by Amelia Jade
Rhynne began to smile at that, but a wave of nausea interrupted it, and she suddenly knew one thought with immediate clarity.
I’m going to throw up.
Her eyes darted around at the various buildings as she fought with her stomach to quell the queasiness. Realizing she wasn’t going to make it in time, she darted for the nearest alley, hoping to remain as discreet about it as possible.
Inside though, her mind was going crazy.
Shifters didn’t get sick. Period. End of story. Nada. It didn’t happen.
As her stomach emptied its contents into a half-full trash bin—the smell ensuring that everything came up—another thought entered her mind.
There was another reason why she might get sick. One that affected some shifters.
But it couldn’t be. There had been no other signs until now, and it had been three months!
Rhynne raced home.
The door slammed behind her and she locked it firmly, not wanting to be interrupted just then. Two years ago her best friend had gone through the same thing. Rhynne had thought about throwing the spare supplies out, but a part of her had just kept them, stored in the back of her medicine cabinet.
Now she rifled through it, boxes and bottles going flying as her shaking fingers closed around the box. She checked the expiration date.
Still good.
Nervously she removed the packaging and sat down.
Please. Please. Please.
She waited.
The results appeared.
***
“You’re positive?”
Rhynne glared at her friend.
“Yes, Mina. In both ways, yes, I am,” she growled.
They sat at the corner table of Morrte’s Delicatessen, one of her favorite places to eat in Cadia. On top of that, Morrte was a longtime friend of hers, who treated her more like a daughter than a friend, despite only being a few years older than her.
His place wasn’t large, but it was kept up well, and the food was delicious.
She looked out over the little restaurant as she tried to think of what to say or do next. There were a few other patrons sitting at tables, but they were between the breakfast and lunch rush at the moment, so it wasn’t too busy.
From her vantage, she could see everything. Right behind her were the glass windows that marked the front of the restaurant. They had bright, vivid window paint on them that detailed Morrte’s menu, as well as his daily specials. It created an eye-catching display from the street that people were hard-pressed to ignore.
Inside, the interior was well lit, with four columns of tables leading away from the windows to the back of the shop, where the order counter and kitchen was. What Rhynne liked most about the place though, was that Morrte kept a supply of old glass-style soda bottles on hand to serve up as a special treat.
She took a sip now, enjoying the carbonation as it trickled over her tongue, fizzing vigorously before she swallowed. Rhynne rarely drank soda, but today she felt like something sweet, and the cold glass in her hand was just the thing.
“How long now?” Mina asked, interrupting her thousand-yard stare.
“Almost three months.”
“And you’re positive—” Mina cut herself off at a glance from Rhynne. “And you’re sure,” she stressed the new word. “You’re sure that he’s the f—”
“Has to be,” she said, still dumbfounded at the reality of how her situation had just changed.
“How can you be sure?”
“He has to be the father, Mina. Unless solo conception is now a thing. There hasn’t been anybody since, and it was a long time before as well.”
“Oh.”
“Ladies!” A cheerful voice preceded the bulky man who came out from behind the order desk, having seen them sitting there at last.
“Morrte!” she cried with unabashed delight. “How are you doing today?”
She rose and embraced the man lovingly.
“Oh my dear, I am fantastic. Fantastic! Cannot be better, I promise you that. Why, look at today, how can anyone not be?” he gave her a gentle nudge to the side. “Am I right?”
Rhynne managed to turn her giggle into a laugh, trying to maintain some level of maturity. “As always, Morrte, right on the bell you are!”
He beamed, hiking up his perpetually drooping pants.
“You brought a nice lady friend today, Miss Nova?”
She swatted at him. “Morrte, you know Mina. She’s been here before.”
The thick-waisted proprietor gave her a wink. “Of course, of course. How lovely to see you again!”
Mina rose and gave Morrte a hug of her own. Mina was a wolf shifter, and much shorter and more compactly built than Rhynne. Her arms barely reached halfway around the man’s bulk.
“So, what can I do for you two today? Some food, yes?” He smiled hopefully.
“Of course!” Rhynne and Mina chorused together.
“Excellent. I’ll fix you up something special, okay? You’ll like it, I promise.”
Rhynne glanced at Mina, who shrugged.
“That would be so very nice of you Morrte, thank you!”
Morrte swept them both up into hugs again, planting kisses on their cheeks before departing.
She shook her head as she watched him head back into the kitchen. Rhynne knew that part of his cheeriness was just the little act with her. She’d seen him be frank with some of the guys, and stern and unyielding when someone tried to cause trouble.
Personally, she thought she got the better end of it all.
A pair of men from a table across the restaurant got up, looking darkly between Rhynne and the kitchen where Morrte had disappeared to. One of them was wearing a red fleece jacket, while the other wore all black. He was easily distinguished by the birthmark under his right eye, however.
They shouldered their way angrily out of the shop and into the street, casting one last glance back inside.
“What the hell was that all about?” she asked Mina, the two of them still standing.
“I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me who they were.”
Rhynne shook her head. “I’ve never seen them before in my life. They certainly didn’t look happy.”
“No, they didn’t,” her friend agreed with a shake of her head, their attention returning to each other. “So what are you going to do?” Mina asked as they sat back down.
Rhynne despaired. The brief distraction of Morrte and the two men hadn’t been enough to wake her up from the dream she was in.
For some reason, she was reluctant to term it a nightmare. Although she was thoroughly and completely unprepared to deal with both the child growing in her stomach and the child’s father, Rhynne couldn’t find it within herself to completely hate it.
She did, however, completely dread telling her parents.
“I don’t know,” she said, hanging her head. “What do I do first?”
Mina looked at her squarely. “You have to tell him.”
Chapter Five
Dominick
“You guys not heading out for the night?” he asked as Zeke and Asher came into the common area.
“Not today,” Zeke replied for the pair as they grabbed some bottled water and came to sit next to him.
Dominick noticed their tired movements, and how similar he felt.
The instructors had not been kind on them after the blowup he’d had with Rhynne. The past two days had been full of grueling physical training. The trio of them were dead tired, as evidenced by the fact they were all drinking water, and not their more typical beer at the end of the day.
Couches creaked as the pair sat down, the leather conforming to their bodies as they kicked back and relaxed. Dominick wasn’t sure he felt like hanging out with them for the night. He was still working on coming out of his self-imposed shell of sadness, or depression. Whatever it was, it still had some tendrils embedded deep into him. He was throwing them off one by one, but it was a long process.
Still,
he owed it to them, forcing him to speak and to reveal what was bugging him. It had allowed Dominick to take a lot of time to reflect upon himself and where he was going. More so, he had realized that wherever he was headed, the way he was doing it was not something that the old Dominick would have approved of. He needed to change that.
“How much longer do you think this is going to go on for?” Asher asked.
“I don’t know,” Dom said unhappily. “I do know that I am sorry the pair of you are suffering alongside me though.”
“Enough with that,” Zeke said. “You apologized once, that’s enough. We’re in this together.”
Footsteps echoed down the hallway that joined their wing of the Academy to the main building.
Dominick froze as a fiery-eyed, copper-haired angel appeared in the doorway.
“You two,” she said, her slender index finger pointing first at Zeke, and then flicking to Asher. “Out. Now.”
“Sorry buddy, you’re on your own,” Zeke said quickly, going back on his previous sentence. The pair of them scrambled to their feet and made themselves scarce.
“Thanks,” he said wryly to their departing backs.
He made to rise as Rhynne approached. Dom noted that her normally perfect hair wasn’t pulled back, and instead was hanging down, bouncing wildly as she walked. There was also a wariness in her eyes that he’d never seen before.
Whatever had brought her back to the Academy, and to him in particular, had really gotten under her skin.
“Sit,” she commanded as he half-rose from his seat.
“Okay,” he said without argument at her tone, easing back into the couch, but not allowing himself to relax.
Rhynne stood for a moment, then sat on the edge of the couch across from him.
She was nervous. Anxious, even. What could have riled her up so much to bring her to him like this? Was she trying to apologize and having a hard time of it? He supposed that was possible, but it certainly didn’t seem her style. If Rhynne decided she was going to apologize, he knew she would do just that, apologize.
No, this was something different.
He looked outside the window as the silence deepened between them. The sun had already fallen over the mountains on the far side of the cadet wing, but he could still see the lone mountain out his window. Forlorn Peak was where Top Scale Academy had been built. The Quicksilver Mountains ran north-south along the western edge of Cadia, but at some point, things had gone awry, and a solitary mountain peak had grown up somewhat east of the range, firmly inside of Cadia.
It was this mountain that he looked at now, visible out of the window at any time of day. Now, in the deepening gloom of late evening, it was little more than a dark shadow looming up over them, like the topic of whatever conversation was about to happen.
“We need to talk,” Rhynne said at last, her eyes darting left and right, refusing to meet his.
“Okay,” he said dumbly, not sure what else to say.
Rhynne bit her lower lip, her eyes finally making contact with his.
Dominick was shocked at what he saw.
She was afraid.
No, not afraid, he amended to himself silently. She was scared.
“What’s wrong?” he asked before she could continue.
“Wrong?” she challenged. “What makes you think something is wrong?”
Dominick threw his hands in the air. “Sorry.”
Rhynne blew out a sigh. “No, no. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry.”
He very, very carefully did not let his eyebrows raise at that statement. Nor did he say anything in response. That was the first time Rhynne had ever apologized to him, and though he was going to savor it, he wasn’t going to do so with her around.
“There is,” the fire dragon hesitated, and once more Dom was struck by how unnerved she seemed. “There is,” she started again, “something I need to tell you.”
He simply nodded, giving her his rapt attention.
“Oh fuck, this is not easy,” she said.
Dominick stared openly now, stunned beyond words. Her voice had wavered, and if he didn’t miss his guess, her eyes looked a little watery.
“What is it, Rhynne?” he asked softly, sitting forward, getting closer to her.
This was the closest glimpse into her soul that he had seen since that one night three months before.
Her movement stopped abruptly.
“Fuck it,” she said under her breath, before looking him straight in the eye. “I’m pregnant.”
He sat back in his chair. That was not what he’d expected her to say. “Oh.”
Why was she telling him this? To rub it in, that she had another man in her life, and that was why he couldn’t pursue her?
“I don’t get—”
The truth hit him like a steel beam falling from a skyscraper.
He sputtered. “Y-y-you mean—”
Rhynne rolled her eyes. “Do you have to be so dramatic about it?”
“Rhynne,” he said slowly, trying to get his head around things. “I need to hear the words out of your mouth. Are you telling me that you are pregnant with my child?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying,” she said, sounding as if she couldn’t quite believe it herself.
“Holy shit,” he swore softly, cradling his head in his hands.
His brain shut down. A million thoughts were trying to process through it at once. He was going to be a father. There was a new life growing inside of her that he was responsible for. That he created. It was his responsibility now.
Gulp.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked, unimpressed. “Really, the best you can come up with is ‘holy shit’? Come on Dominick, you can do better than that.”
“You’re positive it’s mine?” he asked, his head coming up.
Rhynne’s eyes flared. “Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes, I am sure it is your child. There was no other men since you, and it was a long time before you since I was with another man. For this exact sort of reason.”
Dominick’s jaw dropped open. “What? No, no, no, of course not.”
He got up and crossed the distance between couches, sitting at her side. His hand took hers as he sat close. “I’m just in shock,” he told her. “Is this why you’ve been so, uh…” he stopped, trying to think of the best word.
“Distant?” Rhynne supplied.
“Uh, yes. Yes. Distant,” he said gratefully, though they both knew that wasn’t an accurate description.
“No,” she said. “I just found out yesterday.”
“Oh,” he said dumbly, not sure what else to say. “What do we do now?”
Rhynne looked over at him. “I don’t know. I was hoping you might have some answers.”
“Hoo boy,” he said, leaning back into the couch. “Uh, okay.”
He tried to gather his thoughts into something collective.
“So, I take it by you telling me that you intend to keep it?”
Uncomfortable did not come close to describing how he felt asking that question.
Rhynne nodded, and he thanked his lucky stars that she didn’t seem to take offense from it.
“Okay.” He looked around. “Have you eaten yet?”
She shook her head.
“Come on,” he said, taking her by the hand and moving into the common area. It was only half a dozen steps away, but just then, he didn’t want to be apart from her and their child. The lack of reluctance from Rhynne told him that she was feeling the same. Her hand brushed against her stomach, lingering for several long moments as she followed next to him.
Their child.
Without thinking he pulled Rhynne close, wrapping his arms around her. She tried to pull away, but he held on, pushing past her automatic reaction. Rhynne was a dragon shifter. If she truly wanted to pull away, she would show it. He wasn’t worried about overpowering her.
The tall, powerful instructor seemed suddenly tiny in his grasp, and she shudder
ed once at his touch before resting her head on his chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?” Giving you a baby? He carefully did not voice that aloud.
“Not freaking out.”
He laughed. “Oh, I’m freaking out. Trust me, I am panicking and going crazy. It’s just all on the inside.”
Rhynne giggled softly. “Well, thanks for maintaining the appearance of calm acceptance.”
“That part was easy,” he told her. “Because I am accepting. I’m still trying to convince myself it’s real, but since it is, I promise you one thing, Rhynne Nova.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not going anywhere. I will be there for you and for our unborn child, in any manner and capacity that I can.”
Translation: Whatever you allow me to be, I will be it.
“Thank you,” she said softly, but didn’t say any more.
“Right, food,” he said, breaking the embrace and opening cupboards and pulling supplies from them and the fridge. “Stir-fry sound acceptable?”
“Delicious,” she replied, leaning on the island.
There was some silence as he worked, and Dom—though he appeared focused on the meal—was anything but. Those were automatic motions, born of someone who could make something like this in his sleep. Dom loved stir-fry. His brain, however, was far, far away.
Unbidden, a question rose up in his mind that he feared the answer to. It was a question every parent—or soon to be parent—thought of themselves. That one niggling thought that could keep a person up at night with worry. It crept up on him now, eating away at his thoughts, his confidence, his pride.
What if I’m a bad father?
The knife chopped down a little too hard on one of the cutting boards as it sliced through a vegetable, and the resulting bang made Rhynne jump in surprise.
“Sorry,” he muttered, straightening his back. He took a deep breath in, and let it out in a slow, controlled sigh, rolling his shoulders to try and relax them.
“Dominick?” Rhynne asked nervously.
Get it together, man. You have to keep yourself calm right now. If you can’t do it for yourself, then you have to do it for her. Understood? Focus. She needs to know that it’s all going to work out in the end, and right now she’s reaching out to you.
