Chapter Seventeen
She watched him eat, still wondering when Wilder would return. Although he hadn’t done anything to hurt her, she didn’t trust him. How could someone go from wanting the entire human race to die, to wanting to offer help only months later?
“Awful experience?” he suddenly answered. “Yeah, I’d say I had an awful fucking experience. Not much different than your mate’s. Humans slaughtered my family and burned our forest to ash. Not sure how I survived.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“It opened my eyes, made me stronger.” He finished the soup and began pacing the room, touching a lot of things with interest. “I focused on shifters and realized the damage humankind had on our race, on our world.”
“I can’t argue with you. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a human myself.”
He turned and looked at her, his head tilted in curiosity.
“I was going to kill you. And the little half-breed growing inside you.”
She immediately hugged her stomach. There was nothing she’d be able to do to protect herself and her unborn baby from Alder. It didn’t stop her motherly instincts from firing off. She took a couple steps backward.
“Relax, I said was. Past tense.”
“So, I’m supposed to believe you had an epiphany and suddenly love humans?”
“Hell, no. I still hate them. Things just took a detour of sorts and I started researching,” he said.
“Researching what, exactly?”
“Wilder put the idea in my head. He was worried about your mixed mating. Wanted some kind of reassurance that the baby inside you wouldn’t hurt you.”
That’s why he was acting so strangely the past few months. He didn’t hate the baby, he was just worried about her safety. She wished Wilder was home so she could hold him and tell him how much she loved him.
“And?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I found evidence of a couple other such unions in other forests. Seems it is possible for our species to procreate,” he said.
“But not guaranteed safe. The fertility rates are low, and the risk to the mother is great in the last trimester. If the baby shifts before it’s born, it could inadvertently kill the mother. ”
She began to panic. Poppy wanted to raise her child and start a family, not die in childbirth.
“Well, how do I stop that from happening?”
“I’ve found some ways,” he said.
She wasn’t sure why he was suddenly on their team, but she was suspicious. Why did he even want any of this information if he hated humans?
“Are you going to tell me?”
“First I need some information from you.” He sat down on the arm of the sofa.
“From me?”
“A few weeks ago, my bear was caught in a trap. I couldn’t get out, and trust me, I tried. After days I was weak from dehydration. I thought it was the end of me, which seemed fitting to be taken out by a human trap after everything they’d already done to me. Then she came by.”
“Who?” Poppy asked.
“A hiker, I guess. I’m not sure. She wasn’t afraid of a grizzly bear, only concerned with getting the bear trap off my foot.
Any other human would be terrified or want to turn me into a carpet.
Not her. She tended the wounds and brought me berries and water from the creek.
Once the trap was off, I was able to heal quickly.
I got my strength back, but instead of ripping her to bloody shreds, I walked away. ”
“Great story.” She tried not to roll her eyes. This guy was no Prince Charming by a long shot.
“Don’t you get it? I didn’t want to hurt her,” he said.
“Alder, what’s your point? I’m not following.”
He ran a hand through his hair, nearly growling with frustration. “I’m just saying I could see the temptation Wilder faced. It made me curious about the mixed mating thing, so I did some research.”
“Okay, I get it. You judged Wilder and every other shifter with eyes for a human, but once you fell for one, the rules changed. Very noble of you.”
“I haven’t fallen for a fucking human, I could just see there might be a little good in some of them. It’s not something I ever considered before.”
All Poppy wanted was the information he supposedly possessed about keeping her child from ripping her apart before being born. She couldn’t care less about his hard-on for a human hiker.
“Okay, so can you tell me what you found out?”
“First, you tell me what human females want in a male.”
“I thought you didn’t like her,” she said.
He smashed a fist on the coffee table. “It’s for research!”
“Okay, whatever. Human females like flowers and romance. They also like good manners and self-control.”
He grunted at the last comment, appearing like he was getting ready to leave.
“And what about my pregnancy?”
“It’s complicated. There are a lot of forest plants involved. You wouldn’t understand. I’ll have to talk with Wilder.”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve studied almost every plant in the forest.” Her random knowledge of herbs and plants was really starting to pay off, living off the grid. Now, it may even save her life.
“Well, this recipe must be made two weeks before the baby is ready. You take it every evening. It will sedate it enough that it will not be able to shift. But it won’t harm it.”
Her heart leapt with joy knowing there may be a way to ensure a positive outcome. Should she trust him, though? Maybe this was all an elaborate plan to kill her half-breed baby. To keep his race pure.
****
Wilder had all the supplies in the back of the truck. He’d even stopped by a local artisan on the highway and bought a wooden baby cradle. Everything was a mix of emotions within him, excitement and fear, love and hate, hope and despair.
He began the long drive home in the dark. Poppy was probably getting worried. Maybe he’d talk to her, prepare her. Maybe not. It was a huge burden holding onto this kind of information and not being able to share it.
As soon as he’d parked his old truck under the arch of trees he kept it hidden under, he knew something was off.
Then he scented Alder, and his hackles went up.
Had he kept his promise to destroy his mate?
His child? He’d warned that bear to stay away from his home and land, so this time he’d make him live to regret it. Was he too late?
Wilder rushed toward the house, wrenching the door open. He found Poppy sitting at the small kitchen island and Alder standing across from her. They were looking at something on the table.
“What are you doing here?” Wilder said. “I warned you to stay away.”
“Wilder...” Poppy turned around to see him charging inside the house. He planned to fuck up that grizzly once and for all.
“It’s not what you think.”
Poppy reached out and grabbed his arm. “He can help us, Wilder. He can help our baby.”
This gave him pause.
“Help us?”
Now he noticed what was on the table. Papers with numbered directions, drawings of plants, and a few leaves and herbs from the forest.
“You remember what I told you about the baby shifting before birth?” Alder asked.
Wilder only nodded once.
“I found a way to counter the danger. A recipe with ingredients easily found in your own forest.”
“Why are you deciding to tell me this now? Why should I trust you?”
“Because he’s in love with a human, too,” Poppy said.
“She’s lying,” Alder snapped. “I was researching, nothing more.”
He didn’t like his mate being so close to the volatile bear shifter.
Wilder helped her off the stool and led her to the sofa.
Once she was sitting comfortably, he put his hand on her stomach, finally allowing himself to communicate with his child.
He’d been avoiding the connection all this time because of his fear for Poppy’s safety.
He instantly felt the child, its love, innocence, and strength. It was a boy. He knew right away. Wilder would have a son to teach and pass down all his knowledge.
Then he remembered Alder was in his home, and he shouldn’t trust anything he said.
A man didn’t go from devoting his entire life to shifter purity to researching and helping mixed couples.
It didn’t make sense, and could be a trick to kill their child.
He remembered when Alder said he’d be back if he bred his human. And now he was in his living room.
“And this concoction, how did you discover it?”
“I found other shifters who’d taken human mates. This recipe will sedate the child enough to keep it from shifting in the womb. I thought this was what you wanted. Last time we met, it’s all you spoke of.”
This meant Poppy would be safe. Their child wouldn’t be able to kill her before or during the birth. That burden and worry had taken over his life for months, and if this was true it would be a huge weight off his shoulders.
“How can I trust you?”
“If I wanted to kill her, I’d already have done so. You weren’t here to protect her, after all,” Alder said.
Wilder growled, the urge to shift overwhelming him.
“It could be poison.”
“It’s not,” Poppy said. “He told me all the plants I’d need.”
“And you just gave it to us out of the kindness of your heart? There must be a catch. What do you want?” Wilder asked.
“No catch.”
“He just had some questions about getting a human female to like him,” Poppy said. “That’s it.”
Alder ran a hand down his face.
“Did you already strike out with every bear in the forest?” Wilder asked.
“I’m leaving now. You have what you wanted.”
He watched as the other bear head to his front door. Maybe they wouldn’t have to be enemies forever.
Once alone, he locked the door and got to his knees in front of Poppy.
“I’m sorry I took so long,” he said. “I was feeling sorry for myself. Worried I could lose you.”
“You should have said something. We’re supposed to be a team.” She ran her fingers through his hair, and he rested his head on her lap. He loved his woman more than life itself.
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Well, it did sound scary, but now we have something to help. I have all the directions and list of plants. We can use them fresh or dried, so we can start collecting them tomorrow.”
“Definitely,” he said. “I won’t risk not being able to find them in time.”
He exhaled, feeling such a sense of relief.
“I thought you regretted the pregnancy,” she said.
Wilder shook his head. “I just didn’t want to lose you. I’m excited for the baby. I never thought I’d be a father.”
“You’ll be a great dad.”
Poppy grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. He leaned in, the bond between them strong. They kissed, softly at first, gentle. He loved her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
Her tongue slid across his, the kiss deepening.
It had been a while since they’d had sex because he was preoccupied with worry and afraid to hurt her.
But if his woman could carry a bear, surly she could handle his cock.
Her tits were huge, her curves lush, and the fact he could sense her heat made it a temptation he couldn’t resist.