Page 55 of Impregnated By the Alpha

“Is this for Jonah?” Vera’s words were bitter with pain.

Was it? Moira wasn’t certain it was so black and white.

“Partly, if I’m honest. Part of it is that this bakery is here in Silversand, and I want to be a part of helping this town rebuild. I want to help it grow.” She pleaded with Vera to understand.

They’d done everything together, and she knew it pained them both, if in different ways, to find their own ways now. Unnatural, almost. But Vera needed to live her own life. Moira could see now that she’d partially unraveled her sister’s hold on her that Vera was holding herself back in a way. By pouring all her focus onto Moira, she could ignore the pieces her life was missing. Now, maybe she’d be able to find them.

Vera stood abruptly and grabbed her things. “I have to go.”

Her voice was thick, like she was fighting back tears. There was still another thirty minutes before she would normally leave but Moira let her go, knowing her sister needed time to process on her own. Growing pains were never comfortable. She would tell the rest of the pack that evening, but there was someone else she needed to tell first.

Jonah arrived like clockwork at the end of the day, bringing her a decaf mocha like always. The combination of the sweet coffee and his smiling face was the pick-me-up she needed after a long day.

“Jonah,” she began, as they walked toward her apartment. “I am going to leave the Rosewoods. I want to join the Silversands again.”

He stopped short. “Really? I don’t want you to feel pressured. It might not be traditional for the alpha’s mate to belong to a different pack, but they’ll come to accept it.”

Wind whipped at her and her clothes, pushing her toward him, like even the weather conspired to bring them together. If fate and the weather and her own foolish heart wanted it, who was she to stand in its way?

She was tired of fighting what she felt. Tired of holding back from him. Her hands shook with the desire to reach out to him. So she did.

Moira caught him by surprise, crashing into him so that he had to catch her, his strong arms holding her tight. Their kiss was laced with the desperation she felt and it buoyed her so that when she drew back for air, she could say what had been true for longer than she could admit to herself.

“There’s more. I don’t want to be your fake mate anymore.”

He inhaled sharply, hurt. His dark eyes dropped from hers, and she pushed his chin up, forcing him to look at her before she went on.

“Because I love you, Jonah. And I have for a while now.” She paused, waiting for his response. His silence unnerved her, made her doubt herself. “I’m sorry. I know it’s inconvenient and messy and—“

“You are never an inconvenience, Moira. I just didn’t know how to respond to someone saying that all of my dreams had come true at once.” He kissed her then, deeply and slowly, with an intensity that made her knees weak. “I love you.”

His words landed somewhere inside of her, in a place she’d kept locked for so long, and she knew that she would never doubt him again. He was hers, and she was his, and they’d figure out the rest together.

Chapter 19 - Jonah

“Are you nervous?” Jonah asked Moira, feeling his own nerves dance like a hot wire. “I am.”

She wore a simple dress of white lace, and her hair was tied into an elaborate twist on top of her head, encircled by a delicate tiara of seashells. It was, he thought, maybe the best she’d ever looked.

“No,” she answered, taking over the buttoning of his shirt when his fingers shook too much to work them. “We’ve done the work. The hard part is over. All that’s left is to make it official.”

It was the day of their mating ceremony and the day Jonah would be officially titled alpha. Moira had left the Rosewoods the previous week and taken her place among the Silversands, with tearful farewells from Vera and Adria. Since then, she’d been glowing.

He stepped back to inspect his reflection in the mirror. After weeks of work with both packs pitching in, the lighthouse had been restored to its former glory and then some. It was rustic and homey, filled with the aroma of Moira’s baking and Jonah’s cooking. She sat on the edge of their four-poster bed, feet dangling over the thick wool carpet that kept their toes warm on even the coldest nights.

Vera poked her head in from upstairs before descending. “Are you two decent?”

“For now,” Moira said with a wicked grin for Jonah. “Are you finished up there?”

Adria and Evelyn followed behind Vera. Evelyn had started to warm to Jonah after their macabre discovery in her backyard and had even helped repair the lighthouse.

“Now, no peeking,” Adria warned, wagging a finger at the two of them. “The nursery is perfect, but you have to wait until after the ceremony. I don’t want you two distracted from each other.”

Jonah nodded solemnly. The only thing that could distract him from Moira was their baby. She was showing now, at the stage where it became impossible to deny that she was anything but pregnant, and each time he looked at her rounded stomach, his heart swelled. He hadn’t known it could contain so much love.

“Promise.” Moira got to her feet and smoothed her dress down. “Is it time?”

Vera stood on tiptoes to look out the window. “I think so. Looks like everyone is out there. You two ready?”

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