Chapter Twelve
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THE SOUND OF THE PHONE ringing made Nico jump. He’d been dozing off in his chair in his father’s office, something he shouldn’t have done and had expected his father to point out. His father hadn’t said anything, though.
He’d been softer since Nico had told him about the pregnancy. He’d always cared about Nico, but he made it more obvious now. He kept asking Nico if he wanted something to drink or eat, and like today, he let him rest when he needed to.
Nico hadn’t expected the pregnancy to be as hard as it was. He’d thought he’d feel sick for a bit, and that was pretty much it. When he’d told his mother that, she’d laughed in his face and had patted his shoulder. He understood why now.
He was exhausted. He wasn’t doing anything weird or that he wasn’t used to doing, but it was like his body couldn’t get enough sleep, even though he slept like the dead every night.
He was also eating more, and while that made sense, some days, he had to stop himself from eating everything he could get his hands on.
He’d even resorted to stealing his mother’s gummy bears, for fuck’s sake.
She’d been amused when she’d found him eating them in the pantry, and he hadn’t missed how she’d started buying more food she knew he liked and leaving it around the house for him.
“Yes,” Nico’s father said when he answered, his voice barely higher than a whisper. He was clearly trying not to wake up Nico.
Nico blinked his eyes open. If there was work to be done, he wanted to do it.
He’d told his father he wouldn’t slack, and he’d meant it.
He knew that things would get harder as the pregnancy progressed, which meant that he had to do a lot of work now, even though his father wasn’t pushing him as hard anymore.
His father straightened in his chair. “Harvey is what?” he asked.
Nico’s eyes widened, and he leaned forward. His father put his phone on the desk and put it on speaker so that Nico could hear, and while he didn’t recognize the voice on the other side of the phone, the words were enough.
“He and Silas attacked Morris.”
Nico had expected Silas to try attacking his son again, but he wasn’t surprised to find out that he’d attacked another alpha.
He’d chosen the worst. Morris was a bear shifter, much bigger and stronger than a skunk shifter, and even more than that, he had an incredible support system.
The bears and the badgers had grown close over the past few years.
“What happened?” Nico’s father asked.
“I don’t have many details yet, but Morris is okay. Harvey is dead, and Silas is wounded. From the way Morris is telling it, he almost tore Silas’s arm off, so it’s fair to say that he won’t be bothering anyone anytime soon. If it’s as bad as Morris said, I’d be surprised if Silas survived.”
Nico leaned back against his chair. He wanted to hope that Silas would die, but that man was like a cockroach. He always managed to survive somehow. Nico wouldn’t believe he was dead until he saw his body, and even then, he’d probably wonder if Silas could somehow come back to life.
“Thank you for telling me,” Nico’s father said. “Keep me updated, please.”
“I will, but I believe we can all start to relax.”
Nico waited until his father had hung up to speak up. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to relax just yet.”
“I agree. We still need to find Silas’s body to be sure he’s gone.”
“That means we can’t let our guard down yet.”
“Unfortunately, no. Silas is dangerous. I won’t risk it.”
Nico knew that his father had been anxious about him driving to fox territory as often as he was.
He hadn’t said anything, though. He was letting Nico do what he wanted with his life.
Nico wondered if his pregnancy had made his father realize that he was more than just his heir.
He didn’t want his father to worry, but he also wasn’t going to stop seeing Mackenzie.
Still, the sooner Mackenzie moved, the better it would be for everyone.
“We should keep our guard up, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be happy about what happened today,” Nico’s father said. “At the very least, I don’t think Silas is going to try to attack any of us anytime soon. He won’t risk it if he’s wounded. It’s almost over.”
Nico smiled. It was almost over. It would take a little while longer for everything to truly settle down, but things were looking up.
* * * *
DEAN WAS EATING A SANDWICH when he opened the door. He barely even looked at Mackenzie, who smiled, amused. His brother was more focused on his food than on his brother.
“It’s good to see you, too,” Mackenzie teased him.
Dean glanced up from his sandwich. “Yes, yes, it’s good to see you. Now get to the point. I know you have something to tell me. You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“What, I don’t have the right to see my brother?”
“Oh, you have the right to see me. I’m just sure there’s something more to it.” Dean squinted and chewed as he stared at Mackenzie. “There’s definitely something.”
“Maybe he’d tell you if you’d let him inside the house,” Jasper said as he appeared behind Dean. He squeezed Dean’s shoulder and smiled at Mackenzie. “Come in.”
“It’s good to see that at least one of you has manners,” Mackenzie said as he obeyed and closed the door behind himself.
Dean flipped him off and continued eating. When he went to flop onto the couch, Mackenzie followed. He watched as Jasper made sure that Dean was settled and had everything he wanted, including a pillow for his back and a blanket.
Was this how he was with Nico? He’d like to think so.
He wanted to take care of his boyfriend and their child, and he did so in any way he could.
He was pretty sure that sometimes, he did a little too much and made Nico want to strangle him, but he didn’t think anyone would blame him for that, not even Nico.
“So, what is it?” Dean asked. “Are you finally ready to come clean about your relationship?”
“You already know about Nico. What do you have to complain about?”
“I didn’t know about Nico,” Jasper said. “Are we talking about Nico Wiley? The bobcat heir?
“We are,” Mackenzie confirmed. “He and I have been dating. We’ve kept it a secret considering everything, but the cat is out of the bag.”
“The bobcat is out of the bag,” Dean pointed out as he snickered. “What changed? Not that I’m not happy for you.”
Mackenzie sucked in a breath. He hadn’t told anyone about the baby, but it was time. It felt safer to tell Dean first. Dean knew exactly what this was like. He was living it. “He finally talked to his father. I’ll be moving in with the bobcats.”
Dean blinked. “That quickly? I thought you’d just met.”
“Things have been moving quickly for you and Jasper, too.”
“Yeah, but Jasper and I were friends before we got together, and I’m pregnant. We wanted things to be settled before the baby’s born. What reason do you have to go so fast?”
“The same as you. We want to be settled before the baby’s born.”
Jasper was already smiling, but Dean was gaping at Mackenzie. He stared and blinked, doing nothing more as Jasper leaned forward and quickly squeezed Mackenzie’s arm. “Congratulations,” he said.
“Thank you. It’s been a bit overwhelming, but we’re doing fine.”
“I know how it can be. You and Nico will make wonderful fathers, though.”
“We’ll certainly try. The baby was a bit of a surprise, but we’ve decided we’ll deal with whatever gets thrown at us.”
“Sometimes, it’s the only way to do things.”
“Wait,” Dean blurted out. “What do you mean, the baby?”
“Exactly what I said. Nico’s pregnant. It wasn’t planned, but we’re happy, and we’ll be moving in together.”
“But he’s a future alpha.”
“That doesn’t make him any less of a carrier. Unfortunately, we found that out the hard way.”
“And you’re okay with it?”
“I’m overwhelmed, and sometimes, if I allow myself to think too hard about things, I freak out, but yeah.
I’m happy.” Especially now that he felt that Nico was safer.
Silas was still on the run, but he’d been wounded, and everyone seemed to think that meant he wouldn’t come after people anymore.
He was still out there, but things were finally looking up.
Dean leaned forward. Mackenzie grinned when his brother hugged him, the feeling of Dean’s stomach against him reminding him of Nico. He wasn’t showing yet, but this would be Nico soon, and Mackenzie couldn’t wait.
This was nothing like what he’d imagined his life would be.
He could never have thought in his wildest dreams that he’d move into one of the forests where shifters lived.
He certainly couldn’t have imagined that he’d fall in love with one of them and that they’d have a child.
He liked it, though. This might not be the life he’d imagined, but it was the life he had, and he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.