Keisha laughed and Anton knew he was going to cave. So many were in awe of him, but never this lovely woman. No respect from her at all. He had to bite back a smile.
“Then you, my love, will deliver our daughter.” She stepped into the room, covered his hand with hers, and placed her other palm over his heart.
He felt the damned thing skip a beat. She had no idea how much power she held over him, how much he needed her. Anton covered her hand and pressed it against his chest. “It’s not something to joke about. I’m terrified of anything happening to…”
“Nothing will happen. Besides, we’ll have Stefan and Xandi along, and Oliver, too. I imagine he knows how to deliver babies, right?”
“Oliver is good at many things, but I’m not sure the practice of obstetrics is in his repertoire. We have two weeks. If you’re still feeling this good, then we can…”
Keisha shook her head. “No, we don’t have two weeks. We need to be there in less than a week. I am not going to miss Tia’s bachelorette party, even if I can’t drink those fuzzy little concoctions she loves.”
Stefan and Xandi wandered into the room. Anton looked up and shrugged his shoulders. Stefan was the brother he’d never had, the son he loved, and the lover who kept him sane at times like these. “How do you feel about this trip, Stefan? I’m concerned about the girls traveling so far this late in their pregnancies. I could fly down on my own, perform the ceremony as I promised Tia and…”
“Not in this life you won’t!” Keisha stood and glared at Anton. She reached for Xandi and the two women clasped hands.
He knew then the battle was a foregone conclusion. Stefan caught his eye, shrugged his shoulders once again, and then burst into laughter. “It is a matriarchal society, you know.” He leaned over and kissed his mate. “When you mate with a Chanku bitch, she gets the balls.”
Anton raised his eyes to the heavens…actually, to the large chandelier over the dining room table. “There are days, Stefan, when I wish I’d never divulged that bit of information.”
Keisha stood up. Her body was heavy with her pregnancy, but he’d never seen her more beautiful. Nor, Anton thought, had she ever been more powerful, more sure of herself. “Your divulging information makes no difference. We are what we are. We need to leave by Thursday. Can you make arrangements so the plane is ready to go by then?”
Anton nodded, but the sense of misgiving wouldn’t leave him. Xandi’s pregnancy wasn’t quite as far along as Keisha’s, but both women were well beyond the time when doctors would normally allow them to travel. However, their doctor, one of the few familiar with the Chanku species, had found no reason to inhibit travel, at least for another few weeks.
Damned charlatan. Unfortunately, the man was brilliant and someone Anton had learned to respect.
“The plane will be ready. As will I. We leave on Thursday.” He glanced over Keisha’s head and caught Stefan’s eyes. The bastard had a grin on his face a mile wide, but then he loved it when Anton lost a battle. Damn, if he didn’t love the man, he’d kill him where he stood.
Tala held the tiny baby in her arms for one last look. The infant stared up at her, fearless, filled with trust. Her innocence made Tala think of how much she’d had to learn to trust over the past few months. How much farther she still had to go. Blinking back tears, she handed the child over to the paramedic and signaled to the two large wolves sitting patiently beside her. It was time to go home.
The Alabama police chief who’d called in the team from Pack Dynamics caught Tala before she could gather her crew and leave. “We found the kidnapper back in the swamp. Was it necessary to rip out his throat?” He glanced nervously at the wolves sitting calmly beside Tala. “I had no idea they were killers.”
“So was the man who died.” Tala nodded toward the helicopter lifting off with the child safely inside. Dust and leaves swirled in the golden rays of the late afternoon sun as the chopper whirled away toward Mobile. The baby would be returned to her mother: safe, unharmed, and hopefully young enough that this terrible incident would be forgotten. “The kidnapper didn’t hesitate to kill the nanny. The child would have died the moment the ransom was paid. You knew it. We knew it. The bastard’s killed before. This time he made a mistake when he went after my wolves with a gun. They had no choice.”
The police chief shook his head. “Amazing animals. They look so calm sitting there, so intelligent. You’d never guess they killed a man not an hour ago. As tiny as you are, don’t you ever worry about them? I was surprised to see they hadn’t been castrated, that you worked with intact males. They can be so aggressive.”
Tala immediately threw up her mental blocks. No way could she carry on an intelligent conversation with the reaction she was certain the guys had to the chief’s innocent comment. Biting back laughter, she shook her head. If only the man knew…“No. We don’t believe in neutering. We need their aggressive tendencies. They’re very well trained.” She patted both animals on their heads. The larger one growled. The police chief took a step back.
“I sure hope so.” He held out his hand. Tala took his in a firm grasp, and they shook hands. Another crisis averted.
“We’ll be going now. I have a long drive back to the airport, and my boys need some rest before the flight. You have Ulrich Mason’s number if you need to reach us, and of course we’ll be available should there be any hearings. I’m glad we were able to help.” Tala turned and walked away with the two huge wolves following close behind. She felt the chief’s gaze on her back all the way to her SUV. She’d left the rental vehicle with its darkly tinted windows parked at the side of the road.
“Okay guys. Get in.” She opened the door and both animals jumped into the back seat. Tala climbed in, fastened her seat belt, and pulled out onto the pavement, heading off into the setting sun. It felt good, knowing their intervention had saved that little girl’s life.
Tala glanced into the rearview mirror at the two unbelievably beautiful naked men slipping into jeans and shirts. Mik Fuentes looked up and caught her eye. The smile that spread slowly across his face made her heart beat a little faster and the muscles in her pussy clench in anticipation. He shoved his long, black hair out of his eyes and winked.
“Neutered, eh? Not this puppy.”
AJ Temple pulled his knit shirt over his head and nudged Mik. “Maybe that’s your problem. No balls.” He winked. Tala returned his grin in the reflection in the rearview mirror. With his curling dark hair and thick black lashes around those amber eyes, he was absolutely gorgeous…and full of the devil.
Mik leaned back in the seat and folded his muscular arms behind his head. “You were sucking on something of mine last night, and it wasn’t my cock. That piece of meat was resting comfortably deep inside our lady’s lovely little pussy.”
AJ laughed, but he squirmed in his seat. Tala wished she was tall enough to see more of him in the mirror because she was absolutely positive he’d gotten hard just thinking about sucking Mik’s balls. Her pussy clenched in sympathy. There was something so hot about sex in a motel room with two absolutely gorgeous men.
Her men. Her bonded mates. Damn, how had she ever gotten so lucky? Tala turned her attention toward the road west. Musing aloud, she asked, “What do you guys think of driving instead of flying home? There’s a lot of country I haven’t seen between here and California.” And a lot of motel rooms… For a retired prostitute who’d really loved her work, roadside motels were pretty special places.
“Sounds good.” Mik fastened his seatbelt and nudged AJ. “You know how it is with Tala and those seedy little motels…”
2
Shannon fastened her helmet, settled her butt against the smooth leather seat, and wondered once again how the hell she’d let herself get talked into traveling three thousand miles on a motorcycle.