“They didn’t try to talk you out of it.” Rowan finally looked at me. His eyes were red-rimmed. “They want you to keep us, too.”
“Of course they do. I guarantee it’s a done deal. They were bugging me for your details as soon as I hung up with them. Might take them a couple of days to track down their witch friend, she’s a free spirit, but I guarantee they are out here by the end of theweek.”
“What would you bet?”
I ran a hand over Sandy’s brown hair and squeezed Berry to me. “If they aren’t here by the end of this week, I’ll make you a pie of your choosing, just for you.” Rowan’s appetite was epic. “If you lose…”
Humor danced in Rowan’s eyes. “If they come visit before the week is out, I’m on cooking duty.”
“Cooking duty, huh? How long?”
“A week?” Rowan hedged.
My eldest kid was an amazing cook. I almost wished my parents would be delayed and Rowan would lose.
“I agree to those terms.”
We shook hands, making the twins laugh. My chest ached and I was exhausted. Still, protecting them almost made it worth giving up Sully.
Thirteen
Sully
Withshakinghands,Ihid the positive pregnancy test. I had to decide what to do about the mess I found myself in.
I had a fated mate who didn’t want me. An arranged mating partner who also didn’t want me. In parts of the town, I was still a laughing stock. All over an event the police and probably the mayor’s office knew actually happened, but they hid the truth from everyone, possibly at the risk of the town and certainly harming poor Malik. Shifting sickness was a terrible disease with horrible side effects.
Oh, then there was me, being a twenty-two-year-old recent college graduate who lived with his parents in their house, working at their hotel. What would they do when they found out about me being pregnant with a stranger’s baby? It didn’t matter that he was my fated mate if he didn’t want me, didit? What kind of alpha would accept me with another’s child?
Mentally, I scoffed. These days people had blended families all the time. I wasn’t ruined because I had a kid on the way. The mating with Orson was sunk, anyway. This would just give him a decent excuse to leave with his chosen partner. In a few years, once my baby was older, I could try again for a mate.
How could I have a baby alone? Again, I chided myself. Who said I was alone? My parents would be upset, sure. Things might be difficult between us for a time. Did I really believe they’d let me go it alone?
Even if they did, I had my brother and my sister. They wouldn’t see me out on the street. I could count on their love and support.
Then there was Trisha. She was a little older than me. We’d met working at Rosie’s and hit it off. My best friend was child free by choice, still I knew she’d help me when I needed her. Trisha would be the best damn auntie who’d ever auntied.
Feeling better about the situation, I got into bed. I was utterly exhausted despite my earlier nap. Having a heat always took it out of me, which is part of the reason I’d been takingsuppressants, though I’d forgotten to take them a couple times, oops. I was glad my heat cycle had waited to start until I was away at college because having one alone in Haenvale would have been miserable. Trisha’s aunt had helped me through my first one by using a service. The alpha chosen for me was fairly inexperienced himself, which strangely, set me at ease. We’d fumbled through the entire thing and laughed about it after. We were still friends.
Things weren’t all that bad. At least I knew I had a fated mate. I might not know his name, and maybe I’d been rejected, but he’d left me with this little gift.
In my bed, I cradled my stomach tenderly. I would keep this baby, even if having an abortion, or giving it up for adoption, might be easier in the long term. It didn’t matter to me that I might be doing this without my alpha, or that I was pretty young to be a parent. I wanted this baby.
Strange, because the idea of having a baby with Orson had been a big no. I’d scoffed at the idea of starting a family this young.
This, though, was my choice. No one else knew. No one could influence how I felt.Besides, this was the one part of my fated mate I could have.
My thoughts spun as I lay in bed, willing my brain to switch off so I could get some more rest. Memories of my mate flowed through my mind, while I wondered if I should tell Trisha about the baby. She would be so mad about my mate rejecting me if she knew. Maybe it was better to have her support in getting him to change his mind first. I’d tell her before the tell-tale signs showed up. Same with my parents.
If I wanted to get my mate to choose me, he had to do it without the burden of a possibly unwanted baby. I’d figure him out, see if he was open to having more kids before I sprung my surprise on him.
When I woke late the next morning, I felt terrible. Mom took one look at me and told me to go back to bed. If I didn’t improve in a day or two, she wouldget a healer to visit me.
Calling in sick for work sucked. Kenneth was incredibly smug over the phone about me not being able to handle an upcoming mating and a job. Unfortunately for him, Dad was in the room when I made the call. Kenneth was now on incredibly thin ice. There was going to be an investigation about him when I made it back to work.
Trisha sent chicken noodle soup and a couple of Earth One movies she thought I’d like to keep me occupied while I was sick. It was an adaptation of a fae book series, because there weren’t enough fae movies in her opinion. The lead was a human girl called Jude, and the love interest was a prince called Cardan. We’d loved the books when they’d first come out and I’d bought her the trilogy when it was released as a movie.
She’d also sent me a ton of texts sympathizing with me that I couldn’t head back out to the woods. Truthfully, I was a little wary of being rejected in front of my friend and Trisha had cases coming up she had to prepare for, so she was busy. I hoped I could see my mate one more time alone to give me a chance to convince him without the pressure of my bestie loomingover us. She meant well but it was already so embarrassing to be rejected.
