Christmas Moon by Loribelle Hunt Page A

warm body, but somewhere in the house his cell phone was ringing. Damn his werewolf ears anyway. He got up as quietly as possible, just shook his head at Cain’s questioning look, and pulled on his jeans. He slipped out of the room without waking his mate. His exhausted mate. He winced. They might have tried to start out gentle but sure as hell hadn’t ended up that way. After a day and night of two insatiable werewolves, it was a miracle she hadn’t run screaming from the house.
    Downstairs he found the phone sitting on an end table in the living room. The window said he had voice mail, and he flipped it open, pushing the button that would play messages. One was from his younger brother saying something about his plane being early, but Abel skipped over the rest of it. The other two were from Billy, demanding to know where the fuck his sorry ass was.
    He arched his eyebrows, irritation rising. Unusual for their unflappable Beta to lose his cool or his manners, especially when he knew Abel was busy. Not to mention the holiday season. He reminded himself that Billy had once been a good friend, that they’d drifted over the years and it was Billy’s mate who brought Delilah to them. So maybe he could cut the were a little slack.
    He went back upstairs to finish dressing. He heard Cain’s even breathing and knew he’d gone back to sleep wrapped around their mate, and he slipped into his old room to find clothes that hadn’t yet been moved. Clad in a sweater and his spare boots in mere seconds, he was out the door, hurrying to get back to the big house and find out what the damned rush was.
    An hour later, the phone woke Cain. He would have ignored it but was afraid it would wake Delilah. Grumbling, he lurched from the bed and hurried to pick it up. He didn’t bother to look at the caller ID.
    “What?”
    “Nice to talk to you, too, brother.”
    Cain had to smile at Aidan’s smooth, slightly sarcastic voice. He glanced over his shoulder at Delilah who still lay in a deep sleep, and his grin broadened. He couldn’t wait until the day Aidan met his mate. He had a feeling whoever she was would give him hell.
    “It’s not really a great time for chatting, little brother.”
    “Well, you’re stuck with me. I caught an earlier flight and no one else is answering their phone. So you won the lottery. You get to pick me up.”
    He was not getting stuck with baby-sitting duty. But he couldn’t leave his brother stranded either. Fuck.
    “All right. Someone will be there as soon as I can round them up.”
    He didn’t wait for a response, just hung up the phone and dialed. He growled his frustration when there was no answer and called Abel. He answered on the second ring.
    “Hey.”
    “Where the fuck did you run off to? Aidan is at the airport. One of us has to go get him.”
    “Well, go.” His brother was distracted. His tone had a definite why the fuck are you bothering me with this edge.
    Cain actually cringed when he answered. “I don’t want to wake Delilah up. Can you get back to the house?”
    He hated to admit even to himself why her comfort was so important to him. Because he knew he couldn’t live without her. Knew he already loved her. And he knew when she awoke, she’d still be thinking about leaving them. His hand itched to stroke her belly, but he held himself back, took a deep breath. Already her scent had altered, a sweetness added to the rich spice that had damn near driven them crazy earlier.
    She was pregnant. He was pleased and disturbed. Thrilled that she carried their child, that there was now one more tie between the three of them, but worried about how she’d react when she discovered their deception. They could prevent pregnancy the same way humans did. They’d just chosen not to.
    Abel sighed, and Cain felt the same conflicted emotions from his brother. “Why can’t the dads go?”
    “No answer.” He’d tried calling them before his brother.
    “You’re gonna have to take her with