Page 45 of Baby and the Beast

Casimir moved closer. He seemed to have a grace all of his own, which seemed odd to Nash when he wasn’t a shifter. “Look, I know you’re pretty much out of it. I get it. You’re underweight. As soon as you’ve fed her, I’m going to feed you, but if she doesn’t eat we’re gonna have serious problems, and with the best will in the world I couldn’t get help back fast enough for her.”

“I can’t seem to...” What was he doing? Nash felt weird, almost disconnected. As if it wasn’t really him, and he just laid there and let Casimir support them both. It was even Casimir that managed to get the baby interested in his nipple, felt a tug the moment she got the idea, and closed his heavy eyes.

Casimir reached over to swap the baby onto Nash’s other side. Nash never stirred, and Casimir just sat in silence and battledwith his memories. A baby? The one thing he’d managed to avoid, staying—hiding—up here in the inhospitable mountains.

He’d been sixteen the first time he’d caught the wolf in the barn, sighted the animal down the barrel of his shotgun until it changed into a young girl, and Casimir had nearly dropped dead in shock. Not because she had changed from a wolf even, but that he’d been a second away from pulling the trigger and killing her.

His father wouldn’t have hesitated. They’d lost a new calf only last year to wolves, then some chickens, but the chickens were now in the new barn and much safer. Casimir and Remelle had become friends, even if they were from completely different worlds, and at nearly eighteen Remelle was older, but their families were impossible and the two hid their friendship. Remelle had told him all about shifters, and that’s why he hadn’t been as shocked as Nash expected.

It was hard and as they got older when friendship turned into something more, it became impossible. Casimir was given a choice. He could mate Remelle but they would have to live within the pack which meant giving up his life. The pack was willing to accept Remelle’s choice, but she could never live somewhere in fear of discovery every day. Casimir’s father ruled his family with an iron fist, but Casimir loved his step-mother Margaret who had raised him since his mother died when he was a small boy, plus he loved the farm. His grandad had died when he was twelve and his love for the farm had been the only thing that had gotten him past his father’s harsh words and harder fists. The knowledge that one day it would be his.

Then Remelle came to see him in tears. She was pregnant. Casimir had stared at her in shock, but he never questioned her. She’d found out because her alpha had heard the heartbeat. They were giving her one chance to tell Casimir so he could leavewith them, but the pack was relocating for the summer to avoid the tourists, so he had to come now.

And he would never forgive himself for not wanting to. He’d liked Remelle but he didn’t love her. His stepmother had fled last week after his father had beaten her, too. She had begged him to come with her but he'd refused, and it had been Casimir himself who had taken her to the train station and promised to keep in touch.

Another promise he'd broken.

He’d been lonelier than ever. But no one had forced him to be intimate with Remelle. He was old enough to take responsibility.

They were just deciding what he needed to pack when the gunshot rang out. Remelle’s little brother had followed her without her knowing. Outside, a small wolf lay bleeding out on the ground. Casimir’s father lowered the gun and grunted that it had been after the chickens. Remelle burst into tears. Casimir couldn’t calm her down, couldn’t explain to his father why a strange girl was holding a wolf and begging him to shift. As Remelle cradled her brother, his form began to shift, fur giving way to human skin, eyes closed in eternal stillness.

Casimir’s father didn't get a moment to realize the wolf had turned into a boy because Remelle lost it. She shifted, her grief fueling the transformation, but she hadn’t stood a chance against his father's shotgun. As she lay there, her body reverted back to its human form, lifeless beside her brother. Casimir closed his eyes, haunted by the memory of the two bodies. For the first time, when his father raised a fist to him, Casimir hit him back. He left him unconscious on the ground, wrapped both bodies in blankets and loaded them onto a cart, hitched up a workhorse, and rode into the mountains.

The pack met him halfway. They took the bodies in silence. Then, strong hands held him while Remelle’s father marked him according to pack law. Casimir didn’t touch the scars thatdisfigured the left side of his face. He’d thought they would kill him—and welcomed it. Instead, Remelle’s father shifted back and told him: “Every day, you will live with the knowledge you murdered three innocents.”

Casimir had half-stumbled, half-crawled away. He hadn’t even gone back to the farm. Hunters had found him passed out and given him first aid, but he’d come round just as they were calling for help and he’d run.

He’d only survived because it had been summer. He'd worked his way to the mountains, and spent the next eleven years knowing he would never forgive himself, and staying away from as many humans as possible.

About ten years ago, he'd gotten a letter from a lawyer telling him his father had died from what they suspected was a wild animal attack, and he knew the pack had returned to serve their justice. As for the farm, he wanted nothing to do with it, so it had been sold and the money given to charity.

When the baby fell asleep he moved as carefully as he could and put her in the basket he’d lined with blankets. He’d ripped up shirts and towels for diapers and knew he had to come up with something better. He wouldn’t let another baby die because he failed. He gazed out of the window at the blizzard, then dropped his gaze and unseeing stared at the floor.

Casimir knew he deserved everything that had happened, because barely a second before he’d heard the gunshot, he’d resented Remelle and everything she meant. He hadn’t wanted to leave the farm and live with the wolves. He wanted what he’d worked for. What he’d taken every punch, slap, and kick for.

Being so young made no difference. He knew what he’d done. He knew he had no choice but to go with Remelle.

He didn’t pull the trigger, but he might as well have done.

Baby and the Beast

Chapter Three

Nash woke at the tug on his nipple and raised heavy eyelids to see his daughter feeding, and for the first time in what felt like forever, a smile curved his lips. She had a faint dusting of what he knew would be red hair on her scalp, ten fingers that he could see, and ten toes he remembered. He was warm and supported.

The second that realization hit him, he knew—he was lying against Casimir.

The human hunter who had saved both their lives.

Casimir shifted slightly and picked up the glass of water on the bed, holding it to Nash’s lips so he could drink. Nash closed his eyes in delight. He was so thirsty. He vaguely remembered Casimir trying to get him to drink something earlier, but right now he felt like he’d tracked the Sahara with barely a teaspoon of water in him.

As soon as he’d put the glass down, Casimir extricated himself with no explanation. Nash’s eyes flicked to the marks on Casimir’s left cheek. He knew claw marks when he saw them.

“When she’s done, I have food for you. Anything you don’t like?” Casimir asked from the doorway.

Nash hesitated. He could imagine the food Casimir ate, but—he didn’t eat meat. Then he remembered—Casimir probably didn’t know what he was. He might be assuming Nash was a wolf omega.

“I have fresh meat I can—”

---