For the Love of Miranova

Chapter 3: Don't Say It

It wasn't long before I began to notice that the closer it got to Nik's 21st birthday, the more often Kaleb began having him attend pride meetings alongside him. He wanted to prepare Nik for when he would take over the pride, and he wanted Nik to get a feel for who he could and couldn't trust if it ever came down to there being a war between prides. But these meetings went from lasting only an hour or two, to most of the day and sometimes even into the night. While I understood that they were important and was confident enough in our relationship to know that he wasn't lying about where he was, my time with Nik gradually became shorter and shorter. I began to notice him becoming more and more distant towards me, and when I'd ask him about why he was becoming distant, he would tell me that he was just tired. He would promise to spend more time with me. But promise after promise would break with each pride meeting, until eventually, he just stopped trying altogether.

The day that I found out I was pregnant, I was nervous, excited, and terrified, all in one. I was finished with high school, but I was still barely out of my teenaged years. We had never really talked in depth about having children because we were still young and he wasn't sure how it would work with me being human. He didn't want to risk my human life by bringing a half human, half supe child into this world. We made sure to always use protection except for one single time when he came home from an unexpectedly short meeting, and wanted to spend the rest of the day in bed with me despite knowing we had run out of condoms. I remember that day because it was the first time in weeks that we had almost all day and night to ourselves, and he spent most of that time making up all those broken promises by catering to my every want and need from the between the sheets. He had brought me to pure bliss and ecstasy so many times, I was sore and weak in the knees for days.

I never got nauseous, or weak, but I did want to sleep more often than usual, and I had what I called; the super sniffer. I could smell every little thing so much stronger that for the first time ever, I felt like Nik and I shared a super power. That was when I knew something was off.

Nik had been in a pretty crappy mood the morning I found out I was pregnant. I assumed it was because he had been called into yet another emergency meeting and I didn't want to bother him, so I went to get the pregnancy test myself. The moment I got back to our apartment, I rushed into the bathroom to pee on the little stick. Nervously I paced our bedroom waiting impatiently for the indicator to tell me whether or not our lives would be making a complete change. The instant that little empty screen flashed the word Pregnant in small bold letters, I slumped to my knees in shock.

"There is a chance this is wrong...right? Please tell me this could be wrong, Neko..." I asked Nik's sister, Nekolette.

"Of course there is hun, that's why they give you more than one. Have you taken the other yet?"

"No..."

"Alright, I'm on my way. I'll stop and buy some of the other brands just in case."

"Okay," I said, clearly on the verge of tears.

"Hey...don't cry love. We've got this."

"But what if I really am pregnant? What if Nik doesn't take it well..."

"If that little shit doesn't want to be a man and take care of his Queen and cub, then he isn't fit to be King," she snapped. "And either way, that baby will still have us to love and cherish it. Auntie, Pawpaw, and Mimi, will spoil that baby like there's no tomorrow, Kal. No doubt about that."

I smiled at her words. I knew that she and her parents would adore our baby, that I never doubted, but it felt good to hear even though I was panicking like there would be no tomorrow. "I love you, Neko."