Page 2 of Rocky Top

I didn’t have words, so I nodded, letting the enormity of it all settle in. Then I registered his nice words about Emma and smiled. Engaged. Soon-to-be fox shifter. Possibly pregnant. It was almost too much to wrap my head around.

Fuck almost.

It was just too much.

Birdie arrived in the afternoon, without Rocky this time. She wore a wide-brimmed hat that made her look like a vintage movie star, eyes hidden behind large sunglasses. The moment she strolled through my door, she held out her arms for a hug, and I found myselfburying my face in her shoulder, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

“Eliza, what’s wrong, girl?” she said in a soft voice, peeling off the sunglasses to peer at me closely.

I stepped back and motioned for her to join me in the living room. Knox was out on the porch with Emma, occupying her with a new color-by-number set. I wanted some privacy, so I flipped on the TV for background noise and sank onto the couch.

Birdie perched next to me, her posture screaming concern. “You have that deer-in-headlights look, like the day Mark was arrested.”

A shaky laugh escaped me. “It’s not that bad. It’s just… complicated.”

She arched a well-groomed brow. “Must be pretty complicated if it’s got you trembling.”

I took a deep breath. “Knox told me he’s, uh… a fox shifter.”

Birdie stared, blinking once, twice, as if checking she’d heard me correctly. Then, to my shock, she let out a short laugh. “Wait, you’re serious?” Her laughter faded when she saw my expression.

“He… he shifted right in front of me, Birdie.” I trailed off, bracing for her reaction. “I guess half the club are shifters of some kind, mostly wolves, but Knox is a fox. And, apparently, I’m going to turn into one, too, because he already bit me. Plus, he says I might be pregnant.”

For a moment, Birdie sat there, a silent anchor in my swirling storm of revelations. Then she pressed her lips together and said, “You know… it shouldn’t surprise me. The club has always had a secretive vibe. It was bigger than the usual outlaw stuff. But I never pinned them for this.” She laughed. “Good one, Eliza.” She was making fun. She didn’t believe me.

I glanced at the door, where I could just make out Knox’s deep voice from the porch and Emma’s giggles. Then I repeated myself, tried to make her believe me.

“This must be some engagement jitters,” Birdie said, patting my arm like I was a nut.

“I love him, Birdie. That hasn’t changed. I’m just scared of… everything. What happens next, how I raise Emma, and how to even begin explaining this to the rest of the world?”

Birdie reached over and held my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to figure everything out today. You’ve already been through fire with Mark, and you came out stronger. This? Does Knox know what you’re saying? Regardless… I’ve got you.”

I let out a watery chuckle at her optimism. “Thanks.”

“I mean it,” she said. “We’ll get through this.”

That afternoon, Knox drove Birdie home on his bike, since I was going to borrow her car since mine was in the shop. Leaving me with a quiet house and an even quieter mind. Emma was out in the backyard playing with her stuffed animals, unaware that her mother’s world had flipped upside-down yet again. I settled onto the sofa, pressing a hand against my stomach, wondering if there truly was a new life forming inside me.

Memories of Mark flickered in and out, unbidden. He died last week. That thought still echoed with a strange finality. Once upon a time, he had been the father of my child, a man I trusted. Now he was gone, and all the darkness he dragged into my life had been swept away by the man who sat reading bedtime stories to my daughter. It felt surreal. He’d left behind so many unanswered questions, regrets, and scars, but I couldn’t let that shape my future anymore.

Knox was my future. Knox and the secrets that came with him. The knowledge that I was no longer just a teacher or a mother. I would become more than human, and already, I could sense that it was no longer if it was when. In my heart, the acceptance began to settle, like the pieces of a puzzle finally clicking into place.

Around sunset, Knox returned without his Harley’s roar announcing him. I heard the back door quietly open and close instead. He found me in the kitchen, my phone in hand, one foot tapping nervously as I tried to figure out if I should schedule a doctor’s appointment or wait to confirm everything with Knox’s shifter sense.

He crossed the room in a few quick strides and wrapped his arms around me from behind, gently resting his chin on my shoulder. The warmth of his body enveloped me, and despite my nerves, I melted into him.

“How’re you doing?” he asked softly, pressing a kiss to my temple.

“I’ve been better.” I loosened in his hold so I could look up into his eyes. “But I’ve also been worse. My mind is everywhere, Knox.”

His gaze was steady, the same gaze that once held me together when the world threatened to tear me apart. “I understand,” he said. “Let me help you through this.”

I leaned my head against his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart. For a moment, the only sounds were the hum of the refrigerator and the distant giggles of Emma playing upstairs.

Finally, I broke the silence. “I need to get tested, to confirm… about the baby. And I need to know how all this shifting stuff affects the pregnancy, if it does at all.”

Knox tightened his arms around me. “We have doctors who specialize in our kind. We’ll go see one. They’ll explain everything better than I can.”

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