Filed to story: Fated is Overrated Novel Free by Brenda Minnaard
The color drains from their faces, as they look at me worriedly. “Hold on” Zane storms off before I could even blink, heading back towards our table I presume. Zeke holds me tight as I catch my bearings, when I notice his eyes glaze over and his look of concern increases.
Lola POV
Zane must be mind linking him. “What did he say?”. Zeke looks at me, still with a concerned expression, before saying “he couldn’t smell anything. But he is going to have all of the steaks for our table tested, and swap them with steaks from other tables”. “I’m kind of done with food after that” I grumble in response. Zeke chuckles “I understand, but you have to eat something love”. “Fine” I huff, before we walk back to our table. Zane rejoins us after a few minutes, right before the steaks that were meant for one of the other tables are served to ours instead. To my great shock, the plate they are carrying my way is oozing the same vile odor as the other one was. Zeke and Zane notice my discomfort again, and drag me off under the pretense of having a surprise for me. “What’s wrong baby?” Zane asks. “I don’t know… This one smelled as vile as the one before…” I reply softly. “They’re being tested as we speak, but it may take a while” Zane looks at me with furrowed brows. “Let’s check the kitchen and see who’s making them, and check if we see anything out of the ordinary” Zeke reasons, and although it’s a good idea, I’m not particularly fond at the thought of being near that smell. Not to mention that the smell will be much worse in the kitchen itself probably. As we approach the kitchen, the nasty smell reaches my nostrils already and I can feel my stomach beginning to turn. “It’s OK baby, you stay here, we’ll go check it out”. I just nod at them, before moving away from the smelly kitchen, watching Zeke and Zane head through the kitchen doors.
As I am left waiting for them, I hear someone approach me from behind. I turn my back to come face to face with Felix. “Hey Felix!” “hey Lola, what are you doing here, why are you not at your own party?” he looks at me confused. “I was just… Checking on something. Why are you not at the party?”. He looks at me intently, before replying “because the hostess is out here, I thought I would join you” with a smile. As he steps closer, I notice there is a weird scent coming off of him. It’s not as bad as the steaks, but it definitely isn’t pleasant either. My stomach is already in knots, but I do my best to keep a straight face. “That’s nice of you” and I decide to rip off the band aid “why do you smell different?”. He looks at me confused for a second, before replying “I keep forgetting you Lycans have extraordinary smelling senses. I don’t know what you mean though, what do I smell like?”. He steps closer and closer to “let me” smell him, but the closer he gets, the more I feel like gagging. When he is a few inches away I can’t hold it in any longer, and I bolt away from him, back to our room. “It’s nothing personal!” I yell back at him , before rounding the corner quickly and letting go of my restraint. I gag endlessly, but nothing comes out as I haven’t eaten in quite some time. I make it back to our room, where the lingering scent of my mates resides, calming me like a soothing balm. I don’t feel any emotions coming through our bond other than the lingering concern, so I suppose they haven’t found anything yet. I head over to the bathroom to take a small bathroom break. As I sit down on the toilet, holding up my gown, my sight lingers on the array of supplies Zeke and Zane had gotten me when I started spending the night here.
They have been so thoughtful, the bassinet and cabinets are overflowing with all kinds of shampoos, conditioners, soaps, tampons, you name it. Everything they probably never knew existed, and Xena advised them I could possibly need, is here. As I am looking at all of the items, I start to think. I can’t remember ever having had my period here yet? But that can’t be, I have been here for 5 weeks already. I open the cabinets where I know the tampons are, and I am in complete and utter disbelief when I see the boxes are all still unopened. I feel the color draining from my face, and I think my heart skipped a few beats. ‘Are you ok?’ Zeke and Zane ask via mind link, to which I quickly reply ‘yes!’. But, I am not OK! I am freaking the f*ck out! In my panic, I don’t know who to contact. Zeke, Zane, dad, Xena, Damon, Nadia?! I know my mates would be ecstatic, despite not knowing how I would feel myself. I don’t want to give them false hope, so I don’t link them. The same with Xena. It would be a bit awkward asking my dad for help. Damon already overhead us having “fun” once, so I decide Damon is my least embarrassing option. ‘Dame! I need you in my room! But don’t tell anyone you are coming to see me’ I mind link him, and I hear the anxiety in his voice when he responds ‘I’m on my way! Are you alright?!’. ‘Yeah, just get here!’. I am pacing the room anxiously when I hear loud, fast footsteps approaching. I open the door before he can knock, and he comes barging in breathlessly. “What’s wrong?!”. “I need your help… But you can’t tell a SINGLE soul…” I respond, while continuing to pace the room anxiously. “OK….” Damon drawls. “I.. I need you to get me a pregnancy test” I blurt out, glancing away as I am afraid to look at him.
It remains quiet for a few agonizing seconds, and I turn my gaze towards him unwillingly. His mouth is agape, and he is just staring at me perplexed. “Dame?” “yeah… I heard you… I am going to be an uncle?!” he almost yells. “Shhhhh! I don’t know… Just get me the test, please?”. “OK. But erhm.. But where the hell am I supposed to get that here?! You could have better asked your mates, or Xena”. I sigh “I don’t want them to get their hopes up. But.. Maybe you can ask Xena? And say it’s for your girlfriend or something?”. Damon snorts “we haven’t even…” before stopping mid-sentence, with a blush on his face. “Never mind. Hold on, I’ll be right back!” he leaves the room. Second turn into minutes, and it feels like I have been waiting for all eternity already. ‘We couldn’t find anything, baby. Where are you?’ Zane links me, and I have to come up with an excuse. Fast. ‘On the toilet, I’ll be down in a minute’. ‘OK baby. Let me know if you need help’. My little brother needs to hurry the hell up, I can’t stay “on the toilet” forever. Having all this time to think, and to worry, isn’t doing me any good. And I need to shield my emotions from my mates, so they don’t come looking for me. What if I am pregnant, then what? I didn’t even think I wanted pups. But I would never harm an innocent life, especially not life I created myself. I am brought back from my reverie when the door opens, and Damon is barging into the room looking sweaty and out of breath. “Geez. Next time you ask for a favor, make it something easier, will you?”. “Yeah yeah, where is it?” I hold out my hands eagerly, while Damon reaches into his pocket to retrieve a small package. “Would you like me to stay?” Damon asks hesitantly. I snatch it from his hands swiftly and run to the bathroom, while yelling “yes!”.
I pull out the test and read what to do quickly, before performing the actual test. The 5 minutes I have to wait now are pure torture, and I have a hard time shielding my emotions from Zeke and Zane, as they are so overwhelming. I pace around the bathroom anxiously, making sure not to look at the test until the time is up. After what feels like ages, my timer goes off, and I swallow thickly when walking towards the bassinet. I was expecting it to say “not pregnant” or “pregnant”, but instead it is only showing a + sign. I should have read the damn manual all the way through. I quickly open the manual and scan to where the results page is. My heart and breathing stop, upon reading that a + sign means pregnant. This can’t be, right?! I thought she wolves could only get pregnant when marked and only during heat?! I am still staring at the thing, when I hear a knock at the door, and Damon’s soft voice comes filtering through “are you OK, sis?”. “Y-y-yeah” I answer unsteadily, before swallowing the lump in my throat. Pregnant. PREGNANT.
Zeke POV
When we got back from the kitchen, I started to panic slightly when Lola was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t feel any strange emotions coming from her though. So, we just mind linked her where she was, and she responded she was on the toilet. However, that’s about 15 minutes ago by now, and I am starting to get increasingly anxious. Just when I am about to say to Zane that I am going to go look for her as it is taking too long, I feel an overwhelming amount of emotions coming from her. The main emotion being fear, and I panic completely, as Lola is never so afraid. ‘FIND MATE!!!!’ Lex roars in my head, and Zane and I barge up the stairs, following her scent trail. I feel Lex is pushing to take over control from me and to be honest, I am about to let him, when Zane barges through our bedroom door. Lola is sitting on the bed, as pale as a sheet and her gaze pinned to the floor. Damon is sitting next to her and seems to be comforting her. “Lola!” I rush over to kneel before her. I tilt her chin up, and I can see tears brimming the corners of her eyes. It hurts my heart seeing her like this. I cup her face and say “what’s wrong baby girl, tell us?”. Zane is also kneeling before her, stroking her hair softly. “I’ll leave this up to you guys” Damon says with a small smile, before kissing the top of her head and walking out the door. Lola remains silent as a few tears start to spill over. I wipe her tears with my thumb, waiting patiently for her to be ready to talk.
“I know why the steaks smell so vile to me..” she begins in a soft, meek voice. Which is nothing like Lola at all, she is always so strong and fierce, no matter the circumstance. I feel my panic increasing by the second. Each second she isn’t speaking I can hear my own heart pounding in my chest. She sighs deeply, glancing between the 2 of us, before saying softly “I am pregnant”. My heart skips a beat, or 2, or more. “What?” Zane breathes out, stealing the words right out of my mouth. I so desperately want pups with her, but I know she doesn’t, so I had already resided in the fact that we would never have them. “I’m pregnant…” she repeats, dropping her gaze to the floor in defeat. I don’t know whether to be excited, anxious, or sad at this point, as I don’t know what she is going to say next. I can’t hold my tongue any longer though, I need to know. “Are… Are you..” I can’t seem to speak the words, they are unwilling to leave my lips in fear of her answer. Zane is just looking at her with concern written all over his face, as I am sure I am too. “I… I could never…” she speaks, but she too doesn’t seem the be able to speak the words she is wanting to say. Unfortunately, her 3 spoken words could go either way, so we are still none the wiser. I tilt her chin with my hand, staring deep into her eyes with my own unshed tears clouding my vision. “Words, please, baby” I manage to squeeze out, my voice breaking entirely from emotion. More tears start streaming down her face, before she rushes out all in 1 go “what if I will be a terrible mom? I have no clue what to do with a baby! I don’t know how much they drink, when they start eating actual foods, which diapers they need. Goddess, I don’t even know what stuff a baby all needs! Where do they sleep, what do they like, what do they do all day?!”.
As she gasps for air, Zane and I can’t help but let out a laugh. “THAT is why you didn’t want pups? Because you don’t know anything about them yet? Baby girl, neither do we. Nobody does, before they get pregnant and start educating themselves on the topic. We have months to figure it all out, together” Zane speaks, before kissing her hands. “But what if I’m just not good at it? I have never been a girly girl, what if I’m not cut out for it?” she is still sniffling, but she seems to be calming down slightly. “You will be the best mom there is, baby girl. And we will do everything together, you will never raise our pups alone, you have us. We will figure it out together” I coo her, and she seems to be calming down even more. “We love you so f*cking much Lola. You are EVERYTHING to us, you know that right?” Zane adds, and she offers us a small smile. “Promise? Promise we will do it together?” she asks softly, looking at us both with a hint of fear. “Promise” we both reply in unison, and her smile broadens a bit. She casts her gaze downwards, before replying “well, you know, you 2 would make absolutely stunning DILFs”. She laughs at her own joke, to which Zane and I can’t help but chuckle. “As long as this mommy is the only one who gets to have a turn” she continues, before looking at us with an array of emotions in her eyes. ‘Did she.. Does she mean..?’ Zane links me, and I am unsure as well. “Do you mean…?” I start to ask, but I can’t seem to finish coherent sentences tonight. “Wait a minute.. I have bargaining power right now, I need to make the best of this. I’ll say yes if either of you always cleans the poopy diapers” she answers smugly. “Done” Zane and I reply without thinking twice. We both answer so fast, she seems to be caught off guard. I chuckle “we would have done that anyway for you baby girl. Truthfully spoken, we would do anything you ask of us period. You don’t even need bargaining power”.
I entwine our hands together, before planting a soft kiss on her hand. “I was kind of joking, but good to know” she winks at us, before saying “well, then, I guess I am getting myself 2 very handsome, very sweet, very sexy DILFs” seductively. Zane and I let out low approval growls, and I can’t help but get up to my feet and pull her up into my arms. I twirl her around, before setting her down again. I pepper her face with kisses, and her giggles are music to my ears. Zane nudges me out of the way, before wrapping her into a big bear hug as well. “I love you both so, so much” Lola breathes out, and I can’t help but choke up. Life is so f*cking perfect right now. She is so f*cking perfect.
Lola POV