Mikhail’s face had lit up at his words, and his heart fluttered in his chest—and it wasn’t from the excitement of being tickled.
He leaned in putting his forehead to Mik’s. “Thank you for being patient with me.” His voice was low, and he made sure Mikhail could see he meant every word. Rowan leaned back and lifted his hand and cupped Mikhail’s—his mate’s—cheeks. “I know it can’t have been easy for you.”
Mikhail’s hand covered Rowan’s, and he moved it to his lips and placed a kiss on his open palm. “Don’t you know I would doanythingfor you?”
The weight of his words and the sincerity in which he spoke hit Rowan square in his chest. His throat tightened and his eyes blurred because, yeah, he was beginning to see that. Mikhail had shown him that every single day, from the moment he’d come after him to Manchester.
“Guess we have about eight months or so to go, so until then, how about we go from seeing where this goes to like official?”
Mikhail’s eyes widened, excitement dancing in them, but then Rowan saw the moment when something occurred to him.
“Did you just say eight months?” Mik’s head tilted to the side. “Have I not mentioned that a wolf’s gestation is more likefourmonths?”
“Four months?” Rowan’s eyes widened, but then he did some mental calculations. He realised he should have known that since his brothers had not been gone for nine months.
“Oh shit.” Rowan’s voice was no more than a whisper.
“Good ‘oh shit,’ or bad?” Mikhail asked, his voice just as low.
Rowan’s lips curved, and he let his body fall into Mikhail’s arm, and they both landed on the floor of the bathroom. “Definitely good. Most definitely good.”
As he lay on top of Mikhail, it occurred to Rowan that if Mik had been just a regular guy, he would have been out the door in no time with all of Ro’s fear and indecisiveness. That was a fact and all the more reason that he wanted to be better for Mikhail. He wanted Mikhail to fall in love with Rowan the man and not just because he was his mate. Without realising it, Mikhail had slipped under all his defences and burrowed himself into Rowan’s heart.
Twenty-Four
Rowan
Ro moaned as he leaned over the toilet for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. Two weeks had passed, and he was struggling with making it through one day without vomiting all over… well, everything. He got up from the floor and moved out of the stall, walked over to the sink, and splashed his face with cold water.
“You can do this, Ro,” he said. “Just four more hours.” It was the longest day of his life. He left the bathroom and went back to the front desk. The receptionist arched a brow at him. “Who’s next?” he asked, trying to pretend like he hadn’t noticed.
“Um… you look a little peaked.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him.
“I’m fine,” he mumbled, not making eye contact. He grabbed the chart and looked at it. “Perfect!” Mrs. Ellis was back and it would most likely be her final appointment before delivery. He touched his head. He felt a little warm, but that was probably from puking all day.
Just get through the rest of the day, Rowan.He took a deep breath and went back to the exam room they had placed her in.
“Hey, Syd.” Rowan tried for perky, slapping a smile on his face as he entered her room.
“Hey, Rowan,” she shot him a tired smile that he could definitely relate to. A frown creased her brow as she took him in. “I hate to say this, Rowan, but you look as badly uncomfortable as I feel.”
Rowan swallowed a groan. He should have known Sydney would say something.
“Long week.” And boy was that an understatement.
“That sucks, babe.” She clicked her tongue in commiseration.
He smiled and didn’t even try to reply. He knew he wasn’t his usual self, but he was wiped.
“Where were we?” Rowan didn’t want to rush this because it went against all his midwifery training, but he needed to move the appointment along. “You feeling okay, any issues?” He was so glad she wasn’t a first-time mum, so he didn’t have to explain everything to her.
Rowan took her blood pressure, then measured her belly as he listened to her speak. Thankfully, everything was still fine.
“Have you managed to eat?” he asked. “I know you mentioned at this stage in your other pregnancies you seemed to lose your appetite.”
“Its been fine so far, although I swear my cravings have got weirder.”
“Oh?” Rowan asked as he typed in a couple of notes.
