That wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay,” I said, grabbing more bags and beginning my own adventure.
Our cart was half full of bags of items when we were finally done. I couldn’t help chuckling at the strange looks we were getting from other shoppers.
“What else does this store have?” Fox asked, heading towards the nearest aisle.
“Yes, I’d like to see what else is here,” Nico said, following Fox.
“Well, in that case, I’m going to get another cart,” Ezio said. “Knowing you four, you’re going to end up buying half of the store.”
I didn’t doubt it. “Just yell if you can’t find us,” I told him.
He scowled at me. “Jolie, I’m just going to follow your scent.”
How had I forgotten that?
“Right,” I said, smirking in embarrassment.
“Onward!” Deryn said, standing on one leg on the cart, then using the other to propel it forward again.
Rhys slipped his fingers into mine and tugged me close to his side. “Come on, beautiful. Let’s go on an adventure.”
I laughed. “The grocery store is hardly an adventure.”
“We’re exploring unfamiliar territories and leaving with treasures. Sounds like adventuring to me,” he said.
I smirked. “Well, if this is an adventure, we already screwed up.”
“How?” Rhys asked.
“We let our healer go first.”
Rhys paused and then yelled, “Fox! Get back here!”
I laughed as we caught up to the other three, who had already filled the cart with several kinds of cereals and breakfast pastries.
“Sampling everything?” I asked.
They all nodded.
“After we figure out which of them are our favorites, we can order them in bulk,” Fox explained.
“You realize there are like thirty more aisles and you’ve already filled the cart?” I said, smiling at the pure innocence they showed in situations like this.
“We can grab more carts if needed,” Ezio said, pushing the new cart he brought into the middle of our group.
“Onward!” Rhys said. “We must continue our adventuring.”
“Oh? Adventuring!” Fox said and smiled wide. “I’ll stay in the middle in case we need healing.”
“I’ve got the rear,” Deryn said.
“I’m in front, Jolie behind me,” Rhys said.
To anyone else, we must have sounded crazy, but this was our normal order when playing games together, and we easily fell into that mindset.
“Left,” Rhys called over his shoulder.
We followed him to the left, down the next aisle.
“What’s this?” Fox asked, picking up a can of frozen juice concentrate from the frozen bin.
“It’s juice concentrate,” I explained. “You put that in a container, and fill the container with water then mix it up, and you get juice.”
His eyes widened, and he grabbed six different flavors, putting them in the second cart, which was already half full.
“This?” Deryn asked, holing up a box of frozen waffles.
“Frozen waffles,” I said, smirking.
“You’ve never seen frozen waffles before?” Ezio asked Deryn.
Deryn shook his head. “So, you just heat them up?”
I nodded. “Microwave them or put them in a toaster.”
“Get a bunch,” Rhys said. “They’ll make for a fast breakfast when we run behind.”
Deryn nodded, and did as Rhys said.
“Is this really a pie?” Rhys asked, looking in the glass at the frozen chocolate pies.
“Yes. You just put them in the fridge to defrost, and eat when they’re ready,” I said.
“Get ten,” Nico said.
I laughed and shook my head. “Where are you going to store all this frozen food?”
“We have a deep freeze in the kitchen,” Rhys said.
I blinked in silence. “What? Since when?”
“We bought it last week,” Nico answered.
“I totally missed that,” I admitted.
“Ice cream!” Nico said, sounding like a giddy child.
“There are so many flavors!” Fox gasped.
“Get strawberry, please,” I requested, staying by the cart so I was out of the way of their madness.
“I’ve never seen them like this before,” Ezio whispered. He looked down at me. “You really do help them become more than they were.”
“Stop,” I said, blushing. “I’m just taking them shopping. Anyone could have done the same and had the same reactions from them.”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t think so, Jolie.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but was saved because they headed to the next aisle, and I had to push the cart to catch up.
Our last aisle was the bread aisle.
Fox’s eyes gleamed with joy. “So many different types!”
“Blueberry bagels and blueberry muffins for me,” I requested.
Nico grabbed them for me, and then returned to staring at the bagels, a thoughtful expression on his face. “There’s just so many different types and brands,” he whispered.
“What about that aisle?” Rhys asked, pointing at the aisle across the way. “You had us skip it. Why?”
“That’s the shampoo, hair dye, and feminine hygiene aisle. I didn’t think you’d want to go down it,” I explained.
“Do they have lots of shampoos?” Fox asked.
“With different scents?” Deryn asked.
Oh boy. Obviously, we were headed down the shampoo aisle.
“Yes, let’s go.”
They put their last bread choices in the cart, and then headed to the shampoo aisle. I watched with quiet fascination as they picked up various bottles, opened the lid, and took turns smelling the shampoos.
“That’s disgusting!” Fox gagged. “Who would use that?”
“This one’s not much better,” Deryn said, holding a shampoo out to Fox.
Fox smelled it and gagged again.
“This one smells like Jolie,” Nico said. The others reached for it, taking turns smelling it.
I smirked. “That’s because that is the shampoo I use.”
“Oh, smell this one,” Rhys said, holding out a bottle that was covered in flower designs.
“Pretty,” Fox said, tossing it into the cart. “I’m getting that.”
“You’re going to use flower scented shampoo?” I asked.
“Why not?” Fox asked, and all of them looked at me.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Nothing. It’s fine. I was just asking.”
They resumed smelling shampoos then moved to the conditioner and body washes next. I couldn’t stand to see how much they spent, so I stood by the exit, with Ezio at my side.
“I’m hungry again,” I complained. “I don’t think I’m going to like being hungry so often.”
He chuckled. “It just means you’ll get to eat lots of delicious food.”
“I want pizza,” I said. “Pizza and chocolate.”
“At the same time?” he asked.
I laughed, bending over to clutch at my stomach from the laughter tightening my stomach muscles. “No!”
He chuckled. “Well, I’ve heard of women eating lots of weird things while pregnant, so it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Not this girl,” I said with a smile. “At least, not yet.”
The guys pushed the two overflowing shopping carts towards us.
“We’re ready!” Fox said.
“I’m hungry,” I announced, smiling.
“Well, then let’s get the princess some food,” Fox said.
Chapter 12
Rhys
“This is so good,” Jolie moaned as she ate the last piece of the large pizza we’d gotten for her.
Deryn glanced at me, a smirk on his face. Yeah, she was already consuming more than she used to, now that she was pregnant.
“Do you want dessert?” Nico asked.
I took a drink from my water to stop from laughing at her.
She was incredibly adorable, and I couldn’t wait to see what she looked like with a cute, round belly.
“What?” Jolie asked, looking up at me.
Crap. She’d caught me staring.
“Nothing, beautiful. Just admiring you,” I said.
She wiped her face with a napkin and frowned. “I’m eating a lot, aren’t I?”
“No,” I said immediately. “You need to eat twice what you normally do to get enough nourishment for the baby.”
She scowled, her brows scrunching together into the most adorable face ever. “I still feel hungry, even though I already ate a lot.”
“It’s normal,” Fox assured her, giving me a scowl.
My bad.
“Here, pick out dessert,” Deryn said, setting a menu in front of her.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of the desserts, and she spent a solid minute in silence, deciding what she wanted.
“Chocolate cream pie,” she said with a nod.
We all watched her eat it, our attentions focused on her, and that small spark of magic growing in her womb.
Whose would it be?
Chapter 13
Jolie
Nico crawled out of bed, his movements slow, like he was trying not to wake me.
“Nico?” I asked, rubbing at my eyes. A glance at the clock confirmed it was still really early, only five in the morning.
He kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just need to go take care of something.”
“You’ve been disappearing a lot lately. Where are you going?” I asked, standing to face him.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” he said, walking backwards, away from me. “I’ll be back soon. The others are here to keep you company.”
I reached out towards him just as he teleported away, my fingers brushing his shirt. His magic teleported him away, and when I looked down at my hand, a few of my fingers were missing.
I stared in disbelief, then screamed and clutched at my hand. Had part of my fingers teleported with Nico? I dropped to my knees and closed my eyes, crying out in agony.
“Jolie!” Fox yelled, grabbing my shoulders.
I wrenched my eyes open and stared up into Fox’s face. I bolted upright and glanced at my hand, which was whole. I turned to my right and glared at the spot Nico was supposed to be in.
“Where’s Nico?” I asked, snarling.
“He left a couple of minutes ago,” Fox said. “What happened? Why were you screaming?”
A dream. It must have been a dream.
“I dreamt he was leaving and I touched him as he teleported, and it teleported part of my fingers with him,” I said, clutching my hand to my chest as the phantom pains still lingered.
“Your fingers are all there and accounted for,” Fox said, kissing the tip of each one.
“Where does Nico keep sneaking off to?” I demanded, climbing out of bed and heading to my dresser.
“What are you doing?” Rhys asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“I’m going to find Nico,” I explained, and pulled on a pair of pants.
“He’s just with the mages, taking care of king things,” Deryn said. “Come back to bed.”
“He doesn’t have to sneak out, if that’s all he is doing,” I argued.
“He leaves early so that he is gone mostly while you’re asleep. He doesn’t like to be away from you, even with all of us here, and Ezio downstairs,” Fox explained.
Ezio had moved in yesterday, at Dan’s urging. He had decided that it was better for Ezio to be my permanent guard, despite me already having four permanent guards who slept in my bed.
I gave up, stripped off my pants, and climbed back into bed. When Nico came back, I would talk with him. I understood he had more duties now that he was king, but I did not like him sneaking off without telling me. Plus, I had a niggling feeling that there was more going on than the other guys knew with Nico.
After breakfast, I went to the room across from mine, the nursery, and stood with my hands on my hips as I surveyed the empty room. We’d ordered some furniture, but I still needed to figure out how I wanted to paint it.
Green? Green was a neutral color, that would work for either gender, since we didn’t know what it was yet.
It. I hated calling the baby I was growing ‘it,’ but until I knew at least the race, that was all I could call the little parasite.
“What are you doing?” Ezio asked from the doorway.
I wasn’t surprised he had come looking for me. I had been here at least five minutes.
“Debating what color to paint the nursery. What do you think about green?” I asked.
“I’m not giving my input. This isn’t my child,” he said. “I don’t want to sway you in anyway.”
“I need to talk to you,” I said, turning to face him.
Ezio scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “About?”
“I need you to promise me something,” I said softly. I didn’t want my mates overhearing our discussion, so I peeked out the room, and then shut the door.
“I’m listening, but not agreeing yet,” he told me.
“I know it’s a very unlikely chance…a super rare occurrence…but if I die during childbirth—”
“You’re not going to die,” he growled. “We’re going to have the top healers with you and—”
“Ezio!” I yelled, my eyes no doubt glowing with my anger. “Listen!”
His mouth snapped shut.
“If that happens, my mates are going to be beside themselves with grief. I need you to promise that you’ll take care of the baby until they’re sane again. Okay? The healers will be focused on me, and my mates won’t be themselves, so I need someone I can trust who will focus on the baby.” My voice cracked at the end, which I hated. I exhaled, trying to ease my worry. “Please, Ezio. I need you to do this. I need you to promise me that if something happens to me, the baby will be safe.”
His arms had dropped during my explanation, and now he used them to hug me. “I promise,” he whispered, stroking my hair. “I’ll take care of the baby.”
I hugged him back, wiping my tears off on his shirt. “Thank you.”
“But, you’re not going to die,” he grumbled.
“Okay,” I said with a nod. “I’ll try my hardest.”
“What’s wrong?” Rhys asked, his voice more dragon than man.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just worrying about the future.”
Rhys looked at Ezio, but Ezio refused to meet his eyes, looking down at the floor instead.
“Jolie,” Rhys growled.
I slipped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. “I love you, Puff.”
His anger melted away, and he wrapped me up in his arms. “I love you, too.”
“Food?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve got some snacks for you.”
“Yum!” I said, grabbed his hand, and dragged him after me so he couldn’t grill Ezio.
Ezio followed on our heels, his brows furrowed, but he remained silent. Even if he told Rhys or Deryn, I didn’t care. I needed to know someone would focus on the baby, and it honestly relieved some of my stress.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” I asked.
“A trip to the elves,” Rhys answered.
We entered the dining room, and Fox stood to kiss my cheek and pull out my chair.
“What are we doing at the elves’?” I asked
“Uh, finding out the baby’s race,” Fox said, his body tense. “Did you forget?”
“I didn’t realize it was happening today,” I admitted. “Did you tell me?”
They all nodded.
I exhaled. “Sorry.” I had been extremely forgetful lately.
“Have you been taking your pills?” Fox asked.
I chewed on the i
nside of my lip. “No.”
He sighed. “Jolie, you know you’re supposed to take them.”
“They make me nauseous,” I said, filling my plate with food from the table. Deryn must have cooked, since there were several types of meat on the table and that was his normal cooking procedure. Lots of meat, one type of vegetable, and several types of carbs.
“They are to ensure you and the baby are healthy,” Rhys growled. “You have to take them.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled, but knew they were right. I tried to take them with and without food, but they always made me nauseous. “Maybe Kara will know some way for me to take them that won’t make me want to throw up.”
As soon as I finished eating, we all climbed into an SUV, and drove to the main house of the elves.
Katar and Kara met us outside, both hugging me and kissing my cheeks.
“Are you ready?” Kara asked.
“No,” I mumbled. “Nico isn’t here.”
“Of course I am,” Nico said from the doorway of the house, smiling.
I gave him my best glare. “You are in so much trouble.”
His smile slipped. “What? Why?”
“Later,” I growled then exhaled and calmed myself. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
“You act like it’s a terrible thing,” Katar said, laughing.
“It could be,” I muttered as I walked by him into the house.
Kara had a room on the side of the house that she used for healing. She had a nice bed, that had decent padding. I started to climb up on it, but Rhys picked me up, and set me on it.
“I can do it,” I growled.
“I know, but I don’t want you straining,” he said.
“I’m not that pregnant,” I said and sighed.
“Lay back,” Kara ordered me.
I obeyed, and two of my mates stood on each side of me.
She carried a weird looking wand and held it over my belly. “Ready?” she asked.
I nodded. All four of my mates nodded.
She whispered something, and the wand began to glow. The glow spread to my stomach, and then five colors rose into the air.
“What?” she said, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s only supposed to show two colors,” Katar said.
“Try again,” Fox said.
“Let me help this time,” Katar offered.
Royally Enraged: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Her Royal Harem Book 4) Page 9