Page 14 of Daddy Wolf’s Secret Baby (Fated To The Wolf #10)

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Zahra

Z ahra drove home, looking in her rearview mirror more than she watched the road. It had been a few days since she had seen any sign of Elias or his men. She wanted to believe it was because Callie’s treatment of Dwayne made Elias decide she wasn’t worth it, but she had a sneaking suspicion that wasn’t the case. They were just trying to figure out another tactic.

She smiled as she thought of Dwayne, presenting himself to Elias with his reddened and blistered skin. She could almost hear him say, “Damn bitch has a fire-breathing dragon on call. There’s no way that we can compete with that.” Then, Elias would reply, “Figure it out.”

Heaving a huge sigh of relief when she pulled into her garage, she wondered whether she ran any stop signs or red lights on the way home. She didn’t remember any of the drive since the weird scene had flashed through her mind like some weird dream.

The house was empty without Jace. Even though he would normally be in bed by now, she could always feel his presence. Although this hadn’t ever been Josiah’s home, it also felt empty without him.

She quickly texted him. Home safe. Thanks for everything.

Sweet dreams.

The hot water felt good. Her mind wandered back to the evening.

“What in the hell am I doing?”

Josiah’s scent filled the shower as she thought about how amazing he made her body feel. More than that, while they were having sex, it seemed to uplift her soul. She felt complete, as though Josiah was the missing piece of her.

Part of her had hoped that when she came back to Angel’s Creek, she would realize that what she had felt for him all those years was nothing more than the memory of a young girl’s crush. It turned out that it wasn’t. If anything, it had intensified.

“Am I just setting myself up for a heartache? He’s obviously attracted to me and I think he cares about me a little, but that doesn’t mean there’s a future for us beyond co-parenting Jace.”

John called just as Zahra stumbled into the kitchen for some coffee.

“Your mom has had a little bit of an issue. You know she wasn’t herself the other day. She had the flu. Between that and the chemo, she got extremely sick, which made her dangerously dehydrated. She had a high fever this morning, a headache, and was dizzy. I called the clan doctor who rushed over. He gave me some special tea to make for her that would help. It has herbs, honey, and a few other ingredients.”

“I’ll be right over,” Zahra said, instantly awake. “I just need to get dressed.”

“I’ll have coffee and breakfast waiting.”

Feeling a little bit shamed because her mother’s health was the ultimate push that brought her back to Angel’s Creek and not any possibility of romance with Josiah, Zahra quickly pulled on her jeans and a sweatshirt, made sure to set the alarm and lock the door and sprinted over to her parents’ house.

John was standing on the porch waiting for her. He grinned. “I bet your mother that you would be here in less than five minutes. She said ten. I won.”

Zahra shook her head. “It’s just like you to bet on me, turkeys.” Then, in a more serious tone, she asked, “How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine. The doc gave her something to calm her stomach, as well as to rehydrate her. She’s actually a little annoyed that I called you and worried you.”

“I would have been extremely upset if you hadn’t called me.”

“Tell her that.”

“I will.”

Zahra walked in to find her mother lying on the couch. She was extremely pale and her eyes looked like they had sunk into her skull.

“Mom, what am I going to do with you?”

“Well, you could make sure I have enough yarn to crochet everyone a blanket for Christmas, lots of books to read, and some chocolate-covered cherry cookies.”

“You have a room with walls lined with yarn and another room that has more books than the public library. Besides, Christmas isn’t for another nine months.”

“It takes a long time to crochet a blanket. So, what about the chocolate-covered cherry cookies?”

“Jace was asking for some as well. If Dad will buy the ingredients I need, I’ll make you some.”

“Is he with Josiah?”

“Yeah. He wanted to spend the night there. That reminds me, I need to text him.”

Zahra sent Josiah a text asking him if he could bring Jace by her parents’ house when he was ready.

I was thinking of breakfast, taking him for a run, and then lunch with my folks first.

She smiled as her thumbs sped over the phone’s keyboard. Sounds like a plan. Have fun.

“He’s shaping up to be a pretty good father, isn’t he?” Isobel asked.

Zahra nodded. “He is. Jace loves him and enjoys hanging out with him.”

“Excellent. I figured that would be the case. Your dad and I have watched Josiah grow up since he was in diapers, and he’s turned out to be a good man.” Isobel looked at her knowingly. “What about you and Josiah?”

Zahra shrugged. “You know that I’ve never stopped having feelings for him. We have fun hanging out together, even though the focus is on Jace.”

“You’re sleeping with him.”

“Mom,” Zahra exclaimed, aghast, blushing all the way to the roots of her hair.

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me. I’m not a ninny.”

“We might have.”

“Might have, my butt. Just be careful with your heart,” she said. “Now, what’s this about Elias, and why haven’t you told your Dad and me about it?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. How did you find out?”

“It’s hard not to notice a giant dragon landing in someone’s yard two doors down. I asked Zac about it and he tried to downplay the situation, but I’m not a mama and wasn’t the Luna of the pack for all those years for nothing.”

Zahra explained the situation.

“Maybe you should move in with us, just for a short while.”

“Mom, I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I’m not going to move in just because someone’s being a jerk. Besides, I wouldn’t be locked into an ivory tower so no scary bad men could get at me. If they want to come after me, they will do it when I’m at work, picking up Jace, shopping, or whatever.”

“True, but I don’t like it.”

She spent the afternoon making a couple batches of the cookies that everyone seemed so fond of. Josiah brought Jace by and ate at least six of them.

“These are great. You should make these and sell them on the side of the road. You’d get rich.”

“No, I wouldn’t. You and my family would have them eaten as quickly as I can take them out of the oven.”

“That would put a dent in your profits,” he replied.

She wrapped up some cookies for Josiah and Jace, hugged her parents, and walked back to her place. Josiah was vigilant as they walked, looking at every single vehicle parked on the street and searching for anyone who might be lurking about.

As soon as she unlocked the house and tapped in her security code, he went from room to room, making sure no one was lurking about in closets or under the bed.

“Thank you, but I did set my alarm.”

“You can never be too careful,” he said. “Never underestimate the enemy.”

Zahra just smiled at him.

Jace grabbed a couple of cookies and headed into the living room to play his game until dinner. Josiah and Zahra sat in the kitchen at the table.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Josiah said.

Zahra’s heart stopped. She half hoped and was half afraid that he wanted to talk about them and their relationship.

“I didn’t want to worry you, because you have enough on your plate, but I wanted to warn you to be careful when you take Jace for a run on the mountain.”

Her heart sank. This wasn’t what she hoped he would say. She carefully schooled her face to make sure that her disappointment didn’t show.

“Why is that?”

“Two reasons, besides Elias. One is that there is a nest of rogue vampires that are in the area. They’ve killed a mundane human and a deer shifter so far. They haven’t struck in a few days and some people think they’ve moved on, but that hasn’t been their pattern, so far. Normally, they stay in the area until they claim at least ten lives. Unless there are several people they’ve hit and we haven’t found, they aren’t close to hitting that number yet.”

“Great,” Zahra said. “That’s all we need.”

“As you know, when there are supernatural creatures, especially those behaving badly, hunters aren’t far behind.”

Zahra hung her head and shook it. Elias, rogue vamps, and hunters.

Josiah sensed that she was starting to feel a little overwhelmed. He touched her shoulder comfortingly and said, “Don’t worry. We’re all looking for the vampires and we will find them. As for the hunters and Elias, your brothers and I will make sure you’re safe.”

A flash of independence flared inside of her. She looked at him. “Don’t discount me, either. I can take care of Jace and me.”

He grinned at her. “I know you can. I need to head out. I’ll talk to you soon.”

She wanted to ask him about their relationship and whether there was a future for the two of them, but the words wouldn’t form. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure whether she could handle being rejected by him twice.