“No, but you have me. Aren’t I interesting enough?”
“You are interesting, but there’s not much for us to do. I feel useless.”
“You’re not useless to me,” he said. “I need you here with me. And we’re running for our lives. You’re still saving lives every day. Ours.”
“I guess.” She flopped down all the way on the bed, still feeling anxious, but resigned to deal with it.
In the morning, she lay staring at the ceiling for a long while. It felt like there was no reason to get out of bed. She counted ceiling tiles and watched Kenny sleep. When she finally got up to use the bathroom, she felt a sudden wave of nausea. She turned to face the toilet and threw up in it. After she finished and brushed her teeth, she sat back down on the bed with her crackers, hoping they would make her feel better.
Being bored and stuck here was bad enough, but being sick on top of it would make everything worse. By the afternoon, she was feeling better and figured that throwing up had taken care of whatever it was that made her sick. But later that night, when Kenny reached for her, she started to wonder if she was wrong.
He squeezed her breast like he often did, but this time, it hurt. She pulled back. “Ow.”
“Sorry.”
He was gentler after that, but it still didn’t feel right. Had he been rough previously and bruised her somehow? The next morning, she thought she had her answer, impossible as it was.
“Kenny.” She shook him awake after she finished throwing up. “Wake up!”
He sat up suddenly, looking around. “What? Is someone here?”
“No.” Tears sat low in her eyes and she burst into sobs.
“What’s wrong?” He pulled her close and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m sorry you’re bored. Maybe we can get some books or something.”
“It’s not that. I think… I think…” She sat up to wipe her eyes. “I know it’s not possible. It’s not supposed to be anyway, but I think I might be pregnant.”
It took several minutes for the news to sink in. “Really?”
“Three days in a row now, I’ve felt sick in the mornings, then felt better later, after I ate some crackers. My breasts hurt, and the smell of your aftershave has been bugging me.”
He pulled his eyebrows together. “It has?”
She nodded. “I thought you were just using more than normal or something.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“Get a home test and see what it says.”
“Okay. Then let’s do that.”
As they drove to the store and returned, Audrey thought about what this would mean. She’d never pictured herself having a baby. She’d had to put it out of her mind long ago. Maybe her infection would make her uterus too weak to carry a baby. What if she just kept losing babies over and over? She felt the worry hit her stomach. If she was pregnant, she needed to get to a doctor. And she would need some sort of more permanent place. She couldn’t just go on the run being pregnant.
When they got back to the motel room, she went into the bathroom and took the test. While she waited, she thought about what else this would mean. The pack wouldn’t come after her. They wouldn’t kill her if she was pregnant. It was part of their code. And maybe, in the time while she was pregnant, they could prove that the secret was safe. So that once the baby came, they wouldn’t leave her baby orphaned.
Then there was the Kenny factor. How would he react to having a baby with her? Would he freak out and run, even if he had said he wanted to make a family? Maybe this was too soon or too sudden for him. He might ditch her and leave her alone to deal with this. Or. Something in the back of her mind said he wouldn’t leave her, but would want more. Maybe he’d want to get married. Neither of these were things she thought would be part of her life. She had planned to be single and be a nurse forever, to give her life to caring for patients. Not to be a wife or mother.
She looked at the time. Five minutes had passed. With a deep breath, she picked up the stick to look at it. Two little lines stared back. She was pregnant.
She walked out of the bathroom and handed the stick to Kenny.
“What does this mean?” he asked, turning the stick around to inspect it.
“It means we’re going to have a baby. And it means that for as long as I’m pregnant, we’re safe. They won’t kill me.”
“Will they still kill me?”
“They never actually voted to kill you. I think they were going to let you go, except you were with me, and it was easier to kill us both. Maybe it’ll be just as easy to leave us both alive. If we can convince them that we’re in love and love our new baby and want to make a family, maybe that will show them that we have some reason to keep the secret.”
“A really good reason.” A slow smile spread across his face. He reached out his hand and touched her stomach. “My baby is really in there?”
She nodded and waved the stick at him. “Apparently.”
“And there’s no chance it’s someone else’s this time.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” She took a step back and glared at him.
“No, it wasn’t a question. I’m saying there’s no chance. It’s a relief to know that. One time I thought someone was having my baby and it turned out not to be mine. It was heartbreaking. It’s a huge relief to know that this time there’s no chance it’s someone else’s.”
He surrounded her in a hug and she relaxed.
“There’s definitely no chance it’s anyone else’s. I’ve only been with you. And I’ve been with you nonstop since.”
“I know.” He kissed her forehead. “And I’m glad. I love you.”
“And you’re… okay with this?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m thrilled! I’ve wanted to have a family with you almost since we met. I was bummed when I thought we couldn’t. But now we’re going to.”
“Well, there’s still a lot that can go wrong, and I’m kinda worried that it might because of what happened to me before. I might not be able to carry a baby.”
“But if you can get pregnant, we could keep trying, right?”
“Maybe. I need to get to a doctor soon.”
“We’ll have to think about that. I mean, it’s extra awesome if having this baby keeps us alive.”
“Right. But we need to tell the pack somehow so they stop chasing us.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Turn my phone back on, I guess. Call Kara.”
Chapter 22
Her hand shook as she picked up her phone to call Kara. There were a ton of messages waiting for her. Work wondering where she’d gone. Kara trying to find her. Her other friends and family wondering what was going on. She brought up Kara’s number and hit send.
“You do know cell phones can be traced, don’t you?” Kara said. “Or are you turning yourself in?”
“Nope. I called to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m pregnant. I’m adding a new member to the pack. And our code says you can’t kill me while I’m pregnant.”
Kara huffed. “Right. I’m so sure.”
“I am. I can show you the test.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t kill your lover. And once you give birth, we can come after you again.” Kara said it with sarcasm, like she didn’t believe her.
“Right, but why would you do that? This gives us the best reason ever to keep the secret. We’re going to have a family. We would never do anything to jeopardize that, especially not telling anyone the secret. In fact, leaving my baby without a shifter mother or father would be worse. It would grow up and have its first shift and have no idea what it meant. Then the secret could get out. It would help to keep the secret to keep us alive.”
She huffed again. “Whatever. Come up with a better lie next time.”
She hung up.
“Crap,” Audrey said. “She doesn’t believe me.”
Kenny pulled his mouth to the side to think. “Send her a photo of the test.
”
Audrey snapped a pic and sent it to Kara. A minute later, she got a text back. “Undeliverable.” She tried several more times. “She must’ve blocked me.” She tried calling her and sure enough, the call wouldn’t go through. “Now what?”
“We wait for the pack to find us and show them.”
“After all this time we’ve been hiding, now we want them to find us?”
“Looks like it. And in the meantime, let’s get married.”
Her stomach tightened and she thought she might throw up again. “Right now?”
“Why not? We’re in love, and we’re going to have a baby. I want to do it right.”
“I don’t want to rush it. We don’t even know if something will go wrong. Then what? Then we’ll be married just because of the baby, and then we won’t be having a baby.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Kenny put his hand on her cheek and kissed her. “The baby isn’t the only reason I want to get married. I love you and I want to be with you, however we have to build our family.”
She shook her head. “I just… can’t think about that right now. It’s enough with this baby thing and being on the run for so long. Can we just… talk about it later or something? I can’t worry about all that right now.”
“Okay.” He kissed her again and held her close. “I am happy about this, though. I do love you and want to marry you, so when you’re ready to discuss it, let me know.”
“I will. There is something I want to do. Especially now that we don’t have to be careful and we need the pack to find us.”
“What?”
“I want to go out to dinner. I’m starving and sick of pizza and crackers.”
“Let’s go celebrate then.”
Audrey put the pregnancy test in her purse right after putting on the one pair of earrings she had. They had dressed in their nicest—cleanest—clothes, and she even put on makeup, which she hadn’t done in weeks. Despite her breasts aching and her stomach feeling a little off, she felt more normal than she had in a long time.
At the restaurant, Audrey ordered an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms, ate several breadsticks and her soup. Then, when her entree of chicken parmesan came, she ate every single bite. She even ate a few pieces of Kenny’s steak.
When the waitress asked if she wanted dessert, she almost grabbed the menu from her hands.
“I can’t decide between the cheesecake and brownie sundae,” she said.
Kenny rubbed his stomach. “I don’t know how you can still be hungry.”
The waitress returned. “Have you decided?”
“I’ll have the brownie sundae and a slice of cheesecake.”
Kenny’s eyes grew wide. When the waitress walked away, he burst into laughter. “You eat like me during training.”
“Well, I’m busy making a person. Leave me alone.”
“I like it.” He reached across the table and put his hand on hers. “I’ll do my best to keep you well fed at all times.”
“When is training?”
His face fell and he pulled his hand back. “Happening right now.”
“You don’t think you’d be up to it?”
He shook his head. “Doctor said it would be pushing it and I might make the injury worse.”
“But you’ve been doing so well. And you did all that running.”
“And paid for it for days after.”
“But you can build up to it.”
He nodded. “Maybe. But for this season at least, I’m only going to be training to be a father, and hopefully, a husband.”
She looked down at the table. “Eventually.”
“I wasn’t saying it to rush you. I said ‘hopefully’ didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
After eating both desserts and giving only a small taste to Kenny, Audrey finally felt full. They returned to the motel and she wanted to do nothing but sleep. She crawled into bed and Kenny turned on the TV.
“That show is on. The one about the goofy couple,” he said.
“Mmm hmm,” she mumbled as her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
She couldn’t have been asleep long and Kenny was still sitting up, watching TV when someone knocked on the door. He was on his feet in seconds, reaching for his knife.
Audrey sat up, suddenly feeling nauseated.
“Who’s there?” Kenny asked.
She ran to the bathroom to throw up. She couldn’t hear what was happening until she heard the door open. She wiped her mouth and peaked out through the bathroom door. Three members of her pack stared back at her.
“See,” Kenny said, pointing. “She’s even in there puking right now.”
Audrey rinsed out her mouth and came into the main room.
“Babe, where’s that test?” Kenny asked.
She pointed to her purse. “You guys talk to Kara?”
Matt and Scott were there with Jessie. All her friends. Had Kara sent them on purpose, thinking they would know her best and could tell if she was lying?
“Yeah,” Scott said. “We came to get proof.”
Kenny handed the stick to Matt. “Here’s your proof.”
Matt looked at it and handed it to Jessie. She glanced at it and looked back to Audrey. “Wow. You’re really pregnant?”
Audrey nodded. “I didn’t even think I could have children. But the code says you can’t kill me.”
“It doesn’t say that about him, though,” Matt said, glaring at Kenny.
“I don’t know what your deal is with him, Matt, but there was never a vote for him,” Audrey said. “You can’t kill him legally.”
“It wouldn’t be a problem to get permission,” he said.
“No, but you’d be on trial, too, for breaking pack code, even if they agree after.”
“How do we know you were the one who took this?” Scott asked. “This isn’t proof as far as I’m concerned.”
“Then go get another test and I’ll pee on it,” Audrey said.
“Oh right, and just leave you to run again?” Matt asked.
“Hello?” Audrey said. “I called Kara. We’re not hiding anymore. But if you’re so worried, you can just go and leave Scott and Jessie here.”
Matt narrowed his eyes. “Jessie, go get a test.”
“Why, because I’m the woman? You really need to stop with that sexist crap.”
“This is so not the time,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t have the first clue what to get.”
“Then ask a clerk,” Jessie said. “We need Audrey back. Too many males in this pack if you ask me.”
Audrey stifled a chuckle. Jessie and Matt had to have slept together at some point. When Jessie first came of age, her and Matt were inseparable, then suddenly, they couldn’t be in the same room together without fighting. They claimed they never dated, so everyone assumed something else had happened.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 18
