Christian didn't think he had to answer.
Sorell turned to Luke. "Did you call Felix? Is he on his way? He doesn't look--"
"Shh, now," the woman said, coming up beside Sorell.
Christian saw her clearer now, her crazy curly hair and deep brown eyes. "You're Finn's sister?" he said.
"Yep, Frannie, nice to meet you. You'll notice the rest of our family, our pack," she said the word experimentally like she was still getting used to the term. "That is Pippen, Conner and Daryl." She pointed them each out. "Felix, mine and Finn's brother and also our newly appointed shifter doctor has already been in to see you. You'll notice your IV."
He hadn't, but he did now.
"You were dehydrated, he said," Frannie told him.
Christian looked around the room, unable to believe that he was safe. He thought of Derrick, of how he'd always felt safe with him. Not always sane, but always safe. He hadn't felt that again until this moment. "Thank you for… rehydrating me."
Frannie's face clouded with worry, and she went to Luke, taking little Serena Ann from him. Luke stepped forward, in front of all the others.
"What is it?" Christian asked, knowing bad news when he saw it.
"Felix evaluated you while you were sleeping. He said that your vitals were all fine. Low, but not too worrisome. But, he did mention only being able to hear two heartbeats," Luke said.
"Two?" Christian said, thinking he was way too big for just two babies. "Twins?"
Finn stood and took his place by Luke's side. "No, two total, Christian. Yours and one other."
"That's… that's not…." Christian blanked.
Sorell took his hand again. "He wondered if you had had any ultrasounds done? He's basing everything on just how big you are, but that if you'd had an ultra—"
"No, I didn't know how to find…"
"That fucking, alpha. Why didn't you call me?" Sorell sounded mad.
"Sorell!" Frannie said his name sharply, making the baby cry. She quickly shushed it back to happiness.
Christian gave Sorell a thankful smile. "He didn't know. There was, were, complications in his pack. I had to leave."
Finn stepped forward, patting Christian's foot. "Well, until we know there is something to worry about, let's not worry. Felix went to get some equipment. He sometimes borrows things on the weekends from the free clinic he works at. He'll load up everything he can fit in his car and then come back. He's the best, Christian. He'll help you get to the bottom of it all."
Christian blinked away the worry and despair. If he let his mind go down that path, there would be no end. He would sink to the bottom. Never had he needed his mate more than now. The desire to see Derrick, be near him, to hold his hand, was as strong as his desire to breathe. "I shouldn't stay here long," he said finally. "There is this pack leader. His pack found my apartment. It was why I had to leave in the first place."
"You mean, Lucian?" Luke asked.
"He's gone," Finn said. "Luke took care of him."
Christian knew there was more to that story but before he could ask every shifter in the room looked up towards the front of the house at the same moment. He guessed they had all heard something he was too pregnant to hear. The next moment, a pounding sounded on the door. Frannie handed the baby off to an older looking shifter and moved to leave the room and answer the door, but one of the other shifters held her back. He was tall and pale, with white blond hair. He reminded Christian of a fairy prince. "That's not Felix," the shifter said in a surprisingly soft and high voice.
The knock sounded again, this time, more persistent and angrier.
How long had Christian been sleeping?
"I will break this door down," Derrick yelled. Apparently long enough for a plane ride. Christian had been right to hide out until the last minute. It seemed as though Derrick had been watching his hometown.
The growling and grumbling that he heard coming from the room he was in made his hair stand up.
Christian sat up a little, scared that violence was near. "I know him," he assured the pack. "He's the father."
"Do you want to see him?" Sorell and Finn asked at the same time.
More than anything.
"Yes."
They shuffled out. Frannie took back Serena Ann, and the rest of them followed Luke to the door. So much had happened since he'd left. It looked like Finn had found a love and a family to keep him happy.
Christian would be happy for him one day. At this moment he could only strain his ears, listening as the front door opened. Angry talking ensued followed by a few loud thumping noises. Christian bit his lip. The growling was being kept to a minimum, and there was no yelping, not yet.
The door of the room he was in opened quickly, softly bouncing as it hit the wall. In the doorway stood Derrick, with a dark expression, dressed in a suit, looking like he just stepped out of a meeting.
When Christian had ran away, he told himself that Derrick would be upset at first but that one day he would move on. As much as that thought hurt him, he liked the idea of his mate being happy again. He wasn't happy now. One thing was true, the man standing in the doorway was not the doting lover he'd left.
"Derrick," Christian whispered his name.
#
How many nights had Derrick heard that voice in his dreams only to wake up to an empty bed and a breaking heart? He never imagined the sight in front of him now. Christian's face was thinner, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. His lips were chapped, and his limbs seemed more wiry than muscled as they had been. Most noticeably was the pregnant belly that rounded out from his body like a huge ball. He hadn't let himself think about what Christian would look like while carrying his child. From the looks of it, he was carrying his children.
Anger welled up inside him when he thought about how Christian had taken that time away from him. He'd denied Derrick the opportunity to dote on him and watch Christian's body grow and accommodate the life they'd made together. He'd never get that because this man laying in front of him had taken it away.
He cleared his throat. The entire way plane ride here, from the moment he'd been informed of Christian's whereabouts, he had worked on staying calm, staying distant. It wouldn't do to lose his cool now, at the crucial moment. "I'm taking you back to the mansion. I have a team of doctors waiting to care for you and the child or children." He worked so hard to keep the emotion from his voice.
"I'm not going back there," Christian said. "You don't seem very surprised to see this."
"Because I knew you were pregnant before you left and yes, you are. I don't know why you left me, again. I assume you didn't trust me enough to handle everything that needed to be handled. That was your choice. You made it, but now I have to make mine. You will stay there at least until the children are born at which point I will take custody of what is mine."
Christian shot out of bed much too quickly, the IV in his arm ripped out. Derrick tried to help him, but Christian flinched away from him. "You are not taking my…." He was breathing so hard his words cut off.
The door opened. A brown haired mated human stormed in. Derrick assumed it was Finn. Ugh, that guy again. He growled and immediately Finn was blocked by a wall of muscle. This was the alpha, clearly. Finn peeked his head over the alpha's shoulder. "You are not taking him if he doesn't want to go!" Finn yelled.
Derrick had known they were eavesdropping, the entire tiny pack was. He didn't think they'd be so shameless about it. He let the calm seep back into his tone. "It isn't your decision. He is pregnant with my children. I have every right—"
"This isn't the 1900s! You don't own him," another shifter said, Derrick was surprised to see he recognized him. Sorell.
"No harm is going to come to him. I have the best doctors waiting." Derrick couldn't believe he had to have this conversation. He could just call his people in, restrain the whole pack, and take what he wanted. But that would upset Christian, and he would always care about what upset Christian.
"We
have the best doctor here! Finn's brother," Sorell replied.
"That is kind," said a human with brown hair curly enough that it had to be the brother doctor. "If you're all fighting about whether or not the patient can be moved, the answer is no. He is much too far along to fly, and the stress of a long trip would probably set him into an early labor scenario. One we could deal with easily here, but that would be problematic on the road."
"Then I'll buy an ambulance to transport him—" Derrick started but felt Christian brush his hand with his own, the gentlest caress.
"Please, Derrick. Let me stay here to have them. The other pack leader, the reason I had to leave, he's gone now. It's safe."
"The other alpha?" Derrick looked up at the crowd in the room. "You defeated him?" he asked the other alpha, Luke.
Luke nodded the affirmative.
Derrick searched him. "Where is it?" he asked, meaning the old alpha's tooth. It was the shifter way.
"I don't have it. I never assumed the role."
Derrick didn't respond. They certainly did do things differently around here. That wouldn't matter, not once he got his mate and children back where they belonged. Derrick played hardball. He knew that Christian would never leave the mansion again if it meant leaving his children.
He loathed using his unborn children this way, but apparently, fate had given him a mate that didn't want him if sticking around was any indicator of wanting. He'd have to claim his family using whatever tools available to him.
"Fine, you can stay," he said turning back to Christian. He wanted to bathe in the relief that flashed in his unwilling mate's eyes. "But I'm staying too."
"Now that that is handled," the brother doctor said, moving into the room. "Conner, Pippen and Sorell could you go get the portable ultrasound unit out of the car?" He moved to Christian's side. "And let's get this back in your arm," he said gently, pulling out a new IV set-up. "You were pretty dehydrated. I can't imagine that felt very good."
Derrick growled deep in his chest. He hadn't meant to direct it to anyone but saw Christian flash worried eyes at him. Worried for Derrick's safety? Or for everyone else?
The shifters returned, hefting a piece of equipment. Just then, Derrick heard a baby crying. He looked to the alpha of the pack, Luke. "Yours?" he asked looking from Luke to Finn.
Luke puffed with pride. "Yes," he put an arm over Finn's shoulders. "Ours."
Derrick nodded. "Just the one, though?" he said, glancing at Christian's large belly.
"It's the quality," Luke said, pronouncing his words perfectly.
"Besides, Derrick," Christian whispered softly. "That's what Felix is here to check. He couldn't hear more than one baby's heartbeat earlier."
Derrick felt his insides grow cold like someone had filled him with ice cubes. That couldn't be right. He got to his knees beside Christian's bed, reaching for his hand but second thinking it. He put his hand on the bed instead and intently watched as Felix set up the equipment. Wordlessly, he plugged it in the machine whirred to life. Felix went to Christian and lifted his shirt up. Derrick didn't like seeing that. He knew the other man was a doctor, but he was young and had a bit too much of an alpha look about him, for a human.
Felix applied a gel to Christian's stomach and then used a wand type thing to glide over his pregnant belly. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breaths. Felix's face broke out into a smile and the room exhaled.
"You can't see it well on this thing, but you can hear them," Felix said, turning a knob. "Three, healthy, beating hearts. Congratulations you two, I hope you have money saved. You're having triplets."
Chapter 20
Christian sat on Finn's bed, watching Finn as he changed Serena Ann. "We need more space. That's for sure. But, Frannie doesn't want us to leave and frankly no one really wants to go. Her house was always big for just one person, but now we are trying to fit two humans, five shifters, and a baby into four bedrooms. It's a little impossible," Finn said.
"I'm sorry to make it worse," Christian said. He'd taken up residence in what he found out was Daryl and Sorell's room. They'd recently converted the garden shack into an extra room.
There hadn't been room in the house for Derrick, and no one thought it was a good idea to have Derrick and Luke too near to each other for too long. They had a habit of having little bets, tiny competitions as if they were constantly trying to prove which was the better alpha. Christian assumed Derrick stayed in a hotel very near to the house, judging by how he could get there so quickly and was at the house so often visiting him.
Christian looked at little Serena Ann. Was he ready to have that, times three?
"Do you want to hold her?" Finn asked, a wide, comfortable smile on his face. He saw Christian's hesitation and lifted her towards him. "I was nervous at first too. She looks so fragile. And she is, but she's damn tough, too."
Christian took the tiny baby into his arms, and she snuggled right into his chest. His heart nearly exploded. She was perfect and loved, just like Christian's babies would be.
Who cared if the circumstances weren't what he would have liked, to have the whole package like Finn did? A family and an alpha who loved him wholly and unconditionally? He'd almost had that once but had run away from it so that other people wouldn't suffer.
He felt, more than heard, Derrick's presence and looked up. He was in the doorway staring at Christian holding Serena Ann with a peculiar expression. It almost looked like how he would look at him before. Derrick caught him looking, and the impassive mask that he'd been wearing since they'd reunited slipped back on.
"My scouts have informed me that there has been some activity at your apartment. I'm going to go down and see if I can figure out who it is. Best to be me since I am already familiar with the scents there."
Christian handed Serena Ann back to Finn. "I'll go."
"Absolutely not, I don't know what the activity is, it could be dangerous."
"There is no one left to hurt me. Lucian is dead, you're here, I don't have any other enemies." Christian hadn't meant to lump Derrick in with his enemies but he'd seen Derrick's reaction, and there would be no explaining that to him.
"Be that as it may, you can hardly walk. Felix has told me you should rest as much as possible."
"It's one hour, Derrick. I think I can handle one hour." If he walked very slowly and didn't overexert himself. This triplet business was exhausting, but he kind of wanted to go back to his old apartment. He hadn't been there yet. And he liked the idea of being in a car alone with Derrick. Since Derrick had burst through that door, he had ranged from asshole to nearly almost nice, but he hadn't once seemed like the mate Christian had left. He wasn't blaming Derrick. Christian knew whose fault it was. "What if it's my dad or someone who works for him? They won't know you. They could shoot first as and not bother asking questions because you're dead. If I'm there, I can explain to whoever it is quickly and safely." Now that he said it he couldn't think of who else it could be. "I'll grab my jacket."
A few minutes later Christian was sitting in the passenger seat of Derrick's rental, a sleek black Lexus. He shut the door and tried to wrap the seat belt over his body, but couldn't twist enough to get the buckle latched. He was about to give up and just tie himself somehow to the chair when Derrick took the latch from him. Derrick's fingers brushed against Christian's skin as he did, probably accidentally, but a shock passed through him anyway.
He'd forgotten the thrill of Derrick's touch. Derrick latched it quickly and then started the car. How could this be the first time they'd been alone since the fisherman shack? "How's Mémé?" Christian asked because he was a lame chicken who had taken the coward's way out. And because he cared.
Derrick looked like he wouldn't answer. Then opened his mouth. "She's crazy, like always."
"And your parents?" Christian asked. He had searched Derrick's left hand for a wedding ring the first time he'd seen him and did again now. He kept waiting for it to appear like Derrick hadn't worn it at first to be ni
ce but would again.
"They're fine. I did not marry Bridgette," he said shortly.
"Oh, I didn't think…"
"You stare at my left hand like it is a snake preparing to strike." He gripped the steering wheel. "Why would you care anyway? You left me, remember?"
"It was for—"
"I don't care what it was for!" Derrick yelled, his anger bounced around the inside of the car. "Of course you had a reason, you aren't flighty. But that makes it worse. You thought about your decision to leave me and in the end, the reward of leaving outweighed the cost of not having me in your life."
Derrick pulled into Christian's apartment building parking garage. Good thing too, because Derrick was so mad, he shook. When he spoke, his voice was very quiet. "The worst of it for me? I was fixing it. I fixed it. I joined the packs, but as businesses. One business assuming the other, creating Robineaux Incorporated. Bridgette is the VP of the northern branches. The pack members are mixed so that there is an even number from each on every committee board. I moved it away from the structure of a pack and towards a sustainable business model where my family retains control but has room to evolve. It's been running without a hitch since its conception. I did all of that for you. For us. But you didn't care enough to stay." He got out of the car, letting in a burst of chilly air. Autumn was coming fast.
Christian sat in the passenger seat for a moment, shivering. He tightened the collar of his sweater around his body. Disappointment warred with sadness inside of him. He'd been trying to make things easier on everyone, but himself. Now that Derrick had spoken his mind, Christian realized he'd done something else unintentionally. He'd made his mate think that he doubted him. Christian thought Derrick could move a mountain if he put his mind to it. But moving that mountain would hurt him and maybe injure him in a way he would never recover from. That had been what Christian was trying to avoid.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 31