by M. L. Briers
“What Dorothy means is; we don’t have the constitution of a shifter. It takes about a week and a ton of bran muffins to get over it.” Angela said.
“Really?” Lark couldn’t believe it.
“Really! Cheese to — and pork — lamb — anything that’s tasty you can just chalk up to the bran muffin rescue service.” Angela shrugged her shoulders.
“No wonder you spend so long in the toilet of a morning,” Lark offered to his mate with a look of sympathy.
“Maybe you should offer to squeeze her head. Might make it easier on her,” Hank chuckled, but he was cut off abruptly by an elbow in the ribs from his mate. “Point made.” He grumbled.
“Not sharply enough,” Angela berated him.
Sarah placed a hand on Nathan’s shoulder as she leaned in and added a large bowl of roasted vegetables next to the meat. Angela snorted her contempt for the contents of that bowl.
“Of course — vegetables are fine,” Angela grumbled.
Sarah did a double take as Nathan sniffed the air. Then he turned his head towards his mate and sniffed harder, deeper, and longer.
“Oh boy, you had better not be sniffing me,” Sarah scowled at the alpha.
“Maybe it’s not the food he’s hungry for,” Dorothy chuckled.
“Well, I’m hungry,” Sarah said. “Anything else is going to bloody well wait.”
“You have been in the kitchen for hours — maybe you just smell bad,” Quinn offered, and everybody at the table turned to look at him. “What? It’s just a theory.”
“Do I smell bad?” Sarah tipped her head down and sniffed at her armpit.
“Now see what you’ve done,” Valerie berated him, and he offered back a helpless shrug.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, I’ve been having an affair with the chimney sweep — he’s an elf — just the right size to get in those tight places — I’m so sorry.” She tried to keep a straight face, but it wasn’t working. The smile tugged at the corners of her lips anyway.
It didn’t matter to Nathan that it wasn’t true. He growled at the thought anyway.
“Stop growling,” Angela berated him. “You know your mate is madly and passionately in love with you.”
“And pregnant!” Nathan said, just as Sarah was about to park her backside on a chair.
She missed the seat completely and ended up sitting on the floor with a thud and a scowl for her mate.
“I’m what?” Sarah bit out.
Nathan was already on his feet. He reached down for his mate and lifted her onto her chair.
“Be careful — you’re pregnant,” Nathan growled.
“I heard you the first bloody time!” Sarah hissed back at him. “And it’s your stupid fault that I fell on the floor.”
“How was that my fault?” Nathan growled.
“Well, from the looks of things, perhaps you could have given her a warning shot,” Angela berated him.
“What does that mean?” Nathan growled some more.
“How like a man.” Dorothy rolled her eyes.
“What has being a man got to do with my mate not telling me that she’s pregnant?” Nathan growled long and hard. He had to wonder if all the witches had gone insane at once.
“I guess you don’t need brains to be an alpha,” Dorothy said.
“Can we go back to the pregnant part?” Nathan grumbled.
“Do we have to?” Sarah looked perplexed. “And can you stop saying that word like that?”
“What word? Pregnant?” he asked and did it again. Sarah’s top lip twitched with annoyance.
“It would have been nice to get a heads up,” Nathan berated her.
“You think?” Sarah hissed back at him.
“Apparently not, according to Dorothy,” Nathan tossed back. “I’m male. I don’t think.”
“You can say that again,” Dorothy chuckled.
“She didn’t know — knucklehead,” Angela informed the alpha, and the man scowled back at her.
“Who didn’t know what?” Nathan asked.
“Sarah didn’t know that she was pregnant until you opened your big mouth,” Angela said.
“How could she not know she was pregnant?” Nathan demanded, and Sarah groaned.
“She has been a little more touchy than normal,” Hank said and yelped when Sarah zapped him. “Thank you for making my point for me.” He grumbled.
“I thought she’d just put on a little weight — everywhere.” Lark shrugged. But his shoulders stayed up near his ears when his mate and Sarah both zapped him at the same time. “Do you have to?”
“Yes,” the witches said together.
“Wait — stop. How could you not know you were pregnant?” Nathan growled.
“Did you ever think that perhaps she doesn’t have your nose for this type of thing?” Elizabeth chuckled.
“Guess you put your big old paw right in that one,” Rick chuckled at the look on the alpha’s face. Pure confusion — he wouldn’t have missed that for the world.
“And what big paws you’ve got,” Angela berated him again.
“How was I supposed to know?” Nathan grumbled.
“Gee, I don’t know,” Dorothy said. “But maybe announcing it at dinner in front of everybody wasn’t the best option, or maybe I’m just old and senile and see things differently.”
“Sarah…?” Nathan frowned down at her.
Sarah was about to speak when she spotted Chloe zooming past the open doorway.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Sarah said, and she pushed up to her feet. She made a move to follow Chloe and walked slap bang right into her mate’s chest. “Back off. I’ll get to you in a minute.”
“It’s not my fault,” Nathan grumbled as his mate sidestepped him and rushed out of the room. “It’s really not.” He offered to the others at the table.
“Of course it’s not.” Dorothy shrugged again.
“That’s right. Thank you,” Nathan said.
“You can’t help being an idiot. You’re male.” Dorothy offered him a smile full of glee and Nathan grumbled to himself.
“Look on the bright side,” Rick offered and brought Nathan’s attention back towards him.
“I just miffed off my mate — where’s the bright side?” Nathan growled.
“You’re going to be a father,” Rick grinned.
Nathan’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. He grunted. He opened his mouth to speak – but didn’t. Then he grunted once more and sat down in Sarah’s chair with a huff.
“Yep — kind of scary, isn’t it?” Valerie chuckled.
“The big bad alpha.” Angela chuckled.
“Wait until he gets a whiff of that first green nappy,” Dorothy was in her element. She had a good eight months of ribbing the alpha ahead of her. “We’re going to be grandma’s.”
“It’s about time,” Valerie snorted as she shot a look at Elizabeth, and Elizabeth sneered back.
“Where’d she go?” Nathan looked around as if confused.
“After our pesky vampire problem,” Angela pointed backward over her shoulder.
“But, she’s pregnant!” Nathan growled as he shot up from his chair — shooting the thing backward with the force from the back of his knees, and he took off after his mate.
“And there he goes. Only another seven, or so, months of him wrapping her in cotton wool.” Angela sniggered.
“Poor Sarah,” Dorothy chuckled.
“Poor pup,” Rick grinned.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
~
“Gotcha!” Sarah said as she jumped out from her hiding place and challenged her aunt.
“Because I couldn’t smell you a mile off,” Chloe offered back, unimpressed by her niece’s lack of stealth abilities.
“I’d rather we didn’t talk about smelling me,” Sarah huffed.
“Would you not? Good, then we will. I like to touch a nerve or two — maybe three — on occasion,” Chloe smiled an
d then she sniffed the air. Her eyes narrowed on her kin, and then she raised just one eyebrow.
“Yes — yes, I’m pregnant. Get over it and let’s talk about what you have in your hand that you’ve obviously been so desperate to get inside the house for.”
“Nothing,” Chloe sneered.
“Liar — liar, vampire on fire,” Sarah sneered back.
“Let’s hope not,” Monty offered as he strolled into the attic room and dipped his head under a low beam.
“Sarah!” Nathan growled out as he rushed into the room.
The alpha didn’t see the beam in time and cracked his forehead against it, stumbling backward as he growled with annoyance.
“It’s an old house. Are you trying to bring the place down around our ears?” Chloe hissed.
“I’m sure you’d be just fine,” Sarah shot back.
“But what about the pup?” Chloe offered her a smug smile.
“Pup?” Monty asked. He felt like he’d missed so much.
“Pup!” Nathan growled as his head pounded.
“Don’t sound too happy about it then,” Chloe berated him.
“Huh?” Nathan didn’t understand.
“I think she means you’re growling.” Monty offered.
“Growling at the beam,” Nathan bit out in annoyance.
“Tell yourself it’s scared and shut up,” Chloe shot back. Monty could help but snigger as the alpha growled once more.
“Well, there’s a witch you need to scratch of your — must eat wish-list,” Monty teased his mate.
“You should tell yourself you’re not funny and shut up,” Chloe berated him.
“Can you to give us a moment?” Sarah shooed the men away. Nathan grunted in annoyance, but he followed Monty out of the door.
“You want something?” Chloe asked.
“I want to know why you really had to get back into the inn and I’m guessing it’s in your hand,” Sarah said.
“My aren’t you a clever witch?” Chloe sneered again.
“You’re my aunt, Chloe. I know we look around the same age…”
“I look younger,” Chloe tossed up a shoulder.
“You certainly will once I have a pup,” Sarah offered back.
“Worried?”
“Surprised.”
“I know that feeling,” Chloe said and then looked as if she’d said too much.
“How do you know that feeling?”
Chloe hesitated for a long moment and then she brought her hand around from behind her back. In the muted light of the room, Sarah could see the silver baby rattle within her hand.
“I guess I was getting pretty senile just before I died. I’m not sure how I could have forgotten this though,” Chloe admitted.
“I didn’t know you’d had a baby,” Sarah said.
“How do you think I came to be way out here? I got pregnant. I left. The pack allowed me this land. They even help to build the inn, and in return, I stayed and helped the pack. Even after she was gone.”
Chloe’s mask had slipped. For the first time, Sarah had seen the emotion on her aunt’s face, heard the break of pain in her voice, and forged more of a connection than she’d had before.
“Why didn’t you just ask me for it?” Sarah said. “I would gladly have…”
“I guess I’m still old school. We don’t talk about that kind of things,” Chloe said as she started for the door.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Me too,” Chloe said over her shoulder.
“I have — I don’t know how many months to be able to trust you,” Sarah said.
“Then we’ll both have to work on it,” Chloe tossed pack as she walked out of the room.
Sarah had only managed to breathe in once by the time Nathan shot back into the room. He stopped in place and eyed her from head to toe.
“A little late,” Sarah said as she tossed up a hand and let it drop back to her side.
“Huh?”
“She’s a vampire — she could have drained me dry already,” Sarah said without breaking a smile. Although, the confused look on Nathan’s face almost tipped her over the edge.
“You told me to leave!” Nathan said in disbelief.
“And you’re the alpha. Do you do everything somebody tells you to do?” Sarah said with mock horror.
“Huh?”
“Maybe this isn’t the right time to ask you questions,” Sarah chuckled.
“I don’t think so,” Nathan gave a small shake of his head.
“Oh, poor baby,” Sarah chuckled more.
“Speaking of babies — pups — babies — pups — I’m not sure,” Nathan shrugged and looked helpless.
“Yeah, way to tell a girl she’s pregnant!” Sarah took two steps, lifted her fist, and punched him in the bicep. It hurt her more than it hurt him.
“How was I to know that you didn’t know what you should have known?” Nathan stopped and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “I’m confused — are you confused? Because I’m really confused.”
“You look kind of confused,” Sarah grinned.
“I’m going to be a father,” Nathan considered it for a long moment. Then a big, stupid, goofy, proud grin spread across his face.
“Daddy wolf!” Sarah chuckled.
“I actually kind of like that,” Nathan said as he puffed out his chest with pride.
“Let’s have a round of applause for the big man with the good swimmers,” Sarah spluttered laughter once more.
“Congratulations boys!” Nathan reached out and patted her stomach. “It is a little more rounded than usual.”
Nathan knew the moment that his mate gasped that he’d put his big foot in his even bigger mouth. He didn’t have time to bend over and kiss his backside goodbye — Sarah had already unleashed her magic upon him.
“Oh boy, do you have a lot to learn,” Sarah growled like a she-wolf.
The end.