Darien couldn’t understand why the raised brow, and the harsh sounding “Seriously?” from Alora, made him feel like a guilty wolf pup caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Although he guessed he did have plenty of reasons to feel guilty. He knew what a condom was, and he knew he should have used one. He also could have stopped to ask his mate if she was on some kind of birth control before they had intercourse.
He didn’t do any of those things. Instead, he had allowed for his baser needs to take over and they had done the deed and marked each other before any of those conversations could take place. Pregnancy was always a possibility when you had sex, even with protection. However, what he did was completely irresponsible. He didn’t even ask if Serenity would be okay with having a pup so early in their relationship. A conversation every newly mated couple should have before the first mating fever came about. A conversation to be had before a mate’s heat was to start as well.
After their first coupling all Darien had been concerned with was how abruptly he had marked Serenity. Without even asking her before he had done it if it was okay. It wasn’t until after they were laying on his bed cuddling, gazing into each other’s eyes while panting, that Darien realized how much of an ass he had been. He lifted one hand and gently drew a finger over the mating mark he had unceremoniously put on her. Looking at the mark, he had felt his heart squeeze painfully with guilt and a whole host of other emotions.
Serenity had felt what he felt, with their bond having snapped fully in place with the mark. She didn’t say anything at first. She just lifted her own finger to gently trace the mating mark she had left on him. Then she sent him all the emotions she was feeling through their bond. Love, trust, wonder, joy and several other emotions that let Darien know just how okay she was, about what had happened. Serenity wasn’t upset at all over how abruptly he marked her as they came together for their first time.
It took Darien a bit to realize what he was feeling from Serenity. But as soon as he did, he calmed down, and let himself feel the happiness his moment of overwhelming guilt had drowned out. This was his first time with any female, despite having received many, many offers since reaching the age of consent. Darien had decided long ago to wait till after he was sure his mate wasn’t among their Pack after turning eighteen, before seeking a temporary lover. He was glad he had saved himself for this moment now. He would never have to worry about a jealous ex-lover coming up to his mate and wreaking havoc in their relationship.
Still, in that moment, when they were just touching and feeling, Darien should have mentioned contraception. Darien had a responsibility to protect his mate. That included protecting her from pregnancy if she had decided she wasn’t ready for one yet. Instead of having that conversation, they had come together again. This time much slower. Darien had taken the time to touch, kiss and lick every inch of his mate. He spent time imprinting every bit of her into his memory. He became mesmerized by every sound of pleasure he was able to gain from her. The explosion when their slow love making reached its peak, had Darien seeing stars and roaring as loudly as Serenity screamed.
You would think after their second coupling they would have broached the subject then. But again, that didn’t happen. Darien had picked up his mate, flushed with their love making, and taken her to his bathroom to draw her a bath. His pampering of his mate had led them to another round of lovemaking in the bathroom. Who knew sex in a large tub could be so amazing. Or that seeing his mate naked and wet, covered in bath bubbles would arouse him to such an uncontrollable point. Especially when his mate started to return the favor of washing him, with her bare hands. Her touch had made it impossible to resist. Not that he offered any protest. Even if he had one, it would have gone up in flames by that point.
By that time, the conversation had become a moot point, as her scent had already started to change. It was as he was laying her down on the bed after carrying her out of the bathroom that he noticed. With his eyes wide, Darien had stared down at Serenity for a full minute before bursting out, “Oh shit! I am so sorry! I am such a dumbass! Please forgive me!”
Instead of berating him or being angry with him, as Serenity had every right to, she burst out laughing. Which only had Darien sitting down on the bed looking at her with a confused expression on his face. It was a few minutes later before serenity had calmed down enough that only a couple of chuckles escaped as she met Darien’s gaze. “I’m not upset, the females in my Clan are ridiculously fertile. Like so much so we are warned about it from the moment we start to ovulate in our teens.” She told him.
His expression still showing confusion he asked, “So…you’re not mad?”
Serenity let out another chuckle and shook her head. “No. I’m not mad.” She told him in a reassuring voice. “Many of the females in my family get pregnant on their first night with their mate. There’s even a fable in our family about it.”
He was still confused, but at least he wasn’t in a panic any longer. “There’s a fable?”
“Yes.” Serenity said, smiling brightly up at Darien, as she relaxed into the pillows. “The fable says all females born to the Mountainmover Clan are destined to fall pregnant within three days of meeting their mate. All females fated to a Mountainmover male are destined to fall pregnant during their first heat.”
Darien had blinked at her with a wide-eyed expression. “So, you're saying…you were prepared for this?”
“Yes.” Serenity said simply, with a smile.
“Has the fable ever been wrong?” Darien asked her.
“No. Never.” Serenity said, then she sat up. Because she was still naked, Darien was distracted by her breasts getting closer to his face. “There was even a human female who was fated to one of my Mountainmover cousins. She’d been married to a human male for five years. Despite trying, they never had a child together. They went to a fertility clinic and everything trying to have a kid. Eventually she was told by the fertility clinic she was barren. Her human husband divorced her after that diagnosis. She met my cousin a few months after. During her first heat after mating with my cousin, she got pregnant.” While Serenity was telling him this tale, he started to play with her breasts. Her words were becoming breathy as she quickly became aroused with his playing. “My cousin’s mate sent word home to her human family about her pregnancy. But no one believed her that she was pregnant.”
Darien looked up from the breasts he was massaging, interested in the story now. “What happened next?”
“Well, her family demanded proof of the pregnancy. As you know, even if a human falls pregnant with a Werewolf pup, their pregnancy is only six months.” Serenity let out a gasp. Darien had leaned down to suck one of her nipples into his mouth. “That is incredibly distracting.”
He let her nipple go with a pop but didn’t move away from her breast. Darian just looked up at her with glowing eyes. “Keep going with the story. I’m finding it very interesting.” Then he went back to sucking her nipple.
“O..okay.” Serenity gasped. “S.s.she waited…till she…was f.f.f.four months…” Serenity stopped trying to talk and only gasped and moaned in pleasure.
They had a fourth coupling that was so intense it was borderline brutal. Darien felt like he couldn’t get enough of her. After, Serenity lay limply in Darien’s arms, cuddled up closely to his chest. Darien kept rubbing a hand up and down her spine in a soothing rhythm.
Darien kissed the top of her head. “I want to hear the rest of the story about your cousin’s mate.”
Serenity nuzzled her face against his chest letting out a little hum that did things to him. “She waited till she was four months along before her and my cousin went to visit her family. She also took along all the medical records she had accumulated from the moment she joined the Pack. Turned out that she was never barren to begin with. Her doctors had been paid off and she was being fed contraceptives behind her back during her entire marriage to the human male.”
Darien jerked back and looked down at Serenity. “You’re kidding?”
Unfortunately, before Serenity could respond to that question, the alarm Darien had set to remind them to go down to dinner went off. “Damn. You’ll have to finish telling me that story after dinner.”
They had gotten dressed right after that. Bringing them to this present moment with Alora meeting them in the hallway. And his response to her question was less than stellar. “Ummm….ooops?”