Etti

Etti was getting bored of sitting in her apartment alone. Seeing her father had brought back memories she’d shoved away. And doing nothing gave her way too much time to think about all the ways her parents had betrayed her. She decided the best way to quiet her mind was to head downstairs to see what Marc and Cali were up to. She’d sent Cali away after unpacking all the baby toys started to overwhelm her, but now Etti was feeling a bit guilty about shirking her friend.

She heaved herself off the couch, already preparing her argument to Cali’s objections. Etti could just as easily rest on the couch in the Painted Wolf. Plus, there was food down there from the party and Etti’s stomach growled. She’d been too anxious to eat much at the shower, but her appetite was back with a vengeance now.

“Okay, baby girl, mama’s gonna get you some food,” Etti murmured patting her belly as she headed downstairs. She loved talking to Izzi when no one was around to listen. Izzi kicked in response and Etti couldn’t contain her smile.

When she arrived downstairs, Marc and Cali were just packing up the last of the party supplies, returning the Painted Wolf back to the badass tattoo parlor it was intended to be.

“Sup, mama wolf!” Marc called greeting Etti.

“What are you doing down here?” Cali quipped. “You’re supposed to be resting. Nurse’s orders!”

“I was lonely and hungry. And I can rest down here, can’t I?”

“Hungry, I can take care of. But sit down,” Cali scolded, scurrying to the back room.

Marc sat down on the couch next to Etti, smirking.

“Ew, don’t make that face,” Etti teased. “You’re gonna scare the baby.”

“Sorry, I’m just excited about my date,” Marc said flashing an even wider grin.

“Nah uh? You got a date with one of the shifter girls?” Etti asked, impressed.

“Yep!” Marc was beaming like a lunatic. “Who’s got game now?” He passed his phone to Etti, showing off a photo of a gorgeous curvy woman with dyed pink hair.

Etti laughed. “Well, what are ya still doing here? Got get ‘er, tiger.”

Marc waggled his pierced eyebrows. “I will. Just waiting for Cali to let me off the hook.”

Just then Cali returned with a plate of food for Etti. “Here ya go, hun. I didn’t know what you’d want, so I piled on a little of everything.

“Thanks!” Etti smiled gratefully and dug in. “So,” she said between mouthfuls of sliders and pasta salad. “Are we almost done here? Marc’s got a hot date.”

“Marc! Why didn’t you say so?” Cali exclaimed. “I’m just waiting for the caterer to pick up the platters and then we’re all set. You don’t have to stick around.”

Marc looked skeptical.

“What’s the hold up? You just got your pardon,” Etti ribbed. “You’re not scared of a little shifter love, are ya?”

“No . . . it’s just . . .”

“It’s just what?” Etti pressed.

Marc sighed. “I told Grey I wouldn’t leave until he got back.”

Cali scowled. “We don’t need your protection, Marc. We’re grown ass women, and we can take care of ourselves.”

“Oh, believe me, I know,” Marc added. “But I’m a man of my word.”

Etti rolled her eyes. “Fine, but if you’re sticking around make yourself useful and get me a coke,” Etti said.

“Etti, no caffeine,” Cali reprimanded.

“Oh, let the lady have some fun,” drawled a low, familiar voice that sent chills down Etti’s spine. She sprang to her feet, ice filling her veins as she locked eyes with Derik Weyland—the hunt’s Alpha.

The last time Etti saw Derik in the Painted Wolf he killed two people. There was no way in hell Etti was about to let that go down today. Especially not when the only two people in the shop beside herself were her closest friends.

Derik let a wicked grin curl across his mouth. “I’ve missed you, Etti. And I’ve been dying to meet her.” He pointed to Etti’s belly and panic slithered into her chest.

Derik took a step toward her and Marc charged him. “Leave her alone.”

The Alpha disarmed Marc quickly with a sickening twist of his neck, and dropped him with a laugh. Etti screamed nearly falling to her knees as she watched Marc lying motionless on the floor. Whatever Derik had done to Marc happened so fast that she couldn’t tell if the blow had been fatal. She studied her fallen friend, praying to see his chest rise and fall.

Etti tried to take a step toward Marc, but realized with sudden fear that the only reason she was still on her feet was because Derik was holding her up. His chest pressed against her back as he crushed a powerful forearm around her throat while the other caressed her belly. Fear and anger rolled off Etti, creating a scent that seemed intoxicating to the Alpha. He inhaled deeply and ran his nose up Etti’s neck. “I can tell why Grey fancy’s you.”

“If you hurt a hair on her head,” Cali hissed, raising a small gun she’d pulled from a hidden holster under her pretty yellow dress.

Derik shook with laughter. “Please be smarter than your friend,” he warned nodded to Marc’s still body. “It really would be a shame to kill two beautiful females today.”

“You’re not killing anyone,” Etti growled, her muscles coiled, ready to shift the moment she caught Derik off guard. Her wolf was her best defense, swifter and stronger than Etti’s pregnant human form.

Cali crept closer still aiming the gun at Derik. She crouched near Marc to check his pulse without ever taking her eyes off Derik. “He’s still breathing,” she whispered.

Etti slumped with relief.

“Pity,” Derik purred.

“What are you doing here?” Cali asked, not moving any closer.

“I just had to come meet this miracle baby,” he replied.

“Miracle baby?” Etti repeated, her voice shaking.

Derik sniffed the air, ignoring her questions. He scented something that made him smile. “Did Grey really leave you alone?”

“She’s not alone,” Cali countered.

Derik’s laugher shook though Etti. “Grey should know better. He had to have known I would come for the child.”

“Why? What the hell did my baby ever do to you?” Etti snapped.

“You really don’t know, do you?” Derik crooned, running his hand against Etti’s belly roughly.

“Know what?” Cali asked.

“Etti is carrying the heir to the hunt. The next Alpha is currently in her womb and being the present Alpha, you can see how that creates a problem for me.”

“Alpha?” Cali scoffed. “It’s not possible for Etti to be carrying an Alpha unless Grey is one.”

Derik smirked as the realization washed over Etti. He lowered his mouth to her ear. “For mates, you certainly don’t seem to know much about each other. Like for instance, how your beloved Greyson manages to ignore my commands even though he’s bound to me.”

Etti’s heart hammered faster. “He’s the hunt’s true Alpha? And now our baby . . .” She couldn’t get the words out.

But Cali said them for her. “Etti’s child inherited Grey’s Alpha gene and with it, the hunt’s curse.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Derik laughed. “So I came to snuff her out before she gains enough power to unseat me.”

“Power? She’s a baby!” Cali yelled. “How does she pose a threat to you?”

Derik laughed again. “It’s quite unbelievable how uninformed you are. With this child’s ancestors being protected by magic, she will inherit the power to break the curse of the hunter’s moon.”

Etti paled. “Magic?”

“How do you think your father escaped the hunt?”

“But, I thought there was no way to end the hunter’s blood oath?”

“I told you she was a miracle,” Derik sneered.

Cali interrupted. “Why are you telling us this?”

“I find loss is sweeter when you truly know what you’re losing. Etti is losing not only a daughter, but the key to freeing her mate and father from the curse that has plagued their lives.”

“You have to know killing her child won’t stop her from having another.”

Derik shrugged. “I thought of that, and that’s why I’ve decided to kill two wolves with one stone.” He pulled a silver blade from its sheath on his hip and caressed it from Etti’s swollen belly to her breasts, angling it right over her heart.

“Even if you kill me,” Etti said trying to keep the fear from her voice. “You won’t get away with it.”

“How’s that?” Derik asked, his voice hot against her ear.

“The shifters in Blue Creek have already been alerted about you,” Cali retorted. “If you take the life of a shifter and her child in their territory, when there’s no hunter’s moon in sight, you’ll be on the run for the rest of your life.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Derik growled.

“Why?” Cali continued. “If what you say is true, and Etti and Grey’s daughter can break the curse, it won’t be until she comes of age, right?”

“So?” Derik shot back.

“So, why not enjoy the next eighteen years of reign without a squad of shifter enforcers from Blue Creek chasing you,” Cali replied. “And believe me, they will. You’re in the Wolfes’ territory. There’s no way they let a crime like this go unpunished.”

Etti caught Cali’s tactic. She was stalling, trying to keep Derik talking until Grey returned, which would be any moment. Etti just needed to stay calm.

“She’s right,” Etti continued. “And even when she’s of age. I won’t let her contest you as Alpha.”

Derik snorted and Etti felt the blade press harder against her breast. “It won’t be up to you. The Alpha urge is not something you can suppress from your wolf.”

“Grey did it,” she shot back.

“He didn’t have the potential to break the curse like your child will.”

“Then I won’t let her shift!” Etti yelled. And in that sudden, horrible moment, she understood why her mother had kept her shifter gene suppressed all those years. A mother would do anything to protect her child—anything.

“That’s not possible,” Derik scoffed.

“It is,” Cali said. “Etti’s mother fed her a tonic since birth to suppress the gene. She didn’t even know she could shift until Grey’s mating bond forced it. And even then we weren’t sure she’d survive it.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you would drug your own child? Keep the power and reign from her?”

“Yes,” Etti begged, almost unable to believe the turn of events that had made her into her own mother. “I’ll do anything to keep my daughter safe.”

“And so will I,” rumbled a deep voice behind Etti.

In a split second everything changed. Derik was struck hard from behind and Etti was thrown free of his grasp. She scrambled toward Cali. “Shoot!” Etti screamed. “Shoot him, Cali.”

But Cali stood as still as a stone, her eyes wide with fear. Etti didn’t waste time following Cali’s terrified gaze. Instead she tore the gun from her friend’s shaking hands. Etti whirled, ready to take aim at the Alpha fighting her mate, but it wasn’t her mate in his grasp at all . . . it was Wes!

“Shoot him!” Wes snarled, trying to keep Derik pinned to the ground.

But the Alpha had his claws in Wes as they grappled around the floor. Etti couldn’t get a clear shot and she couldn’t risk hitting her best friend. He was human, and wouldn’t recover so easily from a gunshot wound.

“I’m trying,” Etti growled back.

The element of surprise was lost and the Alpha was quickly overpowering Wes. Derik’s claws ripped into Wes, shredding flesh as he flipped Wes onto his back. Etti finally had a clear shot at Derik and didn’t hesitate. She fired and hit her target, but not before Wes let out a blood curdling scream as Derik ripped into his chest.

“No!” Cali screeched, and tried to run to Wes, but Etti blocked her path and shot again, still trying to take Derik down.

Just then, Grey burst through the front door, his eyes wild with fear. Derik took one look at Grey and shifted into his wolf, bolting out the back door like the coward he was. He knew he couldn’t win against three shifters, especially with Grey thinking his mate and child were in danger.

Grey was at Etti’s side in an instant, touching her all over. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good. Stay here, I’m going after that asshole and ending this once and for all,” Grey snarled, about to shift and tear after Derik.

There was nothing Etti wanted more, but Cali stopped them with her plea. “Wait. I need your help. We need to get Wes to the clinic.”

“I’m fine,” Wes grumbled, but as Etti assessed him she quickly realized he wasn’t.