MISSY

Spending a couple of days with Lemon was refreshing. I missed hanging out with her. I loved Lea with all my heart, but Lemon and I connected in a different way, probably because she was closer to my age. For reasons unknown, having work to do at the inn all day that was entirely away from the pack was also a nice distraction.

I still ached for Maddox and was sad about my grandfather being killed, but I felt a bit better by the time I was headed home Wednesday afternoon with Austin. When we pulled into the packhouse driveway, Austin turned to me with a giant, cheesy grin on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“I get to be the one to tell you that your father has Maddox on the phone upstairs in his office,” he said.

“Oh my Goddess!” I squealed.

“Go! Quick!” he said, motioning for me to get out. I didn’t need to be told twice. I threw the car door open and sprinted to the packhouse. I was to the stairs in a flash. I took them two and three at a time until I got to the landing. I could see Liam’s office door was open. I threw my arm out, grasping the door frame to swing myself into the room. I almost crashed into the desk as I stopped myself. Liam let out a laugh.

“Thanks, Langston. Now, we should let the kids talk,” he smiled. He stood, and I hurried around the desk to take the phone from him. Liam leaned over and kissed my forehead.

“Not too long, sweetheart,” he said softly before leaving his office and closing the door.

“Maddox!” I gasped into the phone.

“There’s my girl,” he said. I could hear the relief in his voice.

“When are you coming home? I don’t know if I can take much more of this. I need you,” I said.

“Soon,” he said. “We think we are close. If all goes well tomorrow, it may only be a couple more days.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly. The fact that we could be back in class together next week was a possibility I wasn’t sure if I wanted to let myself hope for.

“Yes,” he said. “I need you back in my hands.”

“You have no idea. Everything gets worse the longer you are gone,” I told him.

“What’s going on? Tell me,” he said. I could hear the concern in his voice.

“We would need so much more time than we have,” I told him. “I will have to fill you in on every detail when you are here, and I have finished kissing you.” I didn’t want my limited time speaking to him to be burdened by more sad events. He didn’t need to worry about me when he was out there looking for Warwick.

“No, just tell me now. What happened?” he pushed. I sighed.Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.

“Robert was killed saving Lea from some vamps,” I muttered.

“Missy, oh my gosh, are you okay?”

“I wasn’t there. Liam seems pretty down. I guess I am okay,” I told him. I would be more okay if he were here. Having him close would be enough, and I would be able to sleep properly again.

“Darling, I am so sorry. I hate that you have to deal with that without me,” he said, sounding hurt.

“Just come home,” I told him. “Find where that d**k is hiding and come home to me. Everything will be better when I know you are safe.” I could feel my eyes starting to water. I didn’t want to cry; I hated these feelings.

“I promise you I will come home in one piece. There is no way I am letting anyone keep me from getting back to you.”

“Please don’t break your promise.”

–

When I got home, there was a sign taped to my door. The words ‘Princess Charity Case’ were scrawled sloppily in large letters. I ripped it down, rolling my eyes. Teenagers are the worst. There is a race war literally at our doorstep, and they want to poke fun at the adopted girl.

I went inside, tossing my bag down and heading to the kitchen. School had only let out a bit ago, so I texted Sol and the girls to see if they all wanted to come over tonight. I was not a fan of being alone and I completely forgot about telling Sol I was back because of Maddox calling.

I rummaged through the fridge and found some carrot chips and vegetable dip. I threw it on the counter and started snacking while I checked my phone. Sol told me she would get everyone, and they would be over in an hour. I texted back, wondering what they wanted to do for dinner tonight. I was thinking junk food and movies.

There was a thudding at the back door, and I looked in that direction, confused. The neighbors completely ignored me, and I can’t even remember if I had been out the back door since moving back in. I went over and peeked out the dirty glass. There was nothing within sight.

I opened the door, and an awful stench hit me. Looking at the door, I found a bag that burst from its impact, painting the outside of the door in its contents. It looked like feces and smelled like it too. I covered my mouth and nose with my hand and scanned all around, looking for the culprit. I caught nothing out of the ordinary, so they were gone. I sighed, closing the door. New year, more pranks, I guess.

LACEY

I sat on the bed folding the small basket of baby clothes I currently had. When I told my parents we were having a boy, I did not expect them to bring a large gift bag to dinner when they came to meet Felix. Everything was super cute and very preppy, as I would expect of my mother’s choice of attire. She had a standard, and she stuck to it.

Azalea had also given us a small box with boy clothes that were never used by her boys. She said because they had Azly and she was showered with plenty of frilly things for her, I was welcome to all these new clothes that never got to be loved. I knew she had given all her used items from her children to the orphanage and displaced families that came over the past few months, so it was incredible that she thought to give these to us.

While Azeron and Robert took Azalea to the city, Felix had moved our things into a bigger room on the same floor and surprised me with a crib for the baby. I was elated, and he seemed so happy as we put it together and set it aside in the corner. Of course, our day had been cut prematurely short by Felix leaving to help Liam.

I was a little disappointed after that because Felix was back to being with Azalea all the time. I thought we would unpack our things and get the baby stuff ready together, but Liam wanted Azeron away from Azalea. Instead, I had been getting our things situated slowly over the past couple of days. The baby stuff was the last to be put away.

Felix came into the room, and I looked at the clock, realizing it was earlier than usual. “Hey,” I said. “Done already?”

He smirked and rolled his eyes, coming over to the bed. He leaned down and kissed me softly. He looked over at the small piles of miniature clothing. He picked up a sweater vest from the unfolded pile. He raised an eyebrow.

“It’s cute, right?” I asked. He shook his head, but he had a charming smile on his face. He folded the little vest neatly and stuck it in a pile with the rest of the similarly-sized clothes. He stepped back, pulling his shirt off in one smooth motion. I did not even bother to pretend not to look, licking my lips in appreciation.

“Shower,” he laughed before turning and heading to our bathroom. My wolf and hormones were telling me to join him, but I refrained. I woke him up early this morning to satisfy my urges and didn’t want to be greedy.

When Felix came out of the bathroom, I was standing next to the crib making a list. He stood behind me, wrapping his arms gently around my growing stomach. His fingers rubbed soft circles over my stretched skin, and my shoulders dropped at the blissful feeling.

“What’s that?” he asked, planting a k**s on my shoulder. I could feel his bare chest against my back, and my body started heating just from his half-dressed proximity.

“List of things we still need to get. I have some savings plus that severance my old boss gave me. We should start getting some of these,” I said.

“Hmm,” he hummed, planting more k****s on my shoulders.

“You’re distracting me,” I smiled.

“Good,” he whispered. His face traveled over to my neck, and the soft k****s started to feel like more. I laid my head back, enjoying the sensation.

“Felix,” I purred. I felt his smile on my neck. He pulled away and held me a little tighter.

“Come to bed,” he said.

“Mmmm,” I hummed. “In a little bit. I have too much energy.”

He chuckled. “Nesting?” he nuzzled into my neck. I just nodded; I guess that was what was happening. He tried to hide it, but he was reading a lot of baby books lately, and I found it incredibly cute.

“Have you thought about names?” I asked. He was still for a minute, leaving his nose right at the junction of my neck and shoulder. Eventually, he slowly pulled back.

“No,” he whispered.

“We should,” I told him. “We are getting closer every day.”

His hands ran over my belly appreciatively as he nodded. Then he reached forward and grabbed my list, holding it up so he could read it over my shoulder. I let him look it over, not commenting about anything I wrote.

“Do you want a shower?” he asked softly.

“Are you telling me I smell?” I asked pointedly. He just laughed; he shook his head.

“Baby shower,” he clarified.

“Oh,” I said in surprise. “Um, I didn’t think about it.”

“Lily or Azalea would be happy to help with it,” he said as his head turned to look at me from the side. I bit my l*p.

The truth was that I had thought about it, but I couldn’t decide. On the one hand, it sounded like fun, and any help with baby supplies would be amazing. On the other hand, we were in the middle of a war. At any time, we could be attacked, or Felix could leave to help protect us. It felt a little selfish to force everyone to celebrate us when such terrible things were happening.

Felix grabbed my h**s and turned me to face him. He lifted my face to meet his by my chin and looked at me questioningly. I knew he was trying to figure out what was wrong. “It’s nothing,” I said. “Don’t worry.”

He shook his head. “Tell me,” he requested. I sighed. Wrapping my arms around him, I laid my head against his firm chest.

“It feels a bit selfish to be throwing a baby shower with everything going on. We are always on alert for vampires, other packs are getting attacked, we’re trying to find Warwick, and Liam’s father was just killed,” I explained quietly. Felix tightened his grip on me.

“We can’t stop living just because there is conflict,” he said softly. I paused, contemplating his words. I never thought my mate was dumb in any manner, but that was one of the most insightful things I had heard him say.

“I am not sure anyone would be really into it. Plus, I only really know the people around the packhouse because I haven’t been here too long,” I told him.

He was quiet for a minute. “Even if it’s just a couple of people, if it’s what you want, we will do it.”

My heart paced in my chest. This man who was so hard and cold on the outside was nothing but sweet and soft for me. He didn’t care what made me happy. He ate my favorite Indian food and pretended not to hate it. He indulged me whenever I couldn’t bear the horniness anymore. He found a new way to be necessary to his pack and fit me into his life. Above everything else, he made me feel cherished with all the little ways he tried for me.

“I’ll talk to Lily about it,” I said finally. Felix placed a lingering k**s on top of my head; I let my eyes flutter closed as I enjoyed the safety of his arms.