Still, she was glad Tony had acknowledged Rocky once more before he died. Tony had given her careful instructions. He wanted her to go to Rocky. And after eight months of running, she finally had.
Chapter 2
Rocky moved back, sensing others outside the cabin. “Are you okay? I’ve got to let them in.”
“Who?” Panic filled her eyes as she clutched at his arms.
He soothed her, stroking her back. “Friends. Guardians. They’ll help us, but they need to know what they’re up against.”
She grabbed his hands when he would have stood, her eyes frightened. “Tony said the man chasing me is a very strong mage. He almost caught me a few times, but the babies warned me.”
So they were already aware and strong magically, but then their father had been one of the most powerful bear shifter shamans in recent memory. No doubt they’d inherited some of their father’s talents.
“We’ve faced Venifucus before. As long as we know what to look for, we can protect you. You did the right thing coming here, but you should’ve come much sooner, Maggie.” He stood and moved to the door.
He had to get out of the cabin for just a minute. Emotions stirred in his heart that he hadn’t felt in years. Seeing Maggie again was bringing up all the old feelings and conflicts, but one thing was very different this time. This time, Tony would not present an obstacle.
Tony was gone.
The reality of it hit him as he walked through the door into the discordant sunshine, his steps faltering. He reached out to steady himself on the doorframe when a strong hand wrapped around his arm. He recognized the energy. Tim.
“What is it, Rock?”
Rocky tried to shake off the pang of grief, but knew the Alpha wolf could sense his deep sorrow. Rocky met Tim’s eyes. “My brother is dead.”
Tim did a very uncharacteristic thing. He pulled Rocky into hug right there on the doorstep, and Rocky went, glad of the unquestioning support of his friend and leader.
“The woman you mentioned?” Tim asked as he pulled back. “His wife?”
Rocky nodded, getting a grip on the turmoil in his soul. “She’s human, Tim. She needs help. Bear cubs don’t come easy.”
Tim nodded. “Allie and Betina are on their way with Rafe. They were in town and he went to fetch them. I’ve got some of the Pack coming to set up a perimeter. No one will get to her.”
“She’s being chased by Venifucus. A strong mage, she said. And he’d have to be very powerful to take down Tony. He was a gifted shaman, Tim. No simple mage could match Tony.”
Tim placed one hand on his shoulder, offering reassurance. “We have allies, my friend. We’ll call on them all, if need be.”
Rocky cleared his throat. “Thank you, Alpha.”
Just then a feminine gasp of pain sounded from inside the bedroom that was in the front of the house, just a few feet away. Rocky turned to look through the bedroom door, only to see Maggie’s abdomen rippling in an alarming way. He went to her side in a blur of movement. Instinctively, he called on his inner magic, covering the protrusion of her belly with his hands and concentrating his power on soothing the babies inside. They calmed and the agony on Maggie’s face lessened.
“Please! Don’t leave me again, Rocky.”
He met her gaze. “Never.”
A moment passed, and the contraction eased. Rocky sat on the bedside, glad he’d opted for a king size even though he usually slept alone. He stroked her abdomen with one hand, trying to ease her into a more comfortable position with the other.
“The priestesses are on their way, and the Alphas are gathering the Pack to guard us. You’re safe now, Maggie. I promise.” His words seemed to soothe her, so he kept talking as he touched her, enjoying the sensation.
She was so soft and feminine. She was all he’d ever wanted in a woman. He’d never touched her so freely in his life, but she needed him now. She needed the reassurance of his touch—anyone’s touch—he guessed. She needed to know she wasn’t alone. She needed to feel safe so her cubs would come into the world as peacefully as possible.
“Priestesses?” she repeated, sounding a little dazed. “Rocky, I’m Catholic.”
That startled a laugh out of him and brought an answering smile to her face, though she still looked a little worried. “Shifters are closer to nature than humanity. We have always served the Lady in Her many forms. Call Her Mother Nature if it helps, though she’s been represented in many different religions, including yours. The women who are coming to help you are Her servants. They have a great deal of magic and skill between them. It’ll help you and your babies, Maggie. Your babies are part of Tony. They’re magic. They need magic to help them be born.”
“You’re magic too.” She surprised him by covering his hand still resting on her abdomen. “They need you too.” She paused, looking down at their joined hands. “I need you.”
Rocky couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead, rising only to kiss her swelling tummy, where the little ones kicked and squirmed. They quieted as he stroked their resting place, as if responding to his touch. They seemed to recognize him and he knew in that moment, these babies would be his family. He’d raise them in Tony’s stead and be father to them in place of the best friend he’d ever had. These cubs were his now.
As was their mother. Only she didn’t know it yet.
Another pain wracked her small body and Rocky’s heart twisted. He called on the magic that was his to command—so much less than Tony’s had been—and sent it to her and the children, hoping to ease their way. How he wished Tony could be here. Tony was the one with all the magic. Rocky was only good with his fists, and for lifting heavy objects.
Rocco Garibaldi and Antonio Fernandez had grown up together on the outskirts of Whitefish, Montana, brothers in every way but blood. Bear shifters were rare, so when two grizzly families settled in the same area with cubs the same age, they’d sniffed each other out and forged an alliance. As a result, Rocky and Tony had been nearly inseparable from their earliest years.
Tony had been gifted with more than the ample magic already granted to bear shifters, and Rocky had physical strength beyond that of any normal shifter. Rocky was already stronger than most bear shifters when he was still just a teen, and as he grew into adulthood, his size and speed only increased, but Tony was never jealous. Tony was a shaman, and from a young age he could foresee certain things that would come to pass. There was only one point of contention between the two young men as they entered adulthood.
Maggie.
Margaret Hobson was a beautiful girl, and they both loved her, but not even she knew about their ability to turn into grizzlies whenever the mood struck. Their shifting ability was kept a strict secret from their human friends.
Rocky had never been eloquent. He often let Tony do the talking for them both. Tony was brilliant, and while Rocky was no slouch in school—he’d become an engineer, after all—when compared to Tony, he always found himself lacking. He didn’t begrudge Tony his native intellectual abilities, just as Tony didn’t begrudge Rocky’s physical prowess.
Only that one time had Rocky wished he’d had Tony’s way with words…and women. That day when he’d lacked the nerve—and the words—to ask Maggie to the senior prom. She’d gone with Tony instead, and from that point on, they’d been a couple. Just a few years later, they’d married and Rocky had left Whitefish for good.
“Something’s happening.”
Maggie’s shocked whisper brought Rocky back to the moment. The babies were moving, both heading south toward the exit of their temporary home. He could feel it under his palm.
“Whoa there, little ones,” he whispered, hoping some sense of his words would make it through to the cubs struggling under his hands. And maybe it did. He could feel them cease their struggles momentarily as if listening. “Maggie, I don’t think they want to wait for the priestesses. I think we’re going to have to do this ourselves.”
Rocky spared her a
glance, taking in her terrified, yet trusting expression. The look on her face gave him pause, but the babies demanded his attention. He could feel their plaintive questioning now. They were turning to him for direction, sensing his power, his dominance over them. These amazingly powerful bear cubs recognized their Alpha and awaited instruction.
But they wouldn’t wait for long.
“God, Rocky!” She gasped. “I can feel them. They want out.”
“I know, sweetheart.” He moved around her on the wide bed, positioning himself to aid her as best he could. Just then he heard a truck roar into his yard, spraying gravel against the wooden siding of the house. He smiled at her, keeping his tentative hold on the babies as he heard the soft tripping of feminine footsteps come up to his door. “They’re here. Praise the Lady.”
He stood, but Maggie’s hand clamped down on his wrist. “Don’t leave me!”
Rocky scooted around to the head of the bed, sat beside her and kept his hand firmly over the squirming babies in her tummy. “I’m not going anywhere, Maggie. Never again.”
He lifted her slightly so she rested against his arm. She felt so right there. He reached down and kissed her hair, tenderness overwhelming him.
A knock sounded on the door and he cursed the ladies’ politeness. Still, he knew it wasn’t polite to enter a grizzly’s den without permission, even in an emergency such as this.
“Come in.” Rocky raised his voice, careful not to blast Maggie in the ear as she leaned against him.
The door opened and a moment later two women bustled in and took over. Betina was a tiny thing, ageless in a fey way and deceptively powerful. Her apprentice, Allie, was younger, earthier, but just as lovely. Both were strong magic users and gentle women he respected greatly. He kept the introductions short, feeling the urgency under his hand. The cubs would wait no longer.
Betina placed her hand over Maggie’s, which still rested over Rocky’s on her protruding stomach. Rocky would have moved away, but the priestess stopped him.
“We need you to anchor them as their Alpha. Guide them with your knowledge of their true nature.” Betina knelt on the other side of the big bed, barely disturbing the mattress.
She smiled serenely at Maggie and Rocky felt the magic in the air, putting Maggie and the cubs more at ease. He knew then he was in the presence of immense power not entirely of this world.
Of course, he’d always had his suspicions about the high priestess. She had a timeless, ageless beauty. It had come clear during their last battle with a Venifucus mage that she was not completely human. Only the Lords and their lady knew for certain, but Rocky suspected Betina was more than a little bit fey. It would explain her enormous magic and slender, almost fragile appearance.
Rocky knew the moment Betina spotted the softly pulsing heartstone. Her gaze slid from the necklace upward to meet Rocky’s eyes.
“I can feel their sire’s magic flowing through these youngsters. They will be very powerful when they are grown.”
“Their father was the most gifted grizzly shaman of our generation.” Rocky confirmed with a nod.
Betina gave him a kind smile and returned the little nod. “All will be well,” she intoned with confidence that communicated itself through her words to all who heard them.
In due course, with Betina’s expert guidance and not a little support from Allie and Rocky as well, the babies came squirming into the world, full of magic and the wonder of life. Rocky was almost overwhelmed by the event. He’d never been present at a birth before, and never one accompanied by such positive omens.
It was Samhain after all, what the human world called Halloween. This was a special time for all magical folk. Up until the moment he’d found Maggie sitting in her car in front of his house that afternoon, Rocky had planned to run with the other shifters that night, in celebration of this sacred time. Even now, werecreatures of all kinds were probably gathering in the circle of stones where the ceremony to mark the sabbat would be held.
Samhain was an auspicious time for such a significant birth. Twins were rare. Twin boys of Alpha shaman lineage even more so. It was more than likely that these cubs would be the next Lords when they came of age. Rocky knew no grizzly shifter had ruled the were in recent memory. He feared it was a powerful portent of troubling times to come.
Chapter 3
Maggie was tired but in surprisingly little pain. The beautiful apparition who’d come to help her was so gentle and kind, Maggie felt instantly calm in her presence.
“The babies have given you their first gift, Margaret,” Betina said as Allie cleaned the infants just a few feet away in the small cabin. “They’ve healed your body as much as possible. You should be good as new in a few days with a little TLC, which I know our Rocky will be happy to provide. In fact, I’ll wager you’d be up for a walk to the glen tonight, if you’d agree to let your babies take part in our celebration.”
“Do you really think that’s wise?” Rocky asked, his warm voice sounding above her head, rumbling against her back. He was her anchor, her rock, as he always had been when they were younger.
“I think it’s important, yes.” Betina nodded. “If Margaret is agreeable.”
The high priestess placed her hand on Maggie’s forehead and a burst of energy fired through her. It was as if the fog had cleared and suddenly things were sharper and more in focus than they had been.
“What did you do to me?” she asked as she sat up a little straighter, Rocky’s strong hands helping her. She felt—if not good as new—certainly not as if she’d just suffered through a day of intense labor and pain, not to mention an arduous twin birth.
Betina smiled. “Fuzzed the edges of your pain a bit, just to help you through. It’s the best we can do without drugs, but shifter babies are very sensitive to any kind of chemicals, so we had to do this au natural, with a touch of magic, of course.” Her tinkling laugh enchanted Maggie. There was something very special about this woman.
“That’s amazing. Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Betina patted her hand as she rose from the messy bed and turned to Allie, who was finished cleaning the squirming infants. Betina placed first one baby and then the other in Maggie’s outstretched arms. Rocky was there to help, steadying her and supporting the babies with his big hands, and all felt right with the world.
Rocky marveled at the way Maggie bounced back from what had been the most amazingly painful and joyful experience he’d ever witnessed. She’d been in agony, her grip nearly crushing the bones in his hands as she clung to him through the worst of the ordeal. Betina and Allie had worked their magic to make her unaware for the most part, but it had still been a frightening experience.
He’d helped too, in his way. Tony’s babies were more self-aware than any newborn shifters he’d ever seen, and they needed his constant reassuring energy, his direction and dominant authority. They would be handfuls as they grew, he could already tell. Rocky looked forward to taking the youngsters in hand and teaching them the ways of the world.
Maggie’s recovery was truly amazing. The priestesses helped clean her up as she cuddled the babies, then helped her to a nearby chair so they could strip the bed of its soiled linens. She had one child in each arm, whispering to them as they settled to sleep next to her warm body. It seemed they too were tired from their ordeal.
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered.
Rocky couldn’t agree more. “Just like their mama.” His soft words brought her gaze up to his and they shared a moment of communion, of sharing and joy. Rocky bent to place a kiss on her forehead. “You did good, Maggie.”
Her smile brightened his world.
The priestesses cleaned up his bed, making it fresh and taking away the laundry, but Rocky was mostly oblivious to the bustle around him. All that mattered in his universe was the woman sitting in front of him and the two little bundles of magical, loving energy now asleep in her arms.
“What’s this about a walk? I
know by rights I shouldn’t feel this good, but I could use a little fresh air.”
Betina popped up next to them and smiled. “Tonight we celebrate the sabbat of Samhain. The most magical night of the year when the veils between worlds are at their weakest. It is the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. The turning point for many beings, including yourself and your babies this year, Margaret.”
“I have something you can wear out in the car. It’ll be perfect for you.” Allie moved toward the door with the bundle of sheets and towels in her arms. “Just let me get it.”
“Can I take a shower?” Maggie asked, uncertain. She looked from Betina to Rocky and back, seeking permission, or maybe advice.
“My shower has a bench. I can program it so you can sit and the jets will reach you.”
“Program it?” A hint of a smile curled her lips.
Rocky shrugged with an answering grin. “I may live in the woods, but I like my creature comforts.”
“I think a shower wouldn’t hurt,” Betina advised. “As long as you don’t overdo it. You’re in much better shape than most women after giving birth, thanks to your sons’ magic, but you will need a little time to heal completely. Allie and I will watch over the little ones while you cleanse your body and spirit. It’s actually a very good idea to start fresh on the sabbat.” Betina beamed at her.
“Thank you. I promise not to overdo it. If Rocky can just program his space age shower for me…” She shot him an amused look. “I’ll be fine.”
Maggie managed to walk into the surprisingly large bathroom with Rocky and Betina’s help. Allie had come back inside and was watching over the babies while they slept. Whatever magic had been done to her, Maggie was feeling better with each passing second.
Alphas for the Holidays Page 128