11
1208 Words
The door flew open and Emma stood on the other side, barely containing herself from running in. She had the happiest expression Aria had seen in a while. She had forgotten how nice it was to see shining faces. Since the battle at her nightclub, no one had done anything but frown.
“Emma?” she said as she threw off the covers to her fully-clothed body. “How the hell did I get here? Wait.” Her memory recalled something stinging her in the back, and Trevan’s eyes screaming anger at her. She hadn’t even done anything wrong yet. “How did I get here? Are we at your home?”
Her wolf friend bounced into the room and wrapped her arms around Aria. “It’s so awesome to see you again. I’ve missed you.”
“Great to see you, too. But I still don’t know how or really why I’m here.”
Emma pulled back. “Let’s start with we’re at my alpha home with the Central pack.”
Aria wasn’t expecting that, but fine. She’d roll with it.
“And to answer your other question, Trevan and his friends brought you here. And I don’t know why, so don’t ask.”
Okay, that was too confusing. “Why would they do—” Then it hit her. The object that tagged her back was a tranq dart. Anger erupted within her. “He tranquilized me. The bastard shot me with a f*****g dart!” She stepped around Emma. “Where is he? I’m gonna rip his balls off and feed them to the pigs.”
Her friend lunged for her hand. “Aria, settle down. Trevan isn’t here. He and Mason left after dropping you off. And you can’t rip his balls off.“
She hated when someone told her she couldn’t do something. Even friends. “Why not?” She fisted her other hand.
Emma looked at her sadly. “We don’t have pigs.” After a heartbeat, Aria busted out in laughter. It felt so good to release the tension and anxiety she’d kept bottled for so long now. If anyone could make her laugh, it was Emma.
Still holding her hand, Emma dragged her forward. “Let’s go to the kitchen. I’m hungry.” Aria took a deep breath through her nose.
“Oh my god. You’re pregnant.”
Emma whipped around. “You can smell I’m different?”
“Yes. And for women, that usually means their having a baby.” She wrapped her arms around her friend and gave her tight squeeze. “You don’t even show.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Well, I do have a lot here to begin with, and it’s only the size of a grape, the doctor said.”
“Yeah, but still,” Aria said. “You guys must be thrilled.”
Emma grabbed her hand again and pulled her through the door. “That’s an understatement. Mason is already having morning sickness.”
Aria spit out a laugh. “Oh my god. I can so see that, too.”
When reaching the kitchen, Aria sat at the table while Emma pulled out a box of Oreos and tub of ice cream from the freezer. “I’d offer you something to drink, but I know we don’t have your preference.”
Aria lifted a brow at the contents Emma set on the table. “That’s your new diet?”
Emma grinned. “Isn’t it great. I’d stay pregnant forever if I could eat this all the time.” She quickly added, “Don’t tell Mason that. He’d take me up on it.” They giggled.
Emma scooped out a bite of ice cream with a cookie. “So, I’m guessing you and Trevan haven’t mated yet.”
She about fell out of her chair. “Emma? Are you serious? Why would you say that?”
Her friend pointed a half-eaten cookie at her. “Because, woman, everyone but you and him see you are natural mates. You both need to shut up, accept it, mate, and move on.”
She snorted. “Look who’s talking. How long did it take you and Mason to finally mate?”
“No, that doesn’t count.” Emma waved a new cookie in the air. “He’s a mutt. That excuses all the dumb stuff he does.”
“Trevan is a mutt, too.”
Emma bit into a cookie topped with ice cream. “Oh, yeah. Forgot he was a wolf. He feels vampish to me.”
“Vampish?”
“Yeah, you know,” she shrugged, “like a vampire but not.”
“Emma,” she said, “either you’re a vamp or you’re not. There isn’t much leeway there.”
Her friend raised a shoulder then dropped it. “Eh, maybe yes, maybe no.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, dear vamp,” Emma started, “I don’t care if you’re different species, you’re still mates and you need to get it on and start a family. How much longer can you have kids? I remember you mentioning your fortieth birthday once.”
“That was the simple answer for you at the time. It’s sort of complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
“It’s not my fortieth birthday, per se. It’s more like when my body reaches the equivalent of a forty-year old.”
“Oh, when’s that?” Emma asked.
“It’s not an exact science for the blood borne, but I’m thinking a few hundred years.”
Emma jerked forward, slapping her chest, coughing. Aria jumped from her chair and patted her back. “You all right? I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Through hacks, Emma managed, “No, no. I’m okay. I just wasn’t expecting that…that amount of time. How old are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”
She made her way back to the chair. “You know I’m not vain like that. I’m around a hundred.”
“Holy cow, Aria. You look twenty-five. Is that normal to age so slowly?”
“Yeah, comes with the territory. You wolves age slower, too, right?”
“Mason said something about it once when I asked him how old his parents were. I forgot what the ratio to human years is. Need to ask again.”
The sound of the front door opening took their attention. Emma called out, “We’re in the kitchen, darling mutt.”
A deep, playful voice replied, “Perfect, brat. Are you shoeless?”
Emma looked at Aria with a questioning look. “No shoes on. Why?”
“Because,” an incredibly gorgeous man said from the kitchen entry, “you’re right where I want you. Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.”
“Mason Wolfe!” She threw a cookie at him, hitting him in the chest and it crumbled to the floor. Both his hands held a clear plastic pitcher filled with red liquid. Trevan walked in behind him.
Aria sprang from her chair, forgotten anger flaring at the sight of his hot body. In a flash, she had Trevan by the throat, pinned to the ground. She should kill him now.
- Writer
