A Wolf in the Fold Read online

“Do you honestly think I’d kid about something like that and risk getting fricasseed by her over it?”

  “Why is she scared of fireworks?” Elain asked.

  He shrugged. “She’s also scared of spiders and rusty nails. Although, to be fair, she stepped on a rusty nail when she was eight and trying to get away from a spider, so they might be linked.”

  “Ya think?”

  His sly smile melted Elain. “She’s still pissed off at me over that one. I kind of told her the spider was coming after her.”

  They all followed the process of another mortar gracefully arcing away from the launcher. “Was she afraid of spiders before that?”

  “Yeah, but that sort of finished her off for good.”

  Elain giggled. “So a spider figurine made out of rusty nails would totally make her lose her shit, huh?”

  A slow, evil grin spread across Zack’s face.

  Until Kael whacked him on the shoulder. “Z, I sooo wouldn’t try going there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I prefer your ass non-Goddess-nuked, that’s why.”

  “Aw, she lubs me. I’m her Watcher. She wouldn’t nuke me.”

  “Famous last words. I wouldn’t test that theory too strongly, if I were you.” He leaned around to look at Elain. “And thanks, by the way. Not like he doesn’t get enough evil ideas on his own.”

  She shrugged. “What are friends for?”

  They heard a rap on the sliding glass doors and turned. Lina stood there, frowning. She held her fingers up in a V, pointing them at her eyes, and at them.

  Zack laughed. “Now she’s paranoid.”

  “It’s not paranoia if someone’s really after you,” Kael said.

  * * * *

  The men successfully set off the fireworks without blowing themselves up or setting anything on fire. Then they all returned to the house, where they watched TV coverage of the Times Square celebration and the ball dropping.

  As midnight approached and everyone paired off with their respective mates, Elain found herself surrounded by her men.

  Ain pulled her into his arms as Brodey and Cail crowded close, their arms also wrapped around her. Ain’s grey gaze stared down at her. “Happy New Year, babe. I can honestly say this is the best one I’ve ever celebrated.”

  “Ditto,” Brodey and Cail echoed.

  Now this part of her new Seer powers she could totally dig. Once again their love and tenderness flowed from them, wrapping around her like a soft, warm blanket. If it were limited just to this, she could do it all day without a break.

  “Me, too,” she said.

  On the TV, the announcers started counting down the clock from ten seconds. She didn’t break eye contact with Ain. “Are you really happy?”

  “Yes, Prime. I’m really happy.”

  His smile widened as he lowered his lips to hers. She closed her eyes, savoring his kiss as around them the others let up a cheer. After kissing Brodey, and then Cail, she pressed her back against Ain, his arms around her, and looked around the room.

  All over, little pockets of love and joy had cropped up, surrounding each of the couples and triads. Not even a visible aura, more like an emotional radar echo that resonated through her.

  This was family. This was what she’d missed her entire life.

  This was the perfection she’d dreamed of and never realized would ever come so true. As if she’d wished it into being.

  She tipped her head back against Ain’s shoulder and looked up into his face. “Hey, Prime?”

  Amused, he smiled down at her. “Yes, my mate?”

  “How about we shut this joint down and head to bed?”

  He grinned. “Got to make our mate happy, don’t we?”

  * * * *

  Mercedes impatiently tapped her foot on the floor as she waited for the results. This wasn’t exactly how she’d planned on celebrating New Year’s Eve, but she wouldn’t complain.

  This is even better.

  Eventually, as she stared at the little window on the test stick, the plus sign she’d hoped for emerged.

  A wide grin spread across her face. In the back of her mind she’d worried that maybe she was infertile, possibly some result of her bastardized genetics, like sterile animal hybrids. Now that it looked like she would, in fact, become a mother, she knew her plans couldn’t fail.

  Although, in retrospect, she did regret implicating Marston in the information she’d sent to the wolves’ leader a few months back. Had she known at the time how readily Marston would agree to her scheme and how she’d feel about him now, she wouldn’t have complicated her life by doing that.

  Oh, well.

  Still, she wouldn’t tell him about that. He didn’t need to know she’d done it. Truth be told, she found herself in love with him. Again, something that shocked her, but there it was. It didn’t matter why they’d come together. He had a chance for redemption, and now, so did she.

  A chance to prove herself to the world that she wasn’t some worthless piece of hybrid trash neither species wanted.

  A chance to give her child the kind of upbringing she didn’t have.

  A chance for him or her to have a mother and a father in its life.

  A family.

  A family who will take over and kick some serious fucking ass and show they aren’t people who will tolerate bullshit.

  A chance to completely crush the man who’d both given and ruined her life.

  A chance, now that she knew the full truth, to atone a little for the evils her brothers had done throughout their lives. She’d always seen them through rose-colored little-sister glasses. She knew they weren’t perfect, but she’d never imagine the depravity they’d sink to in the quest to fulfill their ambitions.

  Or how they’d simply been using her as part of their bigger plan.

  Now that she knew what else they’d planned, using children, the thought sickened her.

  But things always work out for the best. In her case, they definitely had. It wasn’t worth risking going up against the dragons. Not when she now had so much to lose and everything to gain. Taking down Rodolfo Abernathy had proved far more satisfying.

  Her brothers had brought their own karma upon themselves. She refused to follow in their footsteps. She’d take the money and power she’d get from seizing Rodolfo’s assets and use that to begin systematically exposing and wiping out cockatrice wherever she found them.

  Anywhere she found them.

  She picked up the test stick as the plus sign darkened even further. She opened the bathroom door and nearly ran into Marston who stood there, waiting.

  “Well?” he hoarsely asked.

  She smiled and held it up. “Congratulations, papi. You get a second chance to fuck up fatherhood.”

  She thought his eyes might have turned misty as he fiercely grabbed her and crushed her lips with his. “I love you,” he whispered. “I don’t give a bloody damn why we came together. And if you think you’re getting rid of me, you’ll have to kill me to do it.”

  For the first time she could remember, she felt the prickle of tears in her eyes that weren’t caused by her wrapping a little toe around a table leg, or something similarly painful. She draped her arms around his neck. “Mate,” she softly said, “I never thought I’d ever say these words to another living being, but I love you, too.”

  He stared down at her. “You’re not just pulling my leg?”

  “No. I consider you not just my mate, but my partner.”

  He scooped her into his arms and headed for the bedroom. “Then let’s get you properly fucked before we go downstairs to break the happy news to him,” he said. “I can think of nothing more fitting than for him to learn about this while you’re standing there smelling like me and with my cum running down your legs.”

  She laughed. “That’s one of the reasons I love you, babe. You’re such a romantic.”

  He grinned as he dropped her onto their bed. “I have my moments.”

  Chapter Fif
teen

  Much to Elain’s relief, the brief trip they took to Maine in mid-January for the babies’ recognition ceremony proved uneventful. They’d used the RVs due to Lina’s hatred of flying, Elain and Ain traveling up with everyone while Brodey and Cail stayed behind at the ranch.

  Other than the informal run and barbecue the Lyalls would host on their ranch in late February for the local shifters, Maine was the last time she’d see Blackie and Callie until they met up at the Gathering in Yellowstone in March.

  The run was a twice-yearly affair, followed by a huge barbecue for the families and kids who weren’t part of the morning chase. Those with the land to do so took turns hosting it, and it was the Lyalls’ turn again. Elain learned it was an eagerly anticipated local event every spring and fall amongst the shifters.

  The Sunday morning of the run dawned crisp, cool, and clear, a rarity by southern Florida standards in early February. Brodey awoke bursting with energy, his wolf nature visibly bristling near the surface as he rushed into the kitchen and engulfed Elain in a bouncy hug before spinning her around.

  She couldn’t help but laugh as his happy waves of lupine joy washed through her. “You’re in a mood.”

  “Oh, babe, this is going to be so much fun this morning!”

  “I thought you saved that kind of enthusiasm for sex,” she teased.

  He waggled his eyebrows at her. “You just wait until tonight. Ain and Cail better get out of my way. I am feeling frisky, frisky, frisky!”

  “I can tell, believe me,” she said, disengaging herself from him to get another sip of her coffee. “So how many shifters are showing up this morning, anyway?”

  “Mark said at least thirty from the area. In addition to all of us. Well, for this morning, anyway. It’s not mandatory to come today, but some folks won’t be able to make the Gathering in Yellowstone. This is a chance for everyone to get together and have a little fun. We’ll have even more people later this afternoon for the barbecue.”

  Elain couldn’t help the frazzled way her nerves felt on edge, as if her senses were hyperaware and she couldn’t turn them off. She had the distinct feeling something was going to happen today. Not bad, necessarily, but definitely something…wrong.

  Brodey frowned. “Babe?”

  She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  “You don’t look okay.”

  She shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

  He held out his arm to her. She stared at it without reaching out to touch him. “You can’t fool me. You’ll get horny and drag me back to bed.”

  But she found no humor in his expression now. “No, seriously.” He nodded toward his bare forearm. “Go ahead.” The more she’d practiced with her “touchy feelie” skills, as she’d dubbed them, the more she’d discovered she could read about people. Depending on how close she was to a person, how well she knew them, she could see more details. Some of it was from the future, some from the past, and sometimes it was just feelings, not events.

  With her men, it was different. Elain found she didn’t have to actively reach her mind out to “read” them the way she could accidentally read other people. Lina’s supposition was that because they were her mates, and she was so tuned into them anyway, it was like they shared the same mental wavelength. Emotions from her men came to her like a constant mental tinnitus, except not annoying. But unless she wanted to try to use her Seer powers on them with conscious effort, physical contact with them didn’t offer the same results it did with others.

  Learning to block unwanted signals from casual contact with people was a little more difficult to master. Over the past several weeks, she’d found herself avoiding that kind of interaction with people. Especially when she was at the feedstore one day and her fingers accidentally brushed with those of the young woman who was working the cash register.

  Elain had seen pain, hopelessness, and hints of the woman’s boyfriend beating her.

  With Lina’s help, Elain was trying to learn to consciously build and maintain a mental wall when she didn’t want to read things.

  Brodey didn’t move. Slowly reaching out, Elain finally curled her fingers around his wrist as she closed her eyes.

  She saw the world from a wolf’s point of view, low to the ground and flying through underbrush. Then he turned and looked behind him and—

  She gasped as she let go of his arm.

  “What?” What is it?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Well would you please just tell me? You’re killing me here, babe.”

  “I saw a…a puppy.” Specifically, a wolf puppy. Not one of their two Labs.

  He let out a snort. “A puppy? You had me awfully worried there for a minute.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder to where Juju and Bea sat up in their puppy pen in the living room, just outside the kitchen doorway. “They’re safe and sound. Just keep them on their leashes this morning so they don’t get loose and try to follow us.”

  She started to correct him, then stopped. “Yeah. I will.” She didn’t understand it. The vision felt like it was going to happen today, but it didn’t make any sense. She was still so new to tapping into her Seer powers she wasn’t sure what she was doing. Or even how to interpret what she saw much of the time.

  A wolf puppy?

  The door to their bedroom opened. Ain and Cail emerged, both wearing work clothes. They stopped to pet the two Labs as they headed for the kitchen.

  “I thought you guys were going to run with the others?” she asked as they walked over and kissed her good morning.

  “We are,” Ain said, “but Brodey won rock-paper-scissors and gets to take the morning off. We need to go to the barns and make sure everything is okay before we get to play. We gave the entire crew the day off today so they didn’t accidentally witness the shifter run. Dad’s coming with us to help. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in time.”

  Cail studied her with his sweet brown gaze. “Babe?”

  Brodey waved him off. “She’s got an odd feeling.”

  “What?” Ain and Cail asked together.

  Frustration crept into Elain’s mood. “I don’t know. Nothing bad. Just chill out. Okay? You know I’m still trying to get the hang of this Seer gig.”

  The men grabbed protein bars to eat on the go and headed out to the barns.

  “I think,” Brodey said after a few minutes, “that you’re paranoid. Rightfully so,” he quickly added before she could complain. “I would be, too, after all we just went through in the past seven months.”

  Elain didn’t argue. He’s right. At least she had it easy, in a way. Mai’s Seer powers currently seemed to be limited to dreams that sometimes made absolutely no sense to her. It didn’t help that she would dream about people with no clue who they were. Lina and Elain had encouraged her to start writing everything down. Sometimes, with Elain’s help, they could figure out who the dreams were about.

  Most of the time, however, they couldn’t. It frustrated the crap out of Mai. Elain, who lived with her and saw that more than Lina did, felt helpless to offer any advice.

  At least BettLynn was a bright spot in their household. Dr. Alberto was happy at the baby’s progress. BettLynn seemed hearty and hale despite her Down syndrome. Further testing did seem to indicate possible sight and hearing defects, but the doctor kept emphasizing it was too soon to tell for sure.

  Meanwhile, Elain loved helping out with the baby, enjoying the calm, soothing emotions that washed over her every time she held BettLynn and stared into her emerald-green eyes.

  * * * *

  Her dad soon appeared and followed Ain and Cail out to the barns. Her mom joined her in the kitchen to help her prepare the large family breakfast, while Brodey went outside to finalize things there.

  Lina and her guys had spent the night to avoid an early-morning drive. When Lina emerged from her room, she looked blurry-eyed and exhausted. Elain had a mug of coffee ready for her friend when she slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.

  “Thank
s,” Lina mumbled as she gratefully accepted it and took a sip.

  “Long night?” Carla asked.

  “The Beasts have decided they’re not dragons after all, they’re night owls. And day owls. And afternoon owls.” She propped her chin in the palm of one hand. “Apparently, they’re never going to sleep again. Well, except for the nap they’re currently taking. But if I want to sleep, they want to be awake.”

  “The guys didn’t get up to help?” Elain asked.

  She snorted. “They could sleep through an atomic blast.” She took another sip. “I could have nudged one of them to take over and they would have, but I know they’re looking forward to the run this morning. I wanted to let them sleep.”

  Mai emerged from her bedroom and waved as she headed across the hall to the nursery to get BettLynn. Jim and Micah appeared moments later and joined them in the kitchen.

  “Good morning,” Micah said as he headed for the coffeepot. “Ready to run this morning?” he asked Elain.

  “I’m not running,” Elain said. “I’m just watching.”

  Jim took the mug of coffee Micah handed him. “Why not?”

  Elain shrugged, not really wanting to get into the details of it. Especially in front of her mom. “Just don’t feel like it today.”

  Rather, she still didn’t feel like letting her Alpha loose around a bunch of people, including kids, that she didn’t know very well. She hadn’t exactly broken the news to her guys yet, but after thinking about it, she knew not running today was the best option for her.

  Especially when combined with the odd feeling that wouldn’t go away, and the snippet of a vision she’d seen when touching Brodey’s arm.

  Micah and Jim went outside to help Brodey. Mai brought BettLynn into the kitchen and got her settled in her baby carrier on the kitchen table.

  “So what’s wrong, honey?” Carla asked Elain.

  Both Lina and Mai swiveled their heads to stare at Elain.

  Her face heated. “What? Nothing.”

  “You aren’t running. And you’ve got a frown on your face I know all too well. Spill it.”