Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 36

"How's Penelope? How's the baby?" I grip his biceps, panic rising into my throat. 

"Baby?" Tonic asks, startled.

"Yeah, we're fertile by the way," Verando mentions to Tonic before returning his attention to me. "She's sick, it would appear, and very cold. I was attempting to warm her up since she's not producing a lot of heat right now, maybe this snowy scape is a weakness for a fire mage. She's better this morning than she was last night, thankfully. As far as the baby, I don't know."

The topic of the baby seems to make him uncomfortable, and if he is concerned, he hides it well. By his guarded expression, I would almost dare to fathom that what he was feeling was the inverse, relief, maybe. 

 Touching his chest, I trace my fingers slowly over the long scars across the plains of his chest. For once, I feel a part of this campaign and not the cause of it. Pursing my lips, I absorb the heat as I slowly close my fingers. "Nice save; I'm pretty pissed that you were lying half-naked with a woman, actually."

Smirking, he cocks his head, rewarding me with my favorite look, a mixture of irritation with my audacity and amusement with my bold nature. The one-sided smirk dimpled his cheek, "In order to save your life, I thought of it as rather valiant."

"Valiant.." I scoff under my breath, his hand tangles in my hair, tugging lightly at the roots to guide my gaze back up to him. 

"Do you still doubt me?"

 I had made my peace last night that I might never feel him alive and vibrant again. The intense pulse against my fingertips, the way he immits the familiar heat to counteract my ice. I had almost lost him too many times. 

"Of course not. I'm being cruel, you should be used to it by now. So the wolf is back?" I retort shortly, making him smirk as I grit my teeth at his fist tightening in my hair. My body was still sore, yet the way he held me still brought on the ache of yearning. Tonic had excused himself, hiding in the hallway for us to be done with whatever greeting we'd decided. 

"Seems to be." He mutters, his voice a low hum, rough from battle. 

Wanting to apologize, I can't. Something things there were no words for, I was learning that much too quickly in this battle. An apology only matters for things that can be remedied, and he would never be rid of his wolf after such a hard-fought return. I'm unsure if there would be any way to replicate the spell that had killed it off, and ethically, I'm not sure I'd be willing to try again.

 Despite all our magic, we had not made a word or a term that would heal such pains as loss, grief, and acceptance.

I take his hand in mine, threading our fingers together as I press his palm to my cheek, soothed by the warmth. "I love you," I tell him simply, earning his discomfort with something so intimate. The man's tongue had been all over my body, but dare I say, I adored the man, and he'd flush like a boy in his youth. 

"I love you, too." The conviction in his voice makes my breathing catch. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"It's Going to take a lot more than my insane sister to take me out, though I admit she got a bit close for comfort. Come on. Tonic's probably dry-heaving listening to all of this; you can adore me later. I've got Tomas and Reid on clean up, and I fear I've left them alone for too long as it is."

Pushing the door open, I pull my warlord into the hall, standing the man next to Tonic who is nearly as tall as his sire. If I'd thought he was Alpha's mini-me before, he was roughly identical now. 

"If it wasn't obvious before..."  I mutter with a sigh, admiring the slight hints of familiarity. 

Is this what his child with Penelope will look like?