Page 36 of The Baby Hex (Mori’s Mementos #2)

Crilus

While I could ignore Mori, Preston, and Teddy all day there was no turning Kodiak away at the door.

Once, when an ex-boyfriend broke up with me at a high school dance he sat outside my bedroom door all weekend until I let him in to talk about it.

He kept offering to beat the shit out of Hest or to buy me a car or whatever I wanted.

Kodiak had never been good with sad omegas and lucky for him, I wasn’t sad this time around.

I was keeping Pierce safe, and I’d keep it up for the rest of my life if I needed to.

Kodiak headed straight for the kitchen having picked up the house’s layout over the family link.

Pierce and I followed behind him because he hadn’t even waited around for me to introduce him to my mate.

He pilfered through the cabinets, finding plates, cups, and silverware and set the table as if we were his guests instead of the other way around.

Once the table was set, he pulled two bloodshake pouches out of his pockets and handed them off to Pierce.

He headed off to the blender to get them made, leaving me alone with my dad.

“This is really how you want to play this one, kiddo?” Kodiak asked, pointing at a chair for me to sit down in. “Does he know?”

“Know what?” I tried to play innocent.

It was Pierce who had inspired the idea after all.

For a short while, I had been his hostage in Teal’s room at Moonglow.

He said I couldn’t leave. Pierce hadn’t expressed any concern about not leaving the house and the only time I had lost was when I made the peach tree sprout up in the kitchen.

Though, we were drunk when that happened.

We were lucky to not have burnt down the house baking a peach cobbler that day.

“At the very least you have to tell him,” Kodiak said. “This doesn’t end well. Hell, maybe it does end well. Maybe he doesn’t mind being locked in by magic, but this doesn’t end well for you. All magic leaves its mark. You know that.”

“We’re safe here,” I whispered. “We were safe here even before my magic because of his blood wards.”

“Crilus,” he said my name with a sigh. “This is her brand of magic.”

“I know. This is the spell she used to protect the evil alpha of the old pack. Am I evil? Is Pierce?” I asked.

“No, but if he doesn’t know… It’s like you’ve dragged him off to faerie land or something.”

“He’s happy. He just needs a blood supply. If he’d drink from me…” I let my words trail off.

“You can’t be his only source of blood,” Kodiak said. “I always thought when you met your mate, I’d have to give him the talk about if he ever broke your heart or hurt you, I’d behead him. Only, that’s not what I need to do, is it? It’s not him who is playing cave-elf.”

“I think the term you’re looking for is tree-elf,” I shrugged.

“Mori had a vision that he believes means you’re pregnant,” Kodiak said. “That means you’re going to need to see a doctor.”

“Doctors can come here. I’ll open the door,” I crossed my arms as Pierce made his way back to the table with two glasses of bloodshake.

Their raspberry pomegranate scent filled my head for a fraction of a second.

Noticing my lingering glance, Pierce offered me one which I declined.

They smelled great but he needed the blood.

“You tell him or I will,” Kodiak crossed his massive arms, mimicking my posture.

“Tell me what?” Pierce asked.

Kodiak narrowed his eyes on me and I sighed. Had I really done something that wrong? I had warned him the my family was batshit. That our magic wasn’t to be trusted sometimes. That meeting our true-mates had a way of taking a wrecking ball to our lives.

“Oh, that,” Pierce shrugged. “It’s not been too bad. It’s taken away my sense of time and my motivation to leave the house but I’m not sure that latter part is magic. You’re here.”

“What? You know?” I blinked.

“Mate, I’m inside your head as much as you’re inside of mine.

Besides that, your magic brushes up against my wards all the time.

As far as my sense of time passing, it’s always different for vampires.

We have forever unless something kills us.

At least, my family does. I meant it when I said I’d spend eternity with you.

If you need to work through this phase to believe that, keep casting away.

Though, you’re going to have to start eating more and we’re going to have to work out a blood supply method if they’re all going on strike about bringing it to me. ”

“But you were so confused about the empty blood fridge and—”

“Yeah. Because the magic has eaten my sense of time,” Pierce shrugged, glancing around the table.

“Eat up,” Kodiak sighed. “Both of you. There’s a pot roast and a lasagna. We weren’t sure what you liked, Pierce.”

“I’m not too picky. Being a guard means I’ve eaten a lot of instant dinners,” Pierce shrugged. “It’s nice to meet you and really, I’m fine. Crilus is just trying to prove that I didn’t mean what I said.”

“I am not. We’re safe here. No Sharon Claudis. No Venal Claudis. No grandma. No nothing,” I said, watching Pierce cut into the pasta.

“I should heat these up,” Kodiak sighed, realizing he skipped a part.

“Did you really know or are you covering my ass?” I asked Pierce over our mating link.

“Both. I suspected but didn’t know for sure until Kodiak brought it up.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think the spell is inherently bad.

A sense of time isn’t needed to survive and if that’s what is given up to keep people alive, it would be worth it.

I figured you’d get it out of your system and want to go back to the Raven’s Perch eventually and if you didn’t that was fine.

Eventually, we’d invite my parents over for dinner and Clarence or someone would find Sharon. ”

“Am I an asshole for not helping?” I asked.

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “More so I am. I’m a guard after all. I’m trained for such things. Though, if they haven’t gotten her yet, it means she’s laying low. Probably waiting until the baby is born.”

“I could feed her to your wards,” I whispered even though we were speaking over our mating link and Kodiak couldn’t hear us.

“If she were to die in the house that’s exactly what would happen,” Pierce shrugged and took a long drink of his shake. “Do you think Kodiak will help work out the blood delivery or is he just here to scold you?”

“I think I have them worried,” I sighed. “I hate that but…”

“You could live like this forever?” Pierce filled in the blank for me.

“Yeah. I could.”

“You can keep me here,” he shrugged again.

“What if it’s just the magic that makes you feel that way?” I asked him.

“That was the way of things before you started that spell. I brought you to a place where my wards and blood magic would make you feel protected. I’d have kept you here until the Sharon stuff was over either way.”

I laughed and leaned back in my chair. It had become the sort of situation where I wasn’t sure if I was the perpetrator or the hostage anymore.

“So, what are we doing about this, you two?” Kodiak asked, coming back to the table once the food was in the oven.

“I was his hostage before he was mine,” I crossed my arms.

“It’s true. I’m keeping him here. I know Preston is his cousin, but he’s been attacked once and nearly twice since all this started. I’m a selfish man, Kodiak. I’d lock him up in a tower if that’s the only way I could keep him safe.”

Kodiak’s expression softened. There were two omegas across the Atlantic that he felt the same way about. My carrier was the pack leader, and Kodiak was good at letting him hold his own but if push came to shove, he always had his back.

“Then you know, he needs to see a doctor if he’s pregnant.”

“He will,” Pierce said and I almost opened my mouth to protest. I’d tell him he wasn’t my boss but shit, he was right. I’d take care of the baby.

“I brought a test,” Kodiak said. “I’m not even going to pull that cave-bear act and make you take it now. It’s best to take them first thing in the morning. Are you able to do that or do I need to spend the night here to make sure that you do?”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “You can find an appropriate healer.”

“Xenos and Barry are on their way. You can take your pick.”

“Why is all of stateside coming over here?”

“Because Sharon Claudis is still at large and the last time a crazy woman was given free roam of the territory she started a hate group and a war,” Pierce sighed.

“Yeah,” Kodiak sighed.

“How is she hiding so well?” I asked.

“She’s a witch who knows the gateway network well,” Kodiak said as the oven timer went off.

“Looks like your food is ready. I’ll get it out and leave you to it, but take the test, Crilus.

Your dads will be relieved that Pierce isn’t a hostage but not so much if you’re pregnant and not taking care of yourself. ”

“I’ll do what I need to do. I just haven’t had any symptoms,” I said, irritation digging under my skin.

“You won’t always,” Kodiak said, and I really wanted to lay into him about alphasplaining pregnancy to me.

He took the hint and left not long after that. Alone with Pierce it was so tempting to forget he had ever visited but I put the pregnancy test in the bathroom we used most mornings so that I wouldn’t forget about it.