The Alpha King's Rose

Chapter Eighteen

Rose's POV

I felt on edge the whole journey to the airport, there was still a lot of tension between Nicholas and me, even after he said he'd come with me we'd stayed silent since. I fidgetted avoiding his gaze which I could feel burning holes in the side of my face. I stared down at my hands resting on my stomach, was it strange that now my pregnancy was confirmed the bump seemed far more prominent. 

How big was my baby now, I wondered. Werewolf pregnancies were far shorter than human ones, taking only 4 months sometimes a little less. Since I was a little over three weeks now I guessed he or she was maybe the size of an orange now. I didn't really know though when Nate was studying he mostly focussed surgical procedures and the effects of silver and wolfbane, rather than pregnancy. 

After an hour of more uncomfortable silence, we arrived at the airport, the private jet ready for tack off on our arrival just as I had requested. 

I pulled on my thick fur-lined coat as we stepped out into the snow, shivering from the icy winds I hurried over to the steps, relieved when the warmth of the plane enveloped me. I shrugged off my coat again, before laying back on the large sofa. After some orders in Russian to our accompanying guards, Nicholas appeared and sat down at the table on the other side of the plane to me. 

Passive aggressive much! I thought, rolling my eyes and staring out at the snowy obis, the jet roared with life before gradually moving forward on the snow cleared the runway. As we picked up speed, the jet shook and rumbled in the bad weather conditions. I gripped the arm of the sofa while also putting a protective hand on my stomach, as the jet made its way off the ground and into the air. I felt rather than saw Nicholas worried gaze on me as I tensed through the turbulence. 

Soon the pangs of pregnancy cravings clawed at my stomach, I got up and went behind the bar to see what I could find. What I really wanted was a double bacon cheeseburger, with large fries and an Oreo milkshake, but sadly I wasn't going to find that on our private jet. I did, however, find double chocolate chip muffins, crisps, some mixed boxes of fruit salad, a packet of biscuits and of course peanuts. Carrying all this in my arms along with an iced drink I went back over to the sofa and began munching on my mini feast. 

After making my way through most of the food and receiving some very funny looks from our guards and cabin crew which I ignored. I finished my drink so all that was left in the glass was ice. Hmm, that does look quite nice actually, I scooped the ice out and began crunching on it. Yes! What was it about pieces of ice!? Was it the texture or the cold? I don't know what or why, but I was suddenly craving ice. Chucking my rubbish I went back to the bar and looked into the fridge freezer. YES! Thank the goddess there was a full ice bucket. 

Grabbing it, I made myself comfortable on the sofa once again and began crunching away at the ice chips. I was suddenly very aware of my mate's hard glare, as I crunched down on each loud piece of ice. 

Nicholas cleared his throat, "Rose do you have to?"

"Have to what?" I asked innocently through a mouthful of ice. 

"Do you have to eat quite so loudly! I am trying to work."

"Don't blame me, blame your child, they're the one who wants the crunchy ice." 

Nicholas said nothing in return, so I looked up, he was looking back at his laptop but I could see a small on his lips after I'd said your child. 

...

About halfway through the flight, a number of hours after my mini feast, I was jerked out of my sleepy, comfortable state on the sofa by a horrible churning feeling in my stomach.