The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

Good for Justin. “What about Becca?” Lucy asked with a smile on her lips.

“Becca found herself the man that she was looking for,” James said with a smile. “She wants to know if I found you, by the way. She’s very cross with you, but I think you’ll be able to get out of any serious trouble.”

“Is she happy?” Lucy asked him.

“Very,” he assured her with a smile.

“What about Violet?” Lucy asked her. “She doesn’t want to come out here and kill me?”

“Oh, she did for a while,” James said with a smile on his lips. It actually evolved into a laugh as he shook his head in utter astonishment and delight at the memory. “When you broke her nose, I think you unleashed the demon I was telling everyone was inside of her. The most vain woman I’ve ever met, I swear. Anyway, she had surgery to put her nose back to the perfect look she’d had before and she was furious, practically putting a bounty on your head, but when the politics of the matter erupted, she kind of cornered herself. If my brother hadn’t stepped up and been willing to take her, she would have definitely come after you. Thankfully, she’s a little preoccupied now and I’m sure it won’t be long until you hear that she’s pregnant. All she ever wanted was to be second in command of a huge Pride. I will not be missing her for a second for the rest of my life. Good riddance to that horrible creature.”

“So what does that mean for you?” Lucy asked him nervously.

She wasn’t sure she was ready for the answer or that she was going to like the answer, but she wanted to know whether he was here for good or if he was going to be gone after a while. She did run away from him, after all, and she never even bothered trying to communicate with him. She had been more than content to leave him to his fate for the sake of their child.

“Well, I’m a free man,” he said with a heavy sigh. “There was one person that I can honestly say that I truly loved in my life and I had the good pleasure to actually get to spend some time with her. Before her, I didn’t think I had a chance at actually finding happiness, but I think that she changed my life. I was hoping that I might get a chance to win her over and make my dreams of marrying her a reality.”

“Even if I’m all pregnant and bloated?” she asked him, rubbing her belly.

“Do you know the gender?” he asked her.

She nodded to him.

“What is it?” he asked her with a twinkle in his eyes.

“It’s a girl,” she said with a smile.

Lucy was so excited for her to come and join them in the world. There was really no patience inside of her anymore for the matter. She wanted her daughter to show up right now and she knew her daughter was just as eager to come out and visit the world. She wanted to see everything the world had to offer. She was getting more and more active every day.

“Wow,” he exhaled with a smile on his lips.

There was a stunned look in his eyes that made Lucy’s heart quicken. She was glad he was happy. She was glad he was the father of her child. She couldn’t imagine a world where she had anything other than that.

“You should stay with us,” she urged him. She wanted to have the life with him that he wanted. She knew he was more than willing to stick around with her and she wanted that more than anything. God, she would love to have him in her life.

“Yeah?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” she nodded with a smile on her face that refused to go away.

* * *

In the middle of the night, while the cabin was dark and the wind howled out in the Montana wilderness, nothing could make the night better. James was asleep in the bed next to Lucy and though she was hot and couldn’t handle him touching her at all during the night, she was glad he was there, thrilled he was next to her in bed. There was nothing she wanted more in the world than that.

Of course, when the pains started to rip through her body and she realized that her happy little dream was about to come crashing down, she was less thrilled. In fact, as she opened her eyes and felt the cramps coming on more powerful and more painful than she’d ever felt before, there was a panic inside of her. This wasn’t like the other cramps. This was something real. This was something that was actually going to cause her to get out of bed. She sat up and started to breathe heavier and heavier.

“Are you okay?” James stirred, quickly sitting up next to her and looking at her with eyes that were quickly getting less and less foggy. Everything was coming through and registering clearly to him. He was as alert as she was in a matter of seconds as she grunted and clutched her stomach.

“I don’t know,” she whispered through the pain. “I think I’m going into labor.”

“Seriously?” James sounded thrilled by the sound, but Lucy was horrified by the prospect. If he was going to be here with her, then she was going to put him to good use. Taking a deep breath to try and make it through the cramp, she heard him get out of bed. “Tell me what to do,” he said with an enthusiasm that was kind of strange at the moment. She hadn’t expected him to be this eager to help out. In fact, she hadn’t anticipated him to be this excited or active at all. She expected him to be panicking and freaking out about it. “Do you have a hospital bag? Who’s your doctor that I can call? I’ll tell them that we’re on our way.”