Chapter 4
Chapter four
Mai
“Absolutely not.” Ryan’s tone left no room for discussion as he paced the length of our bedroom. “You’re staying in bed.”
The scent of freshly baked bread and wild violet flowers drifted through the Alpha House, giving it a cozy, early spring feeling. I shifted against my pillows, watching him stalk back and forth. It felt like the twins were playing keep-uppy with my bladder; I placed a hand on my belly.
“Shh,” I murmured. A flutter, then they quieted.
“Ryan, I’m still the Alpha of this Pack.”
“You’re on bed rest.”
“I’m pregnant, not dying.” I struggled to sit up straighter, hating how even that simple movement left me breathless. “Thomas came by and checked me out. He said everything is fine. These people came to us for sanctuary. They need to meet both Alphas.”
He stopped pacing and fixed me with that intense blue stare that usually made my insides melt. Today, it just pissed me off.
“They can meet you when Thomas says you’re well enough to—”
“If you finish that sentence with ‘leave this bed,’ I swear to the Moon Goddess I will throw something at you.”
The muscle in Ryan’s jaw ticked—his tell when he was fighting for control.
His frustration was warring with his need to protect me and the pups; the two impulses conflicting so fiercely I had to close my eyes for a moment to sort out which emotions were mine and which were his.
Since becoming pregnant, our bond had kicked up into high gear.
I wasn’t sure if it was the babies or the hormones, but whatever it was, I couldn’t decide if I loved it or hated not being able to tell sometimes which were my feelings and which were Ryan’s.
“Mai, these refugees could be anyone. We don’t know them. Waylen’s still digging for confirmation on their story.”
“All the more reason for me to meet them. I’m good at reading people, Ryan. You know that.”
“And if they’re a threat?”
“Then we’ll be better prepared knowing that sooner rather than later.
” I reached out as he passed the bed for the thousandth time and pulled him down to face me.
My hand touched his face, feeling his stubble beneath my fingertips.
“I need to do this. Not just as Alpha, but for me. I’ve been staring at these four walls for weeks. ”
Sofia cleared her throat from where she was folding new baby clothes by the window. She and Wally had been taking a break from painting the nursery Meadow Mist—which I’d chosen solely to stop them bickering—when Ryan came back to check on me.
Mate. My wolf sighed. She was only happy and truly relaxed when Ryan was nearby.
It had been a hard few months for us. Pregnant werewolves lost the ability to Shift after six months.
Mine vanished with a snap. My wolf and I missed the whisper of leaves under our paws, the breeze off the river slicking our fur as we ran, our Pack running with us, the Pack bonds thrumming bright with joy.
All of it had been replaced by four walls and a body that wouldn’t turn.
“I hate to say it, but I’m with Mai on this one. She needs a change of scenery before she starts naming the cracks on the ceiling.”
“Too late.” I pointed to a small crack by the window. “That one’s Harold. He’s judgy. Doris is over the door, and there’s Kevin, who only shows up when the light hits wrong.”
Sofia’s mouth twitched. “Please tell me you’re not forming a committee.”
“Absolutely. Harold’s chairing. He thinks Ryan is wrong and I should definitely meet the refugees.”
Wally bounced over to join the conversation. “I could have the living room transformed in forty minutes. Add some flowers, rearrange the furniture to create a proper power dynamic—you know, make it clear who’s in charge without being too obvious about it.”
Ryan watched my face as Wally spoke, and I saw the exact moment he registered what I wasn’t saying—that I felt trapped, diminished, reduced to nothing but an incubator. His jaw worked, the internal battle between protection and partnership playing out across his features.
“Thirty minutes,” he said finally, resignation and understanding battling in his voice.
“Downstairs only. I’m carrying you, and at the first sign of fatigue, you’re back in bed.
Derek, Carlito, Jase, and our two best enforcers, Evelyn and Ava, will be there.
You don’t go near the Thornwicks. They don’t touch you, and there are always at least two of us between you and them at all times. ”
“Deal.” I fought to keep the triumph from my voice.
Ryan straightened and pulled out his phone. “I’ll tell Derek to bring them by. And Thomas is on standby upstairs. Any wobble and we’re done.”
“While you do that,” Sofia said, moving to my closet, “I’m finding something for Mai to wear that says ‘I’m an Alpha who could destroy you’ rather than ‘I’ve been imprisoned in my bedroom for weeks.’”
“Nothing resembling a tent,” I warned her.
“Noted.” Sofia began rifling through my limited maternity options. “Though your choices are… challenging.”
Wally bounced over to join Sofia at the closet. “The navy dress with the empire waist. We’ll add my silver scarf as a wrap, and—”
I attempted to swing my legs over the side of the bed and immediately regretted it when a wave of dizziness hit me.
Ryan steadied me, his warm hands on my back. “Easy.”
“I’m fine.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Sure you are.”
“Just give me a minute.” I took a couple of deep breaths until the dizziness passed. “See? Fine.”
“Mai—”
“I can manage thirty minutes.”
I rested my hands on my swollen belly. “It’s okay. We’re just going to meet some potential new Pack members. Nothing dangerous.”
So why did I feel a gnawing unease in the pit of my stomach?
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as Thomas checked my blood pressure for the third time in fifteen minutes.
“What’s ridiculous is you insisting on playing Alpha when you should be resting,” Thomas replied, frowning at the numbers on his device.
We were in the living room, which Wally had transformed into something both elegant and intimidating.
Draped fabrics softened the hard lines, flowers warmed the corners—and on the low table, Sylvie had gone above and beyond.
I don’t know how she managed to rustle up meals on such short notice, but in front of me was a warming pot of bone broth she keeps ready for emergencies, lemon–thyme chicken drumettes and seared lamb bites with mint, bowls of dill new-potato salad, charred asparagus with peas and lemon, and a radish–cucumber ribbon slaw, along with baskets of warm rolls with herb butter, and platters of strawberries, apple slices, and sharp cheddar.
She’d tucked a plate aside just for me—salted new potatoes, a handful of lamb bites, cucumber ribbons, and a mug of ginger-lemon tea with honey.
If our guests hadn’t eaten properly for days, they wouldn’t leave hungry.
The room felt enormous after weeks of bedroom walls.
Under the tantalizing scents of the food, I breathed in the smells of the whole house—coffee from the kitchen, lavender cleaning supplies, the faint pine and leather smell that meant Pack members had been through recently.
My wolf stirred, more alert than she’d been in weeks.
This was what I’d been missing. This was home, not just that bedroom.
I was ensconced in what used to be a perfectly normal armchair but now, with the addition of about six cushions, looked like a throne.
Sofia had spent twenty minutes on my hair, somehow taming it into something elegant, and had mercifully found me a dress that was both comfortable and made me look like I was in charge, not just enormously pregnant.
Ryan hadn’t moved from my side since carrying me downstairs.
The process had attracted an entire entourage: Thomas with his medical monitoring, Wally armed with emergency smelling salts, and Carlito materializing like a shadow in the background, radiating the coiled tension of someone prepared for anything.
The twins were restless; one of them seemed to be practicing soccer kicks against my ribs while the other did what I was sure were gymnastics routines. My back ached from the weight of them, and I had to shift carefully to find a position that didn’t leave me breathless.
“Blood pressure’s doing okay, but I’d like to keep an eye on it,” Thomas announced, “due to all this… activity.” He said the last word like it was a disease.
“I’m not exactly running a marathon, Thomas.”
“Your body is already running a marathon,” he countered, packing away his equipment. “Growing two entire people is no small task.”
The porch sensor-light snapped on as Derek pulled up—a hard white circle on wet stone. Night had arrived.
The front door opened, and Derek strode in. “They’re a minute behind.”
My wolf went still. Not fear but focused like the breath before a bite.
Sofia, who had been arranging the last of Wally’s flowers, abandoned the vase and launched herself into Derek’s arms. He grinned as he caught her, then kissed the ever-loving daylights out of her.
I couldn’t help but smile. I’d never seen either of them as happy as they’d been since they sorted out their issues and sealed their mate bond.
Ryan winked at me, then straightened and said, “They’re here.”
My heart rate kicked up a notch, but for the first time in weeks, it was anticipation rather than anxiety. Finally, something other than these four walls. I grinned. “Showtime.”