Chapter Eight
Christine’s eyes fluttered open. She rolled over and smiled as her gaze connected with Ethan’s. “Morning,” she murmured.
“Good morning.” He grinned. He had been up for a while, watching her sleep.
Christine sat up and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "Shit! I’m late. Why didn’t you wake me?” She swung her legs over the side of the bed.
An arm swept out to pull her back. “Relax, I’m sure the boss will give you the day off,” Ethan drawled with a grin.
“You don’t understand. This will give Nancy ammunition to make my life miserable. I’ll be fired for sure.”
“There is no way she can fire you without my authority, so lay down and let’s engage in a little morning sex.” He nuzzled her neck.
Christine giggled and pulled away. “No sex until you feed me. I’m starving.”
He sighed. “Alright, but after breakfast, you are mine.” He hopped out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. He smiled. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so happy.
A knock sounded on the door and he glanced at it with a frown. He already knew who it was. Walking to the door, he pulled it open. “Nancy, what are you doing here?”
She eyed him coyly, “I’m your personal assistant, Ethan. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for me to show up at your house. I’ve been worried. You didn’t show up at the office yesterday.” Her eyes ran over his bare chest. “You don’t look like you’re going today either.”
“I might, a bit later.”
She pushed her way inside and frowned. “Why do you smell like her? Her scent is all over you.”
Damn it. Christine would no doubt be upset that Nancy found out about them. “It really doesn’t concern you, Nancy.”
She wheeled around to face him, her face twisted with rage. “Like hell it doesn’t.”
Christine stepped out of the bedroom, buttoning one of Ethan’s shirts. “You know, I have developed quite a liking for your shirts.” She stopped abruptly and let out a loud gasp. “Nancy.”
Nancy stared at her in disbelief. She swallowed and took a step toward Christine. "I should have known. I thought you didn’t have any interest in the boss,” she jeered.
Christine bit her lip nervously. “Well, I-”
“Nancy, you need to go,” Ethan said.
“It’s okay, Ethan.” Christine covered the distance between her and the other woman. “Nancy and I should talk.” She turned to the very irate woman. “Look, Nancy, when I thought you and Ethan were involved I made up my mind to stay away. But as it turns out, you and he have-”
“You smell different,” Nancy interrupted.
“What?”
Her eyes dropped to Christine’s stomach. Her lips twisted into a sneer. “You’re pregnant.”
Ethan’s eyes flew to Christine’s. “She’s what?”
Christine stared at Nancy. “How do you know?”
“I can smell it. He was supposed to be mine!" she shouted. "If I had known you were carrying his child, I would have killed you myself, instead of sending that amateur, Marcus."
Christine took a step back. “W-what are you talking about?”
Nancy paused. Her eyes widened a fraction, realizing that she just gave herself away.
A low growl rumbled from Ethan’s chest as he took a menacing step toward Nancy. “Explain yourself,” he hissed.
Nancy gulped, a fine sheen of sweat beading her forehead. “Ethan, anything I have ever done was for us.”
“Nancy, did you send that Shifter after Christine?”
Cowering before him, she whispered. “I- yes.”
“How did you even know the man? He’s from an enemy pack.”
Christine gasped, her eyes swinging from Ethan to Nancy. She realized that Nancy knew about Wolf Shifters. Of course, Ethan's personal assistant would know his deepest secret. What she had difficulty wrapping her mind around was the fact that Nancy wanted to kill her. The woman had moved from annoying supervisor to Public Enemy Number One. She listened silently as the two other people in the room continued their conversation.
Nancy folded her arms. “I might have sought out a few members of the pack and got in touch with Marcus.”
Ethan’s eyes flashed yellow. “You might have?” He fought the urge to wrap his fingers around the woman’s neck. “I am the leader of our pack and you hired a man from an enemy pack to kill Christine.”
“Because you should be with me, Ethan!” Nancy shouted, her face flushing red, evidence of her rage.
Christine finally spoke. “I can’t do this,” she whispered. “Clearly the two of you need to work through… whatever is going on between you.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched as he turned to her. “Nothing is going on between my employee and me, Christine. There has never been anything.”
“Clearly, Nancy thinks differently. I need to get out of here.”
“Christine, please don’t-”
"Look, I love you, Ethan, you know that. But, a woman went out of her way to hire a Wolf Shifter to kill me, for God's sake."
“Yet, here you are,” Nancy snarled, stepping around Ethan.
Christine watched with her mouth hanging open as Nancy began to change in front of her. Her face twisted and contorted, deadly looking teeth erupting. Christine let out a scream as Nancy lunged at her. Ethan stepped in between them with blinding speed, knocking Nancy to the ground. He fought for control, shoving down his fury and his Wolf. “Nancy, leave,” he growled. “I would really hate to hurt you, for your mother’s sake.”
The woman scrambled to her feet. “Ethan, I’m sorry. Please, I didn’t mean to lose control. What are you doing with her anyway? She isn’t like us.”
“She is my true mate, Nancy and she is more like us than you think.”
Nancy sucked in a breath, “Y-you’re true mate? B-but-”
“Get out,” Ethan hissed. He still seethed, ready to strike at any further threat to Christine.
Nancy gulped, terrified at the deadly tone of his voice. She sent Christine one more hateful look, “You’ll regret taking him from me,” she snarled before rushing out.
Christine winced when the door slammed. Her breaths came out in small gasps. “Sh-she’s like you,” she stammered. “And she’s insane!”
Ethan reached for her. “I’m afraid Nancy held some false hope that she and I would end up together. I’ve wanted to get rid of her for a while, but I gave her the job as a favor to her mother.”
“She can very easily kill me,” Christine whispered, remembering the anger and hate she had seen in Nancy’s eyes.
“She won’t. She’ll never get another chance to try. I should have better protected you from the beginning.” He paused. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant? I should have realized, but I suppose my mind was otherwise occupied.”
"I didn't want to tell you about what I suspected. I wanted to be sure. There was no point in upsetting you until it was confirmed."
He shook his head. “Why did you think I would be upset?”
Her shoulders lifted. “I don’t know, maybe because we have only been sleeping together for a month.”
“It has been much more than that, Christine.”
"Well, I know that now." She folded her arms. "So much for finding out about my pregnancy the old-fashioned way," she grumbled. She studied Ethan carefully. "So, I take it you're fine with me being pregnant?"
His lips curved upward. “Actually, I am.” He let out a laugh. “I never saw myself as a father, but I’m surprisingly happy.”
“I’m relieved.” Christine let out a breath. “But I have two questions.”
“What’s that?”
“Will our child be human? And what did you mean when you told Nancy I was more like you than she thought?”
Ethan froze. “I think our child will be more like me. Where are your parents, Christine?”
She shrugged, confused. What was with his sudden interest in her parents? “My father ran off when I was five, that’s what my mother told me anyway. She died a few months ago. Why?”
Ethan took her hand in his. “Let’s sit.”
“Okay now I’m starting to worry,” she said eyeing him suspiciously.
He smiled and pulled her onto his lap. “When I told you Wolf Shifters have one true mate, I left out the part about that mate having to be a Shifter.”
Christine snorted, “Well then why would you tell me that I’m your true mate? I’m human.”
“You are my true mate, there’s no doubt about it. But we can mate only with someone who carries the Shifter gene.”
Christine stared at him and he waited for her to put the pieces together. “So what you are implying is that I have the Shifter gene?” He nodded. She laughed, “Well, now that is just ridiculous. I have never changed into a wolf, ever.”
“Half Shifters can’t shift. How much did your mother tell you about your father?”
Christine stared down at him in horror. The possibility that she was half Wolf Shifter was hard to process. Just when she had accepted the bombshell of her boyfriend not being human, she now had to deal with the fact that one of her parents wasn’t either. “My mother never told me much about him, except how much she hated him and his spawn. Those were her exact words, by the way.”
Ethan frowned, wondering what kind of mother said that to her child. “More than likely it is your father who was the Shifter.”
She suddenly inhaled deeply and dropped her head in her hands. “Oh no.”
“What is it?”
“You may be right. My mother might have told me more about my father than I had realized.” Ethan’s brows furrowed but he remained silent, waiting for her to continue. “I remember asking her about my father once. She told me that he was an animal and his kind didn’t stay with anyone they weren’t meant to be with. I was too young to understand at the time. But after everything I’ve found out recently, I’m looking at her words differently. She specifically said his kind.” She huffed. “Now I’m starting to understand why she hated me.”
“No mother should hate their child, for any reason, Christine.”
She shrugged, her lips twisting wryly. “You know, my Mother could easily have been the wolf, she certainly was mean enough,” she said with a laugh. “Sorry, I use humor as a defense mechanism sometimes.” She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed when his arms tightened around her. She needed all the comfort she could get right now. After a few seconds of silence, she murmured, “I remember something else.”
“About your father?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I never met him, or I don’t remember ever seeing him. But there was an incident when I was around five. I could have sworn I saw a huge wolf outside my window. Of course at the time, I assumed it was just a really big dog. It just stood and stared up at my window with these strange eyes. Minutes passed before it took off.”
She lifted her head to look at Ethan. “What if it was my father?”
“Maybe one day we can look for him.”
“I don’t know if I want to find him. He just left his family. Maybe my mother wasn’t his true mate, but he could have stuck around for my sake.”
Ethan pulled her back to him and planted a kiss on her head. “You’re right, there is no excuse for any man to abandon his family.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to think about my parents, Ethan. My mother is gone and I have no idea if my father is even alive. I want to focus on us and our unborn child. I think I can live without knowing my father, as long as I have you. I’ll have my own family.”
Ethan studied her for a moment and then nodded. “Alright, let’s not dwell on it then. You’re half Wolf Shifter, you’re mine and that is that.”
She nodded. “What I need to dwell on now is finding another job.”
“There’s no need for you to work.”
“Of course there is. Have you forgotten that I live with someone and I have to pay my part of the rent?”
“Move in with me.”
Christine stood up. “No way, it’s too soon.”
He sighed. “We have already established that we are in love and we want to be together. Plus, you’re carrying my child. It would be the most natural thing for us to live together.” Noting her unconvinced look, he said, “Alright, how about I pay your half of the rent and take care of your other bills.”
She shook her head vigorously. “I don’t care how much money you have, I will not live out of your pocket. Don’t bother arguing, you’ll never wear me down.”
Ethan sprang up and hoisted her into his arms, taking her by surprise. “How much do you want to bet that I can slowly wear you down in the bedroom?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “You are welcome to try, but after breakfast.”
“Right, I forgot about breakfast.” Walking to the kitchen, he deposited her on a stool. “Sit and watch the chef at work.”
“You are the sexiest chef I have ever seen,” Christine said with a girly giggle. Lacing her fingers and resting her chin against them, she watched Ethan as he worked. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world to have found him.
*****
THE END