Page 23 of Daddy Wolf’s Secret Baby (Fated To The Wolf #10)

22

Josiah

L ogan sat a cup of coffee on the table and smiled at Josiah. “Don’t worry. I dumped out that swill your mother made this morning and made a fresh batch.”

“I have no idea how you’ve managed to stay alive all these years. I love Mom, but her cooking is awful.”

“I just keep reminding myself that I love her, she’s my wife, and I have to make her happy by eating her food. I eat a little bit and then go out somewhere.”

Josiah laughed.

Logan looked at his son speculatively. “What about you and Zahra?”

“We’ve been spending a lot of time together, as a family, and time with just me and her. I care about her a great deal.”

His father raised his eyebrows. “Care about her a great deal?” he echoed.

“Okay, so I love her. She is an amazing mother and a terrific woman.”

“When are you going to ask her to go through the mating ceremony with you?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, but I’m a little terrified about jumping into a situation,” Josiah admitted.

“You, terrified? I’ve never known you to be afraid of anything since you could walk.”

Josiah laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I know, it sounds stupid.”

“What about her scent?”

“Her scent has stayed with me since that first night we had sex and she conceived Jace. It was why the romance with Madison never worked out. All I could think about was Zahra.”

“She’s your fated mate. You need to stop being an idiot and just thinking about asking her to go through the mating ceremony with you and actually ask her.”

He grinned. “I’m working on it. Right now, I’ve been a little preoccupied with other things.”

“Vampires and hunters.”

“Yes, for starters. Plus, the Alpha from a wolf shifter pack in the St. Theresa area has decided that Zahra is going to be his Luna. He has sent his goons to harass her. He’s threatened Jace, and I’m pretty sure he’s in town. Someone visited Jace at his school and gave him a note to give to her, along with a diamond right. The jeweler identified the ring as one of his.”

Logan’s eyes grew hard and the vein on the side of his neck started throbbing. He was as angry as Josiah felt. “He had someone give it to Jace at his school to prove they can get to him there and she can’t do anything to protect him.”

Josiah nodded. “Exactly.”

“If they hurt one hair on either of their heads, I will destroy them,” Logan said. “He is my grandchild and she is my daughter, now.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been staying the night to protect them. Elias left his mark on her house this morning.”

“Does the man have a death wish?”

Josiah growled. “It would seem so. Zac and Conner are furious, and Callie has already steam-roasted one of Elias’ goons. I’m sure she’d be delighted to do it again.”

Logan laughed. “I bet. She is one tough woman, and I wouldn’t go toe to toe with her in human form.”

Josiah took a sip of coffee and then felt his phone buzz in his pocket. “Hello.”

“Josiah, can you pick Jace up from school?” Her voice was shaking and Josiah instantly knew something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?”

White hot fury exploded inside of him when she described her encounter. “Go home. I’ll bring Jace to you.”

“What happened?”

Josiah explained the situation as he ran for the door.

“Meet your woman at her house. I’ll pick up Jace. I’m on the approved list,” Logan said. “I’ll bring him to her place.”

He was waiting in front of her house when she drove up the street, opened her garage door, and, pulled in. She jumped out of her car and ran toward him. He saw the panic flash on her face when she realized Jace wasn’t with him.

“Dad is getting him. I was talking to him when your call came in. He wanted me to be here when you got home to make sure you were safe. Dad is furious and said that he would kill anyone who hurt you or Jace.”

She flashed a weak smile. They walked into the garage and she closed the door behind them. Josiah could feel someone’s eyes burning into his back.

“We will find Elias and we will take him out,” he promised through gritted teeth.

“I’m scared. Men like him don’t fight fair. He’s the kind of person who will attack you when you’re sleeping.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be very careful, just as you promised to.”

“I feel better now. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to attack me in a public place during the day when there are witnesses. I’m in a locked house at night, usually with you. I’ll just stay at the office until it’s time to pick up Jace and then we’ll go straight home. We’ll be locked in the house until you get here.”

Josiah didn’t like that idea but didn’t have anything better, short of assigning bodyguards to constantly watch over Jace and Zahra. He was pretty sure if he suggested it, her answer would be a big, resounding, “no.”

I hope that son of a bitch comes after me like a man. I will finish him and the Dark Claw Wolf Shifter Pack will be searching for a new Alpha.

The doorbell rang and Zahra ran to the peephole, then threw open the door.

“Thank you, Sir, for bringing him home.”

Logan stepped inside and she locked the door behind him. He followed them into the kitchen.

“It’s my pleasure. We had a nice conversation on the way over here about how grizzly bears and polar bears can mate and have offspring, but we weren’t sure how they would hook up, since polar bears live in the arctic areas and grizzlies don’t.”

Zahra laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Elias came to see me today.”

Jace clenched his hands and his face turned red. “I’ll take care of you. He won’t touch you.”

Zahra hugged him. “I know you will, Son. Why don’t you go watch television? I’ll make dinner really quick. Mr. Findley, can you stay for dinner?”

“Please, call me Logan. I’d love to stay. Let me call Nevaeh and tell her.”

The five of them talked about Jace’s school and neutral topics during dinner. Then, Jace challenged them to a game of Uno, which Logan won.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you next time, Grandpa,” Jace said in his meanest fake voice.

Logan grinned at him. “Bring it, Young Apprentice. You have a lot to learn about the game of cards.”

“Oh, brother,” Nevaeh said.

Zahra locked the door and set the alarm after they left. Josiah saw her scan the darkness and then shiver.

“I know they’re out there, somewhere.”

He pulled her close to him and said, “Maybe. But they aren’t in here. You’re the one who said you aren’t going to let them dictate your life, so let’s enjoy ourselves.”

Jace was sitting on the couch watching Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. He turned it off when they came in.

“Dad, I was wondering what you do. Uncle Zac is the Alpha and he’s the leader. You’re the sigma. What does that mean?”

“I have a lot of important roles. One is that I’m a mediator or a peacekeeper. Whenever people in the pack have an argument that they can’t resolve themselves, I help them find a solution.”

“Sounds cool. I do that sometimes. What else?”

“I do a lot of scouting and tracking. I gather information about any kind of threats and find resources that we can use.”

Jace mulled that over. “What kind of resources?”

“It might be food. Sometimes we like venison or even bear. I make sure that when we do hunt, we are only hunting purebred animals so we don’t hurt any shifters.”

“Plus, that would be cannibalism and we aren’t Hannibal Lector or Alfred Packer.”

Josiah looked startled. “How do you know about them?”

“Books and television. That’s how I find out about everything.”

Grinning, Josiah said, “I should have known.”

“What else does a sigma do?”

“Sometimes I’m a mentor for some of the younger pack members. I help out when they have a problem or offer guidance when it’s needed. I also speak up for the younger pack members and anyone else who feels as though they need an advocate. It’s important to your uncle that everyone’s voice is heard. His father was the same way when he was alpha.”

“What role will I have when I get older?”

Josiah shrugged. “I don’t know. That will depend on Uncle Zac if he’s still Alpha and then your cousin when he becomes Alpha. The Alphas pick who they want to help them be leaders.”

“Being the Alpha is like being the king or president of a country,” Jace said.

“You’re absolutely right.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I have an important role like you. I want to be a medical examiner and it would be hard to do both.”

“Yes, it would. I keep pretty busy. There’s always someone who has a problem and needs my help.”

Jace yawned and Zahra told him to jump into the shower.

“I don’t stink. We could just go into my room and we could read together.”

“Sir, I believe your mother told you to shower. Scoot.”

Jace sighed and dragged his feet as he walked toward the bathroom.

“Thanks for the backup.”

Josiah kissed her cheek. “That’s what partners do.”

Jace took the quickest shower known to mankind and was out of the bathroom within ten minutes declaring that his teeth were brushed and he was all clean.

The three of them went to his room and read a couple of chapters from the book.

“We’re almost done. We could keep reading.”

“No. You have school tomorrow and need to get some rest.”

He heaved an exaggerated sigh. Zahra laughed and kissed his cheek. Josiah gave him a fist bump and they started to close the door behind them.

“You know, Dad, I like having you here every night. It’s like we’re a real family.”

Josiah’s heart filled with warmth. “Me, too, Buddy.” He looked at Zahra. “Trying to get out of a shower and avoiding sleep. He’s a shyster, isn’t he?”

Zahra grinned. “He has his moments. Jace must have gotten that from your side of the family.”

“I don’t think so. Have you met your brothers?”

“A time or two.”

They made sure the doors and windows were locked and the alarm was set before heading to her bedroom.

She got undressed and turned on the hot shower. “There’s room for two in here.”

He quickly undressed and stepped into the shower. He reached for her, his hands roaming all over her wet body.

Zahra moaned when his hands moved over her nipples. He rubbed one of them with his thumb while his other hand trailed down between her legs.

“Seems you are ready for me.”

“Always.”

He lifted her up and braced her back against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist and slid down until his cock was firmly embedded inside of her.

The hot water cascaded over their bodies as he moved in and out of her. Zahra’s hot, wet, silky walls caressed his cock. She was so tight.

Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she moaned. An inferno exploded inside of him as her tight pussy wrapped around him.

“Come for me, Baby,” he whispered, desperately trying to hold back until she orgasmed.

She closed her eyes and cried out his name as she pulsated around his shaft. He couldn’t hold back any longer. His cock began to throb, and he shot a load of his seed deep inside of her.

They were still for a few minutes, and then he slowly lowered her down.

“I’m not sure I can stand after that.”

“I know. I’m that good, huh?” he said.

Giggling, she said, “You’re something.”

“Well, now I can mark the shower off my list.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You have a list of places you want to have sex?”

“Absolutely. A very, very long list, so we will have to have sex often to make sure we get to each place.”

Zahra laughed. They quickly showered and dried off in large, soft bath towels.

“At least we won’t have to change the sheets this time,” Josiah said.

“True enough.”

She used the blow dryer on her hair and then slid between the sheets. He pulled her close to him.

Josiah smiled when he thought about what Jace said. He liked being with Jace and Zahra every night. He liked the idea of them being a real family.

Her scent has stayed with me throughout the years. I love her and she loves me back. She’s my fated mate. It’s time to ask her to go through the mating ceremony with me.

With that thought, he fell asleep with a smile.