Swallowing His Pride (12 page)

“Calm down?
Calm down?
You come home in the middle of the day, don’t tell me and then pull a disappearing act and I’m supposed to calm down? Clearly, this has affected your brain, too,” Lynn huffed. “And how the hell did you find her so fast?”

Liam shrugged. “Country boys can move through the woods quickly when we need to.” He turned his head slightly and took a deep breath. “My brother should be here soon. I called him while he was driving in and told him we were looking for Samantha.”

“Wait, Dylan is here? What’s going on?” Samantha was excited yet scared all at once, and the dueling emotions did nothing for her stomach or the dizziness that suddenly assaulted her, leaving everything tilting to the side.

“Shit, I’ve got you,” Liam whispered, scooping her into his arms and moving fast enough to jostle her rather roughly. “Lynn, she needs something cold to drink, and…”

“She needs to not be shaken to death! Slow down, and let me look at her,” Lynn demanded. “Sam, open your eyes sweetie. Tell me what’s going on. How are you feeling?”

“Dizzy, like my head is underwater. Everything is so muffled.” And it was. Her ears felt plugged, even her vision blurred a little and she felt fear creep in. She didn’t like the feeling of not having control over her body, at all.

“Get her inside and on the couch. She’s probably going to pass out, but I need to check her over better once we’re inside. You said your brother is here somewhere?” Lynn’s tone wasn’t friendly, but Samantha couldn’t muster the energy to warn her against being mean.

“Yes, he’s— Oh, here he is.”

“What happened? Hand her to me,” Dylan demanded, sounding a little scary even to Sam’s limited ears.

“I’ve got her. Let’s just get her inside and out of the sun,” Liam replied.

“Don’t forget who you’re addressing, brother. I said give her to me.” The last was said in a menacing growl, and Sam shivered. “She’s shaking. What happened to her? I won’t ask again.”

“We don’t know. Lynn and I just found her, and she got really white and is very near unconscious, so standing here and arguing isn’t doing her any good. Take her gently if you must, but try not to jostle her too much.”

“Boys, let’s hurry the hell up, shall we? You can have your little pissing contest while I check her vitals inside.”

Another pair of strong arms took hold of Sam’s slightly folded body and lifted her away from Liam’s warmth. The smell of Dylan’s cologne surrounded her as he held her close and walked toward the house with long smooth strides.

Her mind raced again, the thoughts moving so fast she felt as if she were riding one of those spinning fair rides that left you walking to the side for a few minutes once you got off.

He’s here! Why is he here? What does this mean? Why didn’t he just call?

More and more questions cropped up in her mind, whirling around until she thought her head might burst.

Her ears felt as if thick cotton had been shoved in them, and it made listening to their conversation rather difficult. Everything was getting harder. Her body didn’t want to obey her, and Sam could tell that she was barely clinging to consciousness. Cool air hit her skin, causing goose bumps to race over her body, and she realized they were inside now. A moment later, Dylan set her down on what she assumed was her couch.

“Sam, wake up, sweetheart,” Dylan crooned, his velvety voice washing over her. Samantha struggled to the surface of the fog. She so wanted to see his handsome face again, but her eyes betrayed her command to open.

“
Sweetheart?
” Lynn sneered. “You dropped her like a bad habit in Vegas, buddy, so you don’t get the privilege of coming in here and trying to play the white knight.” Unable to speak, Samantha screamed in her head,
Please don’t chase him away, Lynn. I’ve wanted to see him for so long now, wanted to talk to him so much.

“And I’m more sorry than I can ever say.” Dylan sighed, and Samantha struggled to hear him better as he continued. “I wasn’t thinking straight when I left that note, Lynn. I was late for my meeting and scribbled the note when I was racing out the door, never even thinking she would take it the wrong way. When I came back and she was gone, it hurt. She’d left her number, but I thought she was done with me, that what happened between us was just a fling. I was afraid she would reject me if I called, so I took the coward’s way out and…I just didn’t.”

“She had no way to contact you, so I guess it’s a good thing you showed up. I need to get her into my office in the next day or so, but I’ll have to work it around her schedule with work.” Lynn paused, and Samantha heard the frown in her voice. “Actually, she should be at work now.”

“Then why was she out in the woods?” Liam asked, his voice sounding farther away.

“She said she was following tracks. There was some sort of big animal here last night that scared the snot out of her. That must have been what she was checking out.”

Samantha felt some of her fog lifting and tried once again to open her eyes, this time successfully, though her head still swam a bit. Lynn was bent over the couch, peering down at her with a concerned frown on her face.

“I’m okay,” Sam managed to croak out.

“No, you’re not. I’m getting you some juice and you’re going to drink every drop then these two are going to leave so I can talk to you in private,” she stated as she turned to the kitchen.

Dylan’s worried gaze was the next thing Sam saw. His beautiful golden eyes looked down at her with such tenderness tears prick her eyes. “You thought I didn’t want to see you again?”

“You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so sorry, Sam. I assumed the worst and let my pride get the better of me. You were so perfect, so passionate that night, and I was helpless against it. I think you claimed a piece of my heart, and I never got it back.” He lifted her hand and gently kissed her palm before placing it on his chest, right over his rapidly beating heart. “Can you forgive me for being such a stupid male? Will you let me make it up to you?”

She was dreaming, that was all she could come up with. Surely, she’d fallen in the woods and knocked her head on something. There was no way Dylan was here, saying these wonderfully perfect words to her. It was everything she’d dreamed but dare not hope for, yet deep down, she knew it was real despite the impossibility of it.

Tears choked her, and all she could do was nod.

In the next moment, he swept her into his arms and stood before kissing her soundly. “Thank you,” he whispered against her lips. “I’ll make sure you don’t regret it.”

Positively giddy from the feel of his lips on hers once more, Sam blushed when she looked around. She had expected to see Liam, but he was gone. “Where did your brother go?”

“He’s checking the yard for signs of your visitor last night.”

“Oh. I found tracks, but I’m not sure what kind they are. I mean, they’re
huge
.”

Lynn came back in the room with a big glass of orange juice and handed it to Sam. “Drink.”

Samantha rolled her eyes at Lynn. “Yes, mother.” She took a sip and winced at the unexpected sweetness of the juice. “What the hell is this?”

“I added sugar because I suspect your glucose levels might be low. It won’t hurt anything if I’m wrong, but if I’m right, you should begin to feel better. You’ve been too stressed lately, and I don’t think you’ve been taking care of yourself as you should. Speaking of which, why are you home?”

Sighing, Samantha felt the weight of her worries coming down on her once again as she explained what had happened that morning. “So, as you can guess, I have to cancel most of the work to be done in the yard, but I have to get the tree done before those branches damage the roof. I’ll just do the rest of it myself between job hunting.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. The yard work, I mean. It’s pretty hot outside this time of year, and with the, uh, results I got earlier, I think you should just take it easy for a bit.” Lynn’s eyes darted to Dylan, as if his presence kept her from explaining her odd remark.

“Just spit it out, Lynn. What results? I haven’t done anyth—” Her words cut off as her throat closed, making breathing impossible.
No. No, no, no! I can’t be. Not now! He just came back to me, and now, this will only chase him away. He might even think I did it on purpose. But we used protection, so this shouldn’t even be happening.
“How is that? But I can’t be…”

Suddenly, everything around her slowed, voices reduced to mere hums as darkness seemed to swell up, claiming her quickly.

* * * *

Samantha was panicked, her fear rolling off her in thick waves and putting his inner lion on high alert for danger, then she just collapsed. Arms shooting out, Dylan managed to catch her up against his chest. Her head lolled back and exposed her lax features.

“What the hell happened?” he barked. “What was all that about?”

“It’s not my place to tell you. I’ll leave that to her once she’s ready,” was all the reply Lynn gave him, and that only served to piss him off.

Liam came back into the house and froze when he saw Sam’s limp body in his arms.

“She passed out cold after Lynn mentioned something about results,” Dylan explained.

“Results?” Liam came closer and placed some pillows on the couch to prop up Sam’s head as Dylan laid her down once again.

Liam sniffed, his nostrils flaring before his face went white.

“
Damn
.” He looked back up to Dylan, his eyes wide and unsure before he announced, “She’s pregnant.”

“She’s what?” Liam was wrong, had to be, but Dylan remembered that late-night sexual encounter they’d had. Fresh from sleep, he’d slid his bare cock into her warm depths and was lost.

“She’s in danger now, Dylan. You know that some of the others don’t tolerate humans. I highly doubt they’ll welcome the fact our leader has taken one as his mate, let alone that you’ve bred her already.”

Liam was right. They’d been fighting these narrow-minded bastards for years now, trying to keep peace between them and the humans who lived close by. Taking one as his mate, therefore making her the Pride’s Prima, would not sit well, at all. Add to that the pregnancy, and there was no telling what those deranged shifters might do.

One thing was certain though. “She can’t stay here.”

“I agree. There were some tracks out by the woods, and I detected the faint scent of Jag. No doubt he caught a whiff of your markings all over the place and crossed the border to investigate. Was there a single tree you didn’t leave your scent on? Geez, it’s not like anyone could miss it, but the extent you went to obviously drew attention you weren’t looking for.” Liam looked down at Samantha again. “Is she okay?”

“I think she’s just overwhelmed. She told Lynn she was let go from her job today. She can only afford to have the tree branches done and plans to do the rest herself, but Lynn warned her against it in her condition. It sounds like she hasn’t been taking real good care of herself and neglected her body’s needs so she could work longer and finish the house.” Dylan shook his head. “The woman is amazing. She’s done so much, been so strong, yet she’s lying here, out cold, after discovering she’s carrying my child.” A disturbing thought slithered into his mind. “What if she doesn’t want the baby?”

Liam shrugged. “I don’t see her as the type to seek an abortion, Dylan. She likely wasn’t expecting it. It’s only been a month, but then again, they don’t know about shifter pregnancies.” His brother’s eyes bore into his own. “You know you’ll have to tell her about us now. There’s no way to hide it, especially with the baby. She’ll know something is wrong as soon as the dates don’t add up from the day she conceived to how old the ultrasound will show the baby to be.”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Damn it all to hell! He’d been so focused on Samantha he’d forgotten Lynn was in the room, but the smirk on Liam’s face said that his brother had known she was there the whole time. “You explain it to Lynn then, genius.”

Liam quickly lost his smug expression, but Dylan noted the determination in his eyes. “We’re not like most men,” Liam began.

“So, what? Are you super assholes? Because any guy who treats a woman like a queen then ditches her without even a goodbye is a complete douche in my book.”

Dylan sighed. “I already explained what happened.”

“Yeah, and I don’t care. You hurt my friend, and I don’t tolerate that well.”

He liked that about her. Lynn was protective of Samantha, more like a sister than a friend, and that was when Dylan realized the potential asset she could be. “She’s pregnant. My brother just confirmed that. Hell, if I hadn’t been so focused on her being unconscious, I would have noticed myself, so there’s no need to deny it. The fact she’s pregnant with
my
child puts her in a type of danger you won’t understand unless I explain exactly what I am to you.”

“I’m listening, but if she’s in trouble because of you and I find out that you’re some sort of criminal, you’re going to have a problem.”

“Really,” Liam drawled, showing his lack of fear at her obvious threat. “And what would that be?”

“
Me
.”

“Listen, I need you to sit down and hear me out Lynn. We may look human to you, but we’re far from that. Have you ever heard of a shape-shifter?”

Lynn narrowed her eyes but nodded.

“That’s what we are. We’re lion shifters—well, most of the clan are lions, but some are different species of cats. The animal outside last night was a black jaguar named Jag. He’s a little messed up in the head from being held in a zoo for several years. Being stuck in his animal form for so long didn’t help any either. I don’t think he meant to frighten Samantha. He was just curious because I’ve been scent-marking her property since I came back from Vegas. I realized where she lived as soon as she described her property to me, but I didn’t let on that I knew. I’ve been watching over her every night, with the exception of last night, because my brother convinced me to get a good night’s sleep before seeing her today.”

“He hasn’t been sleeping well since she left him that night. His demeanor has gone from upbeat and generally happy, to miserable and downright cranky,” Liam explained. “She’s his mate. His lion actually took control of him briefly in Vegas and he’s marked her as his, so now, he must be near her, otherwise his inner cat will go a little crazy.”