Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Pregnancy Cravings

Alexander's POV

Nearly a full week had passed since Fawkes' departure. But I was unable to stop myself from fretting, just yet. It probably didn't help that I was a little sleep-deprived.

Even though Cassidy was safe in my arms, I still gasped awake from terrible dreams where I hadn't managed to kill the succubus in time. Sometimes, the succubus would morph into Cassidy and I'd be horrified that I had torn out the spine of my mate.

I was tired and scared but the best thing we could do was nothing. It was driving me to insanity.

Cassidy had taken to pulling me into bed to cuddle now, though he never asked me to sleep unless I was ready. And even then, he always promised to chase the night terrors away.

"I'm here, Alex," he says. "I'm safe because of you. You saved me. You always do."

Only his reassurances that he was fine would help me fall asleep. It wasn't always a full night of sleep. I would still wake up in the middle of the night, gasping silently. And it was hard to fall back asleep, but the closest I could get to it was holding Cassidy and listening to the steady heartbeat of my mate and the thrumming pulse of our unborn child. It was enough.

~

It was a good thing that Cassidy was getting more pregnant every day. Cassidy's mood swings and cravings provided a wonderful distraction for both me and my wolf. Today's craving was chocolate.

I'd read about pregnancy cravings and had been expecting it to happen sooner or later. In all fairness, chocolate was a pretty normal food to ask for, or so I thought. But there was absolutely no chocolate or chocolate flavoured foodstuff in the entire compound. None!

Having spent nearly an hour running about looking for the damned chocolate had left me utterly bewildered. Anyone I'd asked had looked either confused or scandalised. Did no one know what chocolate was?

I didn't understand what was happening. Frustrated, I tried the kitchens one more time, to see if I could maybe sniff out the sweet scent.

And on my way there, I bumped into Healer Trish. Quite literally. She almost went sprawling all over the ground if I hadn't caught her by the shoulders.

"Your highness," she greets me. "What has you rushing off so urgently?" Trish asked with a raised eyebrow.

I duck my head sheepishly. "Sorry," I apologise. "I was trying to find some chocolate," I explained further.

"Chocolate?" she asked, surprise colouring her tone. "Whatever for?"

"Cassidy has been asking for chocolate," I told her. Honestly, he was far more demanding than just mere asking, but I knew that if I didn't turn up with something, he would get all teary-eyed and I'd feel bad and my wolf would howl very mournfully.

"Pregnancy cravings," she said eyeing me sympathetically. "I'm afraid, you will have to return emptyhanded."

I frowned. "Why?"

Trish shrugged. "I think you'll find it quite difficult to find chocolate in Lupus. You'd have to travel to the edges of the kingdom and find a human willing to sell chocolate."

"Is it really so unpopular?" I wondered.

She shakes her head. "You're a shifter like most people here, so you know chocolate is poisonous to most shifters included wolves."

Ah. It's true that I had forgotten about that. My mother enjoyed chocolate so much. Sometimes, it felt like she had only discovered it. But she never let me have any even though they smelled delicious. So, one day when she wasn't looking, I snuck one from the box and ended up giving myself the worst stomach pain and seizures. Fortunately, I'd only taken a nibble, or I could have killed myself.