Eighteen.

Eloise was nervous as she sat beside Sammy in the car.

She was now twenty weeks pregnant, and had finally decided she needed to speak to Henry. But, she wasn't entirely sure how it would go. Other than a one word message sent to Sammy after their dating scans, there had been no word from him at all; and she couldn't help but feel off about the whole thing.

All Henry had said kn that message was, *Understood.* That was it. No objections, no questions, no nothing.

What did that even mean? Was it that he understood and would respect their boundaries? Was it that he understood they had out manouevered him, but would come back stronger to get his own way? Was he giving up?

Eloise had no idea what to think. Neither did Sammy, she had been in regular contact with her Grams and Sebastian. But, they all avoided the subject of the Dark Lake Alpha. Eloise herself had spoken to Sebastian on a couple of occasions, and it was nice to finally reconnect with her old friend. Even if he did briefly scold her for how she left without a word to him. He understood why, but he thought as friends they meant more to one another than that. The guilt she was hit with was real, especially as she didn't realise he would have wanted her to come home.

Sebastian Gray, was the reason she had decided to reach out to Henry on this visit to their territory.

He had accidentally let slip that the since their last visit, his older brother seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, and was constantly complaining, at how many shades of pink he previously didn't know existed. She remembered writing on the back of the sonogram about their baby's gender. It was too early for the scan to tell them anything, but Dax had confirmed his sister's story.

Which was another reason Eloise wanted to talk to Henry, if her daughter was going to be in some kind of trouble, then she needed all the help she could get to protect her. Incluiding her father's. The safety of her baby came first, everything else in her mind was minor.

When the car finally halted outside the pack house, Eloise saw Sammy shudder. It looked as though an old, unpleasant memory had filtered across her face. Reaching over to her, she squeezed her hand in a show of support.

"Thank you for doing this for me. I know it's not easy." She smiled, as Sammy turned and looked fully at her.

"You're my friend, actually technically you may even be some kind of werewolf sister in law. I've got your back." Sammy smiled in return, taking comfort from her mate's contact as Daniel's hand appeared on her shoulder to massage it. "Besides, you asked me nicely, all the Gray's ever did was *demand.* It's a shame my brother is such a *Cottonelle,* this place could have used a hand like yours at the helm to guide it."

Eloise laughed, she always did when people took her nickname for Henry as their own.

Sammy took a deep breath, "Come on. Before I hit reverse, and change my mind."

With that the three of them got out of the car. Sammy noted the house hadn't changed. Red brick walls, with white window frames, that reached three stories high, before the attic space which sat on top. The lawn was well manicured, and her eyes couldn't help but drift to the spot where her childhood had crumbled to a halt.

She shook the thought off hastily, feeling comfort as Daniel took her hand, she looked up into his beautiful green eyes and allowed the wholeness he made her feel chase away her bad memories.

"You okay?" He whispered.

"Yes. Yes I am," she smiled back, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Thanks to you."

Daniel's face beamed in pride at the compliment. This woman was his everything, and such praise from her lips meant everything to him. However, such a comment also couldn't be ignored, and although Sammy had went to walk away towards the house with her usual steely determination, his own hand tightened on hers and pulled her back to him, effortlessly spinning her so she was crushed against his body as he dominantly captured her lips with his own.

Sammy's hands automatically raised up to wrap around Daniel's neck, her nails scratching at his scalp as her fingers gladly danced in his hair. Daniel's hands unashamedly made their way to her backside as he pulled her closer against his own body, thoroughly lost in the taste and smell of his mate.

They parted puffing and panting, with Sammy's face completely flushed, at the sound of Eloise clearing her throat.

"It's just as well your boobs don't hurt anymore, because I gaurantee fourteen weeks ago you would have kicked him in the balls for that." Eloise smirked, making Sammy laugh as she stepped slightly back from Daniel's embrace.

"What can I say, hormones are a rollercoaster, gotta take the highs with the lows." She joked back, realising Daniel still had one hand lingering on her ass.

She looked up into his eyes, noticing the desire still coursing through them.

"Really?" She asked, "Here? On the lawn of my dead father's house?"

Daniel shrugged, not trusting his voice, and Eloise laughed.

"It's not his fault, I can smell how aroused those *hormones* of yours are making you. And I'm twelve feet away." Eloise rescued him, using her fingers as air quotes.

Sammy laughed through her embarassment, moving away from her mate and toward the door of the house with a new spring in her step, and a gentle pat of affection to her small protruding stomach.

"Well then, I guess it's time to replace my bad memory of this place with a much more fun one..." Sammy called back to them. "Come on mate, let's see just how uncomfortable my *hormones* can make my older brother." She added her suggestion, with more air quotes of her own.

Eloise snorted with laughter at Sammy's sudden plan, but Daniel? Daniel needed no encouragement, he was already at his mate's back nibbling under her ear on her neck, while Sammy almost purred with delight.

"This is going to turn into a shit show." Eloise muttered with a smile and a shake of the head, before striding forward and knocking the door.

She was the only one with free hands after all.