My mouth hung open and I stared at her. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me Nessie is real?”
Another eye roll. “Yeah, but don’t call her that if you ever meet her. She hates the name Nessie. Her actual name is Amernessa.”
I swallowed and nodded as though that all made perfect sense, while I digested the fact that Nessie the Loch Ness freaking monster was not some figment of humanity’s imagination.
Either not noticing or not caring about my mini freak-out, Melody continued. “At least that job should be pretty tame. You need to take it easy now. Let me know if we get any dangerous gigs and I’ll handle those ones until you decide to give up and ride desk duty.”
I frowned. “Mel, it’s been three months. I don’t need to take it easy anymore.” All of my injuries had healed. I’d had a pretty bad stab wound in my shoulder and a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing life-threatening. Frankie had patched me up and what she couldn’t fix my psyker healing abilities took care of.
The worst that had happened was my telekinesis was gone, but since it was never really mine to begin with, I wasn’t all that upset about the loss.
Marcella said a part of me had to die. And it did. I was considering that prophecy closed and I was ready to move on.
“Exactly, it’s been three months. You’re going to start showing soon.”
What the hell was she going on about? But before I could ask her the front door opened and Declan walked through the door.
My stomach did a cartwheel and I grinned. “Hey, you’re early!”
I jumped from my desk and rushed toward him, letting him envelop me in his arms.
“Miss me?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble in my ear.
I pulled away and grabbed my leather jacket from the back of my chair. “Nope. Not one bit. But I’m starving.”
Melody snorted. “Wait until the cravings kick in.”
Declan shot her a shut the hell up expression and I looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Uhh… someone want to clue me in here?”
Declan cleared his throat. “Can we have a minute?” he asked Mel.
“Uh uh.” She shook her head and smiled wide. “I wouldn’t miss this show for the world.”
I looked at them each in clear confusion. “Um, guys?”
Declan rubbed the back of his neck and unease wormed its way through the bond, making me suddenly anxious and uncertain.
I took a step back, but Declan reached out and pulled me back toward him before giving Melody a scathing look.
“Why don’t we talk about it at lunch?” He tried to steer me toward the door but I dug my heels in.
“Nope. I want to know what the two of you clearly know that I don’t. Now, please.”
He sighed. “Have you given any thought to children?”
I scowled. Where was this coming from? “Not really. I mean, I like kids. But … “ I trailed off. Did I want children?
“Do you want kids?”
He shrugged his shoulders but didn’t say anything.
I scrutinized his face. He wore an expressionless mask but his eyes … his eyes gave him away. Declan wanted children. Desperately, and with a fervor I wasn’t sure I could match.
Why hadn’t I ever considered that before?
Of course he would want kids. He was a shapeshifter. He’d want a little family of his own one day. And sure, he had me, and we’d already started making plans for a formal mating ceremony but … was that why he was all of a sudden thinking about kids?
When humans got married, kids usually came shortly after. Was this his way of asking if I’d be willing to start popping out babies?
I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of having Declan’s child. Of a little boy or girl with his bright green eyes and my dark brown hair.
The images were hazy, but they were there. I could see them in my mind for just a moment, but the thought of bringing a child into our screwed-up world terrified me.
My mother was dead. If we had a child, he or she would be safe. Right?
But what if our child was a shifter? I had no idea how to raise a kid that could go furry and climb or crawl or get into all the mischief shifter children got into. But equally as terrifying was the thought that our future child might not be a shifter.
What if our child was a psyker like me? Or a normal human?
Was that even possible?
And if our child didn’t shift, would the Pack reject them? Would they be treated like an outcast?
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Maybe.” I shrugged my shoulders. “One day, I guess. Do you want children, like soon?”
Declan looked like he was weighing his words. I didn’t want him to hold back how he felt. To say what he thought I wanted to him to say. We should be able to talk about this sort of thing, right?
Seeming to come to some sort of decision, Declan nodded. “I do. I would like to have a child, with you, very much so.”
I swallowed. “Okay.” So we’d have a kid. No big deal. Didn’t mean it had to be today. Or tomorrow. “We’ll have a kid one day. Maybe two. But we don’t have to decide when or anything right now, do we? I mean the mating ceremony is still a few weeks away. Do we really need to—”
“You’re pregnant!” Melody shouted.
I jerked in
