Page 29 of The Baby Hex
“Did he hurt you?”
“NO! He’s making me keep really big secrets and it’s killing me. I feel like he’s making me into an asshole!” Mori said and sank down onto the forest floor. Only elven grace saved him from getting a literal stick up his butt. I sat down next to him, and we scooted back until we found a tree to lean against.
“I’m sorry life is so fucked up! I’m sorry our home got attacked! My shields should’ve held. They should’ve made it impossible---”
“They did hold!” Mori said. “They held! That’s why it was only the windows. Same with whatever magic is here at Moonglow. When I find out who tried to hurt my brother and blew up your bar in the process – I’m going to carve their spleen out with that rusty spoon you have hidden away.”
“Deal,” I nodded and leaned my head back against the tree.
“So, we have three things to deal with,” Mori said. “Preston’s pregnant, someone wants to hurt him, and you’re losing your shit because you met your true-mate.”
“Four.”
“Four?” he asked.
“You’re losing your shit because you think Preston doesn’t trust you.”
“Fair enough,” Mori nodded.
“Will Teddy be able to help with that?” I asked him.
“Maybe the rusty spoon part,” he shrugged. “He’s supposed to be the muscle of the operation.”
“You know I’d kill someone over you and Preston, right? That Pierce would too? And my dad.”
“I know,” Mori said, losing some of his steam. “I know all of that.”
“I think we’re passing panic around. You smell so angry.”
“You smell so defeated with the whole Pierce thing,” Mori shot back at me.
“Mori, it feels like I’m going to die if I’m not with him and like both of our lives are going to be blown to smithereens if I am with him. And he’s saying all this shit like he’d rather die with me tomorrow than live without me and I don’t know if I can be the reason he dies and live with myself.”
“Are you going to kill him? Is there something else you’re not telling me?” Mori asked.
“I’d never hurt him on purpose but ---”
“But what? Your grandma was crazy? Have you heard about my uncle?” Mori asked. “I know you have. That was a shitty question. They were crazy. Maybe they had reasons. Things that drove them there. That doesn’t make it okay. What they did will never be okay. They killed the people they were supposed to protect.”
“What in the fuck are we going to do?” I sighed.
“I’m going to check on my brother and try not to be an ass and you’re going to come to some agreement with Pierce. What else can we do? And somewhere in the middle of all that we’ll figure out who is behind all of this and handle it. Then we’ll have a baby shower and a mating feast at your bar. We’ll knit all sorts of stuff for Preston’s baby and yours, if you two decide to have one.”
“I want a baby,” I whispered because if I spoke too loudly the universe would hear me and fuck up my wishes.
“I think you should have one. I think that you should have everything you want, Crilus. Life is hard. Life is so fucking hard. Even with good parents, it’s hard sometimes but you deserve good things.”
“So do you.”
“I’ll settle for my brother having a one-night-stand-baby because I think they’ll be less spleens to carve out that way,” Mori said and then bit his lip.
“If it’s a bad thing, don’t react right away. I mean in what you say to him. If it’s bad, he’s already dealt with a lot.”
“Do you think he’d have told me?” Mori asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not him. It’s hard to say.”
“Can we go back now or are you going to sit on me if I try to get up?”
