My Broken Luna

34. Hormones Kick In

"Oh." Xander lets me go. "Nice to meet you." he pulls Cade in for one of those weird guy-hug things, oddly keeping one arm around me. He isn't acting unnecessarily possessive anymore, but I can still tell that he isn't going to drop his guard. 'A man is still a man.' he says through our private mind-link.

'But he's Brody's mate.'

'A man is still a man.'

'You're the only man I love.'

'I better be.'

"Come on, Cade." I nod my head in the direction of the kitchen, knowing that continuing that conversation with Xander is pointless. Both men follow me to the kitchen and I immediately open the pantry when we get there. As if on cue, Xander gently pulls me out of the small closet and grabs random ingredients that he thinks we'll need for brownies from the top shelf and places them on the marble counter.

"I'm going to sit here and watch." Xander sits down on a stool, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest in attempt to seem 'manly'. He does that every time he feels like someone is threatening his position as my mate. I really don't understand why, though. I constantly tell him that I love him and he knows that I'm not interested in being with anyone else but him.

"Or you can go be social and hang out with your only friend." I suggest, wanting to spend time with Cade alone. It'll be more awkward for him if Xander's here, he'll probably just stare at him the entire time and growl whenever he thinks that Cade and I are 'too close'.

"No." Xander shakes his head. "I'm staying right here where I can see you."

"I'll be perfectly fine."

"You're pregnant."

"Stop saying that like it's a disease." I walk up to my mate and whisper, "We'll c-call you when the brownies are done."

*** (ten minutes later)

"So...." Cade trails off as I open up the blinds to the kitchen windows. Xander can be seen walking backwards towards Brody's house, but I ignore the strange sight. I had to trick him into going over there, and then I locked the door. He could've easily broken the door down, but then he would be making another hole in the house.

"Are you from Lunar Shadow?" I ask in attempt to start a conversation. Cade seems nice, he just needs something to talk about. All I have to do is ease the awkwardness between us.

"Yeah, but I used to be a part of the Everglade pack." he tells me. "I was born and raised here, but I relocated for high school and college."

"A-Are you permanently staying in L-Lunar Shadow now?"

"Yeah." Cade answers. "I got back here a couple months ago and met Brody. Why did Alpha Xander take everything down from the top shelf?"

"You don't have to call him Alpha Xander."

"I think I'm suppose to, he didn't seem to like me very much."

"It's not you, it's him. He's on his man-period." I hand a bowl of semi-sweet chocolate chips to Cade and point to the microwave above us, signaling for him to heat them up. "And he a-always takes everything off of the top shelf whenever he thinks that I'm about t-to cook something. I climb up the shelves if I can't get something and he's afraid of me falling."

"That makes sense." Cade nods. "How far along in the pregnancy are you?"

"Almost two months." I answer, putting a hand over my belly. There's an actual curve now, not just a bump. Barely any of my clothes are stretching yet, but I know that I won't be able to wear my existing clothes throughout the entire pregnancy. "How are you and Brody doing?"