Page 46 of Impregnated By the Alpha

“Well, do you think you could be done cleaning for the day?” she asked.

“Depends,” I answered. “What did you have in mind?”

“You don’t want me to ruin the surprise, do you?”

Violet was being playful, but there was an undertone to what she was saying. I couldn’t quite place it, but the closest I could get was that she sounded nervous.

Why would she be nervous?Wick asked.

I don’t think we’re going to find out unless we go with her,I pointed out.

“No, you don’t need to tell me. I’d follow you anywhere, Vi,” I told her.

She smiled at my nickname for her, and I realized that I had been calling her that a lot lately. And she hadn’t even yelled at me for it since the first time I saw her, the day of our mating ceremony.

“Let’s go then, slowpoke,” she said, grabbing my hand.

Violet had parked her car outside, so I opened the driver’s side door for her before getting into the passenger seat. She didn’t give me any clues about where we were going to go, and I wondered if she wanted to go for another run in the forest or if she had another location in mind.

Instead, she pulled out of Pinedale and headed toward a place I hadn’t been for years. The cemetery. Of all the places she could have gone, this was what I’d least expected.

“Kind of a depressing place for a date, don’t you think, Violet? What are we doing here?” I asked as she parked the car.

“Just get out and follow me,” she replied mysteriously.

I sighed but did as she’d asked.

Violet walked a familiar path and ended at my late wife’s grave. She knelt next to the headstone and patted the grass next to her, indicating that I should sit with her.

“This isn’t a date. It’s an intervention,” I surmised, remaining on my feet.

“It’s not an intervention, it’s a conversation,” Violet argued. “One that I think we need to have. Will you please sit down?”

I sighed and sat down beside her, crossing my legs and leaning against my knees.

“We’ve already talked about Jana,” I reminded her. “I don’t have anything more to say.”

“We both know that isn’t true. Ever since we found out that I’m carrying your child, you have been on edge, worried about every little thing I do and whether I’m going to get hurt. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why you feel that way. I’d like it if we could talk about it.”

I took a steadying breath, knowing that this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with her—or anyone, for that matter. Losing Jana had been traumatic. Though she wasn’t my soul mate, she’d still been my wife. We had a family and a life together, and her death had changed everything for me. Instead of raising my daughter with a partner to share the good and bad times with, I had been forced to handle it alone.

And that was just the logistical side of my loss. Watching the woman I had shared my life and future with succumb to a violent death had been almost more than I could bear. And it certainly wasn’t something I ever wanted to relive.

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” I admitted, giving Violet a half-truth about my reluctance.

“You can start wherever you want,” Violet said, taking my hand. “I’m here for you, and I want to know how to help you move forward.”

“I can’t,” I said apologetically.

“You can’t move forward, or you can’t talk about it?”

I shrugged, feeling at a loss. Having this conversation was important to her, and I knew why. My hovering had been increasing the farther along in the pregnancy she got, but I was at a loss for how to address it.

“Maybe I should go for a walk,” Violet said. She got to her feet and brushed the grass and dirt from her pants. “You can stay here and process what you’re feeling. If you have something you can share with me when I come back, I think it will help us. But if you don’t, then that’s okay, too.”

She had begun to walk away when I got to my feet quickly.

“Violet, wait,” I said, catching her hand. “Don’t go.”

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