by Honor James
Chapter Twenty
“You are most definitely pregnant.” Talon grinned at her before he looked down at the four sticks laid out on the towel. Two from yesterday and two from today. “But we’ll need to have a doc tell us all official like. We could always get Dav to do the blood draw and run the test.”
Cinnamon grinned. “We are having a baby,” she whispered happily. “I can’t believe it. We are having a baby!” Turning, she jumped into Talon’s arms once more and hugged him close. “I love you so much,” she whispered. “And I’m very happy. If you think that we should have Davyn look me over, then we will. His Wraith might balk at me though,” she muttered without thought. “Because I’m an Angel.”
“He’ll do whatever needs to be done,” Talon told her honestly with a grin. Hugging her tight, he kissed her cheek. “But we should keep it quiet for at least the first little while, love.” Feeling her stiffen, he leaned back to look at her. “Just to be safe and to ensure all is well with the pregnancy, Cin, and then we will tell everyone so they can be a part of the joy. Course that means I’ll have to order every Shifter that comes within a mile of you to absolute silence,” he muttered.
“If anyone can order them into silence, it’s you,” Cinnamon told him honestly. “Because you could make anyone do anything that you wanted them to.” That, and she was sure that they would keep it secret because of her as well.
Grinning, he shrugged. “Not sure of that, love, but you definitely can get them to do everything at all you want. They adore and love you,” he whispered, brushing a kiss to her cheek. “That and the fact that you make me happy has them all much happier.”
“Exactly, so we will just ask them very nicely to not say anything. Now the question is, how do we ask them and not have everyone and their brother knowing that we are pregnant?” Who were they kidding? Half the town likely knew that they were pregnant.
“Not a clue, darling,” he told her honestly. “But we will let them know we are being cautious and that we’d like to keep it all on the down low until we get to the second trimester. Which, as I’ve been told, is the best thing to do just in case Nature has other plans.”
“I would hope mother wouldn’t give us a child only to tear it from us before we are able to have a baby,” she muttered. “But I agree. It’s better to be cautious, to be safe rather than sorry, honey. I will follow your lead on this fully.”
Pressing a kiss to her lips, he smiled. “We’ll be just fine, angel,” he promised. “But for now, how are you feeling?” he asked, leaning back a little to see her face clearly. She looked more relaxed and definitely didn’t look as uncomfortable as she had earlier in the day. One would think an Angel pregnancy wouldn’t have the same issues as a human, but who the hell knew.
“I’m well, Talon. Really I’m good.” She had a small upset stomach earlier, but other than that she felt marvelous. “I know I didn’t feel well this morning, but right now I feel spectacular and starving. I’m so hungry, but I don’t know what I want to eat. Would you like to go to food services with me so that we can be fed?”
“We can definitely do that,” he told her with a smile, collecting the pregnancy tests together, sticking them into his desk drawer for the moment so no one would spot them. Going to the bathroom, he washed his hands quickly before rejoining her. “Come on, darling, let’s go and feed your current hunger.”
When they came closer to food services, Cin’s stomach growled and she lifted her face in the air. Closing her eyes, she savored the scents and sighed. “Oh whatever that is, I want it. It smells so very good.” It was meat of some kind. The scent of it cooking was dancing against her taste buds and demanding that she have some.
“Prime rib,” he told her as he pushed the door open and let her into the cafeteria. Guiding her to the buffet, he pointed at what she’d been smelling. “That’s it there, darling,” he commented, passing her a plate and taking one for himself.
“Oh goodie.” Cinnamon piled her plate high, taking a moment and right there taking a bite of one of the pieces only to sigh happily. “Oh this is so very good.” She bypassed everything else, only had her plate filled with the thing called prime rib, and headed for a table.
Grinning, he shook his head and grabbed a couple of steaks, a baked potato, and a side pasta salad. Collecting water, he tucked the bottles under his arm and headed to join her at the table. Setting one bottle in front of her, he settled at her side and passed her a set of cutlery.
“Thank you.” She had a piece of prime rib in her fingers, putting it in her mouth and then licking her fingers as she did so. “Goodness, that’s so good,” she praised. “I will so have to go up for more.” Unwrapping the silverware, she cut into several slices at once and put it into her mouth, moaning in near orgasmic pleasure at the tastes that exploded along her senses.
Watching her for a time, Talon grinned. “Just remember to go slow and easy. No need to upset your stomach any more than necessary. Especially since it wasn’t very settled this morning,” he pointed out, digging into his steaks.
“True, but right now it’s not upset, and the food is so very good.” But she did force herself to slow down. She forced herself to take it easy on the food on her plate. “Do you think that we can get this delivered to our home from time to time, too? It’s so very good.”
“We can make it at home whenever you want, love,” he promised. “I can pick some up and store it in the freezer. We can make some tomorrow and then you’ll have it in the fridge for a couple of days. How does that sound, angel?” he asked quietly.
“I would very much love that.” Cinnamon was grinning as she spoke. “I would very much love to be able to have this whenever I wanted it.” Hopefully she wouldn’t eat so much of it that she would begin to hate it.
“Well I will pick up a couple slabs and we’ll go from there. Don’t want you overdoing it and hating it inside of a week, so we’ll be a little stingy. Freeze some portions after it’s cooked in case you have a late-night craving or want a sandwich in the middle of the day,” Talon told her.
“Oh I like that idea. Especially on days where I can’t come to food services or such.” She took another bite and sighed. “This is truly so very good. Why have I never had this before now?” she asked with a frown.
“There are a lot of different foods available, love. It’s not exactly that easy to feed you everything inside of a couple of weeks. That’s an awful lot of food, and you would have been super sick had we tried stuffing you every minute of every day with something new,” he pointed out.
“Hrm, that’s very true. Well we will get to know the foods a bit at a time. For now I am finding that I really like the red meat stuff.” She hoped she had that right. The category of meat that was. She was trying to learn while there with her bond-mate.
“Just meat is fine,” he told her, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Or, in this case to be specific, it’s prime rib. These”—he pointed to his own plate—“are steaks. Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll teach you everything you could ever want to know.”
“Well I like meat,” she told him happily. “I really like the buffalo chickens. Those things are so good.” Her mouth watered thinking about the spicy goodness that was buffalo chicken. “In fact I think we should have that for dinner. Will they deliver again, do you think?”
“Of course they will.” Talon chuckled softly. “That’s part of their jobs, darling,” he said quietly as he cut more of his steak off before chewing it. “They will always deliver your buffalo wings to you, especially since you are always so happy to see them.”
She grinned at him happily and nodded. “And they really like the green paper that Quincy gave me instead of the jewels.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “So I just give it to them. They really like the ones with the zeros on it.”
Talon shot her a look. “I think we will need to discuss money tonight, my little angel.” He had a fear she was seriously overtipping the drivers. Likely why she got her orders so fast. They
probably had to fight for the chance to deliver to their house.
She shrugged. “Why? It makes them all kinds of happy to get the green paper, so why not? It doesn’t do anything special for me, but they all seem to love it,” she murmured. “And they are all so sweet as well, so why not? They always give us little extra treats with our pizza, too, so why not?”
“Because if you keep overtipping them like I fear you may be, they will quit and retire, so you will end up with someone new that isn’t nearly as considerate, darling,” he pointed out. “Plus, while I appreciate the need to tip someone for doing extra and going that extra bit, I also don’t want them just expecting it either.”
She frowned at that. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I would be very sad if Sammie or Kimmie quit. I quite like those two, and they seem to be the ones that always come to the house. Then again they really could use the money,” she stated. “Did you know that Kimmie is in art school and she lives on her own? She also has a small baby. She truly needs the money, but I think that Sammie does as well. He supports his mom and brother.”
“You could have mentioned that,” he muttered, feeling like an ass. “All right, you can tip them a little more, but we need to be careful not to overtip, love. They are working for a living, and that’s a good thing. I don’t mind you giving them a little more, but just be careful about it.”
“I will. They are the only ones I really like to see smile with the zeros.” She thought for a moment. “Hundreds. That’s what they are called, right?” she asked happily. At his nod she continued. “And they don’t share with the others how much they get from us either. I like them, and they have a deep well of goodness in both of them.” She could still see that in them, and she was happy she could.
Watching her a moment, Talon nodded. “All right, but just be careful, my angel love. Greed is one of the deadly sins, as I recall, and we don’t want them turning down that path. Do we?” he asked her quietly, reaching out to stroke a finger down her cheek.
“No we definitely do not want them to succumb to that.” She nodded firmly. “Sinning would be very bad and even worse if I were to somehow aide them in it.” She frowned and then asked, “What should I do? Should we continue to give them the tips as I do or should I stop?”
“No, we should still tip them for a job well done, but maybe we slim it down a little. And then at Christmas we find out what they need, want, and maybe get them something. Adopt them into our family in a manner of speaking.”
“I love how you think, Talon. See, this is why Gaia has appointed you as the head of the Council, my love. You are so very smart. I love that about you.” The fact that he was always seemingly many steps ahead of everyone else was just another reason.
“Hardly, darling, but thank you for the compliment, Cinnamon.” He smiled, leaning in to kiss her softly. “I have excellent people that keep me very well informed. That’s the only reason I appear to be so many steps ahead of others.”
“Well then I think that you need to give them a raise, because they are doing a great job keeping you safe, darling mine.” Well, not safe so much as informed. It was because he was so well informed that made her as happy as she was.
Snorting, he rolled his eyes and sat back. “They are very well paid for the work they do and for any additional and extra information supplied, as it’s not technically part of their jobs. Don’t you worry about that, little darling.”
“All right, as long as you are sure, honey,” she told him with a smile. “Because it means that we will have them in our lives for a very long time. That makes me happy as well, because I actually like most of them.”
“Most?” he asked, looking at her sharply. “Are there some you are not happy with?” He needed to know. If his mate wasn’t happy with any of his men or uncomfortable with them, then he had to know so he could do something about it.
“I’m teasing, honey.” Cinnamon shook her head. “You know when I’m not comfortable with someone. Heaven’s sakes, everyone knows when I’m unhappy because I still haven’t figured out that whole mouth and filter thing.”
Relaxing, he nodded. “Good point,” he said and then smiled. “We do need to work a little on that. But that is an ongoing project, no big worry for that.” He actually loved the fact that she spoke her mind and said whatever she felt and believed. As long as it wasn’t a saying or a cliché she did really well.
“Thank you, honey,” Cinnamon said happily. “I never want you to ever question anything that I’m thinking or feeling. I will always and forever tell you the absolute truth no matter what else in this world happens.”
“I know that, darling. You couldn’t do anything else.” And they both knew it. She got horribly ill if she told anything but the Gods’ honest truth. But he did have to teach her to filter a little. Too much honesty could be just as horrid to some as a lie.
“Exactly,” she murmured. “But enough of that, darling mine.” She smiled at him as she spoke. “How about you and I just forget everything else and simply snuggle for a moment or three?” She loved to snuggle with her Dragon. He was so nice to snuggle with.
“Done with the prime rib for the moment, are you?” he asked. She’d put a serious dent in the mound she’d taken. He had to give her that. Sliding his empty plate away, Talon shifted his chair in closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Cin moved from her seat and climbed into his lap. Curling up into his lap, she began to pet her Dragon and smiled as she did so. “I needed this,” she told him and then yawned. “I love you, Talon. Think that we can get some of that to go and take it home with us? I would kinda like to get a bunch of it to go so that I can have it later tonight when I wake up and will be craving it.”
“I’m sure we can borrow a container to take a bunch of it home, darling.” He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her hair, he breathed her in. “You getting tired, my little mate?”
“Yes, don’t know why, but I’m feeling more than a little sleepy now. I need to push past it though, because we have to save the other Vampires that are waiting for that darkness to be pulled from them. The longer it is there, the harder it will be to get it out. We will go and work on a few more of them, the ones that seem to be wavering, okay?”
Nodding, he squeezed her gently. “You ate half of that pile of meat, love. Your body is likely trying to deal with it, so it’s going into backup mode while it digests everything.” Rubbing his hand over her arm lightly, he kissed her hair again. “Why don’t you shift back over, love? I will get you a container of the prime rib and then we can head home. You can nap on the way there so that you aren’t feeling so worn out.”
“We need to help them, honey. I will nap for a little bit in your office, love, and then I will go back to helping those that are in need.” She knew that they were needed. It was very needed to have these men saved so that they could be protected.
“You can nap on the way home and then snooze a little longer on the bed. We can start in a couple of hours,” he told her honestly. Settling her into her chair, he kissed her lips and stood, taking her plate with him toward the kitchen.
She frowned and shook her head. “You are being bad.” She reached out and touched her hand to his. “I love you, honey. I really do, but you are really giving me trouble about me wanting to go and take care of them today, aren’t you, love?”
Leaning, he shook his head. “No, angel, I’m looking out for you and our…” He dropped his eyes to her waist in a silent point. “You need to be well rested before you do this, so we will head home. You will sleep, and then you and I can go and help some more of the Vampires.”
She hadn’t been thinking of their child. Flushing, she nodded, laid her hand over her belly, and licked her lips. “All right. We will do that because you are right,” she admitted to him. “Go get our to-go containers, honey, so that we can get home, have our nap, and then we will get up and help them.”
“We will at that, love.” H
e smiled at her gently. Pushing off, he headed for the kitchen once more. His poor little mate didn’t always understand his words, but they were getting there. Slowly. Shaking his head, he got a large container of the prime rib.
Lightly, she rubbed her hand over her belly and sent waves of love to the child that was only barely forming. When she looked and saw Talon approaching her once more, she smiled. Standing, she slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. “All right, get me out of here so we can sleep.”
“Absolutely, darling.” He passed her the container. Wrapping his arm around her, Talon walked with her down to the garage. “Don’t worry, darling. I’m not going to keep you from doing your work to save the Vampires, but I am going to keep watch over you.”
“I think that at least one of us needs to do that,” she admitted to him. “Sometimes I think my need to help, my need to save overrides my own self-preservation, and now”—she touched her flat stomach again—“I need someone to make sure that I don’t do that, so I’m glad.”
“I will always keep watch over you, darling,” he promised, giving her a squeeze. “I love you and our little promise of something more to come. It is in my nature to keep you safe, darling, and to spoil you and pamper you, especially now.”
“I’m sorry.” She stopped and looked up at him. “I forgot that even though you have grown children, you’ve never been through this part of it.” She then grinned. “I will allow you to pamper me then,” she told him confidently and began to walk again. “Because you need to do it and I want it.”
“Never apologize,” he told her quietly. “Yes, they are grown, and yes, I missed much, but this time around I intend to make the most of it all,” he said with a smile. “Spoiling you rotten is only a part of it, sugar, trust me.”
“Good.” She was happy that he was going to get every single moment of time with this pregnancy as he was. “Because I’m rather looking forward to learning what it is to be spoiled when pregnant. Over the millennia I’ve watched men giving women jewels and treasures, or just something as sweet as their words of love. I want it all,” she admitted.