Page 38 of His to Mate

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The next day,Ann had breakfast with Skye and then they went their separate ways for the day. Skye went off to teach her class and Ann went to her mother’s house, Katy in her pocket. Mary swept Ann into her arms the moment she came in and Ann laughed.

“Happy about the baby stuff, are you?” Ann kissed her mom and hugged her back.

“I am, it’s all wonderful. And I love the outfits. I almost forgot how fun it was to dress you up when you were tiny. It doesn’t last long enough, that tiny cute phase.”

“Now you’ll get to dress two of them at a time. I don’t envy you that. But, in a way, I do.” Ann still hadn’t told her mother her suspicions, but she would, after she told Rager. “Twins, it’s going to be a lot of fun being a big sister to those two.”

“I’m glad you’re looking forward to it, Ann. I knew you would, but I wanted to be sure before I told you.” Her mother let her go and a servant walked by. Ann noticed that Mary quickly took the note the servant handed to her and also noticed the insignia on it.

Those bastards had stationery?

Ann frowned and followed behind her mother to the kitchen, as usual. What were Amanda and Mary up to? They surely couldn’t be working to overthrow Rager? He was her mate, and she had settled into life with him. She never complained, or said she hated him, she’d always made a point to express the fact that she was happy. So, if her mother and almost-mother were aware of her happiness with her mate, then why would they join forces with revolutionaries?

Ann sat down at the long table in the kitchen and watched the two women as they ladled up chicken and dumplings.

“Decided to forego vegetarian food today, did you?” Ann asked, just to break the sudden silence the note had created.

Mary looked a bit stressed when she set a bowl down in front of Ann. “Well, we found some cans of chicken that were still good, and some cans of flour were brought to us. The dumplings won’t be the best you’ve ever tasted, but it’ll fill you up.”

“It will,” Ann said, distracted by the way her mother turned away, a guilty look all over her face. Or was Ann just seeing guilt where there was none? Maybe it was coincidence that the insignia was the same as the graffiti she’d seen around the sector lately. Maybe the graffiti artist had seen the stationery and used that as a guide? Or maybe the graffiti wasn’t a warning of menace but a social group?

But if that was the case, then why wouldn’t her mother mention it to her? Ann frowned, her head too mixed up to really think about one thing for too long at the moment, and too full of worry about it all. She really needed to talk to Rager about so many things, but he was the one person she hadn’t seen a lot of lately.

She ached she missed him so much, and she wouldn’t have thought that was possible when they were first married. Now, she was fairly certain that one more day without him might kill her. But then, she’d thought that for a while now. Her thoughts scattered away, to memories of him and the kiss that she was certain he’d given her that morning. A sweet, gentle kiss on her left temple.

She only knew he’d done it because Katy growled at him menacingly, and he’d laughed before he petted the dog. He’d left her then, and she’d gone back to sleep, an intimate stranger that shared his bed and nothing more lately. She felt the heavy sigh as it left her lungs, but couldn’t stop it.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Mary asked and stopped the spoon on the way to her mouth.

The urge to tell her mother all of her troubles weighed down on her. She wanted to blurt out her suspected news, she wanted to tell her mom that Rager wasn’t cruel, but he was distant lately, she wanted to explain how afraid she was about the many people that seemed to hate her. They all hated her for being mated to Rager, human, wolf, and alien, the ones that wanted to harm her. At least they were united in that.

She almost smiled over that thought. She’d managed to unite all three of the groups through hate. Of her. That wiped the ghost of a smile from her face. She’d have liked to have united them for any other reason, but this seemed to be the only factor that had united any of them at the moment.

Should she tell her mom about the baby, at least, she wondered? She saw her mom’s hand against the swell of her stomach, and how she’d waited to tell Ann until she was sure. It would be cruel to get her hopes up, only to dash them if she wasn’t pregnant, she decided. She’d wait until she knew for sure.

Hopefully, she’d hear something from Skye soon, and then she’d be able to tell everyone that mattered. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was also kind of afraid to tell her mother at the house. She’d tell her at her own house, she decided, in her bedroom, where hopefully she couldn’t be overheard. She didn’t know who was listening at the doors, or at the communication devices that were on every wall here. It was best to wait until she knew for sure, she decided, and to do it at her home.

“Nothing really, Mom. Just a lot on my mind is all.” Ann went back to eating but the dish wasn’t as appetizing now.

“You have to eat, dear. Finish your food. I won’t pressure you to talk to me, but if you need someone to listen, I’m your mother and I’ll always be here for you.”

Ann smiled a wobbly smile and picked up the spoon she’d put down. It wouldn’t help anything to worry her mother, so she tried to focus on anything except how much she missed her mate. Her phone-watch chirped, and she looked at it. A message from Skye.

“Come to the clinic, right now. We have a health scanner!”

Ann’s eyes went wide, she dropped her spoon, and stood up. “I have to go to the medical clinic. Uh, they just got some equipment in and I want to see how it works. Thanks for lunch, Mom. I’ll see you soon.”

“Ann! What’s so important you have to run off like that?” Mary’s voice trailed behind Ann, but she didn’t stop. A definitive answer was just a few minutes away, she didn’t have time to stop and explain. She’d call her later, she decided and adjusted Katy in her pocket before she brought the transporter up and flew away.

She tapped her feet as she pushed the control stick, her lips moved, but sound didn’t come out. Excitement, concern about disappointment, and worry ate at her, but she pushed through it all. Part of her wanted to go home and hide under her covers. Pregnancy would change everything, and it terrified her, but at the same time, she’d started to get used to the idea. She all but knew she was, and she’d started to like it before that message from Skye. Now, all the worries and fear flooded through her.

She set the transporter down, took a deep breath, and got out. Katy wanted to get down, so she put the puppy down on the ground. She sniffed around in the grass very quickly, did her business, and then tiptoed back to Ann. Ann’s foot was still steady tapping, but she stopped when Katy joined her. “We have to hurry, little girl, Mommy’s got to find something out. Quickly. Before she chickens out and runs away home like a baby.”

Katy didn’t reply, she just tapped along beside Ann and looked around. Ann finally arrived at the clinic’s main office and walked in. “Anybody here?”

“We’re back here trying to figure this thing out,” Skye called out to her.