Page 33 of Bullied Pregnant Mate

After a quick shower and several deep breaths, I found Lucas sitting at the island with a plate of eggs next to my coffee. I slid into my chair, and he glanced at me, taking a sip of his coffee.

"You working tonight?" I asked, hoping we could just ignore my emotions from moments ago.

Lucas stared at me for a moment before he shook his head. "No, I'm home tonight. We can go out for dinner. What are your plans today?"

I thought about what was going on in the house. Things were moving along rather well. I wasn't going to be staying at the house for a while, but it was nice to see things happening.

"They stripped the kitchen, so that's nice. They finished all the electrical work now so that we can move on to walls and grouting. I have them stripping the walls in each of the rooms, and I asked them to tear down the wall from the kitchen and the living room to give it an open view."

He nodded his head, taking another sip of his coffee.

"And because of the rewiring, they had to remove some walls, so hopefully, they will fix those up. I hate to have to give up all the rooms or change the house's layout."

"Sounds like it's coming along."

I smiled eagerly. "It is. It's a bit of a mess, but you could always come down and see it."

"Sure. Do you need any help with anything else?"

I froze. As much as I'd trusted him, I didn't want him involved in this. A part of me was afraid of everything falling apart, and if he had helped me with the house, I couldn't say I had done that on my own.

I didn't want to owe Lucas more than I already did. I was living in his house and somehow needed to repay him for that. I couldn't imagine having him help with the house and then having to think of how to even the ground.

"No, but you're more than welcome to come see the changes that have happened."

After breakfast, I headed to the house. I met with Charlie, who was the owner of Charlie's flooring and wall. He was a wonderful contractor that I'd hired to help with everything. He'd done nothing but perfect work and always given me an honest opinion I needed. If I had an idea and he didn't think it would work, he'd let me know.

"Morning, Charlie," I said, stopping in the doorway as he stood looking over the plans he had on a table. Charlie was about fifty years old, with salt and pepper hair that he always had tucked under a hat. He was a bit bigger, but most of it was muscle.

He looked up from his plans and gave me a nod. Charlie wasn't a huge talker, and I think I liked that most about him. "Morning, Gina. We are putting up the walls upstairs we took down, and we took down the wall to the kitchen."

My eyes widened, and I moved, hurrying into the living room. Sure enough, the wall was gone. It was just a wide, openspace with windows all around. I smiled, suddenly picturing it when it came together. It was exactly as I envisioned it to look.

"It was a good idea," Charlie said, walking in after me. "Really lets you view the woods on all sides."

"It's amazing," I said.

"It might be a good idea to wear a mask if you're going to be here today, though," Charlie added. "With the plastering, the drilling and sanding…"

I shook my head. "It's no problem. I'm going to be out in the garden anyway." I had been wanting to get to it since I arrived, and finally, I had the time to do it. "I'll be out back if you guys need anything."

I slid outside and found the gardening tools I purchased the other day. I slid my gloves on and headed around the corner with my huge clippers.

I didn't know how to plan a house or which flooring looked best with a certain trim, but I knew plants and how to piece a garden together.

I started at the small trees and then the bushes, trying to clear them up. I ripped out the weed and started opening bags of bulbs that I had purchased.

I dug and planted each bulb accordingly. Then, I started putting in some different perennial plants and flowers. I was sweating when I got to the last part of the garden.

I was just about to shove the shovel back into the ground when a chill ran down my spine.

All the hairs on my body rose, and my wolf growled. I turned around, staring at the woods, finding nothing, not even a shadow. But my wolf continued to growl, and my stomach clenched up. Something was off.

I swallowed, feeling a coldness fall over me like someone was watching me. I didn't like it.

What is it? I asked my wolf.

She didn't know, but she was on edge, and I stood uneasy. I was tempted to call Charlie out, but what would he do? He was one of the few people here that was human. He wasn't a shifter, so if something happened, he was going to be able to stop anything.

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