A Family with His Werewolf Mate (6 page)

And he did try, but he simply couldn't help himself. George
was the one who noticed next—shocking since the man wasn't the most observant
of people. "You're putting a bit of weight on," he said, patting
Will's stomach. "Careful or you won't be able to find a gal."

Something strange and frightened rose within Will when George
touched him. He abandoned the sandwich he'd been preparing with a light,
strained laugh. "You're right. I should...umm... I'll probably follow your
advice."

He didn't even know what he was saying, and he fled the
kitchen before George could reply. He ended up in the barn, hyperventilating
and not knowing why. And then all the food he'd eaten finally rebelled in his
stomach. A heavy sense of nausea flowed over him and he leaned over a stack of
hay and vomited. It wasn't pretty, but at least no one had seen him.

If that had been the last of it, Will would have been very
relieved—but that wasn't the case. The lump grew bigger, and the nausea was
soon joined by dizziness. A niggling thought nudged at the back of Will's
consciousness, but he banished it because it simply made no sense. He took to
staying in bed and covering himself so that his parents wouldn't see the girth
he'd taken.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until they'd notice,
but Will simply didn't know what to think and what to do. In the end, this
confusion and despair led him to go to the one place he'd sworn not to step
into again—the cabin.

He put on the loosest clothes he had to disguise his growing
stomach. It worked, although Will suspected that wouldn't be the case if things
continued as they were. Still, he ambushed his mother when she was alone in the
kitchen and made sure she didn't have her glasses. "I'm going by uncle's
cabin. I think I need a breath of fresh air."

She smiled at him, and Will felt a pang of guilt at
everything he'd been hiding from her. "That's a good idea, Will. You've been
cooped up in there for so long... We were getting worried about you, especially
since you refused to see the doctor again."

"I'll be fine, I think," Will said. "It's
just..." He braced himself for what he was about to say, even if he'd been
planning it ahead of time. "It's hard for me to see Karl so happy with
Peggy."

His mother's eyes widened. "Did you... Oh, dear. Don't
tell me you fancied her. I never realized..."

Will shrugged. He hadn't actually wanted to say that, more
like to suggest he was in love with someone who didn't feel the same way—which
was true. But maybe this was better. "I didn't realize it either," he
told her. "But Karl loves her, and they make a good couple. I wouldn't
want to stand in their way."

His voice grew a little choked as the image of Karl and Peggy
blurred into that of Dean and his unknown wife. His mother patted his hand. She
would have probably reached over to hug him, but Will had been careful to put
the table between them so that she couldn't do it. "You're a good boy. I'm
sure you'll find the right girl for you, even if Peggy wasn't the one."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm off."

She didn't ask for further explanations. Perhaps she was
relieved, because he'd been acting so strangely, and none of them knew how to
handle it. They hadn't even pressed him to do his chores, which was fortunate,
since he wouldn't have been capable of it. Finally having an explanation helped
her, even if it was one she hadn't particularly liked or wanted to hear. She
let him go without another word, and Will wondered if she would tell Karl, and
if so, what his brother would do.

That was a problem for another day, though, as Will soon
learned that the trek to the cabin no longer seemed as effortless as before. By
the time he reached his destination, he was breathing hard, sweating and
exhausted. He collapsed on the very same loveseat where he'd once waited in
vain for his so-called mate to arrive.

What was he doing here? What had he hoped to find? The cabin
reminded him so much of Dean it was painful to even breathe. Will got up and
went to one of the shelves, where he'd stashed the best gift he'd ever received
for his birthday.

His copy of
Animal Farm
was waiting for him, but so
was the picture he and Dean had taken the night of the carnival. Will took in
his lover's face, immortalized in the image, and wondered how things could have
gone so wrong.

He didn't have the heart to leave the cabin that day, and no
one came to find him. The place was still stocked, so he didn't need to go
looking for food. Distantly, Will wondered if his mother had believed him after
all, or if she suspected something. That was a question he never got the answer
to.

It was Karl who dropped by the cabin, two days after Will had
left his family home. Will opened the door for his brother, feeling more
exhausted than he ever remembered being. He just wanted to close his eyes and
sleep forever, to not have to deal with the ominous truth that kept battering
the edges of his consciousness.

"Is it true?" Karl asked without preamble.
"Are you really in love with Peggy?"

The confirmation was on Will's lips. It would be easy to say.
He could assure Karl he had no intention of making a move, and then his brother
would hopefully leave him alone. For some reason, though, the words didn't
come.

Maybe it was just the strain of Dean's absence or the near
hysterics he'd worked himself into more than once during the past few days, but
he shook his head. "No, I'm not."

Karl blinked, having obviously not expected that reply.
"But you told Mom—"

"I lied," Will cut him off.

"You lied." That seemed to befuddle Karl more than
anything, as if he simply hadn't expected Will to lie.

Will would have laughed if he'd had the energy. "Indeed.
Shocking, isn't it?"

"But... Why would you say something like that if you
didn't mean it?" A sense of understanding filled Karl's eyes.
"Unless... You were hiding something else. What is it, Will? What are you
hiding?"

Karl gripped Will's arms in a strong, almost painful grip,
and Will pushed his brother away. "You don't want to know," he told
Karl tiredly.

"Of course I do," Karl insisted. "I'm your
brother. I can help you. Maybe... Are you in love with someone else?"

Will had no idea how Karl had managed to hit the nail on the
head. Then again, his brother could be perceptive at times. Besides, Will's
heartbreak was at this point pretty clear to see. He didn't try to deny it and
wordlessly nodded.

"Who is she?" Karl asked. "Is she... you
know... colored?"

Karl thought Will had fallen for a black girl. Perhaps Will
could have dropped it there, convinced Karl that yes, that had been the
situation, but he'd decided against pursuing anything. Yet again, his heart
hijacked his vocal cords. "She is a he. I'm in love with a man."

Silence fell between them. The color drained from Karl's face
as he stared slack-jawed at Will. He seemed to be waiting for Will to laugh the
whole thing off, perhaps tell him it had all been nothing more than an
elaborate joke. But Will didn't, and Karl clenched his fists as anger replaced
surprise on his familiar face.

"No."

Despite the tempestuous look on Karl's face, Will suddenly
felt angry. "I think I would be able to tell, especially since, you know,
it wasn't exactly a chaste relationship."

Antagonizing his brother proved to be a poor idea at best.
Karl's face went purple with fury. He lunged, perhaps planning to beat the gay
out of Will.

Thankfully, Will had been expecting it and he dodged his
brother's attack. Karl's momentum led him to trip over the carpet and fall onto
the floor. And that was when Will felt it.

Something moved inside him, like butterfly wings beating
against his insides. It wasn't a butterfly, though. It was a baby. It seemed
insane, but Will couldn't deny it, not anymore. His symptoms had fit pretty
much the ones he'd read about in his books about pregnancies. It had been too
mind-numbing to even consider, but the thought had slowly wormed its way into
his mind, and now he had to accept it, at least as a possibility.

God only knew how Dean's physiology worked. Will had never
really asked, which in hindsight, had been stupid. Either way, Will couldn't
just wait around for his family to realize he might be carrying a child. Even
if he hadn't stupidly spilled his secret to Karl, he would have had to leave.

The knowledge that he might have a little person inside him,
relying on him, kicked him into action. Before his brother could recover, Will
snatched Karl's keys and made a beeline for the shelf. He grabbed his book,
along with the small package beneath it and rushed toward the door.

By the time Karl got to his feet, Will was already out of the
cabin and entering the truck. Karl burst outside angrily, but Will closed the
door of the car behind him. "Get back here, Will," his brother
shouted.

Adrenaline flowing through his veins, Will focused on going
through with his escape. He dumped the book and the package on the seat next to
him and inserted the key into the ignition. He had one moment when he thought
Karl would catch him, as his brother stumbled far too close to the door for
Will's comfort. Despite the panic threatening to choke him, Will didn't lose
his head and instead, quickly drove back, avoiding Karl.

Karl continued to shout his name, which naturally, Will
ignored. He didn't look behind as he thanked God that the cabin actually had a
forest road leading up to it. He didn't think he could have fled on foot.

The panic dulled into a sense of decision. His life might
have taken a crazy turn, but that didn't mean he could crawl back into his
family's barn and start hyperventilating again. No, he still had Dean's money
and maps. Sure, Dean could have lied when it came to that too, but at this
point, it was Will's only hope, as flimsy as it might have seemed.

With that in mind, Will drove straight to the bus station.
Less than an hour later, while he was watching the scenery of his home town fly
past, he wondered if he'd ever see his family or Willow Cove again. Absently,
he set his hand over his belly and thought about the man who'd landed him in
this predicament.
Why, Dean? Why did you lie to me?

****

Two weeks later

Will absently scratched his neck as he descended from the
bus. Damn it, he hated having to wear a wig. It was necessary for his disguise,
but that didn't make it comfortable.

Will knew he was lucky. Since the weather had taken a turn
for the worse, he'd managed to dress up as a pregnant woman, and actually be
pretty convincing. Nothing else could have worked, since his originally small
lump was growing at an alarming rate, while Will had, for the most part,
maintained his slender build. Most people would have probably assumed that he
had some sort of strange disease, but he would have drawn attention, and that
was something Will couldn't afford.

And now, here he was, in a small town close to the Canadian
border. He would have probably been on the other side by now, but
unfortunately, there was a little problem with that. He had no documents that
would get customs to let him pass. The day before, while out shopping, he'd
heard two strangers talking in French about a man who could solve such
problems, and so, he'd come here.

He looked up at the sky and not for the first time,
remembered the night he'd met Dean. Had it been only a month or so back? God,
he couldn't believe it. To think how his life had changed within a matter of
weeks—it was gobsmacking.

Shaking his head, he picked up his small bag from the driver.
The man shot him a confused look. "Are you sure you want to stay here,
Ma'am?"

Will nodded. "My husband is meeting me," he replied
in a soft, practiced voice. "Thank you for worrying."

The driver looked relieved, having been clearly unsettled by
the idea of leaving a pregnant woman alone at night in a small town around a
less than respectable crowd. Will would have bet the money he had left that
three quarters of the people here were smugglers. Oh, well. He had to try,
since he couldn't stay at the border forever. His time was running out, and
Will might have braved the unknown alone, but he couldn't perform surgery on
himself when the day he'd actually have to give birth.

True, even if he went into Canada, he only had a vague
concept of where he needed to go, but he'd deal with it then. Each step at a
time, carefully and calmly. It had gotten him out of most of the problems he'd
encountered so far. Hopefully, it would continue to work.

Shouldering his bag, Will headed away from the bus station.
He wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck, all the while making sure the
curls of his wig covered his face enough. Damn it, he needed to check out his
disguise before he made further progress. If someone even caught sight of his
Adam's apple, he'd be in huge trouble.

Using the ladies room never got any easier, but Will made his
way toward it nevertheless. There was no one inside, and Will heaved a sigh of
relief despite the pungent smell coming from the toilets.

He was reapplying his makeup when the door opened behind him.
As quickly as possible, Will made sure his disguise remained in place. Women
were often more observant than men and the new arrival could spot any flaws in
his outfit.

As it turned out, his concerns shouldn't have been related to
that. Will kept his eyes on the mirror, only to watch in dismay as three men
stepped up behind him. Okay, that wasn't normal.

He turned around, gripping his purse convulsively. "This
is the ladies room," he said. If his voice trembled a little, he didn't
think anyone could have blamed him.

One of the men—a fat guy with a beer gut and a pudgy
face—stepped forward and grinned. "We noticed."

"We also noticed you're all by your lonesome." One
of his companions, a tall man with a burn scar on his right cheek, tsked.
"We simply couldn't allow that."