Shifter Chronicles - Theo and Lucinda (7 page)

“No!!!!” She struggled against him. “I will not let you take my baby.”

“What in the hell do you think you are doing with my mate?”

              Both turned at the sound of the growled voice.

              Lucy stuttered. In the time she had known Theo she had never seen him so furious.

              “This is none of your concern,” Charlie replied.

              “I don’t believe you understood me.” Theo walked over to the man holding Lucy. He placed a hand on his shoulder. “I said she belongs to me.” He pulled the man away from Lucy, then stepped before her and the baby. He needed to get Lucy out of here. She was leaking fluid, which meant the baby was coming. He was not going to have his little Princess born at a rest stop.

              Lucy placed a hand on her stomach. It was starting to hurt. She swallowed as she felt fluid on her leg. No, she couldn't be in labor. Anastasia would be early. She would be ok, but she would be early.

              Theo reached back and placed a hand on her arm. He needed her to stay behind him. He watched as the man before him straightened to his full height. “I would rethink your next move,” he said as the man reached behind him.

              “That bitch and baby are coming with me,” Charlie said as he pulled his gun from his back holster. You had to love a state that allowed you to carry a concealed weapon.

              “Fine.” Theo shifted his left hand. A bullet would slow him down but it wouldn't stop him from protecting his mate. “Lucy, go to the truck and leave here. Head back to Hart.”

              “I am not leaving you here,” she said in a slight moan as she rubbed her stomach.

              Theo watched the man before him. His mate was being stubborn. “I am not asking you, Lucinda Hart. I'm telling you to get yourself and Anastasia out of here.”

              “If she moves I'll shoot her,” Charlie replied. He was not leaving this place without Lucy and that baby.

              “Fine.” Theo lightly pushed Lucy to the ground as he reached out and swiped his paw against the hand holding the gun.

              Charlie cried out as he cradled his hand. He looked down at the hand—it was bleeding like a major vein had been punctured. He looked at the man before him. “This isn’t over,” he said before he turned and raced for his car.

              Theo nodded. He knew it wasn't over but right now he had bigger things to worry about. He quickly faced Lucy. “Honey—”

              “I know. Anastasia is coming. We need to get to the hospital.”

              Theo nodded, scooped her up, and raced towards the truck—hoping he could get Lucy to the hospital before Anastasia decided to make an appearance.

                                                                                   
Chapter Four

              “You boys are going to stop with the secrets,” Mary Hart said to her son as she cradled her new granddaughter in her arms. She looked at the beautiful mocha colored child. She had light reddish-brown hair and the most beautiful deep-brown eyes Mary had ever seen. Anastasia and Aviva were the future of their pack and with their looks each would have their choice of suitors, may it be shifter or human. Just like Taylor. Mary had seen a few shifter and human boys sniffling around the young girl. She had also seen her sons and grandson giving the boys the evil eye and several growls when those same boys attempted to approach the child. She and Amanda would have to have a talk with the boys because if they wanted the pack to survive they needed to back off some.

              “Mom, you were out of town and—” he was trying to get his mate to trust him, Theo said to himself. When he had called Amanda to let her know he had Lucy and they were heading to the hospital, his mother had been there scolding Amanda and Trevor about the twins, then looking to wring his neck because of Lucy and Anastasia. Two minutes after his daughter had made her entrance, Mary and Martha had walked into the hospital room. Oh-ing and ah-ing over the newest member of their family. “Trevor was keeping a secret from you also,” Theo finished, hoping to give his brother some of his mother's wrath.

              Trevor gave his brother a death stare. He had finally gotten his mother off his back after she had walked into his home furious at the fact Theo had found his mate and no one thought to call her. She had to hear from her husband about this development. When she was about to launch into a 'mother's right to know' speech, Amanda had walked into the room and Mary had rushed over to her, placing a hand on her stomach, then looked at her son like she was ready to kill. “I only found out the night before. I was not going to stop celebrating the fact that I was going to be a father again to call Mom and tell her. It would have killed the mood,” he replied.

              Amanda had told him about the babies only after her had spanked her because she had kept the secret from him in the first place. He understood why she had done it. In the first five weeks of being pregnant with Aviva the doctor hadn’t been able to find Little Bit's heartbeat and Amanda had thought she lost the baby. When she had gone to her doctor for a checkup they had tested her blood once more, proving she was still pregnant. An ultrasound a month later showed Aviva nestled safely in her mother's belly. Because of that one moment Amanda was fearful she would lose the babies, so she'd kept the secret.

              “My grandsons or daughters are safe in Amanda's womb. You Harts don’t give up so easily,” Mary said. She was not going to have her boys fighting while Lucy and Amanda slept in the hospital room. Amanda was exhausted from celebrating with her husband and Lucy was exhausted from giving birth. Her daughters deserved their rest and she was determined they would get it. She placed the baby in the hospital bassinet. She looked at her sons and motioned them out of the room.

              Trevor and Theo followed, wondering what their mother wanted. They nodded to the rest of the family who were waiting in the family waiting room for the honor of meeting Miss Anastasia.

              Mary faced her sons. “Now, I seem to have missed a lot while I was away,” She looked at Trevor. “Besides the pregnancy, someone was after my Taylor.”

              Trevor released a breath. His mother was a momma lion when it came to her grandchildren. No one messed with them, and no one spoke ill of them or they would have her to deal with. “I have taken care of it.”

              “Amanda—”

              “I was going to tell her when I heard the babies. She's in a delicate place right now. I won’t over-excite her. Taylor and I are handling this.”

              “Taylor is a child.”
              “Mom, she is pack and she can stand on her own. I promise you she can.”

              Mary nodded. She would let Trevor and Taylor handle this but anytime she thought her granddaughter needed her, she was going to be there. She faced her other son. “The marks on Lucy…”

              “I'm waiting for her to tell me.”

              “Does she know?”

              Theo shook his head.

              “Theodore, I had this same conversation with your brother when Amanda—”

              “I know Mom. I was going to tell her tonight,” he replied.

              “Amanda said something flashed in her eyes while they were talking, making her think whoever Anastasia's biological father is controlled every aspect of Lucy's life,” Trevor replied, trying to save his brother from their mother's wrath.

              “I got that feeling too,” Theo replied, thanking his brother for a little bit of a save.

              “I don’t want her to have that feeling at all,” Mary replied. Amanda had felt like she wasn't worth loving; now Lucy was scared of being controlled. The fates had picked women her sons could love and show that not all men were bad. She would thank the fates forever for that. Now she just needed to get her other sons mated off and her life mission would be complete—well almost. Once she had them mated off she would work on her sister’s boys, Peter and David. Then her life's mission would be complete. “I hear Lucy stirring, meaning Amanda will be waking soon also. Let's let the family meet Anastasia, then Theodore, tell Lucy what is going on. I want her safe and my granddaughter just as protected as the others.”

              “Yes Mom,” Theo said. Just like Amanda and their Auntie Martha, no one wanted to be on Mary Hart's bad side.

                                                                                   
EA

              She was here. She was finally here and she was safe—all the men in the room and a few of the women surrounding her looked as though they were ready to hurt anyone who thought about hurting her or her baby. Lucy smiled as her baby was passed from person to person. Anastasia seemed content to have all these people holding her. Lucy chuckled when Aviva Hart looked at the baby, then smiled at her mother before she placed a hand on the baby's head and kissed her.

“All right everyone. We have met Anastasia and some have met Lucy—time for us to leave,” Amanda said as she placed a hand on her stomach. Her babies were making her want to puke. She needed a bathroom but she wasn’t going to use the one here. If she did, Trevor would carry her out of the hospital insisting she stay in bed for most of her pregnancy—something she was not going to do. She looked at her husband. He had a concerned look on his face. “I’m fine. I just need to rest.”

Trevor nodded. He looked at the other members of his family and motioned for them to head out.

              Once everyone was gone, Amanda walked over to the bed. “The job is yours if you want it. Mary and I think you would make a great addition to the staff.”

Lucy stared at her. “Are you sure? Because—”

“It’s fine. Now you keep that niece of mine warm and fed. She will need all her strength dealing with the over-bearingness of Viv,” Amanda replied as she patted Lucy on the shoulder, turned, and followed her husband from the hospital room.

Lucy waited until the door was closed behind the Hart family before she faced Theo. He was holding the baby and cooing softly to her. She smiled. Her daughter was staring at the man, in awe of him. Lucy could relate; she was in awe of him also. Not only had he saved her from Charlie but he had held her hand and helped her bring Anastasia into the world. Even kissing a goo covered baby once she came out. “Theo…”

He faced her, a smile on his face. “Yes darlin'?”

She licked her lips. “You called me something at the rest stop.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Because as soon as we can get a license, you will be that person.” He would marry her, then he would mate her. Something told Theo marrying her would be the fastest way he could keep her safe from the man who was chasing her. He’d already placed his name on Anastasia's birth certificate—as an added layer of protection for his mate and daughter. He placed the baby in the hospital bassinet. He walked over to Lucy and sat on the bed. He took her hand in his.

“Why would you do all of this for us?”

Theo smiled at her. “Because, Mrs. Hart, you are my mate,” he replied as he began to tell her the story of his family.

                                                                                   
EA

“So I was his wife before we were married?” Lucy asked Amanda two weeks later as they sat in Theo's kitchen, sipping tea while Aviva and Anastasia were napping in the living room.

“Basically,” Amanda replied. Lucy had been working at the diner for a week when she approached Amanda, asking if she could come over to Theo's sometime and explain everything to her because Lucy was having a hard time putting all of this together.

“If I’m already his wife then why the wedding?”

Amanda had asked the same question, then she had remembered the bruises on Lucy. Theo wanted her protected, and since mating was not a legally-binding document in the state of Georgia, Theo needed to marry Lucy to keep her safe. “Do you really need me to answer that?”

Lucy sighed, “no.” She bit her lower lip. She knew why Theo had married her but she wanted him to tell her, not have her guess or ask someone else.

“Honey, you need to tell Theo what you are running from. He let the incident at the rest stop slide because of the baby and getting married, but in order for him to protect you he needs know what he is protecting you from.”

Lucy nodded. She had wanted to tell him the day of the wedding but he’d looked so happy. Then when he had brought her home from the hospital, he’d been so attentive to her that she hadn’t had the heart to tell him. “I know I need to tell him, but I don’t really know how.”

Amanda placed a hand over hers on the table. “Oh honey, just be honest with him. Keeping secrets isn’t good for any mating or marriage.”

Lucy looked at Amanda, “speaking from experience?”

Amanda sat back. She placed a hand on her small stomach mound. “Trevor and I were mated after I left him.”

“You left Trevor? You two seem so in-tune with each other.”

“Not at first. I had some issues; Tyson got into some trouble and then Tyson's biological mother came back into our lives, piling on more than we already had going on, so I walked away.”

Lucy shook her head. “How did you get over it?”

“It takes time, but talking to each other, being honest with each other, is the only way to make a relationship work.” Amanda smiled at her, “trust me.”

Lucy nodded. She did trust Amanda, that was the reason she’d asked the woman to come to the house and speak with her.

“Mom? Aunt Lucy?”

Amanda looked towards the living room. “Tyson Hart, keep your voice down. The babies are sleeping.”

Tyson nodded as he walked over to his mother. He bent and kissed her cheek, then he turned and kissed Lucy's cheek. “Sorry Mom.” He straightened. “Dad and Uncle Theo are helping Uncle Atlas with some repairs to one of the pack's houses, so I was sent to bring Mom and Viv home and tell Aunt Lucy that Uncle Theo would be home in a few hours.”

“Your dad knows I have a cell phone, right?” Amanda asked. Since her little excursion with Keenan, her mate had gone to driving her almost everywhere she needed to go. If he wasn’t driving her then one of the other Hart men was.

“Yeah, but I’m to give visual confirmation that you are all right,” Tyson said as he ignored his phone buzzing in his pocket. He was going to ignore Rhea. Every time he talked with her all she wanted to talk about was how she could give him a better life than Amanda and Trevor. He didn’t want a better life, he wanted the life he had. She may think his life wasn’t good but it was.

Amanda shook her head. “Your father is getting on my last nerve.”

Tyson chuckled. His parents were always bumping heads but it was all with love for the both of them. “I know.”

Amanda sighed. She and her mate needed to talk. “Where is Taylor?”

“At the high school. She wanted to run through some of her ROTC drills before the meet,” Tyson said.

Amanda nodded. Her daughter was all about being the best ROTC cadet she could be. She was also trying to be the best tracker for the pack that she could be. Sometimes Amanda wanted her daughter just to be a teen. Amanda stood. “Think about what I’ve said, Lucy, and I will talk with you tomorrow?”

Lucy nodded. Amanda had given her a lot to think about. “I will.” She looked at Tyson. “Thank you for telling me where Theo is even though he could have called me.”

Amanda chuckled. “The Hart men don’t call, honey, they just send someone looking for us. It’s annoying but wonderful at the same time.”

“Hey Mom,” Tyson started, “I take offense.”