“Do you not wish for shoes?”
Right. Vampire. They dressed a lot like the warlocks on the mountain. Always in slacks and button-downs. I grabbed a pair of black-and-white slip-on shoes and shoved my feet into them. “Good?” I asked. We were as different-looking as we could get, but there was nothing I could do about that. I didn’t have Marcello’s type of money, and I never would.
“Yes.” Marcello was staring at me.
I smiled at him, but it didn’t reach my eyes, and I knew it. I followed him out of the closet, then to the door to the room. I’d only been to the doorway and then just out into the hallway since I’d been here. That had been a week and a half ago.
“You seem less than pleased.” I shrugged but stayed quiet. Marcello stopped at the top of the massive staircase and cupped the side of my face. “Are you unhappy here?”
I shook my head. “I do not know here. I mean, I’m happy I have my mate, but it was really a shitty way that I was brought here against my will.” I glanced down the stairs when movement caught my eye. There was another standing at the bottom, but after he nodded, he walked on. When I looked back at Marcello, he was glaring. I sighed and started down the steps. I had no clue where I was going, and I probably wouldn’t venture out of Marcello’s room too much. This place, although beautiful, didn’t feel like home.
“It is this way,” Marcello said as he gently took my hand at the bottom of the stairs and started toward the right. I followed, and as we moved through the house, there were others that popped up here and there. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at us. I moved closer to Marcello, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and like I was very much the outsider here.
“This way,” Marcello said quietly. When we turned down another hallway, then into the first room on the left, I felt a sudden sense of relief. In here, the place felt warm and welcoming, and the man who smiled at me screamed “friend.”
“Hello, Abel,” he said. “I am Rio. I hear you aren’t feeling the greatest.”
I shook my head. “Hi, Rio. Umm…no, not really.” His accent was different than Marcello’s. “Your accent is different,” I said without thinking. I quickly realized how rude that was and covered my mouth with both hands and shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said after I dropped my hands. “That was incredibly rude.”
Rio chuckled. “Not at all. I am from Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, to be specific. By the time I came along, my mother was simply tired and had no energy to name me anything but after the city we lived in.”
I smiled. “It’s a cool name. Do you have a lot of siblings?”
“I do. Seven. Five older, one younger.”
My eyes widened. “Yeah, I guess I can see why she was tired.”
“Very much so.” Rio glanced at Marcello, and then his smile dimmed some. “I apologize,” he said. “You are not here to discuss my family. I’m to examine you and then give you tea, most likely. Your mate wishes to know that you are healthy.”
I glared at Marcello and pulled my hand away from him. Rio had been nothing but kind, and he had made me feel welcome. “My mate wants to know if I’m pregnant or not. I know I am. Why else would a shifter throw up at the scent of eggs?” I sent Marcello more of a glare as I crossed over to the exam table. I knew how this worked. I’d been around enough pregnant omegas in the past couple of years to know that the doctor would run his hand over my stomach, and he would feel the baby’s aura. “I’m ready. You’re going to do that glowy thing, right?”
Rio chuckled. “I am, yes. You must have been around warlock doctors before.”
“Actually, yes. Dr. King is the council’s doctor. He examined me when I was first brought to the council. He takes care of all of the omegas on Treasure Ridge. I’ve not seen any deliveries, but I’ve heard other omegas talk about them.”
Rio moved closer, and when Marcello stood on the other side of the exam table, I could feel the heat from him with as close as he had decided to stand. I raised an eyebrow at him in question. “Did you wish to crawl onto the table with me?” I asked.
Rio cleared his throat, pulling my attention from Marcello. “It is understandable. Your mate does not know me all that well, and he’s only being protective, as is expected.”
I looked back to Marcello and raised both eyebrows.
“He isn’t wrong. I cannot help it. You and I are newly mated.” Marcello sighed. “Were you not ever around any other newly mated couples back in Montana?”
“Yes, but they all had like a month off before they had to return to work. Nobody really sees them during that time. But yeah, the alphas are still protective. I don’t think that really ever goes away.” I thought about Wallace and how protective he still was of Master Edison. They had been mated forever, and he was never very far from his mate. Same with Alpha Sergei and Chin.
There was a glow of green light, and I turned away from my mate as Rio’s glowing hand slowly passed over my torso. His eyebrows rose, and then the light dimmed before disappearing altogether.
I smiled up at Rio. “I’m pregnant, right?’
Rio nodded. “Very much so. Congratulations to the both of you.”
I turned back to Marcello. “Pregnant,” I said excitedly. I was going to have my own little baby to care for soon.
Marcello leaned down and kissed my nose. “I would have been surprised if you weren’t. Your heat was quite intense.”
Rio cleared his throat. “I think you should know something.”
My smile faded a bit. “Is something wrong?”
