Chapter 2
SEAN DONALDSON didn’t like being away from Annie and Cody. He’d left them in a motel in Roanoke, Virginia and it was too far away for him to get back in a hurry if they needed him. At the same time, he wouldn’t risk his family until he knew they’d be safe. Given recent events in the bayous, safe was a relative term for any of the Wolves. Until Sean and the other members of the now-defunct Special Operations unit made up of wolf shifters wiped out the government-sponsored corporation hunting them, none of their mates and families could stop looking over their shoulders.
He stopped at the edge of town, right in front of the sign. Blaidd’s Gap, West Virginia. No population number. No welcome. Not that he was surprised. Blaidd’s Gap was a closed community. They didn’t like strangers. Sean hadn’t been here since he was twelve. He’d been born here and lived with various families whenever his mother took off. She always came back. But when he’d turned twelve, she’d left and dragged him along with her. The next three years of his life had been a nightmare of her constant drug and alcohol abuse, and the men who exploited her. Then he’d been tossed into the child welfare system, a whole different nightmare.
But Annie was pregnant and nearing full term. Granny Mae was the only midwife he knew. That’s why he’d come back to this little burgh in the middle of the Cumberland Mountains looking for help. There was only one problem. This was a pack town and he wasn’t a member. So he sat on the hood of his truck and waited. Someone would be along eventually to sniff out his intentions.
Only ten minutes had passed when a kid of about twenty showed up, riding a dirt bike. The boy turned off the noisy contraption but remained straddled over it. The young Wolf’s nostrils flared and he raised his chin, sniffing the wind. The kid’s eyes widened, and when he couldn’t get the bike restarted, he dropped it on the gravel shoulder and took off back toward town at a dead run.
That made Sean sigh and prepare for a mob of men to arrive. He hadn’t realized how things were when he was a kid—but then again, he hadn’t known what he was. Not until he shifted the first time. And what a nightmare that had been. He shook those thoughts away, crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He’d do whatever it took to make sure Annie and their baby were safe.
When only three men showed up, sauntering up the highway like they were on a Sunday stroll, Sean hid his surprise. He also put all his senses on alert. As far as he could tell, these three were the only locals around.
“What do you want?” the tallest of the three demanded.
“No trouble, first off. Second, I’m here to talk to Granny Mae. That’s all.”
“What’chu want with Granny Mae?” the youngest asked.
“My ma—wife is pregnant. Almost due. I’m only looking for a midwife.”
“How do you know Granny Mae?”
“She brought me into the world.”
The oldest of the three scratched his head. “You look a mite familiar, boy. Who are you?”
“Sean Donaldson, sir. My mother was Lucy Donaldson.”
“I remember Lucy. How is she?”
“Dead.” Sean didn’t mean for his voice to sound so cold, but things were what they were. “Murdered by her drug dealing pimp about fifteen years ago.”
“Right sorry to hear that. Lucy was a troubled woman.”
“She was, sir.”
“So you’re her boy.” The oldest man didn’t ask a question so Sean didn’t answer. “You come on up to the diner. Have some food. Granny Mae will be along in a bit.”
“Yessir. Thank you.”
Sean waited until the men disappeared back up the road before he slid off the hood, climbed into his truck and slowly drove into town. The place wasn’t big. A main street intersecting the highway with some businesses and the residential district hiding behind tree-lined lanes nearby. He parked in front of the Full Moon Diner.
A bell above the door tinkled as he opened it and walked in. Four men at the counter watched him, eyes narrowed, their distrust smelling like burnt toast. Sean glanced around. Three families occupied booths, another family clustered around a Formica table. He picked out the table farthest from them and noticed the other men relaxed slightly. Sean did not want trouble, even though he could probably take on all of them. He was trained. They weren’t.
A waitress appeared, pad in hand. “What’cha havin’?”
“Full-pound burger, rare, everything on it, double fries, and a big iced tea. Unsweet.”
“Comin’ right up.”
His food arrived with the tiny figure whose wrinkled face showed a lifetime of wisdom.
“Boy.”
Sean immediately stood and held the chair for the small woman. “Granny Mae.”
“’Bout time you came back to these parts.”
“Yes’m.”
“You want somethin’ to eat, Granny Mae?”
Granny smiled at the waitress. “Just hot tea, sugar bug. And maybe a piece of that lemon meringue pie.”
“Sure thing.”
Sean ate while Granny studied him. When he finished and she’d pushed away her empty pie plate, she tilted her head, reminding him of a curious bird.
“So why did you come back, boy?”
“My mate’s pregnant.”
“When’s she due?”
“A month, not quite two.”
“What about yore pack?” When Sean didn’t meet her gaze, she nodded. “Don’t really got one. Well, you were smart enough to come back here. I can help. But you gotta answer me some questions, boy.”
He nodded, relieved he would have Granny’s knowledge and ability when the time came.
“You ain’t been a lone Wolf all this time. Where’s yore pack?”
He shrugged, his mouth turned down at the corners. “It’s a long story, Granny. We’re sort of…scattered right now. And we aren’t exactly a pack. Not in the sense you mean. Even if we were, we don’t have a midwife.”
“Why ain’t you an Alpha, son? You got the power for it.”
“I have an Alpha.”
“One stronger’n you? Don’t hardly believe it, boy. Power just oozes from yore pores without you even tryin’.”
“Trust me when I say this, Granny Mae. We’re all alphas in my pack, but there is only one Alpha .”
The old woman watched him, and again Sean was reminded of a bird, only a crow this time. He’d give anything to know what was going on in Granny Mae’s mind. Originally, the 69th hadn’t been a pack. They were a military unit. And in order to get into the 69th, a Wolf needed the instincts, strength, and power of an alpha. A beta or omega Wolf wouldn’t be able to cut the physical and mental demands of the unit. At the same time, no rogues need apply either. Lone Wolves were bad news. The 69th was a team. They thought and fought as one when on a mission.
As Mac liked to say, it was complicated. Every man on the team could have gone out and taken over a pack—or founded their own. The rigors of military life kept them in line, so long as they were all on leave during the Blood Moon when the natural inclination to challenge for power took over. He almost laughed out loud at that. There wasn’t a Wolf he knew who would willingly take on Command Sergeant Major Ian McIntire in a dominance fight.
“Sumthin’ I said amusin’ you, boy?”
Sean pulled his thoughts back to the present. “No, ma’am. Just thinkin’ about how things work out even when we don’t suspect they will.”
Yeah, they hadn’t been a true pack back when they were on active duty in the Army, but once Mac mated Major Hannah Jackson and their son Liam was born, the rest of them fell like dominoes. Michael Lightfoot mated Liz Graham and they had Micah. Marine Captain Nate Connor was thrust in their midst and he mated Jacey Randolph. Sean found and married Annie, bringing Cody into the family pack. Because that’s what they’d grown into since leaving Army life. A Wolf pack full of mates and children and others dependent upon them for safety. So Mac and Hannah were their Alpha pair. Any one of the rest of them could step up and take over if anything ever happened to their Alphas.
But nothing would. So long as they took down Black Root and the bastards in the government covering the corporation’s ass. Yeah, Sean was ready to find a safe place for Annie and Cody until the baby was born, and for a little bit after until he and the Wolves of the 69th could rain fire and brimstone down on anyone who tried to harm their pack.
Sean startled when Granny Mae reached across the table and patted his arm. “You bring yore little gal to town, boy. The Prescott place is fer rent. You can get it real cheap. Furnished and everything. It be a good place t’rest yore bones until this little baby decides to make its way into the world.”
“Her. We’re having a daughter.”
Granny Mae smiled and patted his arm. “Of course you are.”