chapter 20
Across the country from Washington, DC, on a rural ranch outside of Rebel, Montana, Mathew Dean drummed his fingers on the kitchen table, waiting until the shocked silence ended. His brother, Shane, sat to his right, and the woman who held his heart, Laney Jacobs, sat to his left. Josie Dean, Shane’s wife, sat next to her husband.
“Pregnant?” Josie whispered, her pixie-cut blond hair swishing when she shook her head. “Really pregnant? Are we sure it’s Nate’s baby?” So much hope lived in Josie’s tone that Matt’s heart thumped.
“Yes.” Matt reached out and grounded himself by slipping his fingers through Laney’s. “Nate has the amnio results, and he also has a sense of the baby and can hear a heartbeat. Chances are good it’s Nate’s kid, considering the scientific exploration and past history.”
“Wow.” Shane leaned back in his chair and drew in a deep breath. He smiled, showing dimples that might be charming in any other face. In Shane, they appeared dangerous. “We can have kids.”
Matt nodded, surprised by the emotion welling inside him. Through him. They could have kids.
Laney tightened her grip on his hand, as if she felt his turmoil. “This is wonderful news.” Her voice, cultured and sweet, served to calm him as nothing else on earth. “After all the failed tests from Dr. Madison, it turns out the Dean brothers can have kids—with the right woman.” She snorted and shook her head. “Who knew?”
Matt chuckled. Her sense of humor always eased his stress. However, he seriously doubted his sperm could tell the difference between eggs, but what the hell. Maybe God did give a shit and was actually looking out for them.
Shane rested muscled forearms on the heavy oak table. “Nate honestly asked for help?”
Yeah. For the first time in, well, ever. “Yes.” Matt eyed Laney. “He needs us to prepare for Audrey to come here.” Three days ago, Matt would’ve said no way. Now? Things were different.
“Of course,” Laney said, as always waiting patiently. “What else?”
“Shane and I are going to DC in an hour.”
Shane narrowed his eyes. “No way did Nate ask that.”
“No.” Matt shook his head.
“I can be ready in ten minutes.” Shane pushed back from the table.
Laney nodded, intelligence shining in her brown eyes. “Good plan. I’ll get my bag in case you need help—we can leave Josie in charge of the ranch.”
“No freakin’ way.” Josie’s eyes shot sparks. “If Nate needs help, we’re all going.”
Matt had expected the fight, and he appreciated everyone’s desire to help. While Nate had told him to stay in Montana, no way would he leave his brother alone right now, and the women would be safe in Montana.
The ranch was secured with fences, electricity, land mines, and a cache of weapons. In addition, Nate had created several escape routes if necessary. The safest place for Laney and Josie remained in Montana, and he couldn’t do what he needed to do in DC and worry about them. “You’re both staying here, because our trip to DC will be short.”
“How so?” Shane asked.
Matt flattened his free hand on the table. “We get in, get info, and get out. With Nate and Audrey.” And the baby.
How messed up was Nate’s head right now? Matt cleared his throat. Nate had never gotten over Audrey, and now she carried his baby. There was no way his younger brother remained clearheaded right now, and confusion got soldiers killed. An urgency to get to DC propelled Matt from the table.
Shane rubbed his neck, no doubt feeling the same pressure. “We need to hurry.”
Matt nodded and said a quick prayer to a God he wasn’t sure existed to protect Nate. The guy would go off half-cocked to challenge the commander in order to protect Audrey, and that wasn’t the way to go. For the first time in his life, Matt worried about what Nate would do.
Matt turned toward Laney, a former surgeon. “Start researching pregnancies and births, and get me a list of what we need here. An ultrasound machine, a crib, all those other baby things people need. I’ll buy them under the radar and get them here.”
“Put them somewhere secured,” Shane said quietly.
Matt started and focused on his brother. “Right.”
“Why?” Josie asked.
Matt took a deep breath. “Audrey lost the baby last time, and I’d rather Nate didn’t see all the baby stuff here in case something goes wrong.” Frankly, medical experiments had never gone quite right for the Dean brothers, and hoping for a different result might end in further heartbreak.
Shane sighed. “We need to be prepared in case the baby makes it, and we need to be prepared otherwise. For Nate.”
Nate wouldn’t survive if he lost another baby. Matt hadn’t known Audrey very well, but his gut whispered that she couldn’t take the loss, either.
For years, Matt had relied on Nate to keep him sane, and now it was Matt’s turn to protect the brother who’d never wanted protection. “Let’s go get him,” Matt muttered as he went to pack a bag.
Laney followed him quietly, and in the other room, Josie argued vehemently with Shane about going to DC. It was an argument she’d lose, but Josie gave everything her all, which was one of the many things Matt adored about his sister-in-law.
Matt threw supplies into a bag and turned to eye Laney. “You going to argue with me?”
Tall and curvy, the brilliant woman nevertheless barely reached his chin. Delicate and strong, she held his heart in her hands every day. Soft, doelike eyes studied him. “I’m not going to argue.” Stepping forward, she slipped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “I understand you have to go. It’s Nate.”
Matt closed his eyes at her open acceptance of who he was and what he had to do. “Thank you.”
She squeezed harder, her breasts pressed against his ribs and awakening his groin. “You’re welcome. But don’t think for a second I’m staying here if you’re in danger. Get your job done, and get back here before I sign on with Josie and we head south.”
Matt smiled over her head. His woman didn’t bluff—a fact he’d learned early and the hard way. “We’ll be careful, and I’ll check in.” Reaching down, he lifted her chin and slid his lips against hers. “You’re my everything, Laney.”
She returned his kiss, leaning back to stare into his eyes. “Right back at you. Be careful, and bring Nathan home.”
“I will.” As a vow, it was absolute. Matt only hoped his brother would be in one piece when he brought him home. He’d already lost Jory; he couldn’t take losing Nate, too. As Laney relinquished her hold to go find him some fresh laundry, he allowed all semblance of humanity to release him.
It was time the commander came face-to-face with the killers he’d created.
* * *
Audrey snuggled into the sheets as the storm raged outside. Hopefully the men watching her apartment got nice and wet… and ended up with pneumonia. Unlikely, though. Tough was the kindest word to describe anybody trained by the commander.
Her stomach growled again. Interesting. All the nausea lately… all the exhaustion—turned out it wasn’t stress. Neither was the five pounds she’d put on.
A part of her, the rebel deep inside, wanted to strike out at being violated in such a way. Her doctor, the one she’d trusted, had impregnated her against her will. Without her consent.
Fury threatened to choke her. They’d taken control of her body to impregnate her, and they could’ve chosen anybody’s sperm. She could be pregnant with a complete stranger’s kid right now—even one of the commander’s psychopathic soldiers who enjoyed the killing. Who lived for it.
The only reason they’d chosen Nate’s specimen was because he’d impregnated her before, so they had at least a little success to draw on and try to copy. Thank goodness it was Nate’s kid.
A baby. A real baby, inside her. Even more so—Nate’s baby.
The miracle of that curbed Audrey’s anger while also filling her with a determination only a mother trying to protect her child would understand. Sharp and fierce, the feeling grounded her like never before.
For now, she needed rest. Nathan Dean patrolled the apartment like a Doberman looking for dinner, and at least for the night, she felt safe. He wouldn’t let anything or anybody come near her.
She’d offered him half of the bed, but one look at the war raging in his eyes had sent her to bed alone. There was no way that man would be sleeping any time soon.
But she had the baby to think of, and babies needed sleep. Probably. She should get ahold of some of those baby books. At that thought, she slid into a sleep punctuated by moments from the past.
Her dream was more of a memory of when she’d sat on an examination table in the main lab, her mind calculating the different ways of navigating the compound to get to Nathan. She’d been exiled from the facility since the breakup, and only the current medical issue had forced Audrey’s mother to bring her to the facility.
She was bleeding.
Fear for the baby welled up in Audrey as she waited for the results of the internal ultrasound.
She had to find Nathan and had been trying to reach him from the second she’d discovered the pregnancy. He deserved to know, and he’d figure out what to do. Once she made sure everything was all right.
Pregnant women spotted. She’d read it in a book, so this was okay. Everything was going to be okay.
Isobel Madison’s high heels clicked into the room, her gaze on a series of printouts. “We lost the fetus. Fetal development ended a week ago.” She pursed her lips, her thoughtful gaze now on Audrey. “We’ll need to do a D and C so we can examine the tissue.”
Audrey swayed, catching herself on the wrinkly paper. “Wh-what?” That couldn’t be right. Her mother was wrong.
Isobel frowned. “Get ahold of yourself. The pregnancy was unheard of, so we can’t be too shocked. Start thinking like a scientist, would you?” She turned for the phone, ordering a medical team to perform the D and C.
So much pain welled up in Audrey that her eyes stung. Her entire body ached. She watched, almost in a daze, as the woman who was supposed to love and protect her calmly proceeded to make plans.
This was wrong. So damn wrong.
Audrey shoved off the table and drew her dress over her head. She’d get to Nathan. He’d figure everything out. They could save the baby.
Deep in her heart, she knew it was too late. The tests didn’t lie.
But she needed to find Nate anyway.
With a rough shove, she pushed past her mother and ran into the narrow hallway.
“Audrey—” her mother called out, pure exasperation in her tone.
Audrey didn’t look back—just kept going. Then running. Running toward the exit to find the barracks.
A crack of thunder ripped through the day. Then another.
The ground shifted. Tiles slammed up into the air. Audrey cried out, hands protecting her face.
What was happening?
A wall collapsed in front of her.
She fell, tiles cutting into her knees.
Fire.
Booming, angry, licking… fire suddenly surrounded her. A beam fell, and agony ripped up her leg. She cried out, her vision graying.
Another beam fell, hitting her shoulder. Smoke filled her lungs. As she fell back, hurt and helpless, she screamed one more time, “Nathan!”
A hand shook her shoulder, and there he was.
“Nate.” She launched into his arms, her heart beating enough to hurt. “Blood. I’m bleeding.”
He quickly carried her through the bedroom and deposited her in the bathroom. “Bleeding?”
“Yes.” She gulped down air, trying to differentiate from the past and the present. Panic and fear fuzzed her vision. “Give me a second.” She gestured him out and shut the door. Her stomach hurt. She’d been through this before.
Not again.
How could this happen again?
Sitting down, she used the toilet and then looked. The breath swooshed from her lungs. No blood. None.
Oh. She dropped her head into her hands. It was just a dream. This was different, and this baby would live. “Everything is fine,” she whispered in case she’d scared the baby.
The door flew open. “I can’t wait outside,” Nate said.
Audrey slowly lifted her head and shut her knees. She was on the toilet, for goodness’ sake. Her face heated. “I’m fine.”
Nate dropped to the ground and leaned against the counter. His normally tanned face had gone white. “You’re not bleeding?”
“No.” She wanted to reach out and reassure him, but right now, her body remained in a curled-up position. “I had a bad dream. About last time.”
Nate scrubbed shaking hands down his face. “You screamed out my name.”
“Um, yeah.” She sat up and nonchalantly pulled up her panties without standing. Her knees trembled. Sitting seemed like a good idea for a few moments.
He lifted his chin, gaze piercing. “Did you yell my name that day? When the world blew up?”
Her mouth opened, but no sound emerged. Sometimes the truth should remain in the past. But there were some people on earth you couldn’t lie to, and the father of her child, even without his amazing gifts at finding the truth, deserved honesty. “Yes.”
His deadly eyes closed.
Seconds passed. Nate didn’t move, and Audrey slowly hugged herself. No aches—no pains. Good. She shivered in the cool morning air.
Nate’s head jerked up. In a smooth motion, he stood and lifted her right off the toilet to place back into the bed. Without a word, he stalked from the room and reappeared a few seconds later with a glass of milk. “Drink.”
Audrey sat up, eyeing the thick white liquid. “Ugh.”
“Calcium.”
Okay. One of them had to speak in a complete sentence. “I’m not sure cow’s milk is so good for you anymore. Last week at the coffee shop, the barista and a customer got in a huge discussion about cow’s milk versus almond or soy milk, and the barista said that we’re the only species on earth that drinks another species’s milk, and now there’s a bunch of added hormones in it.” Besides, she really didn’t like the taste of milk. Never had.
Nate scratched his head. “Almond milk?”
Audrey lifted a shoulder. “We should get some books.”
“Yeah.” He reached for the e-reader on her small desk. “I’ll start downloading.”
Audrey yawned. “What time is it?”
“Almost dawn.” Nate pressed several buttons and nodded to himself. “You should get more sleep.”
She blinked, her heart rate finally slowing down. Nausea swirled around her stomach. “Nah. I’ll get up and maybe stretch a little bit.”
Nate set down the tablet and tugged his gun from his waist to place next to it. A deadly weapon near the tablet downloading information about babies. The paradox wasn’t lost on Audrey.
“These will take time to download.” His gaze remaining on her, he tugged his shirt over his head and kicked off his jeans. “Scoot over.”
Her heart fluttered. “Um, I’m not sure—”
One muscled knee pressed down on the mattress before he nudged her to the other side. He lay down, turned, and pressed her back against his front. “Just to sleep.”
Instant warmth, safe and male, surrounded her. She wiggled a little to get comfortable, her butt caressing his erection. She froze.
“Relax,” he whispered, heated breath warming her ear.
Desire uncoiled throughout her neck to her sex. “I am,” she breathed. “Maybe we could—”
“No. Not until we read the books and know it’s okay.” Nate flattened his palm across her abdomen.
The gentle touch contrasted so completely with the hard-muscled body cradling her that emotion sparked alive in her. He filled her so completely just by being near. The idea that he might be taken away in a second by the deadly chip plagued her until she could barely breathe.
Fear had a weight, and she needed to fight that. So she cleared her throat. “We should come up with a plan we can all three live with.” How odd to say “three” like they were a real family.
“I know.” Nate kissed her gently on the ear. “Now sleep.”