I stared at Cole and Rowan, my mate gaping at me with wide eyes before he cursed to himself and turned to Rowan, flexing and unflexing his jaw. He looked pissed.
"You're a fucking idiot," he growled, turning his back on him and shooing him out of the house. Rowan quickly disappeared, realising his mistake that Cole was clearly yet to inform of the news- the news regarding my own body.
"I'm pregnant?" I muttered, practically to myself as Cole looked at me with furrowed brows, his mouth half open as he tried to think of some way to explain why he hadn't told me.
"Rowan and I are stronger wolves, so we could smell the change in your scent," Cole explained, gripping me by the biceps and bending so he could look into my eyes. "I know that I should have told you, but I only realised that you smelt different after I returned from heading back to your colony to fight. You were still healing and had been through so much. I wasn't sure if you even wanted to have a child with me."
Gulping, my hands instinctively flew to my lower abdomen, and I pressed down on it gently, feeling for any differences. It felt the same though, no prominent bump there.
Did I want a child now? The honest answer was no. In my opinion, I was a little too young and had a lot of learning and growing to do, but, I couldn't deny that the thought of raising babies with Cole caused my insides to flutter. I wanted to start a family with him. I just hadn't expected it to be so soon.
"It's still extremely early days, and there is a high chance of you miscarrying because of the shape you were in when we found you," Cole continued. "I didn't want to tell you that you were carrying our child, only for it to die hours later."
"I'm on contraception," I muttered, pushing my hair away from my face, but taking Cole's hand once I realised how stressed and hurt he looked. He thought I was unhappy that I was pregnant.
"Contraception is never full proof."
The world around me was spinning and I moved closer to the kitchen table, sitting myself down on one of the chairs, Cole moving to crouch down in front of me. He placed his hands on my thighs, gazing up at me with worry, grinding his teeth together.
"Reya, look, if you don't want it, we can go to the doctors and we can-."
Cole's voice cracked as he spoke, and I could tell he was trying to remain neutral. I knew what he was about to say though, and I placed my hand on his cheek to stop him, shaking my head. I sighed, smiling sadly at him. "Cole, stop. It's just a shock. I wasn't expecting it, but I wouldn't terminate the baby because of that."
Nodding, my mate inhaled deeply. "Rowan shouldn't have said it out of the blue like that, and I'm going to be having a very serious word with him about it. I wanted to be the one to tell you."
Shaking my head, I released a small chuckle. "Don't be too hard on him. I'm sure he didn't mean to. He would never take that away from you on purpose."
Rowan wasn't a kids guy, but he understood why people wanted them. I knew he didn't mean to rid Cole of the opportunity to tell me I was carrying his child. It was an honest mistake.
Cole smiled at me, flashing his teeth. "Does that mean we're keeping it?"
I nodded, smiling when he lunged forwards and wrapped his arms around me, pressing a trail of kisses down my neck. His teeth scraped the area where my mark had once been, and I leaned back, allowing him better access, the feeling causing me to arch my back.
I wanted to feel his teeth sink into me. I wanted him to mark me as his, allowing me to do the same to him and have our scars unable to fade. I was upset that mine was now gone, even though the circumstance in which I had received it wasn't fantastic.
"I know what you want," Cole mumbled into my skin, causing me to moan as he traced his lips against me, peppering kisses around my collarbone. "But I'm not going to mark you- not yet."
I pouted, closing my eyes. His words hurt. Did he not want to make me his forever?
"Trust me, Reya," Cole spoke seductively into my hair. "I want you as mine. You will be. There's no question about it, but I want our marking to be special. The last time you wore mine, it was forced upon you, and I'm remorseful of it every single day. I want you to mark me first this time. I understand it doesn't un-do what I did to you, but I want you to feel like you're in control of it this-"
Cole didn't have time to finish his sentence before I leaned forwards and sunk my teeth into his neck. He gripped onto me, groaning in pain as my flat teeth broke his skin, the taste of his thick metallic blood coating my tongue. I wanted to gag, but I refrained, pushing my teeth harder down into his flesh, hoping that my human ones were enough to mark his skin. We weren't made for it.
Cole's groans quickly turned to moans, and his grip on me loosened, my body harshly pressed against his. It allowed me to feel his hardness as I clambered closer to him on his lap, and I shivered as he muttered my name in pleasure before I pulled away.
"I do feel in control of this, thank you," I told him with a cocky smile, Cole reaching forwards and wiping his blood from my lips and chin. I turned to the side, pointing to my neck, but hearing Cole chuckle caused me to turn to him with knitted brows.
"I deserve to wear your mark without being given the opportunity to place my own upon you for a little while," he told me, pressing his lips to my forehead. "I will proudly show the one you have given me off though. I want my pack to know that you have me wrapped around your little finger."
These were words I had never heard Cole speak before, and butterflies fluttered inside of my stomach at the thought of the pack members seeing my claim on his neck. It wasn't the prettiest thing, my teeth not sharp like Cole's were, but, you could easily tell what it was. I was concerned it was just going to look like a large hickey, so I was somewhat proud of myself.
"I want to see it," Cole said, pushing himself up off the floor and strolling over to he full length mirror by the couch. He craned his neck, prodding at it before hissing in pain, a smile making its way up onto his face.
"I kind of butchered it," I said sheepishly, feeling my race redden. I was aware that Cole had noticed my sloppy work, but, it was the best he was probably going to get from a human.
"No. It's perfect," he told me, taking my hand in his.
I smiled. "I don't want it fading even the tiniest bit, so you'll be marking me in a few days."
"Whatever your heart desires," Cole mumbled, kissing me softly, his hand trailing down to skim over my belly. He studied it, looking closely as if he was going to be able to see a visible difference. He had told me it was early days, and judging by the fact that I hadn't even started having any symptoms yet, it must have been very early days.
However, the risk of miscarriage was high due to what my body had been through. My mental health was suffering, and stress was a big cause of losing a foetus. I didn't want to get my hopes up too much that we were going to have this child. Otherwise, I was going to crash and burn if I ended up miscarrying.
Cole and I spent the next few hours talking and soaking up each other's presence. We didn't talk about anything particularly important. We knew there were things regarding my capture that we needed to discuss, but, we didn't want to spoil the mood.
I tried to stop myself from thinking of Amber and Anthony, a part of me concerned that they had both left. Anthony was a good friend, and I would miss him if he did decide to leave. Amber was lovely be around too, and she was beginning to open up to me. It felt nice.
I wasn't sure how the meeting was going to go, but my guess was that things were going to turn heated very quickly. It was all dependent on what Amber had to say though.
"I don't want it to feel like an interrogation," I told Cole as he gathered up his paperwork, setting it down on the kitchen table. I was unsure why we weren't using his office, but I gathered that he also wanted this to appear casual so as not to set either Amber or Anthony off.
"I agree," Cole said, flinging open the front door to reveal a sheepish looking Rowan. He clutched his notebook under his arm as he ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair in anguish. Cole stepped aside, allowing Rowan to enter, his eyes glued to him.
I shot my mate a warning glare, letting him know that now wasn't the time to turn against Rowan for his mistake. There was no need to fight over it. I wanted more than once child, and Cole could inform me of my pregnancy further down the line.
Cole grunted, shoulder barging Rowan out of the way purposely, causing him to stumble back a few steps before steadying himself. He nodded once at me to let me know that he understood why Cole was so upset, and I gathered my wide eyes had given away how concerned I was.
"Where are they?" Cole muttered impatiently as he set himself down at the table, huffing at Rowan as he studied his new mark. It was swollen and looked somewhat painful. However, werewolves healed quickly, and I knew that by the morning, Cole's gash would have scarred over nicely.
Rowan didn't comment, especially since I noticed his eyes travel to my own neck, causing Cole to release a loud warning growl, letting him know that he was crossing a boundary by being so nosy. My hair was covering the side of my neck though, which I was thankful for.
I didn't want Rowan thinking that I hadn't allowed Cole to place a mark upon me. I didn't want him to think of me as someone who was wanting to keep their options open, because that was far from the truth.
The air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife, and I tapped my fingers against the mahogany wood impatiently as all three of us stared at each other awkwardly. Thankfully, after only two minutes or so, the front door rattled, and I hopped out of my chair to make my way over to it.
Cole was quickly behind me, clearly not liking that I was putting myself in what could be seen as a vulnerable position. Anthony's outburst earlier was unexpected and he didn't seem to trust him.
I ignored him though, opening it up and smiling as I was met with a blank looking Anthony, Amber small by his side. She appeared nervous, but not as frightened or petrified as I had expected her to be, and Cole and I both stepped aside to let them inside.
"Sit anywhere you want," Anthony told Amber as he pointed to the table, allowing his little sister to choose her chair before sitting down in the one next to her. She gazed up at her brother with curious eyes, her face looking slightly red and splotchy from nerves.
"Okay," Rowan spoke, opening up his notebook and jotting down a few notes already, causing me to narrow my eyes at him. That wasn't intimidating at all.
"Let's begin," spoke Cole as he cleared his throat, glancing down at his own paperwork briefly. "Amber, do you know why you and Anthony are here today?"
•••
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