Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“Is everything okay?” she asked, peeking her head into the bedroom as Weston put me down and dropped to his knees in front of me.
He held my sides and gently put his lips to my stomach.
“I’m pregnant,” I told her. “We’re taking the day off.”
She beamed at me. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Yes, relax, enjoy the moment. Let me know if you need anything.”
She shut the door behind her, and Weston slowly removed my clothes. He kissed me reverently before taking his off and then guiding me into bed. Once there, he gathered me into his arms, caressing my stomach.
“Are you happy?” he asked, his jaw against my forehead.
“You can feel that I am, and I can feel that you are.”
“I’m beyond happy. I’m . . .” He shook his head, releasing me so that he could kiss down my body and linger on my stomach. “There are no words.” He laid his head on my belly. “No words. I don’t have the language to express how grateful I am to have found you. How grateful I am that you forgave me for how we first met, and you are now going to make me the proudest daddy in the world. Gods, I love you, Aurelia. My heart is so full.”
He slipped further down, and then I sucked in a breath.
Chapter 42
Aurelia
Istartled awake; something was not right.
I lay in our new apartment within the castle, which was basically just a larger version of his old space but with more rooms, one intended for a nursery. It was the middle of the day, and given I hadn’t stopped waking up early and didn’t usually go to bed until late, it was now essential that I took naps. I was a little over a month into my pregnancy, and I was so fucking tired all the time during this phase.
Weston was sitting on the edge of the bed beside me, looking down on me fondly.
“Hi,” he said, pushing my hair away from my face. “How do you feel?”
I looked around in confusion, dazed from being yanked out of sleep.
“Um . . .” I ran my hand over my still-flat belly. “Good?” I smiled. “Just tired. As usual.”
He gave me a slow smile and dipped his hand into my shirt, resting it over mine on my belly.
“You’re making Mommy very tired,” he said to my stomach, bending over to kiss our joined hands.
I ran the fingers of my other hand through his hair. “Join me?”
He pushed my shirt up a little more so he could kiss my skin before pulling back. “Can’t. I need to run to the docks. They found someone trying to smuggle Granny’s product onto our shores. I need to check it out.”
Apprehension made me jolt. “What? No, you shouldn’t go alone. Let me help.”
He bent to kiss my forehead. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s a routine inspection, and probably a confiscation of goods. I do them with the larger merchant ships—you know that. Don’t worry, we checked things out. This vessel has been here before, and it was stopped for the same things last time. They clearly haven’t learned their lesson.”
“Still.” I licked my lips. Something about this felt wrong. “Just because she hasn’t resurfaced in all this time, doesn’t mean she won’t. It’s best to stay away from anything with her name on it.”
He braced his elbow on the bed and ran his thumb across my forehead. He looked deeply into my eyes, reading me.
“I have to, baby,” he said softly. “It’s my job. We know why she hasn’t resurfaced, though, right? She found someone else to try to make your product. I’m sure she was handing out punishments when they couldn’t make it happen.”
It was true; she’d been putting out product these past few months, but word was that it was terrible. She’d gotten someone else to use my recipes, but they couldn’t churn out the same results. Weston and the royals had always been right—take out the drugmaker and Granny’s reign would end. Without me, she was pushing herself out of the market all on her own.
No one had said, “I told you so.” Miraculous.
“It’s just . . .” I put my hand on the back of his neck. The fear of her coming for me had never gone away. Maybe it never would; I was terrified I’d have to go back to that life. Terrified I’d be taken from this one.
He hovered close, comforting me, probably giving me the time to work around the fear logically. Only a fool would go after a wolf of Weston’s power and position. It was me she’d want to grab, not him. Me she’d tried to lure to the docks.
My wolf had come a long way. Something had clicked within her, and she was on fire as it pertained to learning to co-lead, but she wasn’t fully there yet. She had a ways to go before she could be a commander and harness the help of the pack to combat someone like Granny. We were still vulnerable, especially now that we were with child. We didn’t have the hardiness of dragons; Arleth went out of her way to remind me of that any time I came back from training tired.