hand fell away. “When was your last period?”
The floor moved under Piper’s feet. She gripped the sink to stay upright. “With everything that’s been going on, I haven’t thought about it.”
Piper began to count back in her head to the last time she’d had a menstrual flow and met Rhonda’s worried gaze. “Oh, God, I’m late.”
“Just calm down,” Rhonda soothed, turning on the water so Piper could wash her face and hands. “It may be nothing. We’ll run by the drug store, grab a test, and check. Once we know for sure, then we can figure out what to do from there.”
With a weak nod, Piper set about washing her face. Her hands trembled from nerves or the lack of food in her stomach. She couldn’t be sure.
Taking a deep breath, Piper switched off the water and strode back into the diner.
“We have to go,” Piper informed the guards while dropping a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “I need to pick up some womanly things from the drug store.”
Both men appeared uncomfortable by her announcement. They jumped up and scampered to the car.
No one spoke on the drive to the drug store. The two guards followed her inside, but conveniently hung back near the door. And for that, Piper was grateful.
She picked up two pregnancy tests, Rhonda shadowing her every move.
Piper wasn’t sure who was more nervous, her or her best friend.
“Where are you going to take it?” Rhonda whispered, her eyes the size of golf balls. “If you go back to the penthouse, Ethan might be there.”
Piper considered that for a second. “You’re right. We’ll go to my place. It’s only a couple blocks from here.”
Everyone climbed back into the car before Piper announced, “We’re making a quick stop at my house on the way home. I’m sure you understand the need for urgency.”
Glancing in the mirror at the two men in the back seat, Piper was satisfied they wouldn’t argue. Both men were blushing to the roots of their hair.
A couple minutes later, Piper pulled up along the curb, grabbed her brown paper bag, and got out. She stuck her head back inside. “I’ll leave the car running so you won’t get too hot. We’ll be right back.”
One of the men got out behind her. “Let me check the house before you go inside.”
More than a little impatient, Piper stepped aside and waited until he cleared the house before entering.
Rhonda followed tight on her heels. “Are you scared?”
“A little,” Piper snapped, hurrying up the stairs to her bathroom.
Laying the bag on the sink, she turned to face her oldest and dearest friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. Yes, I’m a little nervous.”
Rhonda grabbed one of the boxes from the bag, ripped it open, and handed Piper the test stick. “Sit down and pee on it.”
Piper accepted the test with a shaky hand, did her business, and laid the stick on the counter to wait the required five minutes.
Time seemed to tick by in slow motion as Piper paced the small bathroom, wringing her hands.
“Would you stop?” Rhonda exclaimed, moving toward the test stick. “It’s time. Do you want to look at it, or should I?”
Piper took a deep breath. “You do it.”
Rhonda carefully picked up the white stick and her face paled. “It’s positive.”
A strange sound suddenly came from outside. Piper jerked her gaze toward the doorway. “What was that?”
“I’ll go see,” Rhonda offered. “Take the second test just to be sure.”
Piper peeled open the second test stick and repeated the process while waiting for Rhonda to return.
What was she going to do? Would Ethan be upset? He had every right to be, she thought, inching over to the second test stick.
She picked it up and held it up to the light. Positive...
A sharp blow to the back of her skull buckled Piper’s knees. She grabbed for the counter, her legs giving out and her forehead smacking against the unforgiving surface of the sink.
The last thought she had before her world turned black, was…Ethan.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ethan cut into his steak, listening intently as Billy reiterated everything he’d learned about the Fosters over the past week.
“How come Isaac hasn’t stepped down and relinquished the reins to Eric?” Ethan questioned in between bites.
Billy leaned forward to be heard over the murmuring voices of the crowded restaurant. “Honestly? I don’t think the old man trusts Eric. I mean, I know he’s his son and all, but from what I’ve learned recently, Eric isn’t privy to everything that goes on in the pack.”
Ethan thought about that for a moment. “And where are you getting all this intel?”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Billy grinned. “I’m sleeping with one of their pack members.”
With a blank look, Ethan repeated, “You’re sleeping with one of their pack members? And she doesn’t know that you are associated with me?”
Billy shrugged. “Not likely. She’s cute as hell, but not a lot going on in her head, if you know what I mean. She also used to be Eric’s lover. And there’s no one more talkative than a woman scorned.”
Ethan continued to eat while listening to Billy explain everything he’d learned from the Kenwood female.
His mind drifted to Piper, the longer Billy talked. Ethan wondered why he hadn’t heard from her yet.
Digging his cell out of his pants pocket, Ethan swiped the screen to find an unopened message from Piper. Going to Sally’s Diner to have lunch with Rhonda. Taking guards with me. Text you on my way home. Xoxo
The time stamp was over an hour old.
Ethan wondered why he hadn’t heard the text come through, but then, with all the noise in the restaurant it was no wonder.
“Is there a problem?” Billy nodded toward the cell Ethan held in his hand.
Sending a quick response to call him ASAP, Ethan pocketed his phone and shook his head. “Just a text from Piper. Apparently, she and Rhonda are having lunch at Sally’s Diner.”
“Did she take the guards?”
Ethan absently nodded. “She said she was taking them. It’s been over an hour though. I think I should give her a call just to check on her. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Winding his way through the crowded and noisy restaurant, Ethan made his way outside to the blessed quiet of the parking lot.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Piper’s number. It went straight to voicemail. “Hi, babe. Just wanted to hear your voice. Call me.”
Ethan returned the cell to his pocket and strode back inside to his table.
Billy had nearly finished his steak by the time Ethan took a seat.
“She okay?”
“She didn’t answer,” Ethan murmured, a kernel of worry forming in his gut.
Billy waved his fork in the air. “I’m sure she’s having a good
time and probably left her phone in the car or something. She’ll call you back.”
Ethan wanted to believe that, but something felt off to him. Piper always kept her phone within reach.
His appetite suddenly gone, he pushed back his plate and once again stood. “I’m going to try the guards that are with her, just to be on the safe side.”
Billy got to his feet as well. “Come on, let’s just go. We can call them on the way out.”
Ethan was already moving toward the front counter before Billy finished speaking. He pulled a hundred-dollar bill from his pants pocket and handed it to the cashier. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you.” She beamed, already ringing him out. “Would you like a receipt?”
Ethan waved her off, dialing Samuel’s number as he strode toward the exit.
“No answer,” he growled, trying Gene’s number.
Billy caught up with him at the car, anxiety evident on his face. “Neither one answered?”
Quickly unlocking the car, Ethan climbed behind the wheel, started the engine, and sped out of the parking lot before Billy’s door completely closed.
Exceeding the speed limit, Ethan weaved in and out of traffic, nearly running stoplights.
“Her car isn’t here,” Ethan growled, slowing to a crawl in front of the diner.
He abruptly threw it in park, jumped out, and hurried inside.
“Have a seat wherever you’d like,” a Southern-speaking waitress informed him.
Ethan approached the counter. “Have you seen a tall woman with long auburn hair in here recently? She would have had a short blonde with her and possibly two men?”
An indention formed between the waitress’s eyes. “I remember them. The tall one didn’t eat her food. She ran out of here with a sheet-white face.”
Ethan’s stomach lurched. “Thank you.”
Spinning back toward the door, Ethan burst outside, jumped back behind the wheel, and drove like a madman to Piper’s house.
“What happened?” Billy gripped the dashboard to keep from eating it as Ethan slammed on brakes behind a stopped car in front of him.
He jerked the wheel to the side and passed the car on the sidewalk before bringing it back to the road on the street beyond. “She was there. But something was wrong. The waitress said she ran out of there sick or something.”
Taking the next corner entirely too fast, Ethan skidded to a stop in front of Piper’s house. “Her car is here.”
The smell of more than one unknown shifter hit Ethan square in the face the second he jumped from his vehicle. He jogged over to Piper’s car to find Samuel facedown on the sidewalk and Gene slumped over in the back seat.
“Check on them,” Ethan snarled, already running toward the house.
He burst through the front door, his heart hammering and his teeth gritted together to keep them from descending.
“Piper!” Ethan yelled, his voice more animal than man.
The shifters’ stench was far more prominent inside than out by the car.
Rhonda’s still form lay facedown in front of the couch. Ethan dropped onto his haunches next to her and laid his fingers against her neck. She had a pulse.
Ethan surged to his feet and flew up the stairs, charging into Piper’s bedroom without slowing.
The scent of blood exploded through his senses, wrapping around his brain in brutal finality. Piper’s blood.
Shouldering his way past the bathroom door, Ethan roared in denial as the evidence of her blood stained the corner of the countertop. And he knew it to be hers as surely as he knew Foster’s men had taken her.
His vision sharpened, and his breath punched forcefully in and out of his chest.
And then his gaze landed on empty pregnancy test box in the trash can next to the toilet.
A small white stick lying near the back of the sink caught his eye.
His claws had extended to the point where he could barely grab hold of the damn thing.
After two failed attempts, Ethan snatched it up and turned it over.
His world quickly shifted on its axis as he took in the positive sign in the display window on the front of the stick.
Ethan’s mind went back to the diner and the words the waitress had confessed. “I remember them. The tall one didn’t eat her food. She ran out of here with a sheet-white face.”
Piper was carrying his child. Ethan’s entire world changed in that moment, and a protective feeling such as he’d never felt rose up inside him.
“They’re going to live,” Billy announced, suddenly appearing in the bathroom doorway. “They were shot with darts. I’m assuming to keep the noise at a minimum. Who is that in the living room floor?”
Billy grew quiet for a moment before hesitantly stepping forward. “Ethan?”
Raising his unfocused gaze from the test stick he held in his hand, Ethan turned toward the door. “She’s pregnant, Billy. Piper’s pregnant with my child.”
“Are you sure?”
Ethan held up the test stick he still held. “I’m sure.”
“Jesus,” Billy whispered, backing up as Ethan stumbled past him. “Did they take her?”
Gripping the top of Piper’s dresser, Ethan threw back his head and roared, allowing his beast to be free.
The sound seemed to go on forever, drowning out the rapid pounding of his shifting heartbeat.
Piper’s face floated around inside his head like a carousel, haunted and afraid.
Billy’s voice abruptly penetrated his rage, pulling him back from the edge of insanity.
Ethan lifted his head, realizing he was on his knees and the claws of his hands had shredded the carpet beneath them.
“You can’t go out there like that,” Billy was saying from somewhere far away. “Ethan! Stay with me, man!”
The deep growl that rumbled from his throat had no evidence of humanity left. “Foster…”
“I know, Ethan. But if he’d wanted her dead, he would have left her in that bathroom. She’s still alive.”
Ethan prayed Billy was right. If Piper wasn’t alive… He couldn’t finish the thought.
Pushing to his feet, Ethan fell against the wall, staggering his way to the top of the stairs.
Billy was suddenly there, his shoulder under Ethan’s arm. “Lean on me. You have to calm down, Ethan. I know you love her. But you can’t help her in this condition.”
“I know,” Ethan responded in a guttural voice. “I can walk.”
Shaking off the fury swimming inside him, Ethan forced his wolf down enough to make it to the door.
He turned to Billy. “Get Samuel and Gene and meet me back at the penthouse.”
“Are you sure you’re able to drive?”
“Move!” Ethan snarled when Billy hesitated. “I’ll see you there.”
Ethan managed to reach his vehicle on two legs. He slid behind the wheel and spun the car toward home.
Piper…
Chapter Thirty
Piper moaned with the insistent pain throbbing in the back of her skull. She opened her eyes, squinting against the light shining from above.
It took her a moment to realize she was on her back, lying on a mattress with her hands bound behind her.
Memories came flooding back with a vengeance. She’d been standing in her bathroom with Rhonda, taking a pregnancy test.
Her gaze flew to her abdomen where her unborn child lay, and tears sprang to her eyes. She’d just found out about her pregnancy only minutes before—
Rhonda! Her mind screamed in denial. She scanned the room for any sign of her closest friend, but found it empty, save for a kitchen chair and a boarded-up window.
Where was she, and what had happened to Rhonda?
Tears gathered in Piper’s eyes—tears for her unborn child, for Rhonda, her dearest friend, and for Ethan, the love of her life. And she did love him, she realized, a fresh round of tears springing to the surface.
Voices suddenly sounded from nearby. Piper quickly closed her
eyes, praying they would think she still slept.
“What do you mean, she’s pregnant?” an older man’s voice snapped from outside the closed door. “You shouldn’t have brought her here, you idiot. Do you think Ethan Seaborn won’t tear this place apart with his bare hands to get her back?”
The sound of the door opening kicked Piper’s heart into overdrive. She wanted to turn her head and face the men who’d taken her, but fear for her baby prevented her from doing just that.
“Seaborn killed two of ours,” another voice snapped back. “Were you really planning to simply let that go? I think it’s time you step down and let me take my rightful place as alpha.”
Piper couldn’t have heard the man right. She could have sworn he’d said something about taking his place as alpha.
“You won’t get that title until I’m six feet under, Eric. Now, untie the girl’s hands and take her back. She carries the child of an alpha.”
There was that word again. Alpha. Piper chanced a slight peek from beneath her lashes.
The younger man, the one Piper assumed to be Eric, sneered. “You mean, she carries your heir, Father. Isn’t that what you meant to say?”
“You watch yourself,” the older man growled, taking a threatening step toward the man who Piper assumed to be his son. “Now, go fetch the doctor.”
Eric crossed his arms over his chest, anger etched in every line on his face. “For what? I knocked her unconscious. I didn’t run a knife through her. Besides, there’s no way we’re letting her live. And if Seaborn wants to cross into our territory, all the better. I’ll take him out too.”
Fear crawled up Piper’s back. Eric was talking about killing Ethan.
The old man reached up and gripped his son by the throat. “You won’t be killing anybody today. Now, go get the doctor before I have you put in chains.”
Eric jerked free of his father’s hold and spun toward the door, stopping before leaving the room. “You’re weak where Ethan is concerned. You always have been.”
His father turned his back to Eric. “He was the only male born with a spine. Now move your ass.”
Piper eased her eyes shut as the old man ambled around the side of the bed and untied her hands.
The Billionaire's Baby: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Page 11