Lian Roch (Bayou Heat)(27)
Raphael’s brows lifted. “Loved that lasagna so much you came back for seconds?”
“You knew I was there.”
The head of the Suits laughed, closed his laptop. “Are you really asking me if I knew someone was in my home with my mate and cub?”
Right. That was a pretty stupid question. Of course, Raphael and Ashe had been the last things on his mind last night. Or this morning. “And you allowed it?”
After a heavy exhale, the male said, “I am hoping…” He shrugged. “Ashe is hoping.”
“For what?”
Green-gold eyes flashed with interest. “We want the woman to remain here. With her cub. You have a connection to her. A need to be around her constantly. It’s like my connection to Ashe. And to Soyala. It’s impossible to turn from. It’s all-consuming.”
Roch growled softly. “Yes.”
“And you want her to stay.”
“I want her, period,” Roch ground out. “But what if the cub isn’t mine?”
“Will it matter to you?”
“Of course not. I would claim it if she’d let me. But that’s not the point. You know how we are, Raphael. Do you think a Pantera male would allow me to get close to the female carrying his young?”
That question weighed on the Suit leader. He scrubbed a hand over his chin. “It could cause a problem.”
“Try a fight to the death.” Because as much as he wouldn’t want to rip any of his Pantera brothers apart, Roch was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to watch another male touch her.
Christ, just the thought of it made his cat feral.
“And fuck,” He hadn’t thought about what Lydia might want. “What if she wants this other male in her life?” I lose my damn mind completely.
“She wants you,” Raphael said with a snort. “Shit, we all heard how much she wants you.”
Roch snarled at him. “Don’t make me make you fire my ass.”
Raphael laughed. “What is the answer to this then, my friend?”
“The truth?”
“They say it sets you free,” Raphael remarked.
At several points in his life, Roch would’ve appreciated that answer. Reveled in it even. But not today. Today there was nothing he wanted less than to be free. Of Lydia Page or the tiny life growing inside of her.
* * *
With a bluff of rugged hillside to her left and a curve of mysterious caves to her right, Lydia felt as though she was in a foreign land. Not that she’d been to all that many foreign lands. But she could imagine.
Thick, gloriously green vegetation hung from the rocks above her and rested languidly on the surface of the warm water of the bayou pool she was swimming in.
A bayou pool.
Never in a million years would she have thought she’d be doing this. And doing it buck-naked with three other women.
But seriously, that’s what “recently fired, recently discovered by a puma shifter and brought to a magical spot in the bayous of Louisiana” people did, right?
“Are you sure Keira and Bayon aren’t going to be around today?” Julia asked Genevieve with a quick glance at the beginnings of the couple’s new home that was being built near the caves above them.
A Diplomat, Genevieve Burel was the Nurturer Jean-Baptiste’s mate. She was a gorgeous blonde with pale blue eyes and a friendly smile. And she’d welcomed Lydia into the circle of friends like they’d known each other for years.
“Positive,” Genevieve told her. “They’re both on assignment.”
“Top secret stuff?” Julia asked.
“If I told you I’d have to kill you.”
Ashe and Lydia laughed while Julia splashed the female. Genevieve grinned and swam backwards toward a small alcove under a thick patch of greenery.
Growing up, Lydia had several close friends. But after high school, they’d grown apart. And well, she hadn’t tried to make more. There just hadn’t been time. Or maybe that had been an excuse not to get close to people. Fear of losing them again, or something. She had the same fear when it came to a certain Pantera male.
She looked at the women around her now, and wondered if there was truly a place for her here.
“Well this is very decadent.” Ashe remarked before diving beneath the water and emerging five feet away with a wide grin.
“We all deserve a little decadence,” Julia put in, making small circles on the surface of the pool with her index finger. “Especially the new mama.”
“I can’t tell you how excited I am for you,” Genevieve said, swimming over. “It means there’s hope for us here. To bring more Pantera cubs into the world.”
It was shocking how different the reaction to her pregnancy was here in the Wildlands versus out in the wilds of New Orleans. Where the Pantera saw her half human, half shifter baby as a blessing, the assholes at Haymore had seen it as a terrible mistake. How would the rest of the world react, she wondered. And would she find out sooner rather than later? After all, she’d only agreed to stay here for a few days.
Her heart seized in her chest at the thought of leaving.
No. At the thought of leaving him.
“How long has it been since a Pantera cub was born?” Lydia asked.
“Not counting Soyala?” Ashe said. “Over fifty years.”
“There was a curse put on our species,” Genevieve explained. “Soyala changed all of that.”
Curiosity pushed her to ask, “How?”
“Females,” came a male voice at the shore. “Remain below the water, please.”
Genevieve gasped and submerged herself to her neck, Ashe grabbed a piece of water plant and placed it in front of her, and Julia remained where she was, her eyes narrowing on the man—the male—standing on the bank.
“Roch, how the hell did you know where we were?” Ashe demanded. Then she glanced over at Lydia and sniffed. “Never mind.”
Lydia stared at him. Standing there in a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt. She mentally sighed. The guy could sport casual or career and he would always be the sexiest male in the room.
Or the bayou.
His eyes, those summer sky blue eyes, captured hers. “I need to speak to you.”
“Hey Roch, we’re swimming here,” Julia called out. “You know, girl time.”
“Yeah, go back to the house, Roch, and wait for her there,” Ashe said, though her tone was far from dictatorial.
“No.” He said the word to them, but his eyes remained on Lydia.
As Lydia was held captive by his hot stare, Julia and Genevieve groaned simultaneously.
“If you hang out here and any of our mates see you they’re going to kill you,” Julia said, then turned to Lydia and explained. “Sounds uncivilized and barbaric, but there it is. It’s what you sign up for if you get with any of our males, FYI.”
Lydia nodded, but decided not to say that the idea of an uncivilized and barbaric Roch was intriguing as hell.
“She’s not going for any of our males,” Roch said tightly.
“Someone’s acting a little possessive,” Genevieve remarked. “Especially over a female who doesn’t belong to him.”
“Lydia,” he called to her, ignoring the women’s barbs. “Please.”
“I’m not kidding about our mates, Roch,” Julia called out.
He growled, and for the first time, he turned and glared at each woman in turn. “Let them come.”
“Oh Jesus,” Julia uttered.
The last thing Lydia wanted was for him to get into a fight. Get hurt. That gorgeous face did not need any bruises. “I’m coming,” she called, then started swimming toward him. When she was ten feet from shore, she stopped and addressed him. “What’s wrong?”
He looked tense. “I need to say something to you.”
“We can talk back at Ashe’s—”
“No. It can’t wait.”
She glanced behind her, then back at him. “Even for some privacy?”
“I’m not ashamed of what I have to say, Lydia.” He came to the very edge of the water and dropped onto his haunches. His jeans hugged tight to his muscular thighs, and the white t-shirt strained against smooth, tanned, muscle. “Have the testing done.”
Surprise caught and held her. “Roch…”
“We need to know the truth.”
“We?” She held her breath.
“You, me, the Pantera.”
A tight knot forming in her throat, she swam closer. “What if it’s another male’s—”
“Then the male should know.” His nostrils flared, but he continued. “It’s not about you and me anymore. It’s about the Pantera. Pack first. The cub is what’s important here. The cub and its safety is everything to our species.”
Lydia stared at him, her heart pricked and bleeding inside her chest. Yes, she was grateful for what he was saying, how he felt about her child. But gone was his fight. For her. Or for the male who might try and claim her.
Pain lashed through her, but she pushed it away. It was important to know. Her value and importance was in her cub.
“That’s what I came to say.” He stood up, nodded to the females in the water. “I apologize, and will speak to each of your mates.”
As he shifted into his puma and took off up the hillside, Ashe, Genevieve and Julia all surrounded her. They didn’t say anything, but they didn’t have to. It was something all females understood and sympathized with—Pantera or human. The pain of rejection.