A Cold Winter's Day 25 (3 page)

Which meant the babe he was holding was now his son. Malcolm felt a rush of protectiveness spring to the surface as he rocked the infant in his arms. He wasn’t sure what the man’s story was, but whatever trouble he was in was now the Lakelands’ problem. And it could only be trouble for a man to be out in the bitter cold with a small child.

Malcolm brushed back the raven-black curls from the baby’s face, seeing his skin return to a normal shade of pink as his lips returned to a rosy red. And that was when he noticed tiny little elf ears.

His eyes snapped up as he stood, staring at his mate as he crossed the room. Malcolm pushed back the man’s midnight-black hair to see that he, too, had pointy ears.

His mate was an elf.

Damn.

“Here you go,” Riley said as he entered his bedroom. “Did you find out who they are?”

Malcolm stared down at the unconscious man and took in his handsome features. He noticed his hair wasn’t all black. There were streaks of brown through it. His face was gentle and symmetrical. His black lashes rested on high cheekbones, and his mate had an aquiline nose, with a slight cleft in his chin.

He was gorgeous.

“I’m not sure who these two are.” Malcolm answered Riley with the truth. Well, most of it anyway. He left the part out about the man being his mate. He wasn’t sure why, but even with his son, Malcolm felt a deep need to protect his mate. At least until he found out what kind of trouble they were in. “He was in the bed of my truck, unconscious.”

Riley handed him the glove as he took a step closer. “He’s fey.”

Malcolm suppressed the growl that was vibrating in his chest. He didn’t want anyone near his mate. Not now. Not until he was awake and talking. “Go keep your brothers busy while I take care of this.”

Riley stared at him quizzically, but gave Malcolm a nod, leaving him with his mate and new son. He took the chair once more, giving the cub the index finger of the glove to suckle as he rocked him, watching his mate sleep.

Malcolm wondered if his mate was warm enough, if he needed another blanket, and why fate had given him a male mate. He knew he was bisexual, but Malcolm had never really pictured his mate as being a man.

He had never pictured having a mate, period.

Although his seven sons were grown now, and could take care of themselves, he thought he would be mated to a female. Not that he was objecting. The guy was simply stunning. But Malcolm had been with a man just that once.

He wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. It had been thrust upon him by fate, and fate was a fickle bitch. He stared down into the cub’s blue eyes and knew that even if it hadn’t been expected, he would rise to the occasion.

It had been many years since he had a cub to raise, but Malcolm was actually looking forward to it. “Who has your daddy running?” Malcolm asked the infant as the cub sucked the finger of the glove. A smile broke on the babe’s face as he stared up at Malcolm, making him look like a small angel.

That one simple dimpled smile stole Malcolm’s heart. He briefly wondered if the cub’s father would do the same. And did the man have a warm, welcoming smile to match the baby’s? Malcolm swallowed hard at the thought. He’d never be able to resist.

“Whoever it is, he isn’t getting anywhere near you or your father.” Malcolm would kill anyone foolish enough to come near the two. He would kill anyone foolish enough to mess with any of his cubs, even though the other seven were grown now with mates of their own.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re a Lakeland now. You have seven older brothers who will kill to protect you, and all of their mates. And you have a very fierce papa bear as well.”

The baby grinned again, his small fist waving around before it grabbed onto Malcolm’s pinky. He looked in awe at the size difference. His finger looked like a tree stump compared to the cub’s.

Malcolm’s heart melted on the spot.

He knew for a fact that he would protect these two with his very own life.

“You have five seconds to give me my son before I spill your guts on the floor.”

Luke was on his hands and knees, his weight pressing into the mattress as he watched the biggest man he had ever laid eyes on cradle Cole in his arms. The man was being gentle with his son, but Luke trusted no one.

Not when he had a psychotic tribe leader after him and his son.

“Give him to me,” he said with a viciousness he had never heard in his own voice before. It surprised him that he had said it with conviction, but Luke made sure his face remained a mask of fury, even though he wanted to look shocked.

“I’m not harming him,” the man replied, as if trying to calm a madman. And that was exactly what Luke felt like at the moment as he watched Cole smile up at the large and burly man.

“I want my son!”

“I’m giving him to you, but calm down before you scare the cub,” the man warned gently.

Cub?

This must be a shifter.

Luke was slightly relieved that he wasn’t in the presence of a demon or vampire. He could handle a shifter. Maybe. From the man’s sheer size, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

He quickly glanced down at the bracelet around his wrist before snapping his eyes back up at Cole. If he wasn’t wearing this damn piece of metal, he would be able to shimmer out of the room. But Shanta had made sure he couldn’t go anywhere if it wasn’t on foot.

The urge to slice the tribe leader’s throat was strong once again as he watched the large shifter rise slowly from the chair and cross the room. Luke crawled backward, keeping his eyes trained on the man. “Set him on the bed.”

The man did as Luke demanded, gently laying Cole on the warm comforter. When the guy backed away, Luke leapt forward and grabbed his son, almost crushing him to his chest. “Are you going to let us walk out of here unharmed?”

“No,” the man answered. Luke could feel his anger tipping over the edge as rage knifed him through his heart. “I’m not going to let you walk out of here, period. It’s too cold for you and the cub. You both need warmth and food, maybe some rest. Besides, you need protection from whoever is after you.”

Luke growled as he slid from the bed, standing with Cole secured in his arms. “I don’t need anyone’s help. No one is after us.”

He couldn’t trust anyone. For all he knew, this guy had already called Shanta. He had to get out of here before the tribe leader showed up. There was no way he was going to let anyone take Cole away from him.

The only person Luke had ever loved and trusted had died giving birth to Cole. The wood elf tribe had changed since the war. It had become every man for himself. What once was a very proud and noble race only consisted of cutthroat, backstabbing liars now. Luke longed for the race he had been raised in, but he knew in his heart that they were no more.

If the leader of his own tribe was willing to kill him to get to Cole, then what did he have coming from this stranger? Luke wanted to trust someone, yearned to stop running, but it was Cole’s life on the line.

He wasn’t taking any chances.

“So you’ll stop me if I try to leave?”

“Yep.”

Luke held Cole close as he stared at the man before him. He had a lot of fucking nerve. The guy didn’t even know Luke and Cole, yet here he stood ready to fight to keep them here.

It didn’t make any sense to him.

Who would do something like that?

“Why?” he asked cautiously. No one helped someone for nothing. There had to be something this guy was after. In all the years Luke had been alive, he’d never gotten anything for free. Even his son’s mother had demanded from him.

“Because I’m a hell of a guy,” the man replied as a smile tugged at his lips.

Was he serious? Luke saw the sincerity in the man’s gentle grey eyes, but he couldn’t let go of the fear. His son was counting on him for protection, and Luke wasn’t going to fail him.

“I need to leave,” he said with force behind his words. He couldn’t chance it.

“Then you’ll be leaving the cub here.”

“You can’t have him!”

“I won’t have my son out in the cold with no place to go,” the stranger said calmly. His eyes had gone from a gentle grey to a smoldering, angry gunmetal-grey in the blink of an eye.

“Are you fucking nuts? He’s my son,” Luke replied, getting the feeling that this big, burly man wasn’t playing with all of his marbles. Did he really think Cole was his son? As Luke’s eyes battled with the stranger’s, he could see that the man wholeheartedly believed his claim.

This worried Luke.

“If you calm down, you’ll figure out that I’m telling the truth.”

How was he supposed to calm down when this stranger was laying claim to Cole? It didn’t make any sense to him. There could be no logical explanation. Savannah had been Cole’s mother, not this man.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m calm. Now can I go?”

The man took a step toward Luke, which made him take a step back. As the stranger crept closer, the sheer size of him was becoming very apparent to Luke. He knew there was no way he could defend himself against the giant if the man became violent.

“Smell me.”

Luke took two more steps backward, with a fear so tangible that he could feel it race through his entire body. The shifter stopped in front of Luke, but didn’t make any attempt at touching him or taking Cole from his arms.

He swallowed hard when he realized he only came to the man’s expansive shoulders. He was huge! Luke stood there, staring at the shifter’s chest, afraid to make one false move. The man could crush him with one hand. Of that, Luke had no doubt.

“Smell me, hon.”

Luke’s head snapped up at the endearment. Had anyone ever used one toward him before? Not since his nai, his mother. It made his resolve waver as the grey eyes, which had looked like the stranger was going to crush him, turned gentle once more.

Luke inhaled deeply, smelling leather and earth. It was a smell that made his head spin as he leaned just a bit closer, taking in the scent of his…mate.

Luke’s back slammed into the wall as his body began to shake. This couldn’t be. Only one other of his race had mated a shifter, and the tribe had said that Carter had lost his mind, that the wolf wasn’t truly his mate.

Wood elves didn’t believe in mating outside of their race. It was against their laws. Carter had been banished for his betrayal. Luke inwardly snorted. Like he wasn’t already on Shanta’s shit list. What was one more offense?

When his mate reached out, taking Cole from his arms, Luke watched in detached fear. The man was so huge, so massive that he feared Cole would be crushed. He knew the guy had already held his son, but watching the man cuddle Cole up close was terrifying.

“He’s my son,” Luke whispered desperately as tears clogged his throat.

“Our son,” the man corrected him. “What’s his name?”

Luke reached out, touching his son’s arm as he glanced up at his mate. “Cole.”

“That’s a nice strong name. What’s yours?”

Luke bit his bottom lip as he glanced back down at Cole. He prayed his mate was truly this kind. He had seen mates who thought they owned the other. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He knew he had no choice but to trust this man. He had no one else to turn to for help.

“Luke.”

The man smiled as he bounced Cole in his arms, making Luke fear that his mate was going to drop the small babe. “I’m Malcolm, but everyone calls me Pa.”