Grant sat at the coffee shop waiting. He was feeling more anxious than he had for a very long time. Saul was down his gob for progress and he was stalled, trying to balance some sort of delicate dance between pursuit and pleasure with Elizabeth. He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed something very important as the two women arrived.
He didn’t speak as they sat down, pretending to be engrossed in his paper. Amanda sat on the opposite side of the table today, for some reason. Her back was to the street, her coat wrapped around her tightly. Normally, she didn’t pass by him and he wasn’t full engulfed in her scent. He could tell you exactly how Elizabeth smelled, but not her mother. Some scents were very distinct, even to someone not familiar with them first hand.
She was fertile. No. Not just fertile, but more like fertilized. It had been a while since he had been exposed to a pregnant woman, but she was definitely expecting. He furrowed his brows for a moment behind his paper and considered this. She couldn’t possibly be pregnant by a Silver Wolf and she wasn’t showing. Of course, she was hiding her figure behind a loose coat each time he saw her, but there was no noticeable bulge beneath it.
He knew she had come here from a bad situation, as attested to by police reports and retraining orders. Perhaps she was already pregnant and was much further along than she appeared. He tried to do the math in his head, but couldn’t remember how many months she had been here. He made a mental note to check on it when he returned to the cabin. Although he couldn’t be sure where that fit into the puzzle, it was worth noting and Saul would certainly be interested. It meant that Aspen Lowery was compromised with a pregnant mate, regardless of whether it was his or not.
“Everything good with you today, Grant?” Amanda asked him as she sat down.
He looked up from his paper for the first time and smiled politely. “Yes, things are great. How are they with you?”
“Pretty good. Weather is beginning to clear up a bit. Sunshine will be nice for a while.”
“Ah, yes,” he told her before looking in the direction of Elizabeth. She had not spoken and was not looking at him. It was not a good sign. “How are you, Elizabeth?” he urged.
“I’m fine,” she said quietly, picking up the menu and looking over it dismissively as if she didn’t order the same thing each time she came here and needed to pick something else out.
Grant raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. There was hardly anything he could say here in front of her mother and those goons outside. Instead, he nodded politely toward Amanda again and raised his newspaper in front of him, reading a bit of local news that was of no real interest.
“Elizabeth, stop pouting,” her mother said to her. Grant pretended not to notice.
“I’m not a child and I’m not pouting. Can we just hurry up and eat so we can be on our way?”
“Fine. It’s not much fun to have breakfast with you when you are so sour anyway.”
“And whose fault is that, huh?”
“It is no one’s fault, Elizabeth. Things are, well, they are just how they are.”
“How profound,” Elizabeth retorted.
It was a curious exchange. They usually appeared tighter than thieves, more like sisters than parent and child. He supposed that was owed to the fact that they weren’t really that far apart in age and not really related. Today, though, something was off between the two of them. He wondered what had happened to cause the rift and how deep it was. It didn’t bode well for his plans. Rather than trying to insert himself into the situation, he finished off his meal and left.
Hopefully, Elizabeth would come to him for comfort or at least seeking the attention he had withheld at the coffee shop. He had made a point of not even glancing at her appreciatively as usual. If she was like most women, that alone would pull her into his web and, even better, make her more vulnerable to him. So, perhaps this whole spat between them might play a bit nicer than he had hoped.
Grant made his way to the library to return some books and do a bit of research through the local papers. He had been checking routinely for any indication that the men who were killed during the Dire Wolves attack on the clubhouse had been noticed by anyone. The Silver Wolves would have cleaned up the mess themselves and hidden it from local authorities, but folks had a way of noticing when folks went missing if they were involved with any activities outside the club. Surely someone, somewhere, missed some of the men that had disappeared.
Still, there was nothing. He didn’t even bother to check any books out today. Instead, he made his way back to the car and returned home. Sure enough, his phone buzzed within an hour of his return. It was Elizabeth and she wanted to come over. He wondered how she intended to swing that, but he was, of course, there for her.
“You are welcome anytime,” he replied.
“On my way,” came her response.
Grant contemplated this new development and decided to make the most of it. Running through the shower, he left the door unlocked in case she arrived before he was out. His mind raced with questions and he thought about Amanda again. He still hadn’t gotten around to checking on how long she had been here and how far along she might be. Of course, he might just be mistaken about things, but he seriously doubted that.
Stepping out of the shower, he walked to the living room to check his phone. There was nothing there, but when he glanced up, he saw Elizabeth standing there looking at him in surprise. He caught her gaze rest on the scars across his chest for a moment before speaking.
“I’m sorry. I knocked, but there was no answer and the door was open. I heard the shower running and decided to wait. I guess I should have called out to let you know I was here.”
Her gaze shifted away from him. She seemed embarrassed by his half nude body and he found himself wondering, once again, if she had ever even been kissed before he came along. The thought that she could be his, only his enticed him and also, made him sad. It wasn’t something that could ever be. This was his life now, deceit and seclusion.
“It’s okay. You are always welcome here. Are you okay? You hardly spoke at the coffee shop and you didn’t seem to be in good sorts with your mother.”
“I came to tell you that we won’t be at the coffee shop anymore after today.”
“Oh? Why is that? You on a caffeine diet? Well, I guess your mother always has been. She seems more of a tea drinker, right?”
“Yes. Green tea. She stays away from the caffeine.”
“Makes her jittery?”
Elizabeth hesitated, looking at him closely for a moment before speaking. He knew she was trying to decide if he were truly trustworthy before speaking.
“Elizabeth?”
“She’s pregnant,” she blurted out, drawing in a deep breath as if she had just exhaled something that had been filling her up and needed to be rapidly purged.
“Why, that’s wonderful!” he replied, realizing that he wasn’t supposed to know about the curse. He could have only known such a thing if he weren’t as much an outsider as he claimed.
“Yes, it is wonderful. It’s wonderful and also, horrible.”
“Why is it horrible? I’m sure her husband, your father, and she are over the moon about it.”
“She and my father aren’t married, at least not yet. He proposed, so they are engaged, but she wanted to wait until after the baby is born to marry.”
“Why is that?”
“She just wants a traditional sort of wedding and the baby is growing so fast. There’s not really enough time to plan and get a dress fitted with her changing shape.”
“But why does all that mean you can’t go to the coffee shop anymore?”
Elizabeth hesitated again, looking down at her feet quietly. This time, he didn’t try to coax her. Instead, letting her decide what else she should tell him.
“The Dire Wolves. They can’t know she is pregnant,” she said solemnly. “And she is beginning to show too much to be out in public.”
“What do the Dire Wolves have to do with it? You think they would harm her while she was expecting?”
“Wow, you really do live out here on the fringe, don’t you? Have you no idea about the history between the Dire Wolves and Silver Wolves?”
“No. Hold on. Let me get on some clothes and you can tell me all about it. Help yourself to something to eat or drink from the fridge. Make yourself at home.”
He returned a few minutes later to find her kicked back on the sofa, drinking a soda and eating a handful of grapes. He smiled as he sat down beside her and reached for her hand to cup it in his own.
“Okay, so your Mom can’t go out for fear the Dire Wolves will do her harm. I don’t get it. I mean, I understand there are issues there between rival packs, but it is usually understood that expectant mothers are off limits.”
“Not here. The Silver Wolves had a curse placed on them by the Dire Wolves. They’ve not been able to conceive a child in more than twenty-five years. That’s the reason there are so few of them. The men are getting older and weaker while the Dire Wolves continue to grow. The night we were attacked, we had to hide because there was no way to defeat so many. The shifters had a quick escape route planned and the humans were all locked away in a hidden safe room inside the house. It was only the guards on the exterior that were harmed.”
“And you. You said you got clipped that night. Why were you not hidden with the rest? You are human, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am human. It all happened too quickly. I had gone outside to get some fresh air. We were having a party and I just needed a moment to myself, at least as much so as I can get by with having to be guarded all the time.”
“Speaking of being guarded. How did you manage to get here unnoticed?”
“I told them I was tired and going to bed, then I snuck out my window.”
“Unnoticed by wolves?”
“Hey, I’m not your average human. I have skills,” she laughed.
“No, you are anything but average.”
“Thank you,” she said, blushing again.
“So, I don’t get it then. Is your mother pregnant from a previous relationship?” he commented, not wanting to lose the thread of the conversation.
“What? Oh, no. That is why they are so protective. She is pregnant with a shifter baby. It’s my father’s, definitely.”
“I don’t understand. You said there was a curse. No babies . . .,” he offered, genuinely surprised and confused by the news.
“We don’t understand either. It just happened, and we don’t know how or why. Other shifters are trying to get pregnant now. That clubhouse is like a friggin’ brothel,” she replied, rolling her eyes.
“So, now all of the shifters are able to get pregnant?”
“Yes. No. Well, we don’t know. We are hoping so. We are hoping that somehow the curse has been lifted, but so far, no one else is pregnant. Now, my father is thinking that perhaps it is just something about Amanda that has allowed her to reproduce. It’s really too soon to know just yet, I think.”
“Wow. You poor thing. No wonder you are treated like a prisoner in your own home. That must be so frustrating.”
“It is,” she admitted. “I’m glad I have you to visit now though.”
“I am too. How long will you stay?”
“As long as I like. With me safely locked in my room, Aspen and Amanda are having a date night out of town. No one will look for me until morning.”
Grant considered how trusting it was of her to be here with him alone and admit that no one knew where she was. He felt a mix of relief that he seemed to have gained her trust and fear for her that she had no idea that she could be in danger. It didn’t even occur to him until a few moments later that she had her own motives.
“Kiss me, again,” she told him, not taking her eyes from his.
She was breathtaking, as usual. Even in a simple jeans and tee-shirt with her hair twisted into a lose knot at the nape of her neck, she managed to be just as stunning as she had been in that blue dress. In fact, she looked older with her hair pulled back like that, closer to his age. He had to wonder if that was purposeful. Especially now, as it appeared she was trying to seduce him. Grant told himself that he wouldn’t let things go too far, that he could control himself as he leaned forward to kiss her softly.