Ceri lowered herself into the water, stretching out. She sighed with contentment as she felt her muscles relax. That was so much better. So much more—
She sat up so quickly that some of the water sloshed over the side of the tub. Ceri was breathing heavily. She had a hand on the lower part of her belly. A reaction. What the hell? What was that?
She’d had a bit of a rumbly tummy the last few days but that was something else. It felt like something moved. Like something…kicked. No! She was imagining things that simply were not there.
Ceri sucked in a few deep breaths and lay back down. She forced herself to breathe normally. To clear her head. To relax. She had a bit of indigestion. That’s all it was. It had to be. She even smiled at herself for being such an overreacting idiot.
Then it happened again.
Harder this time. A soft thumping feeling. A tapping. There…there it was again, slightly to the right this time. She could hardly breathe. Her eyes felt wide in her head. Her hand moved to her belly, closing over the spot. There! Another soft thump. She couldn’t feel it inside. It wasn’t hard enough to feel with her hand even though she pressed down. There were a few more taps and thumps and then nothing.
She could hear her ragged breathing in the small space of the bathroom. Ceri didn’t know what to think. It felt like she had something inside her. What could she possibly have inside her? One answer kept coming back, only it wasn’t possible. She couldn’t be pregnant. She’d undergone surgery to prevent it from happening. An irreversible surgery. It wasn’t possible.
Ceri got out of the bath and toweled herself off. She stood in front of the mirror, like she often did. Only this time she looked. She really looked. Her breasts were much bigger than they had been. Her nipples seemed plumper and darker. Was it just her imagination that they were darker? She didn’t think so.
She looked herself over, standing to the side. Then she ran into the living room and called Drago.
Thankfully he picked up after two rings. A female giggled in the background. “What’s up?” he asked, sounding concerned.
There was a murmuring. “Not now,” he spoke away from the phone. “Are you okay?” he asked, speaking into the receiver. “You haven’t called me this late, out of the blue, for a very long time.”
“It’s not late.”
“It is for you, grandma.”
She wanted to smile at his joke, but she couldn’t. “I need to see you,” she blurted. “Right now, and no, it can’t wait. I can hear I’m interrupting and—”
“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Drago said. Ceri could hear whoever he was with protesting as he put down the phone.
Ceri toweled off her hair and quickly got dressed, choosing a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. Then she began pacing. Drago was there four minutes later.
He knocked and came in. “Are you okay?”
“I am…I think.”
“What do you mean you think?” He frowned. “Speak to me.”
“I’m sorry I ruined your plans for the night.”
Drago made a face. “I wasn’t into her. I haven’t been into any of them of late,” he mumbled. “Enough about me. This is about you. Spill.”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.” She paced away from him. “I think I’m crazy for even thinking this, but I don’t know what else to think.”
“Tell me what’s going on and we can discuss it. I can see you’re freaked out.”
She nodded. “I am. Big time. I felt something…something inside me.”
“What?” Drago frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Movement inside my stomach.”
Drago made a face. “Okay, you’re losing me here.”
“Kicking. I felt definite kicking inside my belly. This belly.” She lifted her shirt to just below her breasts. Then she stood to the side.
“I told you to knock it off with all the bad food.” He shook his head. “The burgers and fries. I saw you with a whole box of donuts on Tuesday. Now look, you’ve got indigestion and you’ve put on more weight.”
“My breasts are huge.”
“A definite bonus for sure.” Drago nodded. “I think you look amazing. Very sexy, but I can’t agree because it isn’t healthy. You aren’t drinking enough either. Don’t make me start on you about that.”
“Actually. I think it might be related. The not feeling much like drinking, my weight gain, my boobs, the kicking.” She put a hand to her stomach. “I went through a patch where I was really nauseous. I put it down to wanting Bay’s blood. You remember how much weight I lost. How sick I felt.”
He nodded. “You said you were addicted to drinking from the male, but that’s not true.”
“My blood has changed. I think it might have. It might be why you can’t get enough of my blood.”
He licked his lips, his eyes moving to her pulse. “You see?” she said. “Just talking about drinking from me is making you thirsty.”
“Come on, it can’t be.”
“No,” she shook her head, “I agree. It can’t possibly be. There is only one way to find out for sure though. I need to rule it out so that I can move on.”
The seatbelt bit into her shoulder as the vehicle hit a pothole. “Slow down.”
“Sorry.” Drago took his foot off the gas a little. “I guess I’m freaking out a bit too. I mean, what if you are…you know?”
“Pregnant.” She felt her heart beat faster. Felt panic rise.
“Yes.” Drago nodded. “That wouldn’t be good, would it?”
“No, I don’t think so, although, I don’t know. Vampires can have shifter young, even those of us with narrow hips. But the shifters I’m referring to are bears, wolves and panthers, not dragons. We don’t have much information about the dragons. All I know is that it’s too soon to be feeling kicking.”
“Unless you became pregnant on the Beachhaven trip, then you would be much further along. Your pregnancy would be more in tune with a vampire pregnancy, which is bad.”
“Very bad.” She swallowed hard. “Either way, it’s too late to terminate.”
“You’re on the cusp. You could still do it. You should still.” Drago’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“We don’t even know that I’m…pregnant yet.”
The vehicle hit the smooth surface of tar. “We will in five minutes.”
“Pity I ran out of pregnancy tests. I don’t keep very many on account of not many of our females becoming pregnant.”
“You have been a bit forgetful lately. Is that a symptom as well?” Drago glanced her way before looking back at the road.
“Yes, I suppose it is. Are you sure there’s a twenty-four-hour drugstore in Sweetwater?”
Drago nodded. “Yes. They have a big neon sign.”
“Classy.”
“Very.” He turned and smiled at her. “This is going to be okay.”
She nodded once, shoving more panic aside. It was no use jumping to conclusions. Not yet.
Drago insisted on going in while she waited in the car. Five minutes later he walked out carrying a bag which he handed to her as he slipped behind the wheel. She looked inside and burst out laughing. “Really? Six tests? You bought six?”
He shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, and we’re not waiting to get back either.”
Two minutes later they pulled into a gas station.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” Drago asked.
“You want to watch me pee on a stick?”
“I won’t look.”
Ceri smiled and shook her head. “I can manage.”
He nodded. “I’m sure there’s some logical explanation.”
“Me too.”
“You can’t be with child because that wouldn’t be logical.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” She shook her head, feeling better. “We’re going to laugh about this in a few minutes.”
Drago smiled. It was forced, his eyes kept this pinched look. “So much.”
Ceri got out of the SUV, armed with two of the tests.
“Good luck,” Drago called after her.
Ceri took a deep breath and headed for the restrooms.
Chapter 18
Bay sat at the bar. He looked down at the tumbler in his hand. At the amber-colored liquid inside. The scent coming off it was pungent. Not normally his drink of choice, but he was feeling nostalgic tonight and had ordered it.
“Nursing that?” the bartender asked, elevating his voice above the noise.
Bay nodded.
“Can I get you something else?” he asked, as he cleared some empty beer bottles away.
“Maybe a water.”
The male’s lip twitched but he nodded once, ducking down to grab a bottle out of the refrigerator under the bar. He handed it to Bay, who paid. Bay opened the bottle and drank down some of the cool liquid. He scanned the place, almost expecting to see her. It was bustling. People danced, they laughed and talked. They flirted and kissed. As per usual, they’d gone to the place across the road. He’d hung out there for a while. Then he’d told Beck that he was going to the Jolly Roger instead. The male had teased him for a while, but he’d eventually let him go. Here he was.
It seemed he liked to torture himself since he was standing in exactly the same place she had been standing six months earlier. Bay picked the tumbler back up and took a sip of the whiskey. It burned on the way down. Thing was, Beck was right. He did need to move on. It was time. It was past due.
The females sitting right next to him kept whispering to one another. They were arguing over who would get him. Like he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“I saw him first,” the blonde said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
“His eyes met mine when he looked this way earlier,” the one with the short, dark hair said, her brown eyes wide.
“I’ve been single for the longest, so surely that means I get first dibs.” The one with the tight curls stepped in-between the other two. Of course, that set off a whole new argument as to why the length of time being single didn’t count in who ended up getting him.
He casually glanced their way. They were pretty. All three of them giggled when they caught him looking. They resumed their debate as soon as he turned away.
Another female moved in next to him on the other side. She ordered a couple of drinks. “Thirsty?” he asked, looking at the three bottles that had been placed in front of her. It was a stupid thing to say. He was seriously rusty.
She smiled and nodded. “I’m dancing with my friends, so yeah, very.”
He nodded, already chickening out, even though he couldn’t scent a male on her.
“And you? Just sitting here…on your own.” She glanced at the three females on the other side of him.
“Yep, all alone. I’m from out of town.”
He noticed how she looked down at his hand. Humans wore rings to symbolize being mated. They didn’t have the same senses as dragons. She was checking to see if he was available.
“Um, can I buy you a drink?” she asked, clearly better at this than he was. She had shoulder-length blonde hair. It had a slight curl. She wore jeans and a tight, red top. Her eyes were wide and a bright blue. She was short and curvy and definitely the type of female he would have been interested in back in the day. Before his run-in with a silver blade. All he could think about though when looking at her was of another female. One with green eyes and dark hair. Ceri.
Fuck!
He needed to move on. Ceri wasn’t thinking about him. Ceri had moved on. He shook his head. “No,” Bay held up the bottle of water, “I’m all set.”
Her demeanor changed. Her eyes clouded slightly and her shoulders slumped just a little.
“But I wouldn’t mind talking.”
Talking. Fuck, but he’d turned into a total pussy. He was a bigger one now that his dick was fully functional than when he’d been half a male. What was wrong with him? He should be happy about it. Should be embracing his new-found virility, but all he could do was mope.
Her eyes lit up. “I’m Carly.”
“Bay. Good to meet you.” He took her outstretched hand and shook it.
Carly picked up two of the bottles. “I’m going to take these—”
Just then, another female arrived. She smiled at Bay and giggled when her eyes met Carly’s. “I’ll take those.” She winked. Or at least, from where he was sitting it looked like she winked.
Then he realized that he was still sitting while she stood there. He really was shit at the whole pick-up thing. Bay stood up off the barstool, watching Carly’s friend walk back to the dancefloor. “Can I offer you a seat?”
“Thanks.” She smiled, climbing up on the stool. “So where are you from?”
He told her their well-rehearsed spiel about where they were from and what they did.
Her eyes lit up. “You’re a cage-fighter?” Her gaze moved over his face. “My brother got involved for a couple of months. He fought a couple of times and after being knocked out twice, he retired.” She laughed. “I must say you don’t look like a fighter since your nose has never been broken and you don’t have any scars…that I can see.”
“I forgot to mention that I’m a good cage fighter. I tend to win.”
She nodded. “I’m impressed. I mean, you’re a big guy.” Her eyes flitted to his chest before moving back up to his face. “How long are you in town for?”
“Just one night.” He uncapped his water.
“Pity.” She smiled up at him. “It would have been nice to get to know you better.”
Bay took a sip of his water. This was the part where he suggested they fuck. One night of hot sex. His dick didn’t jump at the plan. In fact, it did nothing.
She took a sip of her drink. Her cheeks began to turn pink. Her eyes moved to her friends and then back to him. “We could get out of here. I have an apartment not ten minutes from here. We could talk.”
Talk.
He squeezed the back of his neck. This female was lovely. Truly she was. He wanted to take her up on her offer, but…Bay clenched his teeth. He should take her up on her offer. Ceri was done with him. It had just been really great rutting. Nothing more. He needed to stop this obsession he had. It wasn’t healthy.
“Or, we could just stay here and hang out?” she quickly added, taking another sip of her drink.
“You know what, Carly?” He put the water down on the bar. “Let’s go back to your place.”
Her whole face lit up, then she frowned. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “Yes.” He tried to smile, tried to feel something, anything, but failed. By fucking claw, he was going through with this. He was rutting this female and getting over the vampire if it was the last thing he ever did.
“Of course I’m sure. You’re gorgeous. Blonde happens to be my favorite.” Such a bullshit line.
“Well then,” she slid off of the chair, “you’re in for a treat, since I’m blonde all over.” She winked.
Why were they here?
She was crazy. Worse than crazy. Nuts! Then again, she knew, deep down inside, exactly what had driven her to have asked to come all the way out there. Bay was on the Stag Run and she was praying that she would arrive in time to stop him from doing what he had gone there to do. She should go back and wait until morning, but instead, she had insisted that time was of the essence ‒ which it was ‒ but it could have waited until the next day. A few hours wouldn’t have mattered, and yet she’d insisted.
Hopefully, she wasn’t too late.
They arrived at the bar. “This is it,” Reef said. He was one of the Water dragons who had been assigned to help them.
“Beach Bums,” Drago read the sign that hung above the door. “How original.” It was a different place to the one she had met Bay in. The Jolly Roger was just across the street. She looked that way, feeling her heart squeeze. Butterflies took flight in her stomach, big ones. Hyperactive ones. She felt a moment of nausea.
Drago sensed he
r hesitation, he put an arm around her and squeezed once before letting go. “Ready?”
No!
She nodded. “Thanks for coming. I know you were busy with—”
“Of course I came along. Don’t mention it. You needed the support and here I am. I hope we’re…on time.”
She nodded once. It was already getting late. It was probably too late. Bay was a catch. The humans would be all over him.
“Let’s go inside. We might be lucky enough to still find him here,” Wade said. He was another of the Water dragons helping them.
“He might have already left,” Reef voiced what they were all thinking. “We could still catch up with him at the hotel, although—” The male stopped talking, must have caught the horrified look on her face.
If Bay was already back at the hotel, there was a good chance he wasn’t going to be there alone, and neither would he be sleeping. More butterflies and more nausea hit her.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be here.” No doubt about it. Bay had decided to attend the Stag Run for one reason and one reason only. He was there to rut a human female. Heck, he might be there to rut a couple. She’d pined for him all of these months and here he was, hitting the town, at the first chance he could get. According to Torrent, they went on a Run every six months and this was his weekend. It had been six months, almost to the day, since they had first met.
“We’re here already. Might as well go in and take a look,” Drago said. He was her voice of reason.
“You’re right.” She nodded.
Drago took her hand and they walked into the still bustling bar. Reef walked ahead of them and Wade followed behind.
Reef scanned the room, quickly deciding which direction to take. Ceri tried to give the air a sniff in the hope of picking up his scent, but there were too many feuding smells. Aside from lots of different people, many of the females wore perfume. There was also a strong scent of greasy food.
The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete) Page 50
