Page 17

17

BOAZ

“Stop what you’re doing!”

Too loud , my wolf complained.

My mate froze as he was reaching inside a kitchen cupboard for a mug. “What?” he screeched and ducked, grabbing a frying pan as he lowered himself to the ground. “Who? Where?” He gripped the pan’s handle as if he was going to bash someone with it.

Shit! I’d scared Keane, and I was supposed to be helping and protecting him. I sank onto the floor beside him and with one hand removed the pan while I draped the other around his shoulders.

“I didn’t want you to strain yourself. Tell me when you need something from a high shelf.”

“That’s it?” His voice was at screech level 10. “All of that was about a mug?” He put a hand to his chest. “My heart is racing and hurdling over fences, thinking someone is attacking us.”

“I’m so sorry, Kitten.”

He patted my arm and sighed. “I know. Now help me up because I need my one coffee a day.”

I settled him on the couch and made the coffee. When I handed it to him, I asked if he had any plans for the day. If he was leaving the house, I’d have to tell Josh to cover for me at work. But Alpha would notice if I was missing and demand an explanation. Alpha’s generation of shifters rarely took a day off, and they didn’t skip work when their mate was pregnant.

“Not much, just working from home.”

After the fiasco of Keane working at the nightclub, he’d found a work-from-home marketing position.

“Lunch is in the fridge, and there’s a post-it note with how many minutes to put it in the microwave.” I hadn’t cooked, but I’d ordered in and researched online how long it’d need to be heated. No way was I having my mate cooking near an open flame on the gas cooktop. Way too dangerous, especially with me at pack headquarters.

“I think I’ll manage.” My mate rolled his eyes but pulled me in for a kiss before I headed out.

“Call if you need anything.”

“I will.” He waved me away and took out his laptop.

As soon as I got in the car, I checked the app that was linked to a camera I’d installed in the living room. There was another in the bedroom, and I’d add a third in the nursery before the baby arrived.

And I’d installed a tracing app on his phone.

Lake told me I should have informed Keane about the cameras, and he was right, but if I did, he’d insist I remove them. Technically, I had told my mate about the cameras and the tracking app, but he’d been almost asleep. But I’d never taken notice of all the dangers in a home until my mate got pregnant. He might slip in the shower or trip over a mat. He might bang his head on a cupboard or fall down the stairs. Gods, how did anyone survive living in a two-story house?

Even though shifters’ injuries were usually minor and we could repair them thanks to our beasts—though not the drug-related ones our kind had suffered in the night club poisonings—Keane was pregnant, and I worried that him ingesting that drug twice would have a long-term effect on him and the baby.

After I parked the car at headquarters and before I got out, I checked the app. All good. My mate was still on the sofa tapping at the computer keyboard. But wait, was that a full cup of coffee on the table? I peered at the grainy image. He’d drunk half before I left the house, so this had to be a second one.

The doctor had said one a day while pregnant. Maybe I should rush home, but my beast settled my nerves, saying Keane would never harm our baby. He was right. My mate adored the little one in his belly, even though he wasn’t showing yet.

I breathed in deeply before setting foot in the office. The next hour was a whirlwind of activity. Not the killing kind but paperwork and planning. The boring kind. The role of Alpha included meetings, handshaking, issuing orders, reams of paperwork, and an occasional war.

Did I really want the job? Oh yeah, I did, and Keane would be an excellent Alpha Omega.

It was lunch time before I got a break and checked the app. But my mate was neither in the living room or the bedroom. Maybe he was on the toilet? I waited, but he didn’t appear. He must be sick and I had to get home, but when I called, he answered straight away.

“Hi.” There was a lot of background noise, so he either was watching TV or he was out. Where were the bodyguards? They were supposed to contact me if he left the house. We’d come to an agreement about security during his pregnancy, though he still hated having bodyguards hovering.

There were three missed calls on the phone. Damn.

“Where are you?”

“Shopping.”

My heart was beating so loud Keane might be able to hear it. “And the bodyguards?”

“I told them to take their lunch break. They aren’t needed when I’m choosing avocados or waiting in line at the bakery.”

Gods, not the bakery my former lover owned. Eeek!

“You can’t eat bread, cake, buns or pies. They’re bad for pregnant omegas.”

“Wait.” He must have put the phone down or placed it against his chest because I could only just pick up his muffled words. And he was talking to a very familiar voice.

Damn, he was going to hear about my escapades with the baker. I dreaded the tales my ex lover was regaling him with.

“What did you say about not eating bread?”

“Oh, ummm, that bakery isn’t very good.

“How do you know which bakery I’m at?”

Well, shit. I’d been so focused on protecting my mate, I’d revealed I was tracking him.

“Ummm…”

“Are you following me?” His voice wasn’t at Level 10 but it was rising.

“Following. That’s an interesting word. Technically no to following.”

“Boaz!” Now he’d lowered his tone, and I was freaking out.

“Yes,” I squeaked.

“Tell me.”

Damn. I confessed, and my mate was silent as I fumbled and tripped over words trying to explain how I wanted to protect him.

“Home, now!” He ended the call, and I took the elevator to the parking garage. I was in deep doo-doo, and I considered dawdling home. But my phone beeped with a one-word text.

Now!

Shit.

Keane arrived at the same time as me, and he parked in the driveway. He stormed into the house, dumping the bags of groceries on the island, and headed into our bedroom.

I followed behind, my head down. The word “meek” seemed appropriate, but I’d never exhibited that type of behavior previously.

“What the hell, Boaz? I’m your mate, the father of your child, not someone you’re hoping to, what? Kill? Imprison? Banish?

I fell to my knees on the carpet and tried to take my mate’s hand, but he wasn’t having it.

“I am you mate, your equal.”

“Yes.” How could he think otherwise?

My mate tossed his phone at me, and instead of ducking, I let it whack me on the forehead.

“Take it off and whatever else you have on your phone.”

I flicked my gaze toward the camera, hidden in the clock.

“You didn’t.” Keane leaped off the bed and stomped on the clock. He got under the covers and pulled them over his head. His body shook with loud sobs, and it was my fault.

“May I get under there with you?”

“No, go away.”

I sat cross-legged on the floor until my mate stopped crying, and he flipped off the covers.

“Still here?”

“I made a huge mistake, and I’m an asshat, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes.” Keane sat up and folded his arms. “You invaded my privacy.”

Privacy? Growing up in a pack and with five brothers, there was none of that.

“I was worried something might happen to you.”

“Something might.”

Whoa! My eyes filled with tears, but I blinked them away.

“Life is shit sometimes, but we take precautions and do the best we can.” Keane patted the bed, and I sat beside him.

“But that’s not good enough. We have bodyguards, cameras, and guns.”

“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not the life I want to live. I accept your lifestyle, but I can’t live in a prison.”

“Bodyguards?”

“Maybe, but not all the time. If I’m out with friends at night.”

“At night?” I flipped back onto a pillow. My heart sped up, and my shallow breathing punctuated the silence in the room.

“It’s called having a life, Boaz.”

The pack and family had been my life, but now it was expanding. I’d have to learn new skills.

“Okay, I’m cool with that.” I’d have to be.

Keane kissed my cheek. “It must be hard letting go, but you’re opening yourself up to possibilities.”

I attempted a smile.

“You’ll get used to it. It’s like a roller coaster.”

I hated rides, they made me sick to my stomach, but I’d try.

“Now about you and the baker.”

“What?” I pulled the covers over my head. “Never met the man.”