The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

She showered and laid out her clothes to travel in tomorrow as they headed to Nashville. It was going to be a long, slow trip to Nashville and she figured it was best to get up, eat a good breakfast and to pretend like today didn’t happen.

Lying in her bed, she ignored her phone vibrating; no doubt it was Becca who was trying to get a hold of her. She didn’t want to hear from Becca. What did they care about her? She was pregnant and miserable right now. Soon, she was no doubt going to start showing and that made her even more depressed. She was going to have to drop out of this job soon and she was going to need to tell her parents that she’d been knocked up by James McCreedy. She wasn’t looking forward to that. Maybe she could just run away when they got to Nashville. It’s not like anyone would care or notice.

When she closed her eyes, she prayed that tomorrow would be better than today, but she knew there was slim chance of that happening. Sleep slowly came for her, but when it did, she was troubled and she found that there was nothing that was going to comfort her, nothing that was going to save her. No, she was abandoned to her thoughts and her worries. She was a child of sorrow and woe right now.

She awoke quickly in the morning, rushing to the bathroom and throwing up as quietly as she could. She didn’t want anyone in the neighboring rooms to hear her. She didn’t want questions and suspicions to be raised. There was no getting out of this, but there was a chance that she could postpone the inevitable questioning and confusion that was going to come from those who found out. She just needed a few more days, a few more weeks, and she would tell Lynn everything that was wrong with her and they would let her go. They would tell her that they couldn’t have a pregnant woman on the tour or that it wasn’t healthy for her, or whatever story they needed to come up with to get rid of her and she would be just fine with that. As she brushed her teeth, she told herself that soon she was going to put all of this behind her.

Putting her stuff with the crew wagon and picking a window seat so that she could sleep, Lucy made her way back inside and headed straight for the continental breakfast. She was starving and she was already beginning to feel the cravings. She knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before the morning sickness became worse and the true cravings started to come for her. She was in a dangerous spot and she was going to need to get herself out of it soon. She needed to start taking all of this seriously and she’d been playing around at it for a while now. With a deep breath, she picked through the continental breakfast, finding everything that looked good to her and sitting down at a table, alone and far away from anyone.

When another tray slapped down on the spot across from her at the table, Lucy looked up and saw that Becca had come to join her. Her red hair was all pulled back in a ponytail and her bright eyes were brimming with a kindness that Lucy hadn’t really expected to get here anymore. She figured she had pretty much lost all the friends she used to have.

“Hey,” Becca said as she sat down across from her friend. Lucy smiled at her, but there was no hiding the sadness and the depression that was welling up inside of her. When Becca saw this, she squeezed Lucy’s hand. “What’s wrong? What happened Lucy? Something is up and I don’t know what it is.”

“I can’t talk about it,” Lucy said, shaking her head.

“Listen,” Becca assured her strongly. “I am your friend, Lucy. I take my friends very seriously and if there is something up, then we need to make sure that you’re facing it with friends and not alone. Nothing good ever comes from acting on things alone.”

“You don’t understand,” Lucy said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I can’t tell you, Becca. It will get a lot of people in trouble and it’s going to cause a lot of problems.”

“So you’re supposed to suffer alone?” Becca furrowed her brow. “No, that doesn’t work for me either, Lucy. I’m here for you. You don’t need to bear anything alone. You have friends and they’re going to take care of you.”

Lucy took a deep breath and knew she was on shaky ground. Maybe there was something in the food she was eating or maybe it had something to do with the first morning sickness moment that she had, or maybe there was something else at play right now. Either way, she knew that she wanted to tell Becca. She knew she wanted to take measures against Violet. All she could do was take a deep breath and shake her head.

“I’m pregnant,” Lucy said after a moment.

“What?” Becca let out a long, breathy question, one word that meant so much.

How was she supposed to answer that? Should she repeat what she’d just said? Should she elaborate on how this happened? Or, was there something more she wanted to know? Becca seemed to realize that there was gravity with the question she had just asked and pulled it back into her mouth. After a moment, Becca decided there was a better question to be asked and one she might be able to get an answer to.

“Who’s the father?”

Lucy looked at Becca and took a deep breath. Now this was the moment where she was tossing Becca into the heart of the problems. There was a question of loyalty here. Was Becca more loyal to Lucy, or was she going to let Violet or Lynn know the answer to that question? Maybe it was a mean or rude thing to wonder, but Lucy had only known Becca for a month, others had known her longer. She couldn’t expect that kind of loyalty to last. But, she figured there was probably something worthwhile in letting the truth be known.

“James,” she whispered.

“James?” Becca’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God.” She leaned in and looked Lucy in the eyes. “How could you sleep with him?” she asked after a moment. “He’s engaged to Violet White! Her family is one of the most powerful Shifter prides in the entire world. You just pissed off the wrong person.”