I don’t make a subtle entrance. Never have, if we’re being honest, and I’m out of fucks to give. Rain pinches my ass hard the entire way, too. My hand on her ass keeps her mostly in place, as does the arm I’ve got wrapped around her legs. It wouldn’t do to accidentally drop Keelie Sue’s present and break it.

We bust through the door and a dozen female heads turn our way. Pretty sure a few jaws drop. If there’s any commentary, however, it’s drowned out by the insanely loud rendition of some kind of nursery rhyme crap blaring from an iPod plugged into a speaker on the bar. There are pink and blue balloons everywhere, along with a mountain of pink and blue streamers and other decorations. They’ve completely redecorated my clubhouse. Now I know what hell looks like. Jace shoves off the wall as I explode toward the girls, a whole lot of what-the-fuck written on his puss. Not sure why anything I do surprises him.

The music shuts the fuck off before I reach Keelie Sue. Not actually having a death wish, I stop a good ten feet away from her. Jace went to a lot of trouble to explain that if I ever get closer than that, it’ll be the last thing I do. I reinterpreted that as challenge accepted and since I’m not planning on challenging him for the Breed MC, I’m respecting his stupid rules. Still, I brace my legs just in case he hits me from behind. I won’t go to my knees, but I do tilt my head an inch, exposing my throat.

When he doesn’t body-check me, I point to the bow on Rain’s ass and jiggle it in Keelie Sue’s direction. “Brought you a present. Too big for a gift bag and she wouldn’t go for a box.”

Rain growls something extremely uncomplimentary and smacks my ass again.

“Shhh.” I return her love tap with interest, drinking in her little squeal. “It’s my turn to talk. You already had yours.”

“You brought me a girl?” Keelie Sue’s gaze bounces between Rain and me. I’ve definitely surprised her. “I think you’ve misunderstood the whole pregnancy horniness thing.”

I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I definitely need to learn more.

Unfortunately, Rain picks this moment to buck hard and I have to concentrate on tightening my hold. “I brought you a baby expert.”

Keelie Sue stares. “Excuse me?”

I jiggle Rain again. “Rain is a doula. She’s a trained professional.”

“You brought me a living, breathing person.” Keelie Sue sounds stunned.

“A dead one wouldn’t be much good,” I point out. Now that we’re here, I’m not entirely certain what to do next, but I’ll brazen it out. I always do.

Clearly I’m not scoring any points for bringing a practical gift. From the mountain of pink and blue surrounding her, her ladies have gone for the cute shit. Jace moves closer, so close that I can hear him growling. Rain stiffens—she’s heard it, too.

He stops growling long enough, however, to make a contribution to the conversation. “Put her down.”

I dislike rules. I hate acknowledging his authority. But even I recognize that alpha tone in Jace’s voice. Hell, even Rain stops bouncing up and down on my shoulder and freezes.

I sigh dramatically. “Everyone’s a kill joy.” And then because Keelie Sue looks torn between laughing her ass off and being horrified, I push my luck. “She doesn’t come with a gift receipt. She’s completely non-returnable.”

“That’s what you think,” Rain mutters as I set her on her feet. She promptly swipes the bow off her ass and slaps it over my crotch. Way harder than necessary, too. I can’t even appreciate the fact that she’s finally touching my dick because my balls are shrieking in protest.

“Rain Sullivan.” She takes a step toward Keelie Sue, holding out her hand. “Since you and Fang are friends, I’m going to pretend I don’t have to be embarrassed about his dramatic entrance, although I am sorry to crash your baby shower.”

“Not a problem.” Keelie Sue takes Rain’s hand, shakes it quickly, and then subsides back into her seat. I flick the bow off my dick. I don’t need my gift-wrapping giving Jace the wrong idea.

There’s a moment of awkward silence while my pack stares at Rain and she stares back. Some of the girls are pass-arounds, while others must be friends of Keelie Sue. Jace moves up close behind me.

“Are you and Fang—” Keelie Sue gives up trying to find a word and just waves her hand in the air like a palm tree facing down a Category Five hurricane. “Do you need an intervention?”

What happens next depends on what Rain says. That’s fine. Or not fine because Keelie Sue looks too thin and has too many circles under her eyes. She winces when she moves like something deep inside is pulling and not in a good way.

“Arriving over his shoulder wasn’t my idea,” Rain agrees. “But if you’re friends with Fang, you know he doesn’t think like a normal person. And if you’re asking if I need a hand kicking his ass, I’ve got it covered.”

Rain is funny and strong. She’s gonna smack me when I need it and she’ll never let me walk all over her, even if I literally swing her off her feet. My wolf growls in approval. Not that we’re gonna let her do any ass-kicking, but I like that she won’t let me hurt her.

Keelie Sue laughs outright at that, and then groans. Her hand snaps to her enormous belly, holding on for dear life. Jace rushes to her side. He doesn’t get there any faster than Rain, though.

Rain snaps into doula mode. Whatever shit’s happened between her and me, she won’t let it spill over and affect Keelie Sue. Still, I should help. I move in.

“Space,” Rain snaps at me.

Do I have to listen to her?

She sinks down by Keelie Sue’s side. “Look. Can I share the basic details with him? Because he’s like a human gnat. He’s not going away until he’s got what he wants.”

Keelie Sue smiles. It’s a little pale and more than a little tired. “Go for it.”

“She’s stretching to accommodate the baby and the ligaments that attach her uterus to her abdominal wall are under a lot of strain. It hurts.”

“Fix it,” I suggest.

Rain gives me a faint smile. “Nope. That’s just Mother Nature doing some rearranging so everything will fit. There’s nothing anyone can do.”

Huh. I frown. Pretty sure Jace’s face matches mine.

“I brought you here to make shit better.”

My present’s broken.

Keelie Sue laughs, her hands clutching her stomach. “You’re not God, Fang. You just think you are.”

Despite their amusement at my expense, both ladies go back to whispering. Rain’s strong, competent hands move over Keelie Sue’s belly as she asks questions. And while she’s keeping it on the down low, I’m a wolf. My hearing’s extra good, so she can’t keep secrets from me. I retreat to the back of the clubhouse so I don’t hear what they don’t want me hearing.

Jace follows me, slinging his arm around my shoulders, and not because he’s feeling grateful about the awesome present I brought his mate. He’s making sure I can’t run—or attack. I’m sort of offended he still thinks I’d go after him. Keelie Sue chose him, and what Keelie Sue wants, I want.

“How are we handling this?”

At least he waits until we’ve put some space between us and the girls before he asks.

“What?”

“You kidnapped a human. You brought her to the clubhouse. What do you think the problem is?”

I shake off his arm. “I didn’t shift in front of her.”

Jace looks pained. “Shifting isn’t the issue here. You just broke a crap-ton of human laws and she has every right to demand that someone throw your ass in jail. How long do you think shifting stays a secret when you’re locked up in maximum security?”

“She’s not gonna tell anyone.”

Jace pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. “So it’s okay as long as you don’t get caught?”

There’s no good answer here, so I stay quiet.

He points a finger at me. “From here on out, you don’t do anything she doesn’t explicitly ask you to do.”

“Enthusiastic consent is my favorite.”

If Jace’s face contorts any more, it’s gonna get stuck that way. “You’re gonna have to give her back at some point.”

“Ware kept Marly when Big Dog dragged her off to his bayou cabin and locked her up. I can keep Rain.”

Honestly? That works for me. She’s kind of awesome.

Jace isn’t on board with my new plan, however. He punches the wall next to me with enough force to crack the plaster.

“That was different. Big Dog shifted in front of Marly. He also abused the shit out of her, which I sincerely hope is not what you’re suggesting you have in mind.”

“Rain’s doing okay. I’m not gonna hurt her.”

The look Jace gives me is all skepticism. Motherfucker doesn’t believe me.

“Imma go check in with her,” he says quietly. “See what she wants. Then we’ll take it from there.”

It’s not that I disagree with Jace. Rain deserves to make her own choices and to have her voice heard. And it’s true I kinda (absolutely) stomped all over her freedom of choice. But I’d like to think that my reason was a good one—and Rain knows that. Usually I don’t care what other people think of me, as long as I’m good with what’s gone down. But today… yeah. Today? Not so much.