8. Iris

Two days after I find out that I'm pregnant, and I'm finally trying to eat something.

Strangely, the little ermine hasn't really left my side this whole time. I assume that he's gone out to hunt, because he's really not into my plant-based diet, but I'm not sure when. I've been sleeping, either actively or kind of dozing, for two days.

Every time I wake up, the little ermine is there.

At this point, I've just accepted his presence. You hear about animals sometimes who adopt strange, humanlike tendencies. The little ermine might just be one of those odd cases, where he got put in the wildlife clinic and can't be re-released into the wild.

Oddly, he's great company.

And as I get my veggie noodle soup together, I chat with him.

"You know, it won't be so bad to have a baby," I say to the ermine.

He shuffles his little feet. His coat is getting more and more white; since it's November, he'll be almost fully white soon.

I imagine that his little shuffle is kind of like him saying ‘yes', so I continue. "I've always liked babies. My parents will like to come visit. But I won't let them like, take over. This is my baby, and I can raise them however I want. Even to love nature as much as I do," I say, somewhat pleased by the revelation.

The ermine shuffles.

I put the veggies in the soup, then turn to chop some parsley. "Either way, I'm keeping them. I know it's not going to be fun to do on my own, but I kind of figure it can't be worse than helping a calf be born. Or a horse, especially if they're stuck," I add.

Small feet shuffle in agreement.

I'm definitely not under any illusions about what goes into having a baby. It's not a walk in the park, by any means. I've helped enough animals be born, though, that I kind of have a faith in the whole process.

If my body made this baby, my body can get it out into the world.

The ermine uses one beady black eye to consider what I say, and then his little nose wrinkles.

"My god you're cute," I laugh as he shuffles.

I'm almost to the stage of adding my noodles when I hear a knock at the door.

I frown.

Jenni is in Denver for a concert. Max didn't say he was coming by, but sometimes people do strange things in a small town. I look at the ermine.

He's still, staring at the door.

"Come in," I call.

The ermine makes a small hissing sound. I glance down, worried. "Hey little guy, are you…"

I don't get to finish that statement.

A wolf is standing in my kitchen.

This one is also huge, like the wolf that I saw hiking before Thorne and I started dating. He's coal-black, which is an unusual color for the wolves around here.

I gulp. I step back, looking for something I can throw at him.

The little ermine is dancing around my feet, hissing and spitting at the wolf. I notice that he's not blocking the door to the hallway that leads to my bedroom, only the doorway to the front entrance. If I can sneak into the room then I'll probably be okay, and I can call Parks and Wildlife to come get him.

I eye the ermine.

I have to make sure that he comes too. But I don't think he'll let me touch him, and he's going absolutely bonkers right now in the face of a larger predator…

Movement to my right catches my eye.

Another wolf.

This one is a strange arctic white.

We don't have arctic wolves in Colorado.

Both wolves are staring pointedly at me. I glance between the two of them, holding my spatula up like it's some kind of sword.

"Hi, doggies," I whisper.

The wolves simultaneously lower their heads.

The black one releases a growl, and the white one bares its teeth.

Oh god.

Am I about to be eaten by wolves?

Dimly, I'm kind of annoyed. My death is going to be something on the news, and all the anti-wolf people will point to it as a reason to kick them out of Colorado. They'll call wolves murderers.

And they won't be.

But my baby…

I straighten. I have to get out of here. If I throw the boiling pot of soup at one of the wolves, maybe the other will be so distracted that it will let me go?

My hands drift over toward the oven…

Both wolves turn at the same time.

There's another growl.

This one though…

This one is familiar.

A massive brown wolf barrels into the kitchen. It shoves the black wolf out of the way, snapping at its shoulder, before it turns in front of me, putting itself between me and the other two.

He's still the size of a tank. His shoulders still come to my chest.

And it's definitely the wolf from the woods nearly two months ago.

I have no clue what to think. I start to shift like I'm going to grab the soup, but small paws on my feet stop me.

The ermine, to my surprise, chirps at him and skitters up my shoulder.

I gulp. "What…"

Then, the strangest thing I've ever seen happens.

The white wolf… fades. There's kind of a weird, fuzzy line around it. Like someone just took a pencil and blurred out the edges. A strange smell, kind of like the smell after a storm, fills the air.

Then, there's a man standing there.

I gasp.

The smell appears twice more, and two more men pop up where there once were wolves. One of them, whose back is in front of me, I recognize.

At least, I think I do.

All three men are very, very naked. My heart is pounding, my eyes feel like they're going to pop out of my head.

And through all of that, I'm sort of glad to see Thorne in front of me.

"Josh," Thorne growls. "Adrian. The fuck are you doing here?"

The one he called Josh, who had been there as a coal-back wolf, lifts his lip with disdain. "This is the human you're fucking, right?"

"Did Evander put you up to this?"

The other one of the men shakes his head. "No, Alpha. We're here without Evander's knowledge."

"How did you find her?"

"It wasn't hard, Alpha. She leaves her scent everywhere and takes no precautions to cleanse it or adjust it."

I blink. Is he saying that I smell? Or that I need to somehow make myself smell less? "Excuse me…"

"And why the fuck are you in her kitchen?" Thorne roars, cutting me off.

The other two men snarl, the noise way too wolflike. "Because she's distracting you, Thorne! We were going to scare her because she's going to try to force you out of being alpha, and into raising this fucking kid that can't be yours!"

Thorne snaps. "How did you know?"

"Oh, come on," the one who isn't Josh says with a slight accent. "You can smell it on her."

Oh.

Oh.

They're talking about my pregnancy.

Thorne paces, the muscles of his back flexing as he looks between the two wolves. "So, you just thought you'd barge in and… what? Bite her?"

"No, alpha. We just want her to leave, so she can leave you alone and you can find a proper mate."

The conversation is so far above my head, I'm barely hanging in there. Mostly, I'm still stuck on the fact that Thorne is in front of me.

Naked Thorne.

Thorne, who took the place of the giant brown wolf from the forest.

"Get the fuck out," Thorne snaps at them. "You don't get to fucking intimidate her. You don't get to come near her."

The formerly white wolf shifts on his feet. "Alpha…"

"I am the alpha!" Thorne roars.

The other two men freeze.

"I am the alpha. You do not tell me what to do. If I want to lose my ability to shift to be with a human, then I fucking will. If I want to take a human as a mate, then I fucking will. You do not get to tell me what to do, and you certainly do not get to scare my mate into compliance!"

He spins and tugs me forward. He holds my hand and pulls it forward. "I claim Iris as my mate!"

The two men turn. The strange blurring thing happens to them again. Their outlines go fuzzy, like someone has taken that weird eraser pencil to them. I blink my eyes as the outline of the men swims. I'm expecting them to turn back into wolves, but they don't.

That's odd.

It looks almost exactly like before. There's something weird in the air. There's weird ozone smell, and it kind of feels like time is standing still.

Except this time, I think it might be happening to me.

I gulp. I hold up my hands, noting that there's light pouring from my fingers. My hair floats up like it's caught in water, except there is no water.

The little ermine hops down from my shoulder and runs into my living room.

"Thorne?" I say, my voice unsteady.

He turns.

My eyes widen.

He's radiating light as well. His face looks like the sun, glowing and beautiful. I reach forward to touch his cheek.

When I do, something like lightning sparks between us.

"What's happening?" I whisper.

Thorne shakes his head. "I… I don't… I don't know…"

Then, I feel it.

Somewhere in my chest, something snaps into place.

I glance up at Thorne. His eyes widen. Fated mates, I almost hear his voice whisper in my ear.

This is all too much.

I feel dizzy. Really, really dizzy. My knees kind of wobble.

"Thorne…"

But his arms are around me before I finish my question. I have approximately one second to think about how good it feels to be wrapped in his strong embrace again when darkness rolls over my vision.

I swear before I pass out, I hear Thorne say, "How?"

Then, there's nothing but darkness.