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  “Come on, Mad. Come eat,” Victor said, tugging her away from me.

  Thank God, too, because the pain was making me want to scream. And just when I thought I would, it passed some. Mad, what a perfect fucking nickname for the likes of her.

  I heard them laughing and wondered if it was still snowing. If it was dark. If Ellis and the others were safe. Possibly if it were even the next day. Then I wondered if I was going to have my first child and possibly be savaged by him while bound with dirty rope in a strange house, held by lunatics.

  I would not cry.

  The cat came up and curled around my ankles, walked over my hips, dipped behind my back only to bound out and rub against my belly. She was just marking me with her scent and probably feeling the warmth from the baby.

  “Hello, could you untie me please?” I laughed.

  “Who you talking to?” Victor came in and his eyes narrowed. “God damn it, Mad! How the fuck did this cat get in here?”

  “Orange cat?” she called.

  “Yeah.”

  “It darted in when we opened the door to haul her fat ass in. I couldn’t catch it.”

  Victor lunged and the cat took off, darted under the sofa and I heard it tear out of the room.

  “Mangy animal,” he said, but waved it off and went back in the other room.

  Another contraction hit me and my body bowed on its own. I turned my head to push my face into the sofa to stifle any noise I might make. I panted softly, hoping they wouldn’t hear. Then I felt the fur against my leg again, the twining, the purring. My friend had come back.

  She walked up alongside me and rubbed me again, rubbed my belly that was as tight as the head of a drum from my contraction. Her head paused and she seemed to be listening.

  I made myself focus, something was niggling at my brain. Then I remembered what Iris had said about the moving company. That they lived… just over the town line. There’s a good chance they are members of your community who commute. Which meant shifters lived beyond the town line. Maybe I was at the town line and this was…

  I stared the cat in the eyes. I saw intelligence there. Understanding. “You’re a shifter,” I whispered.

  The head dipped, she rubbed her forehead to me again and purred. But when she looked up at me, I saw in her eyes that she understood.

  “Tell Ellis Bach that I’m here. Tell him that the baby is coming. Tell him that I need help and they are crazy. And to be careful because they want to kill him and me and everyone and keep our baby,” I hissed. “Tell him.”

  The cat looked concerned as another contraction hit me. They were coming faster and harder now. It would be hard to pretend it wasn’t happening. It would be hard to hide. “Hurry,” I said. “It’s getting worse.”

  I heard Victor stomping and he yelled, “Stop talking to that fucking cat!”

  The cat took off and I prayed. I wasn’t much of a prayer, but I prayed then. Prayed that the cat got to Ellis. That Ellis was safe. And that they all got here before my son did.

  Chapter 25

  My gorgeous new wedding ring was cutting into my finger. I had swelled both from pregnancy (I assumed) and from having my hands bound. I had no idea how long the cat was gone before the next contraction hit. It was the mother of all contractions and made the others look insignificant.

  I bit my lips, bowed my back, tried to breathe, but a sound ripped out of me before I could stop it. In an attempt to distract myself, I tried to remember how many days I’d been pregnant. Not many—if a new day had dawned, as I feared since I’d been out for a while, it was about seven since we’d known I was with child. I found out Christmas Eve, Christmas day we were attacked, we moved…but I interrupted the internal monologue with a pained sound.

  I heard them coming. They’d been doing it again, I was pretty sure—who knew that bad guys who got horny and fucked like rabbits from inflicting pain and fear weren’t just in the movies? But they’d heard me and were coming.

  I panted, trying to remember what I was supposed to do, but I was losing it. Blind fear was setting in—not so much for me, but for my child. The thought that they would hurt him was staggering to me. Also, the thought that they might let me deliver and possibly change here with them instead of the man I loved broke my heart into jagged little pieces.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Madeline asked, pulling a shirt on. I had never noticed before how crazy her eyes were. Or maybe it was just my knowledge of her. Hindsight was 20/20, after all.

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  I bit my lip harder and tasted the slight coppery flavor of blood. Inside of me a ripping hot pain shot through me. Was he biting, clawing, fighting his way out? Was I going to change here? Could I deliver him safely so that he survived?

  Tears rolled hot and condemning out of my eyes. I could feel them streak from my lashes back into my hair as I tried to breathe. Once they saw the tears I was done for. They’d know. I had not cried up until now, but the pain was too great.

  My only hope was in that Marmalade cat.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Victor asked, right on her heels. His eyes narrowed at me and I avoided his gaze.

  “The drugs you gave me,” I lied. “They’re making me feel sick.” I moved to try and find a better position, but there was no such thing. Pain streaked through me no matter what I did.

  Before my eyes, he dropped, morphed, shifted into his dirty yellowish animal self and the mangy-looking wolf came toward me.

  “Stay back,” I breathed, as if my words held any weight. As if they’d do anything to stop Victor. “Stop,” I sobbed.

  He came up to my belly, sniffing me across my navel and my pulse points. His breath was fetid, his eyes feral.

  I shut my eyes tight and prayed. Prayed for the cat to find Ellis. Prayed for Ellis to find me and Doc to find me too. Prayed that everyone was okay and I would be okay and Kincaid would be okay. I let myself get lost in that prayer and then I heard him speak, his voice dark and deep. He’d shifted back.

  “She’s in labor. I can smell it all over her. The baby is coming. Soon.”

  “Then we cut it out of her,” Madeline said. I could hear the awful glee in her voice and another sob ripped out of me.

  “You can’t! You can’t!” I said, my fingers at war with each other because bound as I was, that was all I could reach.

  She reached in a hobo bag on one of the lump armchairs and pulled out a knife. A big knife. I was pretty sure it was from the kitchen in the apartment.

  I screamed. I’d never heard myself make that sound before. It was not a horror movie scream or a scream from seeing a spider. It was a primal scream and in it was every ounce of terror, anger and frustration in my body at that moment. It was the loudest sound I’d ever made.

  “Oh, but I can,” she said. “You done?”

  “They will savage you. They will savage you and spread your pieces. They will rip you limb from limb and your ugly skinny fucking boyfriend too,” I gasped as more pain bowed my back and made my heart race.

  “Whatever,” she said and rolled her eyes. She came at me with the blade while Victor watched, his eyes glittery and hard with malice.

  “You’ll kill the baby, you know,” I said, conversationally.

  I tried to breathe and felt a warm wetness spread through my clothes and I realized my water had just broken. Fuck. There was no turning back now.

  She froze, but just for an instant. Madeline cocked her head. “No, I won’t.”

  My only hope of changing her mind was to somehow risk her weird little fantasy of being the Alpha female to a freshly inducted Victor and mothering my stolen child.

  “Why do you think…” A roar ripped out of me and the pain in my belly was like a thousand knives. Somehow I didn’t think these were normal labor pains. I knew it would be painful—even excruciating sans drugs—but this was like I was being filleted open. I panted, found my voice. “Why do you think a C-section is a last resort? And that’s…and that’s…”


  My hands wound together and I squeezed, gritting my teeth so fiercely I heard them creak. Ultimately I was causing myself more pain, but I had to defer the pain from my son to focus.

  “That’s what for fuck’s sake!” she snapped, getting annoyed.

  “That’s in a clean facility staffed by medical professionals.”

  Oh please find me! Please come! Samuel, please hear me! He’s coming. I feel like I’m dying. It hurts so bad…

  She eyed Victor, suddenly unsure of herself. “Is that true?”

  He shrugged. “Sounds about right to me.”

  Madeline frowned. “I think it will be fine…” She started toward me again.

  “But if you’re wrong, you’re killing him. And we know now that he—being my son with Ellis, a wolf born of a human—is part of the prophecy. You’d be killing the prophecy and the only real bargaining chip you have to get where you want to be.”

  She froze, thankfully. Looking unsure of herself.

  Then I sucked in a great breath and bellowed like a dying beast. Birth—not so glamorous, I have to say.

  I love you, Ellis. I hope you know that if you don’t find me. I love you and you are the best thing to happen to me in two lifetimes. And if I die, I want you to kill this fucking bitch. Hard. And messy. Amen…

  * * * *

  I was dying. Literally. At least it felt that way. There was a wetness between my legs that felt slicker than my water. The coppery reek of blood was in the air and I tried to remember if you were supposed to spontaneously bleed during birth. I thought that was the pushing and labor part, but I had no idea. The pain that seared my insides made me think this had more to do with my son than birth itself.

  “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me…” I chanted.

  Madeline touched me anyway. She flipped me fully to my back and worked my nightgown and panties while I kicked and screamed and carried on. Somehow her touching me and being a part of this was worse to me than the pain I felt.

  Oh god, please Ellis, please Samuel, please Peabody and Tyler. Please find me…

  Great ragged breaths tore in and out of me and I caught Victor smiling. Even though his crazy girlfriend had shown me a mercy, draping her coat over my lap to shield me, I felt naked. I couldn’t tell if he was smiling due to the birth or the pain.

  “You’re going to need to push soon,” she said to me. I saw her hands were streaked with blood and I cringed.

  I would not push until Ellis was here. I would not push and give them the satisfaction. Once Kincaid was out into this world, neither of us was safe.

  “You should have let me cut it out of her,” she said to Victor as if I weren’t there.

  Crazy woman, crazy woman, crazy woman, I reminded myself.

  There came a point where I couldn’t not push any more. I had to. My body was as compelled to bear down and push out the baby, despite the bright and stunning pain I felt, as it was compelled to draw my next breath.

  “That’s it, push, Ruby,” Victor said, creeping closer.

  He reminded me of his eerie predecessor, Frank, with his flat eyes and his creepy demeanor.

  “No,” I said, even as I did it. I pushed and felt a nearly simultaneous increase and decrease in pain. The pressure was unbearable, the knife lancets of agony that made me think of razor blades and knives were unreal. I pushed and screamed at myself for my lack of control.

  “He’s crowning,” she said.

  Madeline reached for me just as Victor’s head tilted back and his eyes narrowed. He seemed to sniff the air and he opened his mouth as Madeline pressed my thighs, urging me to push again.

  Victor managed “I think we—”

  Victor’s voice dissolved into a yell when a pure white wolf with a single blue splinter of color in his intense aubergine eyes hit him broad side. Ellis—with teeth bared, jaw wide, a sound like none I’d ever heard coming from him. A reddish brown wolf knocked Madeline flat the moment she turned. Something was ripping the door off the hinges, I could hear it cracking and the tearing of metal and wood. I saw a flash of dark brown—nearly black—fur and knew there was a bear in the house.

  Tyler came flying in, almost too fast to track with my mere human eye, and settled next to me. “How we doing, Ruby Sue?”

  That reddish brown wolf was now prowling. The mid-sized sleek silver beast I recognized as Roberta arrived. “Who’s that?” I asked wildly, my eyes tracking the unknown wolf.

  Tyler pushed my hair out of my face. “Relax, babes, that’s Iris.”

  I blew out a breath and relaxed some. “You guys are here. You’re here.” Then a contraction bent me double and I was screaming.

  Tyler’s fangs were out, his eyes darker than sin. He held my hand, his cool skin calming me. I saw Ellis hit Victor—he was terrifyingly limber in wolf form. But Ellis tore off an ear. Victor howled, his head tossed back in pain. But Ellis didn’t stop, he went for the throat while Iris pinned Madeline to the ground. She snarled, her pretty muzzle just an inch from the crazy woman’s face. I wanted to urge her to kill the bitch, but even I could not get myself to do that.

  Blood flew as Ellis tore off another chunk of Victor and finally his teeth found the throat and latched on firmly. Tyler squeezed my hand. “Look away, Ruby Sue. Just focus on the baby.”

  “Am I getting hairy?” I gasped as another bolt of pain lit me up from the inside.

  His eyes went wide and in the midst of all the chaos, he laughed. “What?”

  “The baby, he’s coming. Am I changing? Am I getting hairy?” I was babbling now. I saw the Marmalade cat dart through.

  I bent up tight and pushed, screaming again.

  “No, sweetheart, you are not getting hairy.”

  “Did the cat come? Did the cat come?” I panted, squeezing his hand so tight I swore I heard bones shift. But he was nearly impervious to pain so that made me feel better.

  “Yes, her name is Dede. And she came to tell us what was what and then led us here.”

  “In cat form?” I yelped.

  He laughed at me—the nerve!—but I found myself snorting with laughter even as my body beat in one big pulse of pain. “No, Ruby. She shifted and we drove. Until the end of the driveway. Then Ellis shifted, bolted and they all followed suit. But not me, I’m just a boring old blood sucker.” He winked.

  “And here I thought you could at least become a bat,” I yelped and then screamed. Fuck it, I was letting it all out

  In the midst of all the chaos, Doc Burns came rushing in. I could see cherry lights and hear sirens burbling. The sheriff came in and took out Madeline who was bloodied and mangled but still alive. Ellis had dispatched of Victor—what a civil way to put it.

  “Doc Burns, it’s okay, tell me. Am I shifting?”

  He looked at Tyler and then at me. “No, Ruby. You’re in labor. The baby is almost here. But you are fine, sweetie. A bit blown out, but fine.” He said the last almost under his breath. But I caught it.

  “Blown out? What does blown out mea—oh. Don’t tell me,” I said, squeezing Ty’s hand.

  Then Ellis was next to me, naked and bloody and looking like he wanted to burn the world down due to rage. “Don’t be angry,” I said.

  “I’m not angry at you, Ruby,” he said, frowning. “I’m angry at me, baby. I’m so sorry.”

  “I mean don’t be angry at all. He’s almost here. I want him to feel nothing but love,” I said. And then Doc Burns shot me full of something and I remember pushing and pushing and the feel of a great pressure leaving me and then someone set my son in my arms.

  He was perfect and warm and I looked at him once, kissed his head and let myself doze. Just for a moment.

  Chapter 26

  “Am I a wolf?” I asked, before I even opened my eyes.

  “No, Ruby, honey. You are you.”

  I did open my eyes, to the sight of my husband, wrapped in a sheriff’s jacket and borrowed pants. “Let me see him,” I said. My entire body ached. I was sore and felt like I’d b
een hit by a truck. But when Ellis handed me our son, it all melted away.

  I felt like I could lift the truck that hit me.

  “Hello, handsome.”

  Kincaid stared at me as if we’d met a hundred thousand times before. He did not cry and he was wide awake. He turned his head repeatedly and I realized he wanted to nurse.

  “Ah, hungry are we?”

  His eyes were stark blue like his father’s, his hair—and he had a lot of it—was the same blond-brown-auburn nondescript color as Ellis’s. He latched on and I heard Ellis make a noise that spoke of one thing. Contentment.

  “Is he?” I broke off, shaking my head.

  “He is wolf, yes.”

  “But I’m—”

  Ellis pushed my hair out of my face and kissed me. “Not that I think you need to worry about all this right now, but you didn’t change. He did, upon birth, and then back again. He also did some damage to you, Ruby. Doc’s gonna have some stitching up to do. How do you feel?”

  “Happy.” I kissed the baby’s warm head and felt the tug and draw of him feeding from me. Who’d have thought just a few months ago that I’d be married now, let alone a mother?

  “That’s the endorphins. But you won’t feel so good soon.”

  “I didn’t change.”

  “No.”

  “Is that part of it, do you think? You—this baby—this was all supposed to save the wolves from factions like Frank and Victor. To unite. So what better to unite humans and wolves than a child born of a human, sired by a wolf.”

  “Smart woman.”

  I looked up, “Hi, Samuel. You don’t have any ice cream for me do you?” I asked, realizing I was starving and for something sugary.

  “No, but I will go out and get you ice cream right now if you want.”

  “Have you met my son?” I asked, blowing off the offer.

  “I have,’ he said. “And you’re right. He’s the bridge.”