Page 86 of Wicching Hour

I heard my name shouted.

You should go, Dad said.He’s afraid something’s happened to you. Use your earrings tonight. Let me know what’s going on. And practice so you don’t drop your shadow when you’re distracted or frightened.

I will. Thanks, Dad.I kicked off and swam up, surfacing beside Declan.

Eyes wild, he grabbed onto me. “You disappeared.”

“I did. I’ll explain later.” Wrapping my arms around his neck, I whispered in his ear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” he whispered back, working harder to stay afloat than I had to.

“Dad said I was pregnant and that you knew.” Was this the most important thing to be discussing right now? Actually, yes. It was. I’d deal with the sorcerer and the stalker and whatever else got thrown at me. A baby, though, was life-altering and forever.

Could I do this on my own? Yes. I wasn’t struggling. I wasn’t a teen being preyed upon by a family member or an older neighbor. I was a successful adult who owned my own business. I made good money and worked from home. Did I want Declan in his child’s life? Also yes, but I didn’t want it to come from a place of guilt and sacrifice.

He pulled back to look in my eyes, his large hand cradling my midsection. “Are you sure?”

I saw wonder and joy in his expression, and a tight, scared knot in my chest began to ease. “Dad says so, but I’ll do a test. He says she’s just a little ball of cells right now, but he believes she’ll be a girl.”

His gaze went glassy with sudden tears. “One of those guest rooms will need to be a nursery.” He hugged me tight. “And I need to start designing a crib.”

“Dad said you and Bracken knew.”

He leaned back to look at me again and shook his head. “No. I wondered but was afraid to get too happy about it. You weren’t acting like yourself. Your scent has changed, subtly so, but that could have been new hair stuff or soap. When you said you thought Cal had found a way in to mess with you, my heart cracked a little.

“We’ve never discussed children,” he continued. “I had no idea if you even wanted them, given everything you’ve gone through in life. What if we have another little seer?”

I laughed, suddenly ready to burst. “Well, at least she’ll have a mom who knows what’s happening and how to navigate. I can teach her all the things I had to figure out on my own.”

He kissed me and I gave into the moment of joy. We’d be plotting and planning soon enough. We needed this now.

Wilbur nudged me again. I broke from Declan on a laugh. “Okay. We’re going.” He booped my stomach and I petted his head. I had a feeling the ocean would be quite protective of me for the next nine months. Wait.

“How long are wolves pregnant?”

Declan’s brow creased. “Natural wolves are pregnant for roughly two and a half months. Why?”

“Hmm, wicches are the typical human nine. I have no idea what the fae term is. I need to ask my mom if her pregnancy with me was normal.” Wilbur bumped me again. “Okay. Okay. Later. Sorcerer and stalker now.”

We swam to the rope. Declan took my arms, moved me to his back, and linked my arms around his neck. “Hold on.” He climbed it quickly and we were back on the deck.

Jake and Tyler, who had probably heard our whole conversation, even with the whispering and the sound of the waves, were on either end of the deck, looking out toward the road. Bracken sat beside Hernández.

“There,” he said. “She’s right as rain. No need to worry. Little Arwyn has always been safe in or near the ocean.”

Hernández’s naturally tanned skin was looking a little green. “I was watching the water and I kept unconsciously holding my breath, waiting for you to surface.” She shook her head. “I didn’t realize I had a drowning phobia.”

“I’m sorry but I really am fine,” I assured her, sitting on her other side. “I don’t think Icandrown. My father even took away the headache I used to get when I went long periods without breathing.” I looked past her at Bracken, who seemed fascinated by this new information. “Dad said he didn’t know I was having that problem, that the headaches were because of my wicche blood.”

Bracken nodded. “Perfectly understandable that he’d resent and blame us. We kept him from his child and children are hard to come by among the fae.”

I gave him a suspicious look at that. Dad had said that Bracken knew too. My great-uncle just smiled serenely and leaned back against the bench.

I held out my hand. “Okay. What have you got for me?”

Declan told Hernández and Bracken to move to another bench, that they were too close and might interfere in my reading. He was such a good assistant.

“It’s a paper coffee cup,” Hernández said. “It was used this morning.”

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