Chapter Twenty-Eight

Terrick

The morning of the full moon I woke up before Scott, but didn’t wake him up. He was out cold with his head on my chest. I just lay watching him sleep, hoping that tomorrow I would still wake up beside him. I wanted to wake up beside him for the rest of my life. I just hoped that the rest of my life wasn’t until the rise of the full moon tonight.

If it was, I’d already arranged with my mother to transfer my part of my father’s money to his accounts as soon as she got the news. While Salta and the others might be devastated, she could be counted on to keep a straight head and ensure my mate and children never wanted for anything money or power could buy. The house was ready for the babies too. I woke up in the middle of the night several times after discovering we were expecting quads and worked on babyproofing stuff. I didn’t want Scott to have to worry about that later if I wasn’t around.

His baby bump pressed against my side reminding me that four kids were counting on me. A moon cycle was so much shorter than I realized. There were still a million things I wanted to say and do with Scott. There were billions of things I wanted to show my kids about the world.

I let out a long breath as Scott stirred in his sleep. No matter what happened tonight there wasn’t an ideal ending. Either I’d go with my dad or he’d be gone to me forever. Still, I wanted to stay. Even in the face of the grief I pushed back for over a decade tumbling down on me I wanted to stay with Scott and our babies. I wanted this life and if the price of having it was grief, then I’d pay up.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Scott murmured and lifted his head up to steal a good morning kiss.

I kissed him soft and deep, memorizing how his supple lips felt all pressed up against mine. I dangled from a string that morning as our pajamas came off and we came together. I dragged my lips across every inch of Scott’s lean muscular body. Each kiss was a prayer and an act of worship. Never in my life had I so badly wanted to stay alive. Despite my carrier dying, I never thought much about my own death. Never thought much about how I’d go or what would happen to those left behind.

Picking up on my thoughts over the mating link Scott opened his mouth to counter my worries, but I kissed him. No amount of words would change whatever fate had in store for us. After that I did my best to stay in the moment. We made love, slow and steady, each thrust and draw back deliberate. Scott clung to me as if he only half-believed his own words that everything would work out in our favor.

We lingered in bed with my ear pressed against his baby bump. It still blew my mind that four little lives were growing inside of him. Four little lives that we made because against the odds and maybe even against death itself we found each other.

“Are you hoping for girls or boys?” Scott asked.

“I’m hoping for quiet babies,” I teased him.

“That’s a copout answer. Most sires know what they want.”

“Who’s stereotyping who now?” I laughed. “I haven’t really thought about it much. We’ve bought clothes from all over the color spectrum. We’ve bought stuffies. I don’t think I care much about that. If they’re here and happy and healthy I think I’ll have what I want. Maybe a lot of sires want boys, but I half or more raised Salta. I’m not afraid of raising another little girl.”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Scott smiled and ran his fingers through my hair as I resumed trying to hear our unborn children.

“Do you think two of them will really be pit hounds?” Scott asked a second later.

“Probably. My hound seems to know what he’s talking about,” I nodded.

“Your hound,” Scott gushed the words.

“Yeah. I guess he’s mine for better or worse,” I shrugged.

“Before you know it, you’ll be using terms like us or just me when talking about him.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. He might be mine, but he’s definitely still his own man.”

“Aren’t they all?” Scott laughed.

His phone buzzed on the nightstand and he grunted not wanting to move. I ran my hand over his growing full moon belly and sighed. Of course, something or someone somewhere had to interrupt our last promised hours of sunlight together.

“Should I get it for you?” I asked him.

“Probably. They’re buzzy on the pack link as you probably hear too, but I’ve been ignoring them,” Scott yawned.

Leaning over him I grabbed the phone and saw only one word of the text waiting on his phone’s home screen: Hatching.

“Are you coming or not? This egg is scratching and will soon be hatching! It’s from Blithe,” Scott laughed. “I bet Duke can’t even hold his phone steady right now.”

“That’ll be me when you go into labor,” I laughed.

“We still need to get you a new phone,” Scott pointed out.

“Eventually. I like no one being able to text me. They’ll have to send a carrier pigeon or something if they want to get ahold of me.”

“Will you get me something to wear?” Scott yawned, forcing himself upright. “I gotta pee. I think someone rolled over on my bladder.”

“Anything for you,” I said and stole a kiss before helping him out of bed.