Seduction (The Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) (32 page)

“Thanks…Dad. It means a lot to hear that.”

A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders in finally admitting what took place between Aspen and I and with a sigh of relief, I hung up with the Alpha and called Dr. McArdle, the pack doctor.
 

Thankfully, he was still awake and agreed to come over and take a look at Aspen.
 

I figured he would because Aspen had been kind of an honorary pack member since she’d arrived in Spruce Hollow. The pack members cared for her deeply and had always treated her as my mate, even though she was just a kid. When I had left to join the military, Caver had informed me that some of the pack kids had turned on her and were picking on her after school and that she’d come home with a black eye. Infuriated to no end, I’d come home on my next leave and knocked a few heads together.
 

Aspen was sound asleep. She was sleeping so soundly, in fact, that when I’d checked on her, she hadn’t even stirred when I’d rolled her over and taken off her winter jacket. And that worried me.
 

She’d fallen asleep on top of the covers, fully clothed and hadn’t even bothered to take her gloves off. When I’d stripped her down and tucked her under the covers, she’d never even cracked an eye open to look at me.
 

Whatever her body was fighting, it was taking all of her physical strength to do it.
 

At least her mind was untroubled and not wracked with sadness or anger, like she’d been for the past few days.
 

I’d decided not to wake her up before Dr McArdle got here. No sense in worrying her and getting her going again so soon after I just got her calmed down. Besides, the Alpha was right, there was no sense in worrying until there was something to worry about.
 

The living room was pitch black as I stood in the darkness and watched the driveway for Dr. McArdle’s car to pull up next to my truck.
 

My mind wandered as I waited.
“What if Aspen was terminally ill? What would I do without her?”
She was my mate, and as such, she was the brightest star in my universe. We were supposed to have a long and happy life, and then grow old together. She wasn’t supposed to be sick, not now. She was supposed to be young and healthy.

When I finally saw Dr. McArdle’s car pull into the driveway, my mind was a jumbled mess of emotions and scenarios, each more disturbing than the last.

Dr. McArdle was the pack doctor and he was also a Were. He had been the pack’s physician for more than forty years and knew virtually everything there was to know about Were medicine.
 

I remembered my mother taking me to him when I started to go through the change at twelve years old and he still looked the same to me as he had back then. Tall and lean, his brown hair peppered was with grey and he still wore small round glasses perched upon the end of his nose.
 

“
Lord only knows how old he is
,” I thought to myself as he got his bag out of his car and strode up the driveway. Were’s aged much slower than humans did and Dr. McArdle could be ninety years old or more, yet he looked like a man of fifty-five or sixty.

Chapter 36

~Roan~

“All her vitals are normal,” Dr. McArdle said as he pulled the blood pressure cuff off Aspen’s arm. She was still out cold on the bed and had only briefly fluttered her eyelids when he first started to poke and prod her. I’d held her hand and told her that everything was all right and she’d promptly closed her eyes again.
 

“I’d like to take a blood sample to analyze back at my office. I have a good idea why her scent seems off but I’d like to be sure before I make a formal diagnosis.”
 

I nodded my consent and he took out a vial and sterile needle from his medical bag before poking around her arm to find a good vein. She barely flinched when he poked the needle though her fair skin.
 

“I should have the results for you by sometime tomorrow,” he said as he packed up his equipment. If anyone could figure out what was wrong with Aspen, it was Dr. McArdle.
 

Aspen looked like a fairy princess lying in my bed. Her long hair was spread out around her in a tousled mass of curls, her delicate little features relaxed and unmarred by despondency. She looked at peace as I knelt by the bed and softly traced her face. How I loved her pouty little mouth, her pert nose, her long eyelashes, the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose that she hated but I thought were adorable.
 

I grabbed one of her curls and twirled it around my finger. God, I loved her hair. It was one of her sexiest features. The thought of her naked with her hair tumbling down her back and shoulders in a sexy, curly mess was enough to make my dick hard just thinking about it. We hadn’t had sex since our wolves had mated in the woods and I was eager to be inside her again.
 

But now was neither the time nor the place, as Aspen was unwell and needed to rest. Besides, it was time to eat anyway. And if there was anything that a male Were liked to do, besides mate, it was to fill his stomach. I hadn’t eaten since Aspen and I had breakfast at the camp and I was nearly ravenous.
 

Satisfied that she was safe for the time being and wasn’t going to run off on me, I quietly closed the bedroom door and made my way to the kitchen in search of food.

The next day, Aspen seemed a lot better.
 

She had awakened in the middle of the night complaining of hunger and she’d eaten like she was half starved. I’d made her two turkey sandwiches with a big glass of milk to wash it down but she was still hungry, so I’d made her a bowl of chicken noodle soup, some crackers and a chocolate milkshake.
 

I certainly didn’t mind, maybe she would finally put some weight on with all these extra calories she was taking in. She seemed happy and sated after she ate. I was glad. At least she wasn’t sobbing or miserable anymore.
 

Going through Were training had really been a lot for her to handle, especially so close to the death of her adoptive mother. Aspen couldn’t have been gone through the transition at a worse possible time because her emotions were already running high. Fuck, this whole thing had turned into such a disaster. Nothing had gone right since Aspen had met Jude in the woods. Without meaning to, I once again found myself mired in murderous thoughts of making him pay for what he’d done to her.

I got up early the next morning and decided to head into town to check out the auto body shop and see how things had been going in my absence. I’d left Griff in charge of things and while he was pretty good at taking care of the business, he always had Caver there to steer him into temptation.
 

As I parked my truck next to Caver’s motorcycle, my cell phone rang.
It was probably Aspen
. She must finally be awake and wondering where I went.
Fuck, I should have left her a note!
Feeling irritated by my carelessness for her feelings, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and looked at the caller id.
 

It was Dr. McArdle and my heart started racing as I quickly answered the phone.
 

“Hello?”

“Hello, Roan. This is Dr. McArdle calling. Aspen’s blood work came in and it was exactly as I suspected last night. I didn’t want to say anything until I had confirmed it through blood work.”

“Okay, is she alright?”

“Oh, my heavens yes, she’s fine. She’s pregnant.”

“Wh-wh-what?!?”

The blood drained from my face and the world suddenly felt like it was spinning out of control.

“Aspen is pregnant. The reason her scent is off is because you can smell the scent of the developing fetus.”

“Oh my god. Are you sure? I mean, how can she be pregnant, she just had her heat a few days ago?”

“Yes, Roan I’m sure. It’s possible that she was already pregnant, Roan. Just like human woman can sometimes still have their periods when they’re pregnant, female Weres can still go into heat. From the blood work, I’d say that she’s really quite early in her pregnancy, but the hormones were most definitely present in her blood. Either way, congratulations Roan and tell Aspen to make an appointment with me in about a month’s time, ok?”

“Um, okay.”

Stunned, I got out of the truck. I suddenly felt the world closing in on me and stood in the parking lot, taking deep breaths of cold air into my lungs.
 

I’d just gotten a twenty-one year old girl pregnant;
I was going to hell for sure
.
 

Holy crap. I was going to be a father. I didn’t know if I should whoop with joy or cry with relief that Aspen wasn’t dying. I’d been worried sick that Aspen had been deathly sick but instead, she was just pregnant.
 

The events of the past month raced through my mind and I was suddenly plagued with guilt and horror for everything that I’d put Aspen through at the training camp.
I’d chained my PREGNANT mate to a platform in the woods
. She could have died for fuck sake!
 

“You kept watch over her the entire time, Roan. Plus, you didn’t know that she was carrying our pup in her belly,” my wolf said as he pranced around like a proud peacock. He was absolutely thrilled with the news.
 

“Listen, don’t you
dare
contact Aspen’s wolf and tell her about this until after I’ve spoken to Aspen herself. The last thing I need is for her to find out that she’s pregnant from her wolf and not from me. You got it?”
 

My wolf was full of swagger and was as proud as you please about Aspen’s unexpected pregnancy.
 

“Of course, Roan. I will respect your wishes and wait for you to tell her first. But I’d advise you not to wait overly long as this could backfire in your face.”
 

My stomach was sick as I stood next to my truck. I felt absolutely shocked and terrified.
 

How was Aspen going to feel about this?
We’d never even talked about starting a family. Because apparently we’d been too busy repeatedly sticking my cock in her pussy.
 

“Roan, hey Roan! You gonna stand in the parking lot all day or are you coming in?” Caver called out to me from one of the shop bay doors. I looked over at him, my mind still mired in confused, racing thoughts. I felt dazed as I slowly walked over towards him.
 

“Hey, what’s up, man? Why are you back from the training camp so early? Everything okay?” he said as he clapped me on the back. I stared at him silently. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to tell him the news or not.
 

Hell, I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell anybody, including Aspen. Everyone would find out soon enough as her belly started growing, and that was bad enough. Couldn’t I have a few days to digest this and figure out what to do with this information?
 

“Hey, Roan! What are you doing back so soon? We weren’t expecting you back for at least a month or more,” Griff asked as he walked over and joined Caver to stand in front of me. “What’s wrong, you don’t look so good. Is Aspen okay?”

The two of them stood there expectantly, waiting for an answer and I felt mad laughter bubbling up my throat.
Was Aspen okay? Hell, yeah she was okay. She was pregnant as fuck but she was okay.

“Roan? Is everything alright?” Griff asked again when I didn’t answer.

“Aspen’s pregnant,” I blurted out.
 

“What? Holy shit, man! Congratulations!” Griff said as he shook my hand and thumped me on the back repeatedly.
 

Griff was the family type, he couldn’t wait to meet his mate and start a family. He would love to have been in my situation right now, but me, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I was confused as hell and absolutely terrified, that’s for sure.

“Yeah, she doesn’t know yet, so don’t tell anyone. Dr. McArdle just called me with the results of her blood work a few minutes ago. I don’t want her to hear the news from anybody but me,” I said, shooting each of them a dominant Beta glance.
 

“Hey, no problem Roan. We won’t ruin the surprise. You know what? I think we all need to go out and get a beer tonight to celebrate!” Griff said enthusiastically.

I knew that I could trust the both of them not to tell anyone about Aspen being pregnant. Not only were they my pack brothers but they were also my best friends and over the years we had kept many secrets between the three of us. Like the time that Griff had smashed in the truck windshield of his cheating girlfriend’s new boyfriend in drunken fit of rage. Or when, as a teenager, Caver had set fire to the Alpha’s barn and it burnt to the ground. However, it was still hotly debated amongst the three of us whether that one was an accident or not.

I trusted them to keep quiet with this. They wouldn’t dare betray me, I was privy to too many terrible secrets about the both of them.
 

While Griff had been excited to hear the news, Caver had been marginally less so. He was younger than the both of us and he hadn’t nearly had his fill of sowing his wild oats yet. To him, pregnancy was a highly undesirable outcome of sex and something to be feared. He was considerably less congratulatory than Griff was.