Chapter 44

I squirm under the Council's studious gaze.

I ended up doing as they said, and now everyone is looking at my body as if it were an experiment, and to some extent, it really is. They're circling me with Caden touching random spots on my body. "Tell me when something feels off," he says as he starts from my calves. The sorcerer simply rests his hands on them for a minute before moving upward. Aside from the warmth he's releasing, I don't feel anything else.

Xavier is behind me, his face hovering over mine as he closely watches Caden. His eyes glow every once in a while, making me wonder if he's jealous of another person touching me even though it's purely experimental. Is it wrong for me to want to see his possessive side more? Just thinking about it makes all sorts of scenes in my head unfold.

A nauseous sensation hits me out of nowhere. I grab Caden's wrists in a flash. "Stop," I breathe out.

The warlock eyebrows move up in surprise. "Interesting. Are you pregnant?"

I look down to where his hands are, finding that he placed them right on my stomach.

"She is," Xavier speaks up, gaining my attention. His jaw is clenching as he stares at Caden dead in the eye.

"And I guess you're the father from the way you're looking at me. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to her or the child. It just complicates things though," he says as I release my hold and some members of the Council sit back down on their chairs.

"Complicate how exactly?" I ask, moving to a sitting, cross-legged position on the table.

"Because whatever happened is probably linked to your baby, but we can't do much without risking hurting them. So the only thing we can do is postpone your sentence until the child is born and coexisting with the feline. What a mess," he murmurs the last sentence, passing a hand through his short straight hair.

"What about that recording? It should be all over social media now," I say, nodding at the TV screen.

"I'll deal with that," a rough voice speaks up. Alpha Denver.

He's sitting at the head of the table looking dominating and sexy as hell. I slightly bow my head at him. "Thank you, Alpha."

His eyes glance to the right before nodding at me. The shifting gaze was quick, but I still caught it on time. I follow his gaze, finding Ariel engrossed in her phone. That's unexpected.

The Creatures Council doesn't keep us in their office for long, so after Richard bid them goodbye for a good hour, giving me enough time to study the interaction between Denver and Ariel, we finally leave the place and travel back home.

Denver definitely has a crush on Ariel, but I think she's onto the demon. The wolf would always glance at her when he stated something as if looking for approval that he would never receive since she would be shamelessly teasing the demon.

Nothing special happens during our journey back home. Well, Xavier and I bicker about the baby's name already, and I'm surprised at how supportive he is. I didn't expect that side of him to show since I know he's not a fan of children in general.

He insists on calling them Jamie if he's a boy and Viola for a girl, but I don't like neither of them. Mines are Benedict and Adeline. He hates them and offers to compromise. We ended up merging the names, and Benjamin and Adeola came out. We both are on the same page with them.

When we're back to the Clowder, I end up sleeping for the next ten hours after a relaxing hot shower. My stomach hurts all the time, and all I can seem to do is go back to sleep, hoping it'll end.

Days after days fly by until a particular one arrives. I wake up to the smell of pancakes with loads of maple syrup. My eyes flutter open, finding Xavier putting on the bedside table the plate filled with goodies.

"What time is it?" I mumble out with the messy hair from a sleepless heated night covering half of my face.

He smiles. "One in the afternoon now."

I groan, turning to the other side. "You didn't wake me up for training again."

"You know I don't want you to get hurt," he says, putting a hand on my head, caressing it.

"I won't get hurt, but you don't trust me," I point out.

He rolls his eyes smiling. "I trust you but not during this period of your life. The last thing I want is for you to miscarry. I googled it, and it looks like it hurts a lot, and I don't want to see you go through that."

I push his hand away from my face before sitting up, pulling my knotted hair back. "I don't think I'll have a miscarriage after what happened with that elf. I have a feeling the kid won't be normal because of that bastard."

Xavier tilts his head to the side, frowning. "You think he'll have some genetic disorder?"

I nod. "Yes, but not regarding their human side. I have a feeling the baby won't be a regular feline. Whatever happened that day was their doing. "

He hands me the plate before releasing a sigh. "We'll see when the time will come, but for now, eat, get dressed, do whatever you have to do because today is the new moon."

I gasp. "Already?! Wait, we can still mate even though I'm pregnant?"

He nods, his eyes looking elsewhere. "Of course," he says, but he doesn't sound convinced at all.

Someone bursts inside my room, putting an end to our conversation. Nala has tears sliding down her cheek. Ah, yes, there's that now. "Why are you crying?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

Nala has fallen hard for Kai in a way I never thought would be possible, and he's clearly acting like a dick to her, but she's too blind to see it.

She closes the door before walking up to the bed and lies down beside me. "Kill me, please," she says, sniffing her clogged nostrils caused by all the crying.

Xavier stands up. "That's it, I'm talking to him, and you're not stopping me anymore," he says, ignoring Nala's pleas to let it go and marching out of the bedroom.

I shove a mouthful of pancake in my mouth, loving the way it tastes. "I know you're all over the Kai situation now, but I need your help," I say with my mouth half full.

It's unladylike, I know. But it's Nala, so I don't mind being one.

She frowns, sitting up. "What happened?"

"Xavier is hiding something from me about the new moon. I need you to search for information on that since he won't take his eyes off of me because he's scared I'm going to fall and have a miscarriage," I explain.

Nala laughs. "It's weird seeing him like that with you. It's as if you turned into a new person ever since you got pregnant."

I sigh, leaning my head against the headboard of the bed. "Yeah, I don't know if to like it or not."

"Why is that?"

"He's too sweet," I say. He's way too sweet, and I don't like that. Does that make me weird?

"You don't want him to be sweet?" she asks with a frown.

"It's not that I don't want him to be like that. It's just... I miss the banter, the teasings, and the tension that brought us here in the first place. You know what I mean?"

She nods. "Well, you've known him as a friend for years, so it's understandable to be weirded out by the sudden sweetness. I'm sure it's just a phase though."

The sound of footsteps grow louder the closer the boys get to my room. My gaze falls on the door. "I hope you're right," I say as Xavier walks inside the room with Kai by his side.

The Asian man is openly glaring at the lion.

"Tell her," Xavier says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kai passes a hand through his silky dark hair. "You're such a dickhead," he exhales under his breath.

I raise an eyebrow. "Depends on what you told Xavier," I retort.

Xavier flashes me a smirk. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Well?!" Nala almost yells, already exasperated.

The pale face of Kai turns a bright shade of red. The kind of flush he gets whenever he's drunk, and it's an adorable sight. He sits down on the edge of the bed, looking away from us, finding fascinating my desk filled with books and flying papers.

"I'm a virgin," he mumbles.

I cover my gaping mouth with my hand. My gaze shifts to Xavier, seeing him biting his lip. Laughing at someone's virginity isn't funny, but when that person made it look to everyone that he was getting laid every day, that's when the fun part comes in.

Nala is gaping at him as well in utter shock.

There's an embarrassing silence in the air, and Kai doesn't even bother to fix it. He simply lowers his head, refusing to look at us in the face.

"That's the reason why you were avoiding me?" Nala speaks up after a moment.

He quietly nods his head.

"You're so damn stupid," she breathes out, making Kai look at her with wide eyes.

"I lied to you," he says.

Nala gets out of bed. "Follow me," she says, walking to where Kai is seated. Without another word, she grabs his hand, pulling him back onto his feet. The box-braided girl ignores Kai's weak protests and drags him out of my bedroom.

Xavier and I look at each other before bursting out of laugh. The light-hearted laughter will definitely be heard by Kai, but it's too late to stop it now. My stomach starts to hurt from how much we're going.

"I was holding back so much I still can't believe it," Xavier says, falling on the bed onto his back.

"I should have known he was lying. He was so cocky and damn flirty with all the girls. That should have been a warning," I say, chuckling.

Xavier frowns. "I was flirty with all of them as well, but I did conclude something at the end."

I shiver. "Don't even remind me about—" my laugh resounds in the room again.

The lion's long fingers are tickling me in my most sensitive parts, and I lie back down on the bed as I try to free myself from it.

"P–p–please!" I gasp out.

Unexpectedly, he stops, wiping the tears away from my eyes. He's now hovering over me. The scent of a freshly washed body with a man type of soap fills my lungs.

The tender look he's giving me makes my heart swell for him. I can't believe he'll be entirely mine in less than twenty-four hours.

Hopefully, everything will go well.

I was supposed to make the Council take out the tracker from her in this chapter, but I'm not sure yet about the whole tracker thing, so I'm leaving this plot hole unresolved for now.

Don't forget to vote and see you in a couple of days x