by Viola Rivard
“I'm not just saying it to appease you,” she said. “Although, that is a big part of it. I can't expect you to respect my feelings while I'm dismissing yours. Still, if that was the only reason, then having another baby would still be a really crappy idea.”
“Then, why?”
“I've thought a lot about it, and I've decided that maybe, now that things have settled down and I'm slightly more secure in myself and our lives together, maybe it won't be so scary to have a baby. I won't lie. The thought of being pregnant again still scares me, but maybe knowing it's the last time, I'll be able to enjoy it a bit. And regardless, when it's over and with a little luck, we'll have a healthy pup. And I really, really love your pups.”
Her last words were muffled by his mouth. He was panting as he kissed her, and she could feel his heart hammering in his broad chest.
“You're not taking it back,” he said into her mouth.
“I'm not going to take it back.”
He pushed her down onto the furs, insinuating himself between her legs. “I swear to God, Taylor. If you even think about changing your mind—”
“I'm not gonna, ahh...”
Her protest died as Hale pushed into her, filling with a hard thrust. He let out a sharp curse, and Taylor had the presence of mind to clamp a hand over his mouth.
“The baby,” she breathed, nodding towards the cot.
Hale winced as she pulled her hand back.
“Fuck,” he said quietly.
He looped an arm around her midsection and cradled her head with his free hand as he began to move inside of her.
Making love with Alder was like an elegant dance; when he moved, she moved in turn, sharing in the rhythm. With Hale, it was hard and fast, much too fast for her to keep up. She had long since learned that he only needed for her to hold on and enjoy the ride.
She clutched at his shoulders, her nails digging in for purchase as he slammed into her. He didn't have to stroke or pet her to release. There was something in the way he moved, something in the way he smelled and the in the sounds he made that always had her hurtling to a swift climax. She had almost reached her peak when he started to talk.
“The next time you're fertile...”
Taylor whined her next words. “I never said it would be the next time, now please shut up. I'm so close and I know you're going to say something dumb and ruin it.”
“...you aren't going to leave my bed for a week. I won't eat. I won't sleep...”
“That's physically impossible.”
“...not going to take my cock out of you...”
Taylor could feel her nerve endings begin to light up. “I think your brother might take issue with that.”
“Like I give a fuck,” Hale grunted. “Alder already agreed. I get you to myself next time, he gets you the time after that. I'm not letting him renege just because you've only agreed to one more pup. You're mine this time. All. Fucking. Mine.”
She could tell that he was about to come, which made it all the more satisfying when she slapped him hard on the shoulder.
“What?” she asked in a harsh whisper. “What do you mean he agreed? When did the two of you negotiate on getting me pregnant and why the hell did you think I didn't need to be included?”
Hale growled at her.
“Do we have to do this now?” He bit out.
Throughout her griping, Hale had not stopped or even slowed the pace of his thrusting, and furious as she was, Taylor could still feel herself on the brink of climax. She didn't want him to make her come because it was going to be very hard to argue with him afterward. But at the same time, she'd been waiting over a week for this, and she knew she'd probably be waiting another two while both of her mates were in the doghouse.
“Dammit,” she groaned. “Can you please just stop talking and make me come?”
As Taylor had predicted, she was in no position to argue once they were done. She laid stretched out in his arms, her body tingling with aftershocks of pleasure. Either because of the long wait or his excitement at the prospect of getting her pregnant, Hale had come harder than he had in months. In spite of her anger, Taylor had laughed watching him practically smother himself in a pillow to muffle his snarling.
Once they'd both settled down, he started stroking her hair, as though it would somehow soothe her anger. It totally worked, and she had to try very hard to keep the base in her voice.
“The two of you can't be going behind my back like that, making decisions that concern me, or the pups—current and future pups.”
“This, from the female who routinely manipulates my brother to take her side over mine,” Hale said, his words coming out in a rumbling purr. The best time to argue with him was right after sex because he was virtually incapable of becoming upset.
“I don't manipulate Alder,” Taylor grumbled.
Hale was nuzzling the top of her head, his big hands absently massaging her thigh. “So when he doesn't agree with you and you start crying, and then he takes your side, what do you call that?”
“That's... Ugh, stop, I can't think when you're touching me like that.”
“You don't have to think about the truth. It just is.”
“I didn't realize coming made you such a philosopher.”
He had moved to her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark. He loved leaving marks on her. It was one of the few things he did that he and Alder still fought about on a somewhat regular basis. Hale kept her neck covered in his suck bruises, and would become irrationally angry if Alder put his mouth on any of his marks.
“We decided it a long time ago,” Hale said. Taylor had almost forgotten what they'd been talking about, and she'd been certain that Hale would deliberately change the subject. “After the first mating thrall, when I nearly killed Alder.”
“You didn't nearly kill him. Don't be melodramatic.”
He nipped her shoulder, enough to make her flinch. “Don't assume you know what was going on in my head. I told you I'm usually thinking about how I'm going to get you alone. I was then, too. Only, I knew Alder wouldn't back down if I tried taking you away, so killing him seemed like the only alternative.”
“I...didn't know.”
He licked the tender spot that he'd bitten. “I'm not like Alder. Sharing you, it doesn't come easily to me and I don't think it ever will. When it's just he and I, I can't imagine being closer to anyone. But the second you're between us, you're all I see, all I want, and fuck anything that gets in my way. Make no mistake, Taylor. You're my mate. I let him fuck you.”
Taylor said a silent prayer, hoping that her son was still actively interrogating every pup in the pack and that Henry remained asleep because she was going to have to have her mate again.
Hale rolled her onto her belly and mounted her. He slid into her easily this time, his hips working to pump into her in a steady rhythm as he continued to devour her neck, branding her with his lips, his tongue, and his bite.
CHAPTER 8
FOR TAYLOR, the trip back to Halcyon was far more stressful than the trip to Shaderunner. From the very first night, when she bid a tearful goodbye to Sarah and Cain, she had been restless and anxious for the trip to be over. Within hours, she had conjured up a fantasy wherein they uncovered a dimensional portal that would spit them out right on the edge of the Halcyon lake, and then another where a flock of eagles swooped down to fly them the rest of the way, a la Lord of the Rings.
Part of it was her yearning to be reunited with Fawn. She missed Alder immensely, but he at least understood where she was and had a vague idea of how soon she'd be back. Her poor little pup had no clue where mama or her big brother had gone. She didn't know what was worse, imagining that Fawn was distraught over her mother's absence, or that after a few days, the toddler had simply forgotten her.
She was also stressed over the two pups she did have. When he was in his wolf form, Taylor could relax and not fret too much over Shadow. But no matter how big he was, he still got tired more easily than his
traveling companions. They stopped frequently so that he could shift and be dressed. Then, he would climb onto Hale's back and snuggle up Taylor for a nap. The problem was, Shadow hated clothing, and although he would tolerate it while awake, as soon as he fell asleep he would unconsciously begin seeking to rid himself of it. The second he began to snore, the battle started, and Taylor was constantly stuffing his ice-cold appendages back into his clothing, while also juggling an infant.
During the trip, Henry was much more alert than he had been back in the womb-like confines of the den. This was its own, special sort of frustration, because he turned out to be a very sweet, cuddly, and engaging baby, and Taylor wanted nothing more than for him to go into a week-long coma.
Much like his new brother, Henry hated being clothed. Was it a wolf pup thing? Taylor had no idea. She tried keeping him tucked in her shirt, which he enjoyed while he was nursing, but once he was finished eating, he would set to the task of wriggling out to get a look at where they were and what was going on. Sarah had given Taylor several little buckskin outfits for him, including a knitted cap to keep his head warm. Keeping the hat on him was an exercise in futility. He shook it off so often that Taylor had to designate Shadow as the official hat collector.
On day four, he managed to fling the hat onto a partially frozen pond while they were stopped for water. Heedless of his parents' cries, Shadow had charged headlong into the pond to collect the hat. Thankfully, the water hadn't been deep and Hale had been quick to catch his son, but they had to seek shelter immediately to dry him up and regulate his body temperature. It had set them back almost a full day.
After eight nights of trying to keep her babies from freezing to death, Taylor nearly cried at the sight of the twin peaks of Whiteriver and Halcyon. It was early morning, and they were still far off in the distance. Knowing that the others would want to stop for the day, she had to beg Hale to press on and travel through the morning. They must have all been as eager as her to be home because they were crossing into the valley by late afternoon.
Taylor braced herself for Alder's arrival and was prepared to fling herself from Hale's back the second she saw him. She had already managed to wrangle both Shadow and Henry into clothing, and the older pup was placated with being allowed to hold the baby, who looked a lot bigger in Shadow's arms.
There were distinct territory markers that showed where Halcyon began. Over the years, Alder and Hale had painstakingly circumnavigated their territory, which spanned thousands of acres, and carved out the markings on nearly every tree trunk that was on their border. Those were simply the warning markers. Another mile in was the second ring which indicated that they were now officially within the Halcyon hunting grounds.
When they passed through the second set of markers with no sign of Alder or of any of their pack mates, Taylor began to grow anxious. Encumbered by baggage and pups, they were going slow enough that Alder, running on his own, should have been able to meet them by now. Fenix, or one of the many scouts, would have already alerted him to their arrival. Taylor decided that maybe he was bringing Fawn with him, which would account for why he was so late.
Hale must have been worried, too. After a few moments, he stopped, exchanged looks with his companions, and then threw his head back to howl. Even knowing it was coming, the sound startled Taylor. She clutched both of the boys to her chest and kept them that way as she waited for Alder's reply.
For a while, there was only silence, and then Henry began to cry. Shadow tried soothing him, patting his back a little too hard and sounding an awful lot like Taylor as he said, “Awh, don't cry, baby.”
Recognizing that the pup wanted food, she gingerly extracted him from Shadow's hold, giving her older son a reassuring kiss on the top of the head, and then tucking Henry into the crook of her arm. She uncovered her breast, hissing as the cold air hit her, and then sighing in relief as the pup's warm mouth closed over her nipple.
Her relief was compounded when a moment later, she heard Alder's distinct howl in the distance. Her group, however, did not seem placated. While Taylor knew that it was Alder howling, she had yet to understand the meaning between the different types of howls and for that reason, she didn't know why they seemed agitated. Ever-attentive to his mother, Shadow picked up on her confusion.
“That was Papa,” he said with barely contained excitement. “He says we have visitors.”
“Really?” Taylor said.
She suspected that the group had picked up on some sort of connotation that went over Shadow's head, which explained why they seemed agitated. Glenn and Holly picked up their pace, going ahead of the others, while Hale changed his course, heading in the direction of Taylor's cabin, rather than the den.
Taylor knew that they wouldn't have been agitated over the presence of neighbors such as Winter, Trace, or even Silas. There was another nearby alpha that they sometimes butted heads with, but Taylor couldn't envision any circumstances under which he would have come to their den, so she was left to puzzle over it as they made their way to the cabin.
Her squat redwood cabin had been in the valley for half a century. It had belonged to Holly's mother, who had passed away years before Taylor had come along. She had claimed it before becoming Alder and Hale's mate, fixing it up and making it her own. It had been a painstaking process, considering she couldn't exactly go to a local hardware store to get her materials. Instead, she'd had to do a lot of improvising and a great deal of trial and error, but over the years she'd managed to whip it into shape, much to the dismay of her mates, both of whom would have rather she stayed tucked away in the den.
There was still no sign of Alder when Hale dropped Taylor off on the porch. She tried asking her mate what was happening, but Hale only licked her face, issued a warning bark to Shadow, and then ran in the direction of the den.
Karin stayed behind, shrugging their bags from her back and shifting into her human form. Taylor shuffled Shadow into the quiet cabin, entrusting him with Henry and then closing the door behind them. She went across the snow-covered lawn to Karin, accosting her as she was dressing.
“What's going on?” Taylor asked in a loud whisper. “Is everything okay? Is there...is Fawn okay?”
Karin's eyes widened. “I believe so. Alder only mentioned that there are newcomers. Not hostile, but not friends.”
“What are they doing in the den?” Taylor asked. “No one's ever allowed in the den unless Alder or Hale know them well.”
Karin was securing her pants. “I'm sorry, I wish I knew more. I can say that I don't recognize the scents in the air, and one of them is...strange. We should stay put until one of the alphas comes for us.”
Taylor wanted so badly to march after Hale and go the den, but she could see Shadow peeking at them from the window, a worried look on his face. She couldn't leave Karin alone to tend to him and the baby, and she had no idea what she'd be walking into if she did go to the den. She had to trust that Fawn was all right and that her mates were handling the situation.
She would give them until sunset to bring her daughter to her, which gave them about twenty minutes until she was storming the den.
Running in his wolf form, Hale arrived at the den's entrance in moments. It was a testament to how secure their territory was that they could have such an exposed den. Whereas most shifters took painstaking efforts to obscure the entrance to their den and to cover their tracks as they came and went, the entrance to Halcyon den was a massive oval-shaped hole in the side of the mountain, and the path leading to it had been recently cobbled with river stones.
Unlike Cain, who had to make nice with his neighbors and pay tribute at the whim of stronger packs, Halcyon had never had any competition. Over a hundred strong and with two capable alphas, it would have taken all three of the other packs in the region joining forces to pose any real challenge to Halcyon.
As he neared the eye of the den, Fenix stepped out and made his way down the hill to meet him. Alder often said that the real strength of Halcyon was
in its diversity, and Fenix was a prime example. Though hawk shifters were solitary by nature, Fenix had lived in the valley all of his life and had joined up with Alder and Hale when they'd taken the territory by force. Afterwards, he'd hung around the den and had remained in the pack ever since.
Hale didn't want to take human form, but he could tell from the look on Fenix's face that he wanted to talk. Although he was inclined to charge into the den, he decided that he should know what he was charging into.
Fenix waited for him to shift and then offered Hale his cloak. Hale accepted, wrapping it around his midsection.
“What's going on? Where are Fawn and Alder?” His voice was still raw and gravelly from the shift.
“Fawn is fine,” Fenix said, recognizing that she was Hale's primary concern. “She's down below with Beka and Quinn, resting. Your brother is in the main room with the newcomers. It's an alpha and three of his pack mates. They arrived this morning, looking for Taylor.”
The mention of Taylor heated Hale's blood. “What the fuck do they want with my mate?”
He was already stalking up the hill, and Fenix had to run to keep up. “They claim that they have a pup that needs tending to. No one has seen or heard it, so I'm skeptical. Their alpha, there's something off about him. He talks like an asshole and I don't trust him.”
Hale refused to entertain the notion of yet another pup being passed off onto them. In his mind, it sounded like an obvious ploy. The sort of thing his brother might fall for, but not him.
“Why the hell did Alder let them into our den?”
Fenix shrugged. “There are only four of them, and two of them look like a stiff wind could knock them over. Didn't seem like too much of a threat.”
That might have been the case, but Hale wasn't so sure that meant they were safe. He thought back to the colossus he'd seen with Cain. Was it the same scent that he smelled today, or was his nose playing tricks on him?