Chapter 15

Holly polishedoff her scrambled eggs. She rinsed her plate and then turned to the fridge to see what else she might have. At least now she knew why she was so emotional and wanted to eat so much. It was incredibly early in the pregnancy yet, but she knew from family members that the typical symptoms could start far sooner for people like them.

She cut up a peach and slowly munched it, relishing the bright sweetness on her tongue. Holly thought about calling her sister. She'd told Ivy she'd be staying in Eugene a while longer to work on a project. The project she now had developing inside her wasn't exactly what she'd intended, and that was too much of a conversation to have over the phone. Hey, sis. I went on a work trip, met my mate, and got knocked up. See you when I get back!

Yeah, that was definitely too much right now. She washed her plates and put them on the drying rack. This little house had been a great place to rent for the past couple of weeks. She was glad that she and Dahlia had been able to have a little more privacy there instead of getting a hotel room, but it couldn't last forever. She'd only been able to extend her stay for an extra week before the next renters had booked the place, and it was time to move on.

If only she knew how to do that.

Holly stepped into the living room, which she'd been avoiding since the night before, other than to walk through it to get somewhere else. She picked up the lamp she'd knocked over and swept up the glass from the bulb. "That's what I get for swinging my big bear butt around."

Her bear had been talking to her a lot lately. It wanted to be with its mate. It didn't care about any of the finer details that went into a decision like that. Her child deserved its father, and Pierce deserved a chance to be that father. But Holly knew she couldn't pick up her whole life and move it there. Eugene was nice, but it was so far from her home and family. She'd have Pierce and the Glenwood wolves but still feel like something was missing. It just wasn't right.

Somehow, in the chaos of the evening, a side table had fallen over. Holly put it back to rights, wondering how long she should be lifting things like that in her condition. Then again, did those restrictions apply to shifters or only humans? The first person she thought to ask was Dawn, and that thought created a flood of other questions. She was too old for this. She'd already established her life and her home. Now, she would have a little one. Though her cheeks warmed at the idea of a chubby little face smiling up at her, she knew it wouldn't be easy. Holly rubbed a hand over her stomach, which was gently curved only because her metabolism wasn't what it used to be. What about the pregnancy itself? How was she going to get through it?

Tears burned the backs of her eyes. She blinked them away and gritted her teeth, determined not to cry. She wouldn't be able to stop, she knew. Yes, she was on the older side for this. But she was also a mature, smart woman. She'd get it figured out. Somehow.

The knock at the door startled her. Holly cursed under her breath for being so fidgety and hurried to answer it. She inhaled when she saw Pierce standing on the porch.

He was dressed in a button-down shirt and nice jeans, holding a giant bouquet of roses in front of him. "Good morning."

"Ah, good morning." She opened the door further to let him in. Her bear was full of ecstasy, both from the sweet scent of the flowers that filled the air and seeing its mate. He was there, and she needed him to be. After all, he was just as much a part of this pregnancy as she was. The other side of her wanted to proceed with caution. Judging by his freshly shaven face and those over-the-top roses, Pierce definitely had a plan in mind. "I don't know if I have a vase."

"That's okay." He laid the flowers gently on the coffee table, reached for her hand, and guided her to the couch.

She sat, still tired from all the events that'd led up to this moment. Pierce had dropped her off at her place in the early morning hours once everything settled down at the packhouse. She'd tossed and turned for a short while before getting up, but he looked as bright and fresh as if he'd slept all night. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"I know." He sat beside her on the couch and boldly took her hand in his, bringing it onto his lap and holding it securely. "I know you said you weren't ready to talk yet. I understand, and my intention isn't to go against that. I only ask that you listen. You don't have to say anything, okay?"

Her throat tightened with nerves, but her curiosity was piqued. "Okay."

"Holly, I know none of the decisions ahead of us are small ones. I get that you wanted some time to think. I figured I needed to do the same, but it didn't take long to realize I didn't have to think at all." He turned away and laughed lightly. "Sorry. I can hear that I'm starting to ramble."

"Don't worry about it. My thoughts have been nothing but wild rambles lately."

Pierce cleared his throat and tried again. "What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't take any thought for me to know that I want to be with you. That was true when we first met, and it's still true now that we're going to have a baby. You're my mate, and my wolf and soul have never been happier than when we've been together. We'll have some challenges, but we've already had to deal with a big one. We can figure this out together, but we can't do it living thousands of miles apart."

She nodded, waiting. The same feeling she would've gotten if she'd stepped up to a cliff rose inside her chest.

"I'm inviting you to stay, Holly, right here in Eugene with me. You work from home, and your company headquarters is right here anyway. My place is a bit cramped right now with my dad staying there, but it won't be that way forever. We'll find a new house for him when his insurance money comes in, and then we'll have the guest room for the baby."

"Oh, Pierce." She backed away from the cliff in her mind, knowing it was a leap she simply couldn't take. "It's very sweet of you, and I love that you went to the trouble of figuring out how it would work, but it just won't. I don't belong here. I don't know why. It's a great place, and it's nice to visit, but it's just not for me. I don't think I can be happy this far away from my clan and my home. I'm sorry."

"That's okay." A slight smile remained on his face despite the rejection, and he didn't even seem surprised. "There's another option. I'll go with you."

Her shoulders sagged. Her lips parted, but no words came out. Holly could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I don't know enough about your life back in Cape Cod to say much about how we'll live or where I'll work. Even without those details, I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

She gripped his hand in hers. "Pierce, that's such a generous offer. I can't say I haven't entertained the idea myself, but I couldn't fathom taking you away from your family. I want you to be really sure."

"I am." He pulled her hand up and pressed it against his chest. "I've been watching my fellow pack members find their mates, wondering when and if it would ever happen to me. Now it is, and I can't just let you slip away."

It was too good to be true. "Won't you miss everything here?"

"Yeah." A twinge of pain wrinkled his brow, but only for a moment. "There will be things I'll miss, but not as much as I'd miss you if you left."

"Wow." She'd blown him away with her shocking news the night before, and now he was returning the favor. "I never expected that. I just figured you had so much going on here that you couldn't leave."

"If you'd asked me about it a week ago, or maybe even yesterday, you would've been right. I didn't think I could possibly leave. My whole life and everything I've ever known is here." His dark blue eyes looked deeply into hers, making her feel like there was nothing else he wanted to see in the entire world. "Did you get to meet Joan last night? She's our pack oracle, and I asked her about us. She told me to follow my heart and emphasized that the words themselves were really important. I know why now. You're my heart, and I'll follow you anywhere."

"Pierce." The tears she'd tried to stop earlier now flowed freely, touched by his sweet words. "You really want to do this, don't you?"

"Yes, for both you and the baby. I don't want to be a part-time father. I just want to be with you if you'll have me." He brought up his other hand and held them both against hers, his heart pounding through his shirt.

Her heart picked up the beat and echoed its rhythm. It was so easy to imagine the two of them together back home, and she knew they could be happy that way. "I will. I definitely will." She leaned in and kissed him, feeling the softness of his lips and the heat of his mouth. Her soul surged toward him, finally happy now that everything would truly be all right.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you about," he said when they parted. "I mentioned it briefly before, but it's my pack's tradition to mark our mates."

Holly had heard of the custom. She knew about the ceremonial bite, but she'd never known anyone who'd actually experienced it. "Yeah, I remember."

"I know it's old-fashioned, but it's something that brings mates that much closer together. That's actually what I was asking Joan about last night." He looked at their entwined hands and then bent his head to kiss the back of her fingers.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know how it'll work," he explained. "We know what it's like when a wolf marks another wolf, and that connection deepens. When a wolf bites a human, it makes her become like him. You're a shifter, but you're not a wolf."

"I see." She sat back a little while she thought about this. Holly had seen him in his wolf form. He was strong and handsome, and his teeth looked incredibly sharp. It wouldn't take much for them to sink straight through her flesh. She already had a beast that lived inside her, though. "Do you think it'd be any danger to the baby?"

"I don't know for sure," he admitted. "The child already has half my blood, though."

"That's true." A warm sensation moved through her, knowing she was creating a life that was a part of each of them, concrete evidence of their bond.

Pierce reached up and swept a strand of her hair away from her face. "Like I said, this is what I was asking Joan about. The message about following my heart had to do with you, but also with this."

They had very little information to go on. Her instincts were trying to guide her. She'd been resisting them ever since Pierce had come into her life, telling herself they could never change themselves enough to be together. Maybe it was time to start listening to her heart and inner bear. It knew what it wanted, even if it sounded scary. "I suppose no one will ever know for sure until it happens."

The tip of his tongue escaped his lips as he ran it across his teeth. "We could always wait until after the baby is born."

"No." The word came not from her lips or tongue but from her very spirit. "I don't want to wait. I've already waited a long time to find you, and then I almost left town without any guarantee that I'd see you again. I love you, Pierce, and anything we can do to be together has got to be right."

"I love you, too, Holly." He pulled her in close and kissed her again, his lips raking across hers and his arms closing around her. Pierce's strong hands scooped around her and brought her easily up onto his lap, and she melted against his body.

Her lips parted and their tongues entwined, and Holly knew everything about this was right. She'd always loved him, and they wouldn't let anything else stand in their way. There was no time for wondering and worrying when everything they needed was right there between them.

Pierce's lips wandered down the side of her neck. His hand rose up her back until his fingers found the collar of her shirt, and he gently pulled it aside. Holly leaned her head away, opening herself up to what was to come. They had no idea how it would turn out, but it was an adventure they'd have together. Excitement surged through her body as Pierce pressed kisses to the curve of her neck and slowly moved to just the right spot. Already, she could feel his wolf teeth grazing her, and she closed her eyes and relaxed.

His left hand held her against him, his thumb rubbing small circles against her lower back. A warm breath of air moved over her shoulder as he opened his mouth.

She gasped as his teeth sank in, air catching in her throat at the sudden shock of pain after such sweetness. Holly gripped his shoulders, hanging on as the pain erupted. It intensified as he increased the pressure of his bite to ensure the mark took.

Pierce lifted his teeth from her flesh and kissed her wounded skin. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he tended to her injury with his mouth. "I know that had to hurt."

"It's okay." She laid her forehead against his shoulder and pressed her face into the curve of his neck, inhaling the scent of his cologne and soaking in the warmth and strength of his body. "I knew it would, but I wanted it. And do you know what else I want?"

His hands roved over her back, pressing on either side of her spine, rubbing in wide circles near her shoulder blades, and moving down to massage her behind. "Hm?"

It was strange to admit. She hadn't imagined she'd feel this way, not when she'd just agreed to a purposeful injury, but the very act of the mark itself had already brought her closer to her mate. "You."