Page 81 of His Impossible Elf Mate
“There’s a slice for each of you.”
My footsteps were light on my way home. It had been an emotional few days, yet I held hope in my heart because I knew Axel, and our baby, were goddess blessed.
“Dear one?” Axel didn’t move when I returned. I rounded the sofa to find him fast asleep, his chest rising and falling with his even breathing. Setting the cake down, I lifted him into my arms and took my exhausted mate to bed.
Denial
Axel
Pregnancy was… I had no words for the wonder it was. Sure, I’d had morning, afternoon, and evening sickness, heartburn, soreness everywhere, and was generally exhausted, but it was the greatest time of my life, growing our little one.
The pregnancy hormones were to blame for the tears I shed during my niblings’ birthday celebration, something that was nearly cut short because of another attack, not because I thought they were just too adorable in their outfits and covered in cake.
I used that excuse again for Hayden’s birthday, and Halloween. Pregnancy was hard, okay?
While I was over halfway through my pregnancy, we were nowhere close to getting the elves to believe even part of the recent revelations.
First, they did not believe Teárlach was now a shifter. Parliament had spread rumors of magic cast by our witch friends. They believed it to be a ruse. Propaganda to make them accept shifters as more of their equals.
Then, they flat out refused to believe their goddess and The Luna were one and the same. An idea we could not back since she had gone quiet on us. Ívarr believed it was likely because of the energy she would have used in order to tell us, especially when she switched between Seers. Then there was the appearance at the funeral. All the pack believed her, as did the elves who gathered with us to say goodbye.
Ívarr had needed nothing other than Teárlach’s word it was all true before he believed us. Those who knew us knew we wouldn’t lie over something that big.
The worst problem we were having with parliament was they did not believe my baby was Teárlach’s. They refused to recognize our mating as legitimate and had begun a smear campaign against me. They claimed I had tricked T into believing he was the father and had used donated sperm, or worse, had another alpha on hand, to finish my heat.
It was ridiculous and hurtful. So much so, T was refusing to go anywhere near Abrocaelum. His mother had come to Sweetwater for a scan appointment so she could see her granddaughter, but other than a few calls, he was keeping his distance.
T was determined our lives were better away from the toxicity of the court and parliament. His mother did her best, but she was one person against many. Ellgar had too much influence over the rest.
To be fair to Teárlach, the pack had welcomed him with open arms. Theytreated him like he had been a shifter all his life. He was now spending time with the wing guard because his flying ability was more important than his rather basic research skills. My mate was a fighter, not a scientist. Not that he wasn’t smart, he was just better at reading intentions than statistics or lab reports.
While I was working, and even overnight sometimes, he took his turn touring the skies with another flier. They would work shifts and cover the more vulnerable areas of our territory.
Word had gotten out about my transformation into an omega, and about Teárlach’s ability to shift, to other packs all over the country. It was crazy to me that the old council and even the Northarbor aviary believed it was possible for T to be the father of our baby when his own people denied it!
Thanks to the news getting out, the attacks had been less frequent. We had a few shifters come from other packs, hoping we could help them solve the mystery of unlocking the beta gene.
Chase, as Second, was instrumental in checking they were being truthful in their intentions. We were welcoming to new pack mates only after they had been questioned about their intentions.
So far, it seemed to be an alpha bite was the only way to trigger the change, which was untenable for mated pairs of betas like Jake and Sebastian. They deserved to stay together. Also, it only benefitted beta to omega changes. No alpha wanted to mate another potentialalpha, especially if they had a reaction like Asher and his lion did.
So only Dalton had his dream. He was an omega. Things were just… complicated with his mate. He was keeping their arrangement quiet for the most part, aside from when they had shown up together at the clinic wanting a spot in the trials. His choice in a partner was unexpected but I hoped things would work out for them. Their idea was unconventional, yet they were going into this with their eyes wide open.
Dalton was desperate to have a baby by any means necessary. We just had to hope he could have a baby soon, or he would drive Chase out of his mind.
I’d already cut my time in the office to not rub my growing belly in his face. Not going to the office was easier than having to listen to his complaints, which made me a shitty friend. It also meant I didn’t have to hear the crap some of the enforcers were talking about me.
Which is why I was packing up the last of my stuff in the room Chase and I shared as an office. I was done pretending I could do this job without the support of the enforcers.
Betas, like Melody, had tried. The others were just so stuck in their ways. They couldn’t see that I could beat their asses if I wasn’t pregnant.
My alter grumbled an agreement with me. They didn’t see the stupid gendered expectations as anything other than nonsense.
Being pregnant was the problem. They saw me as weak. Less. All because I was growing a child.
The baby kicked within me. Every time she did that, I wanted to just soak in the feeling. For so long, this had been my impossible dream. Now I had it all, my elf as my fated mate, my baby, and my family around me.
A job didn’t matter.
