Alpha's Pregnant Mate

6 - The Man, the Wolf, and the Lamb

Lila had been staring at the door for half an hour now, but he hadn't come back. He just ran off in what she could only describe as anger. For about twenty-five of the thirty minutes he was gone, she was trying to figure out what she had said that offended him. Was it the abuse or her pregnancy? It wasn’t like she chose this, but life rarely worked according to plan, especially hers. If she didn't know better, it had a personal vendetta against her.

With a heavy sigh, she finally pulled her gaze away from the door and looked at the couch, the fireplace, and the food he was preparing. She was looking forward to a sheltered night, but that wasn’t going to happen. She grabbed her backpack and stuffed it with her dirty clothes, some food, and a woolen blanket from the couch, which she took out of convenience and because the smell somehow made her feel safe. She was keeping his clothes too.

Leaving here made her feel sad, but what else was she supposed to do? She knew this wouldn’t be a permanent solution. It was just for one night. At least she got a hot shower and a few hours of shelter from the rain, which had picked up again, making it much harder for her to leave. But she did, because she wasn’t a quitter. Not this time. She would fight through this until she came out on top of the situation she found herself in – alone, pregnant, and in a forest filled with dangerous animals.

She didn’t know much about wolves, only that they usually moved in packs and were rather shy creatures. They didn’t intentionally harm humans unless threatened. She wasn’t a threat, was she? And she was certain she didn’t even taste very good. With this thought in mind, she set foot into the soaked soil, listening to the squishy sound it made under her weight. “This is not going to be fun at all,” she sighed, but kept on walking.

As it grew darker and darker around her, the forest seemed to come alive. Rustling leaves everywhere, thick raindrops tackling down the last remaining leaves on the trees. It was getting harder for her to navigate through the woods. She was slow, but she wasn’t in any rush. By now, she was used to the sounds and the strange tingle that one would describe as unease. Fear that she was being followed, stalked by predators. But nothing ever happened to her, so her fear just became a constant companion, an unreliable source to what was going on around her. Was she in danger? She made it this far, didn’t she?

In a way, the sounds at night had become a little lullaby to her. A scary lullaby, but she was good at making herself believe that everything was going to be fine, that there was nothing and no one who could hurt her out here. At least that’s what she told herself as she got a little more lost than she was before. She didn’t have any sense of direction anymore. It was too cloudy to see the moon, so she would at least have a rough idea whether she was moving back towards Howlers Creek or further away. And that’s when she heard a new sound. Something unfamiliar. Something she hadn’t heard before. Was it a bear? No. It sounded like someone walking on two legs.

“Ethan?” she dared to ask. He was the only human she expected to meet out here.

“Try again, honey,” a deep male voice says. Did she finally manage to run into the real psycho living out here in the woods? Waiting for someone stupid enough to run into his trap?

She stopped, searching for the source of the voice, when a tall figure stepped out of the shadows of the trees. He was built like a mountain, almost like Ethan was, and she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something in these waters to make them this way.

“How did you make it past these borders?” the man asks, circling her like she was his prey, “we haven’t had a human out here in years. So what is so special about you, little lamb?”

“Who… who are you?”

“Who am I?” he chuckled, and in a flash, he was at her throat, his strong hands curling around her neck like she was nothing but a little twig in his fingers. “I am your worst nightmare, little plaything!” he whispered into her ear, when she heard the sound of a feral snarl.

“Oh, look who decided to join the party,” the man let go of her, and she fell into a pile of dirt and leaves, her hands tenderly touching her throat. She knew it was going to bruise. She was used to it, but this man had more power in his left pinky finger than Buck ever had in his entire body. Who the hell was he?

“You are trespassing, my friend!” he continues to talk to the darkness. Only there was something there. Something Lila could feel rather than see.

Ethan followed her scent the minute he knew she had left his cabin. The further she got away, the faster he ran. She was headed into dangerous territory and apparently, she had a knack for getting into trouble with werewolves. But Jake Mercer was nothing like him. He was cruel and sadistic.

Even though he was only the beta to his pack, he acted like he was their leader. To be fair, their pack’s alpha was getting old and rather senile. The further his life drifted into the next, the more dangerous the Southern pack would become. Especially to his pack, and now he was threatening his mate.

Ethan was sure he would have taken her back to his pack, just so they could torture her before they would finally kill her. A human life was worth nothing to them. One of the many reasons he was trying to keep humans out of their woods. With the exception of this one. The one lying on the dirt, her hair soaked, and her eyes searching for him in the dark.

He could hear her gasp when he finally stepped forward. Ears flat on his head, teeth bared to his rival. It would be stupid to start anything tonight, but he wasn’t letting him get away with Lila.

“You?” her voice was barely more than a whisper, yet it sounded loud and clear through the nightly air.

A soft tingle rippled through his body as he changed his form. From wolf to man. Her eyes widened as she watched. Clearly, this must be a bad dream. But was it?

“Let her go, Jake!” Ethan let off the warning.

“Finder’s keepers,” Jake chuckled and took a daring step closer to his mate, “you are on my territory, Ethan, you might want to keep that in mind.”

“Barely,” Ethan snapped, “get away from her or I will tear you apart!”

“She’s human! Since when are you keeping yourself a human? And for what purpose? I am intrigued, Ethan. I didn’t take you for the slaves kind of guy.”

“She is not a slave,” he hissed, “she is mine!”

A few seconds ticked by until Jake started laughing hysterically as he realized the reason Ethan came to his territory and risked a war for a human girl. Why that was funny to him was beyond Ethan. He didn’t see the humor in the situation.

His mate was human and pregnant. These circumstances were certainly not ideal, yet these were the cards he had been dealt, and he would do anything to protect her. It was in his nature. Even if he wanted to walk away from her, he couldn’t. There was no way out of this for him, whether he liked it or not. This was his destiny, and he wouldn’t ignore it, even though it gave him a major headache and one hell of an anxiety case.

Yes, he might lose his mind over her, but what else could he do? By the way she was staring at him right now - wide-eyed - he knew she didn’t feel much better about this. She was probably still contemplating whether she had lost her mind and started seeing things or if this was actually real - a wolf changing into a man.

“I don’t see a claim mark,” Jake started strolling casually closer to his mate, “and that means she is merely a human wandering into my land. If anything, she is mine now!”

They were talking about her like she was someone’s property, and she did not appreciate that. She had been in a crappy relationship where her boyfriend thought he could push her around like she meant nothing to him. No more.

And for a moment, Lila forgot that Ethan had just shifted into a wolf and back. She forgot that she was in a dangerous situation, but her self-esteem got the better of her, and with a little bit of struggle, she managed to pull herself off the floor and stand straight.

“I am no one’s!” she stated. “Especially not yours!” she added, glaring at the stranger closest to her.

Little did she know that the man, Jake, wouldn’t take any defiance from a woman. He jumped in her direction with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. But at the same time, Ethan jumped into action and tackled the man to the ground.

Grunts turned into snarls, and seconds later, she didn’t watch the shadows of two men fighting. She watched two giant wolves going at it, neither one of them showing any mercy.

She knew that this was her cue to take her things and run. Heck, she should just run without her stuff weighing her down, but she wasn’t thinking straight. She felt scared - scared for the brown wolf, for Ethan.