AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A picnic? On the roof?”
I don’t respond, instead taking the opportunity to lay out the blanket that was folded on the tray and begin arranging everything. Once everything is set out, I turn back to her.
“Unless you’re scared, of course.”
Laura huffs, looking between me and the roof, before swinging a leg out of the window, grumbling an impressive string of curses. My mate is never able to back down from a challenge– it’s one of the many things I love about her.
As soon as her feet hit the rooftop, I’m at her side, guiding her to the blanket and settling her between my legs, her back pressed to my chest. The electrical storm blows in, lightning flashing in the distance and the clouds roiling as Laura and I try bites of the various foods laid out for us.
Companionable silence falls as we watch the storm, and it strikes me that I’ve never been so… comfortable. So happy. Everything with Laura is as easy as breathing.
I look down at my mate then, committing the planes of her face and the color of her hair to memory. I want to remember this moment forever, the way the slight, warm pressure of her body molds perfectly to mine.
A small crease forms between her brows as I watch her, and her hand drifts almost absentmindedly to her belly, landing there and tracing small circles.
“What are you thinking about?” I ask, leaning down to kiss the top of her ear.
“Nothing,” She says quietly, her head twisting so those stormy gray eyes can meet mine. I say nothing, simply looking down at her, and she sighs.
“I was just thinking… well, it’s not as if I’m not happy. I love you and Akos more than I thought I could ever love anything, but I just wish…”
“You just wish?” I prompt.
“I wish we could have a child of our own,” she whispers after a long stretch of silence, as though admitting some dark secret out loud. I hum thoughtfully, pressing another kiss to the crown of her head.
I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t thought the same thing, had wistful daydreams of a little blonde demon with Laura’s eyes running amok around the manor– but I wouldn’t change anything about our lives for a thing.
I would never change Laura for anything.
“I suppose we’ll just need to find some little half-demon babies to play with, then,” I say softly. She smiles, but her eyes seem doubtful.
“Are there any?” She asks. My eyes drift from hers, settling on the brewing storm.
If there aren’t now, there certainly will be.
136
BONUS CHAPTER 3
NATHALIE
My eyes snap open, the deep, dreamless sleep I was in mere moments ago dissipating faster than the mist on a sunny morning. Nothing but still, deep dark greets my open eyes, as if I’d never opened them to begin with.
I lay in the dark, breathing as quietly as I can. I know without looking toward the window that it’s about time for Alvech’s third feeding of the night. That was something I never anticipated about motherhood– somehow, my body’s internal clock has tuned itself into every cry, every shift in schedule, that it’s as if I can read his little mind.
Even now, laying in the dark, I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s about to wake up, and that cries will soon echo through the hall until I make it into his nursery to nurse him.
That doesn’t mean I can’t hope that I’m wrong, however.
The lull of silence is too much for my sleep-deprived mind, and within seconds, my eyelids grow heavy. I’m just about to succumb to the sweet embrace of sleep when a piercing shriek fills the room.
My eyes snap open, and I lurch out of bed without thought. I’m on my feet before my mind can catch up, trying my best to fight through the sleep-deprived fog that has hung over me ever since giving birth.
Gods damn it, I knew it.
I fumble sightlessly for my robe, wrapping it around me quickly as I stumble out of Kha’zeth and I’s bedroom. These past few weeks have passed in a sleepless, loving, snuggle-filled haze, and now, at a whole 3 weeks old, Alvech has decided that he’s going to use every bit of lung he’s got– especially when he’s upset.
As if in response to my thoughts, Alvech mewls again, louder and more insistent. There is a very thin line between being able to react fast enough to soothe Alvech and put him back to sleep with relative ease, versus having a very angry, very awake baby, and I’m now in true danger of landing on the wrong side of that line.
