Chapter 74
Chapter
Seventy-Four
“Colt.”
I hummed, but Eva snapped my forehead.
“You are a space cadet today.”
Chuckling, I nodded. Popping another celery slathered with peanut butter into my mouth, I chewed slowly. Eva had come over to do my four-month checkup. We had started our rundown when my stomach actually cramped from wanting to eat. Not that I hadn’t filled up from breakfast. I had.
We moved to the kitchen where I made myself celery and peanut butter, with strips of salami sprinkled on top. She had given me a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Pointing to the scale, I sighed and got up.
Stepping on the scale, I didn’t look down. I didn’t need to know I was heavy. It clung to every part of my body. Even working out every day didn’t help. My weight was going to shoot up so much more, and I refused to look.
“You are right on track. I don’t know why it upsets you so much.”
“I wasn’t this heavy until I was thirty weeks with Kayla.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “That was bad. This is good. You’re having two. A hundred and forty is perfect for where you are.”
“Tell that to my ass.” I grumbled, sitting back down on the stool. “Or my pants.”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “When did the sass come back? Do I need to ask Marcus?”
“No,” I snapped. “You don’t need to ask him anything.”
Eva threw her head back and laughed. “Sometimes, I think I prefer you like this. Just as long as you don’t turn the sass toward me.”
Sighing, I chomped down on my celery stick. “My back hurts. My body feels like I’m carrying an extra fifty pounds. Not fifteen. This thing is huge…” I motioned to my stomach. “I don’t even know what to do anymore. I actually have stretch marks coming.”
“Any fainting or dizziness?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m fine there.”
“Colt, you’ve been through this before.” Eva came over and took my hand. “This isn’t new.”
“This is absolutely new. All of this is wildly different! I’m eating my literal weight in food.”
She tried to fight the smirk. “You are not.”
“Well, it feels that way.” I huffed. “I hate it.”
Eva leaned against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. “Is this really about the pregnancy? Or is this about what’s happening tomorrow?”
My lips pursed. We’d gotten the notice two weeks ago about the time and date we were to meet Dylan and the rest of Red River leadership. They were being brought into the Council, at the location near the university. Everyone was leaving. Everyone but me.
Tears filled my eyes, but I looked up, forcing them not to fall. Eva ran her fingers through my hair, trying to calm me, but all it did was call attention to my ears.
“It’s okay to be upset, Colt.”
“Apparently, it’s not. Mar snapped at me the other day for crying about it. So I guess it’s not okay.”
She sighed. “He’s stressed. I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
I scoffed. “When? The first time? Or maybe the third?”
“My god, you are sassy today. Come on, let’s go up to the room and I’ll check everything else.”
Nodding, I finished the last bite of celery, and we headed up the stairs. Kayla was currently with Candice, and they were outside in the garden together. Flopping onto the bed, Eva hissed, slapping my arm.
“Don’t do that, Colt. Come on.”
“I’m fine.”
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. She’d already set up the monitor earlier, but we got distracted when my stomach growled and then cramped. Pulling up my shirt, I closed my eyes. Her fingers did their usual exploring first.
“Well, they are definitely large and out there. Are you having difficulty being on your back like this?”
“Yeah. I’m also feeling them move more, I think. It’s at night, but I think that’s them.”
She hummed, sitting down next to me. “It would be about that time.”
She pressed the wand into my stomach and pushed hard enough to make me wince. “There they are.” Eva smiled. “Definitely growing. They both look right on track. I’ll take measurements in a minute, but I am sticking to my estimate. I don’t think either of them are dragons.”
Smiling, I nodded. “I knew it could happen; I just didn’t think it would.”
“It does. It is also possible to have a wolf and a dragon at the same time. Let’s just hope, in your case, you never deal with double Alpha dragons. I’d probably put you on bed rest now.”
I let out a strangled cry, but Eva laughed. She moved around a little, clicking as she took measurements. Looking over at me, there was a smirk on her face.
“Do you want to lord over Marcus that you know the gender?”
“You can see? It’s that a twenty-week thing?”
She shrugged. “I can tell you now.”
“Sure.”
“Both boys.”
My mouth dropped open, and I smiled softly. Two boys. Just like Marcus and Keith had been. Except these were my pups. My little Alpha and Omega. For the first time, I felt myself break through the hurt that I wouldn’t be there to see Dylan executed.
“Are you happy?”
“I am.” I let my body relax into the bed. “Not that I would be unhappy if they were both girls. I just…I can’t believe I’m going through this again and Kayla isn’t even one yet. Or that I’m twenty.”
Eva snorted. “You are not twenty, Colt. You are eighty in a twenty-year-old body.”
I laughed and pulled my shirt down after she wiped my belly off. Her hand rested on my curve.
“You really are amazing. Your body is doing what it needs to do at the right times. They’re growing strong. You’re keeping up. Everything is completely textbook this time around.”
Nodding, I sat up with some help. “Thank you.”
“Always, dear. You are a pleasure.”
Marcus burst through the door, huffing as he looked between us. “Did I…?”
Eva snorted and got up. “Miss it? Yes, you did.”
Grabbing her bag, she patted his shoulder as she left. Winking at me, she gave me a small wave. Marcus groaned and rubbed his face. He fell into the chair, catching his breath.
“I’m sorry. I flew as fast as I could. Keith wouldn’t stop talking.”
“It’s fine.”
He shook his head. “It’s not. I’m sorry.”
“You just don’t get to know the gender until the next time you’re here. Not a big deal.”
Slowly, his green eyes pinned me to where I was sitting. “You know?”
I nodded, smiling widely. “Eva told me.”
“What did she say?”
“That you need to find out when you show up to the next appointment.”
He groaned, his head falling back. “I do not appreciate your sass, little wolf.”
“Your tardiness is the reason, Alpha. Not like it’s the first time.”
“When is the next appointment?”
Taking a breath, I gave him as innocent a smile as I could. “Normally, it would be at the five-month marker, but she’s going on vacation with Dean and her kids during that time.”
“Wait…what? So when will you see her next?”
“It will be for my seventh month appointment.”
He stood up, growling. “Excuse me? You’re skipping your six-month appointment? That’s only two months away from giving birth.”
“I’m not high-risk, Mar. There isn’t a need for her to come so many times. She deserves to have a vacation with her family. We’ve been hogging up all her time.”
Growling, Marcus stormed over to me. He leaned over me and forced me to fall onto my back. His hands caged me as he put his weight down on either side of me. Smiling, I brushed his cheek, drawing attention to his five o’clock shadow.
“You are so frustrating sometimes.”
I hummed, taking it as a compliment. “I want to go grab Kayla and your mom for lunch. I thought we could go into town.” As if to agree, my stomach growled and rolled my eyes.
“I think we can swing something. Did you have a snack?”
“Yeah. I actually had a stomach cramp when we started.”
He frowned. “Did you eat breakfast?”
“Yes! I filled up during breakfast!”
His worry evaporated into laughter. “They are already eating us out of house and home, and they aren’t even born yet.”
Pushing up, Marcus helped me to stand. I got up and stretched, my back popping in several places.
The weight shift was rough this time around.
If they were side by side, it might have been easier, but Eva said that every time she checked they were forward and behind.
Which is why I was pushing out so much in front.
I called out to Marcus as he stepped into the hallway. He stopped, turning back to me. His head cocked to the side.
“Boys. They’re both boys.”
His smile grew, lighting up his face. “Just like Keith and me.”
I nodded. “This is going to be just a taste until they are teenagers.”
“We were terrible.”
Rubbing my belly, I nodded. “After tomorrow, after…it’s all done...I want to move into the house.”
We hadn’t talked about when we were going to move in. All we had said was that it would be after we dealt with Dylan. It’s all I wanted to do now. The only actual way I could feel the chapter was closing, and we were starting a new one.
Marcus’ chest rose and fell a few times without saying anything. “Are you sure? You don’t want to wait for them to be born?”
I shook my head. “I want to go.”
His silly smile from before turned softer. “Then we will move.”
Taking a breath, I nodded. I could do this. Marcus walked back over to me, brushing some hair behind my ear. His lips pressed against my forehead.
“It’s okay, Colt. Tomorrow it will be over.”
I gave him a strained smile. “I know.”
I felt Marcus’ wandering hands across my skin. Groaning, I tried to push them away, but my back was currently flush with his front. If I wanted to move, I’d have to move away from him.
“Morning, my mate.” Lips pressed just below my ear.
Groaning louder, I turned to curl up away from him. It was too early. I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep. Marcus’ hand rubbed my bump, and he was rewarded with movement. He sat up, looking down at me.
“Was that…?”
“Not me.” I snuggled into the pillow. “All night. I’m so tired.”
Marcus turned me onto my back, his green eyes bright as he looked down at me. “I need you to get up, though.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you to get dressed.”
Shaking my head, I turned away from him and curled up on my side again. “No. I don’t like it. I don’t want to do it. I want to sleep.”
“My sweet, wonderful, lovely mate, I need you to get dressed so we can go. I don’t want to be late, and you need to eat breakfast and bring a few snacks for the road.”
I flopped back over, frowning. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re coming with us.”
Blinking, I sat up on my elbows, looking at him as though he had grown two heads. “You said…”
“I know what I said, Colt. I’ve been thinking about it this entire time, stressing about it this entire time.
” He looked down, letting out a breath. “I should have listened to you instead of shutting you down. I know what it means to you, and I shouldn’t have.
You deserve to have closure more than any of us. ”
“Mar, it’s okay. I understand. You are just trying to keep us safe.”
His hand brushed my hair back as he looked me over.
“I thought I could accept that. That you understood where I was coming from. Except that you still had your nightmares. He’s about to die and you were still running from him.
” He gave me a soft smile. “I can work at being strong enough for actual demons, but I can’t fight the ones in your mind.
If seeing him die is going to break that finally frees you, I can’t say no. ”
Throwing my arms around him, I buried my face in the crook of his neck. “Thank you, Mar.”
“You don’t get to go near him. I’m not stupid. Peter, Laila, and Eva are all on duty for you. Mike and Sabrina are also meeting us there. So they will be extra. I’m not taking any chances.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
He growled, pressing me back into the bed as he kissed me. “Don’t. We need to leave.”
“I mean, you’ve been pretty quick lately. I think we would be fine.”
Marcus’ eyes flashed gold as he grabbed my hands and held them over my head. “That sass is going to get you into trouble, little wolf.”
“Maybe I want trouble.”
“You are trouble, Little Omega. The ultimate tease put in front of me to test my strength of will.”
I hummed. “Does that mean you failed? Taking me for yourself?”
“Failed spectacularly.” His lips crashed into mine, holding me in place. “And I would fail over and over again. The moment you stepped into my path in life, I was doomed to fail.”
“How terrible. A professor failing. What will we do with you?”
Nipping his mark on my shoulder, my back arched up involuntarily. “Oh, my little Omega, I can think of several things. More than I think you realize.”