of them had special needs, and it was difficult to find a decent substitute who could give them the same loving attention as his wife.
His wife. So few of the Chanku actually went through with a legal marriage. The mating bond, after all, was for life. But the minute Luc had slipped a ring on Tia’s finger—a ring she rarely wore because she knew she’d lose it when she shifted—he’d felt a connection even deeper than their mating bond. A connection that somehow validated all the terrible things that had gone on before.
To think that this beautiful woman, one of the only pure-blood shapeshifters he knew of, had a heart big enough to forgive him. After all, he’d been the one who fired the bullet that killed her mother. It might have been an honest mistake, an act carried out in the line of duty as a dedicated San Francisco cop, but it was still a terrible tragedy. One he would never truly be free of.
Camille, Tia’s mother, had prophesized the birth of two little girls. Maybe, just maybe, those little girls would somehow take away the guilt that, despite Camille’s forgiveness from beyond the grave, was still an ever-present shadow in Luc’s heart. Two little girls to atone for the loss of one spectacular woman—the woman who had given birth to his amazing wife.
Tia’s scent inflamed him. The musky odor of her heat, and the knowledge this would be so much more than a mating simply for pleasure. His body was hard and ready, his arousal a living, breathing force driving him, giving speed to his legs and power to the chase.
He caught her, finally, in a small glen on the far side of the mountain. The lights of San Francisco cast a golden luster across the dry grass and gave the beautiful bitch awaiting him an unearthly radiance. Her eyes glowed with green fire in the reflected light and her sharp canines shimmered like ivory.
She growled softly when he mounted her, but she didn’t pull away. He felt himself grow hard and strong, knew from the change in her scent and the sudden catch in her breath that she’d done it—Tia had released an egg for fertilization.
Before she had a chance to change her mind, Luc thrust forward with a powerful lunge of his hips. His long cock slipped through her softened vulva and he drove deep and hard, finding the mouth of her womb on his first thrust.
He felt the swollen knot in his wolven cock expand. Her vaginal muscles clamped down hard, holding him inside as his body responded to her scent.
The beast in him took charge.
Her mind was as suffused with lust as his, her thoughts no longer coherent with human logic but instead a swirl of sense and sound, of bestial desire and uncontrollable passion. Her forelegs collapsed beneath his weight and his powerful thrusts. She went down, but Luc was still locked deep inside and he felt the steady pulse in his balls, the hot jets of his seed.
Seed that would find the egg she’d released. A single spermatozoa that would bind with that one tiny cell and create a child. Their child. A combination, he prayed the Goddess, of all the best Luc had to offer, of every perfect quality that made up his wife.
Panting, he rested his head on her shoulder and waited for the knot to subside. Usually, when they mated as wolves, the two of them would shift and hold each other in their human form, but tonight he wanted this sense of continuity, of who and what they truly were.
Tonight, they were wolves, mating beneath the stars of a late summer sky, both of them fully aware and praying there would be a child in the spring.
Finally his flaccid cock slipped free of Tia’s warm and loving body. Luc shifted. So did Tia. He wrapped his arms around the pliant body of the woman beside him and rolled to his back, taking her with him.
She gazed down at him with tears in her eyes and an inexplicable look of sadness on her face.
“Tia?” He brushed the thick blond curls back from her amber eyes. Touched the single tear rolling over her caramel skin. Her mind was locked to him, her barriers high and strong.
She tried to smile and her face crumpled. Sobbing, she pressed her face against his chest. “Oh, Luc. I’m not sure, but…what have I done, Luc? I’m so sorry.”
Almost nine months later…
Shannon Murphy set the telephone aside and grinned at her packmate, Manda Smith. “Interested in a trip to Montana?”
Manda raised her head from the button she was sewing on one of her mate’s shirts. “Why? Is there a problem? Is Adam okay? Does Anton need us?”
“Nope.” Shaking her head, Shannon couldn’t have wiped the grin off her face if she’d tried. “For once, it’s all good. Tia’s decided to have the baby at Anton’s new clinic. Now that we have our own doctor, she figures she’d be safer there than in a regular hospital.”
“Wonderful! I want to be there. Do you think we can talk the guys into going?” Manda tied off the button and put her sewing kit away.
“If we can’t, you and I are going without them.” Shannon laughed and pointed her finger at Manda’s nose. “I’m not about to go without you, so don’t even think of staying home. Tia was my very best friend from the time I was a little girl. She’s the reason I have Jake. There’s no way I’m going to miss something this important.”
“Miss what?” Baylor Quinn wandered into the room, leaned over and planted a kiss on the back of Manda’s neck. “Where are we going?”
“I imagine we’re going to Montana.” Jacob Trent stepped out of the bedroom with his laptop under his arm. “I just heard from Luc. They’re on their way to Montana. Tinker and Lisa are sharing the driving. Mik, AJ, and Tala are already up there and Tia’s convinced the baby will be here by the weekend.”
Shannon stood up and reached for Manda’s hand. “That doesn’t give us much time.” She slanted a big grin at Jake. “Especially if we’re going to take the bikes.”
“Hot damn!” Jake high-fived Baylor. “Well, bro…it definitely looks like we’re going to Montana.”
Ulrich Mason set the portable phone on the table and grinned at his mate. Millie was going to have a fit, but there was no way he’d miss this particular gathering.
He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and took a deep breath. “Millie, m’love, I think it’s time we give the youngsters a chance to show us what they’ve learned.”
Millie glanced up from her painting and blinked. He loved the way she got so totally engrossed in her art that the world disappeared. “What?” She frowned. “What have they learned?”
Ulrich laughed. “Hopefully how to run the sanctuary in your absence. We’re headed to Montana.”
Frowning once more, Millie dipped her brushes in a jar of clean water and wiped them off with a damp rag. She stared at the brushes in her hand instead of Ric. “You know how much I hate to leave…”
“It’s time.” Ulrich stood up and walked across the deck. He glanced at Millie’s easel, at the beautiful watercolor of a dark wolf poised at the forest’s edge. She’d caught Ric perfectly, right down to his grizzled muzzle and the arrogant turn of his broad wolven head. He thought he made a fine looking wolf, especially as seen through Millie’s eyes. “That one’s going to fetch a pretty penny in the gift shop.”
Millie’s smile lit up her face. “Do you think?” She turned away
