Page 50 of Frederick
I chuckled at the seriousness of his expression. “We would like more, we will be happy with this little fella. I never expected to find Frederick, let alone have a family. Being an only child, and not having a large family to grow up around, always made me desire a large family. Then one and a half centuries went by. Next thing I know, I’m two hundred, and I’ve given up onhaving either. Fate had other plans for me, and I’ll be happy with whatever I’m gifted.”
Drew let out a dreamy sigh. “Just think though. Even if neither of us ever have more than one, they won’t know what it’s like to grow up alone. Your little guy is only going to be a few much younger than Flora. Sure, they’re not siblings, but they’re going to grow up together, and will have a sibling relationship.”
That had not been lost on me at all. More than once, I had thought about that very thing.
Flora started to squirm, and then fuss. “Do you need anything for her?”
“No, Sebastian is on his way home anyway. He reached out to me just now to let me know that his meeting was over, and he would be home within a few minutes.”
“Do you want me to walk you next door? I asked “I could send you over there, as well. The choice is yours.”
“It’s literally next door. If you stand on the front porch and watch me walk over, you can let Frederick and Sebastian know that you saw that I safely made it home.”
I understood why it was that Sebastian was overly cautious with his One. He didn’t want anything to happen to either him or their daughter. It made sense when he was overly protective. I was certain that if I wasn’t it, warlock myself, Frederick would be much the same.
Drew and I got up from where we were relaxing in the back room. By the time we had walked through the house and arrived at the front door, Flora had decided that it was most certainly time for her to be fed. I stepped outside with Drew, and watched as he hurried from our house to his. He waved back to me and then disappeared inside, closing out the cold.
I returned inside, wondering if Frederick would be home soon or not. They weren’t always in the same meetings, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to return home at a much differenttime than anyone else. Sometimes he was later, but lately Frederick had been working, shorter hours. I had asked him about it, but he simply said it was because the council did not have nearly enough for everyone to do at the moment, and since I was carrying our child, he was only too happy to dive out when they could leave.
Frederick hadn’t reached out to me, and I wondered if it was because he was still stuck in meetings. Promising myself that I wouldn’t bother him too much, I was the one to push out toward him.
“How has your day been?”
Moments later, I felt Frederick pushback through our bond.“It’s the same as it has been. There was this massive need for enforcers, and I think that they either over hired, or they need more assignments. I have to finish securing the bakery, and then I will be on my way home to you.”
I wasn’t sure what that was all about, but I would be sure to ask him when he arrived home. Why would he need to secure the bakery? Had something happened that I hadn’t heard about?
“Be safe,”I told him.
“Always. I have so much to come home to, but there is no threat here on Treasure Ridge. I’ll explain once I get home.”
I felt the same. I had so much in my life now that I had Frederick. I reached down and touched my growing stomach. I didn’t necessarily look massively pregnant, but I wasn’t going to. That was one of the bonuses of being tall with a long torso. My body distributed the pregnancy quite well, and although my pre-pregnancy pants were uncomfortably tight, I could still wear all of my shirts.
I was relaxing in the lounger when Frederick came home about ten-minutes later. He smiled at me as he approached, and the first thing he did, like always, was lean down and give me a kiss.
“How was work?”
“About how it’s been going. The council has decided that because Elizabeth had helped Malorie, she and James can no longer be trusted.” Frederick sat down beside me with a heavy plop. “I get it,” he said with frustration in his voice. “I understand that Malorie is their daughter. But she is throwing away their entire future.” Frederick looked pointedly down at my stomach before he met my eyes again. “I don’t know how I would feel if I were in her shoes. Would it be wrong of me if I turned my back on our son if he chose to go down that path?”
I shook my head at him. “Malorie did not choose to go down that path alone. Think about it. Marco is her fated mate. What type of person does one have to be in order for you to be paired with someone as horrible as Marco Gallo? Do people like him get paired up? What happened there? I didn’t think the fates would do that. Maybe that’s something that should be brought up the next time they have a meeting with them.”
Frederick’s eyes widened. That was certainly something to ponder. Since when did evil get paired? Had he been chosen for Malorie long ago? What was the end game for those two? Unfortunately, we all had more questions than answers, because nothing made any sense when it came to the direction things had gone.
Frederick sighed before he fell over and placed his head in my lap. I smiled as I reached down and started running my fingers through his hair.
“I’ll ask. I’m sure someone’s already brought that up, but don’t know what to make of anything having to do with them. Nothing makes sense anymore, and all I end up with is a headache when I have to think about Marco.”
I applied a bit of pressure and gently massaged my fingers into his scalp. Frederick moaned and I smiled. I’d do whatever I could to help him. If that was offering head massages and toe-curling orgasms later, then I’d happily oblige. All I knew for certain was Marco needed to be found and dealt with before we all could truly relax.
Chapter 21
Frederick
Life had settled into a very comfortable routine. We were still searching for Marco, but it appeared that he was starting to slip up. He had been seen in Timber Valley, and that was very unlike the man that we all had studied over and over. Things changed though when you met your fated one. And I had to wonder if she was the reason he started doing things that he hadn’t before?
We had learned quite a bit about Malorie over the past several weeks. She had apparently been playing the long game, and she was not innocent in any way. She had used her position at the bakery to collect information from enforcers as they came in to satisfy their need for sweets. Her collection of data and information about the council and its members had been retried from her personal computer, and when it was all brought to James and Elizabeth’s attention, neither of them took it well.
What had appeared to be simple, innocent, small talk was actually her gathering information in order to use it to her own monetary advantage. No, there was absolutely nothing nice or innocent about her. She had already shared some information on the dark web, and for that alone, she would be punishedfor her crimes against not just paranormals, but against the paranormal council.
