When I'd first started feeling under the weather, Cloud picked me up and carried me to a nearby nook in the mountainside. Obviously, temporarily renting the glass-riddled house wasn't an option. I didn't think I'd want to stay there anyway given it belonged to Mistral. I was sick of dealing with spirits, all of them.
Sweat beaded my forehead as I leaned back against the wall. Cloud sat next to me with a worried frown.
"Tell me what I can do," he said.
"You can go away so I don't get sick all over your feathers…"
He smiled. "I don't care about that. I just want you to feel better."
"You're dumb. And mushy," I muttered with closed eyes, leaning against his shoulder.
I heard the smile in his voice without looking at him. "Yeah, I know."
I ended up dozing off for a spell. When I opened my eyes, it was dark. Wind howled outside, making me feel truly isolated.
"Are you awake, Cloud?" I murmured.
"Yes."
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Because I wanted to keep an eye on you."
I huffed. "I'm nauseous, not dying."
His feathers ruffled as he held me closer. "Still. It's my responsibility to take care of you."
I couldn't help but smile. "Fine, alpha boy."
After sharing a quiet moment together in the darkness, I said, "Cloud. I think I'm pregnant."
"Already?"
"My heat stopped immediately after we had sex. And now I have this stupid sickness…"
"Really? But that’s so fast!"
I thought it was cute that he was so surprised. "I'm offended that my fated mate has apparently forgotten what kind of shifter I am."
Cloud thought about it for a moment. "Right, you're a mouse shifter. Does that mean you have a shorter gestation period?"
"I assume that's the case." I let out a long sigh and nuzzled him. "I wish I could talk to my Da right now. Back when I lived with my dads, I wasn't interested in finding a mate or starting a family. So I never wanted to talk about that sort of thing. But now I have so many questions. There's a lot I don't know."
"Why don't we go visit them?" Cloud suggested.
His idea caught me off guard. I'd been so obsessed with the sword that it hadn't even crossed my mind.
"But I thought you wanted to follow Mistral," I said.
"Only because you do. But talking about your pregnancy with your omega father is more important right now, don't you think?"
He was right, as usual. Except now I was getting better atnotbeing annoyed by my alpha partner's constant correctness.
I nodded, then regretted it when my stomach tightened with discomfort. If this sickness continued into the morning, I was going to be pissed. I clenched my eyes shut and leaned against Cloud for comfort. His warm presence and caring personality enveloped me like a blanket.
How did I live without him? I could barely remember what my life had been like before we met, aside from sad and lonely. I never let myself be vulnerable back then. I was afraid of the world, constantly looking over my shoulder to prepare for the next potential threat.
Now I didn't have to do that. I had another set of eyes by my side, and Cloud taught me that there weren't as many shadows lurking around as I thought.
