Savage (Wolf Ranch 4)

Keep the lights off, and I’m all yours.

Had she really thought she could hide it from me? Of course, she didn’t know I could see in the dark. Even if I couldn’t, I would’ve known her breasts were bigger. More sensitive. Her belly had grown, and her pussy had been practically dripping for dick. Her hormones were out of control, and I was the only one who could ease her need. And mine.

Knowing she had my pup in her made me crazed. The fucking had been intense, as if I were trying to give her everything I’d saved up during our months apart.

Hell, if I’d known she was pregnant, I’d have given up the enforcer job months ago. I hadn’t known I had a mate or a pup on the way.

As she slept soundly in my hold, I had to wonder how long she planned to keep the existence of our pup from me? How long?

She’d have to tell me eventually. Winter clothes and heavy coats hid how she grew with my child, but before long, it couldn’t be kept a secret. And naked and in the light of day? I’d see it. What then?

Hell, we’d run into each other at the grocery store by accident.

I paused, realized she’d thrown up because she was pregnant. How much more of a sign could I have gotten? Four months, and she hadn’t gotten in touch with me. She was friends with Audrey. They worked together, and she could have gotten my number at any time. But she hadn’t.

A piece of me was angry, but when I considered the shitshow her marriage had been and the state of her life right now, I could easily see how she might not be in a hurry to open up dialogue with a near stranger about the fact that they’d conceived a child. In the storeroom of a bar.

Maybe she was in denial about the pregnancy. I didn’t mean she didn’t know. Hell, she’d vomited on my shoes. She knew.

Audrey hadn’t said anything about it, and since the night I hooked up with Becky, I’d definitely paid attention when Audrey was around in case she mentioned her friend. I’d been away though, so maybe she knew and was keeping her close friend’s confidence.

Or, maybe she hadn’t even told Audrey yet. Audrey was a doctor though. An Ob/Gyn. It was her job to know this shit. For some reason, that thought comforted me. Like I wasn’t the only one in the dark. The only one Becky had shut out.

Fuck, I wasn’t a woman. I had no clue about these things. I did know we’d used a condom, and it hadn’t broken. I felt virile, fucking potent knowing my swimmers still got in.

I smiled to myself. I had a mate… and a child.

I was Becky’s mate, and I knew every nuance of her body, and it was different now. Because of me. Because of the baby we made. A prickle raced across the back of my neck. The night before, Todd had lied out his ass and said he was checking on his wife. He hadn’t mentioned a kid. Maybe she didn’t want her ex to know.

She might be worried this would further complicate her legal proceedings with the divorce. But then, she’d have to certify to the judge she wasn’t pregnant—it was part of the paperwork. I only knew that because I’d found what she’d filed over a year ago and read through it. She’d checked the box that said she wasn’t pregnant. At the time, she hadn’t been.

Yeah, if the asshole found out she was pregnant with another man’s child, he was going to lose his shit. Worse than he already was.

She stirred beside me, and I propped my head on my hand and watched, not wanting to miss a single thing about the way she woke. Her eyes blinked open and met mine. They were soft and open at first, like waking in my arms was the most natural thing in the world to her. I saw the moment her mind caught up. She reached for the sheet and yanked it to her chin, rolling away from me.

“Uh uh.” I eased her to her back and slowly lowered the sheet, holding her gaze. She clung to it for a moment, but I persisted until I had it down by her waist. I didn’t speak at first. We definitely had things to talk about—big things, and I didn’t even plan to touch the I’m a shifter, and when I bit you, I claimed you as my forever mate issue—but first I needed to show my reverence for her beauty. The gift of her body and the gift of the sweet pup she was growing.

I trailed the backs of my fingers along the side of her plump breast, down her ribs. I turned my fingers over and lightly brushed over the swell of her lower belly. “You have something to tell me, sugar?” I asked softly to take any sting out of the accusation.