Lian Roch (Bayou Heat)(23)
Something curled inside of Roch’s belly.
“Oh fuck, is right,” Raphael said, his mind working behind his green eyes. “That was over fifty years ago. I had forgotten.”
“Would someone have given those samples to a human lab?” Julia asked, the moon above casting an eerie glow to her skin.
“It’s possible, I suppose. We were trying in any way we could to keep our race going. But it would’ve been covert, against our laws. The experiments were only to be done in our laboratory.”
Jean-Baptiste looked murderous. No doubt deducing that whoever had leaked samples was probably a Nurturer. “We need to find out who did this.”
“Maybe Hiss will know?” Roch put in.
“I will take that bastard out with my bare hands if he’s in any way responsible,” Raphael threatened. Then he took a deep breath and cursed. “If this is true, we’re in deep shit.” His nostrils flared. “We can shut down The Haymore Center and recover the remaining samples, but who knows how many human women have been inseminated already.”
“We could have males running off, going in search of their offspring,” Baptiste put in. “All we can hope for is what Roch did. Find the mother of the cub and bring her back here.”
“The child is not mine!” Roch roared.
All three of them went silent and turned to look at him.
“Most males would be pleased to know they had sired a Pantera cub,” Jean-Baptiste said, his chin lifting a fraction.
“Not this way!” Roch returned, his chest tightening around his heart muscle. “Christ. Not this way.” He cursed and uttered a battered, “Not in a lab.”
“You have feelings for this woman,” Julia said, her eyes going wide.
Roch didn’t answer her. In fact, he didn’t acknowledge any of them. He was done. Fractured by the possibility they’d just laid out before him. The impossible, amazing, horrifying possibility.
Turning away, he headed down the path, shifting into his puma state just before he was lost in the shadows of the garden.
* * *
Twenty-four hours ago Lydia had been in her apartment, standing at the kitchen counter, eating a supermarket salad and wondering what the following day would bring. Who knew it would bring so much: a firing, a possible Pantera baby, kindness, danger, beauty, confusion and—she glanced around the table at the small family gathered there—an altogether different existence.
Truly, she didn’t know what was going to happen from this day onward, but here in the Wildlands she felt no fear about herself or her child’s future. Maybe that was naive. Or maybe she had an example of what was possible right in front of her. Standing over the long, rustic wood table in her lovely two-story antebellum home, sliding a ginormous piece of lasagna onto Lydia’s plate.
She started to laugh.
Ashe glanced up. “What? Does it look bad? Too runny?”
“It looks amazing,” Lydia assured her.
“I swear I didn’t go crazy with the sauce.”
“Ma chérie,” Raphael put in, his gold-green eyes warm with love as he ran his hand over her hip. “I think she’s just worried she can’t eat it all.”
“Oh,” Ashe laughed, her cheeks flushing pink. “Well, no worries about that. Just do what you can.” She gave Lydia a knowing smile. “But there is the growing baby to think of.”
“Cub,” Raphael corrected, then gave Lydia a gentle smile. “It’s not too early to get used to that.”
“Or how much the little fur ball likes to eat,” Ashe said, glancing down at her beautiful blond baby, who was fast asleep in her raised basinet beside the table. “Even when they’re inside you.”
“I’ll remember that,” Lydia said with a grin.
Ashe sighed as she sat down and picked up her fork. “We’re so excited for you, Lydia. All the Pantera are. It’s such a blessing, and we just want to make sure you have everything you need. We want you and the cub healthy.”
“Yes, we do,” came a male voice behind her.
A ripple of heat moved through Lydia’s body as she turned and caught sight of Roch standing in the archway between the grand entryway and the dining room. Gone was the suit and tie. And in their place were black jogging pants and a black t-shirt. Both molded to his incredible body. He looked sporty and masculine and hot, and she tried not to drool as she stared at him.
“How did you get in here?” Raphael asked good-naturedly.
“Door was open.”
“And you didn’t think to knock?”
He walked over to the table and pulled out the chair beside Lydia. “I was invited to dinner.”
“By whom?” Raphael demanded.
Ashe cleared her throat as both her mate and Lydia turned to look at her. She cut another sizable piece of lasagna and slid it onto an empty plate. “He hasn’t been feeling very well, so I thought a little home cooking…”
“Poor little cub,” Raphael said with heavy sarcasm, turning to his colleague and friend and giving him an amused grin.
Roch tossed the male a fierce glare.
“Are you going upstairs afterward and having Ashe tuck you into bed? Read you a story?” He paused, realizing what he’d just suggested. He rounded on his mate. “No, ma chère. Please don’t do that.”
“Not a chance,” she answered. “Only one who’s getting tucked in tonight is you.”
He growled softly at her. “Mmm, I like that.”
“Hey,” Roch said, standing up. “I can go.”
“No,” Lydia said without thinking.
He turned to look at her, and the heat and hunger in his gaze was blinding. In fact, it made her heart race like a rabbit’s. He liked her. She was sure of it.
“Sit down,” Raphael called out to him. “I was just giving you a hard time. Let my mate serve you a piece of lasagna the size of your head. It would make her so happy.”
“Hey!” Ashe said, then started laughing.
“Don’t get upset, ma chérie. You know I live to make you happy.”
“And you always do.” She blushed, and he leaned in and kissed her deeply and hungrily until she sighed.
Roch turned to Lydia. “How are you?”
“Good. Fine.” Glad to see you. You look gorgeous. Then again, you always look—
“Are you happy staying here?” he asked, his expression raw with concern. “You don’t have to. I’m sure you won’t get any sleep with the cub.”
“We’ve already discussed that, Roch,” Ashe remarked after coming up for air.
He turned to his plate and picked up his fork. “She needs more than food to keep her healthy and well. She needs sleep.”
“Well, she wouldn’t get that at Medical,” Ashe replied, offering him some bread.
“There are other options.”
“Like what? Your place?”
Lydia’s heart sprang into her throat. She didn’t want to hear his answer to that. Yes or no. Either option concerned her. “I’m happy here,” she stated quickly, resolutely. “And I love being around that cutie-pie over there.”
Roch glanced at the sleeping baby. “She’s getting big.”
Ashe nearly melted with motherly happiness. “She is.”
“And she looks like you, Ashe. Which is lucky for her.”
Raphael glanced up from his nearly consumed lasagna and gave his friend a good-natured growl.
Popping a piece of garlic bread in her mouth, Ashe turned to Lydia. “So, is your family from New Orleans?”
“They are. Were. They’re gone now. My mom passed away a few months back.”
Ashe’s expression fell into a lovely mask of empathy. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” She touched her belly, which now sported just the very beginnings of a rise. “I’m excited for new family to come into my life.”
Ashe nodded. “Of course you are.”
“What do you do for work, Lydia?” Raphael asked her.
“I’m a lawyer. Or was a lawyer.”
Roch looked up from his plate. “What do you mean?”
“I was fired,” she explained, feeling slightly embarrassed and still pretty pissed. “Lawyers don’t have a lot of time to be mothers. Or so my bosses believe.”
“Well, that’s bullshit,” Ashe exclaimed, then quickly turned to Soyala. “Sorry, honey. Mommy’s a little upset about the issue of double standards.”
“I’m actually thinking I’ll go into solo practice,” Lydia said after taking a sip of water. “Maybe a little office near where I live.”
“In New Orleans,” Roch said. It wasn’t a question and his tone was anything but pleased. In fact it sounded pained.
“Of course, New Orleans,” Ashe said, giving him an impatient look. “That’s where she’s from.”
Roch’s jaw tightened and he stabbed at a chunk of lasagna with his fork.
“Obviously there’s a lot to consider,” Lydia said, feeling the wave of tension in the air. It was the last thing she wanted to bring into Ashe and Raphael’s home. “But if this baby is half Pantera, I would never cut the Wildlands or his species out of his life—”
“His?” Roch interrupted, his eyes cutting to her. They were a dark and stormy blue. “It’s a male cub? How do you know?”