A handful of Luna's had been given permission to take over the kitchen the next day. I was taking my second attempt at macarons. Brantley was helping me because he didn't want to do what the other ladies were trying. He also explained that he felt a little more comfortable now that another submissive male was in the group.
"So when you're making meringue, you need to slowly add the sugar in or else the liquid, the sugar will make it to where you cannot get it to peak because it'll be runny. In the words of my mom, we need to 'Beat the shit out of it.'" I laughed, swirling the mixer in the bowl filled with egg whites.
"Kind of like you did with that one, Alpha?" Brantley snickered, slowly adding the sugar mixture in.
"Exactly how I did with that one Alpha." I chuckled. We continued throwing jabs at Ethan as we prepared the cookie part of the macrons. "Now we gotta throw down on the pan, like imagine slamming it down on some of these big-headed Alpha's. Gotta get the air bubbles out." I slammed the baking sheet down on the counter. Brantley did the same with his sheet of cookies, drawing attention to us. Once I was satisfied with them, we waited until the film covered the cookies, then we put them inside the oven and set the timer.
"I hope they turn out well," Brantley explained, wiping down the area we had used. I grabbed the mixing bowls we had used, putting them in the sink. I grabbed another mixing bowl and ingredients to make the icing.
"I think they will; my first attempt wasn't a complete flop, I just made the icing too sweet, and we didn't bake them long enough. So I think we have a ninety-five percent chance of them being good." I clapped my hands.
Halfway through making the icing, the most goddess awful smell filled the large kitchen. "Woah, hey August, are you alright?" Brantley asked. "You're practically green right now." The submissive rubbed my back.
"You don't smell that?" I asked, talking was a mistake. I gagged, running to the closest bin, vomiting my lunch.
"Are you alright?" I clenched onto the trash can, throwing up again. "Hey, get him some water, don't just stand there," Amelia demanded, rubbing my back.
Once I was finished, I pushed myself up, wiping the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. "You don't smell that?" I asked, pointing in the direction of the terrible smell.
"I don't smell anything wrong, August," Brantley handed me a glass of water. I grabbed it with both hands, I gulped in a mouthful of water and swished it around my mouth, trying to get the vomit taste out of my mouth. I spat the water out in the sink. "Are you sure you're alright, do you need to go lay down? I can walk you to your room." He gently put his hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head, knowing I would just have to tough it out. "I'll be fine, just let me wash my hands, and we can finish baking," I explained, my eyes began to water at the smell. It was still overpowering, and I wanted to get away from it as soon as possible. I let my eyes wander around the room. I noticed a few Luna's balling up meat where the wretched smell came from; I lifted a shaky hand and pointed to them. "That's the smell; the meat is rotten."
"August, that meat is fresh, are you sure you're alright? Why don't we get a chair for you to sit in?" Amelia asked.
"No, I'm fine; maybe I'm just stressed out," I sipped on the water. "Or maybe I just smelled something else." I tried to reason with myself, it wasn't working too well.
"Uh, huh," Brantley didn't seem convinced. "I'm going to take August up to his room so he can brush his teeth." He grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the kitchen.
He took me towards the rooms where we were assigned to. He walked past my room and took me to his and Aasira's room. The bed was neatly made, their night outfits for tonight's celebration were laid out on the duvet. He went into the ensuite bathroom and came back with a wrapped stick.
"Here, take this." He motioned for me to grab the item in his hand.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to figure out what it was.
"Open it up, you'll know what it is." He explained. I unwrapped the plastic, and my mouth dropped. "Now hurry it up." Brantley pointed to the bathroom.
"I- what?" I stood wide-eyed.
"We carry those around because Aas and I have been trying for a little bit, trust me I'm pretty positive you're pregnant, but it'll feel a little more solid if you take the test. Not too often do Wolves throw up at the stench of meat unless they're pregnant." He sat in the chair in the corner of the room with his arms crossed.
I was shocked. How stupid could I be? I've just been putting things off as if I were exhausted because of the workload put on my shoulders, becoming Luna of our pack. I never once thought about being pregnant, not like we were really doing anything to prevent it, but the fluttering in my chest made me feel a rush of emotions.
Excitement outweighed everything else, the little stick was sitting on the vanity in the bathroom, I was pacing in and out of the room, waiting for the results to pop up on the test. Brantley set a timer on his phone, and when the timer went off, my chest fluttered again. I picked up the stick, reading out that I was indeed pregnant.
"Oh, goddess, I'm pregnant!" I exclaimed, holding the test for Brantley to see.
"Congratulations!" He smiled. "Now spread that to my wife, she would be glad to have a pup soon." Brantley chuckled.
"How am I going to tell Alexandre? Oh, shit, do you think he's going to be happy?" I asked, "Of course, he's going to be happy, as long as I'm healthy." I answered my own question. "He won't let me out of his sight once I tell him." I rambled on, mindlessly rubbing my flat stomach where my baby was located.
That reminded me, yesterday, I had been hit in the side, and my stomach knotted up. I hoped that the baby was alright. I don't think I could wait until we were home to let Alexandre know the news.
"You just got pale all of a sudden, August, are you going to upchuck again?" He asked.
"No, no, I'm alright, I just remembered what happened yesterday, and I'm hoping everything is alright with the baby. When that Alpha knocked me in the side, my stomach was in a knot all day long yesterday." I swallowed.
"Why don't we take you to the pack healer?" Brantley asked.
"I want to go with Alexandre... How long was their meeting supposed to go on for?" I asked, forgetting the time Alexandre had explained to me that the meeting would be over. Brantley looked on his phone for the time and told me there was another hour left of the meeting.
"Maybe we can get your mind off of it by letting you actually brush your teeth. Then we can fix the Macrons?" Brantley explained.
An hour had passed by quickly, and we had finished our macrons. They weren't perfect, but for a second time, they were pretty well done. Alpha's began to flood the room to see what their mates were doing. I excitedly waited for my mate to enter the large kitchen. I was shaking with excitement, Brantley only leaned his back against the counter smirking.
"He's gonna know something is up if you don't stop bouncing on your toes, August." Brantley chuckled, shaking his head.
"I can't help it," I squeaked. "I've kept this information to myself for over an hour; any longer, I think my head might explode." I shook my hands, trying to calm my nerves. When no one else entered the room after a while, I began to get worried.
"Where are they?" Brantley asked, looking around to see if he could see his mate in the now crowded room. The excitement I held quickly died down.
I started taking notice of the Alphas in the room. Some were bruised up as if they had been fighting.
"Xandre?" I linked to him, worry evident in my tone.
"Hm?" He responded.
"Where are you? I've been waiting for you." I began to bite my fingernails.
"I'm in the infirmary, I got challenged by a few Alpha's, nothing too bad they had more damage than I did." He reassured me.
"Is it alright if I come to you?" I asked, wanting to be with my mate.
"I'm almost done, love, don't worry, Aasira and I will be there in a few minutes. I cannot wait to taste what you've baked." I could feel the smile in his tone; it made me calm down a little more.
"Aas said that they're almost done in the infirmary, and they'll be on their way. She said Alexandre and her had gotten challenged as well as a few others. She kept on saying that your mate is a monster." Brantley chuckled. "She said twenty-five Alpha's challenged him, and none were left standing."
"He trained a lot before we were even together when we started dating, he started training extra hours. He wanted to make sure I didn't have to worry about anything if we so happened to be mates." I smiled, resting my hand on my stomach on instinct.
"Every moment of it was worth it," Alexandre whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist. I was so distracted by talking with Brantley that I didn't notice him walk into the kitchen. He pressed his lips to my temple, squeezing me to him tighter.
"Remind me not to fuck with Alexandre, he was an absolute monster. I thought only a few would challenge him, but they flocked to him like a fly to a pile of shit." Aasira explained. "They didn't even bother challenging Abram, they went straight for second."
"Hm, I'm younger than Abram. 'Less experience' or just because of August." He took in my scent.
"Mostly, because of August, no one ever challenged your father in the past few years. He was said to be untouchable, along with Abram's father. I wonder why it transferred down to Abram and not you." Aasira explained, wrapping her arms around Brantley. His cheeks flushed red, and he tucked himself into Aasira's chest. "Well, I mean, I don't think anyone's going to try it again with you. There would have been more had your mate not obliterated so many. They were so quick to tuck their tails and challenge someone else beneath him." She chuckled.
"Hey Aas, do you want to try the macrons that August and I made?" He asked, holding up the plate of them.
"Of course, I'm starved after all of that fighting." She grabbed one, taking a bite out of the pastry cookie.
"Um, Alexandre, is there somewhere where we can talk in private?" I asked, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Sure little one, let me snag one of the macarons, then we can go shower." He plucked one of the macrons off of the plate.
We walked to our room, every step made me feel like a big jumble of nerves. I couldn't wait to see my mate's reaction. I was nervous and didn't know how to even tell him that we had a pup on the way.
When we had gotten to our room, Alexandre began getting undressed for a shower. "Hey Xandre, before we get a shower, can I talk to you?" I asked.
Alexandre turned to me with concern written on his face, and he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Is everything alright, love?" He asked, holding his hands out for mine. I grabbed them and smiled.
I had finally built up the courage to tell him.
A/N: Yeah you were right.
But did you read between the lines, more foreshadowing this chapter.