by Sarra Cannon
“Do you know why you went into heat? How you fell pregnant even after taking the shot?” His forehead was creased and those intense dark eyes bore into her.
“I didn’t have a clue and if Devlin hadn’t done extensive research, then I would still be in the dark. Demon skins are not meant to be alone. Maybe you can understand with the whole pack thing. They live in a family unit and when they come of age, they mate. Skins always run in pairs. It is how we are born, how we live and how we die. Only, I had no idea about this so I’ve been alone for a very long time.” She reached forward and took a sip of her drink before continuing. “I guess it was my body’s way of rectifying the situation. I went into heat. A phase meant to attract males.” She cleared her throat, feeling a little embarrassed. “During this time my body collected as much sperm as possible.”
His eyes narrowed. “But you only had sex with me?” Phoenix growled. His neck muscles bulged and his hands clasped until his knuckles turned white.
“Yes.”
He visibly relaxed. It would be easy to misconstrue the question, to see it as jealousy. She knew all it was, plain and simple, was fear that there might be a paternity suit in the future.
“The medication to prevent the pregnancy remained in my system for three days. During this time my body stored the sperm ready for ovulation.”
“When are you due?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “The million dollar question. I have no idea. Wolves are pregnant for three months and skins for seven. I’ve been pregnant for four months already.” Gaby absently rubbed her belly. “I go for a scan every three days just to be on the safe side. My doctor seems to think that the babies are close to full term.”
Phoenix shot to his feet with that same agile grace that had won him the battle against those bloods. “Babies? Did you just say babies?”
“I thought you knew. I would have thought that whoever told you about the pregnancy would have told you about...” She placed both of her hands over her belly. “It was news to me, but skins have two wombs. We can only have twin pregnancies. If one baby doesn’t make it, both don’t make it.”
He ran a hand through his hair before scrubbing that same hand over his face. “Two.” It came out sounding strangled.
Gaby had to feel sorry for him. It had taken her most of this pregnancy to come to terms with it. To start to at least feel something for her unborn children. She had only just started to wonder about how they would look, their sex and she had yet to buy anything...diapers a rattle...anything for them.
For a second she thought he might up and leave, but then he sat back down looking a little paler than before. “Nobody told me about your pregnancy.”
She let out an internal sigh of relief. Not many people knew about her being pregnant, even less knew about Phoenix. It would have meant that one of her friends had told him, which would have been the ultimate betrayal.
“I wanted to see you again,” he added. His eyes softened for just a second before hardening back up again.
As much as she wanted to get excited about this development, she had to remind herself that the last time he had seen her she had been wearing a super sexy skin in the very curvy form of Macy Night. She was also in heat, which meant pheromones that could boggle a man’s brain. The only reason Phoenix was back was because that was how he remembered her. Right now, she was hugely preggers and stuck in her own form. Her demon was partly dormant and wouldn’t allow her to shift in this state. Seeing Phoenix today made part of her wish that she could shift back into the sexier body, and she would have been sorely tempted to do it if she could.
“Look, things have changed.” She was trying to let him off the hook. “It seems as if you want to be a part of the children’s lives, which is fine. I would have told you about this but it’s been...difficult for me to accept. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”
“What is your address?”
The sudden change of topic left her confused for a few beats. “Why?”
“I need to arrange for a moving company to pack your things. You’re moving in with me.”
Delivered so matter of factly, she felt her mouth fall open in an all out gape. “No, I’m not.”
“You’re carrying my children, I’m going to mate you and you’re staying here where I can take care of you.”
For just a second her heart raced at the prospect. She hardly knew this man, yet the thought of becoming his mate didn’t sound nearly as terrifying as it should. The problem was that Gaby knew he was doing this out of a sense of duty. It had nothing to do with his own desires.
“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself...of these children when they are born.”
“I am their father. I am responsible for their wellbeing and for the wellbeing of their mother. Give me your address.” He moved to sit next to her and took her hand. “This arrangement would be best for all of us. You just said that you are nearing full term and therefore could go into labor anytime. Is someone else living with you?” His eyes narrowed and he squeezed her hand almost to the point of pain.
“No.”
He eased off the hold. “What if you suddenly go into labor? It’s not good to be alone at this time.”
“It could be months.”
“It could be days,” he growled.
“I have a phone.” There was truth to what he was saying. Gaby had felt a sense of relief at him finding out about the pregnancy and even more so after his admission to wanting to be a part of the parenting process.
“We don’t know what to expect with this pregnancy. The whole reason this happened in the first place was because you had been alone for too long. You are a demon skin and pregnant and should not be alone.”
“You mentioned that we should mate.” He pretty much had her sold on moving in with him, but she would never mate with someone who didn’t love her.
“Children need both their parents in their lives. We can make this work.”
In theory his words made absolute sense, in practice it was another matter entirely. The practicality of his statement had a strange emotion threatening to bring tears to her eyes and she had to swallow down a lump in her throat. Phoenix hadn’t mentioned that he had any sort of feelings for her, that what they had shared was a foundation to build on. His piece was delivered almost as a business proposal. She blinked away the tears and swallowed harder. She had limited experience with crying but what little she had, she didn’t like one bit.
“I’m a criminal defense attorney. I do well, so money would not be an issue. Wolves mate for life so there would be no need for a pre-nup either. I’ll take care of the family”—he cleared his throat—“my family.”
It was weird, ever since she had become pregnant and her demon was mostly dormant, a feeling of calm had descended over her. The aggressive demon skin inside of her would have demanded that she fist him straight in the face for the way he was treating her. It would have longed to see blood gush from his nose, maybe from a split lip. Even with a dormant demon though, she pulled her hand away from his and kicked him in the shin, hard. Much to her irritation, he didn’t react. No yelping or moving away from her, the only move he made was to fold his arms and to lean back into the chair. Even with this situation unfolding, Gaby couldn’t help but to notice how wide his chest was or how massive his biceps looked underneath that shirt.
“I take it that you don’t agree.”
“I’ll move in, but I’m paying my own way. I don’t expect charity from you. I’m insulted that you think I would mooch off of you.”
He frowned, but she ignored him and continued, “We will sleep in separate rooms. There will be no mating, no sex for that matter.”
His frown deepened. “We can wait for you to come to terms with it before mating, even though I disagree. As to the no sex though, unless your doctor specifically states otherwise, we will be having sex.”
Her pussy clenched. Her libido had sky rocketed ever since she became pregnant. The last four months ha
d been long and lonely. There were only so many times a girl could masturbate. The problem with sex was that she already had feelings for Phoenix after only one night together. She’d end up falling in love with him if she not only lived with him, but was intimate with him as well. Not having those feelings returned would kill her in the long run, she had to be strong. Phoenix didn’t see it right now, but he would resent her in the long run if she caved in and allowed him to take her as a mate.
“I will only agree to move in with you if you accept that we will sleep in separate rooms and that I need to pay my own way.” It would be tough since she still had her own apartment, which she would keep just in case, but she would get by somehow.
He nodded, “Fine...” He didn’t look like he thought it was fine. Gaby felt the tension rise as he continued, “For now. One other thing though.” His eyes stayed on her. “Is this your real form?”
Gaby nodded. “I can’t change my skin right now, maybe after the babies are born.”
His mouth became a thin white line and his jaw clenched. “I’ll make the arrangements to move your things.”
It was clear that Phoenix wasn’t happy with her current skin, the real her. That strange feeling took a stronger hold. Oh yes, she knew what that feeling was even though a man had never caused her to feel this way. Phoenix had the ability to hurt her and she didn’t like it one bit.
— —
How the hell was he supposed to live with Gaby and not take her to his bed? She was exactly what he found attractive in a woman, legs that went on for miles, eyes a man could drown in and her scent had his cock twitching in his pants. Although the scent of sex was not nearly as strong as the first time he had met her, it was still there intermingled with ripe cherries and rich, dark chocolate. Phoenix had to stop himself from drooling as he was reminded of her decadent taste. Next time he went between those thighs, he would make sure that she came in his mouth. There would be no stopping him when it happened again. If he had anything to say about it, it would happen in the very near future.
Right now, he could stick to his original plan which was to get to know her better. They were compatible. This could work. For the sake of his unborn children he would make it work. Their needs came above all else and what they needed most of all was a loving family unit. He prayed that his pack would accept the union, but one step at a time. For now he needed to get to know his future mate. He also needed to get her into his bed and prove to her that they were right for one another.
“I need to leave. I have a doctor’s appointment in half an hour.”
“I’ll take you.”
“I’m sure you have work to do it’s—”
“I will take you. I’ll cancel all of my meetings and court appearances for every appointment that you have going forward as well. I will be there when you give birth. This is not negotiable, Gaby,” he added the last part when he saw her look of disapproval. It would take time to convince her of his convictions, he still wasn’t sure how he felt about this himself. He was sure on two things though, one, it was his responsibility and one not taken lightly and two, there was something there between himself and Gaby. He planned to use that something to make it work between them.
Chapter 5
Phoenix stared dumbfounded at the screen.
“I’ll try and get baby A’s face from a different angle so that we can get a better look.” The image on the screen bounced around for a few seconds before the doctor finally settled on an angle that he liked. “There, that’s better.”
Technology was amazing. Phoenix could make out the silhouette of a face, perfectly formed. His throat felt tight and he blinked a couple of times. There was no way he was going to cry. He was a grown ass man for hound’s sake. One thing was certain, he may not have been sure of his feelings soon after finding out about being a father, but seeing his children on the screen, hearing the race of their heartbeats, made a feeling of pride surge through his veins. These were his pups, his flesh and blood.
“Are you sure you don’t want to know the sex?”
Gaby hesitated a moment. “I think it should be a surprise.” She looked at Phoenix, almost daring him to disagree. He’d never actually thought about it until right at that moment. It was a given that half blood species normally exhibited mostly the traits of the father, but he found himself longing for a little girl with big green eyes, just like her mother.
“Everything looks great.” The big doctor snapped him out of his thoughts as he handed Gaby a wad of paper towels. “The babies are a little below four pounds each, which is on the small side for demon wolves but close to the birth weight of demon skins. The organs are fully formed, but it is difficult to say if the lungs are sufficiently developed. The fetuses only have one heart and one liver. I therefore think that we are looking at anywhere between two and four weeks until delivery date. It is believed that one of the reasons demon skins have a relatively long gestation period is due to the extra organs.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “We have to let nature take its course. I am in the process of conducting research into how skins give birth, but haven’t found much information yet. I’ll keep at it.”
The doctor gave Gaby a reassuring pat on the hand that had Phoenix bristling. Damned if he didn’t want to remove that hand at the wrist. What the hell was wrong with him? This pregnancy had shot him straight into protective mode. That had to be it.
“I want you to take it easy.” The doctor looked at Gaby. “You should start to think about going on maternity leave soon.”
“You said between two and four weeks. You agree that it could be longer than that?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think so. We don’t know what to expect, Gaby. Keep that in mind.”
Gaby took hold of the doctor’s hand and Phoenix had to stop himself from pulling her against him to show the other male that she was taken. How had he gone from never having a jealous bone in his body to becoming this ugly green monster?
“I promise to take it easy, but I need to keep working. Aside from going nuts if I sit around all day, I only have four months paid leave and would rather spend it with the babies once they are born.”
It was clear that she wanted nothing to do with his money, which irritated the crap out of him. “You can take unpaid leave. Let’s be clear, you are carrying my children. I need to be able to contribute financially.” He had to try and find a way of convincing her to take his money. “If you can’t work and it’s for the safety of the children, I will pay.”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
“No we won’t, it’s not negotiable. The safety of our children comes first.”
Her face clouded, she looked hurt and then her eyes narrowed at him in anger. “Fine, but there is no medical reason why I can’t keep going for the time being. What do you say, Dev?” She turned to look at the demon dragon.
“For now, Gaby, but I won’t agree to your working for much longer.”
“Thanks, Dev. You’re the best.” Gaby hugged the other man and Phoenix’s demon clawed at him. A low growl pierced the silence and his gums itched. Gaby ignored him and continued, “I’ll see you in three days, Doc.” Gaby turned to leave.
“You go on without me, I need five minutes with the doctor.”
She turned to face him. Her features were drawn in confusion.
“It’s nothing to be concerned about. I’ll meet you in the coffee shop we passed on the way in. There is something I need to ask the doc.”
“Are you okay with me talking with Phoenix?” The doctor looked at Gaby with concern.
Gaby nodded, “Yeah, they’re his children too.” She left, closing the door behind her.
“Take a seat,” Doctor Devlin gestured to the chair across the desk from him. “What’s on your mind?”
Phoenix sat, the chair creaked beneath him. “I need you to be straight with me, Doc. How high risk is this pregnancy?”
“We’re moving into an extremely high risk phase purely because we have n
o idea what to expect. Thankfully Gaby is a demon skin, which are considered to be strong and fierce demons. She should be fine, but we just don’t know. Things like gestation, duration of labor, will she birth via the birth canal or will she vomit out the babies? There’s just no way of knowing for sure.” He paused, pushing his glasses up. “I can only speculate. Skins are similar to humans in their make-up, therefore we would expect the birth to be in line with that of a human’s. And then let’s just say we get through the birth, what is considered normal for a newly born infant from a skin? Again we can speculate that they will have your traits, but who actually knows? We will have to be prepared and flexible, take it as it comes. Have Gaby pack a hospital bag, and she should be home and under your watchful eye going forward.” The demon dragon pinched the bridge of his nose. “She shouldn’t be working. I have no medical reason to stop her though. Good luck, but I urge you to talk her into staying home. It’s just, she can go into labor any time now. I’ll make sure that we have a chopper on alert just in case.”
Phoenix nodded, “Cost is irrelevant.”
“Thanks, Mr...um Phoenix, DCA will cover the costs, but I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You said that it’s good that Gaby is a demon skin, will she be okay? Is she in any danger?” The thought of losing Gaby made his blood rush and his heart pound.
“I don’t think so, she should be fine.”
“One last thing, Doc, can we have sex?”
The doctor leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I can’t see it being a problem. Take it slow and easy. Stop if Gaby experiences any pain or bleeding. The endorphins released during sex are considered good for both mother and child...in this case children.”
“You’re sure?”
“The pregnancy itself is relatively low risk as skins are built to carry twins. It’s the birth that I’m a little concerned about.”
“Thank you.” Phoenix reached over and shook the other man’s hand.
— —
