Chapter Four – Naomi
Would she be widowed before she was even mated?
Naomi's hands trembled as she fastened the little onesie that she had bought on the way back to Joshua's home from the hospital. The baby girl they had found in the woods gurgled, waving her hands and smiling. The Wolf tried to smile back, but worry twisted in her gut.
It had been hours since Joshua had gone after the man shooting at them. What had he been thinking? After the man had started running, he should have just come back to her. He didn't know if it was a trap. He should have come back to the hospital to have his wound looked at.
Well, he didn't, Naomi told herself. And so what if he didn't? If he gets himself killed, it will save me from having a hot-headed mate.
But as much as she wanted to pretend that she didn't care, she did. She hadn't agreed to be Joshua's mate just because he could get her away from her father. Their union was also the best chance for peace between Wolves and Bears. And even though she hadn't known him long, she knew Joshua was strong and kind. She wanted that in her life. Love wasn't something she wanted, but what Joshua could offer her was.
And yet she had heard nothing from him, even as she had the baby checked out at the hospital. The infant was perfectly fine, a little cold and a little hungry, but nothing that needed to stay at the hospital for. And so Naomi went out and bought everything she immediately needed for a baby and came back to Joshua's home, trying to distract herself from thoughts of Joshua bleeding out on the forest floor.
"There you go. Fed and clean and dry," she said, picking the little girl off the couch cushion she had put on the floor. "I think I'll call you Sapphira."
Sapphira giggled and reached for the Wolf's hair.
The door flew open. Naomi's heart jumped to her throat and a wave of relief washed over her as Joshua strode in. That relief was quickly gone when he pointed an accusing finger at her.
"What are you planning?"
Naomi got to her feet. She looked at Joshua and then down at Sapphira, who was twisting her head back and forth, little fists waving. "I know that you said you didn't want a baby, but—"
"Not the baby." Joshua stalked closer, anger flaring in his eyes. "I mean what excuse you're giving the Wolves."
Naomi shrank back, cradling the baby closer. Her father had never physically abused his daughters. Sometimes when his words became biting and tore holes in Naomi's soul he wished he would hit her instead, but he never did. Now as she stared at Joshua, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of anger he had.
"I don't know that you're talking about."
"Of course you do! I say I want you as my mate, and you just decide to come with me? Why would you do that? You're a Wolf. I'm a Bear. And there is clearly no love lost between your father and my people. You must have grown up with tales of how wicked Bears are. How we kill and maim and do all sorts of depraved acts. And yet you just left your cabin, as though there wasn't a second thought about it."
Naomi backed away from him, unable to stop the fear from showing on her face. Sapphira started to whimper, and she curled her body around the baby, wondering if it would be best if she put her somewhere else.
"Well?" Joshua's hands clenched. "Answer me!"
"I came with you because I am tired of the constant fighting. The constant legal battles, my father always doing his best to provoke you to so he'd have an excuse to attack."
Joshua stopped.
"I'm just tired of it all, and I thought that if the Wolves' future Alpha and the Bears' Alpha were mates, then maybe we could change how things are."
The Bear swallowed hard.
"I had considered running away to come here and offer myself to you for months."
"I see." The anger that had been in his voice moments ago was gone. "I'm sorry for losing my temper, Naomi. I just… found out some things and thought that you might be involved."
"What sort of things?" Sapphira let out a high-pitched, piercing cry. Naomi jumped and looked down at the baby, eyes wide. "Did I hurt her?"
"Here." Joshua reached for the baby. Naomi shied away, but the Alpha's anger had all drained, leaving him with a soft expression on his face. "Let me hold her. Have you fed her? Changed her diaper?"
Naomi reluctantly handed the baby over to her future mate. "Yes. I just finished changing her diaper when you came in. I took her to the hospital, they said she's fine and that I could bring her home. I named her Sapphira."
Joshua rocked her back and forth, the tiny baby looking all the smaller in his massive arms. He held her gently, though, and a smile crossed his face as her fussing quieted. Her little eyes drooped with weariness.
"You calmed her so quickly."
"Yes. I could see you were tense. Babies pick up on that sort of thing."
"You have experience with this?"
"I love babies. Whenever I can, I visit people with newborns so I can hold them. I look forward to being a father someday. But I don't know if keeping Sapphira is a good idea, Naomi. Especially now."
Naomi shook her head, the familiar feeling of stubborn steel welling within her. "You don't have to keep her. But I am. I don't care if you decide not to mate me, I'm going to keep her. I'll go back to my own pack, and since we haven't slept together I can still prove my virginity and find a mate among my own people."
For a long moment, Joshua was silent. He shook his head. "If the baby was abandoned once for not being a shifter… you implied that your father made people abandon their non-shifters babies. Would you be exempt? Although maybe it would be a better idea to send you back to be with your own people."
"What?" Naomi's heart jumped. He didn't want her? "Why?"
"Apparently your father told the pack that I stole you, and he's using it as an incentive to have them attack us."
A shiver ran down her spine and her stomach twisted. "My sisters. My father never forgave our mother for having three girls and no sons. Nobody knew how unhappy they were as mates. But if he's using me as a rallying cry… the truth that I came with you of my own accord will be outed eventually. But my sisters!"
"What about them?"
"I need to get back to the cabin. He was planning on making us stay there when he moved back. And if he wanted an excuse to attack the Bears, what if he did something to them?"
She didn't want to believe that her father would go that far. But the truth was she had never trusted him.
Joshua's expression became grim. "I'll get the truck."
***
Naomi felt like she might be sick as she and Joshua drove out to the cabin her father had built on Bear territory. Although the original trip to town had had to be made on snowmobiles, the gravel roads had been paved since then, letting Joshua's truck rumble through the woods.
It was just the two of them. Despite the assassination attempt on him, the Bear Alpha was reasonably sure that there would be no more attacks today. After all, who would expect him to go out into the forest again?
Besides, all of his trusted fighters were busy preparing the town for the impending attack. There was nobody to come with them.
What had convinced Naomi that it was safe was the fact that she was a Wolf. Her mother had been a well-loved Alpha. None of her people would attack her mate with her there.
When they got to the spot where the cabin stood, Naomi took Sapphira out of the car seat. She hadn't trusted Joshua not to have the baby sent to the human orphanage while they were gone. Even though her heart said that he wouldn't do that, she didn't know how to trust people. And she had never wanted anything so badly as to keep Sapphira.
Maybe it was just the strange situation she found herself in, and her natural desire to have something to love and care for, but Naomi wasn't going to give up the baby.
Naomi took a deep breath as she stepped out of the truck. Her heart pounded in her chest. Where the cabin had been was now just a pile of charred wood. She stumbled over the snow, patting Sapphira's back. The smell of smoke was still heavy in the air.
"Are they…" she choked on her own words. What would she do if she saw her two sisters' bodies in the ruined mess?
Joshua strode past her. He poked through the ruins, shifting beams as thick as Naomi's waist without even grunting. After several moments of working, he looked up.
"They weren't in this thing when it burned. If this was your father's work, then I'm sure he'll use it as a case of attempted murder. But from what I can see here, your sisters are okay."
Naomi let out a shuddering breath. She closed her eyes and walked several feet away, gulping in the cool, smoky air. Sapphira stirred in her arms, making soft cooing sounds.
"We should get back to town right away," Joshua said. "Naomi? Come on."
She nodded, but when she opened her eyes, she froze. Right in front of her, pressed deep in the ash-grey snow, was a huge Bear's paw print. But there hadn't been any Bears around the cabin, at least not on the Beast's form, yesterday. Had Joshua sent people to make sure her family was leaving the cabin?
A shiver ran down her spine. Had he been the one to burn the cabin down?