60, The surprise

At lunch, Colin announced that a new member of the pack would be introduced shortly, he told the pack about Clara being the new pack doctor, and he slipped in the fact that he was half-human, as she had wanted.

When he told everyone that Clara was Jason’s mate, Adina could see the disappointment on the single females’ faces. Jason had been the last of the high ranks in the pack to be unmated.

As the lunch was done, Adina, Colin and Sean all headed upstairs.

“The apartment is off limits until dinner,” Adina told her mates.

“You have to let Sean stay with you,” Colin told her.

“No, I’ll be safe in our apartment. He can work in our office,” Adina told them.

“Sweetheart, I can sit on the couch. I won’t be in the way, and I won’t see anything,” Sean said.

“No. No one comes up here unless invited, and both of you are close by,” she insisted.

Adina watched as her two mates looked at each other and sighed.

“Okay, but mind link us if there is anything,” Colin said, kissing her.

“I will be in the office next door,” Sean said and kissed her.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you at six,” Adina smiled and walked into their apartment.

When she was alone, she started getting the dinner ready. Even though Adina had spent her first years in England, when she thought about comfort food, it was usually English dishes. But since then, she had moved around the world, spent time in communities of all different cultures and tasted their foods.

Today she was going to cook up some of her favourite dishes and give her two mates a taste of the world. On the menu, there would be jiaozi, butter chicken, Mac’n’Cheese, mini pizzas, kroppkakor and for desert picarones.

There was a lot of work to put it together, including all the side dishes. But Adina was determined that this was going to be a special occasion.

Half-past five, Adina was almost done with everything. She took a quick shower and mind linked Julia to see if everything was okay. Jason and Clara had made an appearance. They seemed to take things slow, but Clara had said that she wouldn’t need her apartment. Adina smiled at that.

When there was a knock on the door half an hour later, Adina was ready and went to open it. Her mates stood on the other side of the door, Sean holding flowers and Colin a bottle of wine. They sat down at the table and were amazed by all the food. As they were eating, the natural topic was Jason and Clara.

“I’m going to have a lot of fun teasing him,” Colin grinned.

“Make sure Clara isn’t caught in the crossfire,” Adina smiled at him.

“That is up to Jason to make sure of,” Sean reminded her.

“You two are going to be terrible, aren’t you?” she sighed.

“He has earned it,” Sean told her.

“Yeah, you know how he has been needling us about being mated and whipped. Mateo has had to endure it even longer. The three of us will ensure Jason gets what he deserves,” Colin chuckled.

“This was delicious, baby,” Colin said.

“I love your cooking,” Sean agreed.

“Thank you. If you help me clear the table, I will get dessert. I think we can eat it on the couch,” Adina smiled.

Colin and Sean got everything into the dishwasher in no time, and they snuggled up on the couch. Adina sat draped over her mates’ laps as they took turns feeding each other the fantastic fried rings dipped in syrup. It was a decadent experience, bordering on sensual.

“Now we have eaten and been patient and not asked about it. But when are we getting this surprise that you promised us?” Colin asked. Adina smiled.

“Do you want it now?” she asked.

“Yes,” they both said without hesitation.

“Okay, we need to rearrange some things in the apartment,” she told them.

“Why? Don’t you like it?” Sean asked.

“I love it. But in about seven months, we will be four in the family, and we need to make some room,” Adina smiled.

Colin’s POV

Colin didn’t understand what Adina was talking about. Who was going to be staying in their apartment? The only one of them that had family outside the pack was Sean. By the way, Sean’s and Adina’s visit to them had gone, and Colin didn’t think one of them would move in.

Then the number seven months penetrated his continuous. Seven months was the time a she-wolf was pregnant. Was Adina expecting a pup? Was he going to be a father?

The thought sent a surge of emotions through his body. Pride, love, protectiveness, they all mixed, and he felt invincible.

 Sean’s POV

Was she pregnant? Sean understood her reference as soon as it left her mouth. But he had a hard time believing it. He was going to be a dad. There was a list of things he never thought he would experience in his life, and being a dad was one of them.

As he slowly accepted that they were having a pup, he felt like a child on Christmas that had gotten the one thing they had been pining for all year. They were going to become a family.

Adina’s POV

Adina watched her mates trying to process the information she had told them. Then they both looked at her with the biggest grin on their faces and put a hand on her belly.

“We are having a pup?” Sean asked.

He sounded close to tears, and Adina’s heart clenched at the sound. She cupped a hand on his cheek.

“Yes, we are,” she nodded.

“That is amazing news, baby. The best surprise ever,” Colin beamed.

Two hours later, they all lay naked in bed after Colin and Sean repeatedly showed her how happy they were. Adina was on her back with Sean and Colin on their sides on each side of her. They both had one hand on her belly.

“How long have you known?” Colin asked.

“Thanks to my abilities, I knew the day after we conceived,” she smiled.

“And that was?” Sean asked.

“The day we got back from the trip,” she said. They both chuckled. That had been a memorable evening and night.

“Wait, you knew you were pregnant when you had the interviews?” Sean asked.

“Yes,” Adina nodded.

“No, baby. You can’t do that,” Colin told her.

“Do what?” she asked.

“You can’t put yourself in situations with unknown wolves when you are pregnant,” Sean clarified, and Collin nodded and placed a kiss on her shoulder.

“Okay, let’s get one thing straight. I’m pregnant, I’m not sick, I’m not disabled, and you two will not make me sit in this apartment for seven months,” she told them.

“Well, no, you can go out in the pack house as long as one of us is with you,” Colin said.  

“That’s fair,” Sean nodded.

Adina looked at the two of them like they had lost their minds. Which they probably had.

“If you think I agree to that, neither of you knows me. I will not put myself and the pup in danger. But I’m not going to be sitting here either. We have two packs to run,” she said.

“Baby cakes, we are both alphas. We both strongly need to protect you, and that is going to get stronger now that you are carrying our pup,” Sean told her.

“He is right, baby. We need to protect the both of you,” Colin agreed.

“That’s fine. I understand that. But let’s be reasonable. I’m one of the most well-protected persons on the planet. Usually, I’m with one or both of you. If you want to add a warrior to that outside of the pack house, I’m fine with it,” Adina said.

“You were alone the whole afternoon today,” Sean pointed out, and both he and Colin groaned at the thought as if it caused them physical pain.

“I was in our apartment, on a floor in the pack house no one enters unless invited,” she reminded them.

“We need a plan. That can never happen again,” Sean said to Colin. Colin grunted and nodded.

For the first time, Adina wondered if it was a good idea to be mated to two alpha males. She needed to rein in their need to protect her at any price.

“Listen to me, both of you. I love you, and I will work with you on this. I understand your need to keep me and the pup safe. But there will not be any crazy amount of security or shutting me in. You forget who I am. I will open a portal, step through it, and leave your asses behind,” she told them.

They both paled at that thought.

“You can’t do that,” Colin said.

“I won’t unless you take it too far. Agreed?” she asked.

“Agreed,” they both nodded.

“Good, thank you,” she smiled and kissed them both.

“Can we tell the pack?” Colin asked her.

“Don’t you think it’s a little early for the?” she asked. “There is a chance this early that something goes wrong,” she said.

Both Colin and Sean growled and inched closer to her. It made her smile.

“Okay, but can we at least tell our family?” Sean said.

“Sure,” Adina smiled.

“Do you have any trips planned?” Colin asked her.

“We have the board meeting for the joint medical centre in three months,” Adina said.

Both her mates growled again.

“What is it this time?” she asked.

“Markus,” they both grumbled.

“Oh, come on. He isn’t on the board. You know that, Sean. We will be in the same place but not in the same room,” she said.

“I don’t like it,” Colin told her.

“Me either,” Sean agreed.

“It’s frustrating that you two seem to agree on so many things,” Adina huffed. They shrugged.

“I’m not cancelling. I would have sent a member of my council in place. But at the moment, I don’t trust them enough,” she sighed as the thought of not trusting her pack made her sad.

“Hey, baby, it’s okay,” Colin said, sensing her change in mood.

“Yeah, we will figure it out,” Sean agreed.

“Sean and I will come with you if you feel you need to go. No one would think to do something with the two of us,” Colin smiled.

“Thank you,” Adina said.

They stayed huddled up on the bed. Sean pulled the blanket from the bottom of the bed to cover them just as Adina was beginning to drift off to sleep when Cernack mind linked her.

‘Sorry to disturb you. Cleatus wants to talk,’ he told her.

‘Do you think he means it?’ Adina asked him.

‘I do. He is suffering from not being allowed to feed,’ Cernack said.

‘Fine, let’s let him stew a little longer. Arrange a safe place for us to talk to him the day after tomorrow,’ Adina decided.

‘Yes, my lady. Have a pleasant evening,”

“What was it?” Sean asked.

“Nothing that we need to talk about today. We can deal with it tomorrow,” Adina said.

She knew that when she told them about Cleatus, there would be a discussion about her going. She was far too tired and satisfied to ruin it with a conversation like that.