Part Two
This part picks up right where Preston and Wess’s book ended.
CHAPTER TEN
Vallis
The Nightshade Bear Territory
Yuletide came and passed with only a minor attack by Sharon Claudis. I followed her, unable to snatch her up as she fled through the Other World gateway and on to the world of my birth of all places she could run. I had a nightmare about her teaming up with Pami, but neither one of the ladies seemed to like sharing the limelight. After all, Pami had killed her own mate for power. I wasn’t sure what power she’d garnered besides burying me alive and keeping me that way. Though, now, we could tell Lero’s uncle where his enemy might be or at least in which direction she fled. Only Lero had forbidden me from speaking with Preston so soon after he gave birth to Baby Amora and Baby Doyle. I thought waiting was cruel, but then again, being buried alive had done wonders to sharpen my edges which were once smooth and kind.
Those same edges were sharpened when I came back this last time and found my mate vomiting his guts out while a positive pregnancy test lay on the sink counter in the bathroom. I stared at it unable to move for a long moment. He hadn’t waited on me. Of course, he hadn’t, because if he wasn’t pregnant, he’d have been ill. Illness affected magic and sometimes the overuse of magic caused illness. He had been more tired and pale than usual since visiting the site of my living grave. All the signs were there but somehow, I missed them.
“We’ve been a bit busy trying to stay alive,”my bear chimed into my thoughts.“It seemed like an important thing to do at the time.”
I wanted to growl at my bear, but my growl would’ve come from himself. I hadn’t lost that much of my mind yet. Instead, I grabbed a clean cotton washcloth from the bathroom’s linen closet and dampened it. Lero closed the toilet and pushed himself up onto the side of the tub. He took the cloth from me and wiped his face before tossing it into the hamper.
“Some warm welcome home, huh?” he said, managing to flash me a half-smile.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you got sick. I could’ve gone out for the test or…” my words trailed off because unless I snuck into the clinic and stole it I wasn’t sure how I’d even have gone about getting him a pregnancy test.
“I had them on hand. I wasn’t a virgin when we met,” he chuckled and I nodded. Still, I should’ve been here.
“On the bright side, today’s the day we’re going to tell Mori,” he said. “How are you getting on with Finn?”
“He’s not the worst roommate. He’s someone to talk to at least and Pami won’t come very close to him. She sounds different now. Like someone let some of the air out of her,” I told him.
“I think he might’ve. At least, something poured out of her,” Lero nodded his agreement.
“How do you feel about telling Mori?” I asked, sitting down next to him on the edge of the tub.
“He’s going to be livid,” Lero sighed. “I… I just… We have to get this taken care of. Sure, Finn is keeping you safe for now but he’s a ghost with a record of losing his sense every now and then.”
“So far so good,” I said, hoping that if Finn lost his mind again it would be at Pami’s expense and not ours.
“Let me take a shower and we’ll go over to Preston’s. He’s going to have the twins today,” Lero yawned. “There’s food in the kitchen.”
“Thanks, mate,” I said and kissed his forehead.
***
Being invisible had its drawbacks. One of which was sitting on the sofa next to my omega mate while he explained to his uncle that he was pregnant. Not to mention, Mori, the uncle on the sofa in question, had spotted me at least once. I wasn’t sure what had flickered between the realms or around the curse, but whatever made it happened allowed the wolf witch to see me. Not for long, though, and not often either.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose and tried not to smell annoyed. Not that anyone except for Lero would catch a whiff of my scent. He was the one that mattered, though. He was the one carrying my cub and the bear I wanted to spend the rest of my life with no matter how long that may be.
Mori’s face shifted from confusion to recognition. He’d asked more than once if Lero needed help. Lero had told him to mind his own business. Looking back, I wasn’t even sure anymore why we didn’t take his help. For a while, I really thought we could figure this out on our own. When Mori’s scentturned to anger, I snarled. I couldn’t help it. My mate was pregnant and no one was going to take their anger out on him – righteous or not.
Pain danced across my thigh. I shot Lero a dirty look.
“Slapping a man no one else can see isn’t very nice,” I told him but squeezed his knee. “He smells like he might jump up and eat you any minute now!”
“Lero, are you even paying attention to me?” Mori asked and Lero sheepishly admitted that he wasn’t. He glanced at the spot on the sofa where I sat and for a moment, I thought he was going to try to kick me out. Not that he’d done it before, but I was nearly overcome with the sudden fear that his uncle wolf would convince him to forget about me and move on.
The snow demon was still in the kitchen pretending to eat slowly so that he could listen in. Out of all of them he might be the one who eventually ‘sees’ what’s going on.
“We’re doing a pregnancy test!” Mori stood up as if he were the only adult in the room. I rolled my eyes. We’d already done that.
“Mori!” Lero said, his voice raised, tugging his arm away from his uncle and holding it against his chest. He wasn’t hurt, but his bear was grumbling inside his inner sanctum ready to take a chunk out of his Uncle Mori if he had to.
