Merrily Ever After: A Ouachita Mountain Holiday Story (Ouachita Mountain Shifters Book 9) by P. Jameson

Author:P. Jameson [Jameson, P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paper Zombie Press
Published: 2019-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Ryan stood in the middle of the kitchen feeling like the luckiest SOB and the most helpless of losers at the very same time. He and Layna had been responsible for the abandoned baby for a mere four hours, and were already failing hard.

Dandi wailed in his mate’s arms and his heart lurched at the pained expression on Layna’s face. Yeah, he could feel it too. It hurt like a bitch to hear the baby cry. A physical pain he hadn’t expected. All the mated males in this clan, plenty of them with babies, and not a damn one of them had warned him that it would hurt to hear one cry.

Fuckers.

No, not one. His. That’s what his mind kept supplying anytime he thought about Dandi. He didn’t have werecat instincts but there was something about this baby that felt… different. Felt permanent when there was no evidence that she could remain with them.

He’d heard Rhys and the other babies cry plenty of times. None of them caused an ache in his chest. Like he wanted to hunt down the source of her discomfort and kill it fucking dead.

“No, no, no,” Layna said into the phone that was propped on her shoulder. “Doc, you have to help me. I’m not doing this right.” Her voice held so much defeat. It reminded him of the way she’d sounded just hours ago in his old room, before they made love. He couldn’t let her feel like that again.

Walking around the counter, he reached for Dandi. Layna hadn’t put her down once since Doc placed the baby in her arms.

“What are you doing?” Layna snapped, bringing his eyes up to hers. Her animal swirled in the green depths. He’d seen it many times before, those beautiful cat eyes of hers. Usually when they were making love. But this time, it wasn’t desire that brought her beast close. It was protective instinct.

“You need a break, and I haven’t held her yet. Let me have her while you talk to Doc.”

Something happened across the phone line that had Layna’s attention. “No, I haven’t put her down. So what?” She pulled the cell away from her ear and faintly, he could hear Doc yelling on the other end. “Shit, Doc, okay. Calm down.” Layna looked at Ryan, panicked. “Here. Take her before Doc has an aneurism.” Carefully, she passed Dandi over and then shook out her hands like they were asleep. “Okay, okay. Ryan has her. You can stop the yelling.”

Ryan stared at the red little face that screeched up at him from the blanket and his heart constricted. Shit, Doc had to come through. They had to do something fast. Dandi must be in pain. Why else would she cry so much?

“Yes, of course.” Layna sighed. “She’s been fed and burped and changed. All the normal things.”

“What’s wrong, little cub?” he whispered, bouncing her the way he used to do his nephew and niece. So red. So screechy and squirmy. “Tell Unc—” No, not uncle.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.