Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Fawkes Visits

Alexander's POV

Since Cassidy and I haven't gone home in nearly four months, Fawkes comes to visit us instead. It's fortuitous timing. I have something I would like to entrust him with.

I hear his footsteps from inside our quarters before Fawkes actually arrives, so I slip out to greet him first. He doesn't know about Cassidy. No one outside of the Lupus royal family and Healer Trish knew about Cassidy's new condition. I wanted to be the first to break the news to my best friend.

"Alex!" he called out when he saw me. I pulled him in for a hug.

"It's good to see you, Fawkes," I grinned.

"How is the husband?" he asks.

I couldn't have stopped my smile from widening. "He's wonderful," I say. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually."

"Me?" Fawkes raises his eyebrows at me. "You need me to get something?"

"No," I wave off the offer. "Come, come meet Cassidy and you'll see." I could barely contain my excitement.

Fawkes goes through the door and I follow behind closely. Cassidy is lounging in bed with a book. He waves when we come in. Fawkes waves back.

Cass puts his book down and gets up. Immediately, Fawkes's eyes go down to his belly. I grinned, knowing Fawkes would pick out the difference immediately.

My friend turns to me. "I don't want to assume but did Cassidy..." he trails off questioningly. I nod enthusiastically. "Get pregnant?" he finishes.

My mate is smiling as he comes to me and I pull him to my side and kiss his cheek. "Hello, Garrison," he says sweetly. "Alex has a magical dick."

I coughed and blushed at his crude words.

Fawkes cackles in delight. "Congratulations!" he exclaims and pulls us both in for a big hug. He smacks me heartily on the back. "This calls for a celebration!"

Cassidy winces. "Ah," he says. "That will be a little difficult."

Fawkes tilts his head. "What's wrong?"

"No one beyond the healer here and the royal family knows," I tell him. "We haven't even told our parents yet. It's a good thing you're here because we have a favour to beg of you."

"Anything in my power, my friend," he proclaims.

"Will you tell our parents?" Cassidy asks.

Fawkes looks surprised. "You don't want to tell them yourselves?"

I shake my head. "We do. But we can't leave Lupus."

"Why the hell not?" he demands.

"Because Alex is a werewolf who knocked me up with his magical dick," Cass says wryly. "The healers here are more familiar with werewolf births and I have been advised to avoid too much travelling."

Fawkes nods in understanding. "Of course, I'll pass on the message." He looks sideways at us. "Your mother won't like that I'm the messenger. You are prepared for that, aren't you?"

I grimace at the thought and sigh. "Well, we can't leave. She will have to visit instead."

Cassidy squeezes my side in reassurance, and I smile down at him. Fawkes mimics a whiplash and snickers when I scowl at him.

~

While Fawkes remains in Lupus, Cassidy and I take the opportunity to arrange a day out in town. We've been here for months and we have yet to venture beyond the royal dens.

So, when Cass bats his pretty eyelashes and tells me he wants to visit the town before he can't walk very much anymore, I cave like wet cardboard. Fawkes is set to accompany us since Cassidy won't agree to an entourage of guards and I get antsy with so many wolves around my mate.

Fawkes has agreed to come along as a precaution, though I'm quite sure he also wanted to explore Lupus. That man's true love is wanderlust.

The town we visited is the closest in proximity to the royal dens. It had benefitted from being this close to the leaders of its kingdom and grown quite large in population. The buildings here are low and quaint, as is the woody architectural style of this country. We didn't see anything that towered above us like the skyscraper in Atlantis.

Fawkes flitted from shop to shop, in the apparently random pattern of whatever caught his eye, but my wolf knew he was circling us to cover every side. I stuck close to Cassidy inside the circle.

Cassidy hadn't yet noticed that Fawkes was acting bodyguard, too enchanted by the cute cafés and trinket shops that lined the streets. I kept a hand around him to keep anyone from bumping into my mate. Especially when the streets got crowded—which often happened at popular food stalls and would inevitably draw Cassidy's attention.

I had no desire to ruin his fun, so I grit my teeth and tried to block passers-by from making as much contact with us as possible.

So far, though, it seemed like crowds were parting almost instantaneously whenever we came close. After I caught a third person crossing the street after catching sight of me and my pregnant mate, it occurred to me that I was baring my teeth at anyone who looked in our direction.

Also, Cass had disguised his pregnancy scent with the herbs that Seffrin had taught him to use, so no one knew he was pregnant. And all people saw was the angry, alpha wolf coming their way. Embarrassed, I consciously stopped myself from glaring at everyone.

But when I did that, people no longer moved away from us and Cassidy got jostled too roughly for my peace of mind. I growled lowly at the offending body part and the man jerked away in terror.

Cassidy put a hand on my chest. "Alex, darling," he says softly. I glare once more at the man and turn my attention to my mate. "Do you think you could tone down the scary face?"

I frown.

He cups my face. "It was an accident, and I am perfectly fine," he reassures. "There is no need to be the big, bad wolf, okay?"

I huff and nod reluctantly.

"Thank you," he kisses my cheek and takes my hand in his. "Don't think I didn't see people crossing the road to avoid us."

My cheeks redden. So, he did notice. Fawkes pats me on the back in amusement.

We continue down the streets hand-in-hand. Fawkes is whistling as he strolls behind us.

"Incoming," he called out.

I look up and try not to glare at the person approaching. It must have worked because the voluptuous blonde was making a beeline towards us.

"Excuse me," she asks when she comes closer. "Are you the Princes of Nasales?"