Chapter 12

“Nothing in the world can prepare you for those two words: You’re pregnant. From one breath to the next, my life has been forever changed.”
~ Bethany

Drake sat Bethany down gently on their couch. Despite what he’d told Jen, he had no intention of bedding his mate at the moment. He’d just said that to keep the girls away. He and his mate needed to talk, without any outside interference from meddling packmates. Yet, now, the words seemed to be frozen in his throat, and his heart felt as though it was attempting to punch its way out of his chest. Pregnant. His mate was pregnant with their child. An hour ago he’d been worried about how he was going to make things right between them, and now he was worried he wouldn’t be a good father. He was obviously terrible at being a good mate, considering how well he’d royally screwed up for the past couple of months. How in the world was he going to take care of two of the most precious people in the world when he couldn’t even take care of one?
“Are you going to say anything?” Bethany asked. She was looking up at him, her brow raised as her eyes scanned his face.
He nodded. Say something fool, his wolf growled. His wolf had gotten good at the insults since Drake had been angering him over how things were going with Bethany. The beast was scared she was going to get fed up and leave them. We would follow her, his wolf rumbled in his mind. Yes, Drake responded, to the ends of the earth.
“How are you feeling?” Drake asked, finally forcing his tongue to work.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Unsure, I guess.”
Drake felt alarm bells going off inside of him. If she leaves us, I will figure out a way to end you, human. Drake’s wolf snarled. She isn’t going to leave us. His wolf huffed and snorted at him.
“What are you unsure of?” he asked, almost terrified of the answer. What if she wasn’t sure if she wanted to have a baby, his baby? What if she was unsure about their mating? Regardless of the fact it was already done, it didn’t mean she was happy about it. What if she didn’t know if she wanted this life at all? What if she wanted to go back to live with humans? The more the thoughts and questions piled on, the more worked up he could feel his wolf becoming. Drake had no doubt his eyes were glowing by the time she finally spoke.
“Drake?” Bethany’s voice reached him through the fog of doubts that had begun to fill his mind. He turned to look at her, not realizing he was pacing. Way to inspire confidence in the mother of your child, Drake. Act like a lunatic.
“I apologize,” he said and then moved to sit beside her on the couch. He wanted to touch her, needed to touch her, but he didn’t know if his touch would be welcome. “What are you unsure of, Bethy?” he asked again, forcing himself to ignore all his own worries and listen to hers.
“How you feel about this?” she said, pointing to her stomach.
“That’s all?” he asked, his brow drawn down low as he narrowed his eyes on her.
“Um, isn’t that a big deal?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “Yes, of course it is. I’m sorry, love. My mind was working overtime when you said you were unsure of how you were feeling, and I was worried that you didn’t want this anymore.”
“This?” she asked. “You mean us?” Bethany pointed back and forth between them.
Drake nodded.
She reached for his hand and intertwined their fingers. “Of course I want us. Why wouldn’t I want us?”
Drake didn’t want to ask his next question, but it was one that had been whispering in the back of his mind and he couldn’t keep wondering. “Bethany, do you only want me because I was the first thing that came along after you were rescued by the vampires?”
Her eyes narrowed on him, and her lips drew tight across her face.
Maybe that wasn’t the smartest question I could have asked.
“So you think I would have shacked up with just any male because I was so desperate to get away from those monsters? You think I would just jump into bed with the first willing Joe Blow because I was frightened of being taken by the vampires again? Seriously, Drake!”
He took a deep breath and gave in to his need to touch her. He placed his hands on either side of her face and pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry. That was a jackass thing to ask.”
“Yes. It was.”
“You aren’t the only one with insecurities, mate. You aren’t the only one who worries,” Drake admitted. “I’m so damn scared of losing you. I didn’t know I could love someone this much, need someone this much. I’m sorry.”
“Well, you aren’t the only one with fears either, Drake. With everything that’s been going on, us fighting and you scared to be intimate with me, and now a baby, I’m just scared that you will think it’s too much, too fast.”
He scooted closer to her until they were hip to hip and then dropped one hand from her face and laid it on her stomach, which he noticed did have a slight roundness to it. He might have noticed sooner if he’d allowed himself to be more intimate with her. He glanced up at Bethany and saw her eyes had dropped down to look at his hand so he tapped her stomach and said, “Look at me, Bethany.”
She raised her eyes until they met his.
“We are never going to be prepared for this life. The Great Luna has blessed us with this amazing existence and given us lots of tools to make us successful, but the most amazing thing she’s given us is the ability to adapt. When life throws something at us that is unexpected, we adapt. Sometimes it’s something wondrous like a new baby, and sometimes it’s something horrific like being taken by vampires. But in all situations, horrible and wonderful, we grow and are changed, hopefully for the better.” Drake smiled at her as he reached up and wiped a tear from her face. “Was this unexpected? Yes. Was it fast? A little. Would I change it? Not for the world.”
“Really?” she asked, sounding breathless.
“Really,” he said, nodding. “I won’t lie and say I’m not terrified. But there is something stronger than my terror.”
“What?”
“My love for you and, now, my love for our child as well.”
Bethany leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. Her scent enveloped him, and Drake wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. He wanted to keep her there, safe from anything and everything until their child was born. He was pretty sure that would not be perceived as a good thing by his mate.
“We’re going to have a baby,” she whispered against his neck as she laid her head against his shoulder.
“Yes, we are.” Drake felt his wolf let out a contented sigh. Try not to screw this up, human, his beast rumbled at him. I’ll do my best, Drake said, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

“I never thought I would have children,” Bethany said. “I’d just accepted that I would die at the hands of the vampires. I’d long ago given up any hope of ever having some semblance of a normal life. Then I was rescued and there was you, and I could suddenly breathe. And this”—she snuggled into him, loving the way his larger body sheltered hers—“this would be enough for me. But having your baby, it’s a dream, one I don’t want to wake up from.”
Drake put his finger under her chin and lifted her face until she was looking at him. He wiped a tear from her face with his thumb and then pressed his lips to hers. It started out soft and gentle, but Bethany was starved for his attention. She felt his hands moving and the tugging of the sheet and realized he was undoing the safety pins. With each pin the sheet began to get looser and looser until finally it pooled at her waist. She tugged the bottom of it up so she could move her legs and turned her body so she was straddling his lap then she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself tightly against him. His hands gripped her hips and then ran up her back until one large hand was gripping the nape of her neck, and the other was tightly wrapped around her waist, crushing her to him.
Bethany ran her fingers through his hair, loving the silky feel of it, all the while their lips and tongues danced together. His taste was intoxicating, and before she realized it, Drake was standing up and carrying her to their room.
“If you have no plans to take this any further, you’d better stop now, Drake. I won’t be held responsible for clawing your eyes out if you take me to our bed and then stop.”
She felt his rumbled laughter in his chest pressed against her own.
“I have no intention of stopping this time, my love.”
He laid her down on the bed, tugged the sheet the rest of the way off of her and followed her body down, covering it with his own. He peppered her face, jaw, and neck with kisses and tender bites that had her gasping.
“Drake.” She moaned, wanting him to go faster.
He shook his head. “It’s been months, mate. I’m going to take my time with you.”
She growled at him, which only made him chuckle. Stupid man.
As Drake used his forearms to leverage himself over her, he stared reverently at her stomach and then kissed it several times before pressing his ear to her flesh. She watched as his face light up in wonder. “I can hear the heartbeat.” His voice was so full of awe that tears filled Bethany’s eyes.
“You can?”
Drake looked up at her and grinned. “Wolf hearing, baby.” Then his face became serious. “I’m so sorry, Bethy. I would have known sooner if I hadn’t been a fool. I would have heard the heartbeat not long after conception if I’d allowed us to be together.”
“Dumb man,” she whispered but softened the words with a smile.
“I am. Forgive me,” he asked.
“Always,” Bethany said and then helped him pull his shirt off. The rest of the night was a blur of soft whispers, and contented sighs.
“Never again,” Drake said into the dark of their room as he made love to her. And she knew he meant he would never again withhold his intimacy from her.
“I’ll bite you if you ever start that nonsense again,” she teased.
“Then maybe I should.”
“Don’t even think about it.” Bethany growled and then sank her teeth into his shoulder.