33. Daphne

CHAPTER 33

DAPHNE

O ne Year Later

After two weeks of nausea, the gift of my transformation was more welcome than ever before. As I’d learned early on in my journey of being a werewolf, my animal form was far stronger than my human form. Even if I was sick as could be, walking around like a zombie for days leading up to the full moon, the moment I shifted, I felt like I was invincible. It was one of the best feelings in the world, and now that I knew how to control my more violent tendencies, Rory had been joining me on my monthly gallops through the woods around town.

We hunted rabbits together, chased each other around, and sometimes rolled around in the grass together, seeing what it was like to connect as two beasts as well as two people.

It was amazing. And that month, more than ever before, I was so deeply grateful for the time we spent together. We went running in the early morning hours and ended up on the beach just as the sun began rising. There was no one around, so when I transformed back into a human involuntarily, Rory shifted back as well. He brought my naked body next to his, and we made love right there on the sand, with the cold water coming up from the tide and cooling our sweaty skin. Outside, I could be as loud as I wanted, so I screamed for Rory to push even deeper into me, and he obliged.

When it was over, I kept my legs wrapped around him for a moment, reveling in the feeling of the blood still rushing through his throbbing member while he remained inside of me. He bent over and kissed me on the mouth, then slid out and laid down on the sand beside me.

We both let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the lightening blue sky overhead. “I read that the sex starts to get stagnant in the relationship once two people have been together for a long time. So far, it’s only gotten better, I think.”

“I think so, too.” I rolled over and rested my head on his chest. “And I think that the thing about sex going downhill is about people who get married.”

“Ah? Well, either way, it’s not gonna happen to us.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.”

He snuggled me in close with his arm, and we stayed like that for a while. We waited until we feared we might get caught by someone going for an early morning run along the water’s edge, then scampered back into the woods to look for our clothes. Once we were dressed and on our way back to the apartment, my phone buzzed. I had one new message from my sister.

I frowned down at the screen.

“All good?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Diana just texted saying that she’s going to be flying in a day early and bringing that guy with her.”

“And by that guy , you mean her husband?”

“Whatever. Yeah, him.”

He shook his head at me. “I’m not sure why you’re so hard on the poor man. We haven’t even met him.”

“That’s the point!” I said. “Why haven’t we met him?” Even though Diana and I had reconnected almost a year ago and had seen each other a handful of times since I still had never met the man she was married to. I found that very odd, and it led me to distrust him a little.

“He seems to have a very busy job.”

“Nah. I’m not buying it. It doesn’t matter how many years my sister and I spent apart. I can tell when she’s hiding something.”

“Are you going to try to sniff it out while they are here then?”

“I can’t. This trip isn’t about her and her mysterious husband. It’s about me coming clean with my own secret.”

“You’re going to tell her the truth about yourself?”

“About both of us, if that’s okay with you.” I looked to him for confirmation, and he nodded. “Although, I might have to rethink my plan now that I know Andreas will be here.”

“And you can’t talk to Diana with him around?”

I shrugged. “Not really. I’m scared enough telling her.”

“I’m sure it’ll work out okay,” he said. “Worst case scenario, I take the guy out for a beer, and you two ladies chat it out when you’re alone.”

“Yeah, alright… Thanks.”

He took my free hand and squeezed it. “No thanks needed.”

The day before my sister was scheduled to fly in, Rory set up a nice dinner for us at a restaurant in town. I asked him what we were celebrating, and he just said he wanted to go out one last time before my sister came to Solara Bay. I had a feeling he was hiding something, however. He put on his best suit that night and told me to wear an outfit that I felt my absolute best in.

“I feel best in my sweatpants,” I joked.

“Then wear those,” he chuckled. “I just want you to be happy tonight.”

I laughed and went to my closet, picking out a sexy black dress that would probably only fit me for a few more months. If that.

“Why is tonight so important anyway?” I asked as I stepped inside the top of the garment.

“No reason,” he said, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye. Something was going on with him for sure. It wasn’t until we pulled up to the restaurant and I felt a little flutter in my stomach that it hit me.

He must’ve found out about the baby.

This thought rattled around in my brain during the first hour of our dinner. I kept waiting for him to take my hands across the table and tell me that he knew I was pregnant. I hadn’t exactly done a great job of keeping it a secret. The only reason I didn’t tell him right away was because I still hadn’t gone to the doctor to get an official test. Then again, I had peed on about eight sticks from the pharmacy, so it was a pretty sure deal at this point.

But as the evening stretched on, Rory never interrupted our general small talk and chitchat. By the time we ordered dessert, I was thoroughly confused.

“Are you sure there isn’t any other reason you planned this?” I asked, swirling what was left of my iced tea around in the glass a couple of times.

He gave me a sly look. “Why? Do you know something?”

“I don’t know. Do you know something?”

“Know what? What is there to know?”

I laughed. “Okay, this has gone on long enough. Fess up. You clearly put all of this together tonight because you wanted to tell me something.”

He sighed. “Shit. I hoped you wouldn’t be paying enough attention to know something else was happening. I was trying to be a little more cavalier. I guess I fucked up.”

“I was the one who fucked up. I was trying to be cavalier as well, but it’s hard with all the nausea and stuff I’ve been dealing with.”

“Huh?” He looked completely confused, and for a second, I thought he really didn’t know that nausea was a common pregnancy symptom.

“It’s gotten a lot better, though,” I said. “I heard that it calms down after your first trimester.”

“First wha–?”

“Ugh, I’m so mad at myself for not keeping this more of a secret. I wanted it to be a surprise. I knew I should’ve thrown the pregnancy tests away in the dumpster instead of the bathroom trash. I wrapped them in toilet paper, but that wasn’t enough.”

“Wait—what?”

I paused. Stared at him for a few seconds. “Isn’t that what you brought me here to say? That you found out I was pregnant?”

He laughed. “No! No, I brought you here to propose. I thought you were saying that you knew about the proposal beforehand.”

“I didn’t know anything!” I gasped. “You were going to propose?”

“You’re pregnant?”

I smiled, tears forming in my eyes. “Yes.”

He reached for my hands, finally. “God, I hope that ends up being your answer to my next question.” Still holding onto me, Rory got out of his chair and down on one knee before me. A few other people dining at the restaurant glanced our way, but I stayed focused just on him. “Daphne Pearl, will you marry m–”

“Yes.”

He leapt up to his feet, and I jumped up alongside him. He planted a kiss on my lips, and people in the restaurant began cheering and clapping. As he held me close, he slid his palm across my stomach and smiled down at me from ear to ear. “We’re going to start a family.” He was beaming.

“Yeah… We are. Do you think we’re ready?”

“I don’t know if anyone’s ready,” he said. “But I do know that we are going to raise the hell out of this kid. We’re going to take all the lessons we learned of what not to do from our own upbringing and make sure that kid is given as much love and support as is humanly possible.”

I started to cry and kissed him again. “I love you so much, Rory. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He laughed, leaning his forehead down onto mine. “And you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to this world.”

Did you like this book? Then you’ll LOVE Spell Weaver’s Embrace.

It’s a steamy story about a billionaire, a witch, fated mates, a family secret.