Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) (17 page)

“No, you come with me.” Paul wasn't sure why he wanted her to, but he really didn't want to leave her alone. Maybe because she was so upset. He thought someone should be with her until she talked to her mother and brother—well, Lori and Emma even. That was their pack. Everyone should know. And everyone would be behind her on this.

“Paul,” Rose said, taking hold of his hand as they returned to the theater. “We should ask Tara and her mother to join us. They're in our territory. They should be in our pack.”

He hadn't officially taken the job. He wasn't ready to add any more wolves to the equation until he let the original pack have some say in things. Then he thought of how Rose was so upset over this and had to have been for a couple of weeks. Had she waited all this time to speak with him and not said anything to anyone about it? “
Did
you tell Lori?”

Rose shook her head.

“You should have.”

When he reached the bottom of the stairs to the theater, he said, “Why don't you wait here while I tell Allan and Lori where we're—”

“Allan's coming.”

Paul glanced up to see Allan headed down the stairs. The two of them were so close that Paul swore Allan already knew what it was about.

“You're leaving?” Allan asked, sliding a glance to his sister.

“Yeah. I'm going to take her home. Tell Lori, if you would, that I'll see her back up at the cabin after a bit.”

“You don't want us to come with you?”

“No,” Rose said.

Allan cast her a big brother's look that promised he would know what was going on before long. It was just the way of the wolf. Paul knew he'd definitely want to find the guy who had made his sister pregnant. “All right. See you in a bit.”

Allan turned and strode back up the stairs. Lori was watching them from her seat. Paul gave her a little wave, she nodded, and then he and Rose headed back outside.

He smelled Rose's nervous scent and saw her wringing her hands. He glanced at her, checking to see if she was crying again, and she stuck her hands in her pockets. “She's going to want to kill me.”

It was just an expression the family used and they didn't mean it literally.

“Your mother might be upset, but everything will be okay.”

“You won't put a hit out on him, will you?”

Paul smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “No. That's not what we do. Unless the guy has taken some of our kind hostage or something. Then, if we have only one way of safely freeing the hostages, he could be a dead wolf. But in a case like this, we just want to talk to him and learn more about him. Discover what his ‘issues' are.”

When they arrived at Catherine's house, Rose looked like she was going to be sick, as pale as she was. “Are you all right?”

“No.”

He hurried to get her passenger door for her, and then took her arm and led her to the house. To his relief, Catherine quickly opened the door and took her daughter from Paul, moving her to the kitchen. The scent of spices filled the air, and he saw jars in a row where she'd been working on filling them with her spice rubs to sell at Rose's shop.

“You're pregnant, aren't you?” her mother asked softly, her eyes a little misty.

Paul wasn't surprised her mother knew, and she'd be calm about it. Not happy, but not really angry either. Maybe a little mad at the man who'd gone too far with her daughter and left her in such a way. Well, maybe a little angry with Rose too, for getting herself in this predicament and not telling anyone.

Paul followed them into the kitchen in case they needed assistance.

Catherine sat her daughter down at the kitchen table, then got a wet cloth and ran it over Rose's face. “Can you get her a little water?”

“Sure thing.” Paul filled a cup of water for Rose.

“I got dehydrated when I was pregnant with you kids. I wasn't drinking enough water. I nearly passed out because of it. So you need to keep hydrated.” Then Catherine glanced at Paul and raised her brows a little.

He really didn't feel it was his place to tell Rose's mother what had happened, but since Rose looked like she might expire on the spot and her mother was waiting for an explanation, he just said what he felt she needed to know. “She can't get hold of him. He's a wolf but a drifter, or he would have been in the area, and he hasn't had any contact with her since…since they met.”

Then he talked about what was really important for now, considering she might be carrying multiple babies. “We need to get her to a wolf doctor. I don't know of any in the area. That's the priority for now: finding a wolf doctor she can see and ensuring the babies are going to be healthy. Beyond that, we have connections and we'll find the wolf father.”

Rose started to cry, and Catherine looked just as distraught as she leaned down to hug her daughter.

“Not to force them to mate,” Paul said, not wanting to upset her further. “This is strictly to learn what we can about him and go from there. If we determine he's one badass wolf, well, since she's my sister too…”

Rose looked up at Paul through her tears and managed a small smile.

“Well, if he is real trouble, I don't want him near her or the baby. Rose can make more of an informed decision when the time comes.”

“We should find a wolf doctor close to home,” Catherine said. “I don't want her to have to fly or drive a long ways from here. And the further along she is, the worse it will be.”

Paul agreed. He didn't like that there wasn't a doctor in the area if members of his pack were going to start having babies. It wasn't something he had even considered before now.

“Our SEAL team can check with our sources on that. ‘Wolf' doctors aren't listed in any registers or phone books as such. They're usually with wolf packs and take care of their own, though an occasional lone wolf is known to doctor strictly human patients. But we have enough friends who are with other wolf packs that we can see if anyone knows of a doctor that's closer than the others. We'll get right on it.” They talked for about an hour while Paul took notes about Everett Johnston: what he looked like, how he dressed, anything Rose recalled about him. Then Paul texted Hunter with the information.

Hunter texted back that they'd look into it.

Paul's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. “Yeah, Allan?”

“Hey, buddy, the movie's over. My engine was making an awful knocking sound, and then it just died. I'm going to wait with the car and I've called a mechanic to help me out. Can you take Lori back to her cabin if things are all right with you and Rose?”

“Okay, I'll pick Lori up. Thanks. Be there in half an hour.” He ended the call, then told Rose and her mother, “I've got to pick up Lori at the theater and take her home. Are you going to be all right, Rose?”

She nodded.

“We've got to tell the others—Allan, Lori, and Emma. You need to let everyone know.”

Rose still looked ill at ease, and he suspected she was worried her mother would take her to task after he left. “If you would, could you tell them?”

“All right. I'll call you all later.” He gave Rose and Catherine a hug, and he thought Catherine looked somewhat relieved to know this business was now out in the open. She was smiling a little, and he knew that meant she was thrilled to be having her first grandkids.

And then he headed out the door. Before he even got into his car, he called Allan back.

“Okay, I'm on my way over there. I need to talk to you about some stuff.”

“She's pregnant, isn't she?” Allan growled. “Who's the guy?”

Lori had suspected Rose might be pregnant. She hadn't wanted to swim when she absolutely loved swimming, and she'd been sick for a couple of weeks. She'd tried to hide the fact she had been ill by working longer hours at her shop, but Lori knew something was wrong. Even her grandma and Catherine had questioned Lori. Rose hadn't said anything to them, and they thought she might have told Lori something. And she was certain it all had to do with the time a few weeks ago when Rose didn't have a minute to spare to see her.

Lori wasn't sure how to feel about Rose's pregnancy. She worried that Rose didn't want to be with the father, worried that he wasn't a wolf and they'd have to change him. Would Paul now see they needed a pack leader? Maybe they had needed something like this to turn the pack upside down again and make him realize they needed him.

No matter what, Lori would love Rose's baby, or babies, as the case might be. She just hoped that Rose was ready for this too. Though she didn't have much choice now.

Lori was dying to know who the father was though. And how Paul planned to handle this. Well, and Allan too, as he paced back and forth across the movie theater's parking lot, his brow furrowed and his voice growly as he spoke to Paul over the phone.

* * *

Shaking his head, Paul drove to the theater while Allan was still on the phone with him. Paul couldn't believe he was the only one who had been clueless about Rose's pregnancy. “Does Lori know?”

“She guessed it. So did Lori's grandma. Mom would have too. It's not something Rose could have hidden that well from them. Not when they see her all the time. From you and me? Yes. They've just been waiting for her to tell them the truth, hoping she'd talk to you about it since she hadn't told anyone else. She really looks up to you. When I grilled Lori about what she thought was going on, she told me what she suspected.”

Why hadn't she told Paul? “Good. I'm glad we're already all on the same page then. We need to locate a wolf doctor.” He was fighting to keep the SUV on the road, the winds already picking up from the storm they'd sensed was headed their way.

“And find the bastard who got her pregnant.”

“Does Lori have any idea where he might be?” Paul asked.

“Lori said she was really busy with her dojo and other projects. When she had a moment, she asked Rose if she wanted to go out to dinner, but she said she had other plans. She didn't elaborate, and Lori didn't ask. But for about two weeks, Rose was unavailable to see her. Same excuses. Was busy, couldn't break free to get together with her. Lori figured she was seeing some guy—human though.”

So that's what Lori had been talking about when she told Paul she'd been worried about Rose for no good reason. “At least he is a wolf. She said she was eight weeks along.”

“Lori said that was the right timing—eight weeks.”

Paul shook his head. “Okay, one other thing—are you really sure you want to be my second-in-command?”

“Hot damn! You finally agreed to be our pack leader. And, yes, I do.”

“I have to make sure that Lori and Emma are all right with it.”

“Lori's grinning, thumbs-up. And she said Emma's going to be so happy.”

Paul still hadn't been sure that everyone would feel that way because they'd been doing their own thing for so long. “Okay, well, if after a while all of you decide that you don't like it, that's tough. You're stuck with me.”

Allan laughed.

Paul turned into the theater parking area and found Allan and Lori standing next to Allan's car, all smiles. Paul got out, and before he could say anything to either of them, Lori rushed to join him, threw her arms around his waist, and gave him a big, warm hug. And then kissed him full on the mouth.

When he came up for air and looked into her smiling face, he smiled right back. “Well, hell, if you had let me know that this was the way I'd be treated as the pack leader, I would have done it a long time ago.”

“Right,” she said.

“Seriously.” He sure as hell got the impression she was willing for him to be much more to her than just their pack leader. He loved this initiation into being the one in charge. He kissed her again for good measure, letting her know this thing between them meant a whole hell of a lot more to him too.

When he finally and reluctantly broke free of the kiss, she immediately said, “Thank you. Now we have to ask Tara and her mother to join the pack.”

“We can do that a little later. We've got some other concerns.” One of the next major issues to consider was if Lori would be his mate, but he intended to talk to her in private about that.

“Do you need a lift to your cabin?” Paul asked Allan.

“No, the tow truck is on its way. They'll be here in a minute. They'll take me out to the cabin, and they'll drop my car off there after they've fixed it.”

“Have you been having trouble with it?” Paul asked, sniffing the air, glancing around the area, and checking just in case someone had tampered with Allan's car.

“The car's old, but it's been running pretty good lately. Let you know what the mechanic finds out.”

“All right. I'm going to start making calls then.”

“To my grandma first,” Lori said, climbing into Paul's SUV. “You have to tell her that you're going to be our pack leader.”

“What do you want me to do?” Allan asked.

“Call Leidolf and see if he knows of a doctor who lives near here. Rose needs to see a doctor as soon as possible to ensure she's getting the proper care. I asked Hunter to check into this Everett Johnston.”

“I'm on it. Thanks again for taking over the pack.”

“Hell, you're going to work harder than me.”

Allan just smiled, then he waved at someone. Paul turned and saw the tow truck.

“Okay, we're out of here,” Paul said, and as soon as he got into his SUV, he immediately called Emma with the news about the pack leadership. “I know it's long overdue, but—”

“You're mating Lori. I knew the two of you would come to your senses before long. Oh…I'm so happy for both of you. And it means you're taking over the pack. This is the best news ever. I've got to go. Bread's in the oven and I don't want it to burn.”

Emma hung up before he could clarify that he was just taking over the pack for now. He'd have to work a little harder on the rest of it. He wasn't sure about Lori.

He set the phone in the console. Either Emma just assumed he'd mated her granddaughter, or she hoped her saying so would make it a sure thing. He was reminded of Emma's animal guide, the fox.

He cleared his throat, his face feeling a little warm with embarrassment. Lori might not like that he hadn't set Emma straight. Not that Emma had given him any time to do so.

“You didn't tell her you were going to take charge of the pack. You didn't even say good-bye to her,” Lori said, frowning. “She would be ecstatic. What happened?”

“She assumed it. And had to go quickly before she burned her bread.”

“Oh.”

By the time they got on the main road, the wind had really begun to pick up. Paul opened his mouth to speak, but Lori beat him to it. “The winds finally got here.”

Paul wasn't interested in talking about the weather. Was Lori nervous about what they needed to really discuss? “You know how the weather is. The changes can come earlier or much later, or not at all. But what I really want to discuss is
us
.”

She patted his leg, which made him think of the way she'd kissed him when they had been in bed the night before last. He knew he couldn't continue sleeping with her and not mating her. He'd never last.

“Now that you've agreed to be our pack leader for certain, you need to find a mate. Like the king of the beasts.”

He chuckled. “That's lions.”

She laughed. “You need a pack mate. But you'll have to prove you're a good pack leader first.”

Not believing her in the least, he glanced at her. “Does that mean if I asked you if you would mate with me, you'd say you had to decide later?”

“Absolutely.” She folded her arms and watched him. “I'm not mating with a wolf who might decide he has to go on another important mission when here I am trying to raise triplets on my own.”

“Triplets, eh?” He knew she was going to give him a hard time. But he was digging in and winning her over, one way or another. “You'd have the pack to help you out.” He glanced at her flat tummy, unable to imagine her belly swelling with babies, but he liked the idea she would be his. He would never have been able to accept the notion she'd have babies by any other wolf.

“Yeah, right. Allan would be running off on the mission with you. And here Rose and I would be, saddled with all these babies and no pack to help us out. Just Catherine and Emma, but she tires easily.”

“Is she okay?” Paul asked, concerned, realizing that Lori had brought this up a couple of times now and wondering if there was something more going on with Emma's health.

“Sure. It's just her age, but now that our life spans match humans more closely, you know how it is.”

He understood her concern. “I can't believe you've turned me down. You don't know how hard it was to even ask. I will be scarred for life.”

“You
didn't
ask.”

“But you just said—”

“You have to prove you're a good pack leader first. Everyone, including me, knows you can do it. But you have to truly want to lead the pack with all your heart.”

“And you think I still have reservations.”

“I think if Rose hadn't asked you to step in and be our pack leader, you wouldn't have decided to do this.”

“Catherine asked me.”

“Same difference. I have to admit, I admire you for stepping up to do so because of the circumstances.”

“Do you know why I turned down the mission that Hunter called me about?”

“Why?”

“I wanted to visit with you. To be with you. I didn't want to be saving the world when I felt I needed to be here. It had nothing to do with Rose. Well, a little because I worried about this situation escalating with the Cooper brothers. You didn't tell me that Howard got physical with Rose. Or that Dusty forced a kiss on you.”

“I handled it, all right? As for Rose, it was her place to tell you, not mine.”

He still wasn't satisfied. “At the same time, I wasn't sure you needed me. You've all been doing fine for so many years.”

“What would you do if while you and Allan were gone, some alpha male wolf tried to take over our pack? I'd fight him off, but what if that wasn't good enough?”

“I'm not like some pack leaders who decide everything for their packs. I have every intention of being as democratic as I can.”

“Everyone loves you for always taking everyone's feelings into consideration. But the others will expect you to lead.”

“And I will. But I'll also listen to what everyone else wants to do.” He took a deep breath. “I asked Allan to be my second-in-command. But everyone has a role to play. We need to set up a good time for all of us to have a pack meeting.” Since Lori hadn't agreed to be his mate, he wasn't going to push it.
Yet.
“You think Rose is going to have more than one baby, don't you?”

“Yeah. I think it's inevitable. Her father and mother had triplet brothers and sisters. Allan and Rose are twins. I think the likelihood she'll at least have twins is a good bet.”

“Allan said you suspected she was pregnant.”

“Yeah, though she's been careful to wear clothes that aren't revealing, I've noticed she's showing, just a little, when the wind blows her loose-fitting clothes against her belly. And then her frequent bouts of sickness. The first couple of times, we figured it was food poisoning. Maybe a touch of the flu.”

“Why didn't you let me know?” Paul asked.

“You've been in the Amazon for the last two months! And I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to say she was and then learn she wasn't.”

“Okay, you're right.” He realized then why Lori was so worried about him tearing off on another assignment. Often, the missions could last for weeks. And during the last mission, Rose had gotten pregnant. What if he was mated to Lori? What if she found out she was pregnant and she couldn't even tell him for weeks?

“What about us?” He couldn't help it. He wasn't letting go of them. Maybe if he kept talking like they were a mated pair, she'd see he was serious about this and agree.

Her eyes lit up. “There
is
no us.”

“Right. But if you and I did mate…?”

“Sextuplets, no doubt.”

He groaned a little, though he was amused she would say so.

She chuckled.

Humans didn't usually have that many children, but being wolves, it was possible, and without fertility drugs. He was thinking a couple, for starters.

The winds were really picking up by the time they reached the dirt road that led to the cabin. Tree branches were swaying, the wind was howling, and the car was being pushed across the road. Paul gripped the steering wheel, struggling against the gusts.

“So what you're saying is that you don't want me to take any missions in the next ten months or so,” he said, though he figured since he was taking over the pack, he was hanging around for the duration. Besides, he had to build on something more with Lori.

“You'll probably have to do some of it so you can support your mate,” Lori said, glancing out the window.

He smiled. “You don't think I could be a handyman?”

“I think you need some adventure in your life.”

“The truth is that Hunter's not going on any missions right now because of Tessa and the twins. Finn's staying home and dealing with pack matters with Meara. Anna's had her triplets so she and Bjornolf are sticking close to their pack and family. So the SEAL team is really not doing much of anything these days.”