Where He Belongs

~Eleven~

Pic: Axel (nearly exactly how I imagined him)

Did I just hear her right?

Pregnant? Me? I was a guy as she should very well know. It couldn't be. Could it? "Excuse me?" my father repeated, facing looking as blank as mine probably did.

To make matters worse Thomas came galloping in. "Pregnant? Who? Denisse? Oh my God, really? We just started trying--"

"Not Denisse," my mother snapped in a sharp tone I'd never heard before. Thomas recoiled slightly, eyes on my weird-looking belly.

I quickly pulled down my sweater, feeling my heart galloping in my chest. My hands shook at my sides as I fought to stop them. My mother pushed past my father, him stepping aside without much more prodding looking stunned and a bit worried. She went to the table, pulling a piece of letter paper from the kitchen drawer along with a black ink pen. She began to write quickly in her loopy handwriting. She was much better educated than our father or us. Our father could read well from what I'd seen but us kids? No way. She taught how to read some and write our names but nothing more. She wasn't born a rouge like my father; she left in her home pack when she was in her late teens. "Thomas, take this letter to the village beside the market. And quickly. Ask for Clarissa. If they say she's busy, tell her it's her sister and it's very important. Understand, Thomas? Do not leave until this letter is in her hand. Wait for her it read it and take the letter she gives you back here."

Thomas stood there for a moment and then scratched the back of his head. "Sister?" He repeated, something that sparked my curiosity as well. My mother never mentioned a sister.

"Yes Thomas. We don't speak much. But you need to bring this to her. Now." my mother stated firmly.

Thomas looked at my father and received a shrug that said he didn't know what to do either. "Because you think your son is pregnant?" Thomas tried to quirk a smile from our very serious looking mother. "Mom. It's probably really bad bloating and like, I dunno, water retention."

"Water retention?" she repeated, looking at him as though he was stupid. She shook her head. "Just do as I told you."

Thomas looked around wildly at first, as if this was all some elaborate hoax. I really wished it was though, believe me. My father gave him a small push and a firm nod. "It can't hurt," my father muttered, scratching his head. "You're having her come take a look at him right?"

"No. We'll have to take him to her," my mother replied, sheepherding me out of the bathroom, and plopping me down into a chair. "When did it start?"

"Wh-what start?" I stammered, a complete loss of what we were talking about. I was still triangle to wrap my head around the fact that I may be pregnant.

"The morning sickness." my mother snapped, looking ready to pull her hair out.

"Few months ago," I admitted softly. "Just barely though. But this only happened...like a month ago."

I waved my hand around my stomach, clearly gesturing to it without actually touching it. It looked wierd, felt weird...and to think there were was living being inside of it? Belonging to my rapist as well? I couldn't go there. Who knows how I'd handle it. "I don't know how I missed this..."

"You have contacted your sister in years, Claire. How do you know she'll help us?" my father tried to reason.

"It doesn't matter how upset she is with me James. As a trained medicine wolf she could never turn away a wolf in need, whether they were a part of her village or not." my mother's tone was distant in a way, as if she was very deep in thought. "After three pregnancies, I didn't put it together? How?"