Chapter Two
T he kitchen was a riot , and Jennika moved from station to station as she kept an eye on the plates going out. One of the guys on the line looked and gave a jerk of his head. She moved into position and worked on getting the beef to the perfect doneness.
She moved swiftly and didn’t get scorched as the food was prepared, and it went out to the wedding.
Three hundred ten guests were being served tonight.
Everything was the best preparation and ingredients.
The groom had been specific. The special sauce that had been provided was amazing, and everyone got a small cup to play with.
When Tony came back to the line, his hands gleaming with moisture and smelling of lemon, she eased off, and he took over. They were on the last fifty meals, and they had to be just as precise as the first ten.
Jennika kept moving like a pregnant tiger until Sable said, “Take five, chef.”
The kitchen barked, “Take five, chef!”
She laughed, went to the small sitting area that doubled as a tasting room, and put her feet up. She sat, set a timer, and rubbed her belly. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. They made her do this three times a shift, and it honestly helped.
Her little speech at the beginning of the event had been stressful. There were a lot of dark elves in the group, and her eyes deliberately blurred them so there wasn’t going to be any eye contact.
Once she was back in the kitchen, she could breathe again.
Being trotted out to bow or take the accolades for her team was part of the job with events.
Not everyone acknowledged them, but the hotel paid exceedingly well, so that didn’t matter.
They also split tips for events like this.
The bar got their tips, and the kitchen and serving staff got theirs.
At the end of service, just the desserts were on a buffet, and the deli platters were in the refrigerators and set to go out. She was talking final logistics with Ivy when a huge shadow entered the kitchen.
Ivy turned and smiled. “I am sorry, sir, the kitchen area is off limits.”
“I need to speak to the chef.”
Jennika was still looking at the tablet and said, “Is it a dietary issue? We weren’t given any specific allergens on the list.”
She turned to look at him and froze, fighting the urge to cover her belly. “You.”
He inclined his head. “Me.”
Ivy looked at both of them with wide eyes and waved her hand over the seven and a half feet of dark alpha in the room. “Him?”
“He looked shorter on his back,” Jennika murmured.
The man grinned. “I am Xiroth. Your name?”
“Jennika.”
He smiled. “I am pleased to meet you, Jennika. May we speak?”
“Um. In the gardens. I am still on shift for an hour.”
Ivy said calmly, “Have her sit with her feet up. Her ankles are a bit puffy.”
Xiroth nodded. “I will.”
“Stand down, Sable.” She didn’t need to look, but a quick glance showed Sable had four knives held in each of her hands.
At the comment, Sable returned to the standard two arms and put the knives away.
Xiroth blinked. “She is a polymorph.”
“She is. She also caught me when I was pushed off that cliff.”
He offered her his hand, and she walked out of the kitchen and moved to the huge doors that led out to the gardens.
She had a seat and muttered, “If I knew you were that big, I would have been way more nervous about the pregnancy.”
He looked at her, and astonishment hit him. “It is mine?”
Jennika winced. She was carrying deep, so she only looked six months or so along.
He looked at her. “You did not mean for me to know.”
“No, not really. You were never part of the equation. Well, you were in the one plus one equals another one, but not beyond that.”
“Why are you so small?”
She snorted and sat on a bench. “Because I have an inverted uterus, so he’s more back than forward.”
“He?” Xiroth looked delighted.
Oh, fuck. “Yes. It’s a boy. Or a small giant. I am not sure what is going to happen because he’s about to start packing on size.”
“When is he due?”
She sighed. “In five weeks.”
He smiled. “May I?”
She knew what he was asking. Everyone asked it. He, however, actually had a stake in the health of the baby. “Fine. Do you want me to wake him up? He naps when I work.”
Xiroth looked at her. “Please.”
She slammed his hand on her belly and stroked the side of her bump. She swore she heard giggling in her mind as the kicking began.
His eyes lit up a beautiful purple that she remembered. It glowed bright enough to make her whites lavender.
There was kicking and two punches, along with a headbutt that never failed to freak people out. Her bump flexed and distended as the head moved along.
Xiroth lifted his hand, and the acrobatics ceased. “He’s healthy and strong.”
“Yup.”
“You are well?”
“Ankles are puffy, but doing fourteen hours on your feet will do that to a lot of people.”
He frowned. “Your friend said to elevate your feet.”
“Yes.” She squawked as he leaned down, gripped her ankles, and pivoted her so they were across his thighs. This elevated the hell out of them.
He looked at her ankles. He prodded gently. “Does it hurt?”
“It aches. My blood volume has increased dramatically because I am circulating for two.”
He smiled. “Talking dirty to me.”
She blinked. “Fuck. I forgot that you drink.”
He chuckled. “I do indeed. I also fuck.”
She stared at him as he was gently massaging her ankles. “Uh. Okay.”
“Didn’t experience a hormone surge?”
“That is over with, and my friends got me a whole bunch of rechargeable friends. I am good.”
His expression faltered, and she saw disappointment.
“I feel like I should apologize, but I honestly never thought I would see you again.”
He nodded. “I have been looking for you, but it was difficult to find you.”
“Annika wasn’t forthcoming?”
“When her alpha learned that she had not kept to the agreement, he was furious, and she was given consequences.”
Jennika blinked. “Like what?”
“Her mind was taken back to basics. Her memories are gone, and she is an excellent beta now.”
“Oh.” Jennika smiled. “Excellent. I would have preferred something a bit more painful, but that will do.”
He blinked. “She’s your sister.”
“She drugged me and set me up to be raped... again.”
Xiroth blinked. “She did that before?”
“Yes. When we were teens. She considered her body sacred, but mine was a cheap copy. She used me as currency.”
His eyes flared red. “I am seeing your point about painful.”
“Yup. It’s hard to hate your own reflection, but she made it possible.”
He continued to work at her ankles, and she sighed as the too-tight skin feeling was fading.
Jennika looked at him. “So, are you living in town?”
He nodded. “I have reported to the king and given him a report on all I have learned about your people since he and the others were locked up.”
“Why weren’t you?” It came out before she could stop it.
“My kind do not do well in confinement. The king knew this and ordered us away. There are four of my kind left on this world. I am one of them.”
“What happened to the others?”
“They mated and died with their partners. We don’t survive long without them, so the imperial forces always tried to keep us single or attached to long-lived species.”
“What are you, some kind of mayflies?”
“Pixies. We are pixies of the imperium.” He smiled. “I know your mental image is different, but we drink blood and have six wings.”
“Same size?”
“Same size. We are air reconnaissance and emergency evacuation.”
“Interesting. I could have used that when I was falling.”
“You had a catcher.”
“Sable. Yes. She and I suspected something would happen, so we set up a link. I activated it, and she came to catch me.”
“The polymorph.”
“Why do you keep calling her that? What is that?”
“She can control her body completely. She can be animal, man, furniture, or anything in between.”
“Ah. Got it.” She smiled. “Plenty of those where you come from?”
“No. They descend into madness a few years after activating. They lack anchors, and their body loses control.”
She tensed. “How do we fix it?”
“We don’t.”
“You really want to help me find the answer to that.” She was grim.
“Why?”
“Because my friends both went off caffeine with me in solidarity the moment I confirmed I was pregnant. We work long days, and you have no idea how much that meant to me.”
“They are family.”
“True family. They have been to every big appointment with me and taken me out for lunch afterward, even when we started the day with lunch.”
He nodded. “I will ask the archive if they have heard of anything of this sort.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“In modern parlance, may I have your number?”
“Oh. Right. I suppose it’s appropriate.”
She pulled out her phone and typed how she thought his name would be spelled before handing him her phone.
He grinned. “Close.”
He took a stylus from his own phone and corrected the spelling, adding his last name. Asher. He sent himself a text from her phone and smiled softly as his screen lit up.
She rubbed her belly as her son kicked hard.
“Are you going to any additional appointments?”
Jennika paused. “Yes. I have one this week to guess the baby’s delivery weight and check the position.”
“And the delivery date?”
She took her phone back and texted him the estimated delivery date. “If I don’t have to go into surgery, this is the date he should appear, based on when we engaged in the summoning ritual.”
He grinned. “I like that phrasing. All I know is that I wanted you from the moment I touched you.”
She smiled. “All I was thinking was that you smelled good, and I hoped you weren’t in a hurry. You weren’t.”
He carefully reached out and cupped the back of her head, pulling her forward for a kiss. She sighed and gripped his shirt. He slowly lifted his head. “Not good?”
She chuckled softly. “I can’t bend in the middle right now.”
His eyes went wide, and he looked at the basketball-sized belly pushed into him. He chuckled. “I am sorry. It never occurred to me.”
She grunted and wiggled. “Pull me onto your lap.”