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She sobbed in earnest, covering her mouth. He shot to her side of the table and drew her into his arms. Sitting down, he placed her on his lap sideways and held her tight without hurting her belly.
She clung to him, burying her face against his neck. The skin warmed, and his pulse pushed against her lips, beating so strong and steady. Gerard’s scent, familiar, reminiscent, stirring desperate longing in her core, he made it impossible to draw away.
I love you.
He brushed a heavy hand over her hair, smoothing it from her face. When she looked up at him, he captured her lips with his. She drowned in him and never wanted to resurface.
Time stood still. They breathed as one, parted, kissed, separated again to drink in each other through sight, and then melded as one. How could she not be his mate? Why did it matter? It didn’t, not to her, or to him apparently. It would matter to everyone else. Right now, all she knew was Gerard. He was her world.
The pizza arrived, and they ate. All the while, she remained starkly aware of him. It blew her mind over and over that he sat in her tiny kitchen. Nights she had cried alone, longing to see him started to fade. A spark of hope surfaced that somehow everything would work out to allow her to stay by his side forever.
After dinner, they made love. At first she was self-conscious about the state of her body. Her hips had grown so wide, and her thighs thickened to the point of rubbing. It drove her nuts. Her breasts were heavy with milk. She looked like any day soon she would pop.
This body wasn’t what she was used to. She had always kept herself in shape and always felt confident that she looked good. The response from men in the clubs and pretty much wherever she went had confirmed her own thoughts. Now, the man she adored would see the stretch marks that had formed on the base of her belly, and behind her knees of all places.
“You are beautiful, Lachelle,” Gerard told her with an intensity that overwhelmed her emotions. “Don’t ever hide yourself from me.”
“You don’t think I’m too fat?”
“You’re pregnant.”
“And fat.”
He frowned. “I love you.”
“That was below the belt.” She panted, and then smiled, and her confidence returned. She proceeded to show him everything he missed—and demonstrated all the frustrated love that had been forced deep down in her heart.
Later, they sat side by side on the swing she’d purchased and placed on the front porch. Her hips brushed Gerard’s. She laid her head on his arm and watched clouds slowly drift over the moon. Crickets stridulated in the bushes around the property. Peace descended.
“Lachelle.”
She yawned. “Yes?”
“You won’t be afraid, if I have to fight to keep you?”
She sat bolt upright. “What are you saying? I don’t want you turning against your own people, Gerard. And hasn’t there been enough fighting? I haven’t been looking at the news because I didn’t want to be reminded of anything, but everyone is okay, right? Nothing drastic has happened that Janessa has kept from me?”
He rubbed his chin. She made out his features from the moonlight but couldn’t tell what he thought. “I broke into a prison, but nothing else happened.”
“You what?”
Chapter 17
Lachelle’s throat dried. She faced bad guys in the past, but here she was practically shaking in her boots over facing Gerard’s people. After closing her house up and deciding she would deal with it later when she knew where she stood among the shifters, she drove with Gerard back to the homestead.
After climbing out of the car, she looked up at Gerard. His eyebrows rose as he gazed toward the main hall. “What’s that expression for?” she wondered.
“Come. It’s better we talk to the council now.”
“God, can’t I sleep on it? It was a long trip, and I’m still pregnant, you know.”
He looked down at her in surprise. “You’re tired?”
“I…” She thought about kicking him. No, she wasn’t tired. The more she exerted herself, the more the baby’s healing or whatever kicked in. She was always good, unless she didn’t eat. Gerard knew that. “Fine. Let’s go.”
He nodded.
“Are you really going to tell them you’re quitting being king? That’s why you think there will be a fight?”
