Within seconds Niall was right behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” As she straightened up, a wave of dizziness hit her, and her cheeks felt like they were on fire from the inside out. While her constitution wasn’t as strong as that of a dragon shifter, witches weren’t sickly. She shouldn’t have food poisoning.
Just then, Liam and Brynne’s baby, Finn, began to cry. “Mama!” he yelled from his room.
Baby.
Witches didn’t get food poisoning, but witches could get pregnant. She grabbed her phone and pulled up the calendar app, counting the days of her cycle. She was late. She’d been so distracted in the final weeks before the wedding.
She had finished her first year at university with great grades. Niall had finished teaching. Then the Texas dragons had come to surprise her with a bachelorette party in late May. They had danced, drank, and stayed out all night long. It had taken her days to bounce back from their revelry. During that same time, Nora and Niall had called Davi several times and convinced him to attend their wedding. And then, at a spectacular medieval castle, they had gotten married.
It was no wonder she’d forgotten about her cycle. Had they been careful? She couldn’t remember ever forgetting a condom. But they had sex nearly every day. Forgetting wouldn’t be a surprise with all they’d both had going on.
“We’ll skip the football game,” Niall said. “You should stay here and rest.”
“Rest isn’t going to fix this.”
Niall took her hand. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“I also wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong.” From what the witches had always said when one of them became pregnant, morning sickness could be a sign of a healthy pregnancy.
Niall’s brow creased. “So why did you throw up?”
Niall’s obvious confusion was adorable. “Why do females throw up when they’re not sick?”
At that moment, Isleen banged on their door. “Noa!” The adorable toddler couldn’t quite say her name. “You ready? Time go!”
Niall’s jaw dropped. “Are you…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what else it could be. I’ve never felt this way before. I’m nauseated, I’m flushed, and I’m dizzy.”
Stunned was the only way to describe his face. “How can we find out? Do the human tests work on witches?”
“Yes, our hormones are close enough. I remember one of my aunts using one from a pharmacy.”
He grabbed his wallet and stuffed it in his back pocket. “I’ll find a pharmacy right now.”
“Wait. They’ll want to know why you’re not at the football game.”
He stopped with one hand on the doorknob. “You’re not still planning to go?”
“Yes. We came all the way here, and Declan’s excited. If I am pregnant, then I’ll have to adjust to feeling oddly.”
“Do you want to go to the football game and then get the test?”
“Yes.”
He let go of the doorknob. “I’m not sure how you’re going to stand the suspense because I can’t. But it’s your body.”
They both finished getting ready and joined the chaos in the living area. Kids were bouncing off of every possible surface. Declan was jumping on the couch, Shannon was pushing a chair around the island, Isleen was dangling from the kitchen countertop, Rowan was hanging from the door frame, and Finn was throwing the sofa cushions to the floor.
“Wow,” Nora said. For years, she’d been the only young witch in her coven. She’d never seen this kind of mayhem.
Niall leaned down to whisper in her ear. “This is totally normal. Little shifters have an endless amount of energy, and they don’t get hurt.”
“They weren’t like this at the castle.” They’d all been well-behaved at the wedding too.
“Their parents kept them outside as much as possible. They didn’t want to destroy anyone else’s property. And if there are humans around, they’re careful. We’ll have to teach our child the same thing.”
“I have a lot to learn.” She couldn’t wait. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she was really hoping for a second pink line on that pregnancy test.
They followed the rest of the clan to a football field, full of boys from ages eight to ten. Kellan beamed with pride as they took their seats in the bleachers. “Declan has really learned to control himself. He plays every sport at school and hasn’t hurt accidentally anyone in two years.”
Nora hadn’t met a human until she was nine or ten. “Is that common? Hurting someone?” Her child would have the same kind of strength that Declan had.
“Oh, yeah,” Kellan said. “If your kid goes to school with humans, like ours do, you have to really train them. They don’t get it until they’re about five or six. Then they start to realize how much force they can use and be safe. He got kicked out of every day care he ever attended.”
Fallon leaned her head around. “It was the same for us. I couldn’t send Rowan to school or daycare until he was in kindergarten. He was just too rough.”
Clara wound her arm around Nora. “When you guys start a family, we’ll be full of helpful advice.”
Kellan kissed his wife on the cheek. “Let them have their honeymoon first.”
Nora ducked her head. She put her hand on Niall’s thigh. We might need this advice soon, she said to him in his mind.
Would they feel the absence of a clan when their baby was born? The Texas clan had mentioned that they had considered moving back home to Ireland in the future, but looking around Cedar Lake, Nora had trouble believing they would ever leave. Kellan had a mansion and a booming business, Quinn was a practicing doctor, Liam had a thriving legal practice, and Brennan kept the town safe as its sheriff. Maybe Nora could convince Davi to move to Galway, but he was single and probably didn’t want to hang out with a married couple too often.
The football game was fun. The hatchlings were able to act mostly human, and Quinn bought them all popcorn from the concession stand. They all shouted, cheered, and generally acted as looney as the other parents when Declan made a touchdown.
After the game was over, Niall drove them straight to the first pharmacy. As they turned in, he asked, “Would you want to move here to be close to them?”
She gaped at him. “Move?” Surely she’d misunderstood.
“Yes. Could you be happy in Texas?”
“Your job is in Galway.”
“There are other jobs. Other universities,” he said. “It’s something to consider. I’ve looked around at the four couples, and, yes, they are a big part of the human community here. They all have careers and human friends. And they love those things, but they also have each other. They have people they can relax with and be themselves with. Their children can wrestle with each other and jump on the furniture and not have to worry about who sees it.”
“How would that work? Do you think they would even want us here?” Would they be overstepping to move to Texas?
“I think they absolutely would welcome us here. They all consider each other family. More than just a blood connection. They are not related by blood, but the four brothers might as well be. So if we moved here, then we would truly form a clan.”
“Do you think Davi would want to move here too?” She had felt protective of the young shifter since the moment they met. She would not leave him behind.
“If we moved, he might want to give it a chance.”
Nora sighed. “We’re newlyweds, and we don’t know if we’re pregnant yet. I feel like we have the entire pregnancy to decide, and, really, even after that.”
“Would you miss Ireland?” Niall asked.
“Yes, I would miss Ireland. Quite a bit. But it sounds like they take frequent trips, and with Kellen’s jet, we wouldn’t even have airfare.”
They walked into the pharmacy together and purchased the pregnancy test. They were able to get it quickly, so they didn’t even have to face anyone. They drove straight back to Kellen’s m
eeting, where the clan was celebrating Declan’s team winning the football game. Nora took the test and closed the bathroom door.
“Give me just a minute,” she called out.
“I’ll be waiting,” Niall said.
She followed the directions on the box, and then it was time to wait. She opened the door. Five minutes had never felt so long. At the five minute mark, they both peer down at the test. There were two solid pink lines.
“I am pregnant,” she said. “We’re going to have a baby hatchling.” She thought for a minute. “Has there ever been a baby that was half witch, half dragon shifter?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” he said.
“Not that I’m aware of either.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.” He lifted her into his arms. “Congratulations.”
Once he sat her down, he bent down on his knees and put his hands on Nora’s stomach. “Hello, hatchling. I can’t wait to meet you. Your mom and I are pretty excited.” He pressed a kiss to her belly.
“Do you mind if we tell them before we leave for the Virgin Islands?”
“No, it will be fun to tell them. No one will be more excited than they are.”
That night at dinner, all fifteen of them were gathered around two large tables in Kellan’s dining room.
As they dug into the tacos Kellan had ordered, Nora stood up. “I have something to tell you all.”
Every adult head turned and looked directly at her. She could see from the look on Brynne’s face. Maybe she already knew. Maybe she could hear the heartbeat. Maybe she could detect a change in Nora’s hormones.
“Niall and I are going to have a baby,” she said. “We just found out today.”
Eight chairs scraped the floor in unison, and pandemonia reigned as every single adult pushed their chairs back from the table and stood up, screaming in joy. Kellan, Quinn, Liam, and Brennan whacked Niall on the back. Clara, Juliana, Brynne, and Fallon each took turns embracing her.
Brynne bent down and spoke to her stomach. “Welcome to the clan, little baby. We love you already.”
They spent the rest of the evening with their clan, discussing babies. By the time they were ready to leave on their honeymoon, the Texas shifters had decided to see them off. They all drove to the airport in a big parade. When they walked into the tarmac, the clan screamed and waved and held up signs of congratulations in bright pink and blue.
Niall took her hand. “Ready to start our life together?”
She was. She was ready to be Niall’s wife, ready to be this baby’s mother, and ready to be a part of this clan.
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Bear’s Forever Love (SNEAK PEEK)
Shifter Protection Agency Series
1
Even
Even Michaels had faced many challenges in his life. At seventeen, he’d accidentally killed his parents when he shifted from his human form into his bear form for the first time. Since then, as part of the Shifter Protection Agency in Mystic, Connecticut, Even had battled magically created human-shifter hybrids, fought the illegitimate child of one of Connecticut’s oldest shifter families, and most recently, survived an encounter with shifter-hating humans.
In his twenty-two years of life, nothing had made Even as nervous as he was now.
Across from him sat the most beautiful woman Even had ever seen, Stella Greenwood, the SPA’s resident witch, and his best friend and long-time crush. Stella always looked gorgeous, in his opinion, but never more so than this evening. Stella had straightened her long, black hair so that it lay in a veil around her shoulders, contrasting with her pale skin. She was wearing her usual gothic makeup that consisted of black cat-eye eyeliner and blood-red lipstick. She was dressed in a long, flowing black dress with batwing sleeves and a neckline that was held up by crisscrossing straps in the shape of a pentagram that offered a tantalizing view of her cleavage.
“You look amazing,” Even said, fumbling his words as he awkwardly reached for the water.
“You already said that,” Stella said with a smirk. “You’re not nervous, are you?”
Even looked up to see that she’d raised a thin, dark eyebrow. Her blue-eyed gaze pierced his soul, and Even nervously pushed a lock of unruly, curly red hair behind his ears.
He’d imagined this moment a million times in his mind, always half-convinced Stella would never agree to go on a date with him. Yet here they were at an expensive Italian restaurant in Stonington, recommended by his brother William’s mate-slash-baby-mama, Tori.
Even had finally built up the courage to ask Stella out after he’d returned to Mystic, having clashed with hateful human shifter-hunters to the north in Union. During the battle, he’d vowed he’d ask Stella on a date if they’d made it out of the fray alive, a vow his brothers were quick to remind Even of, not that he could blame them. The other shifters in Even’s sleuth that he now considered his brothers were all loved up with their respective mates, and they wanted the same happiness for Even.
“What have you got to be nervous about? We’ve been living and working alongside each other for almost four years,” Stella said with an easy smile. It was just like her. She was always so confident, so self-assured. Even liked to pretend he was just as confident, but when it came to Stella, he felt—well, he felt things he’d once never thought possible. After he’d shifted for the first time and, fueled by animalistic rage, mauled his parents, he never thought he’d be happy again. Even when the SPA’s leader, David, had found him and invited him to live in Mystic with him and the other bear shifters, Even had felt something was missing in his life.
Then they’d rescued Stella.
“Exactly. We’ve already talked about anything normal people would on a first date, second date, and probably third date too. Plus, you’ve seen me naked countless times when I’ve shifted.”
Even was surprised when Stella’s cheeks flushed with color. Had he actually embarrassed her?
But she recovered quickly and quipped, “We’re hardly normal people.”
“Right, which is why I want our first date to be normal. Not just us hanging out back at HQ or going to the diner in town. I want to treat you like the princess you are.”
“I’m hardly royalty,” Stella scoffed. “Come on, Ev. You know the real me. You probably know me better than I know myself. Cut the bullshit.”
Even let out a breath and then burst out laughing. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Bringing me to this pretentious place? Or for acting like a complete idiot for the last half-hour.”
“Both!” Even exclaimed with an uneasy laugh, his voice rising in pitch and causing the couple at the table next to them to look over. “You don’t like it here? But Tori said…”
Stella rolled her eyes. “I love Tori. I really do. She, Laura, and Anika are the sisters I’ve always longed for. But my and her ideas of a good first date are very different.”
“You want to get out of here then?”
Stella let out a sigh of relief. “Goddess, yes!”
Even stood up from the table, threw down a handful of bills to pay for the water and breadsticks they’d consumed, and then offered Stella his hand. She took it, lacing her finger through his, and Even felt a spark shoot through his arm. Wondering if Stella felt it too, he glanced at her, and she grinned.
“Magic,” she replied as she and Even walked to the entrance, and then they froze.
Standing in the entranceway and arguing with the host was a man they both hoped they’d never see again in their lives—Stella’s abusive ex-boyfriend and the man the SPA had rescued her from, Chris Dixon. Even squeezed Stella’s ha
nd as she started muttering a cloaking spell, but it was too late. Chris had seen them.
“You let freaks like them eat here, but not me?” he raged, pointing an accusing finger at Even and Stella, his eyes blazing angrily.
“These people are paying customers, sir, who booked their table days ago. They have every right to eat here,” the host said, then turned to Even and Stella with an apologetic smile.
Before the host could say more, Chris continued screaming, spraying spittle everywhere. “You wouldn’t be so welcoming if you know what these two really are. She’s a witch, and he can turn into some sort of monstrous beast.”
Even could feel Stella shaking beside him, but he took a deep breath and forced the animal inside to remain calm. They couldn’t prove Chris’s accusation true by shifting or using magic in front of him.
The host offered Even and Stella a tight smile. “My apologies, sir, ma’am. Is everything okay with your table?”
“Actually, we were just leaving,” Even said and gently guided Stella forward. But they couldn’t get past Chris, who towered over both of them, which wasn’t an easy thing to do since Even was six feet tall, and Stella was five-foot-nine.
“No, you’re not!” Chris spat in their faces. “I owe you for what you did to me all those years ago.”
He cracked his knuckles and pulled back his fist, ready to strike, but he never swung the punch. Instead, everything around Even and Stella froze. Even glanced at Stella, whose blue eyes were glowing with magic. She’d frozen time. Gripping Even’s hand tighter, Stella pulled him past Chris and to the parking lot. Even scrambled for his keys, and when they were safely locked inside the car, Even started the ignition. The spell broke, but it had given them enough time to escape.
Even revved the engine and sped out of the parking lot before anyone could figure out what had happened. He floored the accelerator and hit the highway, not slowing until they were safely back in Mystic fifteen minutes later.
Professor Dragon's Virgin (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 5) Page 13
