“Grace has had her baby,” I say, dipping another pickle into a jar of peanut butter and making Dominik wince.
“So, the werewolf finally has his pups.” Dominik smiles wryly.
“Three, as it turns out. I can’t imagine Grace enjoyed that much.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Dominik slides onto the bed next to me and glances at my phone, the screen filling with notifications.
“There’s something the great vampire king doesn’t know? Will wonders never cease?” I bite into my pickle.
Dominik snorts but doesn’t bite (literally or metaphorically).
“Werewolves fuck their mate through the birthing process,” he says, as if he’s discussing the weather. “His knot is supposed to assist.” He raises his eyebrows at me.
“Oh,” I respond. I wasn’t expecting him toactuallyknow.
I want to text Grace immediately to ask if it’s true. But at the same time I still haven’t told her I’m in Budapest. For a lawyer, I’ve singularly failed to find the words. But with her having given birth, and all the chatter about visiting from my friends, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“Oh? Is that it? No put down? No comparison between vampire and werewolf anatomy?” Dominik says in a hurt tone.
“I’m sorry I can’t verbally spar with you this morning.” I finish up my pickle, but the taste is wrong in my mouth. “Ugh, why do you let me eat this?”
I push the tray aside.
“What’s wrong, little dove?” Dominik slides his hand over my distended belly and leaves it there in a proprietorial manner.
“Nothing,” I grumble.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“You do remember I’m a vampire, right?” he says. “Which means I have a bullshit detector.”
I look up from my phone and glare at him.
“When I say nothing, I mean nothing.”
“You mean everything. Is this about your friends?”
“I want to see Grace,” I blurt out. “I know I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile here, but she’s my friend. She’s just had babies. I miss my friends, and I want to see her.”
“Then you should,” Dominik says evenly.
“I can’t! Look at me! I’m six months pregnant.”
“And that would make them think less of you? If they are your friends, they shouldn’t care.”
“But if they find out, it gives the Monster Force a reason to…interrogate them,” I wail. “I can’t put any of them in that position.”
“But your friend Grace has her pack. The Monster Force will not touch her,” Dominik says. “And she is in Budapest. There is no reason why you should not see her.”
“I’ve been telling her I’m working away all this time,” I say quietly. “I hate I’ve been lying to her, and she would have every right to hate me back.”
“Again, is she really your friend if she does?” Dominik says fiercely.
I feel tears prick the backs of my eyes. Whereas once I was the master of my emotions, now I have zero control.
“I wasn’t able to have friends, not until I left home,” I say, staring at my stomach while those tears drip onto my dark T-shirt. “Grace was the first real friend I ever had. She introduced me to the others. I thought I’d spend the rest of my days alone, until her.”
