Her Wanted Wolf (27 page)

A couple of things cemented in Sabine’s mind. Drew’s protectiveness
toward the women went deeper than just an alpha’s dogma, and the need to
shelter his pack’s she-wolves was paramount. He also truly loved these
children, and he’d never cede a child of his.

She pulled her eyes away from Drew to meet the probing gaze of a pair of
suspicious grey eyes. Sabine almost squirmed with guilt.

With her pretty pink lips pursed, and her brow wrinkled into a ferocious
scowl, the little were inspected her with an absurdly adult frown on her
babyish features. A laugh threatened to spill out through Sabine’s lips, but
she stifled it, not wanting to ruffle the little girl’s feathers.

“Who you?” Scenting a stranger, her tiny nostrils flared. The little girl
leaned over and drew in a whiff through her button of a nose.

Sabine stood still to allow the child to inhale the characteristics of
her personal fragrance, so she’d recognize her. “Ahhh, I’m Sabine.”

After a couple of shallow sniffs over Sabine’s skin, the frown cleared
from the baby’s face.

“You Unca Dew’s!” she chirped a second before launching herself into
Sabine’s arms.

Help! What was she going to do with her? Sabine gulped, held her
gingerly, and looked for rescue in Drew’s direction as two short, chubby arms circled
her neck and clung like a vine. There’d be no salvation from him. The smirk on
his face told her she was on her own.

“Finally encountered something, or in this case someone, you can’t
handle? You’re holding her like she’s a hot ball of wax. Put your forearm under
her butt for support and cuddle her.” Drew stooped down and scooped up the two
cubs at his feet. “That’s Saffa and Justice’s Ava, and these two fur-balls are
her sisters, Cara and Lexi.” He grinned when the frisky cubs licked his face,
and he set them back down.

Eye to eye with Saffa’s miniature replica, she relaxed a little. Sabine
smiled uncertainly into the solemn face framed by an explosion of burnished
red-gold curls. Ava’s sweetly-scented spoor was a perfect blending of her
parent’s scents. It also held a hint of the fragrance they’d recognize her by
when she matured. Sabine stiffened when Ava rested her body trustingly against
hers.

A yearning ache settled deep her chest. The faint prickling in the cradle
of her pelvis gave her hope that she would soon be fertile. Sabine could hardly
wait the feel the weight of her own child’s body against hers.

Ava gathered a handful of Sabine’s silvery hair into her plum-sized fist
and perched it on her own head. “Pretty. Mine.”

At a loss of how to answer to that declaration, Sabine just stood there
with her arms full of the wonder that was this child and gaped like a duffer.

“Pretty, Ava, but I think she’s your Uncle Drew’s. He might object if you
took her hair and left her bald.” Justice’s black velvet voice tinged with
amusement rumbled out from behind her.

Sabine pivoted on her heel to see Ava’s father saunter over to them with
an armful of pink clothing. She figured if it were any other man, it would look
at odds with his masculinity, but with Justice, she couldn’t imagine anything
would diminish that.

“She doesn’t bite, well not much.” Justice smiled at his two daughters
mangling Drew’s pants.

“I’ve never held a child before. We’ve haven’t had any young in our pack
since my sisters and I were born.” Sabine winced when Ava put a stubby finger
in her eye.

“Yeah, well you’ll be knee deep in young if you hang around here.” He
nodded to the gamboling children. “The Lunedares seem to be hell bent on out-breeding
the other packs.”

Drew snorted. “You are a fine one to talk. Every time you look at Saffa
she gets pregnant.”

Justice shook his head and gave Drew a pitying look. “Always knew you
were a little backward. It takes more than a look, son. If you don’t know that
by now you’re in bad shape.”

Drew jabbed his elbow into Justice’s belly. “I hope to have a big family
myself one day. Hell, I might have more cubs than you.” He fixed his gaze on
Sabine and the child she held. His eyes warmed in a way that made Sabine
uncomfortable, considering the thoughts that went through her head not so long
ago.

“You’re so competitive.” Justice tilted his head at the children. “But
you have a ways to go to catch up with me. I have three already and one on the
way.”

Drew scratched his chin then shifted his eyes to Sabine and studied her
in a considering manner that made the hair stand up in the back of her neck,
literally. “Well, if I get lucky and Sabine presents me with two sets of twins,
we’ll catch up in no time.” Sabine’s jaw dropped. She’d imagined having a cub
but to carry two at once never crossed her mind.

“And if we have two sets of triplets, we’ll be ahead by two cubs,” Drew
calculated. Apparently the idea appealed to him.

Sabine felt the blood rush from her head. Six cubs! Was he out of his
mind? The idea that she might carry three sent a shaft of panic shooting over
her nerves. She remembered Saffa’s distended belly and cringed. What on God’s
green earth was he talking about? Just how many children was he planning to
have? In all likelihood, she’d never know because eventually he’d choose a mate
who’d give him those children. She only needed one.

Sabine flinched. She hated the thought of someone else bearing his cubs.
Her arms tightened on the warm body she held. She was neck deep in an emotional
quagmire, and soon she’d be submerged by it. How did she get into a position
where she didn’t know what she wanted or needed anymore? The path she’d walk
was always so clear to her.

“Well you have your work cut out for you don’t you, Andy.” Justice thrust
a pile of the clothes at Drew and relieved him of one the cubs. “Come on Cara
and Lexi, shift, we’re going home.”

The cubs’ transformation wasn’t as practiced and instantaneous as an
adult were. They wiggled and obviously had to work a bit to accomplish their
transformation. Their fur receded in patches, revealing flushed pink skin.

Justice tapped the nose of one of his daughters with his finger. Her tiny
body hadn’t finished transforming. “You missed a spot.” He and Drew bent down
and helped the girls into clothes very much like her own, but the soft pink was
a vast improvement over the drab color Sabine wore.

Ava wiggled in her arms and Sabine set her down. She trotted over to
allow her father to dress her. Looking at the girls, she’d never be able to
tell them apart, but the subtle differences in their scent made it easier to
differentiate them.

“They are a miracle.” Sabine voiced her thoughts out loud.

Justice’s face softened. “Yes, they are, and here comes my first miracle
carrying my fifth.” The love she saw there made her envious.

Saffa shambled slowly over to them rubbing her back. “Justice, if you
want the next Ambervane born in your home den, we need to get moving.” She blew
out a harried breath. “I’d love to stay because there’s a rumor that a deep
dish apple pie is on the menu tonight. Unfortunately, this baby is in a big
hurry.”

The two alphas stood as still as pillars of salt for the longest moment
before they galvanized into action. Justice gathered his mate up into his arms
and raced over to a rugged automobile, without joggling her.

Drew tucked the triplets under his arms like packages, trotted to the vehicle,
and stowed them into the rear seat.

Slamming the doors simultaneously, the men exchanged a tense glance.

“I’ll send word,” Justice ground out through pinched lips.

Drew gripped Justice’s shoulder, in commiseration. “We’ll send up a howl
for her safe passage when we gather.”

Justice nodded his thanks, climbed into his truck, and roared away.

“Now what?” Sabine asked, frowning at Drew’s unnaturally pale face.

“Now we wait. Then celebrate when she’s delivered safely.”

Yes, they’d celebrate a new life, because the deaths from the coming
battles would be come soon enough.

Chapter Twenty

Night slid over the mountains like a silken blue-black veil, enveloping
the forest in a velvety darkness. The moon finally rose to hang low in the sky,
shedding pale beams to bathe the flat crag where the Lunedares convened under
its silvery glow. It was a perfect night for a welcoming. Cool and clear, with
nothing but the sounds and smells of nature filling their senses.

Sabine stood by Drew’s side, shifting nervously from one foot to the
other. She felt like a stone dropped into a body of water because the growing
crowd seemed to ripple out around her in ever-widening circles. With their
attention focused on her, she was getting even more anxious. Was it possible
for a crowd to make a person feel claustrophobic?

Glancing over at Ishbel, she got a small grimace of sympathy. The sisters
had a brief opportunity to exchange news, before the throng descended. Sabine
learned her family had created a small den within the Lunedare homestead,
choosing quarters in the same wing.

Her sister had looked searchingly at her when they met, and after a while
asked, “Is he as good as we speculated he’d be? Or better than we imagined?”

Ishbel’s smirk brought a searing flush to Sabine’s face. She’d given her
sister a mind-your-own-business glare, but Ishbel read her like a book.

“You simply have to share the details. Don’t be selfish.” Ishbel’s pleading
purr undid her.

Sabine tried to maintain a bland expression but, after a short struggle, she’d
grinned like a bedazzled fool. Ishbel’s hoot of laughter still rang in her
ears.

Sabine shook herself out of her reverie and turned to cast her eyes over
the eight Silverwolves of her generation flanking her and the older members of
her family ranged behind them silently giving her their support. She gave them
a brief nod to indicate her gratitude.

Turning to face the Lunedares, she suppressed the scent of her trepidation.
Her eyes met Gustav’s, and he flashed her the patented Lunedare grin. The
tension holding Sabine in its brutal grip eased a little.

He separated himself from the milling pack, dropped to his knees and
shifted. Winding his body around her thighs, the bulk of Gustav’s body pushed
her nearer to Drew. Gustav slid past her and circled Drew’s legs as well, doing
figures of eight around them, symbolizing a union where there was no beginning
and no end. Finally he loped away and joined the rest of the waiting Lunedares.

Drew’s uncle pointed his muzzle to the sky and bayed, welcoming her to
the pack. His joyful wail triggered a wave of transformations by the Lunedares
who joined him in song. Drew’s pack added her name to their pack’s anthem.
Another
tie to the Lunedares
, the worrying thought niggled at her. Feeling like a
fraud, she looked away and fixed her eyes on the tree line above the howling
wolves.

Sabine noticed a lone were standing half-hidden in the brush. She
recognized him as the were who’d watched from the sidelines when she first
arrived.

Who was he, and why hadn’t he changed? Their eyes met across the moonlit
sea of lupine bodies. Sabine shivered at the malice reflected in his.

He looked beyond her shoulder and stiffened visibly.

She glanced over at Drew to see that he’d shifted. His lips curled, and a
low reprimand rattled from his throat.

With obvious reluctance, the were took on his wolf form and added his
voice to the song. The were’s participation lacked the passion and sincerity
with which the other Lunedares howled.

Drew nudged her thigh with his nose and she changed, and at his urging
ran with him through the circular maze formed by his pack. Every were in Drew’s
pack bared their teeth to her as Sabine raced by them.

The Lunedare young were shy or curious, the she-wolves cautious but
accepting. The older male weres were more reserved. The younger male weres were
playfully flirtatious. They sniffed and nuzzled her flanks longer than
necessary, and shot Drew taunting smirks. Drew played along and growled mock
threats.

The long line of Lunedare tapered out, and Sabine sagged with relief.
Would she be able to place the scents to all the faces of the weres she’d met
tonight?

One of the last few Lunedares yet to welcome her to the pack trotted
forward. Something was off about him. He reeked of discontent, and a scent,
muted by time and indirect contact, which pricked at her olfactory memory.
Sabine couldn’t quite place it, yet, but it was enough to lift the hair on her
ruff.

He touched his nose to hers with an unwelcome familiarity. Sabine reared
back.

Purposefully, the were crowded her, sliding the sleek glossy fur of his
head against her face, and angled his head to brush his neck over hers.

Offended by the uninvited intimacy, she snapped her fangs at him, and
raked her claws across his sensitive muzzle. The wolf rose up on his hind legs
to subdue her.

Sabine didn’t get a chance to respond to the affront; a blur flew by her,
displacing her. Drew sank his fangs into the wolf’s ruff and shook him like a
limp rabbit. He tossed him aside and issued a sharp bark, fur bristling,
muscles bunched, and his lips pulled back over his bared fangs.

The were changed into his man-form, and Sabine recognized him as the man
who’d stood in the outer rim of the circles. At close range, she saw a slight
resemblance to Drew and Gustav. Fair-haired unlike most of his kin; his honey-colored
hair glinted in the moonlight. He was a handsome man, with a wide brow and a
strong jaw. Unfortunately, the sulky petulance of his mouth ruined the
masculine beauty of his face. His lanky body, while symmetrically perfect, had
a softness to it, in comparison to the Lunedare fore-fighters forming a tight
ring around him and their alpha.

Drew circled the defiant man several times, snarling out his displeasure,
before he transformed and rose to his feet.