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LIGHTFOOT'S NOSTRILS FLARED. “Got the dirty deed done, then.” He sniffed again. Mixed in with the scent of sex was something sweeter, tangier. Blood. He glanced around the cave. “Is she okay?” His question sounded blunt.
Mac ducked his head. Wolves in mating lust had been known to rip their partners. Hannah would be pissed when she found out that every man in the unit knew what they’d done. But, hell, they were all Wolves. All they had to do was sniff the air. “Virgin,” he admitted, both pride and remorse evident in his cocky grin.
The other Wolf's mouth hung open. “Well, shit. Is she still speaking to you?”
“Barely. I suspect the loss of her virginity pales in comparison to the fact that we didn’t use a condom and she’s not on the pill.”
Lightfoot stared. “Please tell me she wasn’t in heat...” His voice trailed off as he interpreted Mac’s expression. “Oh double damn shit. Of course she was in heat. That's why you couldn't keep your paws off her.”
Hannah’s voice rang through the cave. “Why don’t we just make an announcement to the whole gawddamn Army.”
Mac pressed his lips together and bit them, trying vainly to keep from smiling. Lightfoot called on every bit of wisdom from his ancestors to keep his face stoic. Hannah marched up to the two men, her fists planted on her hips, her lips a tight slash across her chin, her eyes a blazing blue.
Mac flashed an easy-going smile. “Honey, we’re a bunch of Wolves. Our sense of smell is...well, a little more developed than humans.”
She'd done some thinking while dressing. She’d planned on talking to Mac in private but his cavalier attitude succeeded in royally pissing her off.
“Fine. And I bet their sense of hearing is just as good, so hear this all of you.” Her voice turned louder at the end of the sentence. She whirled on Mac and got right up in his face. “If we get home and I find out I’m pregnant, I’ll just get an abortion. No harm. No foul. You can go your merry way, Sergeant Major, and you can be double damn sure this will never happen again.”
Too late, she recognized the narrowing of Mac’s eyes and the flaring of his nostrils accented by the twist of his mouth. And if that hadn’t been enough of a clue, the growl rumbling deep in his chest heralded bad things about to happen. If he’d had hair on the back of his neck, it would be standing up like the ruff on an angry dog. Or in this case, one seriously pissed-off wolf. She took a frightened step backwards and then another. Stiff-legged, Mac stalked her until her back hit the cave wall. He was so livid his entire body vibrated.
“You. Are. Mine,” he gritted out. His hands, braced on either side, pinned her against the rough rock. “When I get you pregnant...not if, Hannah, when, I will take care of you and the pup.”
Her eyes grew round and her skin blanched. Pup? Oh, god, was she going to have puppies with this man?
Lightfoot glimpsed expression of horrified panic on Hannah’s face and realized what Mac had said. “Oh, crap,” he muttered. Turning on his heel, he jogged outside. Jacob Nakai, as the oldest and therefore least threatening member of the pack, needed to talk to Hannah quickly.
Her knees shook and then gave out completely. She rode the rough stone at her back down to the floor of the cave. Wrapping her arms around her bent knees, she huddled in on herself. She swore she wouldn’t cry; bit her lip until it bled to keep from it, but still the tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn’t look at Mac. She’d never been so scared in her life. In fact, she almost wished the Bosnian patrol still had her. Pup? She’d forgotten he was a different species—human but not. God, if she were pregnant, would the baby come out with fangs and a tail?
Mac was so furious he was shaking. Abort his pup? No way in hell. He had spilled his seed in her intentionally. They were mated. That she would consider killing his child was—. He choked on his anger. At that moment, he hated Hannah Jackson with all his heart. Not even her tears or the waves of fear rolling off her could calm him down. “I will kill you first,” he told her coldly. Turning on his heel, he marched out of the cave and left her in a pitiful heap.
Hannah sobbed so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. Jacob Nakai found her huddled against the back wall of the cave fighting to breathe. He reached out with one finger and touched her arm. He grimaced when the woman jumped and jerked away from his touch. Shaking his head sadly, he tried to figure out what to do. They were in the month of the Blood Moon and from her scent, Jacob could tell she’d been both a virgin and in heat. She was neither now.
He sighed. Matings like this were always so hard. He and Tala, his mate, had known each other from childhood. She had always known what he was. In the sixty-two years of their marriage, they’d been lucky to have three children, all female. Jacob loved his daughters. And he loved his wife.
His heart went out to the major. He squatted on his heels in front of her and laid a gentle hand on the top of her head. Her tears stopped but dry sobs now wracked her frame. Whether the tiny spark of life she carried inside her would be Wolf or not, he could not tell.
“Hush, daughter,” he crooned. “You must listen to what I say to you. Listen and understand.”
She shuddered beneath his touch but worked to get her breathing under control. “I’m sorry,” she panted out. “Hysterics is not one of my strong suits. I don’t...I don’t lose control.”
Jacob smiled. This one had grit. She would be one to ride the river with. “He will not hurt you physically,” he soothed. “He is angry at your words but that heat will cool. He will remember what he said in anger, and regret that he has hurt your heart. Children are very precious to us, daughter. Can you understand that?”
She raised her head to look at him and his heart wrenched at her sorrow-ravaged face.
“To sire a son who is a Wolf is the hope and dream of us all. To sire any child is a cherished wish. Wolves do not spill their seed in unfertile ground and any woman who is not a potential mate is unfertile. Do you understand?”
Hannah tried hard but her brain just wouldn’t wrap itself around what Jacob was telling her. She shook her head.
“Wolves like to fuck.” His tone and words were both blunt. “But we never leave our seed in a female at a time when she could conceive. Unless she is our mate.”
Hannah nodded slowly, beginning to understand.
“Some of us marry for love, but still children come few and far between. I have been with my mate for sixty-two years, and she has blessed me with three daughters. Some Wolves go their whole lives with no offspring.” He let those words sink in before adding, “Tala is both the mate of my heart and the mate of my soul.” He watched, waiting for her to comprehend his words. “Some of us are blessed, or cursed depending on the Wolf, to have mates of the soul. Wolves mate for life as a rule though it is easier to walk away from a heart mate. What has happened here, to you, to the Sergeant Major, we call this moonstruck.” He recognized the curiosity in her expression. “It happens fast, when least expected and the Wolf who is moonstruck is...”
“Crazy?”
He chuckled before his expression settled back into sober lines. “Yes. That is a way to explain them. But this is a very serious time, daughter. To leave a soul mate could kill a Wolf.”
She stared at him, aghast. “Are you saying that the Sergeant Major...that I...” A whimper swallowed her words.
Jacob shrugged, a wry smile crinkling his mouth. “Sometimes the gods get cranky or bored and they play a practical joke on us. Sometimes they are just pissed. Who knows why the gods have picked you, but you are his soul mate just as he is yours. The two of you are matched in every way, two halves of the same whole but not fitted together yet.” He dropped his hand so that it lay gently against her abdomen. “That which will bind you sleeps here now.”
“How can I marry—” She hiccuped and tried again. “How can I marry a man who doesn’t love me? God, is marriage even an option?” She hated that her voice squeaked.
“How can he not love you, daughter? You are the sweetness in his life. He would die to protect you and what you carry. If you turned your back and walked away from him, he would follow. He has no choice.”
She gave a sad little snort. “And that’s what it all boils down to, isn’t it? We have no choice.”
