Avenger(14)

I clung to his shirt with weak fingers. Neither of us said anything more, not wanting to spout false promises.

When Gram arrived, Caeden left me to let her in the house. I chewed my lip nervously. I hoped Gram knew what was wrong with me…but what if it was something really bad. Did I really want to know?

Gram entered the bedroom and stopped in the doorway. She looked as worried as Caeden. “Hey, sweetie,” she said in a falsely sweet tone, trying to hide her worry. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired and dizzy.” If I had to tell one more person that same thing I’d find a way to give them a swift kick in the knees.

She strode forward and began looking over me like a doctor would their patient. She asked me a million and one questions, checked my pulse, looked down my throat, and a bunch of other things.

Finally, she looked from me to Caeden. “I’ve never seen this before, but I’ve heard of it.”

“What is it?” Caeden asked quickly. “Whatever it is we need to do to fix it, we will.”

“There’s nothing you can do to fix this,” she shrugged and Caeden’s eyes threatened to bug out of his head at her words. “It’s the baby.”

“The baby?” Caeden and I asked simultaneously.

She nodded. “This is rare…but it’s possible when both the father and mother come from a strong Alpha line…basically, the baby is very strong and growing stronger every day. It’s draining you, Sophie.”

“Draining her?! Like a parasite!” Caeden exclaimed, backing away.

“Our baby is not a parasite!” I yelled. “How dare you say that!” I seethed.

He paled as my words hit him. “I didn’t mean it like that—”

“This pregnancy is going to be hard on you, Sophie,” Gram continued like Caeden and I hadn’t just been bickering. “I’ve never seen this happen firsthand, but you’ll probably lose the ability to shift.”

“What?! No!” I cried, trying to wriggle free of the covers. I felt like the blankets were suffocating me. “This can’t be happening! I need to shift! We have to kill Travis before the baby comes!” I couldn’t bear the thought of bringing my sweet innocent little baby into a world where a monster like Travis existed.

Gram pushed my shoulders back so that I couldn’t get out of bed. “Shh,” she hushed me. “Don’t get yourself worked up, it isn’t good for you or the baby.”

I immediately shut up. Despite the threat of Travis, the baby was the most important thing to me.

“Good girl,” Gram smiled. Turning to Caeden, she said, “She’ll be bed ridden most of the pregnancy…if she’s this weak this early into the pregnancy it’s only going to get a lot worse. I hope you’re ready to play man nurse,” she patted Caeden’s cheek. She hugged me goodbye and said, “Take care of my girl,” to Caeden before she left.

“I can’t believe she’s causing this,” Caeden frowned, stepping forward to place his hand on my stomach.

I put my hand over his, marveling at the fact that my little family was right here. “She’s worth it,” I said, even though I wasn’t as convinced as Caeden was on the baby’s gender.

“Everything will be okay,” he pressed his lips to my forehead. I closed my eyes, soaking in his words. I needed to hear them, but I knew he had said them more for his benefit than mine. “I’ll keep you safe.”





Six.

Day three of my purgatory or “bed rest” as most would call it, had me wanting to claw at my husband’s face.

“Caeden,” I whined. “Please, let me do something! I can at least read one of those while I lay here!” I reached for one of the many books piled on the bed that he was leafing through.

“No,” he smacked my hand away with a light swat.

“I don’t think reading is going to make me pass out from exhaustion,” I pouted. “I need to do something or I’m going to go crazy trapped in this bed for nine months, which I’m not going to allow to begin with.”

“Stop being dramatic, Soph,” he chuckled, flipping one of the ancient pages in the book he was reading. “Holy crap! This is it! This is what I’ve been looking for!” The bed bounced with his excitement. I leaned towards him curiously, trying to peer at the yellowed pages.

“What is it?”

With a finger, he pointed to the page and read aloud, “The abominations known as mutants can only be created by those who have relinquished their humanity. An army of these abominations would make the one who created them—”