“Does that mean if I get pregnant, it will be a wolf twin?”
“Whenyou get pregnant, yes.” He touched my belly and smiled. “I can’t wait.”
A tingling of excitement ran through me as I imagined it. A beautiful twin that looked like Kayden, and him taking care of the three of us, showering us with his kind love.
He cleared his throat. “I mean whether they’re mine or Alec’s…”
Alec. I hadn’t seen him since the night he took off. I sighed and glanced sideways at Joshua, who had his sinister scowl on his face.
Bringing up the baby topic was inconsiderate of me. It wasn’t fair to him to be excluded. He’d done everything in his might to protect and love me. And I loved him, too. So much. I wished there had been another way for the four of us to live happily together for the rest of my life.
But all we had was now. The couple of weeks left before Halloween.
“What about you, Joshua? How did you become a vampire?”
He lifted his shadowed gaze to me. “Bitten.”
I waited for the rest of the story, but that was all he volunteered. “That’s it?”
“Yes.” He rose and dusted his pants. “Do you want to go to the creek now before it gets crowded?”
My lips pursed. Seeing him like this tore at my heart. “Sure. Let’s go.”
When we arrived, the murmuring waters flowed in my ears, a soothing rhythm of a perfect and permanent stream of waters that deepened the hue of the tree barks. This secluded spot, nestled between acres of greens, instantly took away all the troubles in my head with its beauty. As if land and water came to the most glorious of compromises and made something so spectacularly different from every other place around.
“No one is here. Awesome. We’ll have it all to ourselves.” Kayden smirked at my dress. “Do you need help taking that off?”
I bit my lip. “I’ll only take a dip if all of you come with me. The bears, too.”
“As you wish, me lady.” he bowed theatrically, and then took off all his clothes, howled a humorous sound and cannonballed naked in the creek.
When he surfaced, he flipped his hair, splashing water all over his face and shoulders. Then he ran his fingers through his hair, looking at me. This wet look made him so much sexier, and even my blood was now clean, that bunny sex drive found me again.
The bears splashed water at him playfully, standing on all fours at the edge of the creek. “Stop it,” he yelled at them, his head lashing right and left.
I laughed, my first laugh in weeks, and turned to Joshua. “Are you coming?”
His somber look answered me. “Do you really want me here, Isabella?”
“Yes. Always.”
“We do not have always.”
“Then I’ll take whatever I’m allowed to have with you.”
“Remember when we talked about Persuasion? How you hated waiting, and how I loved that time never got in between them? How they waited for each other and in the end they got their happily ever after?”
“Yes.”
“Why can’t we have this? Aren’t you tired of taking only what you’re allowed but not what you wanted, what you deserved? I know I am.”
His eyes were no longer made of bright steel. They misted with a heartbreaking hint of tears that let mine pour out of my eyes.
“No, please. I can’t stand your tears. Forget everything I said, I’m a fool. Don’t mind me, please.” He embraced the back of my head and pressed me to his chest.
“No, Joshua. You’re right. It’s not fair. Not to you. Not to me. My idea is selfish and risky. No wonder none of my past lives have done it before. The baby might take away my pain for a while, but I would always end up heartbroken, and so would two of you. Not to mention the children… I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, and with Declan out…”
“It’s all right.” He held me tighter, rubbing my back gently. “That insect will never harm you again. As for our situation, we still have time to figure it out. There must be something. There has to be. And when we find it, I want you to know I’m ready to accept any arrangement, anything that would give me you.”
