"I'm great, Donna, you?" Jeesh, she must have intuitive senses too. It was only a touch of queasiness over the waffles.
Donna says, "We have so much to do today. Wait until you hear about your wedding." She piles waffles on her plate and shoves them over to make room for eggs. When she adds bacon, I feel a selfish twinge as I worry that there may not be enough left for me to get my fill. “What is wrong with me?”
Brady answers in my head. "If you were thinking about what you’re going to do to my body instead of what my mother's saying, there's nothing wrong with you at all."
I send him a coy smile and shove bacon in my mouth.
Annie and Donna go over the wedding details while the rest of us try to be polite. Sierra does perk up when they get to the dresses. As my maid of honor, she's more excited than I am.
Sierra says, "Carly, you, me, and Annie need to go get our dresses this week. You only have two weeks until the wedding."
"I know. Shall we go Tuesday?"
Annie says, "That sounds great. We'll have to go all the way to Portland for the best selection, but it should be a fun trip."
Donna says, "Okay, now for the guest list. Carly, is there anyone you want to invite?" I give it a moment, but Sierra is the closest thing I have to family. I answer, "No."
"Okay." She ticks off a list of names and then pauses. "It's customary to invite the prime and prima from all clans. Carly, those are the names given to the alpha and his wife. That means we should invite Marion and Robert Robichaux and Ambroise and Patricia Veilleux."
I see Keith's jaw get hard, and Brady bristles next to me as he says, "I hate the idea of any Veilleux being at my wedding."
Donna says, "Yes, I do too. But it's part of what we must do." She folds her hands together and presses them against her mouth. We wait for what's coming next. "It's important they know we're strong. This will show them."
Brady says, "Do you think Ambroise will even come? He's been so ill."
Donna responds, "No, but I bet Victor will come in his place."
Brady growls in exasperation. "I know. And my bear will spend the whole time wanting to protect Carly. It's going to be hard not to shift."
Donna nods as I sit a little taller and say, "Excuse me, protect?"
"Yes, protect." Brady's voice takes on his alpha tone, and I know enough that it should make me want to cower. But I don't, and I can't explain why. I send him a message in my head. “I can take care of myself.”
He replies, “You will do what I say. It's my job to take care of you.”
“Good luck with that, smokey.” My hands start to ache, and I'm afraid I'm about to shift. I take a deep breath.
Brady's chair scrapes across the floor as he shoves it back to stand up. He's definitely starting to shift, and Sierra's eyes get wide.
Donna says, "Enough, you two. Save the fight for later. Brady, you'll notice Carly is in control of her emotions. You'd be wise to do the same."
Right now I wish I could talk to Donna in my head and tell her thank you. Instead I throw her a grateful smile as Brady takes a lap around the kitchen to stop his shift.
When he returns, Donna leans forward and speaks to us in a low voice. "Are we calm now?"
I nod and glimpse Brady doing the same.
Donna says, "Good. Finish your breakfast. And Carly, you're eating for more than one now, so go get seconds." She smiles like the Cheshire cat while the rest of us stare at her in shock.
I'm pregnant?
Donna breaks our silence. "Can't anyone else smell it? Oh, I suppose not, since none of you would recognize it. Carly, dear, you're pregnant. And if I've still got my sense of smell, I'd say three babies are in there."
28
Chapter 15
Carly
After breakfast Brady and I go up to our room. He paces the large space in agitation. "How dare you defy a direct alpha order?"
I stand with my hands on my hips as he walks back toward me. "Oh, so you can just decide to give me an order because of your super-sized ego? I thought a good ruler made wise decisions and didn't bark out demands on a whim."
He towers over me and practically spits out his words. "My word is final, and there is nothing you can do about that. Get used to it."
"Funny, but it was quite easy to deny you, fur ball. Guess you're not so alpha when it comes to me, huh?" I'm being quite the bitch, and my anger is dangerously close to making me shift.
Brady doesn't exercise control, and I watch him shift before me. He lets out a roar that shakes the bedposts. He's ruined yet another set of clothes, and they lie in tatters on the floor.
I snort at him in return, but the truth is his bear form is turning me on. I step closer and inhale his sharp bear musk with the familiar scent of him as a human. "Just like a man to think that the loudest roar wins." I poke him in the chest. "You're in for a rude awakening if you think I'm afraid of you."
I turn to walk away, but he yanks me against his furry body. He speaks to me in his head. “Jesus, you're sexy when you’re mad.”