CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Well shit. Taryn plonked herself on the bathroom stool as utter shock overcame her entire being. Her breaths started coming in short shallow pants and a slight tremor ran through her body. A cocktail of emotions swished through her, around her, over her, and she couldn’t make any sense of them. A part of her wanted Trey, wanted his arms around her comforting her, but she knew that if she tried to stand her legs wouldn’t support her. She also knew that there was a very good chance that comfort wasn’t what she would get.
It was her full bladder that had woken her early and made her slip out of Trey’s secure hold. As she had stumbled her way into the bathroom still half-asleep, she had found herself frowning as she became aware that something wasn’t quite right. Nothing that set off any alarm bells, nothing that was making her wolf agitated or apprehensive. On the contrary, her wolf was extremely content, though maybe a little more on the alert than usual. Still, something was different and it was pissing her off enough that Taryn began to snap out of her drowsy state. And then she understood; her scent. It had changed again. For a second she’d wondered if it was something to do with the bonding, but an age old instinct surfaced and told her exactly why it was different. Pregnant. She was pregnant.
Just how the hell had that happened? Okay, sure, she knew how, but she had been taking her pills on time, she hadn’t missed a single one. The contraceptive pills designed for shifters were a lot stronger than those used by humans and they were 99.9% fool proof. Yeah she realized that wasn’t a guarantee, but no one expects to be in the 0.1% do they?
No wonder her wolf was so content. Now that the fog had cleared, Taryn found that she herself was…happy. She had always wanted pups of her own, though she’d never dared hope too strongly that it would ever happen. How could she not be happy to know that growing inside her was a little person who was half her and half the person she loved? Now Trey, on the other hand…there was no telling how he would react.
In a few months he had gone from wanting jack shit in terms of relationships to being partially bonded – that was a lot for someone like him. He might not feel ready yet. Hell, given Trey’s nature, there was a chance he hadn’t pictured ever having any kids. Not that Taryn would have agreed to never have any, but she would have agreed to give him time. It would hurt to find out he didn’t want this baby, but that could very well be the case and she knew she had to prepare herself for that – mostly so that she could refrain from clawing his eyes out. It was amazing just how protective she was of this unborn life already.
She wasn’t sure how long she had sat there planning what she would say and panicking as the right words wouldn’t come when she heard Trey call out her name. Shit. “I’ll be out in a sec.” Apparently that wasn’t good enough for him as he then rose from the bed and began unsteadily making his way to the bathroom.
“Taryn, what’s wrong?”
Great, so he had sensed her panic. “Nothing I’m fine.” The door swung open and, frowning at her, he stepped inside. Then he halted abruptly as his frown deepened and his nostrils flared. A few seconds later his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. There was no mistaking the smell of a pregnant wolf. She gave him a cautious, wobbly smile. “Hi.”
Although Trey had never had a way with words, he had never found himself knocked enough to be speechless. Until now. When he had sensed her anxiety, he had thought that maybe she’d had a nightmare or was worrying herself stupid about the challenge taking place tomorrow – what else was going to wake her up in a panic at dumb ‘o’ clock in the morning? The distinctive change to her scent had hit him immediately as he entered the room, but not harder than his understanding of what that meant.
The sight of his little mate huddled on the stool as if bracing herself for a fierce impact made something in his chest tighten. His reaction, she was bracing herself for his reaction. Her emotions were all over the place, but her primary emotion was happiness. She was happy. Scared and shocked, but happy. And she feared he wouldn’t feel the same.
His wolf bucked at the reigns, wanting to be near her, to protect her, to hold her. Wanting the same and knowing he needed to say something, Trey went to her and squatted in front of the stool. “You’re pregnant.” Oh hell, he was getting worse with words if all he could do was state the obvious.
“Yeah. Pregnant. I’ve been taking my pills but…” She let the sentence trail, shrugging.
“I…I have no idea what to say, baby.”
She smiled a little at his apologetic expression. “I don’t need you to say anything. I just need to know if you’re okay with this. I can’t sense anything from you.”