Chapter 148

Shawna POV

Michael and I walked in silence to my brother's house. I was surprised that he was literally two cottages over from my parents, and yet my mother wasn't even trying to have a relationship with Cassidy. For some reason, I felt compelled to try to fix that before I left. I had no intention of coming back here ever again. It was unlikely that my mother would travel to see us, so that meant her grandchildren would be coming from Ben. I doubt Lynn was going to travel up the mountain with her half-werewolf children, if she even had children. I wondered if her husband knew that she was a werewolf, even? That would be an interesting conversation. I had asked Ben to call her and see if I could see her on our way out of town. We were going to discuss it at dinner tonight.

Cassidy flung the door open as soon as I knocked, like she had been standing there waiting. She threw her arms around me and hugged me, "Oh my goddess, it's so good to see you! You look so beautiful," She rubbed her hand down her swollen belly. "Unlike me, I look fat."

"You're pregnant," Ben yelled from inside. "Not fat." Ben came up beside her. "Come in, you two."

As we walked in, he leaned into Cassidy and whispered, although I heard him just fine. "Babe, you're beautiful, stop saying you're fat." Cassidy was blushing when I turned around and smiled at her.

"Please," Cassidy pointed towards their living room. "Make yourselves at home. I have a roast in the oven, and it's almost done. Ben will you get them drinks?"

Ben chuckled, "Relax. It's my sister and her mate, not the King."

"He's an Alpha," she whispered back. I gave Michael a look and he rolled his eyes.

"I'm just Shawna's mate Cassidy. Thanks for having us for dinner, it's an honor." Michael sat on the couch and I sat next to him. Ben offered us beverages and we settled on ice tea. I wasn't feeling like having anything to drink, since I didn't have to contend with my mother tonight. Plus, my stomach wasn't feeling right the past couple of days.

We spent the next hour just visiting and getting to know Cassidy. My brother clearly was smitten, he could hardly keep his hands off of her. I don't see how this wasn't the mate bond. They were worse than Michael and I. Finally, when Cassidy went to the kitchen to prepare the roast, I asked my brother about it. "Why does Mom think you faked the mate bond?" I ask.

"What?" he asked, looking surprised.

"I asked her about what she didn't like about you and Cassidy being together. She said something about thinking you lied about Cassidy being your mate, that you got her pregnant and then had no choice. Like she trapped you or something," I said.

Ben looked down at the floor for a few minutes, clearly trying to choose his words before replying. "She got pregnant the first time we had sex," he says looking up. "It was the night of the full moon run," he raises his eyebrows at me, waiting for me to understand.

"So what?" I say. "That can happen, I don't see why she thinks you two are faking then."

"Because we were quiet about it for the first couple of weeks. I avoided Mom and spent time with Cassidy in private, mostly because all we wanted to do was fuck." He looks away embarrassed. "When I came home and told Mom that I was mated and Cassidy and I were moving in together, she didn't believe me. She asked why I waited two weeks to tell her. I didn't want to say it was because we were to busy sneaking around so we could have sex."

"Okay, wow." I replied, not sure what to say. "It still doesn't make sense why she doesn't like Cassidy. I think she's lovely and you two are adorable and clearly in love."

"This is Mom we are talking about. I have tried to talk to her, but she doesn't listen."

"And our father?" I ask. "What's he say?"

"Oh he comes over here all the time. He helped Cassidy when I was away for a couple days training, made sure she had what she needed. He's fine with it." Ben looked up as Cassidy walked in the room. "Hey babe, we ready?" She nodded and then looked from him to me with a perplexed look on her face.

"You two look serious. Is everything alright?" Cassidy asked.

"Of course it is," He said. "Shawna is home, what could be wrong about that?" he smiled and motioned for us to follow them to the dining room.

"When is the baby due?" I asked as we sat down for dinner.

"In a month," Cassidy said. "I'm in the home stretch, and thank goddess for that. I'm so tired of being fat and tired."

"Again, not fat. Pregnant," Ben said. "We are having a girl," Ben told me. "We need help finding a name."

"You still haven't picked a name?" I asked.

"Nope. We thought of calling her Shawna, until we found out that Aunt Shawna was alive and well," Cassidy replied. I must have gone pale because Michael leaned over and whispere in my ear.

"You okay?" I took a breath, nodded and picked up my fork.

"How sweet," I replied quietly. Cassidy looked up and stared at me. She genuinely looked distraught as soon as she saw my face.

"Oh my God, I didn't mean it like that. I'm so sorry."

"No, don't worry about it. Really," I replied. I took a bite, chewed and swallowed. "This is really good Cassidy, who taught you to cook?"

"My mother," she whispered.

"How is your mother?" I asked.

"Uh she passed away last summer," Cassidy replied. "She was shot by a hunter. It was an accident though, he thought she was going to attack him. She was in a part of the woods she shouldn't have been in alone. The man was literaly curled in a ball sobbing when we found them. Well I didn't find them, some of the patrols did. Mom must have shifted before the man got to her, then he realized he shot a person." She was babbling about the entire scenario. Ben put his hand on her arm and she looked up. "Oh sorry. I was blabbing on and on, wasn't I?"

"It's okay," I said. "That sounds like a terrible situation Cassidy. I'm sorry that happened. Why don't you name the baby after her?" I asked.

"You do remember my mothers name, don't you?" she asked with wide eyes.

I thought for a moment and then smiled. "Olga?"

"Yeah, Olga. No. I'm not naming my child Olga. Not even after my mother."

Okay then.