"Shifters don't use guns."
"This shifter is crazy."
"We're all kind of crazy."
Finn would not smile. Only his mate could make him almost smile at a time like this. "It could be a trap."
Luke cupped his face. Kissed him gently, tenderly and then let his hands fall to Finn's stomach, caressing him lovingly. "I'm sure it is a trap. That doesn't change this. Dr. Roods didn't deserve this. Next time it will be someone closer. Sorell? Frannie?"
Finn felt the breath rush out of him at the thought of Frannie getting hurt, of her blood decorating walls. He couldn't respond. He didn't have the air or the words. Luke was right.
Luke kissed him, chastely on the forehead, settled him in the back of Frannie's car and shut the door. He murmured something to Sorell, and then with a final wave, got in his own car. Finn closed his eyes, pushing the tears back. Luke was strong, smart. He'd come back to him. He had to come back to him.
The four of them were silent the entire way back to Frannie's house. They'd passed a handful of cop cars, sirens blaring, speeding in the opposite direction. Luke must have called in a tip or maybe, another patient had shown up. Finn didn't like the idea of some unsuspecting person also being scarred because of him. Even if it was just emotionally.
Finn stepped out of the car and then doubled over, his hands supporting his stomach. Pippen was by his side. His bright eyes looked him over.
"What is it, boss?" he asked in his high, soft voice.
Finn shook his head. "Nothing, just a twinge. Let's get inside, I think there is a carton of ice cream with my name on it." Because Finn wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do while he worried over Luke. He'd already realized that he would have to actually work out on a schedule after if he wanted his naturally fit body back.
Pippen grinned and grabbed his arm to escort him. Then, out of nowhere, he dropped it, fell to a crouch and hissed. "Get in the car," he ordered. Sorell and Frannie were nearly to the door when it opened. Lucian walked out of their house, smiling, looking every bit like the handsome villain cast in the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Finn had slid in the front seat. He sat there now and watched Sorell push Frannie behind him protectively as Lucian's pack started stepping out of the perimeter. They were nearly surrounded.
"No one has to get hurt," Lucian said loudly, just like a villain would say in a moment like that. "Give me Finn and we'll leave, just like that."
"Never," Frannie seethed but Finn saw her limbs shaking.
She was terrified, out in the open while Finn was hiding inside the car. Lucian looked at her like he'd just noticed her. "You tried to shoot me," he observed. "Where is that gun now?"
Frannie straightened and Finn wanted to punch himself. He'd all but demanded she leave the gun at home saying that Luke would join them. "Like I would tell you. Or maybe I will. It's in the car. No. It's in my room," she said and then, "Oh now I remember I left it up your ass."
Finn knew the gun wasn't in the car, but also knew Frannie was trying to tell him something. He opened to hinge slowly.
Lucian lifted his beautiful face up to the sky and laughed. "You are funny. I'm going to be sad when I have to tear your tongue from your body in front of your brother because he won't do the right thing and come with me."
Finn abandoned his plan to go slow. His search took on a frantic pace. He pulled the glove box open. Out popped a stack of napkins, a bottle of hand sanitizer, some random paperwork and then a spare set of keys.
He pulled the seatbelt around his body and then jammed the keys into the ignition and every single shifter around them heard. They lunged forward even as Finn revved the engine, not before he heard Lucian say his name like he was bored and not about to get ran over.
Finn slammed his foot on the gas, swerving away from Frannie and Sorell, he drove the car forward, slamming into the spot Lucian had stood while plummeting a good foot into the entry way. The impact had Finn slamming forward even as he doubled over to try and protect his stomach. Only his head it the dash but the pain was blinding, dumbing.
He couldn't tell which way was up, surrounded by dust and debris. Someone cursed, someone else shouted. Finn blinked. He began to be able to see shapes and light. Sorell was pushing him out of the driver's seat to the passenger. Frannie's fast fingers dabbed at his forehead.
"Drive, Sorell," Pippen commanded.
"I broke your house," Finn said dazedly.
"I am going to break the rest of you as soon as we get out of this," Frannie said, her voice full of emotion. "What was that? What kind of fucking plan was that? A shit plan."
"Frannie, don't—" Finn couldn't speak anymore, he felt a sharp tearing at his gut and then a white hot pain seared up his spine. He screamed and arched back. "Noooo!" he yelled because he knew, instinctively, he knew what that pain was. The baby was in trouble, it needed out. "Frannie, help me!"
He saw her in the rear view mirror, on the phone. She shouted a direction to Sorell who looked white faced and worried. Another arrow of pain shot through his body and then he couldn't see anything. He bent over, throwing up all over his lap and the car. This was going to kill him.
Where was Luke? He could save them. Could save him. Stupid, so stupid. There had been a trap. Only, it hadn't been for Luke. It was for Finn and now he would die, taking the one amazing thing he'd done with him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. If he was breathing he was alive. He rubbed his scar, proof that he could live even when he was at his own worst. Because he hadn't slipped, not really. He'd known what he was doing, what was going on. But he'd lived through it. He would live through this.
"Finn?" Felix's deep voice was the last voice Finn thought he would hear at that moment. He grabbed him, pulling him on a stretcher. "Frannie, what kind of joke is this? You said an emergency C-section, you said the patient wouldn't be safe in a hospital."
Frannie moved to Finn's side and unzipped his jacket. "And that is all true. Felix, you have questions, ask them after you save our brother."
"Holy shit."
"Very astute, Felix. You sure this place is secure?"
They were rolling then, the air cooled suddenly, Finn thought they must have gone inside someplace air conditioned.
"Yes, it is a free clinic with strict hours. No one will be here now. I don't know what I am dealing with here, Fran. I've never…I mean…"
"Treat it the same as all the other C-sections you've done." That was Sorell, anxiety lined every word.
"I've never done one outside of medical school," Felix admitted.
"Holy shit," Sorell replied.
Finn could've laughed if another blinding knife swipe of pain hadn't sliced straight down his body. From head to toe he felt it, tearing his muscle from the bone. His throat felt raw and he realized it was because of his screaming.
"Move aside," Felix ordered. His voice had changed, almost to an emotionless level.
Finn felt a sharp bite, a laughable level of pain compared to what he was experiencing and then, miraculously, his head felt like it was on a cloud. "But…I wanted to…" and then Finn could say no more as he was pulled deep under.
***
Luke was a fool. He pulled up at home, the place he'd tried to make a sanctuary of peace for his mate and found it in tatters. The yard was torn up from many feet and tire treads. The front porch looked like the gaping mouth of a child who needed braces. Jagged and broken, something horrible had happened there and Luke hadn't been there to prevent it. Daryl and Conner were at his sides, as stunned as he was.
Luke had been on his way to Lucian's home base, he wasn't stupid though and had had Daryl meet him on the way. Conner was with Daryl when he'd called. Now, the three of them were speechless and searching.
"They're not in there," Daryl said, sniffing the air in front of them.
But they had been. Their scents lingered, as did the scents of more than a dozen shifters, including Lucian's. Luke couldn't help it. He shifted, needing his animal more than his animal needed him. He bent
his head back and howled. It would scare the neighbors, but he didn't care.
Daryl and Conner shifted as well, animal instinct, and joined him in his howl. Nose in the air, Luke let his wolf take almost complete control as he searched for a scent to track, the scent that would bring him to his mate. He found it and although he wanted to hold his breath from smelling, that scent would bring him to his mate. He let it fill him and then followed the direction it went, running after the sharp, bitter scent of his mate's pain.
They ran a few miles. It had been impossible to stay out of sight. There would be news reports for sure. Luke could not care less. The closer the got the clearer his mate's scent became and what Luke sensed drove him crazy. Pain. Utter and absolute. Nothing like the hungry need he'd felt from him before. This was edged with danger and impending death. He skidded to a stop at a clinic that looked like it was closed. Luke shifted, mid-step, and continued to follow Finn's scent when he was slammed from the side. He grunted, slamming against the pavement.
"I knew you'd be coming soon," Lucian said. He'd let his claws show and when he spoke, Luke saw his jaws. "I thought at first to just go in and take him, but this is better." He was suspended somewhere between human and wolf, looking so much like those stupid werewolf movie monsters. Luke decided he hated him even more now.
Hate or not, he didn't have time to battle it out, not when his mate was on the other side of that wall, needing him. "Go away, Lucian, we'll do this properly, with the pack in attendance."
"Listen to you and your old pack traditions. I don't give a shit about all of that. You know, if I have one regret in all this it is that you won't have to experience what I did when I lost my sweet angel. Do you know what it is like to be cleaved in two? You should be thanking me, Luke. You won't live long enough to feel that pain." Lucian relaxed abruptly. "Or, maybe he isn't that important to you? You've lived most your life alone. Walk away. How bout this, I'll even give you any little pups that come out of him. I don't give a shit."
Luke and his wolf were one. He didn't care that the babbling man in front of him was an alpha or that he was clearly insane from grief. He was threatening his mate, threatening their off spring, making a claim on what was his. It was unacceptable. Luke moved with no indication that he was going to. He punched, strong and true, cutting his own knuckles against Lucian's teeth. Lucian's head snapped back as many of his teeth exploded from his mouth like a sparkler. There was a snapping sound, and when his body whipped back forward, Lucian's head flopped forward, his neck broken and his body limp. Luke didn't take any time to gloat over his kill, it wasn't honorable or how he'd wanted it done. Lucian's pack wouldn't accept it, but none of that mattered to Luke now.
He spun as if Lucian had been a small detour and followed Finn's scent to a small side door. It was locked. Somewhere down the building wall, glass broke. Conner disappeared through the window and a minute later, the door opened. Luke went through, ignoring everything else as all of the scents bombarded him. His mate, pain, fear, it bit at his tongue and burned the roof of his mouth. Then there was blood and antiseptic.
Luke opened a swinging door and felt his body turn into stone. On the other side of the large window, his Finn lay lifeless on a gurney, the sheet at his stomach stained red. Frannie was turned away from him, hunched over and shuddering like she was sobbing. But, Luke couldn't seem to look away from the pale, still face of his mate. The beautiful color, the glow that had surrounded him, was gone. He looked ashen…dead.
A man, Felix, walked into view then, his front covered in blood. Luke roared and started forward. Daryl held his arms, daring to stop him.
"Listen son, listen," he said repeatedly.
Luke stalked forward, slowly into the room, no one noticed his entrance and then he did listen. A soft cry, a shush and an even louder cry. Frannie turned around. She'd been hunched over but because she'd been holding Luke's child. He knew it for what it was. His offspring, his baby. It was beautiful and yet, Luke couldn't enjoy it, not until he knew for sure that his ears weren't deceiving him, that he really was hearing a slow, steady heart that beat out his soul's song. Even as he stepped forward, that song was growing quieter, slowing.
"Finn," he whispered, going to his love's side. "Finn, please, you have to be alright. I need you. All of this, it's meaningless without you by me. The pack, all of it. I'm a lone wolf without you. I'm alone without you."
Chapter Nineteen
Finn was floating. Above himself? Inside himself? He couldn't reach out and get a steady grip on location, time or place. He felt disconnected, incorporeal and free. In the distance he heard a baby's cry and his soul lunged toward it, but it was so far away and he was so very weightless. He wanted to get back down to where he belonged. The sky had opened up and blinded him with its light.
Then he felt it. Felt him. A strong hand, the only thing in the world that he could feel, squeezed his fingers and showed him that he could move, he could control where he went. He used its strength and went back down, following that gently, luring voice, knowing that he would follow that voice where ever it went.
Finn's eyes fluttered behind his eyelids. He tried opening them and found them still a little too heavy.
"He's coming out of it," a clinical, yet familiar voice said.
"That's right baby, slow, take your time, but listen to me, always listen to me."
So bossy.
There was a chuckle and Finn wondered if he had spoken out loud. He tried to turn his head toward the sweet sound but found he still didn't have that much control. He whimpered, intensely disliking being so helpless.
"You're safe, mate. I'm here. Take my strength, use my strength."
He had been and the truth was, Luke was more than strong enough for the two of them. He concentrated on his hand, still holding his prisoner, the light kisses he felt cross his cheek over his nose to the other cheek. His eyelids fluttered, artificial light, not the blinding pure white light of before, shone through. Then, another sound, the sweet cry of a newborn, sounded and his eyes flew open. He found his mate, right beside him, his kind face full of worry and then in his arms he saw a small bundle of blanket, but it was so much more than that. Luke's smile dazzled. He leaned forward so that Finn could see and then he placed the little bundle on his chest.
The tiniest little cheek pressed against his skin. The baby stopped crying instantly and sighed, warm and content. "It's a…it's a…" Finn couldn't finish, tears filled his eyes and emotion clogged his throat.
"A girl," Luke said, leaning over so that they were huddled together on the bed. A family.
"A girl," Finn cooed. "Hello Serena Ann."
With each passing moment he grew a little bit stronger, became more and more aware of his surroundings. They were in a surgical room, but the space outside was silent, like it was abandoned. He was in the middle of the room in a bed, the rest of his body covered with a white sheet. He didn't try to move his other limbs yet. Frannie was at his other side, standing back to allow them a private moment but when he made eye contact she burst into tears.
"I'm an aunt!" she wailed. Daryl was beside her, putting a gruff, comforting arm around her shoulders.
"I'm a grandpa," he said with pride.
Sorell, Pippen and Conner were there at his feet, all smiling. Finn smiled back, happy that his entire pack family was here and…Felix? He remembered Felix's pivotal role.
"Hey, bro," Felix said, cautiously. "Everything looks good from this end. Your staples are holding but it is really important that you rest for the next two weeks, minimum. Pain management will be most important. I can order some narcotics. I have a pal in the pharmacy. But…" he just stopped talking, like he'd reached the end of the amount of words he understood and was now trespassing on very confusing verbal territory. He shook his head. "You know what, love is love, if there is one thing I have learned working in the worst parts of the world is that love finds a way."
Was he blushing? Finn thought it had to have been the dwindling anesth
etic that made him think Felix had glanced back to his pack.
Felix left quickly after that, saying that he needed to contact that friend to get the narcotics quickly but that he would come back to clean up all trace of them in the room. He left them with enough pain killer, gauze and wrap to keep the wound clean to last for the ride home and said to call if there were any changes.
Outside the clinic, Finn clutched the baby to his front, sitting in a wheelchair, trying not to hiss his discomfort every time they rolled over something bumpy. Luke hovered as it was, his arms outstretched, his hands open to catch or block. He moved to the side abruptly, obviously blocking Finn's sight from something that lay huddled on the ground. It was furry and very dead.
"Lucian?" Finn said.
"I forgot to tell you. He was here. I'm sorry, Finn, it had to be done."
"I understand. Do all shifters revert to their wolf form?"
Luke nodded grimly.
"There is still so much about shifters that I don't know. How will I be able to help raise our baby?"
"I'll teach you," Luke said, kissing both baby and father on the cheek.
Epilogue-Read on at your own risk!
Four weeks later and Luke wondered if he had really ever appreciated the amount of sleep he had been able to get before the baby. He also wondered what the hell he'd done with all those hours in his day. But he wouldn't trade a thousand sleep filled nights for any moment that he'd had with his mate and child. It was coming on 5am, and Luke could tell from the change in the baby's breathing that she was about to wake up with that special wailing alarm tone she'd spent the weeks perfecting. He hugged Finn to his chest, intent on enjoying the last few moments of bed with him. Finn's naked form wrapped around his body like the sexiest fucking blanket he'd ever had. Warm too. And satisfied. Every non-baby moment had been filled with loving his mate, proving to him every moment of each day that he was as wanted as the first time he'd seen him bent over in the kitchen.
Right on cue, little Serena Ann opened her mouth and wailed.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 15