Chapter 17.5

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I floated out of the best sleep I'd had in months. With the stress of the secret gone, not to mention the comfort of being held by my mate, I'd been able to lose myself and allow my body to truly rest.

Sunlight flickered across my face, and my pillow heated under my cheek. I smiled and snuggled deeper under the covers. This new day held all sorts of promises, and it would only get better now that he knew about our baby. If my dreams were any indication of our future, I'd have a lot to smile about in the coming days.

Sparks flew over my skin as Lucas brushed his knuckles along my spine. His chest rumbled as he purred 'good morning' in his husky morning voice. After a kiss on my forehead, he tightened his hold around me. We laid there for several minutes before I opened my eyes.

Two chocolate brown eyes stared back at me, the light shining out of them reaching the deepest parts of my being. Even my wolf purred at the feelings he was stirring up in me. Once more, he'd found a way to make everything else fade away.

His smile lit up his eyes even more. "How's my precious baby momma this morning?"

I grinned and snuggled closer into his side. "I am quite well...not that everything is out in the open and you know my little secret. I wasn't going to tell anyone else before you, so I've been swallowing any pushback when someone looks at me like they question my position as mate to a lycan. It's hard to understand why they still do."

"You forget, my dear, that you are also a lycan now. And why would you..." He paused and propped himself up on one elbow, now hovering over me. "How long have you known?"

Oh, he was going to roast me for this. The general busyness of the past few weeks had complicated a great many things. What I did and did not tell my mate had fallen on the lower end of my to-do list. Then again, how long I had known and how long I had suspected were two different things. Maybe he could hang on to that.

"Known for certain?" I clarified. "...about two and a half weeks? Suspected... about five."

He stared down at me for a long minute. "You've known for nearly a month, and didn't tell me?"

"With everything that's happened lately, when was I supposed to tell you?" I huffed. "I wanted the moment to be special, but the time never happened. You've been away, and I've been busy in your absence. I sometimes wonder when you'd be back if Kellen hadn't called you."

My sudden outburst shocked both of us. I swallowed any other insults that might pop out of my mouth. Lucas also swallowed, but for other reasons.

"Lucas, I'm sorry," I whimpered, feeling my wolf retreating. "I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he whispered, brushing my cheeks with his thumbs. "You're right. I'm sorry that I've been away so much recently. It was never my intention to ignore or neglect you. I could never do that."

I traced his jawline with my fingertip. "We are quite the pair, aren't we? If we aren't sucking each other's faces off, we're bickering about something petty. If we aren't taking on the world, we're drowning in daily life. Sometimes I wonder what the moon goddess was thinking when she paired the two of us."

Lucas lowered himself from his elbow and nestled his face against my neck. His warm breath sent tingles through my whole body, but I stifled the happy moan that rose in my throat. This was not the time for flirty or sexual advances.

He placed a warm hand on my abdomen—acknowledging our pup—and kissed his mark on my neck. I jumped at the contact but didn't push him away.

"I think," he mumbled against my skin, "that the moon goddess knew that I'd need an angel to redeem me. So she sent me the only angel on earth."

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