His head tilted as he leaned in again and inhaled from behind my ear, then absolutely froze. When he looked up at me, he’d gone even paler than before. I held my breath and braced for an absolute freak out.
Chapter 53
Dodge
Dodge focused all of his attention on what Persephone whispered to him, the quiet confession that she liked the idea of a pack and wanted to be with him. Victory thrilled through him. She would be his. She wanted to stay.
A faint shiver of guilt slid into his veins. He hadn’t told her about the blood transfusions in the hospital and that she now had shifter blood in her veins. Perhaps not enough to turn her, but she deserved to know. There was no telling if it would manifest in any changes. Already her scent seemed different, tickling his mind with the possibility that she’d turned. Although she didn’t smell exactly like a wolf. It was her, just... tweaked.
He pushed away the distraction as she floundered through an explanation about not being able to rely on anyone. He knew that had changed. She could rely on him always.Always. He just had to prove it to her.
His wolf side sat up in alarm as he nuzzled her hair and stirred up a hint of her natural perfume. Dodge frowned and inhaled more, trying to tease out that tantalizing scent. What did it mean? What had changed? It wasn’t artificial like soap or shampoo or a store-made perfume. And yet it coiled around his brain and his heart and entirely captivated the wolf.
He breathed in again. Her hormones and body chemistry had changed, and the slight hint of her sweat flared as she nervously wrung her hands and watched him warily. He pulled her shirt aside so he could press his nose to her skin.
And then it hit him. She smelled like... like...
The wolf knew. The wolf howled in sheer and ferocious joy. A pup.
She was pregnant. His Persephone was pregnant.
Dodge froze, unable to breathe or think, as that one thought bounced around between his ears but made no permanent impact. The world stopped turning and the rest of existence faded away. Persephone, in his arms. Carrying his baby. A surge of sheer lust roared through him, enhanced, no doubt, because he hadn’t seen or touched her in at least a month. It was all he could do not to drag her up to his room.
He still couldn’t breathe. He managed to point at her stomach, as if he could see the proof, and waited for her to confirm. God help him if he knew before she did. He didn’t want to be the asshole who gave her that kind of news unexpectedly – good or bad. If she didn’t know... His heart thumped against his ribs as a new fear seized him. If she didn’t know she was pregnant, what if she didn’t feel the same joy that he did? She wanted to be with him, forever as she claimed, but that didn’t mean she’d welcome a child. They’d only known each other a short time.
He choked on nothing and kept pointing at her stomach, since he didn’t know what else to do. “Are you... Is this...”
Tears slid down her cheeks and her face got a little blotchy. There was some commotion across the room with Evershaw crowing about something, but nothing could have drawn Dodge’s attention away from his Persephone. She cleared her throat a few times, as if she wanted to speak, then she only nodded.
He started nodding, too, since there wasn’t much else he remembered how to do.
When he said nothing, Persephone took a shaky breath and caught his hand, squeezing his fingers with her soft ones. Her hoarse voice lanced right through him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know until... I just took a test this morning and it said positive, but really I have to go to the doctor and can’t do that for a few days. I just thought you would want to know.”
“Of course,” he said, the words escaping in a sudden, almost violent rush that set her back in surprise. Dodge shook himself, running his hands through his hair until it stuck up in wild tufts. “How did... I mean, I knowhow, just...”
He stumbled to a halt, still trying to process what she’d said. A baby. A child. Which meant... he was going to be a father.
The chasm of everything he didn’t know how to do and be and say yawned in front of him in a dark pit. He’d barely known his father, and his grandfather had been a puritanical, cold piece of shit. What the hell was he going to do with a child?
As his world re-ordered itself yet again, Dodge was distracted by a snort and amused sneeze from Silas, who flopped on his side and thumped his tail against the floor. Something about his friend’s posture made Dodge think the bastard was entertained by his predicament.
Not that it was a predicament. It was a joy, a wonderful incredible link to his Persephone. A miracle. More than a miracle.
As his thoughts flew in a thousand different directions, he finally dragged himself back to reality and found Persephone still weeping, covering her face with her hands. His chest nearly caved in as he reached for her. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Are you – upset? About... this?”
He tugged her hands away so he could see her face, ducking so he could peer at the miserable expression that gutted him. Dodge gathered her up in his arms and pulled her onto his lap, desperate to stop her tears. He couldn’t think with all the noise Evershaw made, despite Deirdre telling him to shut up. He didn’t want to share that moment with Persephone with anyone else.
Dodge rested his forehead against hers and breathed her in, closing his eyes so he could memorize the first hints of his child. Their child. “My love, talk to me. Are you upset?”
“It’s a lot to take in,” she whispered. She curled in on herself, trembling. “I don’t even know... I can hardly believe it, and now I told you and I don’t know how you feel, and it’s just too much. It’s too much.”
She didn’t know how he felt? Dodge swallowed a curse and instead scooped her up in his arms. He didn’t give a shit about anything else. He carried her up the stairs and ignored Deirdre calling after them. Persephone felt so slight in his arms. He counted it as a victory that her arms slid around his neck and she rested her head on his shoulder.
He kicked the door closed once they were in his room and put her on the bed. He needed to be close to her, to feel her. Dodge sat up against the headboard and arranged the pillows before drawing her up next to him. He looped his arm around her and held her close, listening to the soft hush of her breathing. At least it was quiet upstairs.
Dodge exhaled and tried to think through the last few minutes, before the world changed forever. He rested his chin on top of her head as Persephone sagged against him. “Okay. I’m having trouble keeping up, love. Let’s start at the beginning. You’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her hand rested flat against his stomach, absently, like she didn’t even know it was there, and her eyes fluttered shut. “I took a home test. Well, I took two. They both said positive. I made a doctor’s appointment to be sure but they weren’t available for a couple of days.”
