“No bursting please.” Poppy laughed, wiping her own eyesthat had teared up. “Speaking of bursting,” she added, “We should ask Tamin orRodin about something to ease morning sickness. That shit can hit you quick butthey might have something to deal with it.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Val replied, holding her handsup to her smiling cheeks as she took a deep breath. “Do you ever feel likethings happen for a reason?”
Poppy took a second and then nodded at the men in the room.“Yeah…I do.”
While Thorne grilled the two doctors about what Val couldand could not do, it seemed like the ideal time for Poppy to steal Val away tothe main medical room. Behyr followed them, obviously having some questions andknowing that he wouldn’t be able to get answers out of Thorne for a littlewhile now.
Poppy ushered her now-pregnant friend to a seat at a roundtable where they all made themselves comfortable even though Behyr seemedtense.
“So, where the hell are Wheaton and Hannah?” Poppy blurtedout, trying to solve the puzzle in her head.
Valerie shook her head. “I’m not sure, Poppy. When Thorneand I arrived at the Council meeting, we looked for Wheaton. We wanted him onour side when we broached the subject of our mating with the Council. Afterasking a couple Council members, we were told that neither he nor Hannah wereavailable this morning.” Glancing back at the exam room, she frowned. “Now thatI think about it, one of the members whispered something to Thorne but I didn’thear what was said. I was too nervous about our petition to pay much attentionat the time. Maybe they told him something they didn’t want me to hear?”
Now Poppy was hoping Thorne would hurry the hell up beforeshe had to yell again but Behyr beat her to it.
“Thorne!” Behyr’s voice was so loud Poppy had to shake herhead to stop the ringing.
Smacking his arm, she frowned at him. “Warn a girl nexttime, will ya? You almost blew out my eardrums.”
He sheepishly grinned as Thorne shot into the room as ifthere was a fire.
He ran immediately to Val and twirled her around in thechair.
“Is everything okay with the baby?” Thorne’s hands werecupping Val’s nonexistent belly.
“Yes, big guy, everything is fine.” She motioned over toBehyr with a nod of her head. “They want to know where Hannah and Wheaton mightbe.”
Thorne grimaced and glanced between the two of them. Lettingout a sigh, he sat down at the table next to Valerie.
“Well, a Council member said they were discussing theirbridal agreement with a few senior members and finalizing some paperwork.”
Poppy jumped when Behyr’s fists hit the table with a hard thump.
“That is not possible,” he gritted out with a clenched jaw,his fangs showing slightly.
Never having seen Behyr angry before, Poppy now understoodhow scary the fangs were when you took in the whole package of a furiouswarrior of his size with teeth bared.
Thorne raised his hands to show Behyr he wasn’t a threat. Tocalm him down he said, “I am not saying that they were upholding the contract,my warrior brother. It could be that they were finalizing it being dissolved.”
Keeping a protective arm around Val, Thorne watched theSkrammon closely before speaking further. “Demascus was also absent from themorning meeting,” he added.
Behyr stood quickly and nodded at all of them. “I am sorryif I scared you, Valerie, but I could not help my reaction.” He pledged, “Iwill control myself better when around your female. I am sorry I upset her.”
Valerie shook her head. “It’s not a problem, Behyr. I wouldhave had the same reaction if someone had hinted Thorne was possibly matingwith someone else,” she assured him, giving him a quick peck.
“If you will excuse me, I am going to find out where Hannahis at,” Behyr said. He paused in his path to the door when Poppy called out tohim.
“Can you tell Wheaton to check in please? I want to makesure everything is all right,” Poppy asked. She knew everything had to be okay.She wasn’t sure how she would deal with things if it wasn’t.
Nodding his head in agreement, Behyr left quickly. As theremaining three friends sat around the table, both Val and Poppy teased Thorneabout what questions he might have asked the doctors and why it had taken solong. Thorne turned bright red when Poppy hinted that maybe he had been askingsex questions. At his telling blush, both of the women started giggling likecrazy.
“We are going to work on an information packet explaininghow to handle a pregnant bride,” Rodin declared, entering the room with Taminfollowing closely behind.
At his statement, the group around the table burst intolaughter. Both of the doctors jumped, startled before Thorne explained whatthey had been discussing just moments before.
Val and Poppy had some suggestions when it came to whatneeded to be on the list and it included foot rubs and lots of chocolate, whichthe men took seriously and jotted down on a sheet of paper. As the womenglanced at each other with smiles on their faces, they seemed to both bethinking the same thing: it couldn’t get any better than this.
After a while, the doctors had to get back to more seriouswork and disappeared into the exam rooms. Thorne reluctantly admitted he hadmore work to finish and excused himself, leaving Val in Poppy’s care.
“If I am not back in time, then I will meet you back in ourquarters. Do not leave without an escort. That is an order,” Thorne saidseriously, making sure the pair nodded before he left.
Upset that the brides were going to be no-shows for theirappointments, Poppy couldn’t help but wonder what the deal was. This was thefirst time they had all scheduled actual appointments and had not canceled norlet anyone know they wouldn’t be able to make it. Tamin and Rodin had messagedtheir warriors, trying to see what was causing the delay, but had not receivedany responses. It was odd
