Page 48 of Warwick

I shrugged. If he wanted it cluttered, I’d happily fill every available space. “Then what would you like to do today?” I glanced outside. It was snowing again. But we were supposed to be getting snow this weekend. It was the beginning of November. That happened in the mountains in Montana in November.

“I’m happy to see if I can still shift and then go for a walk with you. I know your beast likes to spend time with my bear. But we don’t have to go visit family. They will be around enough once the babies come.”

Cecil placed his hand on his stomach, drawing my eyes downward. He didn’t look overly pregnant. While dressed, you absolutely couldn’t tell. His stomach area was thicker than it had been before. I could tell he was certainly showing when he was naked, but a loose shirt easily hid it from others.

“He does,” I said. “But I’m just as happy to spend the day here at the house with you.” We were interrupted by my phone ringing. It was across the kitchen on the counter, so I used magic to bring it to me. When I saw Master Edison’s name on the screen, I was immediately concerned.

“Hello.” I thought about putting it on speakerphone, but I wasn’t sure if the call was work related or not.

“Warwick, good morning. I was wondering if you and Cecil could come to the omega clinic this morning. There has been some news that should be shared in person.” Immediately, I was concerned.

“Of course. Is there a specific time we should be there?” Cecil was looking at me, his eyes round. I was certain he could hear every word being spoken. I picked up on his worry through our bond, and I knew that before we were able to do anything else today, we would have to go and find out what had been discovered.

“There is no rush. There is also no need for alarm. It’s just that I’ve heard from the goddess, and she was quite informative when it comes to all things hellhound-baby pregnancies. Whenever you and Cecil have a free moment this morning, Dr. King will be available.”

Cecil was nodding. “Yes, of course. We’ll finish our breakfast and then be over.”

“Very good. I’ll see the two of you then. Enjoy your breakfast.”

“Thank you, Master Edison.”

The call ended, and I looked at Cecil, who was suddenly worried. I reached for his hand, hoping to soothe his worry. “It’ll be all right. If there was a reason to be concerned, Master Edison wouldn’t be asking us to go to the omega clinic. I’ve seen instances where he simply popped in somewhere. That isn’t the case here, so I don’t feel there is any need to worry.” I ran my thumb over the inside of Cecil’s wrist, wondering if it was doing anything to reassure him. He pushed his plate away, and I wanted to growl at the created warlock for interrupting our breakfast.

In all fairness, we were up later than we normally would be. We were having breakfast about an hour after I normally would have been at work. Cecil as well, most likely.

“Just like that, you’re finished?”

“I couldn’t eat another bite, Warwick. I want to know everything I can about having hellhound babies. Why can’t he tell us over the phone? Why not just come here and let us know? I’m ready to go now.”

I nodded. We had made a good dent in the food I’d made, and after I used magic to clean up the mess, I stood and helped Cecil to his feet. “Did you want to walk or go with magic?”

Cecil hesitated a moment. “Can we walk? I’d like to get some fresh air, and maybe it will help calm my nerves some.”

“We can certainly walk. I’ll get the coats, and then we can go.”

Cecil nodded. I walked to the front closet by the door, but I was surprised when Cecil went back upstairs. I stopped him halfway up.

“Did you forget something?”

Cecil turned, grabbed the railing, and held out his foot. When he was wiggling it, I realized he was still barefoot.

“I think that you’d probably want me to put on boots or something. I probably want that too. I know I can walk in snow for a little bit, but from here to work is probably too much.”

I crooked my finger, calling my mate back to me. He grinned, and by the third step down, he was now wearing warm socks and his hiking boots, which I knew he didn’t mind if they got covered in snow or mud. I didn’t think we’d encounter either. Master Edison had made the walkways to where they were always clear.

I held out Cecil’s coat, and when he turned around, I helped him slip his arms into the sleeves. I wrapped my arms around him, leaning down and kissing his cheek. “No matter what they say, I’m proud to have you as my mate and the daddy of my children.”

Cecil looked at me, his eyes a bit wet. “You need to stop with the sweet words.” Cecil wiped his eyes. “Not really. I love them and that you are so free with telling me how you feel. But I’m emotional, and you’ve made me tear up twice this morning already.”

I kissed his nose. “I’m sorry. Truly. I’m only trying to make sure you know how I feel. I don’t wish for you to ever wonder about my affections toward you.” I knew many others thought I was just a grump. And around them, I probably was. I didn’t mind being on assignments with them, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to spend all of my free time with them after work. Cecil though, that was a different story.

“I know, and you know it means everything to me that you do.” Cecil wiped at his eyes again. “Okay, we have to go, or I feel that I’m going to start full-out crying.” Cecil took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I grabbed my leather jacket, and after I had it on, I opened the front door for my mate. We stepped out into the gently falling snow, and Cecil smiled as he looked upward. I knew as a polar bear shifter, his bear loved to play in the snow. I hoped he got to do that soon enough. We had a lot to get done before the babies were due, but we had time.

“Still want to walk?” I asked.

“It might be better to go your way. I’m afraid that if we walk at my pace, we’ll be completely covered by the time we get there. I didn’t realize it was snowing this hard.” His hair was already partially covered in flakes.

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