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“You sure? Delay reality for as long as possible if you can, bro. Take an extra few days if you need.”
“I’m sure. We can still be alone in my house with all the comforts.”
“Aw, nice, man. Happy for ya, bro.” He slaps my back and then hugs me.
“Wanna go finish your circle jerk somewhere else so I can finish cuttin’ my lawn?” Graydon ribs us.
I don’t know what I expected out of Graydon. He’s a solid guy. A good mentor. I’m not surprised he knows nothing about all this shit with me, but I also don’t get why the pack worked closely with the coven in the past and he didn’t bother to tell us that when we took over. Not just him, the others as well.
I’ll talk with my council co-alphas in the morning and then decide if we want to have a joint meeting with the retired council to get more information. I know things must have been strained when Graydon had his mating bond severed, but I think he should’ve handed off managing the coven relationship to someone else on the council, not to mention brief us on it when we took over. And it isn’t like Greyson knows anything about this either unless he hasn’t leveled with me about it. And that’s not Grey. Grey would keep me in the loop.
I stay in human form and jog the few blocks over to my place, survey the place, and call my mother from the Savage Construction line to ask if she minds sprucing the place up for me and getting it ready for me to bring my mate home in the morning.
Mom is a little short with me and I know it’s for two reasons.
I’ve been distant since all this shit came to light. She’s hurt that I’ve shut her out.
She’s worried about me being mated to a witch. She was friends with Soleil Young when Soleil and Graydon got together. When things went south with them, her friend moved away, and nobody would tell her what happened. I know she’s likely worried. I’ll introduce her to my mate in a few days and I’m sure that’ll alleviate her concerns.
***
I’m pulling up to the cabin after talking to Cade and Gus, which I also did when I left, asking them to stay close to her as well as just now to let them know I’m taking her home in the morning.
I find her on the grass beside the porch, drinking what smells like tea, eyes on me as I approach. Emotion pulses in my direction, not just from her eyes; I feel turmoil from her place in my chest.
“Why did you drive here?” she asks. “Why are you looking at me like that? Did something happen?”
I approach and she sets her cup on the porch, and looks up at me.
I jerk my thumb up, motioning for her to stand.
She does.
Then she gasps when I lift her up and throw her over my shoulder, carrying her inside.
I close the door, lock it, and carry her to bed.
As soon as she’s on the bed, I’m on her, lifting her dress up over her waist and lining up at her entrance.
I cradle her jaw with my free hand and touch my lips briefly to hers.
“We’ll figure the baby stuff out. Sorry I was a dick about it.”
She looks surprised. She looks ready to burst into tears.
“You said fuck this.”
Pain pulses at me through our connection.
I shake my head. “Shit, baby. I didn’t mean it like that.”
Her chin wobbles and I feel like a bag of shit.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Erica.”
“No?”
“No, baby. Till death. Till. Death.”
She lets out a long exhale.
“But I’m not staying away from you if you go into heat.”
“Riley…”
I practically spit out with disgust, “I’ll buy some condoms tomorrow. Let me have you as much as I want between now and then without ‘em and I’ll deal for a while if I have to.”
She wraps her arms around me and squeezes.
“Thank you for being awesome.” She pulls back and looks at me. Now she’s got a huge smile on her face.
“I was a dick. I’m sorry, little witch.”
“Yeah, but then you went back to being awesome. And you don’t need to use condoms.”
“No?”
“I talked to my sisters on the phone. They’re all coming. They want to be here for this meeting with the SCC. Aunt Mimi didn’t say much, but echoed what Mitchell Blakely said. That I should probably refrain from using magic until after the sit down. I could tell Aunt Mimi knows things, but I don’t know what or how much. I told them I felt like I had new powers, that they were a little scary. They promised to help me figure that out. As for the baby stuff, Ronnie has some of Isabella’s things and my things. They did a little investigative ceremony after you left and called me five minutes ago to tell me they think it’ll be okay. Either we won’t get pregnant until it’s okay to do so, or we will and it’ll still be okay because Isabella will be able to carry her baby.” She smiles brightly at me. “They found a way to delay for a short time if she’s not ready. I don’t know details, but it seems like it’ll work out. Ronnie sees kids for both of us. Both couples. No loss of children. None. Which means it’ll work out somehow.”
