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Dad was ordered to cool it overnight in the basement, so Nikki and I crashed in a guestroom while Mike stayed up with Eddy and the alpha. I didn't want to know what they talked about.

Dad didn't "cool it" for a few weeks after everything happened. He didn't talk to me. He communicated with me through grunts and that was only if I asked him a yes-or-no question.

Mike had been right. The alpha pulled together a pack meeting to discuss my situation. It was the first pack meeting I had been to as an adult. The only reason I was allowed in was because I was the topic of this meeting. I was about 10 weeks along by then, so when they did the math in their heads they knew that Eddy had already mated with Margaret around the time I conceived.

After the humiliating meeting, my dad talked to me for the first time since finding out about the baby. Maybe he talked to me out of pity that I had been humiliated in front of everyone I knew.

I couldn't bring myself to meet the pack at the lake. I figured we all needed a break from each other after what had happened, so Nikki and I had turned it into our weekly girly day. We'd get our hair and nails done instead of facing the pack.

Well that was the plan until I met her at her home when I had just come from my 12 week check up. I had ultrasound photos when I ran in.

I stuttered to a stop when I saw Margaret laughing with Nikki. I was shocked and instantly on guard. I never heard about what she thought about my little situation.

She smiled happily at me. "I hope you don't mind me intruding. When Eddy told me this is what you guys were doing instead of the lake I figured I'd see if I could tag alone with you gals."

I gapped like a fish out of water for a few seconds. She didn't look mad, or angry, or even bothered about all the recent embarrassment that had been going on.

Nikki widened her eyes; I needed to give Margaret an answer.

"I-I-Uh…" I swallowed the ball of cotton stuck in my throat. "Yeah, sure."

Nikki smiled at Margaret. "See I told you she'd be okay with it."

Margaret's head tilted like she was looking at something. "Are those your ultrasounds?" Her eyes widened in delight. "Can I see them? I'm over the moon about everything baby."

I nodded and sat down at the table with them. I just slid the pictures over to her. Nikki tapped my chin, which effectively reminded me to shut my jaw. I hadn't noticed I'd been slack jawed while looking at her.

I collected myself and cleared my throat. "So you're not mad?"

Nikki huffed and rolled her eyes.

Margaret giggled and shook her head, passing the photos to Nikki who cooed at them. "I know Eddy had girlfriends before me and I know that you two were together for a long time. At first I was a little nervous since I had stomped all over your territory." She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "You weren't evil towards me, so how could I be evil to you when you're having a baby? It's not Eddy's so we have no quarrel."

"You're unbelievably cool that I was with Eddy right before you two got together."

She nodded. "I didn't have a choice. This was all prearranged and I had to do what my father said. At first I was scared out of my mind. But now I'm happy with him. Anything he did before was all before he met me. Nothing matters before then."

I just nodded. It still felt a little weird, but eventually everything worked out. She became one of our group. Of course she wasn't around all the time, but when she did show up, it was like she'd always been a part of the pack.

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It wasn't until I was over 16 weeks pregnant did I finally summon up the courage to call the guy who knocked me up. It was time to face the music. Maybe his name wasn't even Mac. It was three, almost four months ago. Would he even remember me? Would he think I was some psycho trying to pin a baby on him?

I held my thumb over the send button. I didn't want to do this… but I had to. It wasn't just me anymore. I had to find this guy for my child. My child's father had the right to know he was going to be a dad. He also had the right to blow me off, call me a whore and never talk to me again.

My thumb had a spasm and the call was made. I felt like I was going to puke as the call connected. At least Mac gave me a real phone number to call.

The automated answering system picked up. The machine woman's voice ranted off the number and told me to leave a message, so I did.

"Hi. I hope this is Mac's phone. This is Emily from a few months back. I was hoping that I would be able to catch you. There's something that I'd like to discuss with you, so call me back!" I gave my number and hung up.

Once the deed was done I collapsed onto my bed. I felt so relieved that I didn't have to talk to him.

Then my phone started ringing. I looked at it and saw one of the pictures of Mac and I that we had taken at the bar which made me shoot up off the bed. I groaned. I wasn't ready! Maybe it wasn't Mac's number and they were just returning the call to tell me that.

I cast my eyes at the ceiling before answering. "Hello?"

"Emily? It's Mac." I didn't need him to tell me. I recognized his voice. It made butterflies erupt in my stomach.

"Uh, hi." I said unsure. I started pacing.

"I just missed your call." I heard things thumping in the background and a set of keys jingling. "What do you want to discuss with me?" He sounded amused.

"I was kind of hoping that you were planning on coming back here soon." When I heard him inhale, I cringed. He was going to say no and try to let me down gently. "It's okay if you're not, I just don’t think what I want to say should be said over a phone call."

"Alright." He didn't sound mad. "I'm going to be back there in a couple of weeks. How about I call you then and we'll set something up."

"Sounds great."

"Okay, bye." Then he hung up without waiting for a reply. I dropped the phone in relief and collapsed on the bed again. At least I had that problem figured out for the time being.

The following two weeks passed on like all the time before. I had a little morning sickness when I first woke up, but after that, everything was normal. Of course I still felt a little tired, but that was to be expected. They eased my load at work to compensate for my fatigue, so work wasn't an extra strain.

Margaret's birthday barbeque had to be on the only day that Mac was going to be in town. When he told me the date I was disappointed. I was hoping to have more than an hour to talk to him, just in case he wanted to settle things right away.

I couldn't be absent from the party for too long without anyone noticing. I was terrified and excited all at the same time. I was probably just nervous. This was the first time I would see Mac since he'd knocked me up. I was sure he wouldn't be too happy about that when I got around to telling him.

I knew that my dad would be eyeing my weird behavior, so I stalled for as long as I could. I took an extra long shower and I even curled my hair and did my makeup. It was a very long process, so it took up time.

Dad was waiting very impatiently for me by the time I was ready. I was slipping on my heels when he started yelling for me. "We're going to be late!"

When he saw me he immediately looked at my shoes. “You think you should be wearing those things while you’re pregnant?”

I looked down at my heels, seeing the small bump that was steadily growing. “You can barely tell that I’m pregnant. It just looks like I’ve let myself go a little.”

That was a bit of an understatement. I was over the hump of looking like I was packing on some weight and I was finally looking like I was pregnant. But I didn't want to hear my father whine about me wearing heels. They were four or five inches at most. I was hardly in danger. My center of gravity wasn't going to shift until I got a little bigger so I could still wear heels with no problem.

He sighed. “You shouldn’t be wearing them. They will strain your back.”

“Then I’ll just have to suffer, right?” I snapped. Dad didn’t know I had a pair of flats in my bag too. I knew heels would hurt if I wore them for too long. I wasn't an idiot like my father apparently thought I was.

He nodded once and opened the door. “Fine.”

I remembered my sunglasses as I was running out the door. We were going to be outside in the hot sun all day, so I’d need my sunglasses. There might be swimming involved, so I had put my bikini in my big purse.

The ride to the alpha’s house seemed routine. The more that I talked to Margaret, the more I liked her. It made my hatred for her in the beginning seem so irrational.

When we got there I put my bag on the coat hook by the door, then walked to the kitchen while my dad followed behind me.

Margaret was shaping some hamburgers when I walked in. I wrapped my hands around her and gave her a hug.

“Happy Birthday!”

She smiled and leaned her head on mine because her hands were full of hamburger gunk. “Thanks.”

Dad muttered a happy birthday before escaping into the backyard.

She smiled at me when he walked out the door. “He’s still not quite over the whole baby thing huh?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he will be until the baby’s actually here.”

She turned her attention back to the food.

“Anything I can do to help?” I asked.

She motioned towards the tomatoes. “Slice those for me.”

I grabbed a knife then went to work on the tomatoes.

“So any luck on finding the father yet?”

I nodded my head. “Yeah actually.”

“That’s great. What did he say?”

“I haven’t actually told him yet. I’m meeting him later to tell him.”

“When?”

I looked at the clock. “I should leave here in 30.”

She eyed me carefully. “Does anyone know you’re meeting him?”

I shook my head. “No way. My dad would stalk the hell out of the guy if I told him.” I went through the 20 tomatoes quickly.

 “I’ll tell everyone I sent you to the store. Pick up some brownie mix or something. There’s never any here.”

I put the sliced tomatoes in a container before putting them in the fridge.

“Maybe you should go now." I was so relieved that she would cover for me. "You can pick up the brownies on your way there. If you try to leave later all the guys will be all up on your business. Trust me.”

I would've exchanged anything for a cover. “Sounds good. They’re more nosey than a bunch of girls.” I gave her a hug then I left the kitchen.

The warm sun hitting my skin felt nice and lifted my spirits a little. It really was a nice day. Hopefully this meeting with Mac would go over well.

After picking up 10 boxes of brownies, I made my way to the café at a busy shopping center. I chose a place with a bunch of people out of habit. Whenever I had to tell Dad something I thought would make him mad, I chose a place with a bunch of human witnesses. That way he couldn’t make a scene without a bunch of people staring at him. Plus, he couldn’t scent me to check my mood. Unfortunately that didn’t always stop his lie detector. He just knew me too well.

I had never been able to lie to a werewolf. They are just too good at telling lies from the truth. I sipped my strawberry smoothie as I waited for Mac. I was still 20 minutes early, so I grabbed a magazine to flip through.

I wasn’t alone 5 minutes before Mac showed up. He sat down across from me. “And I thought I was early.” He sounded amused. That was so much better than annoyed to be here.

I couldn’t help it when I smiled at him. He was just as gorgeous as I remembered him. “Yeah, well I don’t have much going on right now.” His smile filled my stomach with butterflies… among other things.

“Not to be rude, but I have somewhere I need to be. So let’s cut to the chase.” It’s a good thing he was such a charmer, from anyone else that might have been rude.

I nodded. “Fair enough...” I really didn’t want to tell him, but I had to. There was no beating around the bush. I just needed to tell him and be done with it. “I’m pregnant.”

His smile faded until it was gone. “Excuse me?”

I felt my palms sweat a little. I was so damn nervous. The faded smile told me that he wasn't exactly happy about this. “I’m pregnant. With child. I have a bun in the oven.” Maybe all the examples will click in his brain about what I was talking about.

He took a deep breath. “We were together for one night.”

I wiped my palms on my dress. I wanted this to be over without him condemning my child or something horrible. “Apparently that’s all it took.”

He closed his eyes and rolled his neck, cracking vertebrae. “Are you sure it’s mine?” His voice was deeper.  My dad did that a lot when he was mad.

I nodded. “You’re the only guy I was with around the time I got pregnant.”

When he looked into my eyes, I noticed there were amber streaks that hadn't been there a moment ago. I recognized that sign immediately. Everything clicked into focus. He went to that place to pick up any willing woman, that's why all the women couldn't look away from him. It wasn't just because he was hot and confident. It was because he was a werewolf.

I breathed deeply to keep myself from panicking. I couldn't pass out there, not around a werewolf I didn't know. I needed to get to the pack house, now. I had to get away from this unknown werewolf. He could be dangerous. He could kill me and bury my body without anyone knowing what had happened. Maybe he was trespassing in the area.

“Well, I’ve got to go and I know there’s somewhere you need to be. So I’ll call you.” I said quickly, trying not to sound panicked. I got up and walked out of the café with a hand protectively on my stomach. Holding the belly made the bump obvious. I looked back as I left. He was still sitting there, watching me intently. There was more amber. I could barely keep myself from running to my car.

Once I was safe and secure in my car, I sped to the house. I even ran a few red lights. I couldn’t let this guy catch up with me. I couldn’t let him know where I live and put my friends and family in danger.

When I was at the pack house, I sat in my car for a minute. I desperately tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened. I had slept with a complete stranger and he turned out to be a werewolf? How could I have slept with a werewolf I didn’t know? I did have experience in that area. I didn’t know if he was from a rival pack, or just a lone wolf. I needed to compose myself before facing everyone.

I knew that by the time I left here that I needed to tell the alpha. If there was a threat to his pack, he needed to know about it.

My stomach started to turn, which meant bad news. So I quickly got out of my car and ran into the pack house, carrying the 2 bags of brownies. I threw them onto the couch before making it into the bathroom just in time to puke out my strawberry shake. When I rested against the bathroom wall I was shaking. I was absolutely terrified.