Spurned Queen

Chapter 44: Ambush

Lexi

"You do realize that's pretty much the dumbest choice you could possibly have made," Dylan deadpanned.

Cindy groaned. "Please don't," she cried.

"D is right, Cindy. He deserves to know."

"Don't you see? He'll send me away! He won't believe that I can keep this baby intact out here. He'll fear for my life and the baby's too. He'll force me away; I'll have to go and be sheltered" —she spat the word— "and protected with the other mothers. I don't want that. I want to be by his side, right here on the battlefield."

That's right. Cindy, our Luna, was pregnant.

This was the big secret she hadn't wanted to tell anyone. But now the symptoms were beginning to appear and she was terrified that Tyler would find out and send her away.

Which he totally would by the way. I wouldn't be shocked if he did. In fact, I would be shocked if he didn't. I was actually rather surprised when Cindy told me she wanted to keep her baby here on the battlefield. It was way too dangerous for a pregnant woman. There was, after all, a reason they were all back in the Iron Claw pack, taking care of the kids.

"Look Cindy," said Trish. "You really can't expect Tyler to do anything else. It's the natural thing to do; and I know if you want to stay here that can be a hard pill to swallow, but you have to look at things critically. Like a mom. Come on, this is your baby, not just anyone. You can't blame him for trying to keep his family safe. It's his duty to protect you."

Cindy turned away, looking out over the sea. It glistened in the last of the evening light.

"Besides," Dylan added, "you said it yourself. He's bound to find out. Imagine how hurt and pissed he'll be with you, to think that you hid something so important from him. It will make him feel inadequate that you didn't trust him or didn't think he was capable. Is that the message you intend to project?"

"Of course not," she whispered. "I just... I don't want him to be here all alone. You've seen how tired he gets. He's told me that I'm the only thing keeping him sane at times."

"Yeah, but you're pregnant now. Just thinking of that, of his new baby on the way, will cheer him up. But now, you're just stressing him out more by being so tense," Dylan argued back. She swerved to face me. "And why are you so quiet? Don't you want to help us out?" she snapped.

"She won't say anything because she's in a funk too," Trish butted in. "She won't tell her mate who she really is."

Dylan groaned. "Come on, the both of you have to know there's no point in stalling! They're gonna know whether you like it or not. And they ought to know, because what concerns you concerns them! Oh goddess. So you're still in that weird state where you don't know whether to remain with him or not? Are you really going to just sit there and wait for him to do something about that?"

I squirmed. "Well... he isn't ignoring me anymore..." No indeed. Not after he made out with me for the first time. He had found me later, just before he set out to fly with his vampires going east while we went west. He had kissed me again, so hard that I had been left dizzy. When we had reached the HQ and slept off the jet lag, my dreams had been filled with him and only him.

"What's with the goofy smile? Have things happened, and you didn't tell us?" Dylan accused.

"Well yes, I— we kissed," I admitted, smile splitting my face.

Cindy glared at me. "And you didn't tell us?" she wailed, hurt.

I rolled my eyes. So dramatic.

"Details," she demanded bossily.