Page 39 of Bewitchingly Hers (Witches of Pleasant Grove #3)

He picked up my hand, kissing my palm and then my wedding ring before nudging his head against my stomach, running his nose over my skin. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy, Sugar.”

“No?”

“No.” Barrett gave me a wolfy grin. “To know I did this to you, the way your scent has changed from my pup… our baby… fuck, Eryne. It calms me in a way I could never explain. I don’t deserve you, but I’ll spend the rest of our lives making you happy.”

I ran my hands through his hair as he kissed my stomach tenderly. So soft and sweet.

“What about where we live?” I whispered.

I loved Pleasant Grove. This town, my job at the Witches’ Brew, it was all I’d ever known.

But I wasn’t so naive to think he’d want to stay here.

And part of me didn’t want to deprive our child of growing up knowing other wolves, if they were a shifter.

“Do you want to… should we move to Walnut Ridge? If they’re a wolf?

” I’d gotten close to Barrett’s parents and his sister in our visits over the last few months, and I loved going and staying at the cabin in Walnut Ridge. Still, it was a big decision.

“There’s nothing I’d love more than to take you back there with me. To build a house for us and them.” He rested his hand over the tiny flicker of life inside of me. “But… ”

“But?” I held my breath. It was a conversation we’d put off having. Of course, he’d decided to stay here, but that didn’t mean forever .

I loved him enough to know I’d follow him anywhere. Even if that meant leaving this place behind.

He grinned. “But I love our life here. Our friends…”

I thought about the community we’d built. My coven and their mates… It might not have been a community full of wolf-shifters, but they were our family. And my parents were here, too.

“They’ll have plenty of kids to grow up with, that’s for sure,” I agreed.

“And Pleasant Grove is a pretty great place to grow up.” And it would only get better.

Since opening the wards to other paranormal beings, we’d had a boom of new residents.

It had taken some getting used to, but I loved it.

“We can raise them the way we should have been raised.”

In a world full of magic.

A world full of love.

A world where no one was kept out because of fear or prejudices. Where witches, vampires, demons, and shifters—and maybe even the occasional ghoul—could walk hand in hand down Main Street.

“Nothing sounds better.” He wrapped his hand around my neck. “I love you, Sugar.”

“I love you, Wolf-Man.” I closed my eyes, letting my forehead rest against his. I slid a hand over my abdomen, not surprised when he placed his over it. “And our little pumpkin.”

There was no doubt in my mind that this child would be a redhead, just like us.

He grinned. “I hope they look just like you.” Barrett kissed the tip of my nose. “Your cute little nose and those big blue eyes.”

I traced the freckles on his chest with my thumb. “They’re doomed in the freckle department, that’s for sure.”

Barrett’s laugh filled the room, and the feeling of love flowed through me, enough that I almost felt like bursting. His joy was so contagious, and it filled up every bit of me, the emotion so powerful through the bond.

“How long have you known?” I asked, thinking about the look of relief on his face earlier. Like he’d just been waiting for me to catch up.”

“Only a few days.” He ran his fingers through my hair, playing with the strands.

I’d been letting it grow lately, and he was obsessed with it, like always.

“Your scent changed. It’s even sweeter now.

Didn’t think that was possible, but…” He placed both hands on either side of my stomach, like he was cradling our baby.

“I was going to tell you, but… I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized it yourself.”

“Is everyone going to know?” I asked, feeling my cheeks warm. “If you can… smell me, then can’t everyone else?”

Barrett rubbed his thumb over my stomach. “I’m so finely attuned to it that it would be hard for me not to. The others… They probably won’t notice right away. But we can ask the guys to keep it quiet until we’re ready to tell everyone.”

Key differences between our races—witches didn’t have an overwhelmingly powerful sense of smell. Not like shifters and vampires seemed to. Even the demons had heightened senses, which just felt unfair.

I nodded. “I just don’t want to get our hopes up in case…

” I bit my lip. I didn’t want to say it—to even think it—but what if I got used to this idea, and then it was ripped away from us?

It was so early. Probably too early to know if it would take for sure.

And yet, the happiness on my mate’s face, the joy at the knowledge that I was growing our child inside of me, was impossible to ignore.

“Wolf pups are hearty,” he told me. “ Strong . We have a harder time conceiving, normally only managing successful fertilization during a heat cycle. For us…” He looked down at my stomach.

“We don’t really know. There’s no records of any witches and wolves who have been mates before.

But we’ll take it one day at a time, okay, baby? ”

I nodded, and he kissed my forehead. “One day at a time,” I promised him.

And just like every other promise he’d ever made me, I knew this one would come true.