End of the Line by Bianca D'Arc

was Maggie
Hobson. She was as beautiful as ever, even with deep circles under
her gorgeous eyes. She’d gained a bit of weight too, if he wasn’t
mistaken, and it looked good on her.
    “ Maggie? What in the
world—”
    He broke off as her knuckles tightened
on the steering wheel and a keening cry ripped from between her
compressed lips. In a flash, he had her car door open and then
stopped, struck speechless by her rounded, pulsating midsection.
Maggie was heavily pregnant, and from all appearances was in the
throes of labor.
    “ I need your help,” she
panted between puffing breaths.
    “ No kidding.” He caught
her when she tried to get out of the tall SUV on her own. Lifting
her in his arms, he wasted no time. He took her into his house,
went directly to his bedroom and placed her on the bed. “Stars,
Maggie!Where’s Tony? Why aren’t you with him for this?”
    “ Tony’s…” Her beautiful
eyes filled with pain and she seemed unable to speak the next,
final words. “He’s dead, Rock.”
    Agony settled in Rocky’s chest as he
felt the truth of her words echo through his soul. His grief was
reflected in her sad eyes. He’d lost a brother and he hadn’t even
known it.
    “ When? How?”
    “ About eight months ago.
He saw it coming. He had time to warn me about—” A new labor pain
struck and Rocky reached for her hand, letting her hold on to him.
He hated seeing her in such agony.
    “ You need help,” he said
as the pain eased. “Let me call Allie.”
    Maggie started to get up as he turned
toward the phone on the small table beside the bed.
    “ I knew I shouldn’t have
come, but Tony made me promise to find you before I gave birth. I
have nowhere else to turn.”
    Rocky soothed her, pushing her back
down on the bed as he snagged the cord of the phone and pulled it
toward him. “You’re not going anywhere until that baby is
born.”
    “ Babies. Plural.” She
panted. “Twins.”
    “ Sweet Mother in Heaven,”
he whispered. “Maggie, did Tony tell you about us? About what we
are?”
    She nodded once, her expression tinged
with fear. “The week before he died, he showed me…” She gripped his
hand as another contraction hit. “He warned me the birth wouldn’t
be easy, and that I couldn’t go to a regular hospital. Damn, I’d
give anything for an epidural right now!”
    Rocky dialed the phone with one hand
while she clenched the other tightly. He was never more relieved
than when the call was answered on the other end.
    “ Rafe, I need
help.”
    Maggie loved the rumble of Rocky’s
voice. It reassured her in so many ways. Many girlhood hours had
been spent dreaming about this man. She found it strange that fate
would send her to his home in the middle of the woods, so many
years later, about to give birth to his best friend’s
babies.
    Make that cubs. She was about to birth
grizzly shifters. If not for the fact she’d seen Tony shapeshift
right before her eyes, she would never have believed it. Rocky
ended the call as she watched him.
    “ Tony said…” She waited to
catch her breath, needing something to focus on other than the
pain. “He said…you’re a grizzly too.”
    Rocky nodded solemnly. “I
am.”
    “ This is all so crazy.”
She looked away, remembering. “Tony came home one day and told me.
I almost laughed in his face—until he shifted to prove his point. I
was never so frightened in my whole life.” She turned back to
search his expression. “He only told me because he foresaw his own
death, Rock. Something called Venifucus was on his trail, he said,
and made me promise to tell you as soon as I found you.”
    “ Venifucus? Are you
certain?” His words were a low growl that sent shivers down her
spine.
    “ He was sure of it, and
told me how to retrieve this after he was gone.” She tugged on the
gold chain around her neck, pulling it out from under her clothing
and showing it to Rocky. The pendant was a faintly glowing blood
red stone wrapped in gold wire. It was