Page 116 of Mask and the Magnolia
“I’m sorry, Maggie,” Isaak says with a sigh as he comes over and wraps his arms around me. “The last thing anyone needs is for us to be at odds.”
Rubbing my face against his chest, I breathe deep then tilt my head back to look at him. “We don’t need to be so tense, either.”
”I know, you’re right. I’m trying but I seem to be failing.”
”Don’t look at it like that.” Isaak frowns down at me and I giggle. “You’re looking at the entire thing, our pack’s problem as a whole when you should be breaking it down into smaller, more bite size pieces to tackle one at a time.”
His frown deepens as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “How do you mean?”
”Break it down, honey. Start with Calix.” When I get nothing but a few slow blinks in response, I sigh then proceed to school my professor. “He’s back on the ward with us. He’s healing. No signs of concussion since he left the infirmary last week. We’re able to kiss him without it hurting anymore.”
Isaak arches a brow and nods. “True.”
”And Des? He detoxed beautifully, he’s healthy and feeling much more like himself.”
”Also true.” I watch a blush stain my omega’s cheeks as he rubs the back of his neck, no doubt thinking about how DesmondthankedIsaak for figuring out what was wrong and fixing it. “Very true.”
A blowjob. Des gave him a blowjob as a thank you.
“Then there’s me,” I say as I rub my hands over his chest, sliding them up until they’re clasped behind his neck. “I’m pretty well healed, and I’m here all the time now. We get to see each other whenever we want. We’re even sharing a nest. All of those things are small victories for our pack and when we figure out how to get Korvin back up here, we’ll be that much closer to winning the war.”
While all of that is true, it doesn’t change how hard the last two weeks have been.
I should have seen it coming, though.
Things were going too well, they were starting to feel a little too perfect. It was way too easy to make our relationship work despite the risk involved so I should have known.
The biggest red flag?
I was happy.
For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I was happy with my life and it didn’t feel like my fate was completely doomed. I started believing I could have a future I actually wanted instead of the one being manufactured for me.
That should have been a goddamn neon sign flashingshit’s about to hit the fan, Maggie, so buckle the fuck up.
If it was there, I must have missed it because I was completely blindsided the day Camden took me home and it’s been nothing but unpleasant surprises ever since.
That’s more my speed. Total disaster and utter devastation.
I was definitely ignorant in my bliss but I can’t be that way anymore. Not if I want to figure out how to get us out of here without another catastrophe rocking our world first.
There’s no telling what that would be, we’ve been through hell if you ask me, so I’m sure it’d be huge and messy, and I want to avoid that.
“You need to get some rest,” Isaak says as he presses a kiss to my forehead. “We can order takeout, you can pick, and I’ll even let you eat it in our nest.”
I smile as he turns toward the door but when I slide off of the empty desk, a sharp cramp pierces my stomach then rockets through the entire lower half of my body, making me clutch my stomach through my hoodie.
It passes relatively quickly, almost as quick as it came, but I wait a few seconds before I move just in case that wasn’t a one off.
Ugh. Why does this have to happen now? So far I’ve been able to avoid performing any sort of embarrassing bodily function in front of my mates and I’d like to keep it that way a little longer.
Hell, I’d love it if I never have to poop in a bathroom within five hundred feet of one of them. That’s not how our bodieswork, though, and not pooping for the rest of my life could kill me. Considering the alternative is death, I guess tonight is the night I embarrass myself in Isaak’s bathroom.
Another cramp rolls through my gut, my body hunching over as a hot flash follows right behind it.
Great.
It feels like I could end up destroying his toilet, and death doesn’t seem so bad all of the sudden.
