Sold To The Bears (A BBW Paranormal Romance Book 1) (21 page)

With his arm still around me, Grant gave me a little squeeze, frowning. "Please tell us what's wrong, Lila. You know you can tell us anything."

I shook my head again, blinking back more tears. "I just don't want this to end. Just us. The three of us."

Grant and Adrian exchanged glances, and Adrian opened his mouth to speak. Before he could even get a single word out, he was interrupted by the blare of the alarm sirens, which was loud, even inside the house. I knew he and Grant would have to dash off quickly.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, already kind of over the wave of emotion that had made me cry. "I'm fine. I'm just really tired lately."

It was the truth. I was suddenly so tired right then, all I could think about was going to bed, even though it wasn't yet eight o' clock. Grant and Adrian exchanged glances yet again, and Grant asked me if I was sure I was okay.

I nodded. "Absolutely fine. Just tired. Just want to go to bed."

Both of them frowning, he and Adrian helped me up from the couch, and then each of them took turns holding me tightly for a few moments.

When it was his turn, Adrian spoke near my ear in a quiet voice, though not so quiet that I couldn't hear him above the sound of the sirens. "Just know that we both love you so very much. We'll talk more later."

They both soon left, and I went up to bed, thinking that Adrian had come very close to the heart of my problem. The problem being that they both loved me so very much, and I knew it, and I loved both of them so very much. Soon, maybe even before the wolf situation was dealt with, I was going to have to make a choice, because fate was pretty much going to make me.

If I really was pregnant, which I was becoming more and more convinced of, I knew it wouldn't be right at all for me to choose to spend the rest of my life with the brother who was
not
the father of my baby. It might not even be allowed according to some rules of mating in Sun Creek; I had no idea. Like I'd ever be able to make up my mind to choose one brother over the other in the first place.

I knew I really had no choice but to let fate take its course. If by the following morning, I still hadn't gotten my period, I'd confide in Mil and Fiona and see about getting a pregnancy test. I didn't, however, want to say anything to Grant and Adrian until, and if, the test came back positive. I knew they were going to be quite busy the next day making further plans for the Stony Creek attack anyway.

I still hadn't gotten my period by the following morning, which honestly didn't surprise me at all. By now, I knew. I was pregnant. I knew it in my gut. I knew it because I'd woken up at three in the morning and had to dash to the bathroom to get sick, and then several hours later, I'd woken up feeling completely fine. Just starving. And with just a little wave of dizziness that washed over me the moment I sat up in bed.

Over breakfast, while Brandon and Martin played with toy cars out in the living room area, I told Mil and Fiona I thought I needed to make a visit to the doctor.

Mil raised her dark eyebrows. "Oh? Feeling a little bit sick? Or just a little bit pregnant?"

I nearly spit out a mouthful of tea and ended up choking on it for a second.

"How...how did you-"

"Well, for one thing, your skin has been absolutely glowing the past couple of days. Exactly the same way mine did almost immediately with both of my pregnancies. Your cheeks have become the loveliest, prettiest shade of pink, and Fiona and I know you don't wear blush. That's what made us first get to talking. And then we added up a few other things earlier this morning, before you came down, and...." Mil sighed, a little smile curving her full mouth.

"Yes. I think you should definitely see the doctor. We'll have her and the nurse come here, though. They do house calls for our family. No need to have half the people in the city talking about spotting you at the medical center before Grant and Adrian even know anything's up."

I wholeheartedly agreed.

Later that morning, Dr. Bradley, a heavyset older woman with short gray hair, gave me a brief physical examination right in my own bedroom, and then her nurse took a sample of my blood. Before the two of them left, Dr. Bradley said she would call me with the results of my pregnancy test in about an hour.

"The test for paternity will, however, take a bit longer. Maybe several hours, as our lab technicians like to be very thorough, and they'll run the test twice."

The next hour didn't go by as slowly as I'd thought it might. I wasn't as anxious as I'd thought I'd be, either. Pretty much because I already knew. When Dr. Bradley called and told me I was pregnant, I wasn't even the tiniest bit surprised.

It was the next several hours after that that dragged. While a misty gray rain began to fall outside, making little pockets of fog float up from the yard, Mil, Fiona, and I sat in the kitchen with mugs of tea.

After spooning a little sugar into hers, Mil looked up at me. "Oh, by the way, just so you know, you getting in the safety cage with me and Fiona now will happen only over my dead body."

I was so tired I barely had the strength to argue, so I didn't. Though part of me still wanted to help protect the city, another part of me felt like it was enough that Grant had just agreed to let me do it. He trusted me again, and that was worth more to me than anything.

When my phone rang after just two hours, I snatched it up, hands shaking. All at once, I was desperate to hear the results of the test for paternity, while at the same time, I felt like I never wanted to know. I'd have the baby, and I'd be content to have its paternity always be a mystery. So long as I never had to make a choice between Grant and Adrian.

I knew that wasn't realistic thinking. I knew that wouldn't be fair to Grant, Adrian, or the baby. I had to act like a grown woman and face this situation head-on, come what may. I had to hear the results of the test. I had to let fate do its thing. Though I was dreading it.

After putting my phone to my ear, I forced myself to make my voice work. "Hello?"

It was Dr. Bradley, and she asked if I was sitting down. Stupidly, I nodded, only realizing after a long moment that she couldn't see me.

Embarrassed, I cleared my throat. "Yes. Yes, I'm sitting down."

She said all right, and then went on to say that unfortunately, she didn't have the results of the test for paternity yet. "I'm calling right now for a different reason. I have something else to tell you, something quite remarkable that the new medical technology from Ashcrest has allowed us to learn, just from your blood test alone, and even at this very early stage in your pregnancy."

She continued on, saying a few other things that didn't really register. They did, but they didn't. I heard the words, but just kind of couldn't believe them.

Soon I thanked Dr. Bradley, ended the call, and set my phone on the table. Mil and Fiona looked at me expectantly, but I found I just couldn't speak.

After a long moment, Fiona reached across the table and gave my hand a squeeze. "So, tell us. Is Grant going to be a dad, or is Adrian?"

Finally finding my voice, I shook my head. "Dr. Bradley doesn't know yet. But I'm having twins."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Mil and Fiona both gasped, exchanging glances. Fiona's hands flew to cover her mouth.

  Mil looked at me with her dark eyes as wide as I'd ever seen them. "Twins? Really?"

I nodded slowly, still in a state of complete shock. "Dr. Bradley said this will be the first set of twins in Sun Creek in over fifty years."

With fertility rates as low as they'd been the previous several decades, twins had been almost unheard of, anywhere. Even in the present, with fertility rates rising, they were still nearly unheard of.

I wasn't quite sure how I was ever going to get over the shock. But within moments, I realized I was going to have to find a way to get over it pretty quickly. Grant was calling, I was sure just to check in, as he or Adrian did most afternoons. Suddenly, I wanted to tell them the news. I wanted to tell them both about the twins. I couldn't wait.

I told Mil and Fiona it was Grant and asked if they minded stepping out of the family area for just a minute. "I just want to talk to Grant and Adrian alone."

Immediately Mil and Fiona stood, and Mil said they'd go check on the boys, who were making something with Mary in the chef's kitchen.

Once they were out of the family quarters and heading down the hallway, I answered the phone with a little tremor in my voice. Grant immediately asked if I was okay, and I said I was.

"But...are you somewhere private where you can talk for a minute? And is Adrian with you?"

Grant said yes to both of my questions, and I continued.

"Okay, good. Then, can you put me on speaker so I can talk to you both at once?"

Soon I heard Adrian saying that I was on speaker and asking if everything was all right.

"Yes, I'm fine, but...last thing before I tell you both some news. Wherever you both are, I want you to both sit down.”

Within moments, Grant said that they both were sitting. "Now, please, Lila. Tell us what's going on. I'm hearing something in your voice that's making me very worried about you."

I took a deep breath. "I'm really, really okay. But...I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant with twins."

Suddenly, all I could hear was static for a long moment, and then nothing. I wondered if maybe Grant had dropped the phone.

"Grant? Adrian? Are you still there?"

Another moment of static, followed by Grant's voice.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. You're cutting out. The last thing we heard was you saying that you're really, really okay. Which we're both very glad to hear. So, just take it from there."

I took another deep breath. "I'm pregnant. And I'm having twins."

More brief static again, followed by Grant's voice.

"Sorry, but we still can't hear you clearly. You're cutting out."

Sighing with frustration, I got up from the table and began heading down the hallway to go outside through the front door. It was said that cell phone reception post-Freeze was nowhere near as good as it had been before, and reception in Sun Creek was certainly no exception.

There simply weren't as many towers around as there had been before the Freeze, and on cloudy days, like this one was, calls were frequently dropped or interrupted by static. It usually helped to go outside.

Once out on the front porch, I tried again. "Grant? Adrian? Is this better? Can you hear me?"

A guard circling the massive house in human form glanced over at me and slowed in his walking. Knowing it was probably safe for me to step out into the yard as long as he was nearby, I did just that, asking Grant and Adrian again if they could hear me. I heard Grant say a few muffled words as a response, so I knew the signal was getting at least somewhat better.

Stepping out a little further in the yard, beyond a cluster of tall evergreen trees ringed by misty fog, I waved at the guard, who was maybe twenty feet away. "Just trying to get a better signal. If you could just stay fairly close, but if I could also have a little privacy at the same time, I'd appreciate it so much."

He nodded and continued strolling around a copse of fir trees bordering the side of the yard.

I continued on through the yard, my jeans becoming a little dampened by low-lying fog, although it had now stopped raining, which I was thankful for. "Grant? Adrian? if you can hear me better now, please just say something. I'm just going to go a little farther out now. But don't worry. One of the guards is very close by."

Suddenly, two things happened nearly at once. The alarm sirens blared, making me jump. Not a moment later, I heard Grant's voice on the phone, finally with crystal-clear clarity. He was speaking so loudly I could even hear him reasonably well over the sirens.

"Get in the house. Get in the house, Lila! Can you hear me? Get inside!"

"Grant, what-"

"Steven's just spotted them from the sky. They're coming into the city in droves. Hundreds of them...thousands. They beat us to the attack, and they are going to make their attempt to take the city by force. Some of them are probably going to enter the city from the back, behind the house. You have to get inside, Lila. Can you hear me? Get inside right now! And tell me when you have the door safely locked behind you."

"Okay, I will."

I had already turned and started heading back to the house the moment he'd first told me to get inside. Instead of reaching the front porch like I should have done by this point, I almost ran right into a young maple sapling. A maple sapling that I knew wasn't really that close to the house at all, but was instead on one side of the long driveway.

The fog was rising up increasingly thick, and rising up fast, and it was making it difficult to see where I was going.

I turned myself around again, looking for the house, but a tall, wide evergreen was in my way. I walked toward it and to the side, until the house came into view again. I saw that somehow, I'd gotten much farther away from it than I'd thought.

"Grant? Are you still there?"

Silence.

"Grant, I got really turned around for a second, because of the fog, and I'm a little further away from the house than I thought. Can you still hear me?"

Suddenly, he came back on the line, but just for a couple of seconds, and his voice was muffled. He was shouting, and it sounded like he was saying he and Adrian were on their way. Then all I could hear was static. Right before the call dropped and my phone went to the home screen.

I pocketed my phone with a trembling hand. "Dammit."

I knew the house guard that had been around the front had to still be near, and I called out his name, which was Paul.

"Can you hear me? Paul?"

If he answered, I couldn't hear him over the blaring sirens.

  Still walking through thick clouds of fog toward the house, I tried again. "Paul? Please answer if you can hear me!"

I wondered if he'd already shifted. Soon, a great roar let me know that he had. The roar had come from somewhere nearby, maybe only thirty or forty feet, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

However, my relief didn't last long. Paul's roar was almost immediately answered by snarling. And it didn't sound like snarling from one wolf alone. It sounded like at least a half-dozen wolves at once. The snarling was followed by howling. Then, more snarling.

I froze dead in my tracks. Somewhere very near me, hidden by the dense fog, at least six or seven wolves were stalking the yard, probably preparing to attack Paul.

Within a second, I heard him roar again, and his roar was answered by another one, just a bit farther in the distance. The other house guard was coming to help him. Thank God.

Soon I stood stock-still, hardly daring to breathe, while sounds of a shifter fight rose above the sirens. Growls, snarls, and howls seemed to get a little closer to me, even as I remained standing still. I could see the house in view, maybe only a hundred feet away, though the fog was obscuring my vision to the point that I wasn't sure if I was accurately judging the distance right.

I didn't want to start toward the house only to run smack into the middle of the fight. With the fog and so many similar-looking trees around, I was more than a little disoriented, and I was having a hard time pinpointing exactly how far away, and in which direction, the shifter fight was happening.

While the sirens continued wailing, I moved my mouth in a near-silent plea. "Please hurry, Grant and Adrian. Please hurry."

Just as soon as I'd spoken those words, the sirens stopped. However, I knew this didn't mean that the danger was over, and I could
hear
that the danger wasn't over. Now the snarling and roaring of the shifter fight sounded closer than ever. More than likely, I knew Grant had simply ordered the sirens off in order to hear me better if I called out to him and Adrian for help while hidden by fog.

Still not wanting to head toward the house, and the shifter fight that was possibly between it and me, I began creeping over to a tall evergreen just to my left, suddenly feeling a bit exposed, even with the fog, and wanting some sort of additional cover. Once behind the tree while the shifter fight still raged on, I took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly, silently praying that Grant and Adrian would soon arrive. They had to. Because I knew the two bear guards couldn't hold off a half-dozen wolves forever. Particularly if any of those wolves were enormous northern wolves.

For a few minutes, I just focused on taking deep, slow breaths, battling alternating waves of nausea and dizziness. It was late October, Halloween day, actually, and the damp air was chilly, eventually adding sudden fits of shivering to my bouts of dizziness and nausea. I wrapped my thick, cable-knit sweater around me tightly, shaking from both cold and fear.

I knew Grant and Adrian would be arriving any second; I had to believe they would be, because while I listened to the shifter fight, I began to realize that it sounded like I was hearing the roars of only one shifter bear.

For a while, I'd definitely been able to tell that both guards were still in the fight. Paul and the other guard, Matt, both had wives and children, and I prayed that whichever guard had been taken down wasn't dead, but just injured.

I couldn't stand the thought of
any
bear shifter being killed in a fight, but I especially couldn't stand the thought of children being told that one of their parents was gone. I knew from personal experience how devastating losing a parent, in my case four of them, could be.

Seconds ticked by like hours. The wolf shifters howled and snarled from somewhere nearby, hidden by the trees and fog. The single remaining bear shifter roared, but it seemed to me that his roars were becoming quieter, less ferocious and intense. With my stomach churning, I shivered some more, silently praying that Grant and Adrian would arrive soon.

When I heard dry leaves crunching behind me, I whirled around, breathing a sigh of relief, expecting to see one of them. But my sigh immediately got stuck in my throat. Because the man standing behind me wasn't Grant, and he wasn't Adrian. This man was much older, with dark hair streaked with gray.

He leered at me, revealing cracked, yellow teeth. "This simply could not have been easier. The fog...you being outside of the house for some reason...everything. We actually brought grenades, thinking we were going to have to try to bomb you out.

“See, just in case our attempt to take over the city for ourselves proves unsuccessful, I decided that killing you would make a great consolation prize. Just a little
screw you
to these high and mighty rich prince bears. And considering that things are already not going incredibly well for us wolves back in town..."

The man standing not three feet away from me was Malachi, the alpha of Stony Rapids. The man who'd sold me after having killed both my birth parents and my adoptive parents.