Chapter 214
Fiona
“I can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl,” I say, barely containing my excitement as I walk through the baby clothes at the market. There are so many cute outfits, like the little pink dress with tiny hearts on it, or the cute button up shirt and suspenders that have dinosaurs on them.
“When do you find that out?” Laxus asks, his eyes always scanning the area around us.
“The healers said around week fourteen, but they also suggested to wait until week eighteen or nineteen to get a more accurate answer,” I answer then pick up the little bear beanie. “Look how cute this is! Does this look like it could be for either gender?”
Laxus pulls his eyes off our surroundings and then smiles a bit at the little hat. It’s fluffy and brown with little bear ears poking out of the top.
“Cute, but I don’t think Zev would approve.”
“What?” I look up at him, confused. “Why? It’s so adorable.”
He chuckles, “It’s the wrong animal.” Then, he leans over the display and picks up a gray beanie with wolf ears poking out the top. It’s also furry and adorable.
“I just wish it was…” He lifts a darker brown baby wolf beanie into the air between us.
“Ah!” I snatch it out of his hands and put it in the buggy. “I’m getting it, and you can’t stop me. Our baby will look like a cute little wolf, and… and… If I’m human and Ethan is Lycan, what will our baby be?”
Laxus blinks at me, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck as we continue walking.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never met a Human-Lycan couple like the two of you,” he answers. “But Lycan DNA is known to be pretty dominant, so I’m sure your baby will have at least some Lycan traits. Don’t quote me on that, though. That’s more of a question for my grandmother and her friends.”
“I guess I’ll ask at my eight week check up that’s coming soon,” I mumble while stopping by a little display of baby toys. Obviously, I’m not anywhere close to needing any of these, but the little wolf plush is right on top and looks so stinking cute.
Laxus catches my gaze and chuckles again.
My fingers curl around the toy without my brain telling them to, and I throw it in the buggy.
“Oh, jeez. I have a problem. I’m obsessed with wolves now.”
“Not a bad thing since your soon to be husband is a wolf,” Laxus speaks up. I shoot him a mock glare. Not helpful.
The urge to add every baby item to my buggy has me white knuckling the buggy’s push bar. Every toy, bottle, rattle, stuffed animal, outfit; all of it calls to me, begging me to take it home with me. It’s when we get to the section with the blankets that I can’t stop myself.
The textured fuzzy blue one is the first to go in the buggy, then the smooth and soft green one with yellow stars on it. I find a pink one that has shiny pieces woven through it and throw it in as well.
Seven blankets in the buggy, and I have to push it toward Laxus, telling him, “Take this from me. I don’t need to buy so many things.”
Laxus takes it as I ask, moving to push the buggy in my place.
“The Alpha said you could get whatever you needed.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t need this many things,” I say, moving to take the blankets back out. I must be crazy. I don’t need seven blankets. Besides, it’s not even cold outside. The new house has good air conditioning, but not good enough to warrant buying seven random blankets.
“Get whatever you want, little mate,” Ethan’s voice in my head makes me jump and quietly curse. “I want you to feel comfortable and taken care of here.”
“I do, but—”
“I’ve already told Laxus to purchase everything you need,” he says into our link. “You deserve to be pampered and showered with gifts.”
I glare at Laxus, who shrugs his shoulders before smirking. I knew it. He totally told on me.
“Fine, but don’t regret it when you come to me with the credit card bill,” I tell Ethan. His only response is a chuckle followed by a warm, comforting feeling that slides down the bond and settles within me.
“I can’t believe they wouldn’t let us carry the bags back,” I grumble while looking out at the trees around us.
The warm breeze swirls around us, and I feel good. Calm. For some reason, being out here, in nature, has had that affect on me lately.
“You’re the Luna, and the Queen. No one wants you to be upset, and since you wanted to take a walk, and didn’t want me to carry everything, they offered the next best solution,” Laxus says with a shrug.
“Yeah, but I feel bad. They didn’t have to… Look out!” I move to shove Laxus aside, but he’s already in motion. His arm curls around my waist, pulling me out of the path of an attacking wolf’s claws.
They swipe right through the air where I had been standing.
Then, we’re surrounded.
Five wolves circle us, and Laxus makes sure to do his best to stay between me and the enemy but there’s no way he could when they’re at all angles.
Laxus doesn’t have time to do anything before they attack again. The two in front of him lunge and take him to the ground, not giving him a chance to shift. I spin, finding three wolves behind me.
I jump to the side, dodging one that swipes it’s claws at me, but that makes me run into another one, tripping. My body hits the ground just before pain sears my calf as teeth sink into it.
A scream rips through me, and I kick, trying to get it to release. Another wolf moves to my head, opening its jaws, but Laxus’s blonde wolf body slams into my attacker, sending him to the ground.
The one biting my leg drags me across the grass, sending fiery pain up my leg, while the other wolves all converge on Laxus.
Panic hits me as they pile on top of him, but I can’t do anything. The wolf clamps down harder on my leg, and I thrash, doing whatever I can to get free. I kick, throw stones, and try to crawl away, but he just drags me back.
Blood seeps from the wound as sounds of fighting fill my senses. My chest tightens. My stomach rolls. Fear surges.
I can’t breathe, and I feel like screaming all at once as pain, worse than anything I’ve ever felt, takes over my body. White light pours over me, the pain growing and spreading to every part of my body as the world tilts.
When I can’t take it anymore, I scream.
The broken sound comes out long and loud, cracking until my scream changes into a howl.
