Shielding Her

by Kelly Lucille

  Maggie felt her eyes get big at that and looked from her friend to her super baby and back again. "That is a fair trade off," she finally said dryly, making Becca laugh. She struggled to look nonchalant, licking her lips and looking mildly curious. "Is that all babies of shifters or just Alpha wolves?"

  The knowing look Becca passed over her, and then pointedly at Eli, who had joined the others around the baby told her Becca had not missed the significance of the question, or how cozy she and Eli had become. "I'm still fairly new to the shifter world, but I think the hard to hurt and immunity to disease is tied in with their shifting abilities. The rest of it?" she shrugged. "Lions, and other feline shifters, panthers for example might develop differently. You'd probably have to ask a feline shifter about that."

  Maggie felt something besides embarrassment and looked up to find the heat of Eli's gaze squarely on her. She had a bad feeling he knew exactly what she was talking to Becca about, even in the loud crowd of talking wolves.

  "Did I mention they have amazing hearing along with all their other enhanced senses?" Becca asked, and Maggie could hear the laughter in her voice.

  Eli took that moment to waggle suggestive brows at her.

  "That man," she said giving him a glare for listening in to her supposedly private conversation with her friend, and valiantly ignoring the satisfied look in his eyes. "Is cheeky beyond belief."

  Becca broke into a peal of laughter at her disgusted words. "You always did have a way with words," she said when she could finally stop laughing. "You remain the only person I know who can say something straight out of an old Hollywood movie and make it sound normal."

  Her cheeky mate did not look any more impressed with her insults than Becca did. Maggie decided to let it go so she dismissed Eli with a sardonic brow and turned to really study her friend. What she saw made her peevishness dissipate. "You are happy and well?" It was half question, half statement but Becca answered it with a broad smile.

  "Ecstatic."

  Maggie had wondered about what the birth of the child would be like if the baby took after one of the fathers. Would the others feel slighted, or resentful? But from what she could see, no one cared that he had his father Jacob's blue eyes and light brown hair. The eye color could change, but Maggie doubted it. It had taken her one look of the child to notice the resemblance, and still as much as she studied the men her friend had chosen as mates she saw nothing but affection and protection for the baby. It made her almost as happy as seeing her friend looking so well. She had not realized it was a worry for her until she was proven wrong.

  "I'm so happy for you," Maggie said with as much quiet sincerity as she could infuse in the words. "If anyone deserves a happy ever after, albeit somewhat unorthodox, it's you."

  "And you?" her friend asked, lowering her voice, her eyes going serious as she pulled her gaze from her family to her friend. "I thought I told you to take it easy with Eli. That he was a good man but a huge flirt."

  Maggie sighed. "I did try to keep my distance, but honestly." She pointed down at Eli's feet and then ran her hand up all that was Eli Ramsey. Even from the back there was no denying the man was undeniably hot. "He took me on a picnic and gave me many orgasms."

  Becca had just been taking a drink of the bottled water she had snagged from one of the passing wolves when Maggie spoke in her usual cool voice. The water came right back up again as Maggie choked on a laugh.

  Eli turned and winked at Maggie, who shook her head at him and flicked her hand, letting him know she wanted him to as least pretend she had some privacy with her friend.

  Rebecca was still laughing when he turned back to the men surrounding the baby. Most of the ladies of the pack had dispersed back to their tables and breakfast, and it was only then that Maggie looked around and wondered where the rest of Lionsgate was. "Where are the rest of Eli's pack?"

  "Big powwow upstairs," Jax answered her question just as Becca was shrugging her lack of knowledge. The man sidled up to the both and smiled lasciviously down at Maggie. "You should have told me. If I had known all it took was a picnic and multiple orgasms, I could have helped you out with that."

  She looked up at him with her usual cool ice in her gaze. She didn't speak for a few long minutes as she just stared at the handsome wolf with cold eyes. He started to fidget and look uncomfortable long before she spoke.

  "And to think," she finally said without an ounce of warmth, her sarcasm obvious in her utter lack of expression. "If only you had known it would take more than continual lewd comments and sexual propositions to win me you might have had a chance."

  He perked up at that, either missing or ignoring her less than subtle meaning. "Really?"

  "No,” Maggie said, at the same time both Rebecca and Eli did. Making it a loud chorus of no's. But Maggie was sure it was the angry male growl of a no that had the wolf lothario stiffening.

  She had a suspicion that the hand Eli dropped on the other man's shoulder was less than gentle when he squeezed. From the flinch the younger man made and the small crackle sound that made both her and Becca flinch she figured Eli might have broken a few bones with that move. Jax for his part at least had the gumption to hide any pain he must have been feeling but he did excuse himself out from beneath Eli's hand quick like.

  Maggie was not the only one who watched Jax disappear out of the room, but where Becca looked a little concerned for her wolf, Eli just looked hungry. As if a meal was escaping and he wanted to give chase.

  Knowing how bad an idea that would be, Maggie wasted no time distracting him from his hunt. "I was handling that."

  "Not fast enough." With those unapologetic words he turned and rejoined the other men around the baby again.

  "It could have been worse," Becca said mildly enough studying Eli with the other men.

  She did not bother to question her friend on that. They both knew it could have been a great deal worse. For Jax.

  Becca looked from Eli to Maggie’s bright eyes and flushed cheeks. "I can honestly say I have never seen you look better. So, whatever is going on between the two of you I say, Yay!"

  Maggie cleared her throat and ripped her eyes away from Eli's ass. How uncouth to be caught staring at a man’s ass. Her mother would be appalled. That thought widened her small smile into a real one, but all she said was: "The man does have a way about him."

  Becca sighed. "This means I'm going to need another office manager doesn't it? Lionsgate males do seem to have a fondness for our office managers."

  "You could hire a male next time," Maggie said, distracted by the thoughts she had not contemplated until this moment. She looked back at Becca with new anxiety in her eyes. "Though we might be jumping the gun. We have not exactly discussed what will happen after my whole divorce mess is cleared up."

  At that moment, Eli looked back over at her, and the possessive gleam that had been in his eyes since he made love to her was nothing to the savage possession she saw at that moment. She lost her ability to breathe until his eyes finished trailing her in a clear claim of ownership. Only when he was sure his point had been made did he turn back to what he was doing.

  After a moment Maggie started breathing again and her wide eyes went to her best friend, who blew out a 'wow' right before she cleared her throat.

  "I think it's safe to say," Becca finally said her lips starting to curve with humor at Maggie's situation. "That man is not going anywhere without you."

  The hotel phone rang at the hostess station, and Marcus left the baby long enough to go answer it. "Yes?"

  He turned and looked around until his eyes lit on Eli and then Maggie, he held the phone out to her and she walked across the room to answer it.

  "Yes?" she asked.

  "We have some news," Miley cool voice said over the line. "Can you and Eli meet us in our suite?"

  "Has something happened?" Her eyes met Eli's as he came to stand beside her. Becca on her other side, Linc and Griffin crowding her.

  "It'll be easier to explai
n in person than on the phone."

  That did not sound good, Maggie thought. Her eyes still locked with Eli's she licked her lips. "We're on our way."

  "Something has happened, and they want us in the suite."

  "Your fuckwad of an ex must have finally made his move," Eli said gruffly. She could not decide if he looked angry or pleased. But his hand on her arm was gentle, and the way he pulled her close to his side as they walked made her feel just the smallest bit less inclined to nerves.

  Maggie and her mates left little Samuel in Marcus's capable and happy hands and followed behind them. It was the first time they had all done so since the baby was born and it cemented to Maggie how much they had accepted her into their family. They were all determined to come to her aid, even before they knew what was wrong.

  Maggie could not help but dwell on her escort and ponder the change in her circumstance. Somehow with Eli at her side and her friends at her back, most of them capable of shifting into a creature with teeth and claws, Stephen, for all his ruthless coldness, was not so scary anymore. He would be so angry if he realized it. Those thoughts were among the reasons she was smiling when they entered the elevator.

  "That's quite a smile duchess," Eli said studying her face. 'If I was that fuckwad ex of yours I'd be downright terrified of that look on your face."

  "It occurred to me that surrounded as I am by shapeshifters and highly trained security, who are also shapeshifters, my husband does not have the same fear factor he once had. At this point he has done all the damage he can do to both the shelter that I worked at, and through my family. Having him make his move is almost anticlimactic."

  "Ex-husband," Eli corrected her. He met her eyes grimly when she looked at him in question at that statement. After looking at his face she lost her sudden need to remind him that the marriage was in fact not legally dissolved, at least not yet. Something about that look in his eyes convinced her she was better off letting it lie.

  He was mostly right. It was all over but the paperwork, even Stephen in his delusions of forcing her back would give up if he knew the real odds he was facing. Her "ex" husband was many things, but whatever reasons he had for trying to keep her under his thumb, even he was not fool enough to face these odds.

  No, she was not really worried about what they wanted to discuss with her in the suite. Besides stalling her divorce and taking away her money, what more could the man do to her anyway?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A warrant out for her arrest for Embezzlement?

  Eli cursed fluidly and did not even bother to do it silently in his head this time. Maggie was white as a sheet and cool as fucking ice. That ice queen persona had slammed down with a vengeance locking her in and away from him. He could feel the wall she had put back up between her and the world, hated it, and this time he couldn't even fucking blame her.

  "The fucker did a thorough job of it. These are not sly rumors he started to discredit you but a complete fucking grade A frame job," Logan said his face and tone as pissed off as the rest of Lionsgate. "Complete with sworn statements from your old boss at the nonprofit shelter you are now supposedly single handedly responsible for forcing into bankruptcy. A money trail a gerbil could follow proving your guilt, and separate, seeming unrelated press interviews with unnamed sources close to your family and husband’s household that just happened to come forward the same time as the rest of this. They leaked it that your family and you had a falling out shortly after you left your husband for another mystery man. Rumors have spread that drug use might have been involved in your downward spiral."

  "You have to hand it to the bastard," Xena said shaking her head. "The man does not fuck around. This story has everything guaranteed to have the press salivating. The darling of the posh set, a woman who has everything- looks, money, the love of her family and the heart of a good man. She turns around one day and decides to destroy the world as she knows it. He throws in rumors of illicit sex and drug use to really juice things up and even the people who know you will be wondering if they missed the signs."

  Maggie looked at the Xena and smiled that cold smile of hers that did not reach anything but her lips. "Yes, Stephen has always believed in being thorough." She looked back at Logan, not a sign of her reaction showed. "Anything else?"

  A muscle worked in his jaw as Logan visibly struggled with his anger.

  Join the fucking club, Eli thought.

  "The warrant out for your arrest,” he answered grimly. Some of the funds you allegedly stole where federally funded grants, which means you are looking at federal involvement and possible federal prison time."

  Somebody cursed, but Eli was too busy trying to control his rage to note who.

  "Like I said," Logan went on. "This has gone way beyond slaughtering your character in the press. The bastard knew what he was doing, and he did a thorough job of it."

  Lucas Gibbs stepped forward and looked down at Maggie. She looked way up, met his eyes and waited. Lucas wasted no time. "We did not expect this move, that is on us. In my experience men like your husband do their business in the shadows and try to avoid the involvement of anyone who could topple their little empires. The press and the federal government can cause him more trouble than they are worth, so we didn’t consider that he would go this route. We were wrong. But mark me, Maggie," he said, and his voice took on the growl of the beast peeking out of his flashing gold eyes. "Even if you had just been a job we were doing for Hale we still would have taken care of this problem for you, but you are Lionsgate now, and you don't know this yet so let me explain something to you, something your ex-husband is going to learn the hard way pretty fucking fast." He leaned down further until he was sure of her complete attention. "You do not fuck with Lionsgate. Human, shifter, government, no one fucks with my family."

  Maggie, he noted, kept her calm and did not take the step back Eli sensed she wanted to take from the predator staring down at her. His mate had a spine of fucking steel, he thought, a twinge of pride breaking through the rage crowding his thoughts. He had seen Navy Seals and shifters cower from that look. Lucas, Eli thought with a touch of brief humor, was trying to be reassuring.

  Miley elbowed her way between her mate and Maggie, pressing him back with an exasperated huff.

  "What Lucas is trying to say in his own special way," she said with clear exasperation and a sideways look of disgust for her mate. "Is that you don't have to worry about this. It looks bad, but we have it covered. You are not alone and about to be carted off to prison for something you did not do. Liam has been working on it since we found out, he already has a handle on it, and now that Eli is here we can dismantle whatever souped up proof was fabricated."

  Maggie took a deep breath and raised her chin a little more. "Anything else?"

  Miley and Lucas exchanged a look, Lucas was angry, but Miley just looked worried at Maggie’s continual non-response.

  Cleo spoke up. "We have been fielding calls all day from reporters and investigators. Someone found out where you are and told the press.”

  "I see," she said calmly enough. "Should I be looking for men in black to come and round me up then?"

  "No fuckin' way," Eli said finally speaking, aware that his voice was more growl then actual speech.

  Maggie finally turned to look at him. She blinked at whatever she saw and some of the ice thawed. She moved to his side and he felt the warmth of the heat against his side when she turned to face the rest of the room again. She said not a word to him, she did not even reach out to touch him besides that brush of heat at his side, but it calmed the beast in him enough that he was not seconds away from shifting and going hunting.

  "No offense Mags," Ian said with a snort of humor from his perch besides the furiously typing Liam, "But you are not exactly a high priority target. No way is anyone wasting resources to track down a small-time embezzler who is not even on American soil. No matter how cute she is." He winked at Maggie and Eli had the satisfaction of watching his mate blink in con
fusion at the familiarity. He could almost see her wondering when she had become Mags.

  She was still new to shifter ways, but truthfully even among their kind they were abnormal. She was family now, she would just have to get used to it. Eventually she might even know what that meant. From what he could tell she had no experience with the real thing to fall back on in her own life, so all of this was going to be new for her. Eventually she would trust that they had her back and let go of the ice shield for good. At least he hoped that was what would happen. He didn't want her hiding. Not from his pack, and not from him.

  "So," she cleared her throat and he noticed she was struggling with some emotion, but he doubted the others could tell. Even he had no idea what she was thinking now, only that it was a struggle for her. "I take it that you have all been up here forming a plan you would like me to follow?"

  There was a subtle shift in her voice that warned them to tread lightly. She was not pleased that they had been planning her life without her, that much was obvious in her subtle tone.

  Miley went into the breach. "We have been gathering all the facts to present to you, but we waited to speak to you before plans were set in motion. I at least know what it feels like when big strong apex predators try to run my life without my consent. We waited for you to make plans."

  A tension left Maggie's shoulders and some of her ice cracked, enough that he could see relief and anxiety on her face.