Kailaid the papers down on the coffee table and pulled a pen from his back pocket,signing his name, then he handed it to me. My mate was an Alpha but he wasdifferent with me. He never pushed me or threatened me, but the look he gave menow sent chills up my arms.
‘Shewon’t die,’ I told him.
‘Signit, now,’he commanded and gave me alook that scared me. I took the pen and signed my name. Emma needed me to dothis, so I would, but my best friend wasn’t going anywhere.
Emmasighed in relief and I squeezed her hand. “You’re best friend and birthingpartner is a badass witch with healing powers. Don’t forget that,” I told her. Youbetter believe that if anything went wrong I was calling on every power I hadto help her.
Shesmiled and I saw that a weight had lifted off of her. She must have beencarrying this a while.
Kairubbed her belly. “Emma, don’t worry. This baby will be well taken care of andloved, no matter what. She will know how courageous her father was and howloving her mother is and I will make sure she has a long and happy life.”
Shelooked more at peace. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” She lay back and relaxed onthe couch. “So, you think it’s a girl?” she asked Kai. She was keeping the sexa surprise, even from herself.
Kaismiled. “I do, I sense it.”
“It’sa boy,” I told them both, rolling my eyes.
Ididn’t sense it but I could totally imagine a feisty boy with red hair andgreen eyes.
Emmalaughed. “I think it’s a boy, too. Devon wanted a girl. We will see.”
Sheclosed her eyes then, looking utterly exhausted. I kissed her cheek and wentback to the nursery. Diya and I had set everything up, but I wanted to add onemore thing. I pulled a small wooden wolf carving from my pocket. It was aprotection charm, from Nahuel, my shaman spirit guide who was also my brotherin a past life. He had been trying to help us find Layla, too, with no success.I set the polished wood figurine on the white dresser and looked around. Babystuff was cute. I told Kai I wanted to wait five years and then after twobabies I would let the witches do a spell on me to make me infertile. That way,the vampires and RAIDOS would leave me alone. I held a tiny white onesie andsmiled. Who knows, maybe we would only wait a year.
Kaicame up behind me and patted my belly. “I heard that thought,” he told me.
Ispun around and shook an accusatory finger at him. “Hey! Privacy please.” I tappedmy head.
Hesmiled and looked around the nursery and then at my belly. “I’m ready when youare.”
Irolled my eyes and walked past him. “Good to know.”
Old Friend
Iwanted to stop by Safe Haven and see how all the women were doing, but I knewKai wouldn’t allow me to leave the mountain. Our wolves were working full-timesecurity detail protecting Safe Haven and running check points all along themountain, as well as trying to hold down their day jobs and fight alongside themilitias. The 600-strong militia that had aligned with us was helping, but Kaiwanted to make sure the workload was equal. I decided to spend the rest of theday hanging around with Emma and the girls. As it was starting to get dark, Isaid my goodbyes and ran home to do some quick gardening before the light wascompletely gone. I had planted some veggies and I needed to water them daily. Iwas becoming aware of how domesticated I had become. Gardening, cooking, and Ihad a cat. Next would be knitting at this rate.
Iwas hunched over a strawberry bush when Kai came out the front door and startedstretching, getting ready for a run. He was inspecting some cuts on his arms.
“Thatdamn cat! She’s psycho,” he exclaimed.
Istifled a laugh. Luna was gifted to me by Gretchen, my healing witch mentor. Shewas white, tiny, and utterly harmless. She also hated werewolves and only likedme because I smelled of witch.
“Aww,she scratch you again?” I asked in a baby voice. Kai had originally locked herin one bedroom, but after a couple weeks of my begging, he allowed me to lether roam the house free.
Kaigave me a glare. “She was hiding in a drawer in my filing cabinet. Took fiveyears off of my life!” he exclaimed.
Ibusted up laughing. “Breaking news! Tiny white kitten gives big, bad Alpha aheart attack.”
Kaigrinned, flashing his bright white teeth and dimples and looked me up and down.I was wearing cut-off jean shorts, rain boots, and gardening gloves. The sunwas setting and my long blonde hair fell halfway down my back.
Kaisighed.‘It’s hard to concentrate on anything when you’re wearing those tinyshorts.’
Igrinned and bent over to grab the watering can, giving him full view of myrear. Hearing his growl made me laugh.
‘Havea nice run,’I told him.
‘Iwill. Get nice and dirty so we can shower later,’ he told me and winked.
Ismiled again. Married life suited us. I heard the snapping of twigs as Kaijogged off into the woods.
