“See? Just stop being a pain in my butt and let me help you.”
We continued to make our way slowly down the stairs as a blonde, round-bellied figure made her way up. Ellie was looking more pregnant than ever, which was something we all loved to see. This pack had been void of children for too long. Now that the alpha was procreating, it gave the rest of us free rein to do the same. Some of us sooner than others.
“Hey, Callie. Hey, Wyatt. How are you feeling?” Ellie asked as she climbed the stairs toward us.
“Fine, Ellie. Don’t worry about me,” Wyatt grumbled as I rolled my eyes.
Ellie shook her head. “Not gonna happen, pal.”
I knew I liked that girl. She didn’t put up with crap, but also cared deeply for those around her. She had a heart of gold and I was so lucky I’d gained her as a sister.
“Where are you two heading?” she asked.
Wyatt was grumbling in pain, so I answered for him. “He has a check-up with Doc Monroe. We’re heading there now.”
She frowned, her eyes darting to where we all knew Wyatt had been shot. She’d dealt with a lot of guilt over that in the past couple of weeks, knowing it was protecting her that almost got him killed. “Everything’s okay, right?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Wyatt grumbled his response before I could. “I’m perfectly fine. I just want everyone to quit fussing over me.”
She reached us on the stairs and patted Wyatt on the shoulder. “Again, not gonna happen, pal.”
I laughed as Wyatt grunted at her. He’d been a lot crankier lately, mostly because he was in a lot of pain, despite what he said. But I didn’t care. I’d take a cranky Wyatt every day of the week as long as he was alive and well.
We passed a few more well-wishers on our way to Doc’s house, which only made him grumpier. He didn’t like the attention he was getting. Didn’t feel like he deserved any notoriety since he hadn’t even been there to fight in the battle against the Charlotte pack. Everyone knew protecting the pregnant alpha was just as important of a job. Everyone but Wyatt, of course.
Just as we made it to Doc’s house, a door opened two houses down and Aubrey stepped out. Her eyes widened as they met mine, but I looked away before she could start anything. I’d done my best to avoid her since the fight we’d had, and if it were up to me, I’d have kept it like that. Apparently, she had other ideas.
“Hey,” she called as she walked over to us.
Wyatt and I looked at each other. His brows furrowed before turning back to Aubrey. “Hey?” he said finally.
She stopped a few feet away from us, her eyes darting from him to me and back again. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. “I didn’t know you guys were fated.”
Unsurprisingly, news spread fast in this pack. Shortly after the fight with the Charlotte pack and Wyatt getting injured, we’d stopped caring if people saw us together. A few had asked and we’d been honest about the situation and what we were. Apparently, that news had even reached Aubrey.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have tried to come between you two,” she continued. When we remained quiet, she started talking again. “And I’m sorry about the half-breed comments. They were uncalled for and unfair.” She looked down at the ground and kicked a piece of gravel aside before sighing and looked up at us again. “After everything this pack has been through recently, we don’t need this dumb shit between us. Can we just forget it all happened?”
I looked back at Wyatt, who seemed just as surprised as I was. He shrugged and we turned back to face Aubrey. “That’s fine with me,” I said first.
“Yeah. No worries. It’s in the past,” Wyatt said next.
Aubrey smiled. “Okay, cool. See you guys later.”
She walked past us toward the lodge as we watched her walk away in silence. Finally, Wyatt broke it. “I did not see that coming.”
“Me neither.”
He shrugged and turned to the doc’s house, his expression grim. “Let’s get this over with, yeah?”
I rolled my eyes but continued to help him walk up to the first pack house and knock on the door. Doc answered almost immediately and took my place at Wyatt’s side, ushering him into a room for his exam.
I watched them walk away until they were out of sight before I went looking for Doreen. I found her in the kitchen, reading a book.
Pasting a smile on my face, I knocked on the doorway. “Hey, Doreen, do you have a minute?”
She looked up with a grin and set her book aside. “Of course. What’s going on?”
I bit my lip, my stomach twisting inside me. “I was wondering if you had a pregnancy test lying around.”
***
“The stitches are healing up nicely, but you need to keep taking it easy, Wyatt. You already were a hero, you don’t need to be one again.”
I watched Wyatt duck his head from my spot on the couch. “I’m not a hero, Doc.”
Doc Monroe patted him on the shoulder. “That’s how we all see you, son. Just accept it.”
Wyatt shook his head before raising it to look at me. Just like every time, the world came to a screeching halt and all that was left was us. I rose from my seat and gave him a smile. “You all set?”
“Yeah, I’m good to go.”
My smile felt more unnatural as I wrung my hands together in front of me. “We just need to do one more thing before we leave.”
Wyatt frowned as a door opened in the hall behind him and Doreen called, “You guys
