by M L Briers
Wendy went to reach for it but Caleb batted her hand down. She lifted it again and again he did the same thing. Wendy huffed, grunted, and tried for a third time, when Caleb went to knock her hand down again she zapped him a warning… It was his turn to grunt, but with pain…
“Seriously, Caleb?” Wendy berated him and the sound of Verity’s melodic laughter reached Wendy’s ears and made her smile. She liked this woman already. Even if she was an old flame of her mate…
“Yes, Caleb. Very poor show.” Verity berated him too. Caleb rolled his eyes and his shoulders as he bit down on the thought of the whole female bonding thing. When one female was a vampire, and an ex-lover, and the other was his mate, he had to question it.
“I feel a headache coming on.” Caleb offered. Both women grinned at each other. Both enjoying his awkwardness.
“Man up.” Wendy offered up to him.
“I like her.” Verity grinned as Caleb groaned one more time. This was probably not going to be fun for him, he decided.
Eloise groaned as her mate followed hard on her heels from the living room to the kitchen. She might only have thrown up breakfast an hour ago, but now she was feeling fine and was ravenous again. Damn stupid Lycan genes, she didn’t curse to hard because that was her pup’s heritage, well, half if it, but not the good half, she thought as she growled over her left shoulder and watched her mate falter in his stride.
Annabeth raised her eyes to watch her friend berate the man in such a way that he was sure to understand. She grinned at the sheepishness that Alex regarded his mate with. Yep, this was going to be a fun nine months, she told herself with glee.
“Eloise…” Alex’s deep tones reverberated off the kitchen cabinets. Eloise stopped in her tracks and turned her head to look back at him over her shoulder.
“Alex.” She offered back to him with wide eyed innocence. Annabeth felt a storm brewing there.
“You growled.” Alex informed her, trying to hold onto his patience.
“When in Rome…” She shrugged her shoulders at him. His chest physically rose with the size of the breath that he took into his lungs before slowly expelling it again.
“Why did you growl?”
“Isn’t that what you do?” She turned her body around towards him.
“Yes, but I’m a wolf, you’re a witch, you don’t growl.” Alex really was being as patient as possible and Annabeth had to give him points for that.
“You’re a witch?” Annabeth turned her spoon and licked to yogurt off it with relish before she grinned at Alex.
“Shocking isn’t it?” Eloise offered to her coven sister.
“Perhaps we should put that on the community bullet board.” Annabeth offered. Alex growled in annoyance.
“Now that’s a growl.” Annabeth offered mockingly.
“I guess I need to improve my skills…” Eloise tossed up a shoulder and Annabeth’s eyes flashed with mischief.
“Maybe there’s a masterclass in peeing up trees too.” She offered helpfully. It was the last straw for Alex.
“Eloise, if you’re going to damn well growl at me at least tell me why.” He demanded. Eloise took a small step back and motioned down the length of his body.
“Three guesses, as you seem to need them.” Eloise bit out. Annabeth noted the blank expression on her mates face and sniggered to herself.
“Nope. He hasn’t got it, sister. You’re going to need to draw that one a damn picture.” Annabeth chuckled as she rounded the counter and headed towards the back door.
“Done meddling?” Alex snapped towards her and Annabeth offered him her sweetest smile over her shoulder as she yanked the back door open.
“For now. Catch me later and I’ll see what I can do.” She sassed him back to another growl. She tossed the door closed behind her but she could still hear that growl rumbling on.
“Do I really need to draw you a picture, Alex?” Eloise demanded. He snapped off the growl and turned his attention back towards her.
“Yes.”
“Fine.” She tossed her hands up in frustration. “You are following me around as if you’re a lost puppy…”
“Pup…” He growled again. His hands fisted at his sides in frustration. “Have you forgotten that you were sick a few hours ago?” He demanded and Eloise rolled her eyes on a small smile.
“Geez, Alex. Is that it?” She bit out with a small shake of her head. “I’m pregnant, not dying. I’m gonna hurl, I’m gonna bloat and feel like crap…” She tossed up a hand and he took a step forward and snatched that hand in mid-air, closing his large one around her small one, and looking down on her with something akin to puppy eyes.
“And I’m going to be there every step of the way…” He offered. Eloise winced at the prospect of him following her around for the next five months.
“Flatulence.” She snapped at him.
“Excuse me?” Alex looked even more puzzled.
“Yep, that too. I’m going to be farting like a trooper…” She informed him and his head twisted on his neck and he gave her a quizzical look.
“Is there a point to sharing that little…?”
“My point is, Alex. Every inch of me is going to be doing something gross at some stage. It’s called pregnancy, and while I appreciate that you want to support me in all of that, I do not need you following me around for the next bloody nine months of my life as if I’m going to keel over or break at any time.” Eloise shrugged her shoulders again.
“It’s my pup too, Eloise.” He offered and she sighed.
“And when it’s born you can be there for all the gross things it does. Pooping, hurling, burping, farting…”
“I get the picture…” He offered with a small chuckle. He couldn’t wait for all of that and more…
“Good. Then can you please wait until I need your help before you start to do everything for me?” Eloise watched him consider it.
“You were sick…” He offered in his own defence. Perhaps he was being slightly overprotective but then he had just found out about the pup.
“I was.” She agreed brightly. Then she frowned. “Now, not so much. In fact I could devour a small cow…” He snapped to attention and she held up her hands… “Don’t you dare go hunt me a bloody cow!” She warned him.
“I…Well…” He shrugged just one shoulder.
“Alex…” She hissed up at him.
“Fine. Yes the bloody thought had crossed my mind.” He offered helplessly and she chuckled.
“You’re so…” He waited for the punchline. “Sweet.” She took a step forward and palmed his face with both hands. Alex melted on a gentle growl and the sexiest smile.
“Don’t tell anyone.” He frowned as he tipped his head to one side and listened to make sure nobody was remotely within earshot.
“Wouldn’t dream of it… unless you bring me a dead cow and then I’m going to shout it from the rooftops.” She warned him.
Verity eyed the inside of the witch’s kitchen as she eyed the cup of tea that Wendy had made her and sighed. She’d prefer a nice cup of warmed blood, but she didn’t want to appear ungrateful. The witch had put Caleb in his place and invited her into the house and that had been more than unexpected.
“So how the hell did it get in there?” Caleb didn’t want to be insensitive, but a pregnant vampire wasn’t something that you came across every day of the week. His mate elbowed him and he groaned at the pointed elbow trying to take a chunk out of his rib.
“Magic.” Verity offered back with a flick of her eyes towards Wendy. The witch frowned which told Verity that she’d never encountered such a spell before. She wasn’t entirely surprised… Considering.
“And you did that on purpose?” Caleb asked with a nod towards her baby bump.
“That? Gee, thanks Uncle Caleb.” Verity bit back. He got another elbow in the ribs, in exactly the same place and sighed.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sharpen your elbows before trying to wedge them between my ribs…
” He groaned out. “Perhaps you could just zap me instead.” He added, berating his mate as she snorted her contempt.
“Stop being an arse and I’ll stop elbowing you.” Wendy muttered. Verity couldn’t help but smile. The whole situation was just so surreal to her that it was full of amusement.
“So you didn’t actually have…” He waved his hand around in the air.
“It’s called sex…” Wendy offered. Caleb groaned.
“I know what it’s called and we do it enough, but I didn’t want to say it in front of the foetus.” He offered and caused verity to chuckle again.
“I’m sure the baby won’t be shocked.” Wendy muttered back.
“Ah, mated life.” Verity offered the witch a grin. She didn’t usually get on that well with witches, but this was amused her, considering how she had Caleb wrapped around her little mated finger.
“Yes.” Caleb offered back with a roll of his eyes. Wendy did a double take and then frowned hard.
“Guess who’s sleeping in the spare room tonight?” She offered.
“I’m guessing that would be Verity, considering you seem to have taken to her.” Caleb offered back blandly.
“We have two spare rooms, Caleb.” Wendy offered.
“Shame he isn’t from the pack next door, you could just have built him a kennel.” Verity offered him a poignant look.
“I still want to know how and why…” He waved a hand at her stomach again.
“Not by choice, and by dark magic…” Verity’s good humour faded straight away at the thought of it. “I was caught by a circle of Warlocks…”
“Ew.” Wendy offered without thinking. She didn’t care for Warlocks any, and dark magic even less. But this…? This was just bizarre. Why would any warlock want to make a vampire pregnant, to what end?
“When you say caught?” Caleb demanded.
“Drugged with some potion in a nice little club that I was attending. The next thing I knew I was chained to a table with these…” She curled her top lip at the thought. “Jackals…”
“Jackals…?” Wendy scowled back at her.
“They were all wearing these jackal masks…” Verity offered back and waited to see if that connected the dots with the witch.
“The Jackal is revered in Egyptian mythology. Anubis comes to mind…” Wendy was already up and moving off towards the kitchen door. Now that she had something to go on she was more than curious to see if she could find anything on the circle or the spell work that they would undertake.
“She’ll be back if she finds anything.” Caleb assured his friend and Verity nodded. She’d been reading the witch’s mind at the same time that Caleb was… “So you need to know how to…” He pondered how to put it. “Get it out?” He winced.
“It’s called birth, Caleb.” Verity offered back and Caleb scowled at the thought.
“You’re going through with the pregnancy?” He seemed surprised and she couldn’t help but wonder why.
“It’s a gift I never thought I would have.” Verity offered back to him.
“I’m not being funny, Verity, but you don’t actually know what’s going to…” He winced again. “Pop out.” He added.
“I doubt it will pop anywhere.” Verity snorted. “But tell me, Caleb. If you could find a way to get your mate pregnant wouldn’t you take it?” Verity leaned in towards him awaiting his answer. It was the first test of his suitability to help her.
“Truthfully…” Caleb had thought about it. He’d felt the guilt of not being able to give Wendy children. “Yes.” He agreed begrudgingly. Verity’s heart leapt at his admission.
“Then help me, Caleb. I want this baby…” Verity’s eyes were pleading.
CHAPTER THREE
“How the hell can I refuse you?” He groaned out. The woman had been his lover back in the day, many days. In felt a certain amount of responsibility towards her protection, admittedly not as much as he felt for his mate, but still…
“I was hoping you wouldn’t, but I didn’t know that you had a mate.” Verity admitted.
“And lucky for you she is Fae, and a very powerful one to boot. So if anyone is going to get to the bottom of this…” Caleb suddenly realised exactly what she was asking of him and he moaned again. “They’ll be coming for you, won’t they?”
“I can practically feel them hot on my damn heels as we speak.” Verity offered back. “I’ve been running for nearly a week and they’ve managed to find me at every turn so far. I’m not sure how they do it…” She shrugged as Wendy strolled back through the door carrying a very large tome.
“They probably took some of your blood and are able to track you with it.” The witch answered as if tracking spells was the norm.
“How very rude of them.” Caleb offered with a wicked smirk on his lips and Verity smiled as she shook her head.
“Exactly.” Wendy offered back. “And if they aren’t already local then we need to buy some time. The coven can put up a cloaking spell that will protect your essence until they are too close that it just won’t matter anymore…” Wendy offered and Verity nodded enthusiastically. She was all for keeping them at bay for as long as possible.
“That’ll give me some time to break the news to Jethro…” Caleb groaned at the thought of just having this conversation with him. It wasn’t to go over well, especially considering the amount of trouble that the pack had been experiencing of late with all of the witches problems.
“Jethro?” Verity frowned. “That has to be an alpha with a name like that.” She sighed when Caleb nodded. “Why would an alpha put himself and his pack in danger for me?” She knew that battle was lost before it even begun.
“He won’t have too. This is my fight.” Caleb started and Wendy elbowed him again.
“What am I, chopped liver?” Wendy scowled at him. Caleb turned on his stool towards her. He had that serious look on his face that made her want to laugh.
“Now, listen…” He started and held up his index finger to make a stronger point. When her index finger came up he winced…
“Don’t even try. We both know that the coven was formed for a very good reason…” Her eyes flicked towards Verity’s bump…
“You think?” Caleb asked and Wendy sighed.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Wendy was in no doubt that dark magic was the strongest of all and her coven would never embrace it. But to fight against dark magic you needed the purest and strongest of all white magic, and she had five other very strong witches that were perfect for such a task.
“Then this is bad.” Caleb offered back. Wendy gave a small shrug and a shake of her head.
“I don’t know what this is. But I did tell you that something was coming…” Wendy was deadly serious now.
“And I’d be that something?” Verity asked, worried for her baby. If the baby was brought about by dark magic then perhaps the coven would feel the need to destroy it…
“No. I think what’s following you is what’s bad.” Wendy informed her.
“I need to talk to Jethro.” Caleb groaned again.
“And I need to get the coven together to cloak Verity.” Wendy knew it needed to be done sooner rather than later. The more time that they had to prepare the more time they could come up with something akin to a plan.
“Why the hell does the house stink of beef and who put half a bloody cow in the refrigerator?” Deborah asked as she wafted her hand in front of her nose and pushed open a window so that some fresh air could lighten the smell of meat, cooked and being cooked.
“Don’t ask…” Eloise offered as she rested her elbow on the table top and cupped her chin with the palm of her hand.
“Eloise mentioned she fancied cow to Alex.” Samantha grinned in amusement. She’d been the last to hear of Eloise pregnancy, but word had spread like wildfire that morning shortly after breakfast.
“Couldn’t you have said ice cream or chocolate?” Deborah berated her and Eloise shrugged her shoulders, looking glum.
“I
’ll know for next time.” Eloise offered back.
“True.” Annabeth announced as she flounced in and headed straight for the coffee pot. “It’s a learning curve.”
“Yes, and I’m the guinea pig.” Eloise sighed. Annabeth shot her a sympathetic look over her shoulder. “We have cow in our refrigerator too.” Eloise sighed again. Samantha snorted a chuckle.
“Sounds like we could do with a pack barbecue.” Deborah announced and Eloise brightened at the thought.
“And I’ll eat fish just for the fun of it.” Eloise groaned. She’d told him not to get a bloody cow. It would serve him right if she never eat a mouthful.
“You have to understand how his levels of stupid have just gone through the roof, Eloise.” Annabeth offered gently from the other side of the counter.
“Yep, he’s in protective, possessive, hunter gatherer mode.” Samantha offered helpfully and Eloise grunted.
“It’s cute.” Deborah grinned and got a sharp scowl for her trouble.
“It’s not cute. The man was practically glued to my backside all morning.” Eloise rejected the idea that being followed around like a child that had just started to walk and was in danger of toppling over at any moment was cute. It was damn annoying.
“I could say something really funny about that…” Annabeth offered but got a snarl of contempt for her trouble. “But I won’t because you have a sense of humour failure right now.” She shook her head in denial and Eloise huffed.
“If he’s going to be like this for nine months I’m going to go insane by three, and I’m taking you all down with me.” Eloise glared at her friends.
“So where is your shadow?” Samantha asked as the others chuckled.
“Dale, helpfully took him fishing.” She grumbled.
“There’s the barbecue fish then.” Annabeth teased before reaching for the mobile phone tucked into the back pocket of her jeans. She frowned. “We’re being summoned.”
“All of us?” Eloise grinned with hope and Annabeth pulled a face.