Page 8 of Stalked By the Wolf

“Well, Nine Lives might not be around much longer,” she says with a sigh. “We didn’t get our grant renewed this year.”

“What, they didn’t think it worthwhile to continue to house a bunch of geriatric cats?”

Fuck, what is wrong with me?

Murphy put this poor woman through hell, and Ican’t manage to keep my shitty thoughts to myself. On top of that, she’s pregnant, if my instincts are correct.

The reminder makes my chest tighten. I wonder whose baby it is. She didn’t mention that she had a new boyfriend, and I didn’t see any sign of another male at her flat.

I take a deep breath and try to soften my tone. “How did you get hooked up with Murphy? He doesn’t seem like your type.”

Claire swallows. “We met last fall at a creek cleanup event up north. He was camping in the area and we . . . hit it off, I guess.” She stares down at her lap, shame reddening her cheeks. “When we started dating, he didn’t have a place of his own, so I told him he could stay with me for a while.” She shakes her head. “It was stupid.”

I’m not inclined to disagree, but it tracks with what I know of her so far — the do-gooder creek-cleaning cat rescuer. Always taking in strays.

“Things were all right for a few months, but sometimes Dane would drink, and he . . . scared me. One night, it got really bad, and I told him to leave.” She swallows. “He refused.”

My hands tighten on the steering wheel, and it’s all I can do to contain my wolf.

“After that night, after he —” She breaks off. “I just knew I had to get out of there.”

“Hehityou?”

Claire nods.

“And the baby is . . . his?”

She jerks her head up to look at me finally, her eyes wide with surprise. “How did you know?”

“Your scent,” I explain. “Females smell different when they’re pregnant. Richer, if that makes sense. And you put your hand on your belly earlier, almost like you were protecting something.”

Claire sucks in a breath and rests her head against the back of the seat, staring into space. “Yes. It’s his,” she says in a small voice. Then she turns to look at me. “Dane doesn’t know about the baby. Hecan’tknow about the baby.”

I nod, swallowing down all my questions. “Your secret’s safe with me.” But there’s one question that’s eating me — one I can’t hold back. “Are you going to keep it then?”

“Yes,” she whispers, smiling faintly. “I could never . . . you know. It just doesn’t feel right. No one gets to choose how they were brought into this world. He’s innocent in all this.”

“He?” I croak, my chest aching.

Claire’s smile widens. “I don’t know that it’s a he. I think it’s probably too early to tell. But I keep imagining that I’m having a boy.”

Watching Claire place a tender hand on her stomach, I get a flash of temporary insanity.

I find myself wishing thatIwas the one who put a baby in her belly — wishing it were my pup she was protecting like that. Loving before he was born.

I give my head a little shake, as though I can physically dislodge the idea. It has to be the aftermath of thefight pushing my wolf to the fore. That’s the only explanation.

Then Claire stiffens in her seat, and a panicked look comes over her. “Will the baby . . . be likehim? A bear shifter, I mean.”

I grind my back molars together, hating that there’s a piece of that scumbag inside of her.

But I swallow down my own feelings. My angel is afraid and needs reassurance. “There’s a pretty good chance.”

At my words, all the blood drains from Claire’s face, and she reaches over to grip my arm. “Could it . . . will it change inside of me?”

“No,” I say, my voice husky. “Wolf shifters don’t experience their first Change until they’re seven or eight. I don’t know exactly when it happens for bears, but it can’t be much younger than that.”

A look of immense relief sweeps over her, and she sits back against the seat and releases my arm. I instantly mourn the loss of her warmth, but it’s just as well.

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