Black Moon (Alpha Pack #3)(7)

Mac's hand went over her tummy. "What if the doctor can tell this baby is special somehow? Where in the hell are we going to find a paranormal-friendly ob-gyn who knows how to keep her mouth shut?"

"Nick will find the answer to that, too. One step at a time, all right?"

Mac's head was spinning. Jesus, how her world had changed in the space of one morning. Kalen's too, though he didn't know it yet.

God, Kalen.

Who wanted nothing to do with Mac anymore.

Her eyes filled with scalding tears and she blinked rapidly, trying to stave them off. Her throat burned and she breathed through the grief that crushed her lungs. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Many women less prepared and much less capable than you have thought the same thing," her friend said crisply. "You're going to be just fine."

A tear slipped free anyway. "Kalen's going to flip. He's already given me the big brush-off."

"Tough shit," Melina said, anger creeping into her tone. "He helped make the kid, so he can deal."

Mac gave a watery laugh in spite of herself. "That simple, huh? Sure."

Her friend scowled. "You honestly think he won't take responsibility?"

"It's not that. There's something going on with him that has his head all twisted, and he won't let me in."

"Anything to do with the pendant he gave you?" Melina glanced questioningly at the silver disk and back to her friend's face.

"I think it has everything to do with it," she said, reaching to clasp the object. It was warm and comforting in her palm. "He gave this to me for protection."

"Against what?"

"More like who." Mac paused, clearing her throat. "Earlier, before I went in to tell them Sariel would probably survive, I might have eavesdropped outside the conference room door just a teensy bit."

"So? They never tell us shit about their ops unless we're patching them up or they have medical questions." The other woman pulled a face. "We get answers however we can. Go on."

"The one after Kalen is Sariel's Unseelie father, Malik."

"Is this the same being that encouraged Kalen to free Beryl?"

"They believe so. The bastard is trying to seduce Kalen to his side so he can use his power for whatever terrible reasons."

"If Malik is so strong, why doesn't he just go after Sariel himself? Use his son's power to his advantage, or kill him outright?"

"I don't know, but there must be a reason or he would've done it by now," Mac speculated. "If Sariel knows, he hasn't confided in me."

"Same here." The other woman shook her head. "But you've got more pressing worries. When are you going to tell Kalen about the baby?"

"You're assuming I am."

"Aren't you?"

Looking away, she felt crushed. "I'm not sure. The jerk couldn't get away from me fast enough after our one-night stand, so how do you think he'll react to the news that he's going to have a kid? He'll either hightail it out of Wyoming like the whole Pack is out for his blood, or worse-he'll feel obligated to be with me and take care of our child."

"You don't hold a very high opinion of your man."

"Kalen is not my man," she snapped. "He couldn't have been more clear about that."

"Well, now it's not that simple, if it ever was." Melina sighed and suddenly looked tired, showing an uncharacteristic crack in her usual armor. "Give him a chance to come around."

The anger bled from Mac's body, leaving her drained. Disheartened. "Maybe I will, eventually. But first I have to figure out how I feel about having his-our-child."

"Good point."

Melina shocked her again by closing the distance and pulling her into a warm, comforting embrace. That's all it took for Mac's tears to break free and flow. Her chest felt like it had cracked apart and was bleeding everywhere. The smaller, birdlike woman was, at this moment, the stronger of the two of them.

By far.

* * *

Kalen stumbled out of bed and stood blearily in the middle of the room, trying to get his bearings. From the slant of the sunlight filtering through the blinds, it was late afternoon. Seemed like it should be midnight.

After the f**king stressful morning he'd been through, he'd gone down hard the second his body was sprawled facedown on his bed. Not even Mr. Evil Unseelie had been able to break through his mental exhaustion, if in fact he'd tried.

The radio silence made him uneasy. It wouldn't last long. The bastard was likely crouching in wait, a spider ready to inject his venom at the worst possible moment. God, he despised being the tool of an enemy he didn't have a clue how to fight.

Walking to the bathroom, he felt a thousand years old. After taking care of business, washing his hands and splashing his face to wake up, he headed out in search of dinner. He wasn't very hungry, but it wouldn't help his cause to hole up in his room, isolating himself from the guys. He'd promised them he'd fight Malik, and he meant to do just that.

A couple of minutes later, he walked into the dining room and glanced around. Most of the Pack was there, settled around several tables where the food was served family-style. Mackenzie was present too, sitting with Melina, Jax, his mate, Kira, and Sariel. He hesitated, uncertain, his body flushing with heat at the sight of his beautiful doc.