Page 119 of Shattered

After the last day of the trial, Mackenzie and Aurora moved on with their lives together. He’d even gone back to work, and as of two days ago, they were officially homeowners of a brand-new house Rapier and the guys had built earlier in the year. He hadn’t allowed Aurora to do too much of the heavy lifting since she’d still been working at night. He and the boys had been quite capable of doing the majority of the moving, however, since she had the day off, she joined in. Now, he regretted it.

“Okay, I want everyone out, but you,” Danielle said, pointing to Mackenzie. “Why don’t you guys go over and watch a movie with the other kids?”

Riley looked up at Danielle with big eyes. “Okay.”

“She’s fine,” Danielle said. “I promise, but your father and I need to speak.”

Liam grabbed Abby and Riley’s hands. “Come on, let’s give them time. If Danielle says Aurora’s okay, she is. We trust our aunt.”

When the kids left the room, Danielle turned to Mackenzie. “Why were you having her help you? She’s pregnant!”

Mackenzie sat down hard in the chair behind him. “What?”

She sighed. “You, dumbass. You smelled it on her in the courthouse the day of the trial. I know it and you know it.”

He had. He chalked it up to wishful thinking, though, because it’d been too soon after the full moon. “I didn’t... I mean I did, but it was too soon.”

Danielle shook her head. “No, it’s not. Caden knows immediately, so does Kalkin and Jase. You didn’t want to get your hopes up, did you?”

He didn’t say either way. “What now?” Nervous energy skittered through his stomach.

“Now, we hook up an IV because she’s a little dehydrated, and we do a blood test, but I know she is pregnant.”

Danielle went to her cabinet and grabbed everything she needed then set to work. When she had the vial of blood, she went over to her centrifuge. While the saline dripped from the bag and ran through the line hooked to Aurora, he stared at her unmoving body. She was a bit pale and now that he looked at her, she had a slight swell to her belly. He’d have missed it, if he wasn’t paying attention—which he hadn’t been since they’d been prepping for the move.

“The issue with Abby, will we have to worry about it with this pup?” he asked.

Danielle shook her head. “No. Your genetics will prevent it from happening, and it looks like it skipped Aurora, so don’t worry.”

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered.

“Mmm, what’s easy to say?” Aurora went to sit up, but he placed his hand on her arm. “Where am I?”

“At the clinic,” Danielle said, turning to face them. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

“The clinic?” Aurora grabbed the IV line and scrunched her face up. “What happened?”

“You fainted,” Danielle said. “That’s the bad news.”

“Fainted? I don’t faint,” she said, rubbing her face with her free hand. “What’s the good news?”

“You’re pregnant,” Danielle said. “If I go by the numbers, I’d say you’re right at the end of your first trimester, going into your second trimester.”

Makenzie’s gaze snapped to Danielle’s. “What?”

“Aurora, when was your last cycle?”

“Uh, well...” Aurora glanced at Mackenzie. “I think I know when this happened.”

He blinked. “When?”

“The day your wolf took over.” Pink tinged her cheeks. “I... Well, I’ve never been regular, regular. So, I didn’t think anything of it. However, my last cycle was almost four months ago.”

Mackenzie felt the blood drain from his face. “Aurora.”

Danielle laughed. “Guess the wolf knew what it wanted most of all.” She went to the closet near them and pulled out a small palm-size machine. “I only have a fetal doppler here, but I can refer you to an OBGYN not far from here. She works with all of our mothers-to-be and offers home births if you wish to have yours at home, like Keeley and I did with our children, minus Nicolas of course.”

“O-okay,” Aurora said. “Thanks.”

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