Seeing Eye Mate (16 page)

“It’s called making breakfast, my own.”

“I don’t eat breakfast,” she grumbled.

He heard the scrape of a chair and had to laugh at her “humph” when she plopped onto the seat.

“Have fun on your little late-night expedition, Tieran?” he asked, still not bothering to turn around. If he did, he was liable to snap at her. Literally.

“You’ve got food, don’t you? Be happy.”

He curled the corner of his lip. Damn her smart-ass mouth. “The food could have fucking waited until this morning.”
When I could have gone with you to watch out for your stubborn behind,
he added silently.

“But then you wouldn’t have had anything here to make whatever it is you’ve made, now would you?”

Caelan finally turned, the pancakes in one hand and a huge pile of sausage and bacon in the other. Tieran’s face faded into a sickly shade of green when her gaze landed on the food he’d made for her. Her lips curled in distaste and she jerked her gaze out the window.

“You need to—”

She threw a hand in the air, palm out to him and her head shook violently in protest. When she faced him again, her eyes were wide, her cheeks puffed out. Her eyelids lowered like a curtain a second before she bolted from the chair and raced out of the kitchen.

Caelan sighed and set the plates on the table. He knew a shifter pregnancy could be hard on a human but he sincerely hoped this didn’t last too long. Her body would need protein to maintain the life growing inside her. How could he get meat in her if she started throwing up every time she looked at it?

The sound of violent retching filtered down the hall. He went after her. It was his fault she was like this anyway.

“Do you mind?” she cried, spitting into the toilet.

“Nope.” He wet a washcloth with cool water and filled a glass, then plunked himself on the floor next to her, willing to be there for her whether she wanted him to or not.

Tieran yanked the washcloth out of his hands and wiped her face with it. She took the water from him and guzzled it down like a lifeline to a desert survivor. Defeated and weak, she dropped the glass to the ground with a clunk. Caelan was surprised it didn’t shatter, but she seemed unfazed.

“Better?” He caressed her shoulder with his lips and rubbed her lower back.

She nodded but he heard the small sob break free. “Why do you have to be so nice?”

He was shocked. Why wouldn’t he be? She was his mate, his other half. Hadn’t he already told her it was his job to make sure she was happy?

He sighed. “I hate to say this, but you might be like this every morning for a while. Something about our DNA makes the human mothers of our children ill.”

Tieran glared at the ceiling and sucked in a breath, holding it for more than he was comfortable with. He waited for her to deal but wasn’t prepared for what came out of her mouth.

“Dear God, why? Why are you doing this to me? Is there one man out there you haven’t made stupid?” A second wave of vomit erupted from her throat.

What the hell, he thought, stunned beyond doing anything but watch his mate throw up again. She sat back and wiped her face with the washcloth. “I’m not stupid,” he mumbled. Jesus. He scrubbed a hand over his face. He sounded like a pouting five-year-old.

“Peter also accused me of being pregnant. Imagine being accused of the same thing by two different
men
!” She laughed. “One day. I’ve been with you for one day. Okay, one night too, but not feasibly long enough to be showing signs of pregnancy this morning!”

An eyebrow raised, he twisted to refill the water and handed it to her so she could wash her mouth out. She squeezed her eyes shut and her cheeks puffed out. Apparently her stomach still wasn’t happy.

She cocked her head, working something out in her brain. “How did you get the sink fixed?”

He smiled. “Worked on it while you were out cold this morning.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t a big deal. The faucet was loose I guess.” His smile faded. Tieran’s cheeks puffed out and a green tinge took over.

“Christ, baby, I can’t stand to see you like this.”

“Then leave, goddamn it!” she spat out.

She was the most stubborn… He leaned into her shoulder and spoke in her ear. “When are you gonna get it through that thick skull of yours I’m not leaving?”

She turned on him so quickly she nearly took out his nose with her forehead. “Maybe when you stop saying such asinine things.” He jerked his head back. “Women don’t suddenly become ill the second they conceive, if they’ve conceived in the first place, which, thank God, shouldn’t happen with us since I’m not at the right time of month for something like that.”

Caelan snorted and folded his arms across his chest, a smug smile on his face.

“I got news for you, toots, you’re carrying my child, I can smell it on you. I could yesterday. Hell Eli could. And when you meet the elders of my pack later today, they will too. You can’t hide something like this from a wolf, baby. It’s all out there in the open.” He flicked his fingers like he was counting. “Fear, joy, anxiousness, mate status, conception. Get used to it,” he growled.

She sat there, stunned. “What are you saying, Caelan?” she whispered.

Before he could formulate an answer, Tieran shouted into the air, “Oh, stay out of this, Gramama.”

Great. That’s all he needed was for her grandmother to be here with them.

“I’m saying, my own,” he said softly, “that you are carrying my child. You have been since the first time we made love.”

Her hands clenched and she looked as though she wanted to punch him.

He watched her indignation flare. “Just how long were you going to wait to tell me this, Caelan?”

He pulled her between his spread legs, draping her knees over his thighs until his hardening cock pressed against her pussy. She gave in with little resistance.

“Soon, baby. When you’d at least gotten the chance to accept being my mate before I threw in, ‘oh and by the way, how do you feel about being a mother?’” His lips brushed her forehead as he spoke against it.

Tieran buried her head in the crook of his neck. He loved the feel of her in his arms. A tiny spark jumped in his heart when she cradled her tummy with both hands.

“Are you sure?” she murmured.

Caelan chuckled against her hair. “Yes, my own, I am definitely sure. Your scent is positively ripe with conception.” He covered her hands with his own.

He was sure she had a thousand questions but she didn’t utter even one.

He lifted her head with his finger under her chin and kissed her nose. “I love you. I will answer all your questions, but not now.”

“How? How can you love me when you don’t know anything about me?”

“I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know how it works. It has something to do with the mating, swapping DNA, marking you.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. But I can feel you in my soul, and when we’re apart, you’ll feel it too.”

He hugged her close then pulled her head back to look into her eyes.

“We’ll get through this together.” He helped her stand, steadied her when her wobbly knees wanted to give out and patted her butt. “Take a shower. We can talk over breakfast. Oh, and brush your teeth. I haven’t had a good-morning kiss.”

He walked out, laughing and dodging the washrag she threw at him with a furious look and an even angrier curse.

“I wouldn’t kiss you now for all the money in the world,” she shouted and slammed the door.

He could still hear her as he walked to the kitchen, his heart a little bit lighter now that she knew about their baby.

*

“What the hell happened, E?”

Tieran stopped outside the kitchen entrance. Caelan was staring out the window, talking on his cell phone. He grumbled something unintelligible and raked his fingers through his hair. It was shining wet, suggesting he had taken his own shower while she’d been taking hers.

“So it just fucking died on you? Why didn’t you use your cell, call for someone?”

Tieran’s breath caught in a tight ball in her throat. She closed her eyes against the wave of anxiety that threatened to swallow her whole. After dropping his little pregnancy bombshell, she hadn’t been able to think about anything else. Even the vision had eluded her. Until now. She’d told Caelan what she’d seen and now he was hearing it straight from the wolf’s mouth, so to speak. Now maybe he’d believe her.

Caelan grunted and took on what could only be described as an annoyed stance. He shifted his weight to one foot and propped his hand on a hip, all the while shaking his head. He was either pissed off again, or agitated. She couldn’t tell from where she stood behind him.

“Well, did he call this morning, try to make some contact, or did we lose him altogether?”

He turned, giving her a feeling he’d sensed her standing there. His eyes smoldered under half-hooded lids as he raked her figure from head to toe. Cheeks superheated, she lifted an eyebrow when he finally met her gaze. He waved her into the kitchen, moving toward her at the same time. It was all she could do not to slap him.

“You got damn lucky then, that he still wants to see us. I sure the hell wouldn’t,” he pronounced, pulling out a chair and lowering her onto it with a tug on her wrist.

What’s next, she thought, a bib? How could he be so calm? His brother had just said his car broke down, just like in her vision and Caelan acted as if it were no big deal.

“Perhaps what you saw was no big deal, Tulla. After all, you only saw a man whose car died on the road. Happens all the time. And he didn’t kill anyone.”

“No, but he thought about a woman,”
Tieran said, even as doubts flooded her mind.

“You’re right,”
her gramama agreed.
“He thought about one. But at no time did he think about hurting her. She was just there, in his head. You cannot condemn a man for thinking about a woman. That’s pretty much
all
they have on the brains. Big and little.”

Crapola. Was her gramama right? Was she reading too much into this particular vision? Seeing trouble where there wasn’t any?

The stack of pancakes was back—a new one, thank God—passing in front of her face along with a monstrous plate of sausage and bacon. Where the meat came from, she had no idea because she didn’t keep them on hand and they had not been in her basket last night. Her stomach rumbled loud enough to make Caelan look over at her in surprise, a smug smile splitting his lips.

Bastard.

She didn’t eat breakfast, ever. If she did it was a Mountain Dew and something snacky. And speaking of Mountain Dew… She stood, scraping her chair on the linoleum in an irritating fashion just to irk him, and headed for the refrigerator. Caelan stopped her as she reached for the handle and thrust a tall glass of orange juice in her hand. She stared at him, gagging on the smell alone and wondering where the vile stuff had come from because it was the last thing she’d have in her house.

He smiled, tipped her mouth closed with his forefinger and turned her back to the table, patting her butt to get her marching. The phone never left his ear as he listened to his brother on the other end.

Infuriating bastard!

“He’s only trying to do what’s best for you, Tulla.”

“He doesn’t have any damned idea what’s best for me, Gramama. I’ve only known him for a day and a half, if that. And disgusting orange juice does not constitute what’s good for me.”
“Like you need reminding of that fact,” she mumbled.

Aggravated, she slammed the juice down on the table, sloshing the liquid on her skin. Gross. She hated OJ. She hated oranges. And tangerines, and tangelos, and hell, she hated orange Jell-O. Who the hell was he to think he could tell her what to drink?

“Do you need any help picking up the ‘Stang?” she heard him say and she whipped around to face him.

A ‘Stang. Short for Mustang. The word hit her hard and the black car swam into view. A tidbit floated back to her. The man had said something about his Mustang never letting him down before. Then it
had
been Eli. But who was the woman? And more importantly, was she in danger?

“Don’t say a word,” he mouthed, pointing at her. Caelan covered the mouthpiece. “I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

She stood there openmouthed as he turned around and continued his conversation.

The cool stickiness on her hand dragged her back. Tieran stomped back over to the fridge, wiping her hand on her jeans to remove the vile substance. She’d get her own drink, thank you very much, and yanked the door open. She could almost hear the angels sing as a heavenly light beamed behind her stash, illuminating them like a halo. Sweet nectar of the gods.

Hmph.

Caelan’s hip brushed hers when he slid next to her at the open door. He crossed his arms and gave her an annoyed look. She shrugged and mouthed, “Fuck you.” Two could play this game. How many times did she have to tell him she was not a child, damn it.

With a flare of his nostrils, he growled. She heard Eli say, “What the hell was that for? I told you I’m meeting him tonight.” Tieran wasted no time removing herself from Caelan’s reach and settling back at the table to the twenty pounds of food in front of her. The can’s top popped with a hiss. She tilted it to her lips and guzzled a good portion before coming up for air.