Chapter Nine
Dex’s father and mother were staying the night at a hotel in the town square. They occasionally did this, especially if they had pack business to attend. He was aware of one female who was heavily pregnant, and sometimes his father was needed to control the wolf during the birthing process.
There were rare occasions when the wolf tried to get through, to help heal, but also to speed things along. The only problem was, this made it a risk to the baby.
Female wolves could change within the first trimester, but after that, they had to handle their cravings and attempt to control their wolf.
Casey paced the length of his bedroom.
“This means we’re going to have to get our own place,” Dex said. “I’ve been looking at a house, it’s nice, not too big or too small, close to the town—”
“Dex, I’ve not even taken a pregnancy test,” Casey said.
“We don’t need to take a pregnancy test. You know it as well as I do. You haven’t gotten your cycle the past couple of months.”
“Lucinda might be wrong.”
Dex frowned. “Do you want her to be wrong?”
“No, no, of course not. I don’t want her to be wrong. I mean, I want her to be wrong about that other thing, but if I accept she might be wrong about that, then she must be wrong about this.” She pressed her hands against her stomach.
“Do you feel any different?”
“No. Maybe, I don’t know.” She blew out a breath and then came to sit with him on the bed. “I’m so confused right now.”
“ Bad confused?” he asked.
“No, I mean, if we’re pregnant, then that is incredible and I am so lucky,” Casey said. “ We’re so lucky, but I don’t know if I can be happy with this, knowing what I know is coming.” She sighed. “I don’t know what we can do.”
Dex took her hand, locking their fingers together. “We work it out together.”
“I’ve talked to so many pack people, and yes, they are seeing me as a bit of a freak right now. Trust me, I get it. It’s not every day they get asked if they like someone of the pack.” She shook her head and he tightened his grip on her hand.
“It’s going to be all right.”
“I don’t know how you can say that.”
“Because I know I’m right.”
She laughed. “How does it feel to be right all the time?”
“Pretty awesome.”
Casey leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. This is driving me crazy. Do you think it would be worth us going to … Lucinda?”
“No,” Dex said.
“Why not? Maybe if you saw the vision again, it would give you an indication of who is attacking you. Why? I don’t know.”
“We’ve already messed with too much, and now you’re pregnant.”
“Was I pregnant in your vision?”
“No,” Dex said. “Not from what I saw, but you’re also not showing yet.”
“So it is either a few years from now, or very soon,” Casey said. “None of this is comforting.”
“You know what, we’re done talking about what might be. Remember, the future is undecided and we’ve got the chance to change it.” He climbed off the bed and began to move to the top, peeling back the covers. He slapped the spot right next to him as he climbed in.
Casey rolled her eyes, but she was already crawling toward him.
“You can’t keep doing that,” she said.
“Doing what?”
“Changing the subject or putting a ban on the one we’re talking about, just because you don’t like it.” She gave a tut-tut.
“Aren’t you tired of us speculating?” he asked. “It’s exhausting, and do you know what is going to happen?”
“What?”
“We’re going to be fifty years old and laughing about how much time we wasted thinking about something that might not happen.” He knew he never should have gone to Lucinda, nor should he have listened to her in the first place. “We’re mated. All we have to do right now is focus on us and what we want. That is it.”
Casey moved in close, wrapping an arm around him and resting her head against his chest. She tilted her head back to look at him.
“You’re right. If I am pregnant, what does this mean?” she asked. “For you?”
He smiled. “It means we’re going to get our own place. We won’t have to keep sneaking around to be with one another.”
She snorted. “We don’t do a whole lot of sneaking. In case you didn’t notice, our parents like to make time for each other. We’re not getting in the way of that.” She let out a sigh. This one wasn’t filled with frustration, but it had a softness to it. “It would be nice to have our own place. We wouldn’t have to keep making love in the forest. That would be nice.” She snuggled against him and he sensed she started to relax, and that was what he enjoyed.
“You don’t like making love in the forest?”
She giggled. “I do, but not when it is freezing cold.”
“I’ll have to remember that.” He kissed the top of her head. “I want you to marry me.”
This made her tilt her head back and release a gasp. “Is that a proposal?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“You’re not going to get down on one knee?”
“No, I’m not. This is going to be the proposal you remember. You don’t need me bowing down or declaring anything. You know the way I feel about you, and that is not going to change. I love you, and now that you’re pregnant with my child, I’m never letting you go.” He kissed her lips as she tilted her head back to look at him.
“We’re really going to do this?” she asked.
“Yeah, we are. I’ll talk to my dad about getting a place of our own. I don’t think it will happen before Christmas, but next year we could be decorating something for ourselves.”
He couldn’t help but love that smile on her lips. In that moment, he didn’t care about the vision or what it meant. All he cared about was spending the time with Casey. Lucinda had been unclear. There were three people who played a part in his death. He didn’t know who the third player would be, but he was more interested in making sure it didn’t happen.
Casey would never forgive herself.
He had Casey and his unborn child to fight for.
****
Lucinda hated this feeling.
She glanced through her mix of herbs and potions, and she had always known something was off, but now she was sure of it. A special herb was missing—an enchanted chamomile she’d been experimenting with.
On one of her many visits with Klaus, the Alpha had mentioned how worried he was about pack females, and some of them were not able to control their wolves. Lucinda knew how difficult it was for some of the wolves. She tried to keep her distance from the pack, as she knew how tempting it was for them to seek her out to use magic.
Magic was dangerous and deadly. The cost of doing business was far too high.
After Klaus’s sadness, she had decided to try and experiment with suppressing the wolf inside the woman long enough to give birth. She knew it was a risk to even attempt. Meddling with someone’s wolf could have dire consequences. She created the chamomile into a tea, but there was no way for her to test it. She’d need her subject to be willing, and to ask Klaus for his permission, and of course there was always the risk something could go wrong.
She had never told another soul about this experiment, at least she didn’t recall telling anyone. Apart from her book. Her missing potions book and the missing chamomile. She didn’t know how long it had been since she misplaced her book or the herb.
She couldn’t help but think about Casey. She’d seen the young woman many times, even as a child, at a distance, and knew the girl would grow to be a fiery wolf. There was so much passion, love, and loyalty in her. Lucinda, herself, had sensed the young woman’s wolf at a young age. This is why she’d been so shocked to discover the young woman hadn’t transitioned. If there had been anyone within the Arlington pack she could bet her witchcraft on who would successfully transition, it would have been Casey.
The tea had to have worked, but that meant someone had to have known what it was used for and then been in a position to give it to Casey. Who? There was only two people she knew she could trust with this information.
Lucinda quickly rushed out of her home.
****
“What do you think?” Dex asked.
Casey glanced around the small dining room. There was already a table and four chairs. She’d noticed the few pieces of furniture, and it didn’t take a genius to know his father had been responsible for making this place freaking awesome.
Neither Dex’s parents nor her own had opted to come with them to check out this new place. From what Dex had told her, Klaus had handed him the keys and he was to let them know what they thought.
“I think it’s amazing,” she said.
“You know what this is, don’t you?” he asked.
She couldn’t help but laugh. “What? You don’t think I saw we’re equal distance from my parents as well as yours? Close to the pack, for whenever you need to … be present. It’s the perfect starter home for the soon-to-be Alpha.”
There was enough space, but not too much, to also raise not one but a few kids. She was still trying to wrangle her head around the pregnancy thing. The confirmation hadn’t exactly made it easier to accept.
“If you don’t like it, we don’t have to stay.”
She walked toward him, resting a hand on his chest. “I know that, but I also don’t want to be the only one to have input in what house we stay at. I think it is a decision we should make together.”
Dex sighed and cupped her face, tilting her head back. She loved it when he did this. Staring up into his eyes, that dark blue shade with a hint of amber, letting her know his wolf was so close to the surface.
One day, she wished she would get to know what it felt like to finally run with him. To be by his side as they embraced the future together.
“You want to know what I think?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s what I just said.”
He leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. “I want whatever you want, Casey. You’re my home. No one else, and no other place. Wherever you want to be is where I want to be.”
She couldn’t help but feel the tears fill her eyes. “There you go saying all those magical and amazing things.”
He laughed. “I do my best.”
This time, she kissed him, going onto her tiptoes to press her lips against his. “I want to be wherever you are,” she said.
“Good.”
She couldn’t help but glance over at the table.
Dex followed her gaze.
“I have no idea what is wrong with me,” she said.
“I’m guessing it’s the hormones.”
“I’m not that far along, but you are driving me crazy, and I need you.”
She grabbed his jacket and moved toward the edge of the table. Casey didn’t need to ask him to lift her up. He picked her up and placed her on the edge of the table.
She wore a long skirt with a soft pair of tights that didn’t even last a minute against Dex’s hard grip. Releasing a moan, she felt his hand slowly slide up her thigh, moving toward her pussy. The moment he touched her, she felt her body grow tense, wanting more.
“Please,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I know what you want.”
Him.
Casey sat up suddenly.
“What?” Dex asked.
“Did you hear that?”
“Did I hear what?”
She frowned and tried to listen. “You didn’t hear that?”
“Hear what? Casey, there is no one else in this house. My dad did it this way so he knew…”
She wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t remind me that our parents know we’re having sex.”
“Our parents are wolves, baby. They know how we feel, and we’re also newly … together.”
Casey smiled. “And soon we’ll be mated and married,” she said.
Dex sighed. “Those words sound so good.”
She laughed. “You know, men are supposed to be a little terrified at the prospect of being married off.”
“Not this man. It is all I’ve ever wanted, so long as the woman I’m going to be with is you.”
“You know the right answers.” She pulled him in close and kissed him.
He cupped her pussy, sliding a finger between her slit.
Casey knew what she heard, but she also knew no one was in the house. It had to have been in her head. Maybe she was getting tired. Being pregnant, facing the reality of possibly never transitioning, had started to take its toll.
She didn’t know what that voice was, but she knew that as long as she was with Dex, she’d be happy. He was the love of her life, and she wasn’t going to allow Lucinda’s premonition to affect their future. She couldn’t.
She wouldn’t fail him.
Pulling him down into the kiss, she felt his fingers as they pressed inside her. She slid her hands down, going toward the zipper of his pants and working it down. He let out a moan as she reached into his pants, taking out his cock and working from the tip right down to the base. Pre-cum already leaked out of the top, providing enough lubrication for her to work his dick.
She refused to believe anything bad was going to happen. She wouldn’t fail Dex. The very idea of it seemed almost ludicrous to her.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” he asked.
She moaned as he pressed a second finger inside her, twisting his hand around, and she rocked against him. “I imagine the same you’re doing for me.”
The words were hard to form. She didn’t know what she was saying or thinking. Everything felt so good.
All too soon, he stopped, pulling out of her pussy, and she thought he was ready to take her, but then he dropped to his knees.
“Dex?”
“I have to taste you.”
Within seconds his lips were on her pussy, and she cried out. His tongue sliding up and down, moving around her clit, then gliding down to plunge inside her. Closing her eyes, she gave herself to the pleasure.
Ours.
Our mate.
Forever.
Casey opened her eyes, and she couldn’t believe it.
“Dex!”
He stopped. “What? What is it?”
“I … I think I hear my wolf?” She frowned and looked at him.
“What?”
“I know it’s crazy, but I think I just heard her.”
“What did she say?”
“She … you’re ours, and that you’re our mate, forever.”
“Are you sure you didn’t just think that?”
“I know what I heard and I know what I feel.” She nibbled her lip. “It could have been my wolf, right?”
He cupped her cheeks and then took possession of her lips. “Always. She could be there, always.”
She smiled at him. “I know it’s crazy.”
“No, it’s not crazy. It’s not crazy at all.”
What did this mean? If her wolf had finally started to talk to her, what did it mean?