by Anita Cox
Nala’s hair stood on end, but she kept her opponent in her sights. That’s when she heard it, the thumps of large wolf pads hitting dirt. Another Lycan was approaching. She shifted to wolf and leaped over the top of him, shifting into human, pulling the knife out of her boot and slicing the throat of the beast before landing on her feet.
Stephany screamed. “No weapons!”
“No weapons with my opponent. That was someone interfering. The rules are clear.”
Nala could hear Susan’s protests over the crowd. “That’s not fair. That’s cheating. Cheaters!”
“Quiet,” Jake urged her. “Pay attention.”
A commotion to the left stole her attention. Three of the Scottsboro pack members had grabbed three Gnomes by the throats. Nala froze. Her duty as Alpha was to protect her pack.
“Conceded and they go free,” Stephany sneered. Before Nala could think, the rest of the Gnomes jumped on the three wolves and began clawing and stabbing the wolves with Gnomes in their mouths. Extreme pressure closed around Nala’s throat. Her vision blurred. But what happened? She shifted her gaze down to find Jackson Kincade’s arm wrapped around her neck, squeezing.
She knew she had mere seconds before she was dead. He wouldn’t stop with her blacking out. He called a no quarter battle for a reason.
“Fight. Please fight Nala. This is a piece of shit, punk. You took down Jagger Merrill. Jackson Kincade can’t be the end of you. Fight for me. Fight for the pack!” She could hear the tears in Colin’s mental voice. He was pleading with her to fight.
Her feet were not touching the ground. Her hands could not reach the man behind her. Her legs kicked but did little damage. Remember your training. Blackness began closing around her and her muscles started to twitch. She had to shift but…peace. Peace was creeping in. It was light and airy. No pain. No guilt. No nightmares. Pure, unadulterated peace and tranquility.
“Nala, I love you. Now please, fight for me. Come back to me.” Colin! He needed her. He didn’t deserve to suffer because of one weak moment. She closed her eyes and focused hard. Her skin blazing as she fought to shift with what tiny energy she had left. Her vision blurred one final time before she felt the tingling over her body as hands and feet were replaced with paws, her face replaced with a muzzle. She scrambled and wriggled until Jackson could no longer hold her neck. He dropped her.
Nala spun, biting his inner thigh where she thought a major artery resided. She chomped down hard, feeling his blood pulse in her mouth. When he fell to the ground she leaped up, locking her jaws around his throat and bit down hard, pulling back until Jackson’s lifeless body stopped moving.
“No!” Stephany Kincade dropped to her knees and screamed.
Nala fell back on the ground and stared at the body of Jackson Kincade. Eyes glazed over, throat now a gaping bloody hole. Color already draining from his face, he was gone.
Kill or be killed.
She sat down on her rump and hung her head, crying out. This didn’t have to be. No one had to die today. The archaic rules had to be abolished.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Colin whispered in her ear as he stroked her fur. “You did what you had to do. It’s okay.”
She leaned her head into his chest and whined.
“Nala, I need you to shift. Your shoulder is dislocated.” He held her furry face in his palms. “Please shift.”
She hung her head again, after pulling it free from his hands and collapsed on the ground, tears rolling down her furry muzzle. Something was wrong, Colin was right. The pain started to roll up her shoulder, into her neck. She howled out as she shifted.
“We’ll clean out the riff raff,” Prometheus announced. “Get her to your doctor.”
Wendy and Grace rushed to her side. “Wait,” Grace said. She sniffed Nala. “Nala! What the hell?”
“What?” She asked as she wiped the tears from her face.
“Wait.” Colin closed his eyes then opened them again, wide. “What?”
“What do you mean, what? What the hell are you doing accepting a battle while you’re pregnant?” Grace put her hands on her hips. “Oh. Oh! You didn’t know?”
“No! I didn’t.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at her mate. “I’m sorry, I didn’t.”
Colin’s face burned red. Finally, moisture pooled at his lids. “Pregnant. We’re pregnant!”
“You’re going to pay for this, bitch!” Stephany screamed as she dragged Jackson’s body away. “I’ll kill you for this!”
Wendy darted toward her. “I should kill you now!”
“No!” Nala stood with Colin’s help. “No more. No more killing. No more death. Let her take her mate home and mourn.”
Wendy spun on her heel, her mouth slack. “What?”
“Please, let her go. Let her mourn the loss of her mate. She’s upset, as we would all be.” She turned to Colin. “Get me to the doctor. I want to make sure this baby is okay.”
Wendy’s mouth came together as her shock turned into a smile. “I can actually recommend a really good human midwife.”
When Nala turned to see what Wendy was looking at, she saw Susan staring at her, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Nala.”
Colin helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry. I can only imagine how horrible that was to watch.”
“No,” she sniffed, “I’m crying because…because I thought you’d lost. I just met you and you’re so sweet and…I’m glad you won.”
“Baby! I’m going to be a dad! You’re going to be the best mom!” Colin’s voice was screeching through her head.
“I, uh,” she wiped her palms on her pants, “I promised to get you home.”
“I’ll do it!” Jake jumped in front of Susan. “You go get checked out. I’ll take her home, no sweat.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks Jake.”
Pregnant. Fatigue. Nauseous. Why didn’t she see it?
Chapter Fourteen
Nala lay in bed, stroking her swollen belly. She still had two months to go but the bump in her womb reminded her daily that it was worth the wait.
“Hungry?” Colin kissed her shoulder.
“Can you believe it?”
He ran his palm over her naked belly. The baby kicked where the warmth of his touch met her skin. “He’s making sure I do!”
“Or she.”
“Or she,” he relented with a smile.
“We need to settle on a name,” she said with a raised brow.
He scooted up on the bed, sitting Indian style and stared at her stomach. “Okay, lay it on me.”
“If it’s a girl,” she said while running her hand over her baby bump, “I want to name her Gracie May.” Because of Grace, she defeated Jagger. Because of Grace, they were moving toward a time of peace. She owed everything to Grace and naming her daughter after such a strong and beautiful Lycan was just the homage she desired.
“If it’s a boy?”
“Benjamin. It’s a good, strong name.” She smiled up at him. “Benjamin Colin Baker.”
His head bobbed up and down as he stared at the little foot trying to push through Nala’s belly. “I can get behind that.”
A knock at the door caused Nala to push her shirt over her belly. “Come in.”
Jake’s head popped in around the door. “I, uh, need to see you in the conference room.”
Nala rolled off the bed and slid her feet into flip flops. “Okay, we’re coming.” She leaned back, stretching before waddling off after Jake, Colin on her heel.
When they reached the conference room, Tracy and Tom were there waiting.
“What’s up?” she asked as she quickly took a seat, edging her belly under the table.
“Tracy has a confession to make,” Tom urged. His jaw clenched as he glared at her. “Go on.”
She looked down at the table, her eyes swollen from crying. “I did something horrible, but I had the best of intentions.”
“Really?” Tom’s fist hit the table. “Those were your best intentions?”
>
“Someone had better speak now, before I have to pee, which is like every five minutes.” Nala looked at her friend, who appeared as if she’d been up all night crying.
“I’m sorry, Nala. I left those horrible notes for you.”
“Notes?” So much had happened she’d forgotten about the threatening notes.
“You looked so bored with things and I knew a little bit of a threat would keep you on your toes. So I left you those nasty notes about being Alpha…like they were some warning.” She sobbed into her hands, her fiery red hair spilling over her face.
Nala folded her hands on the table and took a deep breath. “Look at me, please.”
Her head tilted up, revealing her green eyes which were bloodshot from crying.
“Did you have any intention of physically hurting me?” She clenched her jaw as she waited for her answer.
Tracy’s mouth fell slack. “No! I couldn’t. I’ve loved you like a sister for as long as I could remember.”
“So, you betrayed my trust, but to keep me on my toes. Is that right?”
“It sounds horrible. I am horrible.”
“As your Alpha, I command you to stop bawling like a pup.” She rolled her eyes, irritated at her friend’s sobs. It wasn’t like Tracy to be a puddle of tears.
She pulled her red hair out of her face and wiped the remainder of her tears on the backs of her hands. “Yes, ma’am.”
Nala looked at Tom. “This is enough. The truth is out. Let her go on with her day.” She shifted her gaze back to Tracy. “You are forgiven. Don’t play games with me again. That’s not the relationship we have. Got it?”
She chewed her lip and gave an affirmative nod. “I promise.”
The door to the conference room crashed open as Jake ran through it.
“We’re in the middle—”
“Shut up,” Jake yelled at Tom. He grabbed the remote off the table and turned the television on. “You have to see this!”
Susan was on television, sitting in a faux white leather chair. Video feed of Nala played in the upper left corner of the screen. It was their meeting at the coffee house prior to the battle against Jackson Kincade.
“So you were invited to their compound?” The older gentleman interviewing her had dark hair that greyed around his temples. His jaw was set as the tone of his interview grew serious.
“It wasn’t a compound. They live communally, that’s true, but it’s more like a happy family. Don’t paint them out to be the Branch Davidians. They were sweet to me. Nala, the woman you see on your screen, she invited me since I was one of the first humans to discover their race. She invited me to see how they lived, who they were.”
The man leaned in toward her and adjusted his glasses. “So you went to them…alone.”
“Yep, and I’m alive and well, sitting here answering your questions.” Susan sounded angry, but she kept her face pleasant. Nala felt a smirk come across her face as pride in her new friend washed over her. Poker face wasn’t an easy skill to learn.
“This battle. It’s very bloody. In fact, she murders that man…right there. She just kills him. Don’t you think she should be arrested for that?”
Nala watched the scene play out on the screen, her final killing blow to Jackson. Blood pouring out of his body. Stephany screaming.
“It’s the way it’s been done for centuries. She’s the first female leader in a long time. He came to her property to fight to the death. It was a mutual arrangement, one which she truly wanted to avoid. They just want to live peacefully. In fact, I brought some of my new friends with me today.” Mary, Ella, Beauregard, and Theron walked on stage. The silence was deafening.
Mary was the only creature that one could tell was unusual at first. The rest looked like models as they strolled out on stage. The announcer called for a handheld microphone and chairs to be added to the stage.
The TV cut to commercial.
“Holy shit, it’s happening.” Colin scrubbed his forehead with his hands.
Nala reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’m sure they’ve thought this through. Just watch.”
“Susan is doing a great job. Don’t you think?” Jake smiled back at Nala. She could tell he was smitten with her from Jump Street. She could only hope a human-lycan mating would work for him.
The show came back on with everyone sitting in a semi-circle. “Jeff Jefferson coming to you live from Studio 64. I’m here with some very interesting guests that have a message.”
Ella smiled into the camera. Her flawless features and delicate skin beaming into the camera. “We have been here the whole time, throughout the centuries, living among you humans. We, as a race of supernatural beings, have no desire to run around and start hurting you. We’re working toward a meaningful co-existence with each other, and with you, the humans of the planet. But we, like you, have bad people too. Beauregard here is going to talk to you about that now.”
The camera turned and angled up toward his massive frame. His large arms were crossed over his chest. “We have developed our own form of government and our own policing agency headed by FOSE, or the Federation of Supernatural Entities. There is a group out there that call themselves Separatists. They are violent and virile. We are currently tracking them down. However, should any human have any threats against them from any non-human, please call the number on your screen. We will deal with them in a swift manner. While I’m on the subject, we’ve come to you peacefully. We are leaving contact information with this station for the Federal Government here in the United States, as well as law enforcement. We do understand that discovering our presence could be unsettling. We are willing and wanting to sit down with your government to hammer out the details how things will evolve from here and moving forward. Understand this…we’ve ruled ourselves for centuries and insist on being autonomous. We won’t bend. We won’t break. Leave us in peace, and we shall return in kind. There will be those who try to cause problems between humans and non-humans. We, the good people of the planet, cannot allow this. Don’t let fear push you into violence. It seems to be the way of your people, but I implore you, don’t let fear rule you. As we have indicated, we’ve always been here. Nothing has changed except that now you know…for certain. I’m done.”
The abrupt end to his speech gave Mary a chance to talk. She bounced in her chair as if she might burst if she didn’t get to say something soon. “I just want to say that I’ve been watching a lot of your television lately and I wanted to reach out to all of the little humans. Look at me. Look at how small I am. All my people are small and we can do anything! You can do anything too. Believe in yourself.”
Theron chuckled as the camera turned to him. When he stared at it, the interviewer cleared his throat. “Any words?”
“How do I follow that up?”
“Ha, ha, yes, that was a very nice little speech. You’re quite the looker, all of you are. Is it normal for supernaturals to have superhuman beauty?”
Theron leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs at the ankle and tucked his thumbs in his belt loops. “That and we’re excellent lovers.” As cliché as he could be, the Centaur winked into the camera.
“I could throw up,” Nala joked.
Colin spoke softly, his brow furrowed. “We’re officially out of hiding.” Everyone in the room looked at each other.
Nala felt Colin’s worry, which mirrored her own emotions. She could only surmise the others in the room felt the same.
“Look, FOSE is on top of it. We knew this was coming. I’m surprised it took this long.”
Tom leaned his fists on the table, edging toward her. “Did you know they were recording you in the café?”
A smile spread across her lips. “I was counting on it.”
His brows shot toward his hair line. “Very well then.”
“Look, Dr. Maryann said no more shifting until the pup is out. So I need to go for a walk. Jake, Tom, Tracy, can I count on you to spread the word throughout the pack? Everyone needs to be
on their toes and on their best behavior when out in public. No one goes into town alone…at least two at a time, preferably more until we see how the humans react.” She stood from the table and ran her hands over her swollen belly.
Colin’s phone rang. He waved her on to go for her walk, apparently knowing she had to visit the lady’s room…again…before her walk.
Finally outside, she spotted him approaching. “We can talk, but you’d better be prepared for a long walk,” she warned, a smile planted on her lips. “I never imagined I’d be so restless.”
“That call was Roman,” he kissed her forehead, “and of course I’ll walk with you.”
She loved that her mate would walk with her every time. She enjoyed the walk not just to stretch her legs, but for the quiet time it gave them away from the pack.
“Xander has made a full recovery. Roman and Grace said it took a long time because he couldn’t shift to heal. Something about brain damage. Anyway, Michelle sat with him the whole time and she’s out for blood now that she can leave his side.”
“Great,” she whined. “Can’t she just let FOSE handle it?”
“Would you, if it were our child?”
“Fair point.” She stroked her belly. No, she couldn’t just let FOSE handle it either. But she was tired of the bloodshed. Grace’s plan was supposed to bring them to a time of peace.
“It will,” Colin reassured her, having read her mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Summoned to the school once again, Nala was to bring her Beta. She was nervous to go back since her first two visits had ended in such violence.
Colin, unwilling to let his very pregnant mate out of his sight, insisted on going with. Tracy, for the first time since leaving Scottsboro had been left in charge.
Beauregard entered the conference room, interrupting pregnancy updates from Nala to Wendy and Grace. Ella was on his heel nearly dancing as she entered the room. They took their seats.