Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“You like her that much, you would choose her over the pack?”
Rose smiled. “I love my pack, but as it happens, Eloise is pregnant with the next generation, and you know the startling thing about a pack?”
“What?”
“We protect our own, and as you were accusing her of cheating on you and being the biggest dick I’ve ever seen or heard, I felt this … feeling.”
“Feeling?”
“Yeah, I wanted to come down there and protect her. I like Eloise, I even consider her a friend, but I have never had such an overwhelming feeling in my life, where I want to come and protect her from my own kind. I usually am quite happy with others hurting humans. I needed to protect Eloise, and that means she is carrying pack. She is part of our pack, and you just went and broke her heart.”
With that, Rose brushed past him, and Beau looked around the kitchen. This wasn’t good. Eloise couldn’t have gotten pregnant by him.
He gripped the back of his neck, knowing what Rose said was right. There was always a risk of getting a human pregnant, anyone pregnant. Most of the time they wore condoms. Running a hand down his face, he knew he had fucked up, and tomorrow he was going to have to fix it.
At no point had he scented another man on Eloise. It had been part of his addiction to her, that he was the only man she’d been with. He liked being the only one, and he didn’t want it to fucking stop.
How had he fucked up this badly?
Chapter Eight
Eloise had no choice but to tell her mother and sister that she was pregnant, and everything that had happened with Beau. Both had been surprised. She’d been terrified they wouldn’t accept what she’d done, and she’d be homeless. Instead, her mother had wrapped her arms around her, and well, Dorothy, her sister, had grabbed a large chef’s knife and was headed toward the door.
Their mother stopped Dorothy from doing anything stupid.
“You know, you didn’t have to come with me,” Eloise said. She’d spent most of the morning over the toilet, vomiting. Her mother had promised her this would soon pass, and then everything would get easy, apart from the swollen ankles, boobs, and the large ball in front of her stomach. It didn’t sound like it was going to be a lot of fun.
“Look, you weren’t going to throw their food in the trash, that’s fine, but I’m not having you deliver it on your own.” Dorothy climbed out of the truck.
“I wasn’t going to throw good food in the trash, and besides, his pack is lovely.”
Dorothy tutted. “Honey, they’re still his pack, and that means they’re in line with him.”
Eloise wasn’t in the mood to argue. She glanced up at Beau’s ranch house, and she took a deep breath. With how he’d behaved yesterday, she hoped he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
The last person she wanted to talk to was him.
“Let’s get this over with.”
“I had no idea you were so detailed with all this stuff,” Dorothy said. “You’ve given instructions, oven temperatures. Damn, you’ve even told them what to get. They were lucky.”
Eloise laughed. Her sister in the past twenty-four hours had become very attentive. She didn’t know if she liked it, but it was fun to have a loving sister around.
Grabbing the bags of food, they made their way to the back of the kitchen, and Eloise stopped when she caught sight of Beau. He was leaning against the kitchen sink, coffee mug in his hand. The scent of the coffee made her feel sick, and she quickly put the bags down and then stepped outside.
Dorothy had been following her in when Eloise stepped back outside to take some deep breaths.
“Whoa, honey, are you okay?” Dorothy asked.
She put a hand on her stomach and lifted a finger in the air. “Just a minute.”
“Ah, so I’m guessing you’re the baby daddy!”
Eloise closed her eyes, and then put her hands on her knees, taking several deep breaths, attempting to gain her composure, but nothing was happening. She felt so sick to her stomach.
“Who are you?”
The sickness abated and she lifted up and turned to look at him. “My sister.”
She moved back toward the truck, getting a couple of bags.
“The coffee makes her nauseous, asshole,” Dorothy said.
I can do this. I can do this.
The words kept going off like a mantra inside her head. She kept trying to tell herself what she could do, and that she was strong.
Deep breath in and a long breath out.
Eloise grabbed a couple more bags and then made her way inside. Dorothy was already heading back toward the truck.
Stepping inside, she saw that Beau was still there. The scent of coffee was long gone. She ignored him and got to work emptying the bags of food. This is what she did every Monday, even when they were on good terms.