Page 24 of A Surprise Baby for the Wolf Shifter

Never mind all the horror stories from the moms I worked with. Those women make childbirth sound about as fun as having my skin peeled and having my body dipped in salt afterward. Hell is the term I used. Not a single person I had spoken to had a positive thing to say about childbirth.

That, and that alone, terrified me more than being pregnant.

I let out a sigh and focused on the beautiful mountain nature around me. I focused on the gentle breeze and the sounds of birds singing within the trees.

The answer would come to me eventually. I still had time to decide what was best for me and the baby. Meanwhile, I needed to get some distance. From the whole topic. But because I was stuck in the town Weylan lived in for the rest of the weekend, I was determined to make the best of it.

Once I made it back to my car, I headed back to town and turned to a little retail therapy to help keep my mind off things. But I couldn’t make my mind up on what I wanted and upset a few of the shop owners around town. All of it was baby related. Ridiculed and ashamed, I continued through the various shops.

I was a mess, and there didn’t appear to be any hint of change coming soon. So, I headed back to my hotel room, ordered in for some food, and called my dearest and closest friend, Cassidy.

This was partially her idea. And an update was needed.

Hopefully, she would have another golden nugget of wisdom to pass along. Something that would make this whole mess seem much, much better than it felt in the moment.

As I stared at the mass-produced portrait hanging above the bed, I listened to the line ring. On the third, Cassidy picked up.

“Did you find him?” she asked.

“Hello to you too,” I said, sarcastically.

“Things are going that well, huh?” she asked.

I sighed. The blend of blues and purples that created the storm-riddled sea stole my attention for a few moments. I found it interesting how much the painting and my life connected. A chaotic hurricane bent on destroying the ship.

Finally, I said, “I wish I could tell you differently, but no. Things aren’t going well at all.”

“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good,” she added, her voice coming across the line sounding reserved.

“Yup,” I said. “This trip was essentially a mistake.”

“I was really hoping things would have gone better for you,” she said. “I’m sorry things didn’t pan out.”

I shrugged. “Meh, it’s whatever. At least now I can say I know for sure and can move on without him.”

“True. Tell me what happened,” she said.

“At first things went better than I would have ever expected,” I started, and my eyes shifted to the thinly veiled moon hanging in the sky on the portrait.

“How so?” Cassidy asked as her voice barely registered.

“Well, we had sex. Immediately. Like we barely made it through the door of his house, and we were intertwined.”

“Oooh!” she squealed. “That is a pretty stellar start. I knew you guys had chemistry.”

“Yeah, well, too bad having chemistry amounted to nothing because the second I told him, everything changed. The mood, his tone when he spoke to me. He had the audacity to suggest I was promiscuous.” I blinked away the sting of tears that stabbed at my eyes.

“He clearly doesn’t know you,” she added, “Or he would never have thought that.”

“He thought I was trying to fake-baby trap him,” I muttered and covered my eyes with my hand, blocking out the painting and breathing through the sheer amount of hurt filling my body. “I don’t understand why this happened.”

“Do you seriously want me to give you the birds and the bees talk?” Cassidy asked.

“You know what I mean,” I said.

“I do, but if I wasn’t teasing you a little, you would think things were bad between us,” she said.

I removed my head and stared at a spot on the comforter. “That’s actually truer than you may think.”

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