For the longest time, I laid in bed caught between sleep and awake. My eyes are still closed but I'm very aware of the hand gliding across my stomach. I felt the prickling of Dominic's chin hair as he pressed his lips to my belly forcing a smile and my eyes to finally meet his.
"Good Morning Daddy," I whispered running my hand up his arm and into his hair.
He beamed back at me with eyes full of pride, "Good Morning. I didn't wake you doing this did I?" The smile that was lighting up our still dark bedroom fell instantly replaced by an expression of concern.
"Of course not." His smile returned as he grabbed my hand and kissed my palm.
"Good because I can't stop."
I laughed lifting my hand and laced my fingers between his, "Can't or won't?"
"A little bit of both. I'm so amazed by the fact that my child is here. All night I laid beside you thinking about my life before you—those lonely years where I couldn't see happiness for myself. I really thought I was going to die a lonely bitter old man. I sat up and just watched you in awe of how happy you've made me. In my mind, I just kept thinking this has to be a dream so to convince myself that it's not I've been rubbing your stomach and talking to my boy."
"Your boy?" My brows fused together and my smile returned. "Baby I've looked at that picture over and over and saw nothing that suggests that the baby is a boy."
He shook his head, "But I know we're having a boy."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"He told me." My brows came together again and this time instead of a smile I met him with a curious glare that I had no chance to voice before he explained further. "We bonded while you were sleeping—his wolf and mine."
Still, I looked at him like he was speaking in some kind of language I couldn't understand. To my knowledge, we're born with our wolves but don't connect to them until the age of puberty. We've been called "special cases" enough for me to not be surprised about anything that happens with us anymore but this even sounds crazy to me.
"Really? So what else did he tell you then?"
Dominic smiled at me knowingly, snorting over my last thought of him being crazy. "I don't mean it like he's talking to me, Jade. It's just very strong feelings. I have this feeling the baby is going to be a boy. He'll be widely respected even as a kid and be more powerful than the two of us combined."
My eyes widened a little remembering what happened when Hemming touched me. "Yeah...powerful." I sat up forcing Dominic to move with me, pulling my legs underneath me to allow him the room to get closer to me, "I should have told you this last night but I didn't want to ruin our moment. Hemming felt his wolf when he touched my stomach yesterday." I tried the 'ripping the band-aid off' method hoping his reaction would be nothing like mine.
For a second I saw happiness in Dominic's eyes then all too quickly it faded I guess as he replayed those words in his head and what it actually meant. He exhaled sharply dropping his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "So the second he's born he's going to have the weight of the world on his shoulders? There has to be another way! There has to be something I can do!"
Scooting closer to him I gripped his hand holding it between both of mine in an attempt to calm him. "That was my concern too. I want the baby to be able to be a carefree child for as long as possible since they didn't ask to be born into this but you and I both have done everything we can with everything we know. I don't think we have any other choice but to wait it out."
Dominic sighed again pinching the bridge of his nose. I know exactly what he's feeling considering my reaction was pretty much the same. A child no matter who they are should never be faced with such high expectations. I'm just worried that that will only be the beginning. With the baby being stronger than us, will people start looking to him or her to do things? Will they be seen as a threat or a bargaining chip? Look at how many people of power have had their children kidnapped for ransom. When Dominic and I first came out with what we could do the first thing people thought was the worse. Abuse of power, harsh treatment, a change in our way...what if they fear my baby for those reasons too? Maybe I'm overthinking on this but I can't help but wonder and part of me feels like Dominic might just be on the same page with that thinking.
"We have a few months right? I'll figure something out before then."
"Dominic—"
"This isn't negotiable!" His voice raised unintentionally with his frustration. The base in it made me flinch but with his next words, there was an obvious softening. "I don't mean to yell at you Jade but I need you to understand where I'm coming from. I'm your mate and the father of this pup. Neither of you should have to do anything strenuous. Like my Dad, I'm supposed to be the provider in your eyes and superman in our son's. How can I do that if he comes into this world having to fix shit that I couldn't?!" Every single emotion coursing through my mate hits me like a strong wind with the most prominent being disappointment. Had he not said those last words that emotion alone would have told me exactly what he's thinking. "I should have just killed Cameron! He purposely stood behind those people that day because he knew I wouldn't risk hurting them to get to him. I should have done it anyway." He huffed another frustrated breath and slid out of my grasp. "This is my fault. All of this. I'm failing my son already..."
I climbed to my knees and straddled him placing both my hands on his cheeks forcing him to look me in the eyes. "You're not failing either of us, Dominic! What you did took immense strength. I know how much you wanted to attack Cameron that day but you chose the pack over your own desire to do so. This is just like when I couldn't break the bond. You didn't view me as being weak or a failure for not being able to separate myself from Cameron so neither I nor the baby will see you that way."
"But I still don't get why I couldn't break his hold. We're supposed to be the strongest of our kind but Cameron was able to do something that we couldn't even stop."
I sighed hating the fact that I have to tell him this reason, anticipating a not so good reaction. "Hemming has been trying to figure that out over the last few weeks and it's looking like it has to do with him being my born mate. He was supposed to be where you are now Dominic. Hemming said that he didn't find any traces of alpha blood being present in the sample that he took from Cameron after you kicked his ass but there were changes. When he bit me it strengthened him because we were born connected to each other but at the same time, he isn't as strong as us because I never claimed him back or mated with him. We still don't know exactly how or why we were able to break his hold but," ducking my head to catch his eyes, "we can do this Dominic. Even if we have to wait until the baby is here to fix things, we can do it. I don't know how but we'll do it together and I can promise you that our baby will be very proud of you."
Dominic wrapped his arms around me leaning his forehead against mine, "You always know how to fix my damaged ego. Where would I be without you?"
"On a beach saving girls that don't want to be saved," I smirked and laughed as he pinched my side.
"You were really mad at me for that."
"Hell yeah, I was mad at you! Then to make it worse you dragged me off to your house and tried to undress me with that smug smirk!" I fired back to which he gave me that exact smirk.
"You were the weirdest girl I ever met. One minute you were pissed at me then you were kissing me."
"There were no complaints then! As I recall, you kissed me back right AND you bit me!"
A smile crossed my mate's lips as his eyes scanned over my face with warmth and love. "And I don't regret any of it. I can't express enough how grateful I am to have you—that you decided to try and do something so stupid on my beach of all places."
I smiled back looking over his face just like he did mine. I love him so much that it's unreal. I want nothing more than to stay here on his lap and in his arms every single second for the rest of my life. I've once heard that a good man can make you forget that your heart has ever been broken and I feel like I'm on my way there. I could have closed myself off to Dominic listing him under the same category as Cameron as well as every other male but he made it impossible. He came into my life and stole my heart before I had the chance to guard it and like him, I don't regret it at all.
I leaned into him for a kiss to show him how much those words and him in general means to me. If anything, I'm the one that should be grateful. I owe him so much more than my life alone. It's because of him that I'm now seeing that everything really does happen for a reason and have seen that the things put in my path are just lessons that needed to be learned. It's also because of him that I'm going to have a title that at one point I'd only dreamed.
Mother.
"Can we go for a walk?" Reluctantly breaking the kiss I mumbled against his lips to which he simply nodded before pecking mine one last time. After I slid off his lap I made my way to his side of the closet dressing in a simple tank top, a pair of black leggings, and one of Dominic's hoodies for comfort and to hide my stomach. The fact still remains that the rest of the family doesn't know about the pup yet and I was hoping that Dominic and I could discuss when and how to relay the news. Truthfully I'm still a little nervous about the pack finding out. I don't want it to seem like we're living our lives while theirs is pretty much at a standstill until they are reunited with their wolves.
As soon as Dominic finished getting dressed we headed out the front door deciding to walk through the woods rather than around the housing complex for the view. This time of year the leaves that still cling to the branches are beautifully colored. Like most of the places in our territory, this one provides this feeling of tranquility. Dominic and I both could really use that right now. Even though he has dropped the subject I'm positive Dominic is still worried and stressing over what I told him about the pup. I don't blame him at all for that considering I was in the same position just yesterday. A few steps into the woods I tried to bring up the subject by reassuring him that everything would work itself out but instead of engaging in further conversation Dominic leaned over and kissed my forehead and left it at that. I could press it more and try to get him to talk about it but I decided to just let it go for now.
Walking hand and hand in silence the sounds around us seemed so much louder. The dried leaves crunching beneath our feet, birds singing in the trees above us, and the occasional whistling of the wind as it brushed by us. Just as we were reaching the edge of our land that's covered by a huge cluster of evergreen trees, my wolf seemed to stir within me. I looked over at Dominic to see his shoulders tense and his eyes focused on those very trees. It wasn't until then that I heard more leaves crunching, twigs snapping, and what even sounded like multiple beating hearts. Dominic released my hand and pushed me behind him just as the branches in front of us began to move. No longer able to see I had to rely on my other senses to figure out exactly what was going on. Taking a huge whiff of the air I caught a familiar scent but couldn't place it until I heard someone speak over the low growls of my mate.
"We're not looking for trouble, King Dominic." The male voice, young but authoritative spoke calmly. Ducking my head under Dominic's raised arm I saw the same boy that was present when all of this began as well as a few others that were at the carnival that day. Everyone except for the leader, Trent, was down on one knee with their heads lower while he was standing and bowing.
"You've just entered territory not of your own through the woods and I'm pretty sure uninvited. You have three seconds to explain why or trouble will have found you." Dominic replied just as calmly but his tone was deathly serious. The last time we saw this guy wasn't under pleasant circumstances so I can fully understand why he seems so close to the edge but can't wrap my brain around why the guy would even come here. Could it be to ask for his father's wolf back? If so, why didn't he come with him?
Still standing behind my mate rather than stepping around his protective stance and taking my place by his side I watched the scene play out between them hoping they would speak their peace and be on their way without a fight happening.
Trent looked to his right silently having a conversation with the guy closest to him which seemed to irritate Dominic to the point that he growled again. Trent looked up at Dominic bowing his head quickly, "Word is you're looking for someone. A wolf with the supposed ability to take away one's wolf." He then looked at me with a gleam in his eyes that at first glance I took as amusement but then realized it was just his way of acknowledging me.
"What of him?" Dominic cut in not even a full second after he finished speaking, reaching around and pushing me further behind him and out of Trent's view. Me being me, I simply moved to the other side of him not wanting to miss the visual part of this exchange just in time to see him take a step forward and a small smile twists his lips. He then snapped his fingers and glanced slightly over his shoulder as the branches on the trees began to move once again. My mouth fell open the moment some of the members from the pack that I'd seen leaving with Cameron emerged and stood behind the line created by Trent and his men. Immediately I surveyed each of them and while the connection was weak I could sense their wolves. The first thing that came to mind was that he's working with Cameron and this is some kind of setup but no sooner than the thought crossed my mind, it was banished by what came next.
Trent took several more bold steps toward us bowed his head once again lowering his eyes from Dominic's to mine, "When I first heard about this wolf I didn't believe it. Much like I didn't believe the two of you. I am my father's son after all..." He laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "Anyway when I found your people walking through the woods in my territory I assumed they were human but then I caught their faint scents and realized that they are in fact wolf. Your people were proof enough that this wolf really does exist. They told me that he promised to give them their wolves back if they followed him and became a part of his pack but as time passed it never happened. The same night that I found them I was visited by this wolf that sold himself to me as King. When I did not obey his commands he threatened to take my wolf as he did theirs. As you've probably noticed, I am still very much connected to my wolf as are my men." He smiled smugly, "Long story short I came here to make a peace offering; see your people home safely and let you know that whatever power this may have had wolf is weaning."