“Well, youaren’tthe only one with fears either, Drake. With everything that’s been going on, us fighting and you scared to be intimate with me, and now a baby, I’m just scared that you will think it’s too much, too fast.”
He scooted closer to her until they were hip to hip and then dropped one hand from her face and laid it on her stomach, which he noticed did have a slight roundness to it. He might have noticed sooner if he’d allowed himself to be more intimate with her. He glanced up at Bethany and saw her eyes had dropped down to look at his hand so he tapped her stomach and said, “Look at me, Bethany.”
She raised her eyes until they met his.
“We are never going to be prepared for this life. The Great Luna has blessed us with this amazing existence and given us lots of tools to make us successful, but the most amazing thing she’s given us is the ability to adapt. When life throws something at us that is unexpected, we adapt. Sometimes it’s something wondrous like a new baby, and sometimes it’s something horrific like being taken by vampires. But in all situations, horrible and wonderful, we grow and are changed, hopefully for the better.” Drake smiled at her as he reached up and wiped a tear from her face. “Was this unexpected? Yes. Was it fast? A little. Would I change it? Not for the world.”
“Really?” she asked, sounding breathless.
“Really,” he said, nodding. “I won’t lie and say I’m not terrified. But there is something stronger than my terror.”
“What?”
“My love for you and, now, my love for our child as well.”
Bethany leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. Her scent enveloped him, and Drake wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. He wanted to keep her there, safe from anything and everything until their child was born. He was pretty sure that would not be perceived as a good thing by his mate.
“We’re going to have a baby,” she whispered against his neck as she laid her head against his shoulder.
“Yes, we are.” Drake felt his wolf let out a contented sigh.Try not to screw this up, human,his beast rumbled at him.I’ll do my best,Drake said, meaning it with every fiber of his being.
“Inever thoughtI would have children,” Bethany said. “I’d just accepted that I would die at the hands of the vampires. I’d long ago given up any hope of ever having some semblance of a normal life. Then I was rescued and there was you, and I could suddenly breathe. And this”—she snuggled into him, loving the way his larger body sheltered hers—“this would be enough for me. But having your baby, it’s a dream, one I don’t want to wake up from.”
Drake put his finger under her chin and lifted her face until she was looking at him. He wiped a tear from her face with his thumb and then pressed his lips to hers. It started out soft and gentle, but Bethany was starved for his attention. She felt his hands moving and the tugging of the sheet and realized he was undoing the safety pins. With each pin the sheet began to get looser and looser until final it pooled at her waist. She tugged the bottom of it up so she could move her legs and turned her body so she was straddling his lap then she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself tightly against him. His hands gripped her hips and then ran up her back until one large hand was gripping the nape of her neck, and the other was tightly wrapped around her waist, crushing her to him.
Bethany ran her fingers through his hair, loving the silky feel of it, all the while their lips and tongues danced together. His taste was intoxicating, and before she realized it, Drake was standing up and carrying her to their room.
“If you have no plans to take this any further, you’d better stop now, Drake. I won’t be held responsible for clawing your eyes out if you take me to our bed and then stop.”
She felt his rumbled laughter in his chest pressed against her own.
“I have no intention of stopping this time, my love.”
He laid her down on the bed, tugged the sheet the rest of the way off of her and followed her body down, covering it with his own. He peppered her face, jaw, and neck with kisses and tender bites that had her gasping.
“Drake.” She moaned, wanting him to go faster.
He shook his head. “It’s been months, mate. I’m going to take my time with you.”
She growled at him, which only made him chuckle.Stupid man.
As Drake used his forearms to leverage himself over her, he stared reverently at her stomach and then kissed it several times before pressing his ear to her flesh. She watched as his face light up in wonder. “I can hear the heartbeat.” His voice was so full of awe that tears filled Bethany’s eyes.
“You can?”
Drake looked up at her and grinned. “Wolf hearing, baby.” Then his face became serious. “I’m so sorry, Bethy. I would have known sooner if I hadn’t been a fool. I would have heard the heartbeat not long after conception if I’d allowed us to be together.”
“Dumb man,” she whispered but softened the words with a smile.
“I am. Forgive me,” he asked.
“Always,” Bethany said and then helped him pull his shirt off. The rest of the night was a blur of soft whispers, and contented sighs.
“Never again,” Drake said into the dark of their room as he made love to her. And she knew he meant he would never again withhold his intimacy from her.
“I’ll bite you if you ever start that nonsense again,” she teased.
“Then maybe I should.”
