PREVIOUSLY-
"You're not the same Isabella Swan. Your attitude has changed, your vocabulary, obviously your moral compass. Even your scent has changed, and your heartbeat is strange." He snarled, as if being haunted.
"You're right. I'm not the same. First, my name is Bella Marie Call. After the hell you put me through by leaving, of course I'm going to change. My scent is probably changed because I'm a marked imprint, and my heartbeat is a bit erratic with my extreme anger right now." I explained. Embry put his nose in the crease between my neck and shoulder where my mark was and sniffed before licking it.
"No, there's something else different with your heartbeat… it's not just yours I'm hearing." He said and I looked at him in confused anger. "You mutt! First, you defile her, then you impregnate with your cursed wolf spawn?!"
My eyes widened as I subconsciously lowered my hands to my stomach, thinking about the last time I actually had my monthly visitor… it had been just before the imprint happened, over two months ago.
My wolves were curling their bodies around me now, making sure that I was completely protected.
"Go away, Edward and don't ever come back. I don't ever want to see you again. You will leave me and my family alone. Embry, please take me home, now." I said with conviction, my mind still going over what had transpired. Embry quickly phased back, sliding on his pair of shorts before picking me up and carrying me back to my truck. My other two wolves stayed on either side of us until we reached the tree line before taking off towards Sam's. He placed me in the passenger side of the truck then quickly climbed into the driver's side and started driving.
"Bella, are you alright?" He asked, looking like he was trying to keep himself together as well.
"Well, let's see. I just had my controlling, psychotic, vampire ex-boyfriend show up, start insulting my family, my imprints, and my fiancé, threatening to take me away, then going on to tell me that apparently I'm pregnant with a 'cursed wolf spawn'. I think I'm a bit less than 'alright' at the moment, and I kind of really feel like I'm going to be sick." I told him as we pulled up to Sam's. "Can- can you hear it too?" I asked, really needing to know.
"I didn't know what it was until he mentioned it, but I've been able to hear it for a little while now. It almost sounds like bird wings, fluttering in the background. Now that I'm really listening, I can tell it's a heartbeat. You're really pregnant, Bella. We're having a baby." Embry told me, carefully resting his hand over on top of my stomach. I still couldn't believe it. As I got out of my truck, I expelled all of my stomach contents into a bush.
I immediately felt Embry's hand on my back, making sure my hair was out of the way and rubbing soothing circles with his extra warm hands. Once I was done, I turned around and buried myself into his chest. "It'll be okay, Bella. Paul and Seth are here waiting outside, and the rest are inside when we're ready."
I took a deep breath and held Embry's hand tightly as we made our way over to Paul and Seth. Paul wrapped me in an almost bone-crushing hug, however, being careful with my midsection. "You can't do that again, B. Seth told you to stay in the truck and you deliberately put yourself in harm's way. That leech was clearly off his fucking rocker and he could've easily hurt you, and the baby." Paul told me, and I sighed with tears in my eyes.
"Give her a break, Paul, she's got a lot to think about right now." Embry tried to say, but I cut him off.
"Listen, I know I shouldn't have, for all of your sakes, but it was something I just had to do. I knew you would protect me. If he hadn't have seen me and had me personally tell him to go away, I think he would've tried something stupid to get to me. And to be fair, I didn't know about the baby until he said something. I'm still wrapping my head around it." I told him, and it was true, all of it. "To be honest, I'm still weary of Edward. I'm worried that he won't take no as an answer."
"We won't let him near you, especially now." Seth said from my side.
"Oh yeah, you're carrying the first pack pup now, B. Seth and I will be pulling double duty until that baby gets here. You'll be lucky if Embry ever lets you out of his sight." Paul told me and internally groaned. Sometimes I really hated being a defenseless, accident prone, danger magnet of a human.
Before I knew what was happening, Seth had fallen to his knees with his ear pressed against my abdomen. "Wow, that's so cool. You know my mom is a nurse, and she knows about the pack, so—"
"Okay, Seth honey, why don't we talk about it tomorrow? I kind of need a second to process everything." I told him, knowing that yes, I would need to set up a doctor's appointment but that could wait until tomorrow.
"Sorry, Bells." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as he stood back up. I quickly pulled him in for a tight hug.
"You ready to face everyone else?" Embry asked me as soon as Seth pulled away. I nodded and the four of us made our way inside.
All eyes were on me as we walked through the door. "Well, first, I think some congratulations are in order. It may have been a surprise, but it's a happy one." Sam said as he came up to me and hugged me, before hugging Embry as well. "Second, Edward Cullen. Do you think he's a threat, Bella?"
"Like I told them, I worry that he won't take no as an answer. When we were together, he had to be in control of everything and the fact that he has no control over me any longer might cause him to do something impulsive. I wouldn't put him past it. If there was a way to contact Carlisle, he may be able to reel him in, but they changed all of their numbers and emails when they moved away." I told him honestly.
"We will double up on patrol again, make sure he doesn't cross our border. If he does, the treaty is void and we do what we must. Got it?" Sam said to the pack and they all agreed.
"Sam, I have one week until graduation, what am I going to do?" I asked him.
"I'm going to station Paul and Seth outside your school during all school hours, since the res school is already out, and Embry is taking his last two classes to graduate." Sam told me and I nodded.
After the meeting broke up, Jake came over to me and gave me a tight hug. "So, a baby, huh?" he asked, pointing to my midsection.
"Yep, seems like it. I honestly had no clue." I told him as I felt Embry come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist, his hands sitting protectively on my abdomen.
"So Em, how does it feel knowing you're going to be a dad?" Jake asked him.
"A bit surreal to be honest. I kind of wish that Bella and I would have been able to find out on our own before it was made public knowledge so that we could have had a moment to process everything. But nothing in our lives is normal, so it's par for the course, I guess. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm excited and my wolf is about to burst with pride." Embry replied to him and I smiled up at him.
"Em, can we go lay down for a little bit? I'm still a bit queasy." I asked Embry. I was a bit queasy, but I also just wanted some rest alone with my imprint. I was still a bit overwhelmed from the day's events.
"Of course, babe. You go on up and I'll tell the guys and be up in a minute." He said kissing me on the lips. I snuck away from everyone and made my way upstairs to our room and laid down on the bed. I took the moment and pulled up the hem of my shirt, looking down at the small bump in my abdomen that I hadn't noticed before. There was a baby in there, resting inside of my womb. How had I not known? I hadn't had my period in over two months, I should've realized something by now. I guess my mind had just been preoccupied with so many other events happening. I didn't even know how many weeks pregnant I was. Embry and I first had sex about 8 weeks ago, but I had no clue if it was from the first time or after that. I knew I wouldn't be able to see the peach sized bump if I stood up, but laying down flat on my back, I could barely see it, and could definitely feel the hardness of it beneath my fingertips.
My hand still rested on it as Embry walked in. He crawled into the bed from in between my legs, so that this head was hovering right above my abdomen. He covered my hands with his own.
"How did we not notice, Em? I haven't even had my period since just before you imprinted on me. Feel, right where my hands are." I told him and removed my hands from under his. He rested his hands on my abdomen, right where the hard lump was and raised his eyebrows at me. "I won't be showing for a while longer, but can you feel it?"
"I can. I can feel it, and I can hear the heartbeat. It's real, Bella." Embry told me before leaning down pressing a kiss to my stomach. "We're going to be parents. How are you feeling about everything?"
"I'm overwhelmed and nervous, but I'm happy. I still just can't believe it." I told him, and honestly, I was happy about it. I wanted this, a family, with Embry.
"I am too. When I heard what he said, I knew immediately it was true, or rather my wolf knew. He was beyond ecstatic, knowing that we were having a pup with our mate." He told me and I could see the joy in his eyes. "I'm going to be a dad!"
"We're going to have to tell Charlie… and my mom, and I'll probably be showing by the day of our wedding. We still haven't even told my mom that we're getting married!" I told him, just now realizing it for myself.
"It doesn't matter about you showing for the wedding, it'll make you even more beautiful in my eyes. That's my pup in there and once you start showing, everyone will know. As for telling Charlie and your mom, we should probably do that sooner than later. I think we should let Sue examine you and make sure everything is okay, then we tell them." He said and I agreed. "Now, how are you? And I'm not talking about the pregnancy, I'm talking about the fact that Edward Cullen came back."
"I don't think I've ever felt such rage and anger in my life. He has no right to come back here, then all of this demanding I go with him, saying that he loves me. It just makes me angry. So no, I'm not okay. I don't want him or any of them back in my life. I have you and our family now." I told him. He let out a deep breath and crawled up to lay next to me. "I don't ever want any vampires around our baby." The thought itself made me feel cold.
I knew what vampires meant for my child and future children. They had the wolf gene in their DNA, and if they were around vampires enough, they would phase to protect the tribe as well, maybe even younger than Seth. I couldn't let my children bear the same weight their father is, especially not so young.
"Bella, no vampires will ever be around our child. We won't let him near you. He looked half crazed and it scared me to death that he was even remotely close to you." He told me honestly, and I could see the worry in his eyes.
"Why don't we both get some rest. We can have Seth ask Sue if she can see me tomorrow and make sure everything is okay. Then we will have to figure out how to tell Charlie and Renee. After that, we'll figure out what we need to do about Edward." I spoke as I gently laid my head on his shoulder, wrapping my leg around his as I made myself comfortable. He nodded and kissed me on my forehead.
A/N- I know I left my cliffy for a couple days, but I have a good reason... My husband and I have been tested for COVID. Both of us have symptoms and will know soon. Hopefully it's just a cold. As always, please REVIEW.