Chapter 115: Inseparable

Nash

As soon as she walked into the room, I felt the difference. It was like my soul relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. I wanted nothing more than to run to her, wrap my arms around her, and bury my face in her hair. She was gorgeous, like a goddess, and she seemed to have a glow to her. I didn’t remember her being so…luminous.

But her body language was closed. Her eyes were wary. And I know that was on me. I had put that distrust in her. But I would tell her everything… everything I could without compromising my clients' confidentiality. I was babbling like an idiot, trying to explain… Alpha Eudora, her weird and gifted daughter, the bear…

But all the while it was like I was getting drunk on her presence. She sat on the desk, swinging her leg.

She had to be feeling it. It was stronger than ever! How could she sit there so calmly?

“We’re mates, aren’t we?” I blurted out. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Mates - that was a werewolf thing. But jeezus, I needed her so badly I couldn’t even breathe.

“What? No! I mean, I don’t know, maybe, but that’s not what I had to tell you! I’m pregnant, dammit!”

A flash bang grenade went off in my head. For a moment, I couldn’t see or hear beyond the sharp ringing in my ears. I staggered backwards, bumped into a table, and then fell sideways on the couch. My mouth opened, but I had no words, only a thousand thoughts trampling through my head.

I always, always used protection. Things had been crazy-hot with Daphne, but I had been careful. I had been raised by a single mom. I knew all too well what happened to the kids of pricks who were careless. I had made up my mind before I even had hair on my balls that I wasn’t going to be like that. I would never do that to a kid.

I wasn’t going to ask her if it was mine. Even though I had wrapped it up every time, I knew. First of all, she wouldn’t have been telling me if it wasn’t mine, and second of all… I just knew. Like I could f.ucking feel it in my bones. Daphne was carrying my child.

Condoms can fail… they can break, leak, slip…user error.

But the how was inconsequential now.

Daphne was pregnant.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” Her voice sounded small, scared even. That was the slap I needed to bring myself back to my senses.

Straightening up on the couch, I opened my arms, “Please, come over here.”

She hesitated a minute, chewing her bottom lip.

“Please,” I said again. “I don’t think my legs will hold me.”

She slipped off the desk, and approached me slowly. She eyed the cushion beside me, but that wasn’t good enough. Before she could sit aside, I snagged her, and brought her down on my lap. She was resistant for about a second and half, then she relaxed, and let her body melt into mine.

Her skin connected with mine, and I felt the sensation, the heat, the comfort, the desire. It was like heaven. The only thing that could be better was if I was inside of her. The back of her blouse had come untucked from her trousers, and I let my hand sneak under the fabric so that I could feel more of her skin.

It was more… so much more than I remembered. Was it the long absence that made it stronger? Was it the baby?

“Are you upset?” She burrowed into my chest.

“No.” I took a breath, and it shuddered in my chest. I chose my words carefully. “It was just… unexpected.”

She laughed into my neck and it sounded a little watery. She sniffled and sat back so that she could look into her face. “Look, I know this wasn’t in your plans. It wasn’t in mine either. But it happened, and I just thought you should know about it. I’ve been trying to track you down so I could tell you. But, just so you know, I don’t expect anything from you. I can handle it on my own.”

My hands tightened on her body. “The hell you will!” I snarled.

“Well, I just thought, with your work and all…”

I leaned my head forward and let my forehead rest against hers. “Look…” I sighed. “I don’t have any answers right now. I need some time to…I don’t know. But I’m not going to walk away from you again. Whatever is going to happen, we are in this together.”

I felt it… the relief, the tension leaching out of her body. She tucked her head back into my neck and I rested my chin on her hair. We just sat like that as long minutes ticked by. It was crazy, how right it felt.

“How long do you think they will let me stay here?”

She lifted her head again. Her lashes were spiky with unshed tears. “I can talk to Louis,” she said. “He knows. He’s been helping me look for you…”

“Louis? King Louis?”

“Yeah,” she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “This is going to be so weird.”

I remembered what I had seen, the vision that the child Victoria had shared with me. I felt the ugly head of jealousy rear up. I was careful to modulate my tone. “You and him are…?”

“I don’t know what we are,” she said, and she pulled away from me slightly. “But we are something, and he’s been very good to me, Nash. God, its weird, calling you by that name.”

One thing I loved about Daphne. She was always straight up honest. Even when it hurt like hell.

“Isn’t he kind of… old?”

“Ugh, ageism,” she flopped off my lap and onto the couch beside me, but she was still touching me. “First of all, he’s not that old. Second of all, age is irrelevant.” She poked a finger into my ribs. “I care about him, so don’t be an a.sshole.”

“Did you sleep with him?”

“A.sshole question.” She folded her arms back over her chest.

“You did.”

“I did.” She wasn’t apologetic.

I huffed out another sigh. “I thought…we had a mate bond.”

“Maybe we do.” She pressed closer to my side. “We have something, too.”

“But if we are mates, you wouldn’t be attracted to someone else, would you? I thought your wolf wouldn’t let you… you know, cheat?” I felt like an idiot, talking about werewolf things that I didn’t really understand.

“I don’t know, Nash. I mean, I never had a mate-bond, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like. I have no basis for comparison. Maybe it’s because you are human. Maybe it’s because we haven’t marked each other.” She shrugged her shoulders. “My wolf accepted Louis.”

I put an arm around her. I couldn’t help it. I had to touch her.

Everything was my fault. I had walked away, I had left her alone for months. If I had just stuck around long enough to explain the situation to her, she wouldn’t have run to another man for comfort. I couldn’t blame her, not really.

Okay, maybe I did. A little.

“But I’m here now,” I said, speaking more to myself than to her. “So what will we do?”

She ran her hand up my thigh, and my body tingled with excitement, even though there was a thick layer of denim between her hand and my skin. “We have a lot to talk about, Nash. A lot to work through. I’ll start by asking Louis to let you stay.” She tilted her head and looked up into my face. “How long do you plan to stick around for?”

I stared down into her eyes, felt myself being pulled into their blue, sparkling depths. I could handle my business remotely. I had an expert team that could manage the field assignments.

Now that I had her tucked under my arm, I’d be damned if I was going to walk away again.

And, she was carrying my baby.

“As long as it takes,” I promised solemnly.