Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Alpha’s Pregnant Bride Chapter 15

Troy

About a week and a half after Myrna and Claire had popped up out of nowhere, I was sitting on the porch with my phone in one hand and a vodka tonic in the other. I was getting tired of married life-and I wasn't even married. At every turn, Skye had something to say about the setup of the house, the dishes in the sink, the way her food was cooked. Little things cropped up everywhere I looked. She nitpicked whatever she could. When she couldn't criticize cogically, she made something up. I'd never met a woman as finicky as Skye, even on their worst days. The way she acted made me wonder if she was suffering from a two-week long period.

My experience as an alpha had prepared me for plenty of things-and yet I slacked in other areas. It didn't matter that I'd had loving parents. I couldn't have possibly predicted a mate match like this, so I couldn't have possibly prepared. Skye was throwing fits left and right. What was I supposed to do?

The drink was for stress and the phone was for my pack. Everyone was occupied with something, so I had the night off, so to speak. I just hoped Skye would take the night off too.

In more ways than one.

A sip of my vodka tonic sent a cool wave through my body. The breeze picked up, carrying salty air from the sea. Just beyond those trees was the ocean. If nobody was going to need me tonight, then a quick run wouldn't be awful. Being on demand meant that I never got much alone time. Perhaps that was what I needed most.

To get away from the duties of being alpha-of having my presence everywhere at once, my eyes on everyone, my heart tugged in every direction. How long had it been since I allowed my wolf to scratch the surface? He had been hidden away for too long. It was time for me to let the beast out. Shifters could only go so long without properly shifting.

I was neglecting my needs.

I set the drink aside along with my phone and stripped. Moonlight winked above, a sliver of what used to be full, reminding me how I felt much the same. Once my skin was exposed to the air, I closed my eyes again, willing my wolf to joyously jump forward. What should have taken seconds took a few minutes-that was how long it had been since my last shift.

It almost felt like sacrilege. To deny my beast was to rile him up and make him angry. I knew plenty of wolves who ended up ravaging entire cities because they refused to shift. Deniers were the worst of us, worse than those who chose to remain in their animal forms. It was rare to come across those folks these days, but I knew they were out there.

Becoming one of them wasn't an option.

A new breeze blew at my back, inspiring me to spring forward. I launched over the patio railing and rated for the trees, listening to the night creatures coming alive in every direction. Their song was one I had missed lately, one that woke me in the night when Skye was doing her midnight munching in the kitchen.

If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought she was a rat shifter. All the cheese was disappearing faster than I could replace it in the fridge. While I could have complained, I didn't, especially since her mood had been so delicate lately. Late night cheese was the least important issue between us.

An owl hooted above. I dove between two tree trunks and skittered off to the left, following the path adjacent to the beach. Leaves fell from some of the branches above where nocturnal critters hopped from tree to tree. Some of them followed. Others veered off on their own paths.

My ears picked up each sound as distinctly as the last. The more I ran, the more accurate my senses became. Perhaps Skye needed a run herself. She had been neglecting her needs lately. As had I.

When was the last time I'd kissed her? Hugged her? How long had it been since we last hooked up? We had been sharing a bed for a whole-ass week and neither of us had made a move on the other. This whole Myrna business was building a wall between us-and I was allowing the cement to dry in place. If I didn't stop it now, I would lose Skye forever.

A while back, that would have been great news. I didn't even want her initially. I didn't want Blake assuming my love life needed mending or that a woman would help me be a better alpha. Yet now nothing else would suffice in place of Skye. Even if she chose to be by herself and explained her reasonings in a logical fashion, I would protest.

How was it that she had built a room in my heart much like a carpenter would do?

She was sneaky-and her ways mysterious-yet nothing could have made me angrier than losing her affection.

I slid to a stop near the dunes.

Was that why we were at each other's throats? Was this marital fighting?

Marital fighting requires marriage, I argued as I trotted back the way I came. We're not married. Therefore, this is just good old-fashioned arguing.

Despite my logic, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in deeper than I thought.

I made it back to the house to find all the lights on. Sneaking back in through the porch door or a window wouldn't be of much use. She would find me eventually-and then she would pick at me for something. It wasn't like I had been much of a saint recently myself. There were a few comments I wasn't proud of making about her career path.

After hopping over the porch railing, I shifted back into my human form and searched for my clothes. They weren't there.

With a sigh, I slid open the door. "Skye?"

"What?"

Her tone made me regret walking inside. "Where are my clothes?"

"I don't know. Have you asked Myrna?"

My eyes narrowed instantly. "Do you think so little of me that you would accuse me of cheating?"

She huffed and spun around to face the fridge, peering into it for what was likely the hundredth time this evening. When I left, she'd been sleeping. She was probably on the prowl for one of her midnight snacks.

I leaned my shoulder against the fridge. "Did you really take my clothes out of spite?"

"Did you really not buy any more cheese?"

"This isn't about cheese, and you know it."

She groaned while slamming the fridge door shut. "No, it's about having some space and quiet. You took off naked. What was I supposed to think?"

"That maybe I was running in my wolf form."

She blanched. Ah, so she had recognized one of her mistakes. That was a start.

But the surprise dripped away, replaced with ire within a millisecond. "And you didn't ask me to join you?"

"I thought about it."

"So, why didn't you ask?"

I pushed off the fridge and wandered into the living room to locate a pair of pants-or something to cover myself. I was feeling exposed. "It occurred to me after I left."

"You didn't think to turn back?"

"I didn't think you wanted to be near me with how much you've been picking fights with me, dear Skye."

Silence circulated through the space between us. I plucked a pair of joggers from the couch, yanked them on, and tightened the strings. Skye was still standing near the fridge with her arms over her chest and her chin tucked into her sternum. She looked pitiful. But I wouldn't be fooled by that look. She'd played it many times in the past week.

"I'm tired," I said in a low voice. "I'm not sleeping well. I'm not eating well."

"Sorry I'm eating all the food," she said, throwing her hands in the air. She marched to the counter and flung open one of the cabinet doors. "I'll try to eat something else instead."

I felt so defeated. "Skye, that's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Would you stop for two seconds and just stand still?"

She shoved her hands into her pockets, staring at the counter instead of looking at me. At least she wasn't bouncing around the kitchen anymore. I was getting sick just watching her ping around like a ball in one of those arcade machines. She must have had energy from sleeping all the time.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore," I told her. "This is exhausting."

She turned around to face me. That was a start.

"You're moody. You're picking at my behavior. You're-"

"You're picking at my behavior, Troy," she shot back. "You've been tearing me down about my career. Why?"

I waved off the question. "That's not even the focus."

"But it should be the focus. Don't you care about what I want?"

"Of course I care."

She frowned while looking down at the tiles between us. "You don't act like it. You don't invite me to meetings. You don't even invite me to run with you!"

"I told you; it didn't occur to me until-"

"Until you were too far away."

She might have been onto something.

As much as I hated to admit it.

I drew a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry, Skye. I should have asked. I should include you."

"I don't want you to include me just because I complain about it."

"Then what do you want? You keep leading me in circles like this and we're just going to get dizzy."

She huffed, crossed her arms over her chest, opened her mouth, and then promptly shut it. Confusion danced all around her energetic fields. Nothing she did made sense. The way she kept glancing down like there was an answer on the ground told me she was just stalling for time. But for what? Why was she trying to hold me verbally hostage in the kitchen?

Then it dawned on me. "Skye, do you have something to tell me?"

Her head snapped up.

That had caught her attention.

She glanced at the table. "No, I just-"

"You're lying."

"You don't know when I'm lying."

I breathed a little deeper this time and then crossed the oceans of space between us. I cupped her cheek lightly for maybe the first time in days-perhaps the whole week. That subtle motion was enough to cast a shiver down her spine. She met my gaze defiantly, but met it nonetheless, in a way that spoke highly of her personality.

That was my dear Skye, my great and mysterious unknown. Much like the way the sky lit up with the first burst of morning light, so did her energy radiate outward, touching everything around her, including me. She seemed to deny my touch yet embraced it all the same. Daggers shot out from her irises. Affection burned in her core.

I felt it all, the terrifying confusion and the doubt, the horrible longing, the never-ending questions. She waged a silent war in her mind without so much as making a peep about it save for the rotten attitude that rippled through this place like the disturbed surface of a quiet lake. War in her mind. Confusion in her heart.

No wonder she was picking at me.

She was likely picking at herself in private.

I ran my thumb over her cheek three times. That seemed to be my magical number, one that quelled most anxieties and calmed the fieriest of tempers. I granted her as much peace as I could muster and held her still, held space for all the riot and rot grinding her insides.

"You're just mad at me because you're mad at yourself," I whispered. "So, what is it? What has you twisted up?"

"I can't tell you."

My eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because you'll be upset."

"Do you really think I need my feelings to be protected?"

She shuddered with her next breath, tears billowing in her eyes as she struggled to break eye contact. She couldn't hold my gaze, yet she couldn't look away. The significance of that made me realize the weight she was carrying. What woke her up in the middle of the night? What made her stress-eat?

"Yes," she managed to choke out. "I don't want to hurt you."

I chuckled lightly. "You're right. Lashing out is much better than directly addressing any issues with me."

"Don't joke, Troy."

"It made you giggle."

She rested her forehead against my chest. "It's not funny."

"You can't hide your laughs from me. They're echoing from your soul."

This close to her, I could feel everything-the rhythm of her heart and the very beat of her spirit. Some of the colors had changed in the past few weeks. I'd noticed it long before she ever started acting out. The taupe of her eyes that radiated within her soul had swirled with rosy reds and pinks, radiating purple around the edges like when the sun kissed the horizon at dusk.

Something had changed in her. I just couldn't determine what. "I see you."

"Then you already know."

"I don't know unless you tell me."

She grabbed my shoulders. "Why does everyone keep saying that to me?"

"Because it's true, dear Skye. Just tell me what you need. I can't help if you don't tell me."

"It's just..."

I took her chin and forced her to look at me. "Is this about Myrna? Because I can assure you that I only have eyes for you. I have for a very long time, Skye. I don't know when it happened or why. I don't even know how. I just know that you're the woman who sang to my heart and captured it."

Her lower lip quivered. Instinct had me trace it with my thumb.

"No one has ever done this to me. No one else ever will," I continued softly. Oh, but I could see the impact was not soft at all. "I'm over the moon for you, dear Skye. I would weep eternally if you ever left. I wouldn't be okay without you by my side." "Troy..."

I rested my thumb over her lips. "Please, listen to my heart. Know that it's true. It speaks your name."

She closed her eyes, and I knew she was listening. I could tell she was exploring the ventricles and the veins inside me. She seemed to sway a bit and I caught her, cradling her close to me, smiling at the recognition that splashed across her expression. When she opened her eyes, peace drifted from her lips, along with an admission, the same one she'd been hiding all this time: "Troy, I'm pregnant."