Chapter 23
POV: Cain?
I thought about her the entire drive home.
About wrapping her into my arms, kissing every inch of her, then bending her over the couch, and marking her…finally marking her, once and for all.
Then I’d tell her the truth.
I’d tell her about the pack. About who I really was—and what I really was. I’d tell her about her role. Then I’d propose, I already had the ring in a velvet box in my pocket. I had it all mapped out. Everything. To every last second.
It would freak her out. She’d probably think I was fucking crazy. She’d probably think I was a psychopath. She’d probably run. She’d probably pass out.
But it had to be done.
The secret was out in my pack and there was nothing left for me to do but convince her to be a part of my life—my real life now.
I never told a human the truth…about the pack, about me, or showed a human my wolf.
But for her, I had to.
I knew what I needed to do.
But as soon as I opened the door to my penthouse, I smelled something…wrong.
Fear.
Stress.
I smelled it everywhere.
She was scared and stressed.
“Baby!” I called out, shutting the door and tossing down my bag. “Kiera—baby, where are you?”
The sound of an object dropping to the floor and feet scurrying sounded through the penthouse.
There was no way she’d found anything already. I hadn’t left any information about the pack lying around my penthouse.
But maybe she went all Twilight on me and guessed what I was then ended up googling a few things while I was gone and had figured out the truth herself.
“Baby!” I called out again as I walked down the hallway, stopping at the bathroom.
The bathroom door was slightly ajar and I could see her toes through the crack of it.
I pushed the door open and saw her sitting on the toilet, clutching something hidden in her palms.
“Kiera,” I whispered softly, entering the room and crouching down to her eye level. “Are you okay?”
She offered me a strained smile but kept the contents of her hand hidden from my view.
“Kiera,” I said, again, placing my palms on her calves, hoping she would look up at me.
But her attention was still fixated on whatever she was holding in her hands.
“Sorry, I’m just out of it,” she finally mustered out, biting her lip and moving her gaze upwards to meet mine.
I nodded, offering her a soft smile. “God, have I missed you—so, so much, baby.”
A strained smile still remained on her lips as she sat stiffly on the toilet.
“Now, come here. Tell me what’s wrong,” I said, pulling her to her feet with her pants halfway down her legs and her hands still clasped. “What do you have there?” I pointed to her hands.
Her hands shook as she moved them behind her back, still gripping the object in one hand, while using the other to pull up her pants.
My brow furrowed. “Baby, seriously. What’s wrong? You’re scaring me now.”
Her usual scent was different. It didn’t smell like the scent I’d inhale every second of the day if I could. Instead it was mixed with something else…a different scent now. Pine. Smoke. Musk. Something deeper.
I reached for her hand behind her back but she refused to budge.
“Kiera, please. Tell me what’s going on,” I said, softer this time.
Eventually, she let me move her hand forward, unclasping her palm and exposed what she was hiding.
And when my eyes finally landed on it, I was shocked.
A pregnancy test.
But not just any pregnancy test.
A positive pregnancy test.
“Kiera…” I began, looking down at it in disbelief. “You..you’re pregnant?” The words stumbled out of my mouth.
Kiera’s hands shook and her eyes darted from mine back down to her feet. “Yes.”
“Kiera!” I replied, happiness engulfing me.
I wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her up by her ass, taking a step back out of the bathroom and twirling her around in the hallway with joy.
When I placed her down, and clutched both sides of her cheek in my grasp she began stuttering with furrowed brows, “But—but–”
“But what, baby? This is great news! I’m going to be a father!” I sang out ecstatically, running my palm over her still flat stomach. “And by the scent…it’s a boy.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “By the scent?”
Fuck.
Wrong word choice.
“I just have a feeling,” I told her.
She looked at me with a blank, confused stare. “But…aren’t you upset? That I’m pregnant?”
“What? Why would I be upset?” I laughed. “This is the best news I’ve ever been given.” I pressed a kiss onto the top of her head and stroked her cheek tenderly.
“I—I don’t know,” she said finally, letting a pent up breath release. “I guess I didn’t think you’d be happy.”
“We’re going to be a family,” I said adamantly.
Now’s the time, Cain.
Do that stupid thing human’s like. Get down on one knee and propose.
My knee went to the floor instantly, as if I did it a million times as I clutched the velvet box in hand, popping it open and staring up at Kiera with wide, hopeful eyes.
My mate. The mother to our child. My soon to be wife. My entire life.
“Kiera, I don’t know how to do this but will you marry me?” I asked, feeling my wolf pace excitedly inside.
Stop it, I told him, as I waited for her answer with bated breath.
Kiera stared at me with wide eyes and lips parted but no sound came out. “I—-you don’t have to do this just because I’m pregnant,” she said finally.
“I’m not,” I said immediately, still holding the ring box out towards her. “Kiera, you mean everything to me. I know you don’t understand it but I know you feel it, too. We’re meant to be together. Baby, I can’t live without you. And now…we are having a baby and you’ve made me the happiest man in the world, Kiera.”
Tears welled beneath her eyes as she stared down at me with a quivering lip. “Cain…”
“Just say yes, baby,” I told her with shaky hands.
“Yes,” she finally whispered, dropping to the ground and letting me slide the ring onto her finger. After I did, I wrapped my arms around her and dragged her into a seat on my lap.
I wanted to mark her. Everything inside of me begged to mark her. But I knew I couldn’t. Not yet. I had no idea if there were adverse reactions of marking as human as it was, let alone a pregnant human.
So instead I held her within my arms and tilted my head down and kissed her. She fell into me easily, wrapping her legs around my waist and pressing into me with ease.
She grinded against me, and the friction caused me to harden immediately.
I lifted her into my arms and carried her back to our bedroom.
Quickly, the clothes came flying off.
She positioned herself on the bed on all fours, and placed her ass to face me.
But in one swoop, I turned her around so that her back was on the bed and she was looking up at me with those big blue eyes of hers.
“Today we’ll make love,” I told her, as I leaned down and latched my mouth around her nipple, licking and sucking it as I used my left hand to rub circles on her clit.
Her body arched for me as a loud moan left her mouth.
My erection pressed at her entrance, hard and desperate to be inside of her and feel her tightness around me.
“Cain,” she breathed, as she dug her nails into my backside.
“Kiera,” I uttered as I prodded at her entranceway, slowly guiding myself inside of her.
I thrusted once, inching myself fully inside of her.
“Baby,” I whispered into her ear as I thrusted. “I love you, baby.”
Kiera responded by hooking her legs around my waist. “I love you, Cain. My Cain.”
“Yes. Yours,” I told her, thrusting again. “And you’re mine. Forever.”
“Forever,” she reiterated as she felt my cock slide through her depths.
I picked up my pace, thrusting at a faster pace until I felt her orgasm around me.
That was it.
That was all it took to get me off.
My mate cuming.
Within seconds, I was at my edge, emptying into her and filling her with all of my cum.
I removed myself from her slowly, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her body onto mine. Her head rested against my chest as she drew circles lazily along my skin.
“Do you really want to keep this baby?” she asked quietly.
I tilted her chin up to look at me. “There is no world where I would not.”
She smiled, her eyes brightening. “Me either. For some reason…” she paused, thinking. “For some reason I want to be a mother, but not because it’s something innate inside of me, but because of you.”
I smiled, tugging her closer against me and pressing a kiss onto the top of her head.
A few minutes left, she fell asleep and I sat there staring at her, wondering when I’d tell her the truth—about myself and my pack—about our lives ahead.
I decided that we had enough excitement for one day.
And the truth would have to wait. For now.