In the months since living with Chael and his pack, I’d come to accept my gift for what it was. And no, not everything I dreamed about came true, but more often than not.
“Do you honestly believe he would pick you over his entire pack?”
The devious intent I heard in the man’s voice chilled me to the bone. I grabbed my phone and called Chael. He didn’t answer. Instead of leaving a message, I sent a text for him to call me when he got a chance. Maybe the sound of his voice would help to put me at ease.
Henry rubbed his head against my leg as I stood from the bed and stretched. With a chuckle, I reached down and ran my hand across the top of his head. A sense of normalcy started to fill me, causing me to relax. I resolved to talk to Chael about my dream when he returned from Arizona later that day or the following morning.
“Good morning, Reese,” Ms. Elsie singsonged as I entered the kitchen.
I approached her at the stove and wrapped an arm around her, planting a kiss on her plump cheek. She giggled as she usually did every morning.
“Morning, Alpha Queen,” one of the children called from the table. A round of good morning greetings filled the air.
I waved and sauntered over to the table. I swiped a piece of bacon from Bracka’s plate and greedily chewed on it all before he replied with a, “Hey!”
“That’s for taking Henry out to the field last week and getting his paws all muddy,” I chided, pointing at him.
“Aw, man.” Bracka frowned. “He wanted to go.”
“Yeah, and you should’ve cleaned his paws then.”
His lips quirked into a slight grin, his dark-brown eyes glinting in mischievousness. “So, if I promise to clean him up after, he can come with me again today?”
Chuckles filled the air, my own included. Henry chose that moment to approach Bracka and laid his head in the boy’s lap. They both looked up at me with those sad-puppy eyes.
Suddenly, one of those images of me holding a baby, staring down at it with love and adoration, flashed before my eyes. That had been happening more and more in the month since Chael’s and my mating.
My hand moved to my belly.
“Can we?” Bracka asked again, bringing me back to the present.
“Yeah, sure,” I finally replied to Bracka before turning away from the table.
Ms. Elsie approached with a plate in her hands. I gave her an odd look when she sniffed the air, and suddenly her eyes landed on me, a shimmer in them.
“Wait, let me get you some more,” she said strangely before heading back to the stove. A few beats later, she took me by the arm with her free hand and dragged me to the end of the table. This chair sat opposite Chael’s at the head and was always left free for me.
I plopped down in my seat. My eyes bulged when she placed a hearty plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and a mountain of pancakes in front of me. But she wasn’t done.
Before I could tell her that was way too much food, she put a second plate of freshly cut fruit in front of me.
“Ms. Elsie…”
“Oh, and I’ve got that spread you like.” A few beats later, she returned, holding out a jar of my favorite hazelnut-and-chocolate spread.
My hand immediately flew to my mouth, and I shook my head. I couldn’t even look at the jar in her hands.
“N-not this morning,” I barely managed to say.
Not until Ms. Elsie removed the jar of Nutella from my line of sight did the sudden bout of nausea that sprung up out of nowhere subside.
What was that about?I wondered. The ton of food that Ms. Elsie shoved in front of me hadn’t caused any reaction, but when I looked at the chocolate spread, nausea threatened to erupt like Mt. Vesuvius.
“Strange,” I mumbled. No sooner than that word made it out of my mouth, my stomach growled violently. A few snickers from others at the table alerted me that they’d heard it. I shrugged and laughed along with them before cutting into a pancake.
I chatted with a few women, making plans to visit them later to talk over some hairstyles they wanted me to do for them. I nodded at Bracka and Henry as they exited after breakfast to hang out with some of the other teens for the day. It was early summer, but thankfully, the weather hadn’t gotten too hot just yet.
“Maybe you should go rest,” Ms. Elsie suggested after I finished my breakfast. She peered down at me with concern in her eyes.
