Page 91 of Forever Mine

I had battled these hives for as long as I could remember. Jacob had had every allergy test he could think of run on me, and nothing. They always came back fine. I wasn’t allergic to anything as far as the tests showed, yet I would still get these awful hives requiring massive doses of Benadryl to cure. It always knocked me out and I hated the groggy feeling I'd wake to.

"Oh no," Oscar said sadly, walking towards me hand in hand with my handsome husband. "Looks like we won't be going to the movies after all."

"What are you talking about? Of course we are," Liam assured him.

"No. Look. Mommy's having the allergies again," he informed him. "Mommy, want me to get your medicine?" Then he turned to Liam to fill him in. "The medicine makes the itchies go away, but it always puts her to sleep for a really long time.

Liam watched me curiously "Sweetheart, how often do you get these, uh, itchies?"

I sighed. "At least once a month, sometimes more. They've been happening a lot since we got here."

He closed his eyes and looked like he was biting back a smile. "And do you know what triggers them?"

"No. It's suspected to be a food allergy, but we've never been able to determine exactly what. All the tests come back clear." It was the truth.

"And how long has this been happening?"

"Nearly as long as I can remember. It worsened after Oscar was born. Annie says that's normal, that pregnancy can trigger heightened allergies."

"Uh-huh, okay, well for today, let's pretend that's not the case and try something new. Oscar, no meds for Mommy."

"But Daddy, you don't understand. It gets really bad and she's miserable without them. The faster she gets them, the easier it is."

"Sometimes life isn't meant to be easy, kid. Can you just trust me on this?"

"Liam, this really isn't the time. It's getting bad." He was starting to irritate me. I knew he hated human medicine, and I understood he wanted me off everything Annie had ever prescribed, but this was different.

I got up and headed to the door, intent on getting the pills myself. I had to stop in the doorway and use it to scratch my back again. It wasn't helping at all. This time it was coming on fast and felt worse than usual.

Liam laughed. He actually stood there laughing at me, grinning from ear to ear, like it was the greatest moment of his life watching me suffer.

"Sweetie, I just need you to trust me. It's going to be okay, I promise. Here," he said, walking over and picking me up. "Just try not to scratch. It doesn't help anything at all."

"That's easy for you to say, you aren't the one broken out in hives from head to toe, feeling like you're being eaten alive by a swarm of mosquitoes or something."

He carried me out into the yard and set me down in the grass.

"Great," I said, starting to get pissed. "Grass is one of the biggest allergy triggers for most people. Even those without the actual allergy are often highly sensitive to it. Are you trying to make things worse?"

I couldn't help it, I was sitting on the grass, so I lay out flat and wiggled around on my back, just praying for some relief from all the itching. To make matters even worse, all it did was make Oscar join in on the laughing.

"Just laugh it up. I'm so happy to entertain the both of you."

"No meds, bud, no matter how much she begs. Just trust me, this is perfectly normal."

"There's nothing normal about this, you jackass. Oscar. . ."

"No!" Liam cut me off with a command, using some of that Alpha crap he'd started channeling when we met. It had helped a lot during several panic attacks, but right now it was just making me angry. How dare he.

He stood there looking at me, then kneeled down and gave me a quick kiss with an evil glint in his eye. "Trust me, Maddie. I love you. It's going to be okay. Better than okay, even."

He rose and began stripping his clothes off.

"Liam!" I scolded. Oscar was right there, and I definitely wasn't in the mood. What was he thinking? I swore he'd lost his freaking mind. It didn't even dawn on me what he was really doing until his beautiful white wolf stood before me.

"Oscar, I don't know what he's up to, but do Mommy a favor and go get the Benadryl."

The wolf growled and snarled at Oscar. My son wasn't intimidated in the least, but I jumped to my feet, towering over him. "Have you lost your mind? You did not just growl at our son!"

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