Page 16 of Daddy Wolf’s Secret Baby (Fated To The Wolf #10)
15
Zahra
J osiah picked up Jace after school and dropped him off at Zahra’s house.
“Would you like to come in? I’m tired and was going to order pizza.”
He nodded and stepped into the house. “Pizza sounds good.”
Josiah watched as she locked the doors and set the alarm.
“Have you had any trouble?”
She shook her head. “Nope. No one has followed me or come by. I’m not going to relax, though. I still don’t trust him.”
“Good call.”
“Will you play video games with me, Dad?”
“In a second. I want to talk to your mom about something first.”
Zahra’s heart thundered in her chest. Talks were rarely good things.
Jace looked at Josiah and then Zahra and shrugged. “Okay.” He ran into the living room, leaped up, and landed on the couch.
Zahra shook her head. “What have I told you about jumping on the couch?”
“Not to because it messes them up and since I’m unemployed, I’ll be unable to buy a new one.”
“That’s right.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
Josiah laughed.
They went into the kitchen and she pulled out two bottles of Gold Peak Sweet Ice Tea and handed him one.
“What’s up?” she asked, as calmly as she could.
“Do you have a date for the gala?”
“Nope. I was going to go stag.”
“I don’t have a date, either. So, I was thinking that we could go together. Would you go to the gala with me?”
“Sure.”
He smirked. “That doesn’t sound overly enthusiastic.”
“Your invitation wasn’t overly romantic or enthusiastic, either. It sounded more like a business proposal.”
“Maybe I need to work on my delivery.”
Zahra nodded.
“Okay, let me try again.” He reached across the table and linked his fingers with hers. “Oh, Zahra, beautiful mother of my child, would you do me the very great honor of accompanying me to the pack gala?”
She smiled. “That’s a little better. I would love to decorate your arm.”
They both laughed and Jace came in to see what was so funny.
“Your Dad’s a goof. We were just talking about going to the pack gala, and since we’re both going, we may as well go together.”
“Do I have to go?”
“Not if you don’t want to. We’ll find someone for you to hang out with,” Zahra said.
She got on her phone to order the pizza, and Josiah went into the living room to play games with Jace.
Sipping her tea, she thought about the prospect of going to the gala with Josiah. Most of the time, men asked women to go to the gala with them only if they were serious about the relationship. Other than having sex with her, Josiah hadn’t given any indication that they had anything but a friendship, based on their mutual love for Jace.
Quit reading things into situations that aren’t there. All I’m going to do is end up hurting myself. Take the invitation at face value…both of us need a date and it’s convenient.
The doorbell rang and she peeked outside to make sure that it was the delivery person before unlocking the door.
Josiah grinned as Jace opened one of the pizza boxes and put it in front of him. “The whole thing is yours?”
“Yep. Mom always gets me a large for myself. I like Canadian bacon, mushrooms, and pineapple on mine, and I usually eat it all in one sitting.”
Josiah made a face and looked at Zahra. “He gets that from you.”
“I always thought he got that from your side of the family. My family eats normal pizza.”
Jace set down his piece and looked at them very seriously. “We don’t judge other people because of their pizza choices. It’s not nice and is bullying. My pizza doesn’t hurt you at all.”
Zahra clapped. “Nicely done, Jace.”
“I’ve been practicing those lines. I taught them to a kid at school who was being bullied because of his clothes.”
“Nice job,” Josiah said. “I’m proud of you.”
Friday morning, Zahra took the day off. Beth, her best friend Savannah, called Savvy, Taryn, and Olivia met at Isobel’s house. They were going dress shopping together. This would be Taryn’s first time going, but since she was thirteen, her mom wasn’t going to let her out of it.
They had a lot of fun shopping. Zahra couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so much.
Isobel found a burnt orange dress that she instantly fell in love with. “The nice thing is that, thanks to chemo, I don’t have to make sure a dress doesn’t clash with my hair color. I just need to find a scarf that matches this color.”
As if by magic, a hovering sales woman instantly found something that matched the dress perfectly. Zahra found a strapless blue dress with a light shawl to cover her shoulders.
After lunch, the women had their nails done.
“This is the first time I’ve ever had my nails done professionally.”
“That’s obvious,” the technician said, snarkily. “These are a wreck. One of them is jagged and you tend to chew on them.”
“Maybe, sometimes.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Everyone laughed.
Zahra couldn’t remember the last time that she had so much fun. She hated for the day to end, but she could see that her mother was getting tired and Zahra worried about her.
Jace was spending the night with his father, so after dinner with her folks, she walked back to her place.
A cold chill walked down her spine. She was sure she was being watched, although she wasn’t sure if it was a vampire, hunter, or one of Elias’ men. Not wanting the person to know she was aware of their existence, she forced herself to keep walking at a normal pace. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the bear spray. She carried it with her everywhere. Luckily, she was able to cover the distance between the two houses very quickly.
Her hands shook and she struggled to get the key into the lock. She could almost feel an evil shadow swallow her. Finally, the door lock and the deadbolt clicked. She rushed inside and slammed the door shut, locking the door behind her, and quickly disarmed the alarm.
Zahra breathed heavily for a moment. Her heart thundered in her chest and she felt as though there was a knot in her throat.
“Breathe in through the nose to the count of four, hold it to the count of four, breathe out to the count of four, and hold out for the count of four.”
After a couple of minutes, she keyed in the code to let the alarm system know that she was in for the night. She briefly thought of calling Zac. What would I tell him? I had a weird feeling? He would believe me, but unfortunately, the person would be gone by the time he got here. I’m in for the night, so it’s all good.
Jace was excited the next morning. He and all of Conner’s pups were going to be spending the night at Savvy’s and Rory’s place. Rory’s housekeeper, groundskeeper, and cook were considered part of the family and were bear shifters.
“We’re going to stay up all night watching movies, eating popcorn, and drinking soda.”
“Are you now? Aren’t all of them a lot younger than you?”
“No. Savvy’s daughter and son are just a little younger than me.” He made a face at her. “It’s not like we’re going to be up all night watching crazy movies. I think Cat likes The Lion King. I want to watch one of the full-length Scooby-Doo cartoon movies, like the one where they get stranded on the cat island, and its full of zombies.”
“You mean Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island ?”
“Yeah, that one.”
She dropped a very excited Jace off at Savvy’s house. Zahra remembered Rory, who was now a very prestigious attorney and part of the pack. They assured her that Jace was in good hands. As soon as she met Amy, Rosa, and Colby, she knew that Jace would be very well protected.
Zahra took a long time fixing her hair. She wanted to look perfect. Her first struggle was deciding whether to curl it and leave it down or to braid it and wear it like a coronet. She finally decided on the braid.
She put on a dab of makeup and slipped into the blue dress. Zahra was putting in her sapphire earrings that matched the dress when Josiah rang the bell.
“Wow. You look gorgeous.”
Zahra smiled. “Thank you. You clean up pretty well, too.”
Josiah was wearing a black tuxedo and he looked incredible. The tux did nothing to hide his body, and Zahra wished that they could skip the gala.
He either read her mind or her face gave away her thoughts. “We’d better go before we’re no-shows. That wouldn’t look good for either of us.”
Zahra looked around in amazement. It had been ten years since she had been to a gala. The Nightshade Wolf Shifter Pack always created magic for the spring gala. This year, the theme was rose gardens.
The supper was the first time she saw her brother at the head of the table and her father at the foot of the table in a formal setting. Oliva was seated to Zac’s right and her mother was seated to John’s right. Conner sat with his family across from them. Josiah was next to Zahra. This made it easy to enjoy the food and company.
Josiah and Zahra danced to almost every slow song and quite a few of the faster ones. She loved how his arms felt around her. Although there were a few hundred people at the gala, it seemed to Zahra that they were the only two people in the place. Several times she could hear his heart beating even when they weren’t touching. His scent was like a bubble that hovered over her, providing a sense of comfort and even love.
The night ended way too soon. He walked her to her door and she invited him in.
As soon as the doors were locked and the alarm set, she wrapped her arms around him under his tux jacket.
“I’ve been waiting to do this all night long.” Her voice was husky and full of want.
“What else have you wanted?”
She pulled his head down so that their lips met. Zahra pushed her tongue into his mouth. He moaned and wrapped his arms around her.
Grabbing his hand, she led the way into her bedroom. Their clothes disappeared like magic and they fell into the bed together. Explosions erupted inside of her when he embedded his long, thick shaft deep inside of her.
She wrapped her arms around him, digging her fingers into his back. Their bodies moved rhythmically together. His thick cock caressed her inner walls. As he thrust in, she raised her hips to meet him, giving him deeper access to her inner core.
Zahra loved watching his eyes as the fires became hotter and more intense.
“Oh, heavens. Oh, my lord,” she breathed. “Josiah.”
“That’s it, Baby,” he said.
He pulled back and then drove hard and fast inside of her, causing her to let out a sound that was part scream and part squeal.
Zahra was sure she was about to explode from the incredible heat that consumed her. The ecstasy overwhelmed her and she trembled.
“Josiah,” she whispered, as her inner walls pulsated, massaging his cock.
He pulled almost all the way out and thrust hard back inside of her.
“Zahra, baby, yes,” he exclaimed.
He started throbbing and a fountain of his seed shot inside of her.
Josiah fell next to her. She stroked his face and smiled.
“Do you wanna have a sleepover?”