Chapter 39

Rachel POV

Sedan Backseat

"Drive!"

"Help!" I started to scream, hoping someone would come to my aid even as the car drove away from my apartment at a high rate of speed.

I reached for the door handle, trying to get out before the car got too far away from my home. I would be okay if I rolled on my way out, right? People escaped from moving vehicles all the time. It would have to be better to get bruised going out of the car than risk whatever they were going to do to me, wouldn't it?

The man grabbed my arms and pulled me back against his chest. I tried to fight my way free of his hold. He was strong. Alpha strong.

"No! No," I tried to shout, struggling against him, "Let me go! Help!"

"Shut up! Rachel! Shut up," he ordered, shaking me before he wrapped his arms around my body and held me still.

I recognized Tyler's voice before I recognized his hold.

"Tyler?"

What in the name of the Moon Goddess was Tyler doing? He couldn't possibly think he could kidnap me to force me to come back to him. I was a grown woman. I was becoming a known public figure. People would notice if he was keeping me hostage at his home.

"Yes. I needed to talk to you and there have been photographers all over you lately. It would be better for both of us if we avoid being seen together."

"Oh yes," I snapped, struggling until he released me so I could turn to face him on the backseat of the sedan, "I would hate to ruin your potential mate search with a picture of us together. What on Earth is wrong with you? You have to know you can't just snatch me out of my house. What if they got a photo of you carrying me away like some kind of caveman?"

"They didn't."

"How do you know?"

It wasn't as if he could guarantee no one was waiting or watching my house for a lucky break. There had been photos of me doing everything from brushing my hair to checking my mail. I could never tell when someone was watching.

"Wait. Have you been watching my apartment?"

"No," Tyler snapped, "I know because I was careful on the approach. We have a bigger problem than this or pictures. My father knows you're expecting."

Nausea flared through me with a sickening speed. Bile rose in my throat and I gagged, choking on the acid taste invading my mouth.

Tyler looked alarmed as he reached over to rub my back, asking, "Are you okay? Breathe through your mouth. Try not to panic."

John Wright knew I was carrying the potential heir to his house and had approached Tyler with the knowledge. How calm did Tyler think I could be under those circumstances?

"I'm going to be sick. I am. Pull over."

Tyler gestured and the driver -Adam, his Beta, I realized- obediently pulled over on the side of the street. I scrambled for the door handle again. Barely managing to open the door before I was being sick out the side of the car.

I finished being ill after a few moments then lay back on the seat beside Tyler, panting as I tried to catch my breath. Bitterness filled my senses. I desperately wanted a glass of water.

"Are you okay?"

Tyler sounded shaken. I tried to remember if he had ever seen me sick before. I had always been healthy -probably because I actually belonged to an Alpha House, I realized- so it was likely I'd never been ill around my mate.

He was the one of us with a tendency to drink to excess resulting in hangovers while I couldn't remember the last time I'd had so much as the sniffles.

"I will be. Can we get me some water? I'd kill for a cold drink right now."

"Adam?"

"I can go through a drive thru. I'll put the glass up. Don't say anything, okay?"

The glass partition which separated the front seat from the back rose, leaving me and Tyler in a strangely cozy capsule together. The dark glass kept me from seeing Adam which must mean no one could see us either. I focused on breathing as Adam drove around until he went through a fast food joint's drive thru.

He ordered two ice waters and a large fry as if he were out for a regular drive. I was impressed with his casual conversation with the worker at the window. Adam thanked the girl with a laugh about the weather before pulling away.

Adam took down the window to hand back the ice water then eased the car onto the road. I sipped my drink as we pulled onto the freeway, merging with the afternoon traffic to blend into the lines of cars all speeding along to their destinations.

The dark tint on the windows gave us privacy and my stomach settled as the icy water froze the bitter taste out of my mouth and throat.

"I am applying for pack status for myself and the baby. Jack, Bella's mate, is helping me with the paperwork. I can prove my mother came from an Alpha House."

I said this with a confidence I didn't actually have, hoping against hope Tyler wouldn't ask me for proof of my claim.

"You realize, even if you're able to prove you come from an Alpha House, my father is going to petition for custody of the child as the heir to our Alpha House?"

"I could be having a girl," I pointed out, knowing John Wright would not want a female heir to his family line.

"You could," Tyler agreed, "But my father already said to me himself he would be happy to find a suitable match for a daughter. We need to be realistic about what this means, Rachel. You have to come back home with me. My father will exercise our right to the child. It isn't a question of 'if' but 'when', do you understand?"

I understood Tyler was trying to tell me I had no choice other than to run home with him where I would be taken for granted, used for my child, and forced to watch my baby be used as a pawn exactly as Tyler had feared.

"How can you just accept his claim? You didn't want children because you didn't want to deal with the house claims. You care about more than inheritance, Tyler. Why won't you fight your father for your baby?"

"Why would I fight my father for the baby? You think you can offer the child better than the life he will give it? We have resources you can't match, Rachel. The child will want for nothing. Why can't you just accept the best solution is to come home?"

I tried to imagine going back to the sterile, professionally decorated house I'd shared with Tyler and then I tried to imagine a baby crawling through those rooms, sleeping in a crib in one of the immaculate guest rooms, swinging in a swing in the formal living room.

"Your house is not a home, Tyler. My child deserves better."

I felt certain of what I was saying to him.

There was no life in the house he lived in. The place was a very fancy mausoleum. Hotels had more personality than our mated home.

"How are you going to give the child better if you're having to travel all over the country to earn the money to raise him?"

"He or she will not have to worry about having me around. I will only tour when I'm pregnant and I will take a break from touring during the baby's infancy. Camelot Records will accommodate me. I'm sure. You could ask your good friend Dylan though."

Tyler looked as if he were grinding his teeth; I knew he was still unable to connect with his wolf.

Wynd would have shone out of his eyes if he were awake.

"Wynd is still sleeping?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," Tyler said, looking at me as he asked, "Rayne?"

I nodded, "Sleeping. Does your father know about that?"

John Wright would lose his mind if his heir turned out to be unable to shift. He'd already had to replace one son.

If Tyler couldn't shift, House Wright would have to have a new inheritor---which could be my child, I realized with a sick feeling.

Tyler looked bitter as he saw my face change with my emotions. I had never been good at keeping a poker face.

"You realized if you tell him I can't shift, he'll want this child even more?"

I could only nod in agreement. I drank my ice water and prayed I wouldn't need to be sick again because I doubted there was anything left in my stomach.

Dry heaving wasn't on my list of favorite pastimes.

"I want to know the child. Promise me I'll have free access to the child and I'll control my father's contact with him or her."

"What do you mean free access to the child?"

Why was Tyler acting as if he wanted to be a father all of a sudden? Was he worried this baby would be his only chance to have an heir? What kind of contact with Tyler would I allow my baby?

I felt sick as the car kept going smoothly down the freeway, the world passing by in a shadowed blur.