Babies for Nikki (21 page)

“So what about you, Nikki?” he asked finally. “Are you going to find a home here? Will you accept the triad mating you were destined to be a part of?”

Nikki sat back in the chair and faced him calmly. “I don’t know, Drew. I want to,” she told him honestly. “I’ve never had trouble making decisions in my life, but this is a big one. I don’t want to make the wrong choice.”

“Understandable,” Drew said quietly, nodding his head in agreement. “Know this, though, Nikki. Your decision should be made on what is best for all three of you. Don’t push this chance aside lightly.” He looked down at her, smiling sadly. “Somehow everything will work out. The Fates wouldn’t have chosen you for Alex and Butler if it wasn’t going to be the best future for all three of you.”

Nikki looked down at her hands, realizing that she was clutching them tightly in her lap. She knew what she wanted. She wanted to be with Alex and Butler for the rest of her life. Laurie had told her that her feelings would come hard and fast, but it was still scary to feel so much and care so deeply so quickly. She wished Laurie was around to discuss this with her.

I swear I will kick her ass when she comes back!

“I know you hold a nursing position at Denver Memorial Hospital,” Drew’s voice interrupted her silent ranting. “If you decide to stay here and don’t want to make the commute to work, I could use you around here. Carter helps when he’s not on duty, but I really do need someone here with me on a more regular basis.”

“You take care of wolf shifters!” Nikki blurted out. “They shift and heal. You don’t have much to keep you busy.”

Drew smiled and turned to walk back around his desk to take his seat. “True,” he admitted, “but we have several humans here, including one of my fathers, and there are many women who have become pregnant within the past few months. Now that Jace and Jackson have mated, there will be more matings and more pregnancies.”

Nikki laughed out loud. “What are they, fertility gods?”

Drew smiled slowly. “Actually, in a way, they are,” he admitted. “Pack history shows that when the alpha bonds in a triad mating, something happens to the rest of the pack. It’s as if every member’s fate falls into place and triad matings are formed throughout the remaining non-bonded members of the pack. I don’t really understand why, but I’m trying to conduct scientific research on it. I’ve taken blood samples of all of our pack members and am comparing them to see if I can figure out the anomaly that occurs in single triad partners in comparison to bonded triad mates. I even have one new member of our pack who has no triad partner and is unable to shift. Mitchell just might be the key I need to understand all of this. He’s a good cub, and Carter and I have taken him under our protection.” He turned to face Nikki and smiled. “I could use a lab technician to help me with the research and an experienced nurse to help with the influx of babies we’re going to be delivering—including your babies, Nikki.”

Nikki’s smile left her face as she remembered her vision. Her heart sped up at the thought of having twins.

“I have a lot to think about,” she said finally as she stood and walked toward the door. “Thanks for your time, Drew.”

“Any time,” he told her as he walked toward the door, holding it open for her to pass through, and following her out onto the porch. “Just think about what I said. Don’t throw away your chance for happiness because you’re afraid. You’ll regret it if you do. It will haunt you every waking moment, and every night will be filled with dreams of the life you gave up on.”

Nikki turned and faced him silently. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him to her tightly. “Thanks,” she whispered. “I hope you and Carter can get your mate back.”

She stepped away and walked down the porch steps, her heart heavy as she thought about Drew and Carter’s sacrifice for their lost mate. As she put distance between her and the medical office, all she could think about was the sadness that surrounded both Drew and Carter. Could she live with herself if her decision made Butler and Alex feel that same loss for the rest of their lives?

* * * *

Nikki took the stairs two at a time as she ran up the three flights to the suite that belonged to Alex and Butler. Closing the door behind her, she walked toward the window and looked out across the open expanse of land that was spread out before her. She felt peace and contentment wash over her as she surveyed the beauty of the ranch. She didn’t know how long she stood there deep in thought, but it must have been a while because the rumbling of her stomach brought her back to the present with the very real need for food.

The door to the suite opened, and she smiled as she saw Alex and Butler walk in, closing the door behind them. She openly ogled them as they made their way toward her.

“Hi,” she whispered, her voice breathy as she tried to pull her lust back under control.

“Hi, yourself,” Butler answered, grinning as he reached out to pull her into his arms. “You smell like Doc,” he said suddenly.

“Why do you smell like Doc?” Alex questioned as he leaned in and breathed in deeply against her shoulder.

“Because I hugged him.”

“You what?” Alex demanded. His voice was deep and angry, and his eyes flashed a golden color, showing that his wolf was demanding to be released.

Nikki pushed herself out of Butler’s arms and stood a foot away from both men. Her anger hit her instantly. “I hugged him,” she repeated, ignoring the warning growls that emanated from both men. “And don’t get all growly on me! I’m a hugger, and I’ll hug who I damn well please so back the hell off!”

“You will take a shower, woman, and get rid of his scent.” Alex’s voice was demanding as he stood before her. “You will carry no man’s scent except ours, Mate,” he told her, stepping toward her and taking her in his arms and holding her tightly against his chest.

Butler plastered himself against her back and rubbed his face against her hair. “And you will cease your hugging of other men,” he told her angrily.

Nikki twisted her body, breaking their hold and pushing herself out of their arms. Her light blue eyes flashed with barely controlled fury. She took two steps back and raised her hands to stop them from following her.

“Don’t touch me.”

Both men froze. Their anger and jealously were eating them up, and their wolves were demanding they finally claim her as their mate.

“You will not make me change who I am,” she insisted. “I hug people. Get over it.”

“Nikki,” Alex interrupted her. “You belong to us. No other man should ever touch you. And you should never touch any other man.”

Nikki snorted in disgust. “Are you kidding me? Geez, it’s not as if I had wild sex with the man!”

Both men growled and took a step toward her. She grabbed a pillow from the bed and lashed out at them without thinking, hitting both men square in the chest. The action stunned them into silence, and they looked at her in disbelief.

“I belong to myself. Get that through your thick skulls. I did not, nor will I ever, cheat. I am a one-man woman, well a two-man woman now, but that can certainly change. If you both want a relationship with me you need to trust me. You need to accept my nature. And my nature is to be a hugger. I hugged Drew. He was helpful in explaining facts about triad matings, and I feel like we’re already friends. I hugged him good-bye and thanked him for his help. I also hugged him because my heart broke for him because he was so sad. I wanted to comfort him. I would have hugged Carter, too, if he were still there with us. Deal with it. I will not apologize for caring about people. And I will
not
stop hugging people that I want to hug. Now leave me the hell alone before I hit you with something a little harder than a pillow because goodness knows you both deserve it.”

Both men looked at her silently, knowing deep down that she was right. They had overreacted. She had every right to get angry. The man in each of them knew they were wrong, but their inner wolves were snapping angrily at the frustration of knowing their mate would continue to touch other men—even if it was an innocent hug. It took all of their control to hold back their beasts and calm themselves. It would serve no purpose to lose control and risk losing the one woman who held their future happiness in her heart.

They saw the fire in Nikki’s beautiful blue eyes and knew she would fight them with everything she was to retain what was inherent to her nature. If they were to be honest with themselves, they knew they wouldn’t want her to be anything other than what she was. Nodding silently, they turned as one and left the room, closing the door behind them without a word.

“Boy, we really screwed up,” Alex said miserably as they walked down the stairs, away from the one person they wanted to be with.

“Well, not really,” Butler told him, laughing softly as he clapped him on the back.

Alex turned to him and looked at his triad partner as if he had lost his mind. “What the hell are you talking about? She’s so pissed at us we’ll never be able to get her to agree to our mating now.”

Butler smiled as he led them out through the back door of the ranch home. “She just admitted to us that she’s a two-man woman. That means she’s accepted us.”

Alex stopped and looked at him, a smile slowly crossing his face. “It does, doesn’t it,” he said softly, realizing that Butler was correct.

Butler nodded. “Yup, but she’s still pissed, and we have some serious apologizing to do.”

Alex turned and walked toward the single men’s cabin. They needed to check in with Lucian and Cole and see how Mitchell was doing. Most importantly, they would have to think about how to get back into Nikki’s good graces.

“I still don’t like that she hugged Doc,” Alex finally grumbled as they entered the large dormitory style cabin.

“Neither do I,” Butler agreed. “But we don’t want her to change for us. We love her just the way she is.”

* * * *

Nikki seethed silently as she sat on the bed. It had been nearly half an hour since the men had left the room, but she was still angry. She refused to change who she was just to appease their jealousy. They should trust her. They should know she would be faithful.

“Stupid jerks!” she muttered. “Stupid chauvinistic jerks!”

There was a light knock on the door, and she jumped to her feet, picking up two pillows. If they thought she was going to cave and just allow them back into the room without resolving this trust issue, they were going to soon learn that she was a force to be reckoned with!

As the door opened she hauled back and flung both pillows at it, catching the person smack in the face and chest. The muffled grunt of surprise escaped the person before the fluffy weapons dropped to the floor, revealing a surprised Laurie at the doorway entrance.

“Hello to you, too, Nikki!” Laurie said dryly, laughing as she faced her best friend. “It’s good to see you’re back to your old self.”

“Laurie!” Nikki squealed, rushing to her friend and embracing her, hugging her tightly as she spun her in a circle.

Laurie laughed with total enjoyment as Nikki squeezed her tightly against her. “You’re making me dizzy. Stop before I puke!”

Nikki stopped immediately and held her best friend at arm’s length. “I am so going to kick your ass. Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea how worried we all were about you?”

Laurie was immediately contrite. “I know. I’m sorry. I had to go to Denver. Mia was in a car accident. Patrick ran her off the road.” Emotion choked her as she looked at her best friend. “He tried to kill her, Nikki.”

Nikki growled at the mention of Laurie’s ex. How she hated that man. He had done nothing but abuse and harass Laurie and her children Mia and Dean ever since she could remember. Nikki tried her best to protect them, but even
she
knew she couldn’t fight him. His obsession with Laurie bordered on insanity. She had no doubt in her mind that Patrick was a loose cannon. His threat to Laurie and her children was very real, and that concerned all of them.

Carefully guiding Laurie to the large couch, she waited for her to sit then sat beside her, holding her hand gently.

“Is Mia okay?” Nikki whispered worriedly.

“She’s injured from the accident, but she’s getting better. She and Dean will be here shortly. Jace and Jackson want them to live here with us. They want my kids to be their kids.”

Nikki’s opinion of Jace and Jackson just went up one thousand percent. “I think I like your mates,” she told Laurie honestly.

Laurie smiled, her eyes bright with happiness. “I do, too.” She laughed and brushed aside her worry, leaning back against the softness of the couch. “In fact, I love them. I’m going to stay here with them. I know I’ll be happy spending the rest of my life with them.”

Nikki smiled at her friend. It was as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew that Laurie had finally found the love she deserved. From what she had observed so far, she could tell that Jace and Jackson loved Laurie deeply and would protect her and her children from any threat that came their way.

“I think you’re right, Laurie,” she told her quietly. “You’ve made the right choice, honey. You were meant to be here with your men. From what I’ve learned about this pack’s triad matings over the last few days, I’ve come to realize that there is just no way to deny what’s destined to be.”