Chapter 21 Roland
ROLAND
I rested my hands on my growing belly. It had been several months since I discovered I was pregnant, and not much longer before that when we had become members of the pack. I was living a life that I thought only existed in fairy tales.
With the healer’s permission, I was still going to work. It had been a long while since anyone scented a horse or any other unusual shifters nearby, but we never let our guard down, and I was still being driven to and from work.
I wasn’t huge by any means, but I was noticeably pregnant, and that changed my work quite a bit.
My boss no longer wanted me stocking the shelves and checking in deliveries.
At first it really bothered me because I knew I could do that work easily, and if the time came I needed to stop, I’d tell him.
He refused, saying it was non-negotiable, and then the old man gave me a hug.
Just like my pack, he was being protective, and once I saw that, I appreciated my new assignments for what they were—an expression of love and acceptance.
I spent the morning being trained more on ordering and was going to spend the afternoon at the checkout counter, which now had a stool for me to sit at thanks to one of my co-workers. It was sweet the way they all had started looking out for me.
This treatment wasn’t exclusive to the store, either.
After becoming a regular at Chester’s, we became friendly.
I knew about grandbabies and vacation plans, and they knew about my first baby kicks and which pie my mate loved best. And on top of that, recently my pie slices were getting bigger.
There was no complaining about that, especially when they made sugar pie, my current favorite.
That sting of rejection I felt that first day when I looked for a job was long gone, and in its place was a feeling of belonging.
The sun was shining and my unicorn longed to be outside, so over my lunch break, I decided to take a walk along the river creek, which ran not too far from the store.
I’d found that if I squatted or slept too long, I’d get calf cramps, which were made of evil.
Today was one of those days thanks to trying to figure out how many canned veggies I needed to put on the order list. Lesson learned.
One way to counteract that was shorter periods of sleeping. The other was taking walking walks. It wasn’t fun breaking up my sleep, but I told myself it was getting me ready for when the baby came because no sleep would be happening then. The walks? Those I loved.
My unicorn had been acting kind of weird, and I hoped this fresh air would do him well. I was wrong. One minute, I was strolling along the river, minding my own business and enjoying nice weather, and the next minute, I was face to face with three strangers.
I wasn’t scared of random people when I was in town.
People came and went all the time, and this was a path many traveled.
But with them, fear hit me hard, my unicorn fully agreeing.
It wasn’t anything they had done yet. Looking at them, they could easily be workmen on a break.
But one long scenting and the air told a different story.
Their scents were off. The scents weren’t human. They weren’t shifter. That wasn’t natural and meant they were using some kind of blocker. Scent blockers were never used for good.
“We’ve been waiting for you to be alone,” the one in a brown coat sneered.
They’d been watching me. Fuck. Now there was no doubt these were poachers or someone sent by my Alpha father, and honestly, I didn’t know which was worse.
“Don’t think being part of this pack protects you,” one in blue said. “If anything, it puts a target on them as well. That rogue mate of yours…”
I didn’t argue with him that he was no longer rogue, that he was pack. It wouldn’t get me anywhere. I needed to listen and be smart. If I took too long my boss would come looking for me. At least that was what I told myself.
“Who are you?” I demanded. At this point I was buying time.
“You don’t need to know that,” the third one snapped.
I tried to figure out the best plan. Being pregnant would slow me down. While my phone was in my pocket, I couldn’t exactly dial it and ask for help without these assholes seeing me.
And did I want my pack to come? Wouldn’t that be putting them in danger?
But also, we needed them, my young and I.
If it was just me, I’d be fighting them, potentially getting stabby with my horn.
But I had my baby to protect, and shifting was risky at this point in pregnancy, and fighting always resulted in blood.
“You need to come with us,” the one in the brown coat, who I was suspecting was the leader, said.
“I can’t. They’ll notice I’m gone at work and will call the cops.” I really wished I could determine if they were human or not. Shifters didn’t give a crap about police, but humans might.
“Well, if you don’t care if the cops come or not, I don’t care if your pack does. We’ll make sure none of them take their next breath.” He patted his hip, and I noticed a bulge for the first time.
He had a gun.
They weren’t fucking around.
“I can’t go now,” I said. “I have to go with you later.” Or never. “If I leave now, they’ll notice, and I believe you can take on the cops or my pack, but both at the same time?” I was grasping at anything that might get me out of here.
“You’re not fat, are you?” the third guy said, his eyes glued to my belly. “Hey, look! That’s not one too many donuts. There’s a baby in there.”
I wasn’t sure how they hadn’t seen it before, but them noticing fell into the worst-case scenario category.
“A baby unicorn.” The leader clapped. “Two for one.” He looked far too happy with himself. “I wonder how much a baby unicorn goes for.”
“Well, you’re not very smart, are you?” I retorted. “I’m here because of recessive genes. This is a cub. It’s worthless to you.”
To me, our baby was the most precious gift, but to a poacher?
I was crossing my fingers they were nothing special.
If they looked into my lie, they’d see that yes, I was here because of recessive genes.
As long as they didn’t get to the healer, who’d said there was a pretty good chance our little one would be born a unicorn, too, they had no way of knowing that.
“Don’t lie to us,” the leader snarled.
“No, man, I don’t think he’s lying,” the second man said. “They did say something about recessive genes, and that’s why he was so valuable.”
They started arguing among themselves, and all I could think was that I had to protect this baby, I had to protect myself, I had to protect my co-workers, and I had to protect my pack… at all costs.
“I will come with you,” I said, interrupting them. “But later, under the condition that you leave the pack alone.”
I didn’t think they were going to allow that. But in the far-off distance, I heard somebody calling my name, and that was apparently the push they needed.
“Fine,” the leader said. “But you will come with us, or they will all die. Understood?”
“How will I know it’s time?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll know.”
And with that, they left me standing there by the river.
My body collapsed onto the ground, my mind still not fully believing that I’d made it out alive.
I finally pulled myself together and stood up.
I couldn’t let work see I was upset. Someone would call Bryden, and telling my mate what was happening wasn’t in my plans.
Not yet, anyway. I needed to handle this myself because one wrong move and the entire pack could be decimated.
“Hey, sweetie,” I whispered to my belly. “I’m going to protect you. I promise. I’ll protect you if it’s the last thing I do.”
And it very well might be.