Territory - Prequel (27 page)

Twenty minutes later, Cindy flew through the back door.  Her eyes were wide and she couldn’t hide her grin as she raced forward and clutched the kitchen island
dramatically
before mouthing, “Oh my God!”  Then she whispered, “I can’t believe you actually did it!”

Dell groaned and shifted his eyes to the empty doorway.  “Where’s Mama?”

“Taking Bea home,” Cindy waved her hand dismissively at the door.  “So tell me what happened,” she was practically bubbling with excitement.  “When you told her did she just say ‘okay’ or did you have to coax her into it?”

Dell titled his head back and pain lanced across his features as he breathed in slowly before dropping his head to eye his sister.  “I haven’t told her.”

Cindy’s contagious grin faltered, then slowly slipped from place
altogether
.  “You?”  She blanched, her tone accusatory, “You haven’t told her?”

“It happened too fast. 
I couldn’t control myself,” Dell punched the fridge leaving a huge indentation, “Fuck!  I didn’t
want
to control myself.”

Cindy’s cheeks puffed when she expelled a pent
up
breath, “Maybe she’ll be okay with it
. 
I mean if she’s here, that’s something right?”  She knew it was bad when Dell dropped to his haunches.

“I
threw her over my shoulder and forced her to come.
”  He didn’t look up.  “She’s upset.  She thinks I freaked out afterward because I thought she’d given me and STD or because I’d gotten her pregnant.”

His sister’s eyes
saucered
, “And you let her believe that?”

“No,” he snapped rising to his full height to pace the kitchen, “I told her it was great.”

Cindy slapped a hand to her forehead, “Are you a fucking idiot?”

Dell stopped pacing to growl at her. 

“I’m humiliated for her and I wasn’t even there!  Jesus Dell, do you have any idea how shitty that sounds?”  She dropped her
voice
in a mimicking baritone, “Yeah, baby thanks for the sex, it was great.”

“I know,” Dell rumbled, “but I couldn’t tell her the truth.”

Cindy’s brows shot up, “Well, you’re going to have to tell her now!”

He began pacing again and frowned at the door, “Where in the hell is Mama?”

“We can’t wait,” Cindy eyed the hallway.  “You can’t leave her in there thinking the worst.”

“I’m not telling her without Mama.”

“Well we can do some damage control while we wait.”

Dell nodded
reluctantly
and followed his sister down the hall to his office.

***

Inside the office, Chloe sat in one of the leather back chairs and wrapped her arms around her waist.  She wished the earth would open up and swallow her. 
I’m so fucking stupid!
  Tears flooded her eyes
and she knew if she held onto them that they’d breach when Dell confronted her and she didn’t want to
cry in front of him, so
alone in his office she wept quietly as she rocked back and forth.  She’d betrayed her family and her own sense of honor by practically begging him to fuck her.  Now,
he
was insulted by the t
ryst, and that was more shaming to her than if he’d have simply left her naked in the woods.

She drew in a deep breath trying to control her emotions, even as another pang of humiliation squeezed her belly.  She sat straight and dropped a hand to her flat abdomen and rubbed, hoping to all
eviate some of the tension that had bundled there on the ride over. 

She stood and walked to the window watching as a car pulled up and Cindy bounded out, all smiles.  She watched Dell’s sister race toward the back door and let her head fall forward to rest on the cool glass. 
Well, if he’s going to treat me like some common diseased whore who is undeserving of his mighty semen, I’m certainly not going to give him the pleasure of seeing how much it hurts.
 

S
awing
in a breath of steely resolve she pushed off the window and straightened her clothes before smoothing a hand over her hair. 
She’d had it pulled back in a tight ponytail but
somewhere between fucking Dell in the middle of the forest and being
thrown over his
shoulder
, she’d lost
the hair tie
and her hair now tumbled loosely around her shoulders.

She straightened her shoulders and wiped at her cheeks when she heard the door click open.
  She watched as Cindy poked her head in searching the room until her eyes locked on Chloe.

“Hey
Chlo
,” she stepped into the room and when Dell entered on her heels, Chloe steeled herself, pulling on a mask of cool res
erve
.

“Cindy, nice to see you again.
  Would you mind giving me a ride home?”

Cindy actually winced and shook her head, “Sorry,
we gotta
talk first.”

“That’s right,” Chloe lifted her chin, “the great and powerful Blackbird clan.  Do
as they say or don’t do at all
right?”  She didn’t blink when Cindy’s expression darkened.

“Watch it Chloe.”

“You
watch it!” Chloe’s brows drew together, “You’ve been nothing but a bitch to me since the first time we met.”
Her eyes shifted to pin Dell with an angry gaze, “You must be soooo delighted that he thinks I’m nothing but a common street whore.”

“Chloe stop!” Dell bit out angrily.

Cindy shook her head, her expression softening, “He doesn’t think that.”

“Sure he does,” Chloe crossed to sit on the edge of his desk crossing her arms over her chest, “
did he tell you how appalled he was at having unprotected sex with me
?
Like I’m some filthy…”
She turned her head feeling her cheeks flame in indignation before she looked back and saw that Cindy was
not
startled by the revelation.  Her eyes shot to Dell as understanding dawned, “So he
did
tell you.”  She jumped up from the desk, “Nice!”  She turned her back on the duo and clamped a hand to her cramping belly.

“It’s not like that Chloe,” Cindy spoke softly.  “He told me it was the most incredible night of his life, but he’s not concerned with
what you could have given him or any child he could have given you, he’s worried about something else.”

With her back still turned she heard Dell growl quietly, “Don’t.”

Cindy continued anyway.  “He’s a shifter Chloe.  The Alpha.”

Concentrating on the pain in her abdomen, she nearly missed the words.  Her head slowly lifted and she stared at the window as they registered.  She spun slowly her eyes huge. 
Oh God, how could I have
forgotten?
  “What does that mean?” 

Cindy looked down and Chloe’s eyes found Dell, her voice rising, “Dell!  What does that mean?”

He opened his mouth but nothing came out as he shook his head.  A pained expression
on his features.  “You asked me once if shifters could create other shifters
.  I told you it was forbidden in most cases.  A mate claiming is the lone exception.”

Chloe fought to keep upright as the knots in her belly tightened.  The room was suddenly too hot.  “Stop fucking around and tell me what’s happening.”

“When a male shifter claims his mate, she…changes.”

“Changes?”
  She looked to Cindy, but the other woman kept her eyes down.

“M
y
seed begins the process.”

“
You’re
what? 
Your seed?
”
  Chloe’s frown faltered as realization dawned.  “Your semen?”  Her voice rose as her body began to tremble.  “
What process Dell?”  There was genuine fear in her tone, “Is something going to happen to me?”  One hand flattened protectively over her belly.

Dell stepped closer and pulled her small hand into his, “It’s already begun Chloe.  You’re changing.
”

There was a slight tremble in her tone, “Changing how?”

Dell pulled her closer, looping an arm around her waist and dipping his head until his forehead rested on hers.  “You’re becoming one of us.  A shifter.”

At first she didn’t move as she absorbed the words, then she jerked her hand free and shoved at his chest.  “No!”
  The word escaped her on a shriek of disbelief.

Dell broke his hold and stepped back, allowing her
some
space. 

Chloe was near hysterical,
“How do you stop it?  Can you stop it?”

He shook his head.

Tears flooded her eyes and she didn’t even bother attempting to restrain them, “Did you know?” Her voice was a whisper, “Did you know this would happen
to me
?”

“Chloe please.
”

“DID YOU KNOW?” She screamed.

He kept his eyes focused on her.  “Yes.”

“Oh God!”
Chloe turned her back to him, one hand still clamped at her belly while the other covered her mouth as a sob broke loose.  She tried to take a step but her knees gave out and before she hit the floor Dell was there.  He had her by the
arms and eased her to the floor, kneeling beside her as she curled her legs under
her
to sit on them.  One small hand snaked out and clutched at his shirt, “You didn’t even ask me.”  Sobs wracked her slight frame as she lifted hurt eyes t
o his, “Dell, you didn’t even. 
You just…”

Wrapping her in his arms he kissed the top of her head and held her tightly, “I know
baby,
I’m sorry.  I should have told you. 
I s
hould have asked
.”

She simply cried against his chest for long moments, letting the
weight of the situation settle onto her. 
“Will it hurt?”

Dell rubbed her back, “I’m not sure. 
It
hasn’t been
done
within our pack during
my lifetime.” 

She bent her head to her hands and her body wracked with her
sobs.

“It’s not that bad,” Dell continued to rub her back soothingly.  “You’ll be impervious to illness, the aging rate will slow.  You’ll be faster and strong
er
than you ever could have imagined.  Your senses will heighten.
  You’ll be better than you were.
”
 

When she looked up at him, an angry sneer twisted her features.  “
Better?”  She pulled free and got to her feet as she scowled at him accusatorily, “BETTER?”  She turned and stalked to the window.  “You did this to me so I’d be better?  Be,” she spun to scowl at him, “more suitable for
you
?”

“It’s not like that Chloe.” Dell took a step toward her, but
Cindy’s hand on his arm prevented him from going to her.

“Has it ever occurred to you,” Chloe’s head dipped low, “that
you
might not be good enough for
me
?”

Dell turned and walked to the door.  “You’re angry.  You
need time.  When Mama gets here
,
”
h
e didn’t get to finish. 

“I don’t need time!”
The wor
ds were hurled at him in
rage.  “I could wait a thousand years and still know that you’re not half the fucking man I need.”

“Chloe, don’t
!
” His words were a warning.

“Don’t what?  Tell the truth?  If I’d have known that I’d be changed against my will, I’d have let Hayden do the fucking job!”  When Dell’s expression darkened, she knew she’d gone
too far, but she didn’t care.  He had taken her life without asking her, and she had nothing left to fight with.

Dell
stalked her,
passing by Cindy who reached up and grabbed his arm.
  He seemed not to notice as he pulled
from Cindy’s
grasp
forcing
her nails
to dig
bloody gashes into his flesh.  In an instant he had Chloe flattened against the wall, his body pressing into h
ers as he peered down at her
lowered head
.  His hands, placed against the wall on either side of her held her caged, trapped.

Chloe
’s
eyes grew wide as he
dropped one
hand to her throat, forcing her face up and her eyes to meet his.  She stilled beneath him.
  Her heart thundered so loudly in her chest, she was certain he’d hear it.

He could scent her
pain
, her
fury
, he
r
fear.  Her fear angered him.  It was his job to protect her
, yet here she was terrified
of him. 
Never again
, he vowed.  This woman,
his
woman would never know fear while in his presence ever again.