Savage (Wolf Ranch #4) - Renee Rose Page 0,30

though, so maybe she knew and was keeping her close friend’s confidence.

Or, maybe she hadn’t even told Audrey yet. Audrey was a doctor though. An Ob/Gyn. It was her job to know this shit. For some reason, that thought comforted me. Like I wasn’t the only one in the dark. The only one Becky had shut out.

Fuck, I wasn’t a woman. I had no clue about these things. I did know we’d used a condom, and it hadn’t broken. I felt virile, fucking potent knowing my swimmers still got in.

I smiled to myself. I had a mate… and a child.

I was Becky’s mate, and I knew every nuance of her body, and it was different now. Because of me. Because of the baby we made. A prickle raced across the back of my neck. The night before, Todd had lied out his ass and said he was checking on his wife. He hadn’t mentioned a kid. Maybe she didn’t want her ex to know.

She might be worried this would further complicate her legal proceedings with the divorce. But then, she’d have to certify to the judge she wasn’t pregnant—it was part of the paperwork. I only knew that because I’d found what she’d filed over a year ago and read through it. She’d checked the box that said she wasn’t pregnant. At the time, she hadn’t been.

Yeah, if the asshole found out she was pregnant with another man’s child, he was going to lose his shit. Worse than he already was.

She stirred beside me, and I propped my head on my hand and watched, not wanting to miss a single thing about the way she woke. Her eyes blinked open and met mine. They were soft and open at first, like waking in my arms was the most natural thing in the world to her. I saw the moment her mind caught up. She reached for the sheet and yanked it to her chin, rolling away from me.

“Uh uh.” I eased her to her back and slowly lowered the sheet, holding her gaze. She clung to it for a moment, but I persisted until I had it down by her waist. I didn’t speak at first. We definitely had things to talk about—big things, and I didn’t even plan to touch the I’m a shifter, and when I bit you, I claimed you as my forever mate issue—but first I needed to show my reverence for her beauty. The gift of her body and the gift of the sweet pup she was growing.

I trailed the backs of my fingers along the side of her plump breast, down her ribs. I turned my fingers over and lightly brushed over the swell of her lower belly. “You have something to tell me, sugar?” I asked softly to take any sting out of the accusation.

Her pulse went frantic at her throat, and she abruptly tried to roll away again, but I caught her and dragged her back against my front, my arm wrapped snugly around her waist. I cupped her breast. “You didn’t think I’d notice the changes in your beautiful body?”

I felt her heart pound under my palm and through her back, pressed against my chest. I thumbed her nipple which went instantly hard. She sucked in a breath. Fuck, she was sensitive to my touch.

“Aren’t you going to ask if it’s yours?” she asked in a strangled voice. Her shoulders were tense, like she was bracing for my anger.

“I know it’s mine,” I said.

I couldn’t say for sure, but it didn’t matter. If that pup was mine or some other guy’s, I’d bitten her last night. I’d be protecting her and the pup until the day I died. Once a male wolf claimed a she-wolf—or in this case, a human female—there was no stopping him from the need to protect and provide for his mate.

That was going to be a huge fucking problem, considering my role with the council. It was why I’d walked away twice in the past few days. What was done was done, and there wasn’t any going back. If I hadn’t bitten her, the baby bound me to her just the same. I hadn’t meant to mark her, but my wolf had driven me to it. It had been just too good between us, especially knowing about the baby. He couldn’t stand for our pregnant mate to remain unmarked. He’d lasted all of ten minutes.

We had a lot to figure out.

She rolled over, her gaze searching my