Elain dropped her voice. “I’m not sure my mom agrees. I think she’s in a state of shock right now.”
“Eh, she’ll get used to it,” Callie said. “Don’t worry.”
“One more baby to add to the brood,” Lina said before her smile faded and a contemplative look shadowed her features.
“What?” Mai asked.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way,” Lina said. “Because it might sound wrong no matter how I say it.”
“That doesn’t sound promising,” Mai said.
Lina looked over to where Zack, Kael, Jan, Rick, Micah, and Jim were talking in low voices while the Beasts happily played next to a napping, and two-legged, BettLynn. “I know what I went through. I mean, yeah, my story turned out fine. But I don’t know how I feel about them being bonded the way they are, now that I know who they were.”
Mai frowned but didn’t respond.
“It sort of takes her free will away, doesn’t it?” Lina continued. “Those two goons of mine, I can see it already, are going to be pretty bossy if they’re anything remotely like their fathers—”
“Or mother,” Elain teased.
Lina arched an eyebrow at her but continued. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Mai studied her hands for a moment, which were clasped in front of her, fingers working together. “It’s not because she has Down syndrome, is it?” Mai finally lifted her head and looked at Lina. “We still don’t know how disabled she’ll be.”
“Uh, reality check, girlfriend,” Elain interrupted. “She’s the youngest baby ever to shift that anyone knows of. There’s nothing disabled about that.”
“You know what I mean,” Mai quietly insisted. “Don’t you mean that it’s a shame the boys won’t have a chance to be with a normal girl?”
Lina’s jaw gaped. “No!” Before Mai could retreat, Lina swept over her, engulfing her in a hug. “Absolutely not what I meant.”
Elain resisted the urge to step in between the women. She watched as Mai, stiff at first, finally relaxed, then her whole body began trembling and shaking as she broke down crying in Lina’s arms.
Lina guided her over to a nearby couch, holding her, refusing to let go. “Hey,” she softly said, “I consider that little girl a miracle, and as much my daughter as she is yours. Which, okay, that maybe came out sounding wrong because that would imply something creepy between the three of them, but you know what I mean.”
When Micah and Jim’s heads both popped up, alarm on their faces as they looked across the lodge’s great room, Elain and Callie frantically waved them off, silently warning them to stay away.
Elain suspected Mai needed to get this out of her system sooner rather than later.
Frankly, Elain was surprised the young mother hadn’t broken down long before this.
“Sweetie,” Lina continued, “I just want her to be happy. She’s a miracle baby, from the way you survived to meet Micah and Jim, to what she can already do, to who she used to be.”
“Just think,” Callie piped up. “She’ll never get picked on in school with the Beasts as backup.”
“At this rate,” Elain mumbled, “we’ll have our own school on the ranch with the way people keep getting pregnant.”
“Wow, that’s a ready-made, kick-ass cross-country team right there,” Callie added.
Lina glared at both of them but didn’t let go of Mai. “So she’s got an extra chromosome. Big deal. Whatever challenges she has, we’ll all be right there with you to help you face them.”
“I didn’t want to go to Holland!” Mai sobbed against her friend.
Elain and Callie exchanged a confused look, but apparently Lina’s train of thought occupied the same track as Mai’s. She gently laughed as she rocked Mai. “I know, sweetie. I know. But those fuckers in Italy can be damn rude sometimes.”
The snot-filled burst of laughter from Mai didn’t seem to faze Lina in the least. “Let’s go outside and get some air.” She kept the younger woman tucked against her as the four of them all moved outside, past the porch, toward the deserted benches in front of Old Faithful.
Callie had snagged a handful of napkins from the coffee stand on their way out and pressed a couple into Mai’s hands as she and Elain sat on benches facing Lina and Mai.
Mai blew her nose but didn’t make any attempt to move from Lina’s comforting embrace. “I just wanted one thing in my life to be normal,” she tearfully said. “I thought after all I’d been through, after everything I’d survived, this one thing, this I could do right. And I can’t even do that right. I need one of my men to talk her into shifting back. I can’t even be a good mom to my baby.”
Lina rested her cheek against Mai’s hair. “You’re doing everything you can, everything you’re supposed to. You’re a great mom, honey. Let’s face it, that little girl has set the bar really dang high. I don’t think she could have a more perfect mom than you, or more perfect dads than Micah and Jim. Did you ever stop to think how they were sent to Holland, too?”
Callie held up a finger. “Can I interrupt for just a sec?”
“No,” Lina said.
Elain suppressed a snicker and gently nudged her friend, sending her a wink.
“I know,” Mai softly said. “They never anticipated a disabled daughter.”
Lina laughed. “Yeah, but that’s not what I meant. They’ve been in Holland since before they ever met you.”
That earned her a confused “huh?” from all three women.
Lina turned to face Mai, gripping her friend’s hands and lacing their fingers together. “Things were set in motion by the Universe long before you came into their lives. Two straight guys? Micah would have done anything not to ping on another guy, but he did. Explain that.”
Mai sniffled, but looked up into Lina’s gaze before both women turned to Elain.
Elain felt heat fill her face. “Well, yeah. I’ll admit at the time I was pretty pissed off at Micah. Until I talked with Jim and he told me he submitted. That he felt something for Micah, too, but he’d been scared by it because he’d never felt attracted to another guy before.”
“See?” Lina said, squeezing Mai’s hands again. “Two straight, hetero guys. Not bi guys. Not bi-curious guys. Not even heteroflexible guys. Two straight men who’d never so much as envisioned sex with a guy before are suddenly and madly tail over teacup for each other. Explain that. You don’t think they both had different plans for their lives?”
Mai sniffled and nodded a little.
“Right. You know they did. Their asses didn’t just happen to divert to Holland. They were tossed out a perfectly good plane without a parachute, landed in a fucking ditch in the middle of a goddamned tulip field where a damn windmill fell on them, and then Don Quixote came up and said, ‘Hiya,’ and rammed his lance up their poop chutes. And then you made your way into our family. Micah already had a mate. A One. And yet the second he laid eyes on you, he knew you were meant to be with them. That doesn’t just happen every day with wolves, you know.”
Elain decided it would be judicious not to mention how Liam had said he’d felt an attraction to her mom even when he was already mated to Maureen.
Even more importantly, Mai seemed to have been calmed somewhat by Lina’s argument. That was a good thing.
“Don Quixote was from Spain,” Callie pointed out.
Lina shot her a painfully cold glare.
“Sorry,” the former Immortal muttered.
Callie and Elain sat and waited the women out. Finally, Mai seemed to calm down. She leaned over and hugged Elain, then Callie. “Sorry,” she softly said. “I’m just under a lot of stress.”
“Understandable,” Elain said.
Lina patted Mai on the leg and looked at Elain and Callie. “Holland is from that poem. Remember the one Dr. Alberto gave us when she discovered BettLynn had Down syndrome?”
“Ah!” Now it clicked in Elain’s memory. Callie still looked confused. “I’ll e-mail it to you,” Elain told he
r.
“Thanks.”
“It basically says,” Mai softly explained, “that we packed for one trip, Italy. Prepared, got ready, learned the language, everything. But then we found ourselves in Holland. And it’s not that it’s bad, it’s just different and a shock to adjust. But once you adjust, it’s okay and has its good points, too.”
Callie kindly smiled. “Hey, I think you’re doing an awesome job, if that means anything.”
She hugged her again. “It does. Thank you.”
* * * *
Brodey and Cail walked Elain back to the cabin that night after dinner. Ain would be cooped up in meetings until late. Especially now, with the newest development.
“Why doesn’t this get any easier?” she groaned.
Brodey sat next to her on the bed and laced his fingers through hers. “It will, babe,” he gently said. “Have faith.”
Cail started undressing. “I think when we get home, number-one priority is getting you a concealed carry permit.”
She raised her head. “I’m a black belt. You saw how I handled Paul Abernathy.”
“He’s right,” Brodey said. “You need to start carrying a gun. The cockatrice are armed. They don’t care how Jackie Chan crazy you can go on their asses. They won’t hesitate to shoot.”
“I think Ain will agree with us on this one,” Cail said.
“I’m not fond of guns.”
Cail’s gaze hardened as he turned on her. “Ask me if I care. I’m sorry, but in this case, I’m going to push back. You need to start carrying a gun.”
She propped herself up on her elbows, gaze narrowed. “You edicting me?”
“No, I’m stopping just short of that.” He walked to the end of the bed and looked down at her, his expression growing sad. “Babe, it’d kill me, any of us, to lose you. Can you imagine how we’d feel if it was because we didn’t do everything necessary to ensure your safety?”
“We’re asking you,” Brodey said. “No, scratch that. We’re begging you, please. Do this for us.”
Cail played dirty. “What if you were home alone with Mai and BettLynn and something happened? I’m sure Micah’s going to insist on Mai and Jim carrying after this, but do you really think she would react faster than you?”
Her face heated. “Okay, fine. I get it.” She blew out a resigned breath. “I’ll do it. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.”
A sweet smile filled Cail’s face. Shirtless, he knelt on the bed, straddling her before leaning in to kiss her. “That’s our girl.”
The men finished stripping and helped her get naked. Before long, she was on her hands and knees, with Brodey’s cock buried in her pussy and Cail’s down her throat.
Brodey reached around her and found her clit. “I have feeling you aren’t in the mood for a long play night, so how about you give us one and we’ll all go to sleep?”
“Mmhmm,” she mumbled around Cail’s cock.
Cail stroked her hair. “That was an affirmative.”
“I thought so.” Brodey’s talented fingers played with her clit, the feel of his cock bottomed out in her intensifying the pleasure as he quickly drove her up and over the edge into a deliciously sweet orgasm.
As she moaned around Cail’s cock, he let out one of his own. “Fuuuuck, yeah.”
She rocked back and forth, eyes closed and enjoying the way her orgasm rolled through her. Brodey gave her a little bit longer before he let go of her clit and started fucking her. Cail began thrusting his hips in time with Brodey’s motions, and before long she sensed her men close to coming, too.
Cail came first, making her moan again as the taste of his cum filled her mouth. Then Brodey came, filling her pussy before collapsing with her onto the bed.
Winded, Cail stretched out on her other side. “Good?”
She nodded, draping one arm over him while nestling her ass against Brodey. “Real good.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Mercedes wasted no time returning to Maine once she left Yellowstone. She didn’t want to hang around and risk the possibility of one of the other Seers sensing her ulterior motives the way Lacey had.
She suspected the Triad might not be as understanding and forgiving about the issue as Lacey.
She also didn’t want to risk running into any stray cockatrice who might still be in the Yellowstone area. She didn’t know where any of their nests were out west, and didn’t really want to find out, either.
Maine was safe, for now. Kitty Blackestone was a dedicated hunter and ridding the region of the two-legged cockroaches, which meant it would only be that much safer for her and Marston, as long as she kept him out of sight of the Maine wolves. Soon enough, she’d have everything she needed out of Rodolfo and be able to turn him over to the jaguars. Then she and Marston would be free to raise their little girl however and wherever they wanted.
Truth be told, it was a relief to get back to Marston. She begrudgingly admitted she liked seeing the happy, expectant father part of his personality.
It gave her hope for their future. For her baby’s future.
For my daughter’s future.
That thought brought a smile to her face. A baby girl she could give a good, loving, stable life to. No running from cockatrice nests, no hunting for retribution. An upbringing of wealth, courtesy of—however unwilling—her grandfather Abernathy.
The next day, Mercedes was going through all the paperwork she’d accumulated on her father, trying to reconcile some things she suspected and had overheard at the Gathering. She sat back in her chair and stared into space, a hand resting on her belly. “What I still don’t understand is why the bastard set some of his trusts up the way he did,” she said. “I know damn well there’s stuff he hasn’t told us.”
Marston looked up from paperwork he was going through for her. “Does it really matter? We’ve amassed more than enough for several decades, at least. Far longer if we spend it carefully and wisely invest it.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’ve managed to locate the bulk of it. I’m sure there are some accounts we won’t find that he’s hidden and likely wouldn’t ever admit to us.” She chewed on her thumbnail. “It’s just this one reference I’ve see a couple of times. F-Abernathy Trust, LLC. What the hell is that?”
Marston looked over her shoulders. “We could try asking him again.”
“I did. Beat the crap out of him before I went to Yellowstone. All he did was sneer at me.”
“Poor darling.” He kissed the side of her neck. “Maybe it has something to do with that little girl.”
“What little girl?”
“One time I had to meet with him at his Montana compound. Oh, a few years back. She couldn’t have been any older than five at the time.”
She shoved her chair back. “Son of a bitch,” she whispered. She ran over to one of the banker’s boxes and dumped it onto the floor, frantically scrabbling through it until she found the printout she was looking for.
A grin filled her face. “That’s why,” she softly said.
“Why what, love?”
She held up the paper and waved it at him. “Now I understand this file. I ignored it then. Now, I get it. His daughter.”
“What?”
She clambered to her feet and rejoined him. “That little girl is his fucking daughter.”
The paperwork she now held was a power of attorney giving someone named Esmerelda Martinez temporary guardianship, and the ability to care for and make decisions for one Fiona Abernathy. It was one of the files she’d downloaded from a cloud server containing information and paperwork regarding his affairs.
Rodolfo had set things up to stay current and allow him the flexibility to access his network from anywhere in the world.
It also allowed her the ability to beat the information out of him.
Marston took the paper from her and read it, a grin spreading across his face. “She’d be around ten or eleven now, I suppose. But how can you be sure she’s his daughter?”
“Do you honestly think he would ever care for a kid, a girl, if she wasn’t? If she wasn’t an Alpha wolf of his precious pure blood?”
“No, I suppose you’re dead-on about that.” He handed the paper back to her. “Bloody lot of good that paper does, however.”
“Oh, it does us a lot of good. We track her down and it gives us power over him. The hand that rocks the cradle and all that bullshit.”
“Somehow, I don’t picture the old boy being quite that sentimental, Alpha blood or not.”
“If I threaten to take her out, tell him we know who and where she is, I might get some more answers out of him that way.”
“He’ll know we’re bluffing.”
“He can’t afford to lose his precious link to the future. I’ve studied him, studied his kills, his history. He’s all about preserving the family name and bloodline, even though he’s the only one who even gives a shit about it anymore. If nothing else, he might even offer to hand her over in exchange for sparing his own miserable life.”
“Okay, while that’s not a very practical thing, I’ll concede the point. But why would he spin his wheels so bloody hard to go after Elain Pardie then if he has his heir already?”
“Because Elain Pardie isn’t his daughter. Of his bloodline, yes. And she’s an adult. An adult Alpha female. If trying to rebuild his line, what better way to do it than with a female ready to go? Besides, I don’t think even Rodolfo is stupid enough to try to interbreed with his own daughter. He probably had a male Alpha wolf lined up and ready to go once she was old enough.”
“And he was going to use her to breed, got it.” He stared at the paperwork. “So what do you think he had in mind for the little girl?”
“Who knows?” she said. “Doesn’t matter now, because we’re going to use her. I think I know who the little girl really is.”
“Love, you’re confusing me.”
“Ortega hates Abernathy.”
“No secret there.”
“Not just for the incident at the Gathering a hundred years back.”
He scratched at his chin. “Okay, now you have my interest.”