The Wolf's Forbidden Baby: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance by Ellie Valentina Page A

someone after me now.
    Could he believe that? That he was free? He hoped so. The animal inside hoped for it too, one of the few things they agreed on.
    “A good-looking guy like yourself all alone?” Her next swallow left her glass with less liquid than his.
    He matched her pace and then some. “Could say the same about you.”
    Her laugh easily reached him despite the background music and conversations. “I’m not a good-looking guy.”
    “No but…” He fumbled for words. This was the most he had to talk to anyone in a long while, and flirting—was he flirting?—well, it had been a long time since he attempted it.
    She held out her hand. “I’m Kyla.”
    “Devan.” Her hand felt softer than silk, but her grip was surprisingly firm. He, and the animal, liked it, and he had no choice but to fix his jeans, the denim taunt against his growing manhood.
    “So, Devan, what’s your story?” Kyla drained the rest of hers and motioned for two more.
    He drank his, swallow after swallow, relishing in the warmth that trailed down to his belly and even lower. “You don’t want to hear about me,” he said as he placed the empty glass on the table.
    The bartender gave them a knowing smile as she placed their second round in front of them.
    “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,” she said lightly.
    “Fine… but you first.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t like to play fair, do you? And after I bought you a drink too.”
    He barked a laugh. “I’ll buy you that third one… if you can handle it.”
    She leaned toward him and clinked their full glasses. “Oh, I can handle a lot.”
    Devan moved toward her, close enough to smell her floral perfume, but she pulled back.
    “Including your story.” Kyla sipped her drink and eyed him boldly.
    “I’m just a boring guy,” he protested.
    “Boring guys don’t look like they’re ready to kill someone when asked about themselves.” She lowered her glass onto her napkin. “I know. Let me guess.”
    “You’ll never—”
    “You’re on the run.”
    He sucked in a breath. “What makes you think that?”
    “Well, you’re paranoid about something. A cop maybe or a criminal breaking parole.”
    Devan shook his head. “Those guesses couldn’t be more opposite.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe, but you’re hiding something, and I’m just guessing it’s yourself.”
    Wow did she have good intuition. He was running away, not that he could tell her the truth, but maybe part of it…
    “Five years ago, I left my brother behind.”
    She took another sip, gaze fixed on him, and he appreciated her not prompting him with questions.
    Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the dim lighting that played off the deep red of her dress. Maybe it was just because he needed someone to talk to finally. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t stop talking. “I couldn’t handle him, what he was doing. His decisions, his choices, they weren’t good, and they were affecting more than just him. He wouldn’t listen to me, and if I had stayed… Let’s just say it wouldn’t have been good.”
    Her blue eyes watched as he swallowed half of his second drink in two gulps. “Sometimes people can’t be helped.”
    “Nope.”
    But that didn’t stop him from feeling guilty. His brother’s decisions had been all for his benefit, and not for their pack. As wolves, if he had continued to challenge his brother, they would have had to fight… to the death. Only love for the sibling his brother used to be had forced Devan to flee rather than force the issue. His brother was just as strong as him, an inch taller and with a longer arm span, so Devan could very well have been the one to pay the ultimate price. He’d hoped some of the other werewolves would’ve sided with him and parted ways too so they could be saved, but no one else had. That was why he had been alone for five years, alone despite being a wolf and craving a pack. He needed his family to be whole.
    “I know a little about family