Page 58 of The Baby Hex
“My stuff. We brought the stuff in, right? I’m not sure I brought my altar stuff. Shit,” Crilus said and stretched out his legs in front of him. My eyes darted to his bare feet, double-checking his ankles.
“I’m not even showing yet,” Crilus laughed.
“Yet, being the word. Who do we call to get your stuff or do we need to make a drive out to the bar?”
“I’m not ready for the latter.”
“Who do we trust to get your stuff?” I asked him. “I take it you’re not ready for me to make the drive alone either.”
“No,” he shook his head and squeezed my hand. “I’m keeping you right here with me.”
In the end, it was Kodiak who made the drive to Moonscale London proper to retrieve Crilus’s altar supplies. He admitted that the set up was mostly for his peace of mind but that made the effort more than worth it to me. That night before going to bed, I cleared out the corner around the nest much to his crow’s bitching and he set up the altar around the nest complete with candles, incense, crow feathers, salt, shinies, and of course, a statue of a man with big, widespread crow wings.
***
The next morning, I woke up alone in bed for the first time since arriving home with Crilus. I found him upstairs, sipping coffee and gazing into the nest. I peeked over his head to ensure he hadn’t gone and laid his egg without telling me. Instead, I found a pregnancy test showing a pixelated baby wrapped in a bright red blanket. I’d lost track of what the colors meant ages ago as I didn’t have many friends taking pregnancy tests on a regular basis at my age.
I lowered myself onto the floor next to him and he leaned his head against my shoulder. His thoughts were far off as if the bird inside him was determined to take control of the situation. I left him to ponder the future while I headed downstairs to cook breakfast. Kodiak had been kind enough to arrange for the store to resume drone deliveries of my bloodshake supplies so I mixed one up while the bacon and eggs cooked.
I sipped it while doing some quick research on my phone. Not much research had been done about crow shifters in particular. Wild crows didn’t carry their eggs long after insemination, but Crilus wasn’t a wild crow. Hell, he wasn’t just a crow. Crow eggs usually took about three weeks to hatch. I couldn’t even imagine being unable to focus on anything else for that long, but that was our probable future. I put the information aside and decided it would best be revisited after Crilus had an ultrasound.
It wasn’t Xenos or Barry who showed up that afternoon to check on Crilus. It was Teal Moonscale. For a flash of a second, I almost sent the scaley bastard away. He could go home to his own mate and leave mine alone. Except, I vaguely recalled that he had a medical degree. At least, Crilus remembered him having one.
“And if you send him away, I won’t do that thing with my tongue on your balls anymore,”Crilus chimed into my thoughts over the mating link from his perch upstairs in the attic.“Bringhim up. Come with him, though. I want you here if he does an ultrasound. You should see our baby too.”
So, instead of sending my mate’s one-time infatuation away, I led him upstairs. I tried not to talk much because my fangs elongated, ready for a battle that was unlikely to happen.
“First time sires bite a lot. Just warn me first,” he chuckled as I motioned for him to head up the dropdown steps ahead of me.
“He’s not going to bite you,” Crilus said.
My mate had more faith in me than I did. Way more faith. The longer we spent all wrapped up inside the house together the less I liked other people coming around. Family was one thing. Even Medwin was merely annoying. He had his own mate and Clarence wasn’t an alpha who liked to share.
“Stop it,”Crilus hissed into my thoughts.“This is a happy occasion. We’re going to see our egg or our baby. I thought this Teal thing wasn’t a thing for you.”
“It’s not, but you’re mine and pregnant and he’s a giant brute with a stethoscope.”
“Actually, I don’t think he brought that. Just the pocket-sized ultrasound machine,”Crilus said.
“Do you want to move downstairs?” I asked Crilus aloud.
He glanced at the nest and at me then to Teal.
“We’ll be okay. He’s not going to step on it,” Crilus sighed.
“Aren’t you glad we didn’t end up a couple?” Teal teased and for a moment I decided that sinking my fangs into his trapezoid muscle might not be that bad of an idea after all.
“He’s the one who said no,” Crilus reminded me. “And I am because if Ciro didn’t kick my ass, I’d have to break up a fight between you two.”
“No,” Teal shook his head. “I wouldn’t have fought him, and I wouldn’t have helped you run away either.”
“Can we get on with it?” I asked.
The gums around my fangs itched, a sign that my blood lust was kicking into gear. I glanced back at the nest as we wove our way through boxes and furniture to the old couch that Crilus had claimed as his favorite attic nap spot. He stretched out on the sofa and revealed his belly. I curled my fingers into fists and forced air into my lungs. I didn’t need to breathe as often as shifters did, but the extra oxygen often soothed the blood lust.
“It’s just an ultrasound,” Crilus said, patting the back of the sofa.
I rounded it and rested my elbows on it looking down at him. Teal took his little machine out of his pocket. It looked like a mobile phone with a wand attached via an old curly telephone cord.
