Morana's POV
Doctor Brianna gave me printed pictures of the ultrasound, and as I got in the jeep I couldn't help but to be memorized by the small circle. That is a baby, our baby. My heart fluttered as I looked over to Aeron who was starting the vehicle. His face was paler than usual as he looked over to me. I placed a hand on his arm and slowly moved it down towards his fingers. He quickly grabbed hold of my hand as he looked over to me, "Did you want to go food shopping? Or did you want to go home?" He asked.
After our night with Jon and Amanda we went to shop for food. And after that first time, I realized that grocery shopping, well it sucked. The store always seemed to be too hot and the food was too pricey. It was as bad as shopping for clothes, Aeron said not to worry about the price but I still found myself worrying about the price. I didn't understand human money, I didn't understand why it cost for food.
I didn't understand money until I watched a show called cartoon, where one of the characters always saved his nickels and pennies. And he spoke of a happy retirement. I wanted that, I wanted us happy and together. So to do that I thought we had to save our pennies and nickels. But I learned in that grocery store that pennies and nickels weren't paying for nothing.
"I don't mind." I said and looked over to him as I smiled, "If I don't go you'll spend a lot of-"
"I told you not to worry about that." Aeron said as he looked over to me, "Our pack is wealthy. Some like Doctor Brianna work in human territory. And we get money from the humans." He added. I looked over to him confused.
"Why do humans pay you money?" I asked and tilted my head, I never heard of this.
"Well, only the high up in human territory knows about us. Way back, before my great grandfather was even born the werewolves and the humans made a bargain. The wolves would stay on their land and only go onto human territory when necessary. That means, while we are in human territory we can't shift. And we can't tell the humans what we are," He said and looked at me, "It's our most sacred law."
"Do a lot of wolves leave the pack lands?" I asked.
"Some do." Aeron said and reached over to grab my hand, "You'll never have to worry about this. Humans don't interfere with us, and we don't interfere with them."
"What if something happens?" I asked, "What if a wolf does shift in human territory."
"Then they would be breaking the deal and humans might decide to declare war."
"Declare war because a wolf shifted?" I asked and looked at him confused, "That sounds stupid."
"We are different from them, Morana. And because of that the humans could grow to fear us. We don't show up on any human radar and we are safe. If anything else, we will cause a war between werewolves and humans." He said and shrugged his shoulders, "There were cases when a human was traveling in the forest and saw a werewolf. In that case it would not be our fault and the pack would receive a bonus for not killing the human trespasser."
"Strange." I said and looked out the window.
We didn't speak after that, instead I nervously touched the small stomach under my shirt. War, Aeron had talked about going to war just last night. War, war was dangerous. The TV taught me that as well. War was violent and killed anything in its path like bad storms that came at the end of summer. I tried not to panic as I looked at my mate. What would happen if I lost him? I squeezed his hand tightly as I leaned over and buried my face in his arm, "I love you." I whispered.
"I love you too." Aeron said and kissed the top of my head. I held onto his arm until we got to the grocery store. Once I was out of the jeep I was glued to his side.
The first time I came to the grocery store with him, I was fascinated by the humans, and the food. Especially the food, there are so many different kinds! And they always played strange music in the ceilings. There was a section of green vegetables that had rain fall on them. But, this time I decided to hold onto Aeron's arm. My arm was wrapped around his as my hand held his. The humans, well now they frightened me. A young mother looked at me and I quickly stepped on Aeron's toes to get away. He looked down at me confused and kissed my forehead, "Calm, little mate." He said as he grabbed a bag of oranges.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. Aeron let out a soft chuckle as he grabbed my chin and lifted it up so he could look in my eyes. I leaned my head back and frowned, "It's just- what if I mess up or say something? What if, war?" I asked as I felt my heart beat quicker and quicker. Aeron leaned down and kissed my lips. He held his lips on mine for a moment before he pulled away.
"Calm, little mate." He repeated in a deeper voice as he reached for another item, "You will be safe."
"I'm worried about you." I said rather loudly. He looked at me and pushed his cheek against mine as he placed the item in the cart. I closed my eyes as our nose touched.
"My love you need to worry about you and our pup." He whispered as he touched my stomach, "You two are the only things important in my life."
"You are important in my life." I said. Aeron kissed my cheek and stood up as he started to push the cart away. He grabbed my hand and smiled.
"And I'm thankful for that Morana. But, as for right now we are shopping." He said.
So I let the topic go and just clung to my mate's side. I had no interest in food, I didn't really care what he got. Aeron was a fantastic cook, while I- well I tried. We walked around the store until the cart was full then we went to the cashier. We stood in line in silence as I listened to the music. Aeron watched as I swayed my head to the beat. He chuckled as he placed a hand on my hip pulling me in front of the cart. He started to place the food on the moving belt as I held onto the cart. Aeron smiled back at me as I leaned over and grabbed some of the food for him.
Aeron didn't let me touch a bag as he loaded everything in the jeep. I just stood in the parking lot and held onto the cart as I watched him quickly move, and once the bags were out of the cart I was ready to turn around and push the cart back to its strange holder. But, before I could Aeron caught the cart and looked at me with a soft smile, "Why don't you go in the jeep?" He asked.
"Why?" I asked and held onto the cart, "I can help Aeron."
"I know you can love." He said and smiled towards me, "But, I also know I can. And if I can do it, then you don't have to."
"But, you got all the food out of the cart, and put the food in the jeep." I said, "I can put the cart away." And in that very moment, I knew that I wasn't going to let go of the cart. My hands tightened on the steel as I looked at him.
'Don't do it, hold onto it' Ontas agreed.
"Morana, just give me the cart." Aeron said as he tried to pull on the cart.
"No." I said and pulled it back. His eyes widened as he looked at me.
"Morana-"
"I can do this." I said.
Aeron looked at me and then nodded as he let go. I pushed the cart away from him and shook my head. I looked both ways before I crossed the small road and pushed the cart into its holder. Then turned around, we weren't even 20 steps away from the jeep. I looked both ways and walked back to the jeep and got in. Aeron watched as I strapped the seatbelt over me, "So, you really wanted to put the cart away, that bad huh?" He asked.
Ontas then stepped forward and growled. She let out an animalistic sound I've only heard a few times as my mouth made strange noises. Aeron's face turned pale as his eyes lightened up. Whatever she was saying, his wolf understood. Her growls continued for a few more moments until she finally took a step back.
What was that about Ontas? I asked as I watched Aeron start the jeep in silence.
'I spoke to my mate.' She purred.
You couldn't just mind-link him? I rubbed my jaw that felt sore.
Ontas didn't reply as we watched Aeron drive away from the store. He had taught me that his wolf Aero and my wolf could speak through mind-link ever since we had completed our mating process. At first, they could only understand if they growled towards each other.
Now they can have conversations without us even knowing. And from what I could gather Ontas was more willing to talk to him then to me since she's been quiet for awhile. I looked over to Aeron and looked at his white knuckles as he held onto the steering wheel. I reached over and grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry." I whispered.
"Please, don't be sorry." Aeron said as he held onto my hand.
Very slowly I placed his hand over my stomach and held it there for a moment. I let all the walls down as I thought, "Soon, this shirt won't fit." I looked at the tightness of the t-shirt I wore. "Soon my scent will change." I thought of the light change in my scent and wondered how it would be now that Ontas won't mask it. I looked over to Aeron as he looked over to me, he ran his hand over my stomach. And slowly I thought of my stomach being full with our child.
My stomach would grow out like Amanda's. "Our child." Ontas purred in my chest as I placed a hand over his and sighed. We turned into the forest which meant we were close to our home.
"Our child indeed." He said as he smiled towards me, "Are you happy?"
"Of course I am happy." I said and looked over to him, "I'll always be happy when I'm with you."
"I mean, are you ready for a child?" He asked. I looked at him confused, "It's just. I know what you have gone through and if you aren't physically or emotionally ready we could wait."
"'We could wait.'" I quoted and looked at him, "Are you suggesting-"
"Wolfhaze doesn't just the person's thought process. It effect their body. And it's a common fact that infants don't live past the first few days after birth, when they were conceived with or from a parent who had wolfhaze in their system." Aeron said and looked over to me, "It's a dangerous drug for wolves, and only a few cases did it result in pregnancy. My seed was laced with wolfhaze Morana. That means the child will grow in your womb burning. When they are born they have burn marks down its body, their veins are a deep purple, and they-"
"Stop!" I shouted and looked over to him, "Really?" I asked.
"Morana, I'm just trying to say-"
"That you don't want this child?" I asked and pushed his hand off of my stomach, "Ashamed of me, and now ashamed of our child is that how it's going to be?"
"I was never ashamed of you." Aeron said. I snorted as I looked over to him.
"You know what." I said and crossed my arms as my anger finally blew. A burning hot rage coursed through my body as I tried to keep Ontas under control. She wanted to shift but the urge to shift settled when we saw the house. I pushed my lips out as I felt my body start to heat up from my overwhelming emotions. "Why don't you take your sorry ass back to those females you were fucking while I was in the hospital?" I asked as my body shook, "Maybe they could give you a child you will be proud of." I said as I unbuckled my seat belt and flung open the door.
The jeep slammed to a stop as I jumped out of the vehicle and around. Aeron looked at me with a mixture of shock and pain as I slammed the door shut and pushed my middle finger up towards the window and at him. I've only seen it done in a few shows but I hoped I got the gesture down. After a moment I turned my hand away and turned towards the porch.
Fucking lovely. I growled as I looked at Jon sitting by the stairs. He kept his head down until I walked towards the stairs, only then did he look up. His arms were crossed as I went and opened the door. Once the door was opened I turned towards Jon and squinted my eyes, "If you're going to sit on your ass and be useless, make yourself useful and keep that mutt away from me!" I growled towards Jon.
"Hey!" Aeron said and rushed in front of the jeep pointing a finger towards me, "Don't you-" He didn't get to finish as I slammed the door as hard as I could on his words.