Page 42 of A Surprise Baby for the Wolf Shifter

With my wolf in control, the environment around me blended into a blur of color rushing past me. I wove between the trees until I reached the outskirts of town and found my hidden stash of clothes. I put them on and headed for the bar I usually met Guy at.

As I walked in, I spotted him instantly and made my way to him. He looked at me somewhat surprised as I sat in the seat next to his. He swiveled to face me.

“What’s eating you?” he asked.

“Women,” I muttered and took the free shot sitting in front of him and winced. Whiskey. I wasn’t much for the hard stuff, but once the initial bite of the liquid wore off, I wanted more.

Getting drunk wasn’t the best idea for me. But I needed to take my mind off of everything. Off of Tabitha. Off of Gemma. Off of the baby. Every. Single. Damn. Thing.

“I’ll drink to that,” he said and waved the bartender over. When she arrived, she nodded. “Two more shots.”

“On it,” she said.

A couple of minutes later, two shots sat in front of us. Guy handed one to me and we clinked them together before knocking them back. I slammed the shot glass onto the bar top and sighed.

“Wanna talk about what’s going on?” he asked.

I glared at him.

“We don’t have to sing campfire songs, or dive deep into the touchy-feely stuff, just unburden yourself,” he added.

I stared at him with an arched eyebrow. He smiled and shrugged. I shook my head. Maybe talking about everything would do me some good. Who knows, he might end up having some sound advice on how to handle Tabitha.

“You remember the two women we met during the St. Patrick’s Day party?” I asked. “More specifically the one I told you about last time and showed up?”

“Yup. I also remember seeing the sparks between you two as well. I take it she’s been on your mind?”

“And in my life up until today,” I said.

“What?” he asked and gripped my shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Trust me, her leaving is for the best,” I said.

“Lay it on me, bro,” he said. “She seemed so perfect for you.”

I glared at him but dug in anyway. “She’s pregnant.”

“No way!” he said. “Congrats! How the hell did things go so wrong then?”

“Because she saw me get into a fight with Tabitha who had decided she was going to be territorial and claim me as her mate and was going to destroy her. She showed up at my place earlier, with Gemma there, and shifted.”

“Oh no,” he said.

“We both did,” I added. My hands formed fists over the bar, and I looked away to take a deep breath as the sting of her leaving stabbed at my chest again.

“She didn’t know, did she?” he asked, voice soft and soothing.

I shook my head. “I didn’t have a chance to talk to her about it before Tabitha showed up. She panicked, of course. Screamed that I was a monster. She did allow me to follow her back to her hotel room. I’m sure she is gone by now. I… I don’t know what to do. What do you think?”

He ran his hand through his hair and slumped over the bar. He then shook his head and settled his softened gaze on me. “I feel for you, man. That really sucks. But give her some time to cool down. Let things settle and try to talk to her again.”

I nodded. “The sucking thing is the understatement of the year. Then Tabitha shows back up at my house and tries to seduce me again. She doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“You might have to call the SOTF.”

The Shifter Outlier Task Force was the police of shifters. They handled the ones that broke the laws governing our kind. They weren’t to be trifled with, and I tried to avoid them at all costs. It was a branch not many people were aware of. It was a sort of a highly classified unit. Those who weren’t shifters and knew of the unit usually worked in it. Not many didn’t.

Bringing them into my life would likely only make matters worse. I would be placed on their watch list as a precaution and anything that happened regarding a wolf shifter would lead them straight to my door.

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