Chapter 15 #2
“He’s pregnant, you dumbass. He’s busy making a baby, and that takes a lot of energy.”
Titus looked around at the others at the table. “How was I supposed to know that? I was told Dante found his mate and they claimed each other. I assumed he was mated to another alpha with as tall as the guy he was with at the festival was.”
“He’s a bear omega,” Damien said.
“Again, how was I supposed to know?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “How is Banner doing?” Damien asked. “Other than creating our next little hellhound and being tired because of it, how’s he holding up?”
I nodded slowly. “Not terrible. A lot has happened in the last month, so he’s been working through those emotions. Add in the most recently discovered pregnancy hormones, and we are just taking everything one day at a time.”
“Oh man,” Warwick said. “If you have emotions, maybe ask Briggs for some pointers.”
Atticus threw what looked like a wadded napkin at Warwick. “That was an exception. Todd had been through a whole lot at a very young age and was still trying to sort things out. Leave him alone.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. We all love Todd as a little brother and know he went through a whole lot.”
I shook my head at everyone and started eating my breakfast. The council made sure there was a large assortment of things for each meal, and if you couldn’t find something here, there were other issues.
“I know you are probably not wanting to go too far from Banner just yet, but we’d like to organize a pack run,” Atticus said.
Ah, now we were getting to the purpose of things.
I finished chewing and swallowing my bite of sausage before I answered.
“I can support that. Banner mentioned how he was surprised I’d not gone on a run yet.
” I looked around the table. “That is, if you’re waiting on me. You really shouldn’t though.”
“We’ll organize something when Cecil and Banner can hang out together,” Atticus said.
Warwick nodded. That sounded fine to me, but I wasn’t going to say it was all right with my mate until after I cleared it with him.
“That should be fine. I’m not going to say yes or no either way though. Not until I discuss it with Banner first, but I know he was excited to get to spend some time with Cecil and your twins.”
Warwick grinned.
“Wait,” Titus said. “Isn’t your mate a bear too?” he asked, pointing toward Warwick.
“Yes,” Warwick said, an edge of hesitation in his voice.
“Your mate is small. His is big.”
“What of it?” I asked.
“They’re both bears.”
Damien sighed, rolled his eyes, and shook his head. He leaned forward a bit, and he and Azar seemed to come to some agreement before they both whacked Titus on the back of the head.
“Ouch. Dammit, that hurts, you two.”
“Stop being an idiot,” Damien said.
I could only shake my head and try to eat the rest of my breakfast.
“What about it?” Warwick asked.
Titus glanced at Damien and then at Azar before he glared down my way.
I didn’t know what I did to deserve such a look, but I wasn’t going to let it bother me even a little.
“Well, your mate is a bear, and so is his. Yours is tall though, so to me, it made sense that he was an alpha. That’s all I was trying to say. ”
Atticus sighed. “There are short alphas,” Atticus said.
“And tall omegas,” Augustus added. “And they are two different species of bears, from two very different family lines.”
“Look, I have no experience around the different types of bear shifters, all right. I made a mistake in assuming that Dante’s mate, which is entirely new to me anyway, was an alpha.
Nobody bothered to share that Banner is an omega.
You have to remember, I’ve been here all of a few months, and in that time, I’ve been treated as if I was the number one suspect here.
” Titus stood and left without another word.
We all looked down at Azar. “He’s not wrong. We’ve not been trusted, and still, to this day, we are constantly watched. It’s not really a welcoming pack.” Azar got up and left. I looked to the others because I’d missed everything.
“What’s been going on?” I asked. “It doesn’t sound as if things have been fun and exciting.”
Atticus shook his head. “That’s my fault. I’m the pack alpha, and yeah, I should have not only been more welcoming but fought for them to be treated better from the beginning.” Atticus stood. “Find me before you leave for the day if you can,” he said before he took off after the others.
I remembered Damien had recognized them in the Nexus. He’d also been the second hellhound to be discovered by the council, so I looked to see if he had any more information. “I missed a lot, it seems.”
“We probably should have introduced them around more,” Damien said.
“They’ve kept to themselves, pretty much, but I understand why they’re feeling like they do.
There’s been a lot going on, just general busyness, but for whatever reason, it took a while for them to get their powers returned.
I’ve hung out with them some, but I do have a mate as well. ”
“Nobody is upset that you didn’t spend every spare moment with them,” Warwick said. “I’ve not exactly spent a whole lot of time after hours with them either.”
I finished my breakfast and pushed the tray forward a bit. It finally clicked what they were talking about though. “Wait a minute. They have their magic back?”
Damien nodded. “Been a couple of weeks now, yeah. Why do you ask?”
I looked at the others. “How did that happen? Did they just suddenly feel them return? Was the goddess here and they were able to ask her questions?”
Warwick winced. “I understand your reason for asking that, but as far as I know, the goddess hasn’t responded to the list of questions. Their magic just returned to them, from what they’ve said.”
I felt my hopefulness leave.
“What’s wrong?” Augustus asked.
“We don’t know how long Banner’s gestation is going to be. We’re scrambling to plan for a six-week gestation, but he’s barely showing, so I don’t think it’s going to be six weeks since that’s a week and a half from now.”
Warwick winced. “I’m no help. But I do understand the rush. We weren’t expecting Cecil to give birth nearly as early as he did either. Have you been to the clinic for a scan? Dr. King can do an ultrasound and measure the baby and see how far along the baby is in development.”
I nodded. “We haven’t been back. We are going back next week, and Banner hasn’t felt too terrible, so we didn’t think it needed to be a priority.”
Warwick nodded.
“How is mated life treating you? Everything good?” Augustus asked.
I nodded. He and I still needed to have a talk, but now wasn’t the time. It wasn’t as if either of us was going anywhere, and I really didn’t wish to have that conversation in front of anyone. “It’s great. I don’t deserve Banner, and I know it, but I cherish every moment I get with him,” I said.
Augustus stared at me for a long moment before he, too, nodded. I wasn’t quite sure what that was about, but I didn’t want to ask at the moment.
“All right. Now that we’ve lost three of our packmates to work, but we did all get to get together for a bit to welcome you back, I need to get to work,” Damien said.
We all agreed, and as the others left, I sent my dishes over to the dirty dish bin and followed them out the door. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day without Banner to brighten it when I walked into a room.