He was gone before Sorell could say anything in response. He saw Felix's confused face and could only laugh. "Don't ask."
"Why would I...you would only use a rectal thermometer on a baby or child," Felix said, sounding more offended by Pippen thinking he would not follow proper medical protocol than anything else.
Felix smiled and got to his feet. His vision blurred, the edges of his sight grew dark and he grabbed onto the closest thing he could. Felix caught him, holding him tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked with naked worry.
Sorell waited until he was able to see properly. "Yes, I think I just stood up too quickly. " He knew what Felix would suggest before he even opened his mouth. Any time there was an anomaly he suggested the same thing.
"Let's test, just in case."
Sorell truly wondered if Felix had stock in the pregnancy test company. He hated testing because he got so excited each time. Yeah, he was young, but people younger than him were amazing parents and Sorell knew that given the chance, he and Felix would be amazing parents as well.
With a little pout he lumbered down the hallway. Felix smacked him playfully on the ass and he yelped, skipping forward a bit. "Pep in your step, babe. We have a party to get to."
Sorell grabbed one of the many packaged tests that Felix kept around and dutifully went to the bathroom. He shut the door, hating the fast flash of disappointment Felix always had when the test came up negative. There was no need to read the instructions anymore, Sorell followed all the steps by rote and then sat on the side of the bathtub to wait.
"Did you set your timer?" Felix asked from the other side of the door.
"Yes!" he replied even though he hadn't. Obeying was fun, but sometimes, disobeying resulted in more fun.
"You don't even have your phone in there, how did you set a timer?"
Sorell grabbed the test, figuring it had been long enough for the words not pregnant to pop up. He swung open the door. "See, I set the timer and there is your proof, not pregnant. Again. Like every other time."
Felix grabbed his wrist and studied the test. "Next time, Felix I'm not even going to take it because I hate seeing—"
"It says pregnant," Felix said quietly, sounding in shock.
"No it doesn't." Sorell turned the test toward him. He almost didn't recognize the word, as if not having the word "not" in front of it changed its meaning. It did though. It changed everything. "Pregnant. Pregnant?"
Felix gave him a blinding smile. He'd never seen anyone look as happy. "Pregnant," he whispered, in awe. He swooped Sorell up, kissing him fiercely. Sorell felt Felix's lips everywhere, kissing his lips, cheeks, neck and then he got to his knees and lifted Sorell's shirt, kissing his still-toned stomach reverently.
Sorell felt tears gather and he cleared his throat. "Get up, you're in a bathroom," he said, trying not to cry.
Felix stood, lifting Sorell as he did, carrying him like he was going over a threshold. Sorell held on as Felix took them down the hallway and out the front door. Their steps hardly slowed as they went down the stone path that connected the two houses and then Felix burst through the front door. The pack was in the living room, taking advantage of Derrick's huge screen and generous cable sports package. They looked back at Felix and Sorell curiously.
"We're pregnant!" Felix announced, pride in every syllable. The living room erupted with joy and Sorell couldn't tell who had hugged him and when. He could only say that he felt love from every person in that room full of his pack, his family.
***
Felix leaned back, staring into the flames of the fire that Luke had started in the cinderblock fire pit in Christian's backyard. It was late and everyone other than those around the fire had gone to bed. The last watch belonged to Conner. He was at the pack house, keeping guard until everyone could move back in the next day. He'd expected Pippen to take the shift with Conner but Pippen sat around the fire with Felix, his eyes staring into the fire with such intensity the flames seemed to dance in his pale eyes. Luke was across from Felix, nursing a whiskey.
The night was cold, a random snowflake falling here and there, but the fire's warmth and the whiskey kept it from becoming unbearable. Felix took a small sip and felt the burn, while silently staring into the fire.
After the utter happiness from discovering Sorell's pregnancy had settled in, panic sat on top of it. He'd worried about keeping Sorell safe already. Now, Sorell would be even more compromised, he would need more security. Felix thought about asking Sorell to accompany him to work and to every room of the house and everywhere he went just so he could be more sure of Sorell's safety.
"I know that look," Luke said, a little smug. "You're wondering when the last time you'd checked your locks was, when you can schedule to have your doors reinforced and where you can go to buy a chain to keep Sorell by your side constantly." He laughed as if enjoying seeing the panic in another that he'd also gone through. "It was the same with Finn. I had a system each night, a certain path I took. At the end, I always second-guessed myself, saying I had skipped a lock when I really hadn't. Didn't matter, I absolutely had to go through them all again."
Felix didn't want to admit that he was going through something exactly like that so he grunted instead.
"That won't work with Sorell," Pippen said softly.
"What won't work?" Felix asked him.
"Restraining him, caging him like your pet. Sorell is wild. I've known him longer than all of you. He is loyal to a fault, but everyone once in a while, he'd get an urge and would disappear for a while."
Felix tried not to freak out at this new information. "What would happen when he came back?"
"Nothing. He wouldn't talk about it. Sometimes he would come back injured, but that just made his lips tighter. You know, that was always the only reason I could think of as to why he put up with Isaac for as long as he did."
Both Luke and Felix growled at the mention of Isaac, but for very different reasons.
"But he's mated now," Luke said, obviously trying to ease Felix a bit.
Felix scowled into the fire. Pippen's recollection didn't sound a lot like the Sorell he had come to know. Their connection was real, their mating was real. He wasn't worried at all that Sorell would run off all of a sudden one day. But that didn't mean there wasn't concern. What if he couldn't be enough for Sorell? Sorell would be loyal, but as Pippen had said, to a fault. Would that loyalty force Sorell into regretting Felix one day?
"What was your old pack like," Felix asked because he was actually curious and because the answers would take his head off the path it was going down.
Pippen seemed to retreat further inside of himself so much that the fire looked like it was coming from within him rather than being reflected externally. "It was different for me than it was for Sorell," he said finally.
"Why did you both join?" Luke asked then and Felix was surprised. He hadn't asked these questions yet? Kind of a lot on his mind, Felix.
"Sorell joined after his parents kicked him out. At first, he thought he was finally going to find in that pack what he had never known before. Family. And maybe at first he did find that. Until it was time to pay."
Anger surged through Felix at that.
"I was born in that pack, actually. My father pack master. His control was contested when I was fifteen, though, and he was killed by the new alpha."
"I'm so sorry," Felix said.
Pippen looked at him, fearless and unwavering. "I'm not. He was a dick who beat my mother and pimped me out. I threw a party the day he died."
Felix had no idea what one said to something like that.
"Faces like yours, looks like Pippen is telling scary campfire stories," Sorell said from the doorway. He had on one of Felix's old college sweatshirts and his hair was messed like he'd spent some time tossing and turning.
"He kind of was," Luke said, pouring another whiskey and handing it to Pippen. "I'm thankful now more than ever that you guys came to us, helped me create this pack. It wouldn't be the sam
e—no, it wouldn't even exist without you all."
"Thanks, boss," Sorell said with a carefree smile. "Felix, were you going to come to bed anytime soon? I didn't win that hand of poker with Frannie to not enjoy sleeping on the bed with you."
"You shouldn't have let her gamble her bed for the night," Pippen admonished him lightly.
Felix liked how Pippen stood up for his little sister. He was a little terrifying, but if he protected Frannie like he did, he couldn't be all that terrifying. "You know she lost on purpose," Felix said. "That girl has been cheating at cards since birth." He got up and stalked toward his mate. "'Night you two," he said before lifting Sorell up to carry him back to the bed that he'd won fair and square.
***
That night, Felix held onto Sorell, appreciating him more than ever. Sorell had chosen him, chosen to settle down with him, and Felix would do everything he could to be worthy of that.
"What did Pippen say?" Sorell asked, suspicious.
"Not much, why?"
"Because you just gave me three orgasms and are currently cuddling me like I'm about to break apart. Pippen doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does, you know. I love you," Sorell said.
Felix held his breath. How had they not had this moment yet? They'd said "I love you" in every other language but English.
"I love you, too," he said back before the chance was taken from him.
"You can give me the orgasms, but they aren't required. I'm kind of stuck now anyway." He patted his stomach idly. "I remember how big Finn and Christian got. I wonder if they have any hand-me-downs?"
"I want us to move here, closer to the pack house, closer to your pack," Felix blurted.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I can't always be there. I have to go back to work eventually, if for no other reason than because the patients need me. Long shifts at a free clinic are not exactly eagerly sought after."
"I would never ask you to stop," Sorell said sounding worried that Felix would ever think he'd want that.
"But if we are by the pack, someone will always be there for you."
"And for you."
Felix smiled, "Yes, and for me. I might need some tips from Luke about how to handle your late-pregnancy mood swings and food cravings. What to do when your stomach blows up like a beach ball and—ow!"
Sorell had jabbed him with his elbow and Felix was not convinced that Sorell hadn't put some shifter strength in to it. "I'll still be a hot beach ball," Sorell muttered.
Felix kissed his neck, "The hottest," he said.
"So, are we really doing this? Are we really moving to be closer to the pack?"
The excited tone in Sorell's voice was proof enough that Felix was making the correct choice. He'd done his mate a disservice, asking him to choose him over the pack, but at the time, he hadn't known any better. Felix still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of Sorell taking orders from another man, but he would take it slow. Maybe if he spent more time with Luke, like he did tonight, he'd understand it better.
A fierce wave of dominance reared up inside of him. No, he still was not comfortable with that idea, but he would take it slowly.
"We could still go off on our own for a little bit every once in a while, if we needed to."
That was exactly the type of behavior Pippen had described. But he included you. He tightened his hold around Sorell, but instead of resisting, Sorell snuggled back. "The beach is always beautiful. I actually own a house on the coast. Nothing big, a shack, actually."
Sorell tried to turn around. "What? You do? How come you didn't tell me until now?" He made a playful gasping sound. "Is my mate dirty rich?"
Felix smiled, knowing he was joking. "I'm dirty, but I wouldn't call me rich. I've been a doctor for years though. Paid off my school loans ages ago. I've done all right."
"I don't care how much money you have, I'm just happy that we're together and that we're starting our family. I'm scared actually, how happy I am. Like something bad has to happen now just to even out all the good."
Felix completely understood but he wasn't about to say that. "Nothing will happen to you," he said instead. "I won't let it."
Chapter Thirteen
Sorell stepped carefully through the creek, going slowly so that his feet didn't get wet and so that he wouldn't fall. Pippen waited patiently on the other side, his arms crossed as he tapped his foot impatiently.
"You try doing it with two tiny people inside of you," Sorell muttered but with Pippen's shifter hearing, he was sure to hear it. Sorell was still trying to get used to two tiny people growing inside of him. If he ever doubted, he had the ultra sound images to prove it or he could just look down and his own belly.
Pippen didn't grin like Sorell expected. Instead, his pink lips tilted down on the edges and he reached out a helping hand. Sorell grabbed it and moved quickly over the last few rocks. The walk had been Sorell's idea—his nausea was getting out of control and a physical distraction seemed to help—but Pippen had chosen to come and Sorell wasn't sure why he was so annoyed by it. They weren't going to go very much further. The hiking loop in the park near their pack house would have taken him minutes a month ago, and less than that in wolf form. Now, Sorell's breath was fast, puffing out of his face like he was a dragon shifter. His cheeks were red and even with his gloves on, his fingers were a little bit chilly.
"You could have stayed, you know," Sorell said bitterly.
Pippen rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, and listen to Felix berate me for letting you do one thing on your own? He'll probably be pissed I didn't offer to carry you the whole way."
Sorell stood straight. "Where the hell is this coming from? He worries. Isaac is still out there and we all need to be safe."
"Yeah, that's it. Isaac. If it isn't coming from Felix, it's coming from Luke. I didn't sign up for this, two packs, two alphas. If I didn't care so much about Frannie I'd be gone."
His words were like a slap against Sorell's face. Pippen had come with him, had agreed to leave their old pack for the chance for something better. They got to the pack house at different times, but they had always been in this together. "Wow, Pippen. Why not just say what you are really upset about? You're mad that I found my mate and that we are starting a family and that I'm happy. Whole. And you are still you."
Pippen didn't flinch from him, no matter the fact that Sorell felt sick from saying what he had. No, Pippen didn't hide from pain. He didn't enjoy it like Sorell did, but he sought it out all the same. He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly as if inhaling their toxic atmosphere. He smiled then, but it was not a happy one. "I'm not jealous of you, Sorell."
"I know, I'm so sorry. These hormones. No, fuck that, that was just me being a dick."
"I'm not jealous, but I am worried. And angry. You've always enjoyed your power-play games, but they were always just games. You never let one control you outside of the bedroom. I saw it happen with Isaac, you lost yourself. You let him hold something over you that gave him control of you. And now you're doing the same thing with Felix. I see you, when you don't know I'm looking. You don't make a move without consulting him first and it makes me sick. Why would you let him weaken you like this?" Pippen gestured to his rounding stomach and Sorell took a step away from his best friend, hardly recognizing him through his anger.
"Pippen, this doesn't make me weak. Obeying my mate doesn't make me weak. I want to do it because I am strong. I love him and he loves me. Me being pregnant is proof of that. Of our love. Not of my weakness."
Pippen shook his head, clearly not believing Sorell. Sorell put his hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing. Pippen didn't do hugs. He didn't like being touched so when he didn't immediately jerk out of Sorell's grasp, he took that as a very good sign. "Just wait and watch us, observe. You'll see what I mean." Even as he spoke, Sorell recognized his words as the same ones Felix had spoken to his mother. They'd worked then; Sorell hoped they worked now because he didn't want to have to live without his best friend. Was it
selfish? Wanting his mate and his best friend, too? Probably.
Sorell felt a flurry of movement come from inside his body and he gasped. He'd been waiting, had been warned, but nothing could have prepared him for the actual feeling. "Pippen," he whispered.
Pippen looked worried at first, his eyes roaming, searching for the cause of Sorell's shock.
"It moved. One of them. Or maybe both? The baby." Before he finished there was another tiny surge of movement. He grabbed Pippen's hand and pressed it against his stomach. They waited, leaning close together, their foggy breaths mingling together. When it happened again, Sorell was afraid to look at his friend. Sorell had been so blown away by finally feeling them move so strongly that he had forgotten Pippen had just reduced his unborn children to something that made Sorell weak.
But when he did check Pippen's face he was elated to find no anger or worry. Just curiosity and maybe a little awe.
"You felt that?" Sorell asked quietly.
Pippen nodded. Behind them, off the path, a branch broke and Pippen spun from Sorell, crouching in front of him protectively.
Two people stepped out and Sorell's heart raced. He recognized them from Isaac's pack. The woman, maybe late twenties, with short, violently curly, red hair was the regular bartender at Howling. The man was a little younger, but built sturdy. He was more around Sorell's age and had a long scar that ran from forehead to chin. He was the more worrisome of the two. Sorell remembered Isaac using him often in dangerous situations.
"What are you doing here?" Pippen asked, frozen in front of Sorell. Sorell noticed his fingers hovering over his belt, most likely where he kept his "everyday" knife. Pippen had a thing for knives.
"Calm down, we've been watching you," the man said. Sorell remembered his name was Oscar and the woman was Stella.
"What part of that was supposed to calm us down, Oscar?" Sorell asked.
Upon hearing his name, Oscar smiled and bumped Stella with his elbow in a sort of "see I told you so" kind of motion.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 45
