Chapter Twenty-Four
ARABELLA
Pregnant.
I was pregnant.
I was nearly trembling with happiness, standing in my towel right outside the bathroom, as my brain moved a million miles an hour.
For just a second, one that seemed to span for eons, I felt frozen.
I wasn’t afraid—that wasn’t why I was frozen—it was because of the tidal wave of joy that had sprung from the smallest amount of hope.
My entire body felt alive as happiness coursed through my veins, making me feel almost dizzy and high on excitement.
Pregnant. I was pregnant.
Any concerns I had before defeating War had faded over the past few weeks, having already seen so much progress towards a more peaceful time between humans and nightmares, but I also had been afraid to hope…and now, I didn’t need to worry about hope.
There was only truth—the truth that the test provided. I was pregnant.
Somehow, after everything I’d been through, this was what blew my mind. My fingers traveled down my abdomen over the towel as I felt tears well in my eyes.
“Wait, really?” Damian’s voice was filled with excitement, and concern, wiping away my tears as he appeared in front of me. I’m sure he was confused between the smiles and the tears, but I couldn’t help it—I was feeling everything so intensely right now.
“Holy shit.” He chuckled as he saw the test, picking me up by the waist and swinging me around, causing me to giggle and break from my haze. His kiss was hard, and I let out a small moan at his taste, his touch bringing me back down to earth.
I knew that Blackwell and Damian didn’t have good memories of their families, but Damian looked nothing but absolutely happy. I couldn’t see Blackwell, but I could feel his joy through our bond. Damian kissed me again, my eyes falling shut as I let out a happy sound.
“I love you, and I can’t wait to have a family with you,” Damian said with such an earnest and beautiful smile, pressing a kiss to my nose. “I’m going to get you some non-caffeinated tea. Be right back.”
And he was gone.
“Non-caffeinated…” I mumbled, turning to look up at Blackwell who appeared right in my space, his gaze turning molten gold.
My eyes widened as he knelt down in front of me, still nearly freakin’ my height even with that—or at least it felt like it—and ran a hand over my abdomen.
His hand felt warm against the covered skin, and I swear I felt my abdomen grow warmer in response to his touch.
“I’d hoped you were pregnant,” he admitted, his eyes filling with emotion, “but knowing it for sure—I can’t even express how it makes me feel.”
“Good?” I smiled softly.
“Fucking amazing,” he growled and pressed his head against my chest, pulling me into him. I wrapped my arms around him and surrendered to his touch, trying to not think about the horrible words Damian had just said.
Non-caffeinated.
That wasn’t going to work.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I whispered after a long moment. “Pregnant. I almost feel like it can’t be true. I know it is, but it’s just…crazy.”
“You’ve been so busy, I’m sure you weren’t even thinking about it,” Blackwell said, and I tilted my head, considering his words.
“I didn’t let myself think on it too much,” I agreed, “but I did notice that I was a bit more tired, and sometimes I would wake up queasy. I just didn’t want to hope and find out I wasn’t, you know?”
“Even if you hadn’t been, we have forever together, and no matter how our family comes about—either like this or a different way—I feel beyond honored to be part of your life.” His words were so sincere, and tears pricked my eyes again.
“Okay, add feeling a bit more emotional as well.” I smiled as he chuckled softly, then blew out a breath.
“How does all of this even work? Do I need to talk to the medical staff? I assume so. I mean, I don’t even know what the nightmare gestational period is, let alone sis meta gestational information.
Maybe I could call them and ask, that’s a good idea—”
“Breathe.” Blackwell took my face between his hands and kissed me gently. “Just breathe. We will take everything one moment at a time.”
“How are you so calm?” I squeaked. “I feel like there are a million things to do!”
“There are,” he agreed, pulling us to standing, “but the first thing you need to do is get your little ass dressed before I pull off your towel.”
My smile grew. “Oh no…that sounds horrible.”
Blackwell grunted and nodded towards the pile of clothes. I happily took them and walked into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door. It wasn’t like anyone who’d come into my room unannounced hadn’t seen me naked often and a lot. It was no wonder I was pregnant.
Once I was mostly dressed, I heard the door open, and first I heard Damian’s voice followed by Ashur’s. “I came to see if she was up. We’re all good at the house—”
His words cut off as I peeked around the door to see him staring at the pregnancy test that Blackwell had casually left on the entrance table. He turned towards me and approached me slowly, looking me over, his eyes filling with a soft light.
“You’re carrying our child?”
And I literally melted as I nodded. Blackwell and Damian were talking, but Ashur paid them zero mind, lifting me gently in a bridal hold and kissing me softly like I was the most precious thing in the world.
I sighed into it as he deepened the kiss, and when he finally pulled back, he pressed his forehead to mine.
“My moon,” he hummed. “I never thought…I never thought I would have any of this. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do much, but you’re welcome,” I teased, brushing his nose. “And you have a family, Ashur—you have all of us forever.”
Ashur looked overwhelmed with emotion as put me down, trying to shake himself. “I came in here to tell you we should go to the house—”
“Is it done?!” I squeaked, the idea of finally moving in making me thrilled.
“Don’t tell her,” Damian said. “Let’s just go over there.”
Grumbling, I went to put on my shoes, jolting in surprise when Ashur offered me a hand as I stepped into some comfortable heeled boots. I hadn’t known he’d followed me in, and now he was scowling at my feet.
“I am keeping the heels,” I called out so the other two heard as well.
“They seem much more dangerous now,” Ashur grunted as he lifted me again. I didn’t complain and settled into his arms happily, only having him stop so I could grab the test and slip it into my sweater pocket.
As we left my room and took the elevator down, Damian having packed my breakfast to bring with us, my mates tried to guess the reactions each of the others would have. It made me all that much more eager to see them.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long because it seemed all of my mates were impatient. When the elevator door opened, Zain and Cy were both waiting to go up.
“You were supposed to wait for us.” Zain narrowed his eyes at Ashur, who shrugged.
“Put me down.” I wiggled against him, but he shook his head.
“Can’t in those heels, especially right now.”
“Why right now?” Cy caught on quickly.
“I would freakin’ tell you if he put me down.”
Ashur muttered a curse but set me on my feet. Dramatically, not knowing how else to do it, I pulled the test out of my pocket and showed it to both of them.
Their reactions were as perfect as I expected.
“Holy shit!” Zain said, picking me up and spinning me around. “You’re pregnant? Fuck,” he groaned as I kissed him hard. “I love you, Bella. So damn much.”
“I love you too.” I kissed him again as he set me down, hearing the others talk about how they needed to be far more careful with me—something that was totally going to be a big discussion we needed to have.
Call me crazy, but I knew a few of my nightmares would be too careful with me. Or at least try to be.
I was so not okay with that.
The minute my feet touched the floor, Cy had me halfway down the hall and pressed against the wall. I let out a small moan as he kissed me, one hand running over my waist and the other intertwining in my hair in a hard hold. I melted against him, loving his demanding touch.
“I’m guessing you’re happy?” I asked, knowing that was the case. Cy didn’t need to say a word for me to know exactly how he felt.
“Happiness doesn’t describe what you’ve given me in this life,” Cy murmured, pulling back. “You are the reason for my life being anything. You give me things I never even knew I wanted. I love you, pixie.”
“Cy,” I whispered, feeling flushed at the intensity of his words. I swear, the man didn’t talk much, but when he did… “I love you.”
“And I love everyone,” Damian drew out sarcastically. I shot him a scowl, but he just winked at me, looking far too jovial. “But stop stealing her, Cy.”
Cy, ignoring him completely, lifted me into his arms much like Ashur had and resumed our walk. I rested my head against his neck as I tried to tamper down my excitement, not only for the pregnancy, but also the house. My mates were building me my dream house.
The property would have plenty of room for all of us, and they were doing it in a modern gothic style that I’d fallen in love with when looking over possibilities for interiors.
Many of the rooms were going to have dark walls and comfortable surfaces with low lighting, but others, like the sun room, would give us the ability to take in as much light as we wanted.
It was going to be the perfect balance, and more than anything, it was going to give us the privacy we all craved.
Plus, Saint would be able to display all the trophies he gave me in a special built-in case I’d suggested for the office.
I figured it would allow him to show them off without scaring any guests, or more importantly, children.
Which reminded me, we totally needed to have a talk about all his death and killing comments…
“Finally.” Saint’s voice, speak of the devil, echoed loudly as we walked along a back trail towards our house. “I swear, flower, I thought you were never going to wake up.”