Untamed: An Alpha's Promise (Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance) (7 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

They spent most of the day in bed, wallowing in the bliss of their engagement. Charmaine called in sick for the first time in her life and was shocked that she felt no guilt whatsoever, only joy that she got to hang up the phone and make love to Parker again. By the time the afternoon rolled around, her hair was knotted and her lips were swollen and every time she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror she blushed at how thoroughly and gloriously fucked and happy she looked. Parker couldn’t stop kissing her left hand and kissing her ring finger. He’d already taken to calling her “Mrs. Kreuger” and she smiled every time he said it.

But that evening as she and Parker were preparing a salad her phone rang and a text immediately followed. It was Scottie:
Your dad’s in the hospital again
.
Come quick
.

They got to the hospital as fast as they could, and the scene grimly familiar. Crystal, weeping on Shannon’s shoulder. Scottie, vigilant and tense. Empty halls, that faint disinfectant smell, the same cloud of fear over everyone’s heads.

César was unconscious again.
How much of this can he really take?
Charmaine wondered. He had been fortunate last time to only suffer minor lingering effects. This time she knew he couldn’t be so lucky. She sank into the bench, too overwhelmed to weep, while both Scottie and Parker paced back and forth. Their constant need for motion puzzled her; all she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and sleep until someone told her that her father was going to be okay.

“Did you hear what Christopher said to her today?” she heard Scottie ask Parker in a low voice. “Any truth to that?”

“She didn’t, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Parker sounded genuinely confused.

Shit, I didn’t tell him!
She had planned to call her mother after dinner, but they’d never made it that far.

“He threatened her. Gave her an ultimatum. Said it was you or him, because you’re planning to kill him.”

“That’s ridiculous and completely untrue.” His reply was calm but indignant. “I wouldn’t kill Charmaine’s brother.”

“That’s not the word on the streets.”

“Says who? Christopher?”

“I may have heard something myself,” Scottie challenged, and when Charmaine turned to look at him she was pleased to see him turn red under Parker’s steely gaze. He’d heard no such thing, and it was unfair of him to say that he had.
Jealousy
.

“I doubt that very much.” Parker was completely self-assured as he answered the other man without taking the bait. “And I promise you, this will all be history soon enough.”

Scottie looked at him incredulously. “Our packs are sworn enemies. You can’t possibly make that promise.”

“I just did. I’ve petitioned the Council to renegotiate the treaty between our packs, and the next step is to have a meeting with Christopher. No one needs to get hurt.”

Scottie shook his head. “Christopher will never go for that, dude. I’m sorry to tell you this, but that’s not happening. He’s been talking about re-engaging the border scouts. If he had his way he’d bring things back to how they were a century ago. He still thinks there’s only room for one pack here.”

“Respectfully,” Parker replied, “if that was the case, my pack was here first and we have territorial rights.”

“
Respectfully
, I doubt he gives a shit,” Scottie retorted. “He already told Charmaine that she had to make a choice between you or her pack, and he all but threatened war. The guy’s always been an asshole, and now he’s a powerful asshole, which makes it worse.”

“There are other factors he might care about.”

“Such as?”

Parker hadn’t expected Scottie to ask that question, and it caught him a bit off guard. “Well, for one, we’re Mates. We didn’t choose this. The treaty clearly forbids inter-pack fraternization unless approved by Elders, but there is a special exception for Council-recognized Mates.”

“You say you’re Mates,” Scottie scoffed. “Who’s to say if that’s even true?”

“Any Council Elder can peek in my head, or hers, and see the visions that prove it’s true,” Parker reasoned with him. “I wouldn’t make that up; it’s easy enough to call me on it, and that’s a punishable offense. I’d lose Alpha status for that, or worse.”

“Okay, so you’re…” Scottie forced the words, as if the very taste of them was unpleasant, “
Mates
.”

“And interfering with officially Mated couples is a punishable offense.”

“Except when done by an Elder or an Alpha,” Scottie countered.
He’s not as disinterested in pack law as Charmaine seems to think he is
, Parker realized.
He actually knows his shit.
“Which means Christopher can do what he wants.”

“There’s an exception to that, actually.” He hadn’t wanted to say it like this, but it might as well come out.

Scottie frowned. “I mean, yeah, if you count Article Seventeen…” He and Parker stared at each other for a moment before Scottie broke eye contact and fell silent. His Adam’s apple worked back and forth in his throat as if he was choking back tears.

“I’m sorry. I know she would have wanted to tell you herself,” Parker said gently, “but with everything that’s going on with her family right now, we’ve got to keep things peaceful until I can convene the Councils and enter this into the Record of Special Exceptions. You can hate me all you want, but this is her life we’re talking about, not just her happiness. I’m doing everything I can to protect her, but if anything happens to me, she’s all alone.”

“If anything happens to you, she’s got me,” Scottie countered. He straightened and stepped closer to Parker, his amber eyes challenging.

He can’t let it go
. He took a deep breath and forced his voice to remain conversational. “I appreciate what you’re saying, man, but you should know that—”

But Parker never got to finish his thought, because an inhuman shriek echoed in the distance and both men went running towards it.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Charmaine didn’t remember hearing anything after the doctor said, “I’m sorry.” The whole world suddenly became quiet and cold, as if under fresh snowfall. She could see Crystal’s twisted mouth, her hands clawing at Shannon, her wild eyes, but she couldn’t hear her mother screaming. In the distance an answering keening grew and grew and grew until it pierced through the blanket of silence and rang in her ears. It wasn’t until she felt Parker’s strong arms around her that she realized the horrible sound was coming from her.

Parker scooped her onto his lap and cradled her, whispering her name against her hair while she wailed inconsolably. “It’s okay,” he crooned. “You’re okay.” He rocked her against him, and she sank into his protective embrace, her teeth chattering from the unforgivable cold.

Parker scooped her onto his lap and cradled her, whispering her name against her hair while she wailed inconsolably. “It’s okay,” he crooned. “You’re okay.” He rocked her against him, and she sank into his protective embrace, her teeth chattering from the unforgivable cold.

A nurse offered Parker a sedative but he shook his head. “She can’t have that,” Charmaine heard him murmur just before he thanked the nurse for the blanket she offered. Moments later she was swaddled tightly, snug against his chest, still shivering.

“Give her something,” Shannon pleaded, holding out her bottle of pills.

“No!” Both Scottie and Parker shouted in unison. Scottie nearly leapt out of his chair to snatch the bottle away from Shannon.

“She’s fine without it, really, Mom.” He slid the bottle into her purse and rubbed Crystal’s shoulder. She had collapsed again in the chair, the Valium doing its job. She looked as though she’d aged fifteen years since the morning.

After they’d tied up some loose ends with the hospital staff and Scottie had made all the phone calls, Parker stood and drew Charmaine to her feet. “I’m going to take her home,” he said quietly. “We’ve got a long drive and she needs to get some rest.”

***

The highway stretched out into the stars as they drove home. About halfway there, Charmaine realized her Jeep was still at Vella. “Parker… I have to get my car,” she whispered.

“I think it will be okay there,” Parker reassured her.

Her mind overflowed with details all the way home. She’d promised to take Maddie dress shopping. She hadn’t run the laundry through the dryer. She couldn’t remember the date of her prenatal appointment. By the time they pulled into the driveway she was stretched to the breaking point. “I don’t think I can sleep,” she realized aloud as Parker led her up the front walk and into the safe cocoon of his bedroom. Her mind raced even though her body felt like cement. “Parker, I can’t sleep. There’s too much to do!”

“There’s nothing to do but get some rest,” he assured her, disappearing into the bathroom. Moments later, as she struggled out of her clothes, she heard Parker running the bath. The scent of lavender filled the air as he added her fragrant oils to the running water. She was wrestling with her hair when he came out and found her struggling to pin it up. Without a word he took the brush from her hand and drew it over her scalp and through her long tresses, in long, steady strokes. Her eyes drifted closed as she enjoyed the bristles massaging her scalp, the rhythmic motion and sound of the brush. She could hear his breath, measured and deep, behind her as he tamed her tousled locks before twisting her hair neatly into a bun and pinning it to her scalp.

“How did you do that?” she marveled.

“I helped Maddie get ready for ballet a lot when she was little,” he explained. “Lots of buns. Let’s take a bath.”

She was surprised when he shed his own clothes and climbed in with her, cradling her to him in the deep tub, her back safely snugged against his solid chest. He massaged her neck and shoulders before teasingly dabbing her nose with some foam and kissing her neck.

“I love you, Parker,” she sighed, wrinkling her nose and swiping the foam off herself as she sank into his embrace.

“I love you, too,” Parker whispered in her ear, his stubble scratching against her cheek. They soaked in silence for a long time before he said, “I’m so sorry about your dad.”

“It still doesn’t seem real.”

“You’ve had a long, hard day.” He squeezed her tightly. “You need a good night’s sleep. You’re probably still in shock.”

“Probably.” She nuzzled his arm. “He was only fifty-five. It’s so unfair.”

He nodded, thinking of his own father, who would never even make it to fifty-five. “Way too young,” he agreed.

“We didn’t have enough time. There was so much that we didn’t get to have.”

“I know,” he crooned against her neck.

“I don’t want to lose you, Parker.” The anxious words came out of nowhere, and she suddenly felt silly for having said them. But he only held her closer and buried his face in her neck.

“You won’t,” he vowed. “I promise, Charmaine, you won’t.”

“If I ask you something, do you promise to tell me the truth?” Her blue eyes were solemn as she looked at him intently.

“Of course.”

“Christopher said you were plotting to kill him.” She was certain there was no plot, but she let the words fly anyway. They hung between the two of them for a moment.

“Do you believe that?” He turned her face to his, frowning. “Do you think I would ever plan the assassination of one of your family members? Even your brother?”

“I don’t,” she reassured him. “I know you wouldn’t.” But she was glad to hear him say it.

“I wouldn’t,” he repeated. “You need to know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. We’re going to make this happen peacefully, for our sakes and for everyone in both packs. I promise you, Baby, I’m going to end this thing. No more feuding, no more bloodshed, just a peaceful life for us and our son.”

“You’re sure it’s a boy?”

“I had a vision,” he whispered, his hands slipping under the water to cup her belly, which showed no signs yet of the life growing inside her. “You were holding a little boy with dark hair, and you both waved to me from the front door.”

She sighed. “That sounds beautiful.”

“It was beautiful.” His voice cracked just a bit at the end, just enough to make her want to turn around and cover him with kisses. But she was too exhausted to do anything but soak in the deliciously soothing bath with Parker’s solid love wrapped around her.

“Is it going to be hard to renegotiate the treaty?”

“Not at all. I’ve got the backing of the Council, and now it’s just a matter of working on Christopher.”

“What can I do to help?”

“You can take it easy and let me worry about this. I’ll figure it out.”

“I’m scared,” she confessed. But he squeezed her tightly and nuzzled her cheek.

“Nothing to be scared of, Baby. It’s all going to work out just fine. I promise.”