Saving the Beast (23 page)

“It was his wife’s name. I wasn’t going to use it in case Jess wanted to, but his whole face lit up when I mentioned it. So Regan Marie it is,” Abby stated.

“That’s lovely,” Diane answered.

“So how’s mated life?” Amia asked.

Diane grinned then. “Fantastic,” she said, borrowing the same word Abby had used earlier. “And…I’m pregnant.”

Abby and Amia both squealed with happiness.

“Wait,” Abby said. “You’re happy about this, right?”

Diane nodded. “I’ve never been so happy. First Zane, now this.” She placed her hand over her belly. “I’m scared. I’d be a fool not to be. But I want this baby.”

“Our kids will be close together,” Abby said. “Zane’s a panther. So it should be a similar gestational period, right?”

“Yes,” Diane agreed. “I should have a baby in about three and half to four months.”

“You’ve gone pale on us,” Amia said as Diane closed her eyes.

“Oh, God,” Diane said. “That’s soon, very soon. We’re here another month, which means I’ll be in my second trimester when we travel.” She laughed. “Second trimester at one month along. God, this is all so crazy.”

“It is,” Abby agreed. “But worth it.”

“I might need you to remind me of that a few hundred times over the next few months,” Diane said.

Amia laughed.

“I will,” Abby promised.

They all paused when Tah’s roar sounded through the house.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Abby mused and Diane sighed. “You know, don’t you? What is it?”

“Kenzie,” Diane said.

Tah was going to tell everyone and Kenzie was going to need more than just Diane at her side. If anyone would know what to say or do to help Kenzie, Diane figured it would be Abby.

“What’s going on with Kenzie?” Amia asked. “Is she okay? Reno said she looked sad when she arrived last night. But she asked to be left alone, so we’ve all made a point to follow her wishes.”

“Last night?” Diane said. “She should have arrived before Zane and I did.”

Abby shook her head.

“She didn’t get here until late. Reno was surprised. We just assumed she arrived with you and Zane,” Amia said.

“She needed some time alone,” Diane said.

“Why?” Abby asked. “What happened?”

“Did Tah tell you about the hunters we encountered?” Diane asked.

“He told me there was a party of hunters. This shifter stopped through and spoke with Tah. He said the hunters had been taken care of. He also told Tah we were no longer safe and needed to move on, quickly. Tah seemed to trust him.”

“I know the shifter. His name is Gabriel, but most shifters refer to him as the Angel,” Diane said. “He’s like an angel of vengeance. I watched him shift, and I saw what was left of the twelve hunters in the party he took on.”

“He took on twelve hunters?” Amia asked. “Holy shit!”

“What is he?” Abby asked. “Lion? Tiger? Panther?”

Diane shook her head. “He’s a liger. Absolutely huge in animal form. Majestic looking.”

“A liger,” Abby said. “I didn’t know those existed.”

“They’re still rare. The ones I’ve come across were bred in captivity,” Diane said.

“So what does this liger have to do with Kenzie?” Abby asked. “And what about it has my mate upset to the point he’s roaring the house down?”

“Kenzie’s the liger’s mate,” Diane said.

“He’s here then?” Abby asked.

“No,” Diane said with a shake of her head.

Amia sat up straight. “Then how do we know he’s Kenzie’s mate for sure?”

“He bit her and gave her his mark before he left. He said he couldn’t stop himself, that he wasn’t prepared to face her,” Diane muttered.

“He mated her and left her?” Abby gritted out between her teeth.

“That bastard,” Amia said. “Reno said there was something off about her scent, but he didn’t know for sure what it was.”

“Kenzie was devastated,” Diane admitted. “You know how she’s always smiling, quiet but happy. She looked broken when she woke up and found him gone, like all that happiness had been sucked out of her.”

“He left without saying goodbye,” Amia said. She lifted her hands and placed both of them over her heart. “It would rip me apart if Reno left me. I can’t even bear the thought.”

“I know,” Diane agreed.

Abby nodded. “We’ll need to be there for her. Make sure she’s all right. Has anyone been up to check on her?”

“I’m planning to go up after I check in with the Professor and Orsai about Gideon,” Diana said.

“I heard about that,” Abby said. “Amia and I were talking. The Professor said the anomaly looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. What if the poison contained a different strain of the feral fever virus?”

“I had the same thought,” Diane said. “Clara said her Uncle Thomas brought the virus back when a group of hunters captured him and tried to use it on him. That’s the version Dillon hit Zane and Logan with. But the hunters would have had it all this time. Who says they don’t have people like the Professor to work on mutating the virus and hiding it within other things?”

“Exactly,” Amia agreed. “The hunters get together every few months for a summit of sorts where they exchange information. At least, they did back when I was there. I looked forward to those times as Marcus and the others would leave.”

“There’s no telling what they might have turned the virus into,” Abby said.

“Or how it might affect a shifter,” Diane added.

“I’ll start researching and working on it as soon as I can,” Abby said. “Regan sleeps a lot. There’s no reason I can’t have a laptop in here to work on while I rest and recuperate. I’m past ready to jump back into things, and quite frankly, you and the Professor need the help.”

“We do,” Diane agreed.

“She’s asleep again,” Abby said, gazing down on Regan. “Amia, can you take her so Diane can give me a checkup?”

“Oh, if I have to,” Amia said with a huge smile on her face as she held out her arms. “She’s so perfect, so beautiful.”

“She is,” Abby agreed.

Diane smiled in agreement. She set about checking Abby, but her mind was on other things. Mostly, it was on the fact she was going to be a mother soon, as well. She was still coming to terms with it. In a normal world, she would have taken the time to make sure everything was good with her pregnancy before sharing the news with anyone other than her husband. As the mate of a shifter, surrounded by other shifters, that wasn’t possible. Diane said goodbye when she was satisfied Abby was on the mend and headed out, shutting the bedroom door behind her. She paused as she started to pass the staircase leading up to the second and third floors where most of them had rooms. Kenzie’s was on the third floor. Making a sudden decision, Diane went up to check on Kenzie before going down to meet with the Professor, Orsai and Gideon. They could wait. Kenzie shouldn’t. Besides, Diane was afraid she’d get wrapped up in what was going on with Gideon and not get a chance to check on Kenzie.

She stopped outside the other woman’s door and knocked softly. “Kenzie,” she called. “It’s Diane.”

She heard slow footsteps then the door opened. “I see you and Zane made it back.”

Diane gasped and pushed her way in, grasping Kenzie’s face and taking in her appearance. Her eyes were swollen and red, most likely from the tears that were still falling. Kenzie had a haunted look in her eyes—a devastation that made Diane’s heart ache for the other woman.

“Oh, Kenzie,” Diane said and hugged her close.

Kenzie clung to her for a long moment.

“I don’t know what to do,” Kenzie said. “I hurt. Here.” She touched her heart. “And here.” She dropped her hand down toward her belly, but Diane understood what she meant.

“I’m sorry, Kenzie,” Diane said in an attempt to soothe her.

“Did Zane talk to Tah?” Kenzie asked.

Diane nodded.

“So they know. They know my mate didn’t want me.”

“That’s not true” Diane argued.

“It’s the truth,” Kenzie said sadly.

“He left to protect you,” Diane countered. “Zane said it nearly tore Angel apart to leave you.”

“Gabriel,” Kenzie said. “His name is Gabriel.”

Diane nodded. “Gabriel then. Zane said he saw how hard it was for Gabriel to leave you. But think of the danger he’s in. We’re in danger, and I’ve never killed anyone in my life. Gabriel is the Angel. He attacks. He took out twelve men to get to you. I’m sure his enemies are vast and many. Of course, he’d want to protect you from that.”

Kenzie perked up. “You think that’s what he’s doing?”

Diane nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“God, it hurts. If he couldn’t stay, he should have never touched me. Then I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“We’re all here for you,” Diane assured Kenzie. “And hopefully, you’ll be too busy over the next month to dwell on it.”

Kenzie raised wide eyes to Diane. “What do you mean?”

“That hunting party came too close to finding us. If Angel…if Gabriel hadn’t been here, we could be in a world of trouble right now. God, if those hunters had attacked while Abby was in labor.”

“Abby went into labor?” Kenzie asked.

“Yes, before you got here apparently. I delivered the baby,” Diane said and Kenzie flushed. “They have a baby girl. Regan Marie. She’s absolutely adorable. Abby would love for you to go see them.”

“Does Abby know about me?” Kenzie asked.

Diane nodded. “I told both her and Amia when I went to check on Abby and Regan. You need your friends right now, Kenzie, and we’re all here for you.”

Kenzie walked over, picked up a tissue and blew her nose. “God, I hate crying. It distorts my sense of smell.”

Diane dropped her hand to her belly, cradling the life already forming inside her. Kenzie wouldn’t be able to pick up on the change in Diane through scent. But was now the right time to share the news? Diane wasn’t certain, and the last thing she wanted to do was make her friend sadder.

Kenzie glanced at her, taking her in from head to toe before her gaze settled on Diane’s stomach. “You’re pregnant?”

Diane nodded, feeling guilty to have such joy filling her when her friend was obviously in pain. “Zane told me earlier. Hard to keep these things a secret in a house like this.”

Kenzie laughed. “Unless you were to hide yourself in your room and not see anyone.”

“I can’t do that,” Diane said then felt her eyes widen as her gaze swept Kenzie. “Wait. Are you saying what I think you are?”

“Gabriel mated me,” Kenzie said softly. “In every sense of the word. When I woke up, I felt the heat on me. The Professor gave me the shot first, remember? I thought it was funny, me getting a tetanus shot.”

“It worked on you, too.” Diane moaned, guilt eating at her now. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”

“Stop, neither one of us knew what he was really giving us. Hell, I’m sure this wasn’t even on the Professor’s radar as a possibility. Besides, I don’t know for sure, yet. But it’s likely I may be pregnant with Gabriel’s child.”

“He didn’t…” Diane broke off as Kenzie glared at her.

“Mates don’t rape. You know that.” Kenzie shook her head. “I’m the one that forced this. I pushed until his control broke, and he took me. And I’m not sorry.” She sighed. “Even had I known he would leave me, I still would have pushed. And I feel guilty, but I really hope there is a baby in here, so at least I’ll have that much of him with me.”

“Oh, Kenzie,” Diane said.

“Yeah,” Kenzie said. “That’s exactly how I feel.”

Chapter Sixteen

Diane leaned over the monitor, rubbing her eyes as she looked again at the computer data on the strain of virus in Zane’s blood sample then flipped to what was in Gideon’s. It was similar enough to make her confident that Gideon had some version of the feral fever virus. But there was something different about what was in Gideon’s blood. It was that difference that scared Diane. Once again, they had no idea what they were dealing with.

“Hey.” Zane’s voice called to her as he entered the lab and headed toward her. “You ready to call it a night?”

She nodded. “It looks like Gideon has a variant of the fever, as well,” she told Zane. “I have no idea how he’s going to react.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Zane vowed as he rubbed her shoulders. “Right now, I want my mate to come to bed with me.”

“Mhmm,” she said and rolled her neck on her shoulders. “That feels good.”

“Just think of where I could get to if we were in bed,” he murmured. “Naked.”

She laughed. “Give me a second to wrap this up?”

“Of course,” Zane assured her.

She took a few more minutes to look at the similarities again then shook her head over the differences. She hadn’t bothered pulling Logan’s up as he was human and both Zane and Gideon were shifters. The anomalies in Logan’s blood were even more unique. She would give almost anything to get her hands on some hunter files showing exactly what they were dealing with. It would save a lot of time and countless headaches.

“Diane,” Zane said.

“Just one more sec,” she said, not taking her eyes off the computer as she went about closing her files and shutting everything down. “Almost…there. Done.”

She turned and caught her breath at the sight before her. Zane must have decided the bedroom was optional. He’d stripped out of his clothes and stood there stroking the long, thick length of his cock.

“Strip for me,” he ordered. “Nice and slow.”

She smiled and reached for the hem of her shirt, easing it up her torso before finally tugging it over her head and tossing it aside. She ran her hands down over her chest, taking the time to lift and caress her breasts through the bra she wore and even rubbing across her already hardened nipples. She skimmed her fingers over her belly and reached for the button on her jeans then pulled down the zipper. She spread the material wide, revealing her matching panties and teased him by running a finger along the top lacy band.

“Take them off,” he commanded. His eyes were golden fire.

She shimmied, and the material slid free to land like cuffs around her ankles where her shoes prevented her from stepping out. She started to bend to remove the shoes, but Zane was there first.