by Lynn Hagen
Clint stood at the top of the steps with his canines showing and his claws extended. His expression was filled with rage as he glared at Clarence.
“Not one more step, boy,” Clarence warned.
Seconds later, a stranger appeared behind Clint.
“What the hell you doin’ here, Jesse?” Clarence sneered.
This was the wolf alpha? Jesse relaxed against the railing, but his dark blue eyes said he was out for blood. He was tall, leanly muscled, and damn, were all men on these mountains good-looking?
“I’m here to deliver your dead body to Lazarus.” Jesse shrugged. “I’m really hoping we do this the hard way.”
Clint snapped his head around and glared at Jesse. “I told you I’d bring him to you.”
“Betrayer!” Clarence shouted. The blade dug deeper into Dane’s neck. He felt a trickle of warmth and knew the psycho had broken skin. “You don’t turn on family!”
“You bring him to me or I’ll come get him. It doesn’t matter to me,” Jesse told Clint. The man was too calm, too composed, and that scared Dane. He had a feeling Jesse could turn from unruffled to lethal in a blink.
Clint, on the other hand, looked like the devil himself. His eyes blazed with rage as his broad shoulders rose and fell with every heavy breath.
“Hand Dane over, old man,” Clint gritted out.
“Look at him,” Jesse said with a wave of his hand. “Man’s gone off the deep end and is swimming in insanity. You think he’s gonna listen to you?”
“Stay out of this,” Clint snapped.
Dane’s gaze shot to the steps as Bobby Ray and Duane slowly crept up them. There was tangible fear in Bobby Ray’s gray-green eyes. He glanced at Dane, then his father, and lastly, Jesse.
Clint took a step forward. Clarence snarled. The knife dug deeper. Dane placed his hand over his stomach, praying Clarence didn’t slice his throat and toss his dead body aside.
“I told ya not to come closer,” Clarence snapped. “You never were one to listen.”
“Okay.” Clint held up his hands and took a step back. He locked eyes with Dane. “I’m not coming any closer.”
“Every last one of ya is gonna get out of here. If you try and stop me, your human is dead.”
“Even if you kill him,” Jesse said, still calm and composed, “you’re not getting far. I’m not letting you leave here alive.”
“Will you shut up?” Clint snapped. “Have you ever heard the expression ‘don’t poke the bear’?”
“The crazy bear,” Duane added.
“The human doesn’t mean shit to me.” Jesse started forward. “Go ahead, cut his throat. I don’t care. But you’re gonna die, Clarence.”
In that moment, Dane hated Jesse. The fact he didn’t know Dane wasn’t an excuse to be so callous with Dane’s life. If he got out of this, he was going to kick Jesse straight in his nuts.
That was if Clint didn’t kill him first.
“You piece of shit!” Clint went after Jesse. “I’m gonna kill you with my bare hands.”
Clarence cackled behind him. “Nothin’ but animals.”
“And you’re the worst animal,” Dane said.
“You have no idea,” Clarence said against Dane’s ear. His hot breath made Dane want to throw up in his mouth. “You shouldn’t of ever come to these mountains, human.”
Angry, terrified, and desperate, Dane used all his strength to slam his foot down on Clarence’s. The man growled as Dane swung his elbow into Clarence’s gut. He dropped, rolled, and crawled as fast as he could as Clint and Jesse flew past him.
Their argument had been an obvious ruse to distract Clarence, but Dane was still pissed at Jesse for what he’d said.
Bobby Ray grabbed Dane and rushed him down the stairs as howls and growls followed them. Dane raced to the kitchen and threw up in the sink, shaking so badly that his legs wobbled with weakness and his insides cramped.
“I got ya, Dane.” Bobby Ray held on to him as Duane wet a cloth and wiped Dane’s face and neck.
“Try not to think about it,” Duane said.
That was hard advice to take when he could still hear Clint and Jesse tearing the upstairs apart.
Duane lifted Dane’s head and examined him. “The cut isn’t deep. It won’t need stitches.”
All three jumped when someone tumbled down the stairs. Dane tried to run toward the noise, but Bobby Ray grabbed him. “You don’t need to be in there. Clint doesn’t need the distraction.”
Duane stood in front of Dane, blocking him from seeing the fight that had moved to the living room. Things smashed and snarls echoed. Dane shut his eyes, covering his mouth to stifle his whimpers.
“Clint won’t let him win.” Bobby Ray guided Dane to the other side of the kitchen, far away from the entrance to the living room.
When he heard what sounded like a gunshot, Dane fought to get past Bobby Ray. “Clint!”
Clint stumbled into the kitchen, bloody and naked.
“Let me go!” Dane shoved Bobby Ray and raced to his mate. “Are you hurt?” He gripped Clint’s arm. “Tell me!”
Clint shook his head as he grabbed the back of a chair. He looked at Bobby Ray and Duane, then down at Dane. He blinked a few times then pulled Dane so tightly into his arms that Dane fought to breathe.
“Is he dead?” Bobby Ray asked.
“He’s dead,” Jesse said as he came into the kitchen, tucking the gun into the back of his waistband and seeming unfazed that he was also bloody. Dane looked away as he struggled to breathe in Clint’s arms.
Clint finally released him and looked at Bobby Ray and Duane. “Watch Dane while I help Jesse get him out of here.”
Dane collapsed into a chair as his mate and Jesse left the kitchen. He should’ve been upset that a life had been taken, but Dane felt nothing but relief that Clarence was no longer a threat to him or Clarence’s sons.
Dane screamed and fell out of his chair when the back door burst open and Wade and Walker barged through the broken frame.
“You missed the fight,” Bobby Ray said. “It’s over.”
“We just survived a fight of our own.” Wade glanced at Dane. “Why’re you on the floor?”
Dane pushed to his feet. “Maybe because your Rambo entrance scared me half to death.”
“What fight?” Duane asked.
“Damn leopards,” Walker snapped. “Guess they weren’t waiting on Jesse. They were heading this way when we ran into them.”
“The wolves helped us fight them off,” Wade said. “Glad those mutts were tracking us. They came in handy.”
Wade and Walker headed toward the living room as Trigger stepped through the door, gazing at the destroyed frame.
“I’m guessing I missed the party?” he asked.
Dane groaned and rubbed his forehead. He wasn’t sure he would survive living with this crazy family.
* * * *
“Don’t you dare make fun of my waddle,” Dane warned as he glared at Clint. “You did this to me, so be nice or I’ll put my foot up your ass.”
Clint held his hands up as his brothers snickered. “All I said was, ‘Waddle your adorable ass into the house before you freeze to death.’”
In truth, Clint loved Dane’s waddle. His mate was the sexiest thing on two legs and swollen feet. He planned on knocking Dane up as many times as he could, because damn…Dane was glowing and beautiful with a swollen belly.
Dane tilted his nose up as he headed inside.
“Better be careful.” Bobby Ray smiled. “He’s liable to either cry for the next hour or hit you over the head with a frying pan.”
That was the truth. Dane’s moods since entering his last trimester were a twirling roller coaster. Any time his mate cried, Clint panicked and did everything in his power to make his little human smile again. If Dane didn’t give birth soon, he just might cut Clint’s balls off.
“Enter at your own risk,” Clint warned as he and his brothers went inside.
Clint was glad to see that Dane had gone i
nto the kitchen. He’d half expected his mate to be standing by the door with a weapon.
As they removed their coats and boots, something clattered to the floor in the kitchen. With one boot still on, Clint rushed to see what Dane had dropped.
His mate was bent over, one hand curled around his stomach, the other holding the back of a chair. He’d knocked over the pan that had been on the stove.
“Dane, what’s wrong?” Clint moved to his side.
Sweat gathered at Dane’s brows as he panted and grimaced. “My stomach.” His eyes widened as he dropped to his knees and wrapped both hands around his belly.
“Is it time?” Clint grabbed Dane up and carried him toward the stairs.
“How the hell should I know?” Dane snapped. “It’s not like I’ve been through this before!”
“Is he having the cub?” Trigger asked as they passed him.
“I think so,” Clint said, climbing the stairs two at a time.
“Hot damn!” Bobby Ray shouted.
Clint ignored them as he laid Dane on the bed. He stripped his mate and covered his lower half with a blanket. “Tell me what you need, hon.”
Dane blew out a series of breaths as the dark line turned red. Clint had no idea what to do. They had no doctor because no shifter had been insane enough to enter bear territory with Clarence in charge.
He strangled a hand in his hair as he paced back and forth. His brothers slowly crept up the stairs and gathered around as Dane cursed Clint every which way from Sunday.
The birthing line began to open and Clint’s head spun. He took a step back, his eyes wide.
“If you even think of taking off, I’ll cut your dick off and beat you over the head with it!” Dane screamed at him. “Man the fuck up and get over here.”
“Holy shit,” Walker murmured as he stared at Dane’s stomach. “It’s like…” He shook his head. “I can’t think of anything to compare that to.”
Clint took a seat on the side of the bed and cupped Dane’s sweaty face with a shaky hand. “You’re doing good, babe.”
Dane whimpered and began to pant again as the birthing canal opened wider. Clint forced himself to watch.
“Get it out of me!” Dane thrashed and began to pale.
Not having the slightest clue what he was doing, Clint rolled up his sleeves, then reached inside. It was like sticking his hands into a bowl of wet spaghetti. He tried real hard not to think of that since he loved spaghetti.
“I feel the cub’s head.” Clint slipped his hands farther in, then grabbed what felt like the baby’s butt and shoulders. With a deep breath, he began to pull his child out.
Trigger hurried to the head of the bed and held Dane down as he thrashed, and Wade moved toward the bed, bath towel in hand.
Clint grimaced. Pulling his child free was painstakingly slow, but he didn’t want to make any mistakes. He might be acting on pure instinct, but a newborn was fragile and he didn’t want to hurt him or her.
The head came out first. Clint forced himself not to panic when he saw the child wasn’t breathing. He pulled the baby the rest of the way out, then rubbed his tiny chest with two fingers.
His son wailed as he wiggled and flailed. Wade wrapped the towel around the newborn as Dane collapsed, licking his lips as he closed his eyes.
“Look, babe.”
Dane opened his eyes and Clint moved their son into Dane’s line of sight. Clint was stunned when tears gathered in his eyes and his throat grew tight. “Our son.”
His brothers whooped and whistled as Clint laid their cub in the crook of Dane’s arm. In that second, Clint fell in love with the little guy and even more in love with Dane.
Bobby Ray slapped Clint’s shoulder. “Look at the big, bad Clint crying.”
Clint growled, knocking Bobby Ray’s hand away. “Just wait ’til I get you outside.”
“Party tonight!” Wade shouted. “We all get to kick your ass, Clint.”
Like he’d forgotten. “Okay, everyone out,” Clint barked. “Dane needs his rest and I need to bond with my family.”
“He’s perfect.” Tears rolled down Dane’s cheeks as Clint’s brothers filed downstairs. “I can’t believe we made him, that this little guy was inside me.”
“I’m gonna get something to wash him up.” Clint pressed a kiss to Dane’s forehead, then to his son’s. “I love you, Dane.”
Dane’s eyes widened. “We need a name for him.”
Clint rose and headed to the bathroom. He returned with a large towel, a bowl of warm water, and a cloth. “King,” Clint said. “It’s strong and I like how King Rising sounds.”
Dane grinned. “I like it, too.”
Clint washed their son as Dane’s birthing canal slowly closed.
Later that night, around a huge bonfire, he beat every last one of his brothers before they all got drunk off their asses.
Not even their years of abuse stopped them from celebrating the one tradition Clint planned on continuing for many generations to come. His brothers looked like hell after tangling with Clint, but they wore huge grins as they all partied until the sun came up.
In the wee hours of the morning, Clint climbed into bed and nestled their son between him and his sleeping mate. This was the start of a whole new life for the Rising men, and Clint looked forward to many years with Dane and King beside him.
THE END
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