Artificial Insemination

Chapter Eleven

Loved reading the comments on the last chapter, guys! So funny! 

It took exactly eleven seconds before the silence started to frazzle Layla's nerves enough for her to shake away the remainder of post-orgasmic bliss and push off the couch.

Her hand flew back up to her neck and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

He hadn't broken through the skin.

But he'd definitely bitten her.

Hard enough that the flesh was still indented with marks from his teeth.

Layla may not have known a lot about shifters, but she knew enough to recognise what it would have meant if Dale had bitten down all the way.

Mates...

There was a flutter of movement in her stomach, a stark reminder of why Dale had almost marked her for real. 

Hormones. Instincts.

Longing.

She could feel that buzzing in her stomach along with every movement from her baby. 

The living room was suddenly much too confined.

Eyes darting to the front door, she hastily moved to slip her feet into a pair of shoes and picked up her phone. She was out of the house within thirty seconds, shutting the door quietly behind her before making her way down the street.

It was a warm evening and she took special pleasure in the soft breeze and the pleasant chills that ran up her arms. Her neck tingled and ached as though teeth were still pressed against it, a phantom reminder that the bond between her and Dale was ever present, even if he wasn't.

She could feel it in her bones.

Moments passed and she found herself in an empty park, surrounded by nothing but loudly chirping crickets, shrubs and the warm glow of the setting sun. As if he could feel the pull of nature, the boy in her womb practically jumped. 

She inhaled a lungful of serenity. Sweet peace. The smell of coconut as the wind caused her hair to dance over the surface of her cheek.

There was a distant bark and her eyes snapped back open, zoning in on the big sign in front of her.

Humans only.

Suddenly, the vision of strolling through the park with her bouncing baby disintegrated into little pieces and floated away with the wind. 

Technically, she was breaking the law just by being in the park pregnant with a shifter, so she hurried away from the sign, paranoid that somebody would pass by and call her out.

She was glad that she at least she got some type of temporary gratification, from breaking the stupid law, before scampering away.

She only stopped walking when she found a tiny playground, complete with a swing set, slides and sandpit. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone on the swings and found herself going towards it without another thought.

Swinging back and forth with a five month belly, that was more along the size of seven months, proved to be more difficult than she thought. She was out of breath in less than a minute and suddenly didn't feel like she was actually having that much fun.

Her mind started to wonder as the swing halted and her hand drifted to her phone.

It was times like these that she wished she could call her mother- times when feelings of abandonment and rejection felt too heavy to bear on her own.