“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. The air stilled and my heart paused. And then my blood flooded with something dark and possessive. “Are you mad?”
My gaze dropped to search her face. “Are you happy about it?” I tried to keep my voice measured, but it came out coarse. I didn’t want to scare her with the intense possession that swam through my veins right now.
“I- I am,” she replied softly, pushing her face into my chest and inhaling deeply. “I know what to expect after Gabriel. You don’t have to worry about any of it.”
A sardonic breath left me. If she thought I'd ever let her out of my sight now, she was out of her mind. “Kroshka, you are mine and I’m yours. The baby is ours.” I shifted us over so I hovered over her, our eyes connected. “Now, you cannot leave me.”
She chuckled. “And here I worried that I was shackling you.”
My hand skimmed down her body and gently covered her belly.
“Mine forever. I’m never letting go,” I muttered as I leaned over to press a kiss where our baby grew inside her belly. “We’ll have at least two babies. Da?”
I raised my eyes to find tears glistening in hers and an alarm shot through me.
“What’s the matter?” I choked out, worried it wasn’t what she wanted.
Her lips trembled as she smiled and she waved her hand. “It’s nothing. For some reason, everything makes me cry. I’m sad, I cry. I’m happy, I cry. I’m hungry, I cry.”
I blinked in confusion. I didn’t remember Isabella doing all that. Or maybe I didn’t notice it.
“Is that good or bad?” I asked unsure.
“It’s good,” she assured me. “It’s normal.”
Relief washed over me and my hand shook as I cupped her face with my palm, running a thumb across her lip.
“I’ll watch over you and the baby,” I vowed. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
She smiled, her eyes full of trust. “I know you will.” Her tongue swept across her lower lip. “And yes, at least two kids. Maybe four?”
A smile pulled on my lips. “Let’s make it five.”
Heat burst in my chest. I never thought this would be my fate. A woman. A baby, maybe five.
“I want to know everything,” I told her. “Did you see a doctor? Where is he? I have to check his background. Are you taking vitamins? Isabella had to take some.”
Her laugh rang through the air.
“I only found out a few days ago. Maybe you and I can pick a doctor together. Kingston actually thought I should take a test.”
The all too familiar feeling of guilt came back. It would plague me for the rest of my life. It wasn’t something that can be washed off.
“I’m sorry, kroshka.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Alexei,” she whispered, her mouth moving against my skin. “We were all victims of bad people. We won’t let them ruin our happiness. Okay?”
“It doesn’t wash off my wrongdoings.” And she had no idea how much blood I had tainting my hands.
“Nor does it wash off mine,” she claimed softly. “You’re a good man. As long as we’re together, we power through it all. We have our families. My brothers will growl at yours.”
“That ought to go well,” I retorted dryly.
“Well, you have the upper hand,” she beamed, her eyes shining mischievously.
“How is that?”
“You saved Kingston.”