“Ow,” Liberty moaned as she wrapped an arm around her belly. The tension around her baby increased and she let out a whooshing breath.
“Liberty,” Evie squealed, rushing to her side. The poor girl looked scared out of her mind. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” she frowned. “Just some uncomfortable tightness.”
“Let’s get you inside.” Evie spoke softly as her face shifted slightly. Liberty knew she was calling out for her alpha. That was backed up when her mate appeared at the backdoor to the house, taking up the entire entrance.
“Liberty,” he gasped, rushing forward and scooping her up into his arms. “What’s going on?”
“I think it was a contraction, but I shouldn’t be having them this soon.” She moaned again, hoping she wasn’t right.
“Call the healer,” Talon ordered over his shoulder as he dropped to his knees and placed Liberty on the mound of pillows and blankets on the living room floor. His hands rested on her stomach, his eyes closing as he concentrated on their child.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. The males could sense things…things she wasn’t completely aware of yet. Savage was able to hear their cub’s heartbeat early on. Could Talon?
“He is strong,” Talon said proudly, but there was still a hard set of worry on his brow. “Our cub is fine.”
Harold rushed into the room, his black bag clutched in one hand. He asked Liberty to tell him everything that had happened. When she told him of the tightness and ache in her belly, he smiled. “Your body is preparing for the birth. I’m sure that’s all it is, but I will check you over just to be sure.”
“Do we need to move her to your office?” Talon asked, pacing beside her makeshift bed.
“If you could give me about fifteen minutes to set up, I would like for you to carry her over,” Harold ordered, pinning Liberty with a hard stare. “No walking until we know for sure.”
“That’s a long way to carry me,” Liberty worried. “I’m not the lightest load.”
“You’re perfect,” Talon said, reaching out to stroke her cheek.
The healer left them alone, promising to call when he had the sonogram machine ready. Talon curled his body around hers, lifting her head gently so it pillowed on his massive bicep. When Liberty started to talk, Talon shushed her with his lips pressed to hers. “Our cub is going to be okay.”
Liberty closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. It worried her that her panther wasn’t even prowling in her mind. It was too quiet in the house as well, but when she looked over Talon’s shoulder, she realized they were not alone. All of the Guardians were there; some were sitting on the couch and others were standing at attention in all of the doorways. She gave them a soft smile and closed her eyes again.
“Harold is ready,” Talon whispered, pushing a strand of hair off her cheek. She started to protest when he lifted her from the floor, but his hard stare silenced her.
Liberty snuggled against her mate’s chest as he carried her out the back door and across the yard. He never complained about her weight or the fact that he was carrying her for such a long distance to the healer’s home and office.
“Set her here,” Harold ordered as he took a seat in front of the machine. “Let’s have a look.”
The healer squeezed the warm gel across her extended belly, using the wand to spread it out. As soon as the black and white image of their child came into view, all three of them let out a sigh of relief. The cub’s heartbeat sounded through the speakers, and Talon squeezed her hand as if to reassure her. Liberty needed that connection to him even more than she thought he knew.
“Your cub is healthy,” Harold announced. “Your body is just preparing for the big day. I want you to take it easy for the next week. If you start having pains that take your breath away, I want you to call me immediately.”
Liberty’s head jerked to the right when she saw a flash of light out the window. “Did you see that?”
“No,” Talon frowned. “What is it?”
“Is it going to storm tonight?” she asked.
“No,” Talon growled, going on instant alert. “What did you see?”
“A flash of light.” She scowled in concern. “It’s the second time I’ve seen that.”
“Are you sure?” Harold asked, removing the wand so he could look out the window as well. There was no one there. No cars had driven by the house, either.
“Maybe it’s my pregnancy brain,” Liberty said, rolling her eyes. “Lord knows I’ve been kind of scatterbrained over the past few weeks.”
“I’ll have my Guardians make rounds.” Talon smiled, but it was forced. He removed his phone from his pocket and shot off a message to one of them. His focus returned to her and the image on the screen. “Do you know what we are having?”
“I thought you didn’t want to know,” Harold teased.
“We don’t,” Liberty scoffed, narrowing her eyes on her mate. “You promised.”
“I just wanted to know if he knows,” Talon teased.
“Oh, I know,” Harold said, then winked at the both of them.
Talon sat in the high back chair next to the fireplace, watching his mate as she slept peacefully on the makeshift bed in the living room. Most females with young enjoyed the comfort of sleeping that way. It was the nature of their kind. Just like their animal cousins, the females wanted to snuggle down into a warm place they felt safe.
Liberty had taken to her new life with incredible ease. She’d stepped up to help him run the pride and had not complained once about her role. He loved her more than anything else, and he always would. Fate had a funny way of doing that to their kind. There was no way to explain just how deep his feelings were for his mate.
He fumbled in his pocket when his phone rumbled with an incoming call. Ranger had been sent to his post at the gate as soon as the meeting in his office was finished. The male was worthy of his status, and Liberty was right…Ranger had done the right thing with Evie. He wouldn’t fault the male for helping the female regain herself by learning to fight.
“Sheriff’s here to see you,” Ranger announced as soon as Talon picked up the phone.
“Send him up to the house, but keep an eye on him,” Talon ordered. Talon hoped that Sheriff Lynch found something out on the people claiming to be a part of this Community. The same people who had something to do with the fake lab that had held Mary Grace captive while trying to study shifters.
“Sheriff.” Talon nodded for the lawman to follow him into the office. Talon took a seat in front of the desk as Garrett closed the door. “Any news?”
“It seems the Community is a private group who are opposed to your kind.” Sheriff Lynch cleared his throat and took a seat next to Talon. When Talon looked up, he noticed Garrett was acting nervous, running his hand over the back of his neck.
“Everything okay?” Talon asked, drawing in a deep breath. Sheriff Lynch did not put off any scents that would make Talon wary, but his behavior was still questionable. Whenever an enemy was nervous, the panther inside would always be uneasy.
“How’s Liberty?” Garrett asked.
“She’s fine,” Talon bit out. This human was too observant of his mate, and Talon was tired of reminding him of the fact that she was taken care of now that she’d been changed into a panther. “So, what did you come over here for? To tell me what you found on the Community? Or to ask about my mate?”
“The Community,” Garrett began, taking the better road by not asking about Liberty again. “They’re presenting themselves as some sort of church of humanity. They believe you are abominations and were sent here by the devil himself.”
“Oh, that’s classic,” Talon laughed. “And people are taking them seriously?”
“Some of the religions are,” Sheriff Lynch complained. “Others are not so quick to judge.”
“And you?” Talon asked because he still didn’t know this man’s opinion of them or if he could really trust the lawman. He’d been a guiding force in getting Mary Grace out of the hands of the scientists, but that was where his loyalty stopped. “Do you think we were sent here by some evil force?”
“No,” Garrett replied, his eyes flashing with humor. The sheriff was up to something, but Talon couldn’t put his finger on it. “I think they are a bunch of crazy loons using religion to back their hatred.”
“What do we do now?” Talon asked.
“You keep your pride protected,” he answered, standing from his seat. “Call me if you have anyone nosing around that doesn’t belong, and remember that humans are my jurisdiction…not yours.”
Talon dismissed the sheriff and closed his office door, stepping over to the window to watch him leave. When he pulled back the curtain, Talon froze when the lawman paused at his patrol car, his gaze raking over the front of the house. Talon’s panther snarled and pushed for release when the sheriff’s eyes flashed white a second before he climbed into his vehicle and left the pride’s land.
Feet pounded on the hardwood floor outside the office, and then a heavy knock landed on the door. “Talon!”
“What’s going on?” Talon demanded after seeing Noah standing there, his face white as snow. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“Did the sheriff go anywhere near the healer’s home?” Noah asked, breathless.
“No. He came straight here from the gate,” Talon said. “What’s going on?”
“I caught his scent outside Harold’s,” Noah replied, clenching his fists at his side. “It was faint, but it was there.”
“Get Ranger here from the main gate and have Booth take over,” Talon ordered, his panther snarling so loudly he had to push the beast back. Something was going on with that lawman and he was going to find out exactly what the hell it was. “And have him pull up the video feed from the last few hours. I need him to concentrate on when we were at Harold’s this afternoon.”
“Why?” Noah inquired, his canines pushing through his gums. “What the hell is going on?”
Talon sat heavily in his leather chair after explaining what Liberty had seen outside the window at the healer’s home, dismissing Noah to bring Ranger to the office. He didn’t speak as he waited for his Guardian to report to the office. His worry was for Liberty and why the hell the sheriff was acting suspicious. His panther was agitated, and when Noah returned with Ranger, both males shifted from foot to foot as they felt the uncertainty coming off of their alpha.
“I haven’t watched the feed yet,” Ranger reported, coming around the side of the desk with an iPad in his hand. “I have, however, blocked off the timing of the videos five minutes before you took Liberty to the healer’s home until the point the sheriff left the property.”
“Play the video,” Talon said, leaning forward.
“Do not tell my son,” Victoria begged Harold. “He doesn’t need to worry about me.”
“We all worry about you,” Harold said sadly, dropping his used gloves in the can by the door. Victoria Shaw wasn’t doing well and he knew it. Hell, she knew it, too.
“My time is coming to an end, Harold,” she sniffled. “I can feel it.”
“I’m going to do everything I can,” he reminded her. The preliminary tests showed an infection in her body. The tragic news was that it was a common one that could be fatal for their kind. “Let me get the rest of these test results back before we start worrying.”
“My grandchild is the only thing that matters right now,” Victoria said, wiping a tear away. “Just promise me something.”
“What is it?” Harold asked, turning around. Even he would admit that Victoria Shaw looked bad. Her weight had decreased and her icy blue eyes were starting to dull, signaling the end.
“Keep me alive until the cub is born,” she begged.
“I will do everything in my power.”
“That’s all I ask,” she said, wiping a tear as it trailed down her weathered cheek.