Outlaw (Wolves of Royal Paynes #4) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,49

feet in his haste. "What happened? Did he hurt you? Tell me if he did, Hallie." Diesel's growls erupted between his words, making all that he said nearly unintelligible.

Hallie shook her head. She sat at the edge of her bed wrapped in a purple satin robe tied with a gold ribbon and her hair twisted on top of her head in a towel.

I could be sure I wasn't the only one of us looking our pack mate over, searching for injuries. She looked in perfect health, all except her hands that trembled, clenched around a thin piece of plastic.

"Are you pregnant?" I whispered my question.

Hallie inhaled deeply, centering herself before nodding. It didn't take long for the nod to go a bit wild as the truth of the moment seemed to hit her again.

"Who was it?" Diesel snarled in a voice that didn't at all belong around the joy slowly filling the room.

Those hadn't been sad sobs, but happy ones. My big oaf was just too blinded by his concern.

Hallie's eyes turned into daggers directed at Diesel's face. "What the hell do you mean who was it? The man I'm dating!"

"Does he know?" Diesel shot back nearly before she'd finished speaking.

As much as Diesel liked seeing me turn my inner brat on someone else, I wholeheartedly enjoyed watching my pack mates rake him over the coals.

"How could he know? I just found out before you barged in!"

"If he doesn't jump for fucking joy…" Diesel warned.

Hallie's face twisted, preparing to spit forth what I was sure would be a well-placed, and highly entertaining, string of curse words, as well as suggestions for what Diesel could do with his attitude, but it was time to turn this car around.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on." I stepped forward, sliding my body between theirs. My voice went high with evil glee. "Are you telling me that me and Diesel are the first people you've told?" It was a rhetorical question. Obviously, we were. We heard the gasp; she was holding the pee stick. But they weren't quarreling with each other anymore, which was all I'd wanted. "Jazz is going to be so ma—"

"What is it? What's happened? I felt it!" Jazz's yell grew louder as he ran toward us down the hallway. He burst in through the open doorway in the next second, red-faced and panting. "What's happened? I know it's good. I brought everyone."

On cue, most of the pack joined him. Only Storri and Sitka's cheeks matched Jazz's. The others clearly hadn't run here.

During this, Hallie's eyes closed, and she'd stopped crying. Angling her face toward the ceiling, she moved her lips in a murmured prayer. "Please, God, grant me the patience to deal with this group of nosy people who I swear I love."

Jazz snorted, unaffected. His eyes dropped to Hallie's lap before widening. "Are you?"

"I think yeah, I am." She bit her lip as her eyes filled with tears. Only now it was clear they were joyful. "I've been here before but—I don't know. This feels good."

"We need the doctor," Diesel growled, turning and lunging toward the door—my hand still in his—where he caught himself from barreling into the person in question.

"I'm here. And I know this isn't the popular answer but, the best thing for Hallie right now is rest." She stepped forward to address the small crowd and clasped her hands in front of her. "I'm sure she'll want to talk about this at length with each of you, but let's try to do it in small doses, okay? At least while we figure everything out."

Hallie looked relieved that someone else had saved her from asking, but Jazz's expression turned murderous. He opened his mouth, a clear rebuttal on his lips, when Knox shook his head, smirking as he hooked the arm that wasn't holding Angus around Jazz's middle and carried him out like a duffel bag.

When we reached the hallway, Diesel pulled my hand, directing me away from the others and toward the other end of the corridor. "Jazz won't be able to do anything but talk about Hallie."

"Yeah, I know. I want to talk about Hallie!" I cried out but he kept urging me the opposite direction down the hallway.

I wasn't sure where he was taking me. There wasn't anything on this side of the corridor but more empty rooms and then the wall.

Diesel stopped at what I thought had been a random spot until he pressed the pistil of a flower carved into the decorative molding.