Anica nodded. "'Kay," she said. She pulled herself up to her feet by grabbing onto the iron railing. She hunched over, grabbing at her abdomen. I watched as she hobbled down the stairs to her car parked at the bottom. I sighed before I went back inside, shaking my head.
"Did she give?" Riley asked.
I nodded. "Of course," I replied. "She's stupid, but she wasn't born yesterday."
I walked back to the bedroom and walked in. Ceres lay on the bed with her eyes closed, but the tension in the way she held herself promised me that she wasn't close to asleep. "She's gone," I said.
"Good," Ceres shortly replied.
"Do you want to talk?" I asked.
"Nope," she said.
I walked up to the bed and sat down on the edge next to her. "Hey," I said, causing her to open her eyes and look at me. "I love you," I said.
She gave me a smile. "I love you too," she replied.
I leaned in and kissed her. She moaned into my mouth and I left her lips in favor of her neck. I kissed my way down her neck, over her collarbone and between her breasts before making my way up the other side. "You know, it was fucking sexy seeing you punch her like that," I said.
Ceres laughed. "Yeah?" she asked, turning to meet my eyes. Hers were already amber.
I nodded. "Oh yes," I replied before I kissed her again.
Chapter 24 ~Ceres~
The next week following the full moon, I woke up and ran into the bathroom. A full week had passed since Wolfgang and I mated. A week... and I was throwing up for no reason that pregnancy couldn't explain...
Wolfgang came into the bathroom as I heaved and pulled my hair up into a ponytail for me. He also pressed a cold, wet rag against my forehead before sliding it around to my neck. It sent a chill down my back as I gasped for breath over the toilet bowl.
I reached up and took the rag from him to wipe my face and mouth with. I reached up and flushed the toilet before he pulled me to my feet without effort. I walked passed him and to the sink where I started brushing my teeth. This was getting very real.
I met Wolfgang's eyes in the mirror. He gave me a worried look and I shrugged. I spit the toothpaste out and rinsed. I turned around and faced him. "So, do you want to go to the drug store with or without me?" I asked.
"Let's go," he sighed.
We were on our way to the drug store less than five minutes later. Wolfgang held my hand while we drove. The drug store wasn't far, and we were there in a few minutes. Wolfgang and I went in and I stared at the dozen options for a while. I didn't know what to buy. "I've never done this before," I said.
"Neither have I," Wolfgang sighed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
I wrapped my arm around his waist and sighed. "Great," I muttered. I stared at the boxes until I saw one that promised to be ninety-nine percent accurate within the first six weeks of pregnancy. It also had a digital readout so that I couldn't mistake the answer. We walked up to the register and put the box down, paid, and went back home.
I read the box in the truck to find out how to take the test. When we got inside, I stepped into the bathroom to do my business. When I finished, I set the test on the sink, sat down on the bed with Wolfgang, set an alarm on my phone, and waited for three agonizing minutes.
Anything can happen in three minutes. Here we were, anxious as we waited to find out if we were going to be parents in thirty-nine weeks. My heart pounded in my chest. My hand clenched his. I was shaking and my stomach churned in knots. "What if it's positive?" I whispered.
"We'll take it one step at a time," Wolfgang whispered. He kissed the back of my hand and I closed my eyes. I tried to let out a slow, relaxing breath, but it didn't do much to relax me. I held my head in my free hand and my opposite leg began to bounce with my anxiety. So much can happen in three minutes.
A person can find out that they aren't human....
A person can get kidnapped....
A person can get killed....
A house can blow up....
Two people can become so intertwined with such intensity that they would die if the other one did....
Two people can find out for certain that they're going to be parents....
I stood up when my phone beeped the three-minute mark. I walked up to the sink and picked up the test that I had put face-down onto the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were amber. My face was pale. I could feel my hand shaking. I was not ready for this answer.
I turned the test over and looked down.
Pregnant :)
I was nauseous all over again.
I put the test back down and walked back to the bed. I sat down next to Wolfgang with my hand over my stomach. I stared at the world in front of me without seeing it and a part of me wondered how this could have happened. How could I be pregnant when I was on birth control? How could I be pregnant when I was always careful...
Of course, that was the old Ceres talking. That was the human Ceres talking. That was the Ceres who had only ever been with Todd talking....
I was not that Ceres anymore. In the world I was in now, birth control was a conscious choice made by the man before he ejaculated with one exception. In the world I was in now, when two people performed an ancient ritual, they conceived a child.
Why was I pregnant? Because I was Lycan. Because I needed to survive. Because I needed to be strong. Because we needed to escape.
"I don't have to ask, do I?" Wolfgang asked.
I shook my head without a word. "I'm pregnant," I whispered. I couldn't believe it.
We decided not to give anyone the "official” news until my parents arrived. That way, it would be like a family event where everyone got to know at the same time.
Two weeks later, Wolfgang surprised me by finally making our romantic dinner at home. Riley was at the diner, so we had the apartment to ourselves for a few hours. It was also the night before my parents arrived, so we took advantage of being by ourselves for the last time for a while. Wolfgang made Alfredo for me, which warmed my heart and made me think of our week in the motel room. That almost felt like twenty years ago instead of six weeks.
He led me into the dining room with his hands over my eyes. When he pulled his hands away, the sight of a candlelit dinner for two sparkled before me. He had already dished up the plates and there was a cute red-checked tablecloth that I didn't know about draped over the table.
Wolfgang and I sat down and started eating. While we weren't going out to eat, this was the best date I'd ever been on. I'd often told Todd that he could do things like this for me once in a while. He either never cared enough or never paid attention to what I wanted. More than anything in a relationship, I just wanted to make sure that my partner wanted me. If there was one thing Wolfgang did with perfection, it was desire me.
As we finished eating the Alfredo, Wolfgang surprised me with a slice of cheesecake for dessert. I smiled and thanked my lucky stars for sending me a mate who was not only beautiful on the eyes but a very attentive partner as well. He remembered the little things. He didn't sweat the small stuff. He was perfect.
And he was getting down on one knee.
I stared down at him as he reached for my hand and kissed my fingers. He looked up at me with a grin. "The second you walked into my life, I knew who you were," he said. "I knew that I wanted to be with you every moment of every day following that first encounter. So far, things have been insane. I asked you to marry me once, but now I'm asking you for more than that. You're already my mate. Nothing will ever change the way that I feel about you. I'm asking you, right now, if you'll be my wife, my partner, my Skaapie, and the mother of my children. I'm asking you to involve yourself in everything that I do and every decision that I make. Ceres Ainsworth, will you marry me?" he asked.
My heart raced as I nodded. "Yes," I said with a grin.
He stood up and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a ring. He slipped it onto my finger, and I stared at it in astonishment. The ring itself must have cost a fortune.
&n
bsp; Wolfgang sat down and scooted his chair closer to mine. He held my hand in his. He traced his finger around the red ruby cut into the shape of a heart. "The ruby is for love," he said. He ran his finger across the circle of tiny diamonds around the heart. "The diamonds are to remind us that we are as eternal as the moon." He turned my hand over so that I could see that the band itself was two bands of metal, one white gold the other yellow. "The bands remind us that we're always entwined and that we cannot be whole without the other," he said. "This ring has been in my family for almost three hundred years," he informed me. "My grandfather was a jeweler who crafted it for his mate who had married another wolf in an arrangement. He spirited her away and gave her this ring to signify to the world that they mated. Her husband came looking for them and challenged my ancestor to a fight. He lost that fight and died. My grandmother fled to America where a man named Wolfgang took her in. He helped remind her that she had to stay alive for the baby she carried. When that baby was born, she named him after the man. She died a few years later and her son kept the ring to give to his mate when he found her. Their son gave it to his. Their son did the same. On and on until my mother gave this ring to me on my eighteenth birthday. She told me the story and said, one day, I would know who to give it to. Today, I give it to you."
I smiled and kissed him. "You're amazing," I whispered. I scored with this one.
Wolfgang and I made the long drive back to Salt Lake International Airport the next morning. This time, I wasn't bored out of my mind. This time, I had company that I enjoyed.
Since Wolfgang's truck couldn't hold a car seat in addition to four adults, we borrowed his mother's van. As we drove, I looked at Wolfgang. "You know, now that we know that I'm pregnant, we're going to need a car," I said.
He nodded. "I know," he replied. "I was thinking about going and trading in my truck as soon as the snow melts."
That surprised me. I knew that Wolfgang loved his truck. It was his baby. He'd gotten it when he came back to Adamsville and it had been almost like a friend to him ever since. To hear that he was willing to trade it in for something more family oriented made me certain that he was ready for this child.
Of course, I had already known that. He and I had discussed it before I wanted to admit that it was possible.
"Or," I began, "you keep the truck and we get a car too," I suggested. "I mean, it's not like we need to worry about the money or anything. And this way, we both have a vehicle to drive and you get to keep the truck."
Wolfgang smiled. "I like that plan," he said with a chuckle. "By the way, Riley told me last night that he's moving out next month."
"What?" I asked, surprised by the news. "Why?"
Wolfgang sighed. "You just said it," he replied. "We're a mated couple, which by Lycan law means we're married. We're also pregnant, which means that we're going to need the room for the baby. Riley knows this. He realizes that we need the space and he respects that. He's going to get his own apartment next month and, so that he's close enough to still be there all the time, he's going for the one next door."
"Can he do that?" I asked.
"The pack owns the complex," Wolfgang replied with a shrug.
"Then I'm sure he can," I said with a chuckle. I sighed. "So," I asked, "boy or girl?"
"Are we guessing?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Either that or putting down bets or we're talking about what we want," I said with a grin. "I'm trying to get excited about this," I confessed. "I didn't want a baby, but I meant it when I said that I'd rather be a parent than be dead. Help me out here."
Wolfgang nodded. "Challenge accepted," he said. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Boy," he said.
I laughed. "You just want another you running around," I scoffed. "Of course you want a boy!"
"No, it's not just that," he said. "When I think about it on the level of what's necessary for the pack, we need a son. I'm going to be the Enkidu someday, which means we need a son to take my place as the Volsunga. I would rather our first child be a boy than a girl. I don't want her to get resentful at the fact that she would only be the Volsunga until her brother is born."
"I don't like that fact that, in essence, we're going to be raising your executioner," I said.
Wolfgang sighed. "If my relationship with our son is anything like my relationship with my dad, he's not going to want to kill me any more than I want to kill Dad."
I sighed. "I suppose," I said. I looked out the window for a little while. "I want a boy too," I confessed.
"Why?" Wolfgang asked.
I smiled as I looked back at him. "Because you're such an amazing person and I think the world deserves another one of you," I said.
Wolfgang smiled at me and reached for my hand. "Thank you," he replied. He kissed the back of my hand. "When we get through your parents' visit, I'm going to finally take you on that real date," he promised.
I smiled. "Speaking of my parents leaving, your dad knows they're going to be here through the full moon, right?" I asked.
Wolfgang nodded. "Yep," he said. "You're going to be at the house with Mira, your brother, and a few other people who either can't shift or don't want to right now. You okay with that?" he asked.
I nodded. "I'm sure that I can find something to pass the time," I said.
"Well, you can always come to the Resting Grounds in the morning and join the pack for breakfast," Wolfgang offered. "You didn't get to see that side of things last month."
"Yeah, how shitty is it that I only get one full moon before you knock me up?" I asked with a laugh. Wolfgang chuckled. Of course, the laugh was only superficial. When it came to the reason, there wasn't anything for us to laugh about.
I figured that was why it was so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I should be happy about the baby. I sighed and wished that we were in the truck so that I could scoot closer to Wolfgang. The van was just a little too spacious for me. I wanted to be able to snuggle up close to him and let him calm me down better than what he was able to do.
That desire led to me unbuckling my seatbelt and moving to the floor between the two front seats. I sat with my back to him and my legs stretching toward the passenger side dashboard. Wolfgang smiled as he glanced down at me. He draped his hand across my chest and started moving his thumb back and forth along my arm. This was a pretty good way to travel. It made it more enjoyable for me.
The drive from Adamsville to the airport takes less than three hours, as almost seventy percent of it is downhill. We arrived at the airport with enough time to park the van and find the entrance of my parents' terminal.
They surfaced a few minutes after their flight came in and I stared in absolute shock. Not only was I seeing my baby brother for the first time, but also my parents had surprised me by bringing two extra guests along with them.
I looked at Wolfgang and saw the grin on his face. He'd known that the twins were coming, and he hadn't told me. Taking Ravyn's van instead of Riley's car made more sense than the way that I'd made sense of it in my own mind.
I looked back at the group standing at the mouth of the terminal. My father looked just as I remembered: A buffer, blonder Alan. My mother still had the baby weight to lose, but she still looked like my mom.
The twins hadn't changed much either, but it had only been two months since I'd seen them, and I often talked with them through video chat. They were still natural gingers with freckles and bright green eyes. Sophia had dressed in her usual modest style, showing her penchant for being a wallflower. Selena, on the other hand, was much more exposed. She was the girl who preferred to hit the clubs rather than curl up with a book on a Friday night.
The three of us rushed toward each other and met in the middle. I clutched them, breathing in the familiar scents of vanilla, jasmine, and lavender. When I caught the musk of wolf, I tensed before I drew back in shock.
They saw the look in my eyes and nodded. I stared in shock and wondered how I never knew. I tried to think back, but I couldn't think of a
single thing that stood out to me and cried Lycan, except, of course, that smell.
"We wanted to tell you," Selena said. "We weren't allowed to because of Alan. Afterward, it was because Lynn told us that she wasn't planning on telling you at all and we didn't want you to think that we were freaks."
"I would never think you're a freak," I whispered before I kissed her cheek. I felt relief flood through me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I hugged them again, this time tighter than the last. For more than a month, the only thing I wanted was to talk to them about everything that had happened. I hadn't been able to because of the unyielding need for secrecy. To know this, it made me feel like I could finally get everything out.
I pulled away from them with tears streaming down my cheeks. I turned to my mom and gave her a smile before I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and squeezed her. "Thank you," I whispered in her ear.
"I hope you can forgive me," she whispered back. "I can't make up for the past, but they're my peace offering."
I chuckled. "Gold star," I said before I pulled away from her and hugged my father as well. When I let him go, I turned to the car seat he was carrying. "Hi, Little Guy," I said to my baby brother. He looked at the world with amber eyes. I wondered if all Lycan babies had amber eyes at first. I looked up at my dad. "Can I?" I asked.
He smiled and nodded. "Be my guest," he said. His accent was very thick, very Scottish.
I grinned as I reached in and pulled my brother out of the car seat, careful not to hurt him. "Hi, Killian," I said with a grin. "I'm your sister."
He gurgled in response. I laughed as I looked back at Wolfgang. He was staring at me with an odd expression on his face. It was almost as if he wasn't just looking at me holding my brother; he was looking at me in the future, holding our child.
Chapter 25 ~Wolfgang~
Through the bond created by our mating, I felt Ceres's joy. The connection wasn't as strong now as it had been that first day. When I'd panicked that day because of Abigail, it had been her ability to stay calm that allowed me to attempt to do the same. I lost myself in the panic for a little while, but her beacon of calm guided me back. I was grateful to her for a lot of what she did for me that day. Not only did she rise up against Abigail, she rose up to protect me. She did for me exactly what I had done for her. That mattered more to me than anything else.
Vanilla Moon: Awakening Page 23