Darcy Branwyn

Danielle knew that he was on his way back from the forest. If she focused she could tell where he was. She left the vampires carefully inside the darkened cabin and went out onto the porch. She was wearing her favorite jeans—that may or may not ever fit her again—while she still could, and an over-sized t-shirt thanks to having raided Lothar’s drawer in the beat-up dresser they were sharing.

Their bed looked ridiculous in the tiny room, especially when they still hadn’t replaced the dresser that had come with the cabin, but it made her smile too. It was like some kind of metaphor for their lives together.

Priorities, you know. They didn’t have their life even remotely figured out but here they were on pregnancy number two. She leaned against the post at the top of the steps, sipping at the tea Kendra had made for her. Her stomach wasn’t so bad at the moment.

Waking up barely able to get to the bathroom in time was quite the adventure. She’d been sleeping soundly, no problem, completely unaware of the multifaceted going’s on inside of her body, when out of the blue her stomach decided it had had it with her. 

She hadn’t figured it out at first. It wasn’t until after she’d finished emptying out the remnants of her last meal that it had occurred to her whether or not she could extend her fangs. Just in case. Because, like it or not, the lack of birth control was clue one.

Lothar, naturally, had just been coming to the door to check on her at that time. He knew she didn’t like him watching her throw up, so it was pretty normal for her to ask him to stay away. She’d tried to extend her fangs then, but nothing.

As she’d cleaned herself up she thought maybe she could be mistaken. Clue one and two weren’t quite enough for her. Well, and three if she counted the barfing. The look on Lothar’s face when she’d opened the door and he’d gotten hold of her scent, followed by the words, Ah, shit finally sealed the deal for her.

Yeah, they were off on yet another adventure, only the kind that didn’t involve them hunting down prey together. Damn it but the hormones must have been affecting her—right?—because she felt kind of giddy all of a sudden. How in the hell could she actually be happy about this?

She slid one hand down her stomach, noting how it wasn’t shaped like it once was. She had some stretched skin on her lower abdomen, along with a layer of fat that hadn’t been there before. Lothar seemed to think that was sexy. She wasn’t male, so what did she know about it?

“Holy hell,” she whispered, realizing how much she actually wanted this, “how does your father do this to me, anyway?”