"Where is Seth?" Felix asked.
"Dead. You need to call the police. He was a human."
All of Pippen's muscles bunched up like individual snakes preparing to strike. He needed to get out there, get his weapons, find Silas, kill him. He struggled to sit up but Felix restrained him and then Conner. Pippen struggled against his mate, fighting to get free. He didn't want to hurt Conner, but he needed to find that sweet, innocent child. She didn't deserve the violent life she'd been born into. "We have to get her," Pippen screamed, gone were any thoughts of keeping his voice quiet. He screamed so loudly his voice hurt. "Let me up, I need to find her!" he screeched.
From the corner of his eye he could see Felix had returned with a needle. "No, Felix. No. Conner, don't let him—" Conner had his arm down and Pippen felt a sharp prick before his eyes, full of betrayal, drifted closed.
Pippen blinked his eyes and then moaned. His throat was so dry and his head hurt. He heard Conner's deep voice and smiled, still groggy, he looked for his mate in the bright room. He was in the pack house living room on the couch. Conner was beside him and behind him was Frannie, her eyes full of tears. Finn was beside her and Daryl stood on the other side of the couch like a guard standing watch. With dread, Pippen reached down to rub his belly and felt gauze just as it all came back to him. "Felicity," he gasped, trying to sit up and finding it pretty much impossible. He couldn't even sit up. The pregnancy had weakened him that much and now he wouldn't be the one to pay for that weakness, Felicity would.
"You need to try to rest, love. Felix doesn't want you to tear yourself open. We are going to get her back, don't worry."
Don't worry? Why not tell him not to breathe?
Luke came into focus then. "What do we know about this note, 'our special place,' where is that?"
Pippen shook his head. He didn't have a place with Silas. No matter how many times he tried telling everyone they weren't a sentimental couple like that, no one—it seemed including Silas—believed him.
"We didn't have a place in Mississippi and we sure as hell don't have a place here."
"Can you think of a moment you had with him, maybe that moment made the place special?" Frannie suggested.
It was a good idea, but still, he'd spoken to Silas in a total of four locations. "I doubt Silas is at Sorell's house, at the 45th Pub or in the middle of the street right there." He pointed out the living room window to where he'd had a conversation with him that night that felt like lifetimes ago.
"We can send scouts out, every available pack member I have," Felix suggested.
"No!" Conner and Pippen both exclaimed at the same time. "He said in his note that I was to be alone. I don't trust what he would do if you did that."
Everyone started talking over each other and Pippen leaned back away from the noise. It bounced around in his head.
"Conner, please, I need air," he said, grabbing Conner's sleeve. Conner helped him into a wheelchair.
"I'll take you to the backyard, Andrea is back there with Adam and Bettina," he said as if warning him.
"Fine, I don't care," Pippen replied. Conner rolled him away just as Felix was beginning to tell everyone about how Seth had shifter ties and they would have to let his family know what happened. Conner looked at Pippen like he really didn't want to leave him, but he needed to be inside, where the planning was taking place. Pippen couldn't stomach listening to them try to decide the best way not to kill his daughter.
"Pippen," Andrea said quietly. She sat on the patio chair with her legs drawn up and her arms looped around them looking more like a doll now then ever. "I'm so—" She choked on a sob and quickly wiped her face as Adam noticed and trotted over.
"Mama?" he asked with a child's knowledge that something was wrong, but no idea what.
"Yes, baby?"
"I love you," he said simply and then skipped away.
Pippen's heart broke in half. That simple exchange from parent to child, he would never have that if he didn't find a way to get his child back in his arms. It would have to be him, he'd known that since Conner had read the note. The alphas in the living room could snap and growl over plans and ideas, but in the end, Pippen knew he would have to do it on his own.
"I know that face, and I want to warn you against whatever you are planning," Andrea whispered. "I keep replaying every moment that I had with Silas and now that I see his words in the light they were meant to be seen in, I realize that what I mistook for goodness was single-mindedness. You are all that is on his mind. The rest of us are just pawns to him, to move around and sacrifice as he needs."
Sacrifice. Yes, that had been one of Silas' favorite games. To pit two people, normally a boyfriend and girlfriend, against each other to see if one would sacrifice for the other. Or better, if one would offer the other up in exchange for freedom. It didn't work for those couples no matter what they chose—either way Silas got what he wanted. If their special place was where they spent the most time together it was around sadness, violence, and death.
Pippen gasped. "I know where he'll be."
***
Pippen picked the lock of the clinic door with some difficulty. He wasn't used to doing it from a sitting position. The door clicked and Pippen pulled it open, struggling again to wheel through while holding the door. He cursed in frustration and then stubbed his finger against the doorway.
Finally he was inside, and rolled himself not so silently down the dark hallway. He would have to trust that Silas turned off the alarm, just as he would have to trust that Silas was where he thought. Recalling the map of the clinic that Andrea had shown him, Pippen took a left down the hallway and then got on the elevator, taking it to the basement floor.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Pippen spotted a sign that said, "Morgue," attached on the hallway wall. If he was the sort to be scared easily, this moment might have terrified him. He almost expected the hallway lights to start blinking on and off but they were off of course, the only light coming from the emergency exit signs every few feet. Pippen rolled a little further on and saw another light, abnormally bright in the surrounding darkness, shining from under the door of a room ahead on the right. He didn't need to look at the sign to know he was in the right place.
Once he'd really thought about it, their special place had become obvious. The only thing that linked Silas to Pippen, the thing that made him think they were so well matched, was death. Pippen pushed the door open and rolled in.
Silas stood on the other side, leaning against a row of body shelves. His face had healed and his hair had grown a little longer, making him look a little bit like one of those television gladiators. He held something bundled in a pink blanket.
"Silas," Pippen said sharply, pushing his hands on the tires to roll quickly.
He held the bundle up over his head and put out a flat palm to Pippen with his other. "Whoa there, Pips. Put on the brakes. Ha. Literally."
Pippen complied. "Let me see her, please. Is she okay?"
"Of course our child is okay," Silas said, surprised. "I would never hurt little Tequila."
"Her name is Felicity."
"No, her name is Tequila. You never even asked me if I liked Felicity and I don't, it's a dumb name."
"I didn't ask you because she isn't—"
"Careful, Pips," Silas said, all of his playful tone gone, his voice was low, reminding him of the old Silas he knew. "I'm playing along here. Not because I'm crazy, but because it is the only way I could allow you to keep it. I can smell him in her and I hope for your sake, that smell fades or else Tequila will have to go to boarding school. The boarding school in the sky, of course." Silas smiled at his horrible joke.
"Please don't hurt her," Pippen whispered.
Silas stepped forward, clutching the baby to his front. "I like the sound of you begging. I've never heard it before. I've heard other people begging, of course. But I never thought I would hear it from your mouth." Silas licked his lips. "It's beautiful, love."
P
ippen wanted to scream for him to not call him that endearment. It was an intentional slap in the face. "I did what you asked, Silas. I came to our special place with my bag packed and I'm alone. Give her to me, please. I'll go with you. It's not like I can run away."
"You can't, can you? You let that oaf hobble you. Weaken you. Where is he now, Pippen? Where is your oaf?"
"He doesn't know," Pippen mumbled. "He thinks I'm resting."
"Sneaky," Silas said, approvingly. The baby wiggled in his arms, making a tiny noise.
Pippen was so relieved to hear that small squeak. He could hear her heartbeat so he knew she was alive already, but that squeak gave him the courage to do what he needed to do, to save his child. He tightened his hold on the bag he'd brought. "Give her to me and we can go. I don't know how much longer I have and he will track me."
Silas nodded. "Good idea. Except, I know you and I don't trust you. Toss the bag over here."
"What? Why?"
Silas cocked his head to the side. "Do it," he snapped.
Pippen threw his black bag across the room as well as he could. It landed a few feet short of Silas, who stepped carefully forward, keeping his eye on Pippen the entire time. He picked the bag up, setting it on the table. Unzipping it, he peered inside before clucking his tongue, disapprovingly. "You won't need this," he said, pulling out Pippen's knife, the one he usually kept secure and hidden in his back pocket but couldn't because he was in a damn wheelchair. "Or this," Silas said, nearly laughing as he used one the shirts Pippen packed to grab a small revolver that he'd gotten from Frannie. Silas deposited both weapons in the garbage and rummaged through the bag. "Only two? Pippen, you have gone soft."
Silas approached him. Sitting as he was, he came up to Silas' chest. "Don't worry, Pips. I'll make you hard again," Silas said, meaning all of the innuendo. "I wasn't lying before. The pack was never the same after you left. My life was so boring. I tried replacing you, but there was no one with your level of ruthlessness." For a moment, Silas actually looked genuinely sad.
Finally, Pippen believed what he said was true. With sorrow, he couldn't help but think if he'd believed Silas from the beginning, maybe none of this would have happened. His baby wouldn't be in danger, he wouldn't have had to hurt Conner as he did.
"Please let me hold her," Pippen whispered, staring at Silas' chest with tear-filled eyes.
"Of course, for a kiss."
Pippen knew this was coming, he'd known from the moment he'd formed this plan that this moment would come. It didn't prepare him for his wolf's utter revulsion at kissing the shifter in front of him. He had to fight his limbs from swinging out of their own accord and punching Silas. He probably couldn't hit Silas that hard anyway. He closed his eyes and imagined Conner, puckering his lips he inclined his face upwards, hoping Silas would make it short and sweet.
He felt Silas' lips, urgent and hard against his mouth. He tried, unsuccessfully to gain access to Pippen's mouth, but Pippen kept his teeth clenched. He was afraid he would vomit if he didn't. Finally, with a frustrated growl, Silas pulled back and punched Pippen right where his bandages were. Pippen yelped and saw white spots in his vision. He gasped, grasping onto the pain as he came to terms with it while counting his breath. Seconds later he looked up at Silas with cold, hard eyes. "You'll pay for that," he said.
Silas laughed out loud. "There you are, coming back already. Here." He practically threw the baby in his lap. Pippen caught her and nuzzled her to his face. She did indeed smell of Conner and him. Her brown eyes stared up at him knowingly. Pippen wondered why she wasn't crying and worried. "She is weirdly quiet for a small monster," Silas said. "I think that's the you in her, a tiny killer, watching and waiting." Silas moved to Pippen's handles, spinning the chair around. "Let's go," he said, opening the door.
"My bag," Pippen protested. "I packed items for Fel—Tequila."
Silas skipped back to the other side of the room where he'd left Pippen's bag. As he did, Pippen set Felicity in his lap, pushing forward as hard as he could out of the room and down the hallway. He heard Silas laugh behind him.
"Where do you think you are going to roll to?" he called out as Pippen made it to the elevator. He pressed the button frantically as Silas came out of the morgue. "You ridiculous thing. Is this the pregnancy hormones? You're weak now, Pippen. You can't run from me and in fact I'm getting a little angry that you—" Silas stopped talking as the elevator doors opened. Sorell stepped out of the elevator, putting himself between Pippen and Silas.
"Silas, you can stop now," Sorell pleaded. "You can go back to your pack and answer for your charges. Maybe they will be lenient?"
"Is this your big plan, Pippen?" Silas leaned over, talking around his brother. "I don't give a fuck about Sorell. I originally wanted it to be his body in the middle of the street but the stupid fucker was never alone. Him and those twins, it was going to be so dramatic. I guess I just kill him now?" Silas sounded like he didn't want to— not because he didn't want to kill his brother, but because there would be no theatricality in it.
"At least he tried," Pippen said, rolling slowly back into the elevator, Sorell by his side. "You see, I'm not the Pippen I was. That Pippen would have shown up alone like you asked. That Pippen would have demanded he did it all on his own because he was so ruthless, so strong. That Pippen didn't know that accepting help doesn't make you helpless," Pippen said before pressing the button that would close the elevator doors. As they began sliding shut, every door in the hallway in front of and behind Silas burst open.
Conner, Luke, and Felix were first to get to him. Then Daryl and Oscar followed by Stella. The mission had been on a volunteer basis and it looked like everyone had volunteered.
Pippen was happy when the doors shut and the elevator moved up. He knew that Silas deserved what was coming to him, but found he didn't have the stomach for it.
"Are you okay?" Sorell asked him.
"I think I will be. Are you? I'm sorry. He was your brother."
The doors opened and Sorell pushed Pippen to the car where they were to wait for their mates. "You are my brother, Pippen. He was just related." Sorell helped Pippen into the back seat where Pippen quickly unwrapped Felicity from the blanket Silas had wrapped her in and checked her over.
"Ten fingers, ten toes. I had no idea until now," Pippen said.
"Don't be a limbist," Sorell joked, handing Pippen a bottle they had prepared in a warmer for this moment. After he'd spoken with Andrea, it had become clear to Pippen what he needed to do. The only issue had been how to mask the scent of so many shifters so Silas wouldn't know they were there, waiting for him to get far enough away from Felicity before they attacked. Then he remembered that time in the storage room, the strong smells of ginger and peppermint masking Conner's presence. Felix had everyone who volunteered bathe in it and then doused the storage rooms in the morgue with the same spray. They were there for hours before Silas even showed up, waiting for the signal.
Pippen's hand shook as he guided the nipple into Felicity's waiting mouth. He couldn't believe it all worked. The back door flew open and Pippen snarled, instinctively shielding his baby. But then strong hands grabbed them both, pulling him and the child into a hug. "Fuck, that was the hardest thing I've ever done," Conner said into his hair. "Where did he hurt you? I heard you yell."
"He punched my bandage after I wouldn't let him put his tongue in my mouth."
Conner growled deep in his chest.
"Is he…?" Pippen asked, more for Sorell's sake.
Conner nodded. "He is. Felix is sending out a team to return his body back to the Mississippi pack. He doesn't suspect we will get much trouble from them, they had replaced him the moment he left."
"So it's done? We're safe?" Pippen asked.
Conner smiled widely, showing just how deep his dimples could get. "It's done, love." He looked down at Felicity, suckling on the bottle, "Little love," he added. "Let's go meet your family."
Epilogue
Pippen sat in a
chair, knife in hand. He looked at himself, reflected off of the knife's edge. Same pale hair and skin, same dark eyes. He angled the reflective surface down to reflect the adorable baby snuggled in his lap. That was new, so was the strong arm lazily draped over his shoulders like it belonged there. Which it did. For as long as life allowed them. Felicity looked up at him with knowing brown eyes. She was the quietest, most watchful child Pippen had been around.
"Are you going to cut the cake, love? Or just look at yourself all day? Not that I blame you," Conner said.
Pippen slid the knife through the center of a raspberry, white-chocolate, espresso cheesecake. He'd perfected the recipe with Andrea the day before and had been excited to serve it at the second pack dinner.
This time, not only was the entire downtown pack there, sitting around the large makeshift table, but so was Luke's now considerably smaller pack. He sat on the other end of the table with Finn and Serena Ann, laughing at something Stella was telling him. Frannie sat next to Oscar, who shifted a little bit uncomfortably in his chair. Pippen would bet his slice of cheesecake that she was grilling him over a number of possibly uncomfortable topics, Frannie was a tad shameless when it came to gathering fodder for her books. She always got permission of course, but was also a little relentless about getting permission. Built like a linebacker, Pippen had no doubt that Oscar could handle her.
"Tell her nothing," Finn called over the table to Oscar, with a frown. He was still upset that since Felicity was kidnapped before anyone knew her actual birth weight that no one had technically won the baby shower game. That meant that Frannie kept the prize that Finn and she had purchased together. Pippen shook his head at the two of them, glowering at each other like only siblings could. He wondered how Felicity would look at her brother or sister one day.
Andrea sat beside Pippen, cutting the cheesecake in front of her, handing pieces out as fast as she could place them onto plates. It was a lovely thing watching a wave of silence fall over the table of almost forty shifters and humans. The room, once full of laughter and talking, fell into satisfied silence interrupted only by a moan of enjoyment every once in a while.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 65