Page 65 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
“Good answer,” he murmured into my mouth. He pulled back slightly. “Adalyn, what does your future look like?”
I hesitated. The way he had spoken outside made my stomach cramp with doubt. He had never talked about wanting a family. He had talked in length about his career with the military but never afamily. How could I tie him down here? How could I trust that he would want to stay?
Would I wake up one day to find my bed empty and a child looking out the window for their father? It had happened to Harper, and the thought of Zephyr doing the same to me in the name of his job terrified me.
“What does it look like?” he prompted.
I paused. “I—honestly… I always envisioned myself with a seaside cottage. After I moved back here, I knew it was where Iwanted to stay, make roots, settle down.” My eyes skimmed his face, watching his expression. “I don’t want to leave Azure Cove.”
Zephyr frowned. “Is anything making you think you’ll need to?”
I shook my head, although it wasn’t entirely true.
“I pictured a quiet life. Magic, growing the coven, helping other young witches,” I told him.
“Children?” he asked.
“It had never truly come into the equation, really,” I confessed. “I love Harper’s triplets and just figured I’d grow up to be their aunt, as such.”
“And now?”
“Now…” I stroked my stomach. “Now I don’t know. It’s hard to picture anything. It’s hard toknowanything. It all feels so confusing. I feel like I already know and love this life growing inside me. Is that crazy?”
“It’s not crazy,” he swore, those green eyes gripping me. He kissed my mouth, my chin, then my clavicle. He burned a path with his mouth right down my body, until he lingered on my stomach. He knelt before me in the pool, his eyes never once leaving mine. He kissed my stomach, still flat, as it would be for another couple of months.
“This new life… It’sours. It’s ours to love and to know. To have together. The future is big, Adalyn, and it’s fucking terrifying, but I want you in mine.” I smiled at him, my hands linking through his. “And I told you, Iswear to you, that you will never be alone with our child.”
“But is this what you envisioned for your future?”
“No,” he said honestly, and I appreciated that. “I spent countless nights in all sorts of places in the country. I watched my mom raise my brothers and me after my father lost his life in the career I also then chose. I’ve doubted myself—of course, I have. I doubted if, given my upbringing, I would ever be the right man to be a father.
“And I still don’t know some of those things, but Adalyn, I made a vow to myself that no matter what happens, I’ll protect you and this child.”
His eyes bore into mine, nodding. He kissed my stomach again, slow, languid presses of his mouth, before standing up once more. I arched into him, feeling for his heartbeat, steady and slow, beneath my palm.
“How long did you know for?” I asked him.
“I realized the day I taught you how to aim with your powers.” He swallowed. “I just didn’t know how to tell you, and I should have figured it out sooner and told you properly. In a better way than I had done.”
I nodded. “It’s okay, Zephyr.”
He cringed, shaking his head. “I’ll always want to do better. I didn’t… I didn’t start us right. I let my angry and hateful heart rule me. I said and called you things I regret, Adalyn. I can’t ever truly forgive myself for that, but I can always work to make it up to you in the future.” He grazed my cheek with the back of his knuckles. “You are not weak, Adalyn Lindell. You are part of one of the strongest covens in the world. I’ve witnessed and experienced your powers firsthand. I’m sorry that I ever said those shitty things to you.”
I couldn’t help my laughter. “We’ll need to sort out the language thing before our child picks up some awful language.”
He snorted. “It’s probably already too late,” he muttered. “And wait until this little one is around Sweeney. God, it’ll be bad.”
I laughed, thinking of a future where the group stayed and settled in Azure Cove, as Alex had. A future where my child grew up with Harper’s triplets. Where they knew their great-grandmother, were told about their grandmother, and we all lived together and honored our coven through the generations.
And a wolf—a shifter—at the head of the family.
Two bloodlines combined.
I pulled Zephyr back in for a kiss.
It was possible, but my heart still ached to imagine it fully. I couldn’t budge the distrust in my heart, even as Zephyr held me against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat and realized I had no idea what to tell my grandmother.
Had I utterly betrayed my coven by doing this? Would they follow me with my decision? I didn’t know. I just had to hope.
