Page 14 of An Unexpected Claim

I retrieved my wallet and keys from the dresser in my bedroom, then stomped out to my SUV. I drove out it to KBO headquarters, housed in a plain, grey cinder block building in the middle of hundreds of acres, which the company owned to keep it isolated.

The drive only took ten minutes, but by the time I arrived, my anger had escalated to absolute fury. This was the second time that Dexter, one of our newer techs, had punched a hole in our security. The kid had a lot of potential, but he liked shortcuts. Most of them didn’t cause big problems when he tried them out, but eventually one of his experiments had caused a major vulnerability to our system and it was an entire day before someone noticed because the kid hadn’t even realized he’d done it. Of course, our most sensitive information was stored in a SCIF room that only a handful of people could access.

After that, I’d forbidden him from cutting corners and tasked the other techs to keep an eye on him, which was how Lisa had caught the mistake so fast.

Once we arrived, Tanner hauled Dexter to my office while Lisa took me through everything. She certainly hadn’t been exaggerating the situation.I sent an email to the alpha in Anchorage and rescheduled our meeting before getting to work. It took me the rest of the day and late into the night to straighten it out and fix what Dexter had broken.

When it was done, I went to deal with the punk who’d created the problem. Tanner had already begun interrogating Dexter when I arrived to take over. By the time the kid was escorted from the building, I was confident that he hadn’t been in anyone’s pocket. All of my employees signed NDAs and a whole stack of other legal documents that protected the company, so I wasn’t concerned about him running his mouth, but I still scared the fuck out of him.Just to be sure. And because gave me an outlet for my aggression without killing him.

When I returned home, I debated just falling into bed and passing out, but I’d promised my wolf a run and I knew I’d feel less tense afterward, which meant I’d sleep harder. I undressed and shifted, letting my wolf take over.

Chapter Seven

Peyton

“Are you sure you should be here?” Sam asked, eyeing me disapprovingly.

I frowned right back at him and snapped, “I’m sure. Now stop treating me like a fucking invalid.” Four weeks of Sam babying me had made me extra irritable.

Sam merely rolled his eyes at my outburst, used to the moods of a pregnant shifter. He took my tray from my hands and set it on the bar before shoving my hoodie—which he’d obviously stolen from my locker—into my hands. “Go home, Peyton. You’re dead on your feet.”

An involuntary hiss escaped my mouth, but Sam ignored the warning and gently pushed me toward the door that said “Employees Only” on a silver plaque. I decided not to fight him anymore and stomped to the back because he was right, I was fucking exhausted. The growing cub in my stomach had sapped all of my energy but being idle made me crazy. I needed something to do while I figured out what to do next.

My panther was curled up contentedly inside me, as she’d been most of the time since the morning I realized I was pregnant. She only popped her head up when she sensed danger to us or our cub.

It didn’t surprise me that my girl had only one care in the world. Panther males were notorious for knocking up a female and taking off, leaving the mother to raise the cub, or cubs, on her own. My father had been no exception. I didn’t think he’d even stuck around long enough after sleeping with my mother to find out she was pregnant. And that said a lot considering shifters could smell it almost immediately.

Raising our cubs on our own was supposedly built into our DNA and my panther seemed to have a natural maternal instinct.One I evidently lack.

I wasn’t unhappy about the baby, but I did feel a little lost and unsure—two feelings I hadn’t experienced since my childhood, and they were as unwelcome now as they were then. Could I raise a cub with my nomadic lifestyle? It could be cool to grow up that way. I would have loved it, so maybe my baby would too.

The biggest headache I faced was the human side of things. Sure, my panther and I preferred to be on our own and hated the idea of being stuck somewhere…caged in. We were just fine moving on with our life and raising our little cub alone.

Unfortunately, my human half also had a stupid conscience and it kept poking at me, reminding me that keeping the baby a secret from Nathan was wrong. He deserved to know about his son or daughter, but the idea of telling him made my free spirit quiver. How would it work if he wanted to be a part of the baby’s life? I’d never leave my child, nor was I capable of settling down in one place with someone all up in my space all the time. An involuntary shudder raced through my body.I’d probably pull my hair out in frustration or kill him…or both.

I suddenly felt nauseated, although I wasn’t sure if the morning sickness had struck again or the idea of giving up my starfishing sleeping habit had brought it on.

I had to pass through the kitchen to get to the back exit, so after shoving my keys, phone, and tiny wallet in my pockets, I hit up the pantry for some crackers on my way out. By the time I reached the door, I felt much better.

Even though the October weather had grown quite cool, like all shifters (unless they were cold-blooded), I ran hot. But I slipped on my hoodie as an extra precaution because I only had on a tank top and pregnancy made us slightly more susceptible to sickness.

I pushed open the thick metal door and as I stepped into the alley, I took a deep breath of the crisp autumn air, only to begin choking on the quickly rising vomit in my esophagus. The streets of New York City weren’t known for their pleasant smells, but I’d never been so overwhelmed by the rusty scent of blood. It permeated every inch of the alley and my stomach was not handling it well.

My panther jumped to her feet and it caused me to stumble forward a bit, so the door slammed shut behind me. I was about to dash to the right, heading for the opening that spilled out onto a sidewalk, when I heard a muffled sound coming from the darkness that shrouded everything to my left. My head automatically turned toward it and I knew it held the source of the smell.

I picked up another muffled sound and this time, I was almost positive it was a person. My instincts were all over the place. One part of me shouted to run and protect my cub and the other demanded I investigate because someone obviously needed help. There was a scuffle in the darkness and right that moment, a car turned at the intersection where the alley ended. The headlights bared a portion of the darkened alley and a pair of terrified, pain-filled blue eyes met mine and my fight-or-flight response kicked in.

A man—no, a wolf shifter—was holding a female shifter from behind, one arm around her neck and his claws extended from the other, threateningly poised over her chest. Her mouth was bleeding profusely, and tears poured down her cheek as her body trembled in fear. She tried to say something, but it came out gargled, and when I realized why…my gut flipped again.Holy fuck! Shit! Fucking son of a bitch!I was silently yelling at the rolling in my stomach, as well as the evil son of a bitch who’d cut out the woman’s tongue.

The claws at her chest tightened, the tips pressing into the flesh, but not quite breaking the skin yet. My panther hissed and spit, sensing the situation posed a threat to her cub.

“Don’t say a word, puss,” a smooth, melodic voice commanded.

I finally turned my gaze to the woman’s captor as I slowly approached them. While he would normally be considered handsome with his boyish features, artfully unruly hair, and dimples, the pure evil in his brown eyes and the twisted smile on his lips made me feel like I’d been coated in oil. “Walk away. I’m giving you one chance to leave. Protect your little pussycat.”

His words sent a sharp slice of fear through me. I couldn’t walk away from his victim, but terror at the possible harm to my baby had me frozen. Then the tips of his claws pricked her skin and my mind emptied of everything except rage. My panther took it as a sign that this man was trying to harm our baby and she leapt inside me, pushing me forward and almost bowling me over in her attempt to be freed.

Before I could regain my footing, he shoved his victim out of the way and lunged for me. The bastard was too fucking fast and before I could shift, he had his claws clamped around my throat. I struggled to breathe while trying to keep still because I could already feel rivulets of blood dripping down my neck. But it wasn’t my inability to breathe or my sliced flesh that kept me from shifting and caused terror to roll over my skin. His other hand was poised over my stomach, the tips of his claws putting just enough pressure to cause pinpricks of pain. My panther didn’t know what to make of my panic and rage, but she must have sensed the danger to our cub because she stopped trying to get out and started whining while brushing her fur comfortingly under my skin.

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