Chapter 22 Reign
REIGN
Getting used to being pregnant wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, probably because so much of my life had changed. At the same time, I was living in a new place. I had a new family. I was no longer a student. I’d just been part of taking care of a multi-mafia family issue.
Every aspect of my life had been tossed up in the air, and I was starting anew. So when I was a little uncomfortable, and my clothes grew a little too small, and I wanted weird foods in the middle of the night… none of that really affected me.
But what did impact me was that I couldn’t shoot anymore. There had been a time when I spent hours at the shooting range to let off steam, or when I needed to think, or when I just wanted some downtime. And that wasn’t safe for pregnant omegas for many reasons, according to the midwife.
I couldn’t exactly lean into darts. Playing at home didn’t help me escape the way going to the range did.
I was still all in my head. And when you played darts in public spaces, that was when people wanted to play for money, which never ended well.
Or on the rare occasions people were playing for fun, they were usually drunk off their asses. No fun there either.
So, I found myself spending countless hours with my bow. My mate had purchased me a beautiful traditional bow from Thailand, and it felt like an extension of me. I loved everything about my time spent at the local range. But it was quiet… too quiet.
There was something about the way the sound of a gun shooting echoed in the air. For most people it was startling, but for me, I found it soothing. I knew on all levels that it was really messed up.
And I wasn’t foolish about it. I did wear ear protection, but I could both hear and still feel it. I longed to hear it again so much, so I tried listening to recordings of fireworks on full blast to see if it would help.
It didn’t. Of all the complaints I’d heard from omegas about their pregnancies, mine was embarrassingly insignificant.
Omegas in my omega-to-be groups online couldn’t keep food down, were dizzy, had high blood pressure they had to be ever mindful of, and amplified anxiety…
Those were all real issues, and I wasn’t foolish about focusing on missing my hobby.
If only seeing how ridiculous I was could help me pull out of it. I blamed hormones. I always blamed hormones.
“I’m back with your pistachio ice cream.”
I snapped my head up, my mate walking in the door. He bought pistachio ice cream. From the looks of it, he bought about a hundred different kinds of ice cream, too. He had an entire box he could barely hold it was sofilled with pints of ice cream.
“Do I even want to know?”
“Well, last time I bought you strawberry ice cream, you changed your mind when I came back, so I figured better safe than sorry.”
“There’s enough ice cream here for an entire schoolyard.” Or possibly two. But still, I couldn’t help but love how sweet the thought was.
“But as long as there’s at least one that you like, it works.”
“I wish you all the luck getting those in the freezer.” We had a large freezer, but this was over the top for even that.
“Don’t worry. I can Tetris like a boss.”
I ate the pistachio ice cream… or rather about a quarter of it. That was when I saw my mate’s genius. Pistachio no longer suited me. I wanted maple. And then I moved on to strawberry and ended with butter pecan.
I didn’t eat a lot of the last few, but the bites were worth it.
“You’re the best mate ever.”
I leaned back, hands on my huge belly.
“How come you’re so off today?” He squatted in front of me so we were face to face. He always saw me—truly saw me. I could slap on all the happy happy I wanted to, but I could never fool him.
“I don’t know, I’m just… it’s weird that I don’t feel settled because I haven’t been able to shoot. That’s weird, right?”
“No. Whenever someone tells you that you can’t do something, that automatically makes it a little more desirable and amplifies the loss.
And it was a big part of your life for a really long time.
It’s not weird at all. Have you considered maybe looking into competing again in a real way—like looking toward the Olympics? ”
I hadn’t, but when he said it… possibly. Maybe that was something I wanted to do, it hadn’t been my choice to turn it down initially. But also, that was a lifetime ago.
“We’ll have to see. It’s a huge time commitment, and the little one is coming.”
“They aren’t so little.” He bent down and kissed my very large belly.
“I have been thinking about maybe going through with my idea to open an archery—not studio, not school—but not range, either.”
My goal wasn’t to have a bunch of people just coming off the streets and renting space so they could let off steam and show their strength, which I had seen in a few of the studios and ranges I’d gone to over the years.
And the local range? The local range was awful. I always felt like I wasn’t wanted when I went. And if it was that bad for me, I couldn’t envision young people coming in and discovering their love of the sport.
“What about calling it a club?” He shrugged. “I’ve seen that before.”
“That’s true—club and school. Hmm. Maybe we’ll think about it.” And did the name matter if I had the vision? Probably not.
“You know, we have that money that Viktor pulled aside from your dad. It’s enough to get started.”
I tried not to think about that money… or anything related to my dad. I didn’t pretend Viktor did that out of the kindness of his heart either. He 100% did it not to owe me, with the bonus of really pissing off my dad.
“I don’t want his money.” It felt dirty.
“And as much as I know you don’t want his money, it’s there. And wouldn’t this be a big ‘fuck you’ to him?”
That had me smiling. It really would.
We’d talked about opening up a range before, a few times now, and in the end, I always felt guilty with my mate offering to pay for it. This would be an option—a viable one.
“I mean… how about this? If the perfect property just falls into our lap, I’ll move forward.” I’d half paid attention to the real estate listings recently. Nothing had popped out at me.
“And by perfect property, do you mean this?” He took out his phone, typed away, and turned it around for me to see.
“Did you already find a place? And how?” It wasn’t one I’d seen in my half-assed attempt, and it was good enough I would’ve.
“Better. My family already owns it. It’s got both inside and outside spaces. It’s away from everything, and there’re woods behind it if you wanted to expand—turn it into maybe a camp experience for teens at some point.”
“That’s a little over the top, don’t you think?” Although I’d attended a camp as a middle-schooler and really loved it.
“For my mate to do something he loves? Nah, not at all.”
I went to hug him and nearly toppled out of my seat. There was nothing to do but laugh at this time. “Go, preggo belly, go.”
He smiled at me so sweetly, the rest of the world faded away.
“Does anybody else know how sweet you are, Ezra?”
“Nah, I’m pretty sure that’s only you.”
He was ruthless when it came to work. I’d seen that side of him. So, his answer didn’t surprise me.
“Help me up, mate.” I held out my arms.
He stood up, held his arms out for me, and pulled me up.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“Where are we going? Do you want to go look at the property?”
“Nope. There’s something else I want to look at more.” I raked my eyes up and down his body. He couldn’t look at me with that smile and expect my answer to be anywhere but in his arms.
“Okay, tell me where, and we’re there.”
“Oh, silly me. Don’t you know?” I bit my bottom lip.
“Out to dinner?”
I needed to up my flirting game.
“No more hinting. I’m pregnant and horny, and you need to service your omega.”
“So much better than dinner.” He growled and picked me up, something that used to make me feel uncomfortable as I got bigger, worried I’d hurt his back, but the feral look in his eyes when he did told me there was no pain at all.
He loved it—just not quite as much as he loved me.