Torn

Chapter Forty

For the fifth time, I was bent over the toilet.

A sickly smell wafted from the porcelain bowl, making me heave again. There was no winning here, really. My stomach was upset to the max.

Mason stood guiltily aside. It was his fault for giving me food poisoning.

"Here's some water" he said, handing me a cold glass. I gulped it down greedily and sighed, sitting back.

Now trust me, I was pretty worried when I just started to toss my cookies. We were pretty careful in the sack but still, mistakes happened.

I was so glad. We were so not ready to be parents. We were a mess! And how would the paternity work out? The baby would technically only belong to one of them. I was sure it would be a wedge to drive us apart. I mean, would either of them take care of a baby that wasn't theirs? I couldn't even imagine it.

"Can you stand?" Mason asked when it looked like I was done. I nodded but I still held my hands out. I didn't want to bend over or anything because I was sure I'd toss more cookies if I were to do it.

He pulled me up and I stood, shaky on my feet.

"I'm sorry Lottie" he said awkwardly for what must have been the millionth time. I just waved it off. It wasn't completely his fault. Today, I really wanted some fish and he didn't really know how to cook it very well. He never learned because frankly, I hated fish.

Either way, I was glad there was a pause on the vomit. I hated being sick.

I left Mason in the bathroom. Part of the reason he was even there with me is because he needed to pee. So, I left him to it.

I went back to my 'office'. It wasn't a traditional office of course. There was a huge window on the side that I had insisted on. I had several canvases set up around that window and my supplies were all to one side, in plastic boxes with drawers. On the other side of the room, there was a small desk and chair. That's where I had to do my paperwork. Doing it in here, business clashed with creativity, soothed my soul a bit.

I avoided that area now. I was working on a water color painting that, while I was struggling (it wasn't my area of expertise), was turning out wonderfully. It depicted two little wolf pups near a rose bush, meant to be derivatives of me and Mason in our youth (not exacts, since I had no pictures of that time).

On the background, I had Dean's wolf, watching over us from where the moon shone. It was a favorite of mine already, even if I botched the paint a bit.

Either way, I needed to finish. I've been dying to show the boys.

"I'm home!" Dean yelled from downstairs. I poked my head outside my room.

He always went to the pack house to work since he wanted to work in the same office his father had. Plus, he was still pretty deeply entrenched with the pack. They would never let him isolate himself.

With my pack, it was less of a problem. We were never a tightly knit group so we all led separate lives without butting into the lives of others too much. I really liked that about our pack.

"I'm up here!" I called back.

I heard him go up the stairs, his soft footfalls doing funny things with my heart. I stepped outside more to be in full view. When he saw me, he smiled.

It was sappy and sort of stupid but I really loved that.

He leaned in to kiss me but I jerked back.

"Mason poisoned me. I've been throwing up since lunch" I explained. He sighed but nodded all the same. I brushed my teeth the first few times but I kept dirtying my mouth so I just stopped bothering with it.