Pregnant with His Werewolf's Baby (6 page)

"Okay, baby. Where am I going?"

Gavin relayed his address and Saul started the car, leading
it expertly toward Gavin's neighborhood. Their homes were a good distance away,
but the trip still seemed to be far too short. Sooner than Gavin expected, Saul
parked. "Here you go."

Gavin unbuckled his seatbelt and pressed a kiss to Saul's
cheek. "Thanks. Call me for lunch?"

At the last moment, Saul stopped him from pulling away.
"Can't wait," he murmured. The next thing Gavin knew, Saul was
kissing him again, and Gavin responded with the same heat and desire. God, at
this rate, he'd never get to work. For a few moments, he indulged in the sinful
simplicity of the duel of tongues, but his rational side intervened, drawing
him away from his lover.

It was with great difficulty that he broke the lip lock. "I'll
look forward to it too," he replied with a smile and a breathless voice.

This time, Saul let him go. Gavin didn't say
"goodbye"—he never wanted to utter the word to Saul—and instead, just
left the car. After blowing Saul another kiss, he turned and rushed into his
building. His job was waiting.

****

Saul watched his mate disappear into the block of flats,
still reeling from their kiss and the amazing experience they'd shared. He'd
never felt like this in his life, so full of enthusiasm and emotion. His mate
had changed everything Saul had thought to be true about the world.

He'd have liked to stay with Gavin, but his mate had a job,
and Saul couldn't exactly stalk him. If they were going to have a healthy
relationship, Saul needed to give his lover space. His wolf didn't like it, but
Saul pacified it with the knowledge of his budding mate bond with Gavin.

Saul started the car and headed toward the offices of the
pack member he was supposed to see. He wasn't in the mood to crunch numbers,
but maybe it would make the time go faster until he could see Gavin again.

However, the moment he parked in front of the building in
question, Saul knew something was wrong. His immediate instinct was to put the
car in reverse, but he didn't get the chance. Several cars approached him,
boxing him in and keeping him from trying to escape.

With a frustrated sigh, Saul slid out of his car. He
recognized the other vehicles as belonging to his pack members, and was not
surprised when his brother descended out of one of them.

 
"What in the world is this?"
Saul inquired with an angry growl. "Why are you treating me like some
criminal?"

Finn didn't address Saul's righteous anger. "Saul
Simmons, you are hereby accused of having risked the secrecy of our species.
Come quietly, or you will be brought in by force."

Saul remembered what Finn had told him the night before and
frowned. "Finn, you can't be serious. I told you I'll come back to the
pack on my own terms."

"Unfortunately, the information we were provided with
today makes that approach impossible," Finn answered coolly. "Don't
make this harder than it has to be."

For the first time, Saul noticed the enforcers with Finn
carried weapons, silver blades and guns outfitted with silver bullets. Saul
gaped at his brother. "Are you deeming me rogue?"

Finn grimaced. "I warned you about this, Saul. You
should have just listened when I told you to."

All Saul could think about was his mate. Werewolves could be
very dangerous when the safety of their kind was risked. If humans found out about
shifters, mates and pups would be an immediate target. However, precisely
because this was a serious matter, enforcing the Law of the Rogues was only
done in the worst cases. Saul had only exposed his eyes and canines to a drunk
human. That could hardly be considered rogue material.

It could, however, be used against him by the elders who
dislike having a potential Alpha they couldn't control. And he'd have told Finn
to fuck off, but something kept him from doing so.

There were no cameras around the diner where Saul and Gavin
had eaten the night before. Someone must have been watching them, someone good
at spying and staying downwind. It was either that, or the elders making the
entire thing up. However, if the first option was the true one, the spy knew
about Saul spending the night with Gavin. They couldn't have guessed Gavin was
his mate, but if Saul refused to go with his brother now, he risked drawing
unwanted attention to Gavin.

He remembered his promise to have lunch with Gavin, to take
it slow and have a real relationship with the human. Gritting his teeth, he
resigned himself to the unavoidable.

"Fine. I'll go with you."

Chapter Six

Gavin got to the school just minutes before the first bell
rang. He'd dressed in record time and broken several traffic rules, but in the
end, he'd succeeded in reaching his destination without being late. It almost
seemed like this would be the beginning of any other day, but as he made his
way toward his office,
 
he ran straight
into Jessie.

That in itself wasn't the unusual part. Gavin and Jessie
spent a lot of time together. But the events of the past few twenty-four
hours—and God, had it only been that long?—hung between them. For a few
moments, Jessie just stared at him, then finally exploded, "Jesus Christ,
Gav…. Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I was this close to calling
the police. I imagined you getting raped or tortured or killed… I came to work
in the vain hope that you might be here. Didn't you see my messages? Why didn't
you call?"

By now, Jessie was hyperventilating, squeezing Gavin's
shoulders so hard it kind of hurt. Gavin winced, but only because he had been
callous and not thought about his friend's concern at all. "It's fine,
Jess," he assured the other man. "I'm sorry I didn't call, but I'm
perfectly all right, and I met the most amazing guy." He sighed dreamily
as he remembered Saul, aware that he probably sounded like a complete idiot,
but not caring in the slightest. "I didn't think it could happen, but I
think I'm falling in love with him."

Jessie pulled him into his office and shut the door behind
them. They plopped down on Gavin's small couch. "I take it you had sex
with him," Jessie said.

Gavin nodded. "It was the most amazing experience in my
life. God, Jess… I can't even explain it. He was so gentle at first, so
careful. And then, when he really started to…" His face heated as the
memory of Saul fucking him made his dick stir in his slacks. "It was just
perfect," he finished.

"Well, I'm glad that at the very least you had
fun," Jessie said. "Just please, tell me you used protection."

Gavin froze. The thought of condoms had slipped out of his
mind completely. It was the most important lesson he always taught his
students, but he hadn't even considered it last night, or this morning, for
that matter. He distinctly remembered the heat of Saul's spunk as the man
pumped him full of seed. God, how could he have forgotten? "I'm sure he's
clean," he said with far more certainty than he felt. "He wouldn't
have put me at risk like that."

"Gav, can't you hear yourself? There are a lot of people
who trusted their lovers, and got sick because of it. You need to get tested,
stat."

Even knowing Jessie was right didn't change the fact that
Gavin believed in Saul. Jessie just didn't understand. Something had clicked
between them, and it went way beyond sexual chemistry and hot sex.

"I'll just call him and ask him about it," he said.
"I'm sure it'll be fine."

Jessie shot him a look of disbelief, but waited as Gavin
dialed Saul's number. It rang once, twice, three times, every passing second
making Gavin feel more and more anxious.

Saul didn't pick up the phone the first time around, so Gavin
tried again. By now, Jessie's anger had faded into concern. Gavin squeezed his
friend's hand, hoping that his fears would amount to nothing.

Finally, his call was picked up and Gavin immediately greeted
his lover, "Saul, hi!"

"Who is this?" an unfamiliar male voice asked at
the other side of the connection.

Gavin froze, and for a few seconds, he couldn't reply at all.
"Hello?" the strange man prodded. "Anyone there?"

The stranger's mocking tone made Gavin snap out of his shock.
"I'm a friend of Saul's," he said. "Could you get him, please?
It's really important that I speak to him."

"I'm sure it is," the other man replied.
"Sorry, Saul's not around."

That seemed so strange. They'd just gone their separate ways
an hour or so ago. Had Saul gone straight to another meeting? It certainly
seemed so. "Well, where is he and when is he due back?" Gavin managed
to ask.

A heavy, irritated sigh came in reply. "Let me put it to
you this way. You're not wanted here. You and Saul will never work. He has
dozens of lovers to choose from, dozens of people far better than you. Do
yourself a favor and don't call again."

Before Gavin could even try to answer, the stranger hung up.
The phone slid out of Gavin's now limp hand as he tried to process how he'd
gone from blissfully happy to heart-broken within the expanse of ten minutes.

"I'm so sorry," Jessie whispered, hugging an
unresisting Gavin close.

"I really thought... I really thought we had
something." Tears filled Gavin's eyes and this time, he didn't even try to
keep them in check. He just buried his face in his friend's shoulder.
"God, how could I be so stupid? How could I let him do that to me?"

Jessie pet his hair, shushing him, telling him everything was
going to be all right. Maybe Gavin would have been inclined to believe him, if
the comfort of Jessie's touch hadn't made Gavin want Saul more. It just wasn't
the same, and even if it felt like a betrayal of his faithful friend to even
compare him with Saul, a part of Gavin still ached for Saul.

He pulled out of Jessie's embrace and wiped his eyes. "I
fucked up, didn't I, Jess?"

"Yeah," Jessie replied, "but I'm here for you.
We'll both take a few hours off and we'll go to the clinic. Let's take it one
step at a time and make sure you're healthy first. We can deal with the broken
heart part after. Deal?"

"Deal," Gavin replied.

Even as he spoke, though, he picked up his phone and stared
at the screen. Had Saul truly lied to him? Why had he pretended to do the whole
romance thing if he'd never meant to take their relationship further? Gavin
feared that he might never find out.

****

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that, Finn?"

His brother just snorted as he turned Saul's cell phone off
and tossed it into the glove compartment of his car. He turned toward Saul,
who'd been assigned to the backseat of the vehicle. "Don't tell me you had
any further interest in the human. He sounded like just a random twink to
me."

Saul bit the inside of his cheek so hard he drew blood.
Feeling his mate's pain at Finn's callous words had him on the edge, and if
Finn wasn't careful, he might regret it. Saul was already considering tearing
the throats of the large werewolves who flanked him on the backseat, and his
anger was only liable to get worse. That was the disadvantage of the half-way
mate bond. Saul could feel Gavin's emotions, but until Gavin accepted him as a
mate, it would only be an incomplete connection that just made Saul's wolf even
more agitated. But the best thing he could do right now was to keep Finn from
realizing just how much Gavin meant to Saul.

"Finn, I want you to be perfectly honest with me,"
he said, changing the topic. "I'm your brother and I deserve that much.
What is this all about? Werewolves have mingled with humans ever since the dawn
of time. It's nothing new."

"This isn't about your propensity to mingle with humans,
Saul," Finn said. "You broke the law. You went against the Secrecy
Accords, and you know what that means."

"U-huh. And what exactly did I do? When did I break your
precious law?"

"You'll be told everything once we reach the pack."

With that, Finn turned away from him, and Saul knew all
possibility of conversation had disappeared. Truly, one of the reasons why Saul
didn't even stick around in the pack all the time was because two born Alphas
simply didn't get along. Both he and Finn had Alpha instincts, and they'd been
at each other's throats since Saul had become old enough to challenge his
brother's dominance.

Fuming, Saul tuned the other werewolves out and focused on
his incipient mate bond with Gavin. The human was hurt, frightened and
confused, and his pain was Saul's fault. Once Saul got out of this mess, he'd
have to do a lot of groveling to get Gavin to forgive him. He hoped that it
wouldn't last more than a few days. Not even the elders could manipulate
werewolf law, and the truth was that Saul hadn't done anything to warrant this
treatment. He just needed to hang in there for a little while, and then he
could return to Gavin and lavish his beautiful human with attention without
risking Gavin's safety.

Even with that knowledge, Saul was fuming by the time they
reached pack lands. When the car stopped in front of the Alpha mansion and his
would-be guards let him out, Saul couldn't help but snarl at them. "Calm
down," Finn told him. "You're not doing yourself any favors."

"Shut the fuck up, Finn," Saul growled. "I'm
not in the mood to deal with your self-righteous crap."

Finn bared his teeth, exposing his elongated canines. Saul
mimicked his brother, his skin already rippling with power, with the incipient
change. They would have undoubtedly started to fight if their father, Pack
Alpha Dean Simmons, hadn't shown up.

"Finn, I gave you specific instructions to reason with
your brother," he said. "I didn't say to escort him here like you
would some sort of criminal."

Saul could barely suppress a smirk of satisfaction, while
Finn's shoulders slumped. "But the elders..." he tried to protest.

"I am the Alpha here, not them. I take the final
decision, and you obey me not them. Is that clear?"

His father spoke calmly, but the heavy weight of the Alpha
voice brought everyone except Finn and Saul to their knees. Still, both of them
bowed as per the custom. "I understand, Father," Finn said.

A female figure rushed from behind them and pounced on Finn,
embracing him tightly. "Welcome home, Finn," she said.

Normally, Saul would have made some acerbic comment regarding
the behavior of Finn's mate. He'd never liked Lisbet, and the feeling was
completely mutual.
 
He held his tongue
now, because his newly mated status made him feel somehow more empathetic to
the bond between Finn and Lisbet.

Turning toward his father, he asked, "Can we just get
this over with? Finn has refused to tell me what I'm accused of."

"You attacked a human in broad daylight, in the center
of the city," Lisbet replied in his father's stead. "You exposed your
werewolf nature to that human. How can you even—"

"Lisbet, that's quite enough," Saul's father
interrupted her. "Hold your tongue and remember your place. Saul, come
with me."

Saul followed behind his father as the other man entered the
mansion. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Lisbet had been the
spy. "She's lying," he said.

"So you didn't attack a human then?" his father
inquired without looking at him.

"It's... complicated," Saul replied. "It was
hardly an event worth noticing. It was in the dead of night, and the guy
insulted me."

His father hummed thoughtfully, but didn't say anything else.
They veered off their current corridor and walked up to a small, almost
invisible door. As they stepped through it, they entered the private interior
garden that was always used for private meetings involving the Alpha or the
elders.

The elders were already there, in their shifter form, their
graying fur attesting their age. As Saul and his father approached, they
changed shapes, abandoning their wolf forms for their human ones. It was very
rare for them to do that—as a rule, they just stayed in their shifted form.
Then again, as a rule, they stayed the fuck out of pack business.

His father shot him a warning glance, and Saul acknowledged
his father's silent command with a nod. He'd do his best to be respectful, but
he had no intention to allow them to walk over him.

"Alpha Simmons, Saul," the oldest of the group, a
former Alpha bitch named Margot said, "thank you for coming."

It wasn't like Saul had been given much choice, but that
seemed beside the point now. "You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Indeed," a werewolf male named Terrence said.
"It has come to our attention that you've been reckless in your dealings
with the humans. Reputable sources tell us that you've endangered our entire
species through your actions."

Saul snorted. Reputable sources. Right. Terrence would say
that, since Lisbet was his granddaughter. "That's an exaggeration to say
the least. What happened was that—"

"We know what you did," Terrence cut him off.
"Don't humiliate yourself, or us by
 
denying it. You have one advantage on your side now, the fact that you
are a born Alpha."

And here they got to the crux of the matter. "Yes, and?
I'm not that rare. My brother is a born Alpha too. He's already mated. You
don't need me."

"Your brother is a very valuable member of the pack, but
that doesn't make you superfluous. The strength of the pups is waning. The
genes of born Alphas are known to produce stronger pups, and we need that for
the power of the whole pack."

"I'm sure my brother would be happy to provide you with
as many strong pups as you desire," Saul answered.

"Unfortunately, this full moon, we discovered Lisbet is
having some trouble conceiving," a third elder called Samuel said.

Terrence didn't seem happy at having that little tidbit
revealed, but Saul couldn't help it. He laughed. "Perhaps she'd have more
luck with it if she stopped spying on other people and used the full moon for
her own benefit."

"Her private life is none of your concern,"
Terrence replied bitingly.

"And yet, my private life seems to be the focus of the
entire pack. Love the double standard."

"Stop this," Margot intervened. "Here's what's
going to happen. You have until the next full moon to choose a female mate from
the pack. In the meantime, we will be watching you, and if you try to escape,
we will deem you rogue."

"And if I refuse to choose a mate?" Saul asked.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but as the humans would say, I'm as
queer as a three dollar bill."