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She pushed away from me, glaring daggers. “What the fuck does that mean?”
My mind scrambled, trying to figure out the best way to get out of this, but I simply blurted out rapidly, “Elephants are the animals that have the best sense of smell. They have around two thousand genes associated with smell.” The more I spouted off statistics, the softer her eyes got, and I knew I was going in the right direction.
“Oh. I'm sorry, Falc.” Her lips turned up as she reached up, laying her palm on my cheek. “I thought you were dissing on ourbaby, and I was about to flip out on you.” She lightly kissed my lips, turned with a smile, and sat back down.
Idefinitelywas complaining about this baby, but I was never going to tell her that. I was going to take that to my grave.
The past five weeks had been a major adjustment for all of us, but for the first time in my existence, I was lagging behind the others. While all of them were excited in their own ways, I was having a hard time connecting all the massive changes for something that wasn’t here yet.
Avery was ordering custom clothing, Gucci shoes and Marc Jacobs onesies, every week, gushing over how “fly” our child was going to look. As soon as the doctor said Rayla was pregnant, Ax dropped to his knees, begging Rayla to be able to come up with a fight training schedule for our child, one that all of us would have separate segments of, but first, they needed to learn the basics from him. Lex was practically dancing as soon as he heard, telling Rayla how he would start making a handmade, custom, miniature knife set for the kid, dreaming of showing them how to stalk their prey. Cosmo was the one to take the practical route and picked out the safest part of the house to start to build a nursery, causing a lot of new construction to our room and floor. All of them showed how excited they were while I was having a hard time just grasping the concept.
I couldn't connect to something I couldn't see, couldn't feel, couldn't understand. All I knew was that this thing that was the size of a pea was fucking with my life and my wife. Making my mate lose weight from all the throwing up and feel horrible every day. I didn't think I would ever have to worry about that with avampire partner, but I also have never been around a pregnant supernatural woman before.
The doctor was also not helpful. Every phone call, email, and discussion I have with him about my concerns for Rayla’s health were practically dismissed. He kept saying, “Rayla is fine and the baby is fine. Don’t worry so much.” It pissed me off. So much so that I decided I was going to go for my doctorate in medicine. I already had one in chemistry and mechanics, one more would be easy, and I could have it completed before the next child comes, and I would be ready to fight this doctor.
“Please, don't kill me, but . . .” Rayla’s hesitation made me relax my face, making sure I looked approachable . . . or as close I could get.For Rayla.That was my new motto.
“I need you to go to Jack in the box and get two monster tacos.” I opened my mouth to argue that fast food was no source of nutrients for her or the baby, I knew that, but she put her hands together, whispering, “Please, please. I promise to eat it. I swear. I’m so hungry.” That melted all of my nutritional resolve.
Keeping my sigh in, I nodded as I turned around and opened the door to get my mate her damn over-processed tacos. I was two steps outside when she called out, “Wait!”
I turned around just in time to catch her jumping into my arms, attacking my face with her lips as she kissed me all over. When she began to nibble my ear, my cock responded quickly, and she pulled away with a sassy smile, shoving the plastic bag with my failed taco in it. “And take this with you. Love ya!” Then she closed the door, and I was left speechless.
I looked down, left half-hard with a taco in hand, and shook my head at the state of my life. There was nothing else to do but turn and head out to get the disgusting food my mate wanted, trying to figure out what the baby could possibly like about this Jack in the Box taco that this perfectly crafted one in my hand didn't have.
After the whole taco debacle, Ax showed up and took over Rayla duties, keeping her nice and toasty, curled up on the couch while they watched some slasher movie that they both laughed at. He nodded my way. “I got this. Don’t you have work to do?”
I did, so I gave Rayla a kiss goodbye, meaning it to be just a peck, but she turned it into a whole tongue and teeth action before letting me go, saying she didn't want to keep me from inventing cool things for her. Taking that as the complement it was, I took my love sick ass down into my labs.
Sitting at my workbench in my office, screwing and placing things in order to make them work, I felt all my stress and uncertainty melt away. This was where I was comfortable, where everything made sense. Everything was tracked and calculated with math and numbers, but up there, it was all feelings and educated guesses.
Even the baby books I was reading had several variables and open time slots. Worst still was that even if something did have a definitive answer, it was always followed up with “and even still,all of this might not even work foryourbaby”. What the fuck was up with that? That's why I was reading the damn book in the first place. It's supposed to be a step-by-step manual on pregnancy and how it all works. Halfway through, I threw the book in the trash, realizing it was just a jumble of “maybe's” and “should's”, nothing about all of this made any sense.
Then I would look at Rayla and her frustrated, anxious, and hesitant face, and I realized I was not in this on my own. She also had some of the feelings that I did, and she was carrying the damn thing. So I decided to put my worries and frustrations in check, but I was still having a hard time connecting her body and the baby. She wasn't even showing, but her body was massively changing on the inside . . . or at least that's what the damn book said.
My phone beeped. The alarm said that it was time for me to head to the doctors office and meet the others for Rayla’s ultrasound appointment. My father said that this appointment was the one that changed his mind about having kids. When I asked him to explain, he shook his head and told me it was something you had to experience.
I entered the lobby to find Lex was already standing, telling Avery and Rayla all about the job he just came from.
“And you would think this idiot would’ve got out of the way, but no. His head went,bam,right though the knife. I had a little too much force to it, and I ended up smashing his face into his computer. Man! How that body sizzled right in front of me . . . it was like a work of art!”
Rayla’s eyes tracked all of his moments with a wistful expression like she wished she was there with him to see all the action. Avery rolled his eyes but kept quiet, rubbing her back, letting Lex have his moment before he recognized me.
“Hey, Falc! Right over here.” He waved me over as I frowned at him.
“My name is Falcon.”
He grinned from ear to ear. “Yeah, but Rayla calls you Falc.”
“That is her. You have not been given that privilege.” Rayla laughed, poking at Avery in jest when I remembered who I was talking around. I turned my head toward Lex. “And that isnotan invitation to annoy me just because it's amusing.” My voice deepened, making sure he understood my warning.
Lex lifted his palms up, smiling like the insane person he was. “Naw. I learned my lesson last time when you electrocuted me on purpose. You're a vicious little nerdy mage.”
I huffed out my annoyance as Cosmo came out from the doctor's side of the office. “Doctor’s ready for us. Since it's such a large group, we had to move some things around.”
Avery and Lex took Rayla’s arms in theirs as Cosmo led the way.
“Wait! I'm here! Wait for me!” Ax came barreling through the office door. The hinges creaked and the door slanted when he let go. He looked at us then back at the door he just ruined, rubbing the back of his neck.
