by J. L. Wilder
“Behind the waffles,” she said. “Brady, what’s wrong?”
He turned to face her, a bag of frozen peas in hand.
She gasped.
A bruise was rising on his left cheek and around his eye. His shirt had been slashed from shoulder to midriff in a jagged diagonal line, and the torn fabric was red with blood.
“Oh, God,” she breathed.
He shook his head. “I’m all right.”
“Like hell,” she said. “Sit down.”
“I’m fine, Evelyn.”
“I’m not asking.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the kitchen table. Kicking a chair out from under it, she eased him into it. She guided the peas in his hand up to his face. “Hold that there,” she said. “I need to check this cut.”
“I don’t think it’s very deep,” he said.
“Knife or claw?”
“Knife.” He shook his head. “We fought in human form, if you can believe that.”
“Who did? Who fought?”
“Me and Steve, of course.” Brady sighed. “I’m such a goddamn idiot.”
“What did you fight about?” She wanted to keep him talking, to keep him distracted from the pain to the extent she was able. She unbuttoned his shirt and carefully peeled it away, relieved to discover that the fabric hadn’t stuck to his skin.
“Everything’s just been so good lately,” he said. “With you and me, I mean. I’ve been feeling so much more competent. So much surer of myself. I thought I could take control of the den back at last.”
“You challenged Steve.”
“I didn’t want to fight him. That was never my goal.”
“Then how did it turn into a fight?” She put the ruined shirt in the sink. She would deal with that later. She found a clean cloth and wet it, then returned to his side and began to carefully clean the blood from around the slash on his torso.
He hissed as she worked. “That hurts.”
“Not as much as it’s going to hurt if we let it get infected,” she said. “You know I have to clean it.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“So what happened with Steve?”
“I stood up in the meeting and said that I was the rightful alpha of the den. I told everyone that I was ready to claim my birthright, and that if Steve was a man of honor, he would step down.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t.”
Brady laughed humorlessly. “No, he didn’t,” he agreed. “He said that if I wanted to take the lead of the den, I would have to prove myself worthy by winning a fight.”
“That’s not a real den rule,” Evelyn protested. “I’ve never heard of that. The role of alpha is yours by birthright. If you were taking the rank from a born alpha, you would have to prove yourself by fighting him. But Steve was just appointed in your absence. He has no legitimate claim.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Brady said. “The alpha makes the rules. You know that as well as I do. I couldn’t stand there in front of the whole pack and object that he wasn’t playing fair. That would have made me look weak.”
“So you fought him.”
“I had to. It was either fight him right then or stand down, which would be as good as an acknowledgment that I wasn’t capable of beating him.”
“I can’t believe he beat you,” Evelyn said. “Steve doesn’t seem like he knows how to fight.”
“He had help,” Brady said, hissing again as she sat him forward so that she could wind a roll of gauze around his torso. “Edgar and Brick jumped in on his side.”
Evelyn gasped. “It was three against one?”
“Edgar was the one who slashed me,” Brady said. “Brick landed the punch. Steve actually never even got in a hit. But he still claims he won the fight because I wasn’t able to hold up against all three of them.”
“That’s appalling,” Evelyn breathed. “We can’t let them get away with this, Brady.”
“Can’t let them?” He shook his head bitterly. “What are we going to do about it? We can’t go over their heads. Steve is the alpha. You know how this works. The alpha makes all the rules.”
“But what he’s doing is wrong,” Evelyn protested. “We can’t let him get away with it.”
“Don’t bother, Evelyn,” Brady said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
She finished bandaging his cut. “We’re going to have to check that every couple of hours, make sure it’s staying clean,” she said. “Let me look at your eye.”
He moved the bag of peas away and she probed the bruise delicately with her fingers. “I don’t think anything is broken,” she said. “But you got lucky, Brady. Three against one! They could have killed you.”
“They weren’t trying to kill me,” Brady said. “They were fucking with me. I’m a joke to them.”
“But you’re not a joke,” Evelyn said, taking her hands in his. “If they look at you that way, it’s because they’re fools. It’s because they’re afraid of you, and the only thing they can think of to help them maintain their authority over you is to gang up and break rules and make you feel like you’re less than you are. Don’t believe them, Brady.”
“Does it matter what I believe?” Brady asked. “I could believe I would be the best and strongest alpha the den had ever seen, and it wouldn’t change the fact that Steve is never going to let me near the position.”
“Yes, it matters,” Evelyn said. “It matters because he’s trying to erode your confidence, and you can’t let him do it. You will be alpha one day. Steve can’t stop that. All he can do is try to destroy you in the meantime.”
Brady sighed. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “I just don’t know. Today it feels pretty hopeless.”
“That’s all right,” she said. I’m just glad you’re not too badly hurt. I’ll go get you another shirt, okay? And then I’ll make you some dinner.”
“That sounds great,” he said gratefully. “Thanks, Evelyn.”
She went to the sink and took his bloody, torn up shirt. Stuffing it in a garbage bag, she shoved it down to the bottom of the kitchen trash, where neither of them would have to see it or think about it anymore. Then she went to the bedroom to find him something else to wear.
Once she was out of his sight, she leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths to collect herself.
He’s been through too much today. I can’t make him deal with anything else.
The suspicion that had occurred to her when she had been in the bathroom hadn’t gone away. In fact, she hadn’t been able to keep her mind from doing the math in the intervening time, and now she was all but certain.
She was pregnant.
She would need a test to confirm it, but she felt sure of what it would say.
And she would tell Brady, eventually. But not tonight. Not while he was so upset about Steve.
For tonight, she would keep the news to herself.
Chapter Sixteen
BRADY
Brady’s wound healed quickly, as he had known it would. He had always been a fast healer, even for a shifter. He liked to think it was due to his alpha genes, though he didn’t know whether there was any truth to the idea that alphas healed more quickly than betas did.
Still, it was nice to think that there was something about his body that knew it was meant to be alpha.
It was also nice to think that Steve’s injuries from the fight wouldn’t be mending so quickly.
Three days had gone by now, and Brady felt almost as good as new. He was sort of looking forward to the next time he would see the members of his den. It would be a pleasure to show up looking totally unharmed and to see the surprise on their faces—on Steve’s face in particular—when he realized that Brady hadn’t sustained any significant damage.
He was so caught up in these thoughts that he didn’t notice right away that Evelyn was much more quiet than usual.
It finally came to his attention over dinner that evening. She had gotten into the habit of cooking for him every night, something h
e enjoyed tremendously, as she was very good at it. But it occurred to him, suddenly, that the two of them had been sitting in silence for the past twenty minutes. She hadn’t asked him a thing about his day, and when he had asked her about hers, she had answered as briefly as possible.
“Are you angry at me?” he asked her.
Her head darted up. “What? Of course not.”
“You’re hardly speaking to me,” he pointed out. “Have I done something to upset you?”
“Nothing,” she assured him. “I’m just in my own head.”
“But you’ve been quiet for days,” he said. Now that he had noticed it, he was shocked that it hadn’t registered earlier. He shouldn’t have allowed himself to get so caught up in thoughts about Steve. Steve didn’t matter more than Evelyn. “What have you been thinking about?”
She sighed. “It’s complicated, Brady.”
“Is it something you can’t talk to me about?” he asked. The idea made him feel a little hurt. He wanted her to feel like she could talk to him about anything. But he didn’t want to force her. She had had enough of that with that wolf she’d been married to.
But she shook her head. “It’s something I want to talk to you about,” she said. “I’ve been longing to talk to you about it.”
“Then talk to me,” he urged. “I’m always here for you, Evelyn. You must know that.”
She reached out a hand for his. He took it and gave it a squeeze, hoping to give her some measure of confidence.
“I hope this isn’t going to ruin everything,” she murmured.
“Nothing could ruin us,” he said. Whatever they had—whether it was a friendship or something more—he would never allow anything to get in the way of it. Nothing could be bigger than the bond they had built.
“I’m pregnant,” Evelyn whispered.
All the breath left Brady’s lungs in a rush.
Pregnant?
In his wildest imaginings, he would not have thought of this. It had honestly never occurred to him that such a thing might happen.
He felt like an idiot for having failed to consider it. And yet...they were past that part of their lives, weren’t they? It wasn’t that they were old, but he thought of pregnancy as something that happened to younger people. All the other members of his den around his own age had either had their children already or had decided against having any.
But Evelyn was telling him that she was pregnant, and he believed her.
“How long have you known?” he managed.
“Just a few days,” she said. “I found out on the day of your fight with Steve, but I couldn’t tell you then.”
“You could have told me,” he protested.
“You had so much else going on. I didn’t want to give you something else to worry about.”
“God, Evelyn—”
“I knew it would be difficult news for you,” she said quickly, before he could finish speaking. “I knew it would complicate your life. You’re trying to become alpha, and this might work against you. We’re not...you know. We’re not young anymore. It’s not likely that we’ll have very many children. Maybe it would be better for your standing in the pack if you had a younger mate, someone who could give you a lot of children—”
“Hang on,” Brady said, his mind catching up to him at last. “Hang on, Evelyn. Just stop talking for a minute, okay?”
She stopped talking. She looked up at him, and he saw that her lip was trembling as if she was on the verge of tears.
“This is more important than me becoming alpha,” he said. “You shouldn’t doubt that. This is much more important.”
“It is?”
“Of course. This is you and me. This is us starting a family.” He took her other hand so that he was holding them both. “I couldn’t be happier, Evelyn. Nothing in the world could make me happier.”
“Do you mean it?” she whispered. “Even if it costs you your chance at being alpha?”
“Even then,” he assured her. “But I think you might be borrowing trouble on that front.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“This might actually help me in my goal to become alpha,” he said. “Steve only has daughters. He doesn’t have an heir. If I have a son, he would have the best claim to the alpha role in the next generation.”
“But what if it isn’t a boy?” Evelyn said.
“If it’s a girl, I’ll love her as much as I love you,” Brady said. “This is you and me and our child, Evelyn. Nothing is going to take away our happiness in this moment, okay? Nothing else matters. Not Steve, not the den. This is about us.”
He stood, pulling her up with him, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her deeply. Her body bent toward him as if she was being drawn magnetically.
He inhaled the scent of her, his mind filling with imaginings of the future they would share.
Our child is growing right now. We’re going to start a family. We’re going to be parents together.
At this moment, it felt as if the two of them were every age they had ever been. He remembered being young with her, playing in the street. He remembered being a teenager, watching her grow into her womanhood. He remembered his anger and sadness on the day she’d left their den for good.
Now she was back, and their story had come full circle. They were going to raise a family.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
“Put me down,” she protested. “Your wound will open up again if you’re not careful. You shouldn’t be lifting heavy things.”
“You’re not heavy.” He laid her on the bed and took off his clothes before joining her. He unbuttoned her dress and eased her out of it, and the two of them lay there together, naked, close enough to breathe each other’s air.
He was so hard already. Just looking at her was enough to get him hard.
Still, he prolonged the moment as much as he could. He kissed every inch of her skin, enjoying her hums of pleasure as he worked. He kissed the tips of her fingers and the line of her jaw. He ran his hands over her torso, stroking her collarbones, cupping her breasts. He rested his head on her abdomen, imagining his baby growing inside her. Imagining how big she would be in a few months.
The idea was unbearably hot. He had never thought of making someone pregnant as something erotic before, but the idea of Evelyn swelling up with his child sent flashes of heat through his body unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
He had to have her right now.
He parted her legs and thrust into her slowly, and she let out a soft, happy moan of pleasure. She reached down and took hold of his hips, and he ceded control to her, allowing her to guide the pace and the force of their lovemaking. He wanted to be whatever she needed right now. He wanted to give her whatever she wanted. After all, she was giving him the most magnificent thing he could imagine.
She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts, and soon, Brady lost track of everything but the animal instinct driving him to fuck her faster, harder, deeper. He reached up and threaded his fingers through her hair, feeling lost in her, as if his body and hers were inextricably joined. He couldn’t remember where he ended and she began.
She cried out and thrashed beneath him suddenly, and he could feel that she was coming. The feel of her muscles clenching and pulling at him was enough to send him over the edge, and with a roar of passion, he slammed his hand against the headboard and fucked her furiously as they both rode out their orgasms.
He collapsed on top of her, his head pillowed on her breasts, too exhausted to move, too overwhelmed to think.
After a few moments had passed and his breathing had begun to return to normal, he became aware of her fingers, stroking softly up and down the length of his spine.
“You really are happy,” she murmured.
“I’m just so sorry that you had to worry that I would be anything else,” Brady said. “Of course I’m happy. I’m thrilled, Evelyn.”
“I wish I had told you sooner,” sh
e said.
“I wish you had felt like you could,” he agreed. “But it doesn’t matter now. The only thing that matters now is our family. We’re going to have a baby together. We’re going to be parents. Everything else is just a distraction.”
“You really don’t care about being alpha anymore?” she asked.
He rolled over so that he could look her in the eye. “I still care about it,” he said. “This den deserves a good alpha. Someone who knows what he’s doing. Someone who will look out for everyone’s interests. And I still think I’m capable of being that person.”
“I think so too,” Evelyn said. “If it were a democracy, you would have my vote.”
He smiled and kissed her. “Thank you,” he said. “But I should still have the better claim. “I’m still the rightful alpha by birthright, and I will retake my position as soon as I can. But if I have a son, it will be very hard for them to deny me.”
“And you’re not disappointed that I’m too old to give you a big family?” Evelyn asked.
“Of course not,” Brady said. “There’s nobody else I would want to be doing this with, Evelyn.”
She wrapped herself in his arms. Her eyes drifted closed, and after a few moments, Brady could tell that she was sleeping by her deep, even breathing.
He himself felt wide awake.
What he had told her was true. Their family was much more important than Steve’s opinion. It was even more important than the possibility of becoming alpha of the den.
Still, she was right too. This changed everything.
He was going to have to be much more cautious about his interactions with Steve and the others. He had to acknowledge now that he had higher responsibilities, that he couldn’t afford to be careless. If Steve, Edgar, and Brick had hurt him badly during the fight the other day, his child would have been born without a father.
That was unthinkable.
He would have to find a way to balance doing what was right for his den with doing what was right for Evelyn, and for their baby.
Chapter Seventeen
EVELYN
“Evelyn. Wake up.”
Half awake, she batted at the hand that was shaking her. She had been dreaming of a day at the lakeshore with Brady and their child. It had been such a nice dream...