Athena's Human Mate

Chapter 41

If it wasn't so painful, Athena would laugh.  Roman obviously heard part of her conversation with Emma but not all of it.  Enough to jump to conclusions instead of simply asking who was pregnant.  He seems to always look for her to make mistakes.  She's not perfect, never claimed to be.  She didn't expect him to be perfect either, but he could at least give her the benefit of doubt.

She almost answered him, instead she chose to not acknowledge it.  "Get out of my office."  She tried to keep calm, but knew her chin quivered and hoped he missed it.

"Not until you tell me how the hell you're having a baby!"  He stood with his feet planted like he was a brick wall.  He had another thing coming if he thought he would win this round.

"Get out or I will remove you myself.  I have nothing to say to you."

"Make me," he wasn't sure why she was being stubborn, all she had to do was admit she lied, again, and confirm if the child she carried was his or not.

"Don't push me Roman.  I am at my limit of control and I don't want to hurt you.  Get out now, you have three seconds."

She silently counted while watching his expression never change from the cold, unforgiving one.  She stalked up to him, grabbed his arm at the same time she swept his leg.  He expected one or the other but not both and he was on his back before he took a breath.  Not allowing him the time to get up, she flipped him over, holding his hand and foot, she whispered in his ear.

"Get out or I will force you."  She jumped up, releasing him and he slowly got to his feet.

With one last angry look, he left, slamming the door on the way out.  She let go of the air she had in her lungs and fell to the floor, trying not to cry while her heart broke all over again.  She didn't know it could hurt this much and she vigorously inhaled, practically hyperventilating in an effort to keep the tears at bay.  In the end it was a useless endeavor as she sobbed, hugging her knees to her aching chest.

Anger coursing through him, Roman didn't know where to go, he hadn't been to his old gym since he quit.  The pack gym wasn't ready or equipped yet so he stomped into the woods to hit a few trees until his bloody knuckles hurt.  It must be someone else's baby, that's the only reason he could think of for her reacting the way she did.

He couldn't stand to even sleep under the same roof as her.  He rummaged around until he found one of the tents and set it up close by the apartment but out of sight.  To say he was grumpy the next day was putting it mildly.

He barked out orders to the girls training and had them wondering who ate his breakfast.  They did as he asked though and he snapped at Kyle.

"Why are you late?  Do you not take training seriously?"  He grounded out, trying not to scream his head off.

"Sorry Luna, Emma was having a bad episode of vomiting and I couldn't leave her like that.  By the way, she won't be coming today.  The next month she'll be here when she can.  By then she should be over the worst symptoms.  I'll do my best to not let it interfere with our lessons."

"What are you talking about?"  Roman hadn't heard any wolves suffering from any cold or disease, certainly nothing that would last over a month.

"Emma said you already knew she was pregnant."  Kyle frowned at him.  "We're very happy about it, I'd hoped Emma exaggerated when she told me your response was curt.  I guess not."  Kyle turned away from him, focusing on the moves the others were doing.

"Emma is pregnant?"  His world twisted, along with his conscience.

"Yes, she's four weeks now.  I'm not sure if you're aware, but werewolf pregnancies are shorter than humans.  I can already hear the heartbeat."  A silly grin spread on his face.  He coughed, "my apologies Luna, I'll refrain from speaking about it."

If Roman hadn't felt like an asshole when he found out it was Emma expecting, the realization that both Emma and Kyle thought he was upset about it made it worse.  "Please don't apologize, if anyone should be, it's me.  I'm happy for you both, truly.  When did you find out?"

"Last week but we wanted to wait until we were sure before telling Alpha.  I can't express how grateful I am that you made me stay and listen to you.  If I had taken Em from the pack, she'd be miserable.  Now look at us, I'm going to be a dad.  I have a family thanks to you Luna."

Feeling like the shit he stepped on that stuck to his boot, he stumbled to find his words.  "Go on back to her, I've got this."

"Are you sure?  I can stay."  The hopeful gleam in the father-to-be's eyes was more than Roman could take.

"Get out of here," he lightly slapped Kyle on the back as he ran off.  He didn't want to be thanked, he wanted to find a hole to crawl into but he couldn't because now he had to face the ugly truth of how he spoke to Athena yesterday.  No wonder she reacted that way.  He automatically assumed she lied and was keeping more secrets from him.  He wasn't ready to make up completely, he hasn't forgiven her for everything else yet.  He did need to apologize for yesterday though.

It took him a couple of days to work up the courage to come face to face with her again.  He paced outside her office, practicing what to say.  He could hear her talking to someone but after the other day he didn't get close enough to hear.  The door opened and a crying Zoe came out.

Zoe was Richard and Andrea's fourteen year old, she was in tenth grade if he remembered correctly.  "Hey, hey, what's wrong Zo?"

She sobbed a second then ran into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him and crying into his shirt.  "Why are you so upset?"

"Luna, I had to talk to Alpha," she hiccuped, " there's this boy at school I like and I wanted to invite him over to study."  She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve, grossing him out.  "Mom and dad won't let me go to his house because of what happened to Megan.  But Jack isn't anything like Thomas, he's a human!  Before I can invite him here, I have to have permission from Alpha."  She began crying again into his shirt.

"Let me guess, she said no?"

Zoe nodded her head.  "She wouldn't even tell my why, just that she's the Alpha and it's her decision.  She said I have to respect her and listen."

"I'll talk to her, ok?"

"You will?"  The adoring gaze was too cute for words.

"Sure, I was heading in there anyway.  Don't worry," he tweaked her nose then remembered all the snot coming out of it minutes ago.

Zoe untangled herself and skipped outside.  Roman took a deep breath and prepared to meet the dragon.  Athena was seated at the desk, papers strewn across it.

"I told you my decision was final Zoe, I'm sorry but you'll have to find an alternative."  She said without looking up.

"Forgotten my smell already?"  He raised his brows at her, in the past he couldn't get inside without her knowing.

"I wasn't expecting you.  How can I help you?"  She couldn't look at him, seeing him hurt too much.

"Why can't Zoe have a friend over?  It's a perfectly normal thing for kids her age."

"Of course you would take her side without asking any facts.  I'm not going to explain to you, no matter what I say you'll twist it anyway.  Is there anything else you want to talk about besides a child's complaint?"  He'll be gone in a moment, her thought was bittersweet.  She wanted him, wanted him to hold her, tell her he loved her too.  On the other hand, she knew he wouldn't do any of those things.

"I came to say I'm sorry about thinking you were pregnant when it was Emma.  I thought I overreacted and you were innocent."

"That's not much of an apology, I think you need practice."

"You reminded me of why I thought that."  He paused, ready to push her buttons more.  It was like he had a sick desire to get any emotional response from her.

"And why is that?  Because you're an asshole?"  For a moment it sounded like her old Roman was back, the teasing one.

"I may be an ass, but you're still a bitch."