I floated out of the best sleep I'd had in months. With the stress of the secret gone, not to mention the comfort of being held by my mate, I'd been able to lose myself and allow my body to truly rest.
Sunlight flickered across my face, and my pillow heated under my cheek. I smiled and snuggled deeper under the covers. This new day held all sorts of promises, and it would only get better now that he knew about our baby. If my dreams were any indication of our future, I'd have a lot to smile about in the coming days.
Sparks flew over my skin as Lucas brushed his knuckles along my spine. His chest rumbled as he purred 'good morning' in his husky morning voice. After a kiss on my forehead, he tightened his hold around me. We laid there for several minutes before I opened my eyes.
Two chocolate brown eyes stared back at me, the light shining out of them reaching the deepest parts of my being. Even my wolf purred at the feelings he was stirring up in me. Once more, he'd found a way to make everything else fade away.
His smile lit up his eyes even more. "How's my precious baby momma this morning?"
I grinned and snuggled closer into his side. "I am quite well...not that everything is out in the open and you know my little secret. I wasn't going to tell anyone else before you, so I've been swallowing any pushback when someone looks at me like they question my position as mate to a lycan. It's hard to understand why they still do."
"You forget, my dear, that you are also a lycan now. And why would you..." He paused and propped himself up on one elbow, now hovering over me. "How long have you known?"
Oh, he was going to roast me for this. The general busyness of the past few weeks had complicated a great many things. What I did and did not tell my mate had fallen on the lower end of my to-do list. Then again, how long I had known and how long I had suspected were two different things. Maybe he could hang on to that.
"Known for certain?" I clarified. "...about two and a half weeks? Suspected... about five."
He stared down at me for a long minute. "You've known for nearly a month, and didn't tell me?"
"With everything that's happened lately, when was I supposed to tell you?" I huffed. "I wanted the moment to be special, but the time never happened. You've been away, and I've been busy in your absence. I sometimes wonder when you'd be back if Kellen hadn't called you."
My sudden outburst shocked both of us. I swallowed any other insults that might pop out of my mouth. Lucas also swallowed, but for other reasons.
"Lucas, I'm sorry," I whimpered, feeling my wolf retreating. "I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he whispered, brushing my cheeks with his thumbs. "You're right. I'm sorry that I've been away so much recently. It was never my intention to ignore or neglect you. I could never do that."
I traced his jawline with my fingertip. "We are quite the pair, aren't we? If we aren't sucking each other's faces off, we're bickering about something petty. If we aren't taking on the world, we're drowning in daily life. Sometimes I wonder what the moon goddess was thinking when she paired the two of us."
Lucas lowered himself from his elbow and nestled his face against my neck. His warm breath sent tingles through my whole body, but I stifled the happy moan that rose in my throat. This was not the time for flirty or sexual advances.
He placed a warm hand on my abdomen—acknowledging our pup—and kissed his mark on my neck. I jumped at the contact but didn't push him away.
"I think," he mumbled against my skin, "that the moon goddess knew that I'd need an angel to redeem me. So she sent me the only angel on earth."
"How poetic," I mused. "Why do I feel it's a rare treat?"
He pulled back to meet my gaze. "While you are carrying our pup, I shall be as poetic as you like. You deserve every kindness in the world."
"The flattery!" I gushed, ruffling his hair. "Who are you, and what have you done with my mate?"
He chuckled deep in his chest, the sound filling my heart with more joy than I knew what to do with. He looked down at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. Those brown eyes glittered with a thousand emotions. I knew that I could lose myself in those eyes if I didn't take care.
"What do you have planned for today, my love?" he rumbled, briefly kissing my cheek.
I yawned my answer. "I was thinking of possibly doing some baking and—"
My stomach lurched, cutting off the rest of my thought. I squirmed away and swung my feet to the floor. Pressing a hand to my stomach and one over my mouth, I swallowed and waited for the unpleasantness to pass.
The bed dipped behind me and heat poured across my back as Lucas moved closer.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" His voice dripped with concern. "Are you ill?"
I nodded as my roiling stomach surged again. I shook Lucas's hand off my shoulder and bolted into the bathroom. I'd barely dropped to my knees and thrown back the toilet lid before my stomach heaved up last night's dinner. The nasty stuff burned in my throat and looked so disgusting that I nearly threw up again.
After several exhausting minutes, I sat back on my heels and closed the toilet lid before flushing. As the nastiness washed away, I rested my head on the toilet and focused on breathing. My whole body quivered, and I couldn't find the strength to stand. There was definitely no doubt about my pregnancy now. This severe flair of morning sickness confirmed it. I was wondering when it would happen.
"Babe, are you all right?" Lucas shuffled into the bathroom and filled a cup from the sink. Crouching next to me, he rubbed my back and held the cup until I was ready to take it.
I drew a deep breath and sat up a bit. With a hand still on the toilet, I took the cup and sipped down half of its contents. I swished it around my mouth and spit it into the toilet.
"What can I do?" Lucas whispered, continuing to rub my back. "What can I do to help you feel better? My wolf really doesn't like seeing you sick."
"I think... I think I need to curl up and rest for a bit." I sipped the rest of the water and set the cup on the floor. "Ugh, that was awful. Lucky me; I get to look forward to that for the next month. You'd think that being a super alpha would eliminate this part."
"Would you like me to stay with you? We could stay in bed or set up on the couch in the living room. What would you like to do?"
I shuffled to my feet, gripping his arm for support. "Don't you have meetings and stuff today?"
He scooped me up bridal style. "...not if there's something more important. There's nothing on my schedule that can't be pushed to a later date."
"I don't want to mess up your schedule," I whimpered. "We have a lot going on right now. I'll be okay with a blanket and a cup of tea."
"You're not messing up my schedule," he countered, carrying me back into the bedroom and tucking me under the comforter. "I am delighted to take care of you and our baby. I'd much rather stay here and hold you than go into the office and deal with all that boring stuff."
I rolled onto my side, drew my knees up to my chest, and curled into a ball. The position eased a bit of my discomfort, so I stayed there. Hopefully I'd feel better by lunchtime and he could still get work done.
"Thank you for staying with me, Lucas. I appreciate it."
He smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to my temple. "I will always be here for you. Now, you make yourself comfortable while I go make you some tea."
I hugged his pillow once he left the room. Sooner or later, the morning sickness would stop and I could function. The tiny seed of a person in my womb would continue to grow and develop, and I would love my baby more every day. Okay, our baby.
Lucas shuffled back into the room with a tray. "I didn't know what kind of tea you wanted, so I grabbed everything. I also brought sugar and honey and milk. Did I miss anything?"
"Oh gosh..." I pushed myself upright as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I think you got everything I might need. Thank you."
He poured hot water into my mug while I picked through the small mountain of tea boxes. He really had grabbed everything. With my love of tea, there were plenty of options. Anything with caffeine was a no-go. I finally chose chamomile and dropped the tea bag into the hot water.
Lucas settled next to me and wrapped a warm arm around my shoulders. "We'll have you less nauseous in no time. You just sit here, and I'll distract you."
I added some honey to my cup and nestled my cheek on his shoulder. "...distract me with what?"
"I was thinking it through. You're the heiress-descendant of a powerful alpha bloodline. I am a lycan. Together, we are the most powerful couple on the continent. Can you imagine what sort of power our child will have?" He laid his palm over my currently flat stomach. His natural body heat seeped into my skin and calmed my nausea some.
"I'm sure my parents thought the same thing," I mused. "Quite honestly, I don't understand all of the fuss over power. We still don't know the extent of my own strength, and you have heightened everything."
"I suppose you're right." He kissed my temple. "In the end, we still submit to a higher authority. The king and moon goddess will always be above us."
I fished my teabag out and set it on the tray. The tea had cooled to the perfect drinking temperature. Warmth flooded my veins as I cradled the mug and let the steam dampen my face.
"What if we took a trip?" Lucas proposed out of nowhere. "We never had a chance to take a— what do the humans call it?—a honeymoon after we found each other. With everything going on, I think it's high time we spent some extended time together."
"Where would we go?" I looked up at him, a bit of excitement fluttering in my chest. "How long would we be gone?"
He grinned. "How long would you like to be gone?"
"At least a couple weeks," I suggested, taking a long drink of tea. "...long enough to wholly disengage from life here."
"I was thinking a couple months." He leaned his head back against the headboard. "We can visit some of my extended family in Europe, or maybe the ones in Greece. We could rent a villa or stay at a resort. Honestly, we could do it all."
"You're serious about this." I set my mug on the nightstand and crawled onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I straddled him.
"We could really go somewhere?" I squealed. "You'd drop everything and whisk me away for a month?"
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine for a soul-touching kiss. My whole body sighed in happiness. When he teased for access into my mouth, I gave him whatever he wanted. He growled deep in his throat as our kiss deepened and his tongue stroked mine.
When he finally eased back, adding one last peck, his eyes sparkled.
"For you," he whispered, "I'd do anything."