Page 49 of A Baby for the Beast
"Don't worry," Sarah tells me. She steps up onto the porch as Lucas steps down. "He made Henry promise to take care of you and your sweet little baby if anything happens to him."
I sputter, not quite sure what to say, but knowing full well that I'm not happy with Lucas thinking even remotely that there's a chance he's not coming back.
"Lucas!" I yell his name, my irritation is clear, but he throws his head back and laughs loudly. He doesn't turn to look at me, doesn't even give me the courtesy of being afraid of my ire. "Lucas! I swear on everything if you don't come back to me, I will hate you!"
"Couldn't hate me if you tried, omega," Lucas calls over his shoulder. He opens the driver's side door before looking back at me, his eyes blazing golden. "And I'm always coming back for you."
My mouth pops open to say something more, but Remus winks before settling into the car. I press my lips together, my face burning with emotions. At least I'm not crying this time. If I were crying, that would make this so much worse. Only because I am righteously angry right now, and tears make me seem like I'm irrationally sad. No, thank you.
"He'll be fine," Henry tells me, his hand pressing between my shoulder blades as he ushers both me and his mate into the house. Jace stares out at Lucas's taillights before they disappear, and then he heads in behind us.
The plan is for me to spend the evening with Lucas's family, or in-laws. Whatever they are, they've accepted me into their fold quicker than I expected and even offered to have my parents over the next time they were in town. They're just good people, and now they're my people too.
Sam gives me a hug when I come in, but as soon as his arms wrap around me another cramp hits and since I'm no longer trying to be strong for Lucas and because it catches me unaware, I groan a little my hand moving to my abdomen like there's anything I can do to make the feeling subside. It only lasts a moment before fading, but it's long enough for Sam to now have his hands on my shoulders, a worry crease between his brows, and a panicked look starting to set in on his features. His purr rumbles around us, deep, soft, and comforting. I bite back my smile because it's so unlike my favorite purr.
"Nope," I tell him, giving him a very pointed look that tells him he is not mentioning this to anyone because we're not taking away from Lucas's title match. Not that I care much about it, but I don't want him not to go because there's a chance I might be in labor. I'm probably not. If anything, these are just some fake contractions because I'm stressed and want Lucas to come back.
"If this keeps happening, I'm telling Scott," Sam tells me, his voice barely above a whisper so no one overhears.
They're all busy in the living room, getting the TV set to the right channel and complaining about it costing money to stream the fight. Scott is a doctor who runs an omega heat clinic, so he's the closest one to knowing whether or not these are real contractions, but again, they're fake. I'm not dragging Lucas back with fake contractions.
"I'm fine," I tell Sam. "If it's still happening after the fight, he can check on me."
"I don't like it," Sam says, but before he can counter my request with stipulations of his own, I use my trump card.
"I'll tell them all about Janie," I say, watching as his eyes narrow on me, thinking I'm bluffing, but when I don't back down, he huffs.
At Sarah's reception, Janie may or may not have been asking me about the hospital I'm planning to have Tessie at, and a fewother things that she tried to tell me were her just making plans for the future. Too bad I'm smarter than that, and she's a terrible liar. Like, easily the worst liar I've ever met. All I did was ask her if she was pregnant, and she got flustered before telling me, "Of course not, silly. That's just silly. You… silly."
"I don't agree with this," Sam says.
"Don't need you to agree with it, just don't make a big deal about it. Tonight is about my alpha earning his title and then being done with fighting for good."
"It's also about watching Kyle get his ass beat," Scott hoots from beside the television. Yeah, the same guy who's probably the most knowledgeable about my pregnancy is also most excited to watch my alpha punch my hookup.
"See, let's not ruin everyone's good night when we don't have to." I smile up at Sam, fluttering my lashes.
It earns me an irritated grumble before Sam ducks into the kitchen. I'm sure Janie's in there, and I have no doubt that he's going to tell his mate everything from my fake contractions all the way up to the blackmail. That's fine, I wouldn't expect him to keep it from his mate, but I do expect both of them to keep their mouths shut about it.
"Hey," Jace takes Sam's place in front of me, his ears bright red where they poke through his red curls. "I need to talk to you, if you have a second."
I look around the room, noticing that no one is paying us any attention. Not on purpose, but because they're doing other things. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, no, yeah, it's fine," Jace rubs the back of his neck before tilting his head back and letting out a long breath of air. "I need to apologize."
"Apologize? For what?" I get the question out before another cramp hits me, this one stronger than the other two, and it has me grunting.
Jace doesn't notice because he's busy having his existential crisis. By the time he looks back down at me, I have a smile plastered to my face even though the cramp is just starting to subside.
"You know that video of you on the phone with Kyle?" Jace asks, and the knot of my cramps finds a new home in my stomach as I start piecing together what he's about to tell me.
I nod, my smile starting to fall off my face because there's no way I'm about to give him a smile when he's about to tell me he's the one who leaked a very personal and private moment. He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as his eyes try to dart around anywhere other than looking at me.
"I might've been the one to take it."
"No might've about it," Henry calls from the living room, making it clear that whatever privacy Sam and I had, Jace and I do not. "Apologize right or don't at all."
Jace grimaces, sucking in a deep breath through his nose, and looks me right in the eyes. Which is a little unnerving, given how pale blue his eyes are. "I filmed the video of you speaking with Kyle. I wasn't planning on sharing it, but the things you said, I didn't think it was right for him to do those things and there not be any consequences."
