“Perfectly healthy,” Skye announced, and then looked at Ann. “You ready for this?”
“Can you hold Katy for me, Meg? I don’t want her to get in the way.” Ann handed her puppy over to the other woman and stood against the wall. She stood as still as she could, but just when Skye was about to start, she moved, her face twisted with worry. “Are you sure this is safe for the baby?”
“I don’t know, honestly, Ann. I have to imagine it’s fine. The baby is made up of the same cells as you, and it shouldn’t hurt it.” She looked at Ann and then spoke again. “Besides, I think they’d warn us if there could be a problem for pregnant ladies.”
“Okay. Let’s do it then.” Ann took a deep breath and stood up straight once more. She held her head high and waited for Skye to start.
It took the other woman two attempts before the blue ray came out and scanned Ann from head to toe. Ann watched Skye’s face for any signs of what the test revealed, but the woman’s face didn’t change at all. Skye watched the display screens, and nodded a couple of times, but she didn’t reveal anything.
“Well?” Ann finally asked, her voice impatient.
“I’m still reading this stuff, hang on.”
“What do you mean you’re still reading? You declared Meg perfectly healthy in a second. What’s on that thing?” Ann walked over to stare at the screens. Words and charts appeared all over the surface. Several areas were lit up in red. “What’s that?”
“Your blood pressure is up, but that might just be your emotions. You’re also a little bit malnourished. I imagine it’s from all the vomiting. You need some more B-vitamins, and some vitamin C would do you some good. It’s this one that concerns me the most.” Skye tapped at a small box that glowed red and orange. “Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what.”
“Alright, we’ll figure it out, but am I pregnant?” She needed to know, and she felt like Skye was messing with her. She knew the woman wasn’t, but it still felt like it.
“I think you need to call Rager.” Skye finally looked up at her. She had a smile on her face. “Because yes, you are most definitely pregnant. This shows elevated levels of the pregnancy hormones. And see here? That’s the baby.”
Another small screen showed a small smudge and Ann looked down at it closely. Almost like an ultrasound, the scan didn’t show a lot, but there was definitely a shape there that she was familiar with from ultrasound pictures. Her baby. It was real. Her hands went to her stomach and her eyes filled up with tears. “My baby.”
“Your baby, Ann. You really are pregnant my friend, no more need to stress about it now. You can scavenge all the baby clothes you want.”
“We have to keep it secret until I can tell Rager. And I guess he’ll need to tell his men, or something. I don’t know. I’m kind of scared what will happen when they find out. You know those people aren’t all happy about me.”
“We’ll keep you safe if Rager can’t, Ann. Don’t you worry about that,” Meg said from behind Skye. “I’m sure he’s more than capable of keeping you safe, but just in case, we have ways down here to keep you from harm. You and your baby.”
Ann hugged the other woman, and then Skye. “My baby.”
She looked down at the screen again, at the little blot that showed up there and smiled. She had a feeling she wouldn’t stop smiling for days now. Not with that picture in her head. She took a happy breath and took Katy from Meg. She had to talk to Rager, today. No more putting it off, she had to talk to him. To tell him he was about to be a father.
19
When Rager sent her a message that said he’d be home for dinner that night, she knew her own messages had finally gotten across to him. She needed to talk to him, she’d written, she had news to tell him. Important news.
And not just about the baby, she thought as she set up the balcony for a romantic evening meal. There were all these rumors she’d heard and the things she’d seen. She wanted to talk to him about all of that plus how safe she would be once it was announced she was pregnant.
She slid a hand down her side, the slick feel of satiny soft silk sensual on her palm. It was a fiery red slip dress that she had found in a boutique. It had the name of some designer on the tag that she faintly remembered as being an expensive brand, but she didn’t care about that. It was the pure sensuality of the dress that she was after.
It didn’t hide anything from the viewer, and without a stitch of underwear on underneath it, she might as well have been naked, but she knew he’d like it. He would be the only one to see her in it anyway. She smirked at the thought of his face when he saw it, and moved the rosebud a little to the side of his plate.
Her hair tickled at the skin at the small of her back, it was the only curtain that hid the skin of her back from view. The dress was backless, another thing that had drawn her eye. The entire thing weighed less than nothing, but it went all the way down to her feet. It was a feather of material, but it covered her while it also revealed all the things she couldn’t hide. Perfect really.
She checked on Katy and saw she was asleep, tucked almost underneath Ann’s pillows on the bed, and then she sat down to wait for her mate. Her brain still wanted to say husband sometimes, but the aliens never used husband or wife. Rager had explained to her that those words relayed ownership, what they were was far more than master and slave, or property of any kind. They were mates.
To Ann, that seemed far more profound than the husband/wife terms. Now, if only she could get her brain to let the terms go. She smiled as she thought about it. Now, she would get some time with the man that was her mate.
For a moment she remembered that red glowing light on the health monitor, but pushed it away. Meg had told her she’d find out what it was from the aliens if she couldn’t find it in the pile of information they’d sent with the scanner. She’d let Ann know if it was anything important.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the door handle rattle. She stood up and went to the door that led into the bedroom from the balcony. Rager came through and the moment he saw her his tired face picked up in a grin.
“You look stunning, Ann.” He held his arms out and she went to him.
The moment he wrapped his arms around her, she sighed in relief. The burden of worry on her mind lifted and she felt at peace again. He held her tight for a long moment, and then pulled back.
“Let me get a shower, and then you have me for the rest of the night. It’s been too long since we’ve had any time together, and I’ve missed you.” He kissed her sweetly and then went into the bathroom.
She was a patient woman, now that he was home, and she waited happily. She put some music on and read a book while she waited, but she didn’t really see the words. Her brain was too busy to see words when it could conjure up how Rager would react to her news instead. She knew he would be happy, but would he be ecstatic? Would he twirl her around and shout or would he pick her up and hold her close?
So many romantic notions, fueled by too many romantic movies she’d watched with her best friends when they were teenagers. How did men react in real life? She didn’t know that, she hadn’t had the experiences most women had by her age, not when she’d been underground, so far away from other people. Like many of her generation, she’d been isolated, and life had come to a standstill of survival and little more.
Not that she’d had it as bad as Skye, she reminded herself. At least she hadn’t been alone, or so totally unprepared. Her father had kept her safe, and she had other people to talk to. Just not many people of her own age. Just that asshole, Rex.
“Alright, darling, I’m yours for the rest of the night,” Rager said as he came out of the bathroom.
Ann’s mouth fell open a little as he came out. He had a long black towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else on. She could see very lucky drops of water that still clung to his tan, powerful shoulders. There were even a few drops down the broad muscles of his chest and on the flat plane of his stomach.
“Sho
uld I put something else on?” he asked as he dried his hair with a smaller towel. “You look so beautiful, I hate to spoil the moment.”
“No, that towel is just…” she struggled to make her brain work enough to find the right words. “You’re fine. Don’t get dressed.”
She looked up from the flat dent of his navel and saw that his eyes were on fire again. She could feel how hot her cheeks were. She was embarrassed that he’d caught her staring, but she knew some of that heat was from what she’d seen. A man made for a lover’s gaze. Her gaze.
“Shall we eat?” he asked, but his eyes were on her now, on the dress that he wouldn’t even have to take off. He could just slide the material up her thighs, and taste her, she thought, feel her.
“Yes, we should eat,” she said in a monotone voice because she wasn’t really aware that she’d spoken. She could watch the fire that blazed in his eyes.
“Come along then, tell me what was so important. Or did you just want some time with me?” He came up to her and took her hand to guide her out to the balcony. She followed and blinked when she sat down, awareness of the world back in place.
“Both, I suppose. I haven’t seen you in ages. And I have news.” Her cheeks turned red again, and she took a sip of water, just to have a moment to conduct herself. “My mother is going to have twins.”
She was nervous now that it was time to tell him. She hadn’t planned any big reveal, or a fancy cake, nothing like that. She’d planned to just tell him and get it over with. He wasn’t the kind that would really get into that kind of stuff, he was upfront about everything and just stated what needed to be said, so she would do the same. Eventually.
“Oh, that is good news.” He nodded, pleased from the look on his face. “I hope everything is okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine and so is the baby. She had an ultrasound, and that revealed the twins. Your health scanner made sure that they were all healthy.”
“Ah, that’s what you all wanted one for. To scan the women that suspect pregnancy?”
“Yes. We, um, we used it on me earlier today.” She took another sip of her water, unable to meet his eyes this time. Her heartbeat picked up and her chest went tight.
She wasn’t sure why she was so afraid, but for some reason, now that the moment was here, she was terrified of how he’d react. She knew the ultimate goal for the aliens was to reproduce, and they’d taken no precautions to prevent it from happening, but was it possible he would be unhappy about a baby?
“Did you now?” He went still, his eyes on hers. He didn’t move, his eyes didn’t go wide, in fact, they narrowed a little. “And what did you find out, Ann?”
“That I’m going to have your baby, Rager.” She stated it bluntly, the way he did things. She examined everything about him again, waited for the glee, the joy she’d hoped for, but he just sat there.
A long moment passed, he didn’t blink, he didn’t say anything, he didn’t move. She wasn’t even sure he breathed for a long time. Then he did all of those things and leaned towards her, a smile in place.
“That’s good news. Our child shall have an honorable place in the world, with a respectable line of descent. It will have a lot of duties to fulfill, and I hope the child brings us honor and hope, as I have tried to do in my life.”
“Oh. Good.” She frowned, completely disappointed, but unsure if she should show it. “I’m glad you’re, well…”
“Shall we eat now? I’m rather hungry and I’d like to spend some time examining how that dress feels beneath my hands.”
She nodded, let her head fall to hide her face, and tried to blink tears away. That was it? Some trite shit about honor and duty, and the baby’s ancestors? The sole purpose of them being mated was to produce children, why wasn’t he more excited? Was he not ready for children? He had been forced into the situation as much as she had, she could see now. Maybe he didn’t want to have children.
Or maybe it was her he didn’t really want to have children with. Maybe he agreed with those soldiers of his. Perhaps that was why he’d spent so many nights away from her. Maybe he was as disgusted by her as those men were?
“Ann? Are you alright?” Rager asked and took her hand. His face was concerned, so she picked her head up and smiled.
“I’m fine. I do have some questions about safety. I’ve heard about the men that want you to mate with a woman of your own kind. That they want to overthrow you since you haven’t cast me aside.”
“I’m dealing with that, don’t worry. You and our baby will be safe. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself. And being delicious as you are right now.”
“Okay. But I’ve heard about some of your soldiers joining forces with the wolves that want to revolt…”
He sighed deeply and took both of her hands. “Now, Ann, you can’t listen to these rumors. They will drive you crazy. You have to know I am doing all I can to keep you safe. You are my mate, nothing can change that. Not some werewolves that want to rule the world, and not my men that can’t keep their heads on straight. I will always protect you, even when I’m not here. There are people here that will keep you safe.”
“Okay.” She nodded her head and smiled at him. “I just want to be sure you know about all of this stuff. I keep seeing that stupid insignia on everything. It makes me worry.”
“That wolf graffiti? That’s some women’s organization, trying to keep the men of your world in check. At least they have some sense. As do you, I’ve noticed. You’ve taken the bull by the horns as well and have organized quite a lot. You make me proud to call you mate, I don’t care what anyone might have to say about it. Excuse me.” A knock at the door interrupted him and he went to bring in the trolley that held all of the food she’d ordered for their dinner.
She still had them on a vegetarian diet and had started to think maybe she would keep it that way. He didn’t complain and ate plenty of whatever she had prepared for them. Tonight it was a Greek version of a casserole she’d found in a recipe book, filled with all sorts of lovely things. They ate slowly, and Rager told her about the things he’d been doing.
There was another bunker full of people that they’d tried to rescue, but it was underwater in Louisiana. It was proving hard to get to the people because the water would flood the bunker if they opened it.
“Why don’t you put something around the opening, drain the water out, and have them climb up?” She offered when he went quiet.
He looked up at her suggestion, ready to dismiss it she could see, but then he thought about it a little more. “That is not a bad idea, Ann. Not bad at all.”
“Thank you,” she smiled, pleased at the compliment. “I’m not just a pretty face.”
She’d meant it in a comedic way, to make him laugh, but he nodded his head very seriously, in total agreement.
“You’re not just a pretty face, you’re a beautiful face, and quite intelligent too.” He did something with his phone, typed a few things in, and then looked up at her. “And what’s for dessert?”
There was chocolate cake, made with cocoa powder she’d scavenged. It had been hard as a rock, the powder, but the cook had grated it, and pounded it with a hammer until it was a powder again. It was nice, and the frosting made her eyes close it was so buttery and good. The hint of vanilla was from dried vanilla beans and some imitation vanilla sugar she’d found.
“That is amazing,” Rager said, his face a mask of pleasure. “I haven’t tasted anything like that before.”
“It’s a simple cake, something you’d make for a kid’s birthday party or something, but yeah, it is really good.”
“I think your world is full of delights I’ve yet to discover. But the main thing I want to discover all over again tonight is you, Ann.”
“I hope you find it as you remember it.” She gave him a sultry smile and put the last bite of cake into her mouth. She pulled the fork from between her lips slowly when she saw his gaze was on her pursed lips.
“I’m sure it’s even bet
ter than I remember, Ann. You are incredible, after all.”
She knew she wasn’t a supermodel, or even as beautiful as he claimed she was, but he made her feel as if she was. She smiled at him again, and took his hand. The sun had started to go down, and Katy had learned to climb down the stairs the workers had put in at the end of the balcony. They had nowhere else to be, but right here with each other.
20
A low rumble woke Ann up hours later. It was a sound like thunder, but loud enough to wake her up. Rain must be on the way, she decided as she heard another rumble roll along. A good storm would be nice if she could stay awake for it.
She stretched, felt Katy cradled against her stomach, and Rager wrapped around her from behind. His arm was over her, curled around Katy, and all was well. She moved a little to ease the ache she felt in her hip, it had been a very vigorous night and she ached all over, but she wasn’t about to complain.
He’d rocked her world with his very intense attentions. She’d been disappointed in his tame reaction to her news, but the way he’d worshipped her after dinner more than made up for it. Kind of. So, he wasn’t as excited as she was, it would be alright. She took a deep breath, looked around in the darkness, but couldn’t see any signs of lightning. Maybe it was still too far away to see, she thought, and closed her eyes.
Exhaustion pulled at her to fall back into the embrace of sleep. She wasn’t just tired because of her pregnancy now, Rager had worn her out. She had every right to sleep the night away now. She fell asleep again, a smile on her face, to dream about a day when she was out playing with her daughter on the grass behind their house, Katy grown up and eager to play with her tiny human. A small child, about three years old, with her daddy’s orange eyes, and her mommy’s hair. That smile was all Ann’s mom though, she’d just noticed when she woke up, screams and the sounds of explosion unmistakable this time. That was no storm on the way, somebody had decided to blow things up.
His to Mate Page 14