Page 32 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ronen

Groaning, I blinked my eyes open, wondering for a second where I was. This was not my bed, or my room, for that matter. And there was a large, warm body, that definitely wasn’t Mason snuggled up to my side. Reaching a hand out, I ran my fingers through the short, coarse fur.

Dark puppy dog eyes beamed back at me, a rough tongue licking the side of my face.

“Ugh, gross,” I mumbled, wiping the dog slobber off my cheek. “I know where your tongue has been.”

“Oreo, down,” Mason ordered, his hand appearing in my line of sight, and snapping his fingers.

Oreo whined, yawned, then laid his ginormous black and white head on my chest.

“Oof,” I groaned, as he pushed all my oxygen out of my body in one instant. “He listens well.”

Mason leaned up on an arm, giving the dog an angry look. Which lasted about two seconds, before he melted, because who could stay mad at that face. “He usually is much more well behaved. He’s feeling protective of you, I think.”

Rubbing my fingers between the dogs ears, I smiled. “You’re a good baby puppy.”

Mason shook his head at my babyish voice. “Do not encourage him. And he is neither a baby or a puppy. How are you feeling?”

“Okayish, I think,” I admitted, though it might be too soon to tell for sure, since I hadn’t really moved yet.

Thankfully, I hadn’t puked anymore, but I had fallen asleep on the ride to Mason’s place. I barely remembered him carrying me inside, up the stairs, undressing me, and tucking me in.

“You want to talk about your nightmare?” He asked quietly.

Quickly averting my gaze, I asked, “What nightmare?”

“The one you had last night. You were thrashing around, covered in sweat, and whimpering. You calmed down when I rubbed your back. You don’t remember?”

“I don’t remember any of that,” I lied, because I had woken enough from the grip of the dream, when Mason had started stroking my skin. But I didn’t want to talk about my stupid dreams.

“Okay,” Mason turned and then he was waving a white, rectangular box in my face. “This says it’s best used first thing in the morning.”

Taking the box from him, I saw it was a pregnancy test. “Why do you even have this?”

“I ordered a delivery last night,” he blushed a little under my scrutiny. “I got other stuff too. Sprite, crackers, peppermint tea.” At the face I made when he mentioned tea, he laughed. “Sorry, it’s supposed to be good for upset stomachs. No tea. Isn’t tea in your blood or something?”

“Papa lives on tea. I find it disgusting.” Groaning, I flipped the blankets back. “Though, I’m not sure I’m up for coffee either. Maybe just a Sprite. Where’s the bathroom?”

Mason pointed at the open doorway, and Oreo trotted right beside me. “Across the hall. I’ll just go get your drink.”

Ten minutes later, I sat on the closed toilet seat, sipping my cold drink, while Mason stared in shock at the positive pregnancy test.

“Told you.”

Did my voice sound smug? I wasn’t feeling it really, but I did like it when I was right. Though it would have been nice to be wrong about this.

“We’re having a baby?” Mason said for at least the fifth time in as many minutes.

“Technically, I’m having the baby, but yes, it appears so.”

Oreo flopped down on the bathroom floor with a grunt, taking up the last remaining free space in the room there was. The bathroom was original to the house, and typical for the era, not that spacious.

“Where’s my phone?” I asked, sitting my drink on the small vanity.

“Bedroom,” Mason mumbled, still staring at the test like if he stared hard enough, the answer on it was going to change.

Finding my phone on the nightstand next to the side I had been sleeping on, I walked back towards the bathroom, waiting for my cousin to answer.

“It’s too early,” My cousin, Logan, groaned in my ear.

“It’s like ten,” I told him dryly .

“And I was delivering a baby three hours ago. What do you want?”

“How accurate are home pregnancy tests?”

“We use them in the clinic, if that tells you anything,” he sounded half asleep. “Why? Ohhh…ohh shit! Ro! Are you? Wait, no, not you. Is it Charlie? It better not be Sammi, I swear to the Goddess. I don’t care how old she is, I will kick some alpha’s ass if they knock my sister up.”

“Why did you say no to it being me?” I asked, feeling slightly offended at his quick dismissal.

“No reason,” Logan sounded wide awake now, but refused to expand his answer.

“How long would it take to confirm a positive at home test?”

“Not long,” Logan yawned, “I mean we usually will do a blood test in the office.”

“And can that be done today?”

He groaned, “It’s Sunday. Just tell me which one of the girls thinks they are pregnant, and whose ass I need to kick.”

“Me, and the ass would be Mason.”

Logan was silent on the phone. “Mason Caldwell? I thought you hated him. What the fuck is happening? Am I dreaming?”

“A lot has happened in the last month,” I told him quietly. “Look, can you do me a solid and verify this test? I don’t want the whole family to know. Can you do this for me, Lo?”

Next to Charlie, Logan was the cousin I was closest to. And he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut. It was well known in our family, if you wanted everyone to know, you told Charlie or Sammi, and if you wanted someone to keep your secrets, you went to Logan .

“Yeah, yeah,” Logan was serious now. “Meet me at the clinic in,” he groaned, “give me two hours. It was a long night, and I need a shower and a pot of coffee. The lab techs aren’t in, but we can do an ultrasound. Do you know how far along you are?”

“Like a month,” I hedged, staring at Mason, who stared right back.

“We should be able to see something with an abdominal one,” Logan said. “If not, I don’t want to be the one to do an internal one on you, so you’ll have to wait and make an appointment with Lily.”

Dr. Lily Taylor was my OB/GYN. She and my Uncle Finn were both OB/GYN’s who ran a clinic together, and Logan had joined last year when he had finished his residency. While I loved my family, I didn’t want them being my doctors. Especially when it came to my omega reproductive health.

But I also didn’t want to wait for however long it would take me to get an appointment. I wanted–needed–to know now.

“That’s fair,” I told him, knowing I was putting him in an awkward situation. “See you in a couple of hours. And Logan, thank you.”

“No worries,” he said softly, ending the call.

Blowing out a breath, I stepped over Oreo, closer to Mason, needing to feel his heat next to me.

“So, that was my cousin, Logan. He’s an obstetrician. He’s going to verify the pregnancy for us. He said to meet him at his office in two hours. He’s going to do an ultrasound to verify the test. They aren’t always accurate.”

Though from what Logan had said they were pretty accurate. Enough for them to use them at his office .

“And if you really are pregnant,” Mason asked quietly, his amber eyes troubled, “are you planning to keep the baby?”

My brows knitted together, and I stared at him. “Of course. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

He shrugged, running a hand through his auburn hair. “Honestly, I have no clue. You don’t strike me as a baby kind of guy, Ronen. I guess I wasn’t sure.”

“Oh,” I breathed the word out, sinking to sit on the side of the tub. “I guess that’s fair. I’ve never really thought that much about having kids. But I had planned to, someday, when I met the right person. I mean, I’m twenty-five, so I figured in a few more years.”

“Am I the right guy?”

Looking up at him, I smiled softly. “Fate says you are.”

“But do you say I am?” he pressed. “I had a good time on our date, and the sex between us is,” he made an explosion with his hands, “mind-blowing, but we don’t know each other that well yet. A baby, now…it’s a lot. I don’t want you to think you don’t have any choices, because it’s your choice.”

“Do I strike you as a person who doesn’t do anything I don’t want to do?”

He snorted, “No.”

“Okay, then. Yes, it’s all really fast, but I want this.” And as I said the words, I realized I meant them. “I want us, Mason.”

Mason swallowed hard, and for a fleeting second, I worried that he was having second thoughts. A pain pierced my heart just thinking about it. “In that case, I need to tell you something.”

“Can we take this to the bedroom?” I asked him, “I’m a little dizzy. Not queasy, just dizzy. ”

The floor felt like it was swaying beneath my feet, and I didn’t like the feeling one bit.

Faster than I could blink, Mason scooped me up bridal style and carried me into the bedroom.

“I can walk.”

“Maybe I like carrying you,” he sat down on the edge of the bed, but didn’t release me, just continued to cradle me in his arms.

“Ronen,” he sounded so serious, I sat up a little against him. “Remember when I told you I could only tell my true mate what I am?”

I nodded. “Yes, because I wanted to remind you that Fate said that was me, but you said you had to trust me.”

“Right. I do trust you, and with you pregnant, you need to know. So does your doctor.”

“That sounds ominous,” I told him slowly, drawing back so I could look in his eyes. “You’re not a snake, are you? I really don’t like snakes.” Even as I asked, I knew he wasn’t.

But my dreams hadn’t stopped yet, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was waiting just around the corner. The feeling sat heavy in my stomach, like a brick. William’s ominous warnings didn’t help.

He chuckled, “I’m not a snake.” His fingers trailed over the skin of my back, up my shoulder, to the head of my dragon. “Ronen, this is me.”

“What’s you?” I asked, confused, not understanding what he was telling me.

“This tattoo,” he whispered softly. “The one you said you dreamed about, and had Charlie draw? Your dragon. It’s me. Right down to the colors of the scales. You’ve been dreaming about me your entire life. ”

I stared at him dumbfounded, not comprehending what he was telling me. Finally, I whispered, voice shaky, “But dragons are extinct. They don’t exist. They’re like unicorns.”

Mason gave me a small smile. “And that’s why we don’t tell anyone about us.

There are only a few of us left throughout the world.

Imagine if people found out we do exist?

We can’t take the chance. And there are dragon rules, passed down from one generation to the next, that say we can only reveal ourselves to our true mate. ”

“Holy shit.”