Page 36 of The Billionaire Alpha's Surprise Baby

My mate.

My pup.

Mine.

They’re both safe — at least for now. I’m still practically vibrating with that manic sense of protectiveness, but I no longer want to rip the deputy’s head off.

For the first time in my life, I have this sense that everything’s going to be all right.

Chapter Thirteen

Ava

Forty minutes later, I’m sitting in a hospital bed wearing one of those horrible scratchy gowns. Different colored cords snake across the blankets, keeping me and the baby hooked to the monitors.

I can’t take my eyes off the screen that shows the baby’s heart rate. The nurse told me they’d want to do an ultrasound to make sure she’s all right, and every minute we’ve had to wait has felt like an eternity.

“She’s fine,” Garrett reassures me softly, leaning in and taking my hand. “You don’t have to keep staring at that monitor. I can hear the baby’s heartbeat from here.”

“Really?” I ask.

Garrett nods, a small smile playing on his lips. “I like it. It’s almost as though she’s right here with us.”

“It could still be a boy,” I tease, mostly to take the edge off my nerves.

“Mmm, maybe.” Garrett’s midnight-blue eyes twinkle playfully, and I’m stunned by how relaxed he seems after everything that’s happened.

A man tried to kill me tonight and very nearly succeeded. Garrett pulled me out of the wreckage and then changed into a giant wolf. I watched him rip another shifter’s throat out, and now he’s sitting here acting as though we’re a normal couple who just came in for a routine doctor’s appointment.

If I hadn’t seen him change with my own eyes, I never would have believed it possible. Part of me still wonders if I sustained a concussion in the wreck and imagined the whole thing.

“It was Hyacinthe, wasn’t it?” I ask quietly, staring down at our interlocked fingers. “She asked Robert to drive the car off that bridge.”

Garrett looks away, and I know I guessed correctly.

“Yes,” he rumbles, swallowing thickly. “But I promise you, Ava . . . I will deal with my sister.”

I grimace and tilt my head to the side. Is he going to deal with her the way he dealt with Robert? “And your other siblings?” I ask.

“I’ll deal with them, too,” he snaps.

“You can’t murder your whole family,” I whisper, giving his hand a squeeze.

When Garrett finally meets my gaze, his carefree expression has disappeared. His face is marred by deep lines of fury, and his eyes are silver again. “For you — for her — I would burn the whole world down.”

I swallow. There’s something about the lethal tone of his voice that tells me Garrett means it. That should terrify me, but it doesn’t. It only makes me love him more.

I open my mouth to tell him so, but somebody yanks back the curtain beside my bed, and a man in a white coat appears.

“You must be Ava,” he says. “I’m Dr. Turner.”

“Nice to meet you.”

There’s an awkward pause as Garrett gets to his feet to free up the stool for the doctor. Dr. Turner wheels himself over to my bedside and shines a bright light in my eyes.

Garrett stands at the foot of my bed, watching him with that same predatory look I saw when he confronted Robert. I have a feeling that if the doctor made any sudden movement, Garrett would have him pinned to the wall before he could even draw a breath.

“It seems you were very lucky,” Dr. Turner concludes, turning over my injured forearm and staring bewilderedly at the freshly healed wound.

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