Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“I know you had to do what you did. I know that it was important and necessary. We all knew that, Riviana. And yet, we all missed you so much. They kids were having such a hard time.” He was being honest with me. I knew that, but it was still hard to hear. He had just hit on the subject that I had been thinking about already.
“Speaking of kids, as you saw, we’re having more.” I laughed at him. “I didn’t even know that I was pregnant. And the fact that we hadn’t slept together since, well, just after your birthday, I would guess that I am like a third of the way through my pregnancy.”
“Try more than halfway. And that’s considering halfway for a normal pregnancy. Griffin is trying to figure out how long he can keep the babies inside so that you don’t have them too early.” Joaquin just blew my mind right there. What the heck was he saying to me? What did he mean that I was more than halfway through the pregnancy? Did that much time really pass? Was I really there for two months?
“Yeah, Rivi, it’s almost the end of October already. You’re actually almost four months along, that would be two thirds of the way.”
“WHAT!?” I screamed at the words that Noah had just told me. “What about Glory and Daci? They’re still pregnant right? I didn’t miss out on more of my family coming into this world, did I?” I was floored. How was any of this even possible? Almost three months in the underworld? That was crazy. It’s insane.
“They’re still pregnant. You didn’t miss anything, Riviana.” Athair m貌r reassured me. “And I am so happy that you are home. We missed you, Riviana. All of us did. I am so glad to have you home.”
“Thank you, Athair m貌r. But, why are you here? Did something happen?”
“No, sweetheart. Joaquin called all of your family and friends here. Everyone that cares about you and was missing you. That way they would be here to welcome you home.” I didn’t think that Joaquin would bring them all here. It made my heart sing to know how much he was thinking about me and the family at this time.
“Yeah, and we’re going to have to let them know that she woke up soon. I am glad she did too. The time stopped moving so fast now. It’s back to normal.” Noah was looking at his phone as he said this to no one in particular.
“Yeah, but we were still in that rapid time thing for like a week. It’s even closer to the end of the month than I thought.”
“Holy shit, we were in there for that long?” Joaquin gasped at Trevor’s words.
“Yeah, but it only felt like about three hours to us. By my math, that would be like one minute was equal to one second. Time was literally moving at sixty times the speed.”
“Holy shit, Trevor. You can do math?” Joaquin blurted out rather rudely. However, me and everyone else in the room had started to laugh at those words.
“Shut the fuck up FiFi. I’m smarter than you are, asshole. You’re a dick, you know that? A fucking dick.”
“I’m sorry. I just said it without thinking.” I felt like some of the tension was leaving my body.. I still couldn’t move, but I was feeling at least a little bit of relief now.
****
Riviana
****
“Joaquin, I want to sit up, but I still can’t move at all. I don’t know why, but my body isn’t working. I want to see more than the ceiling. I want to see you and everyone else better. I want to see the kids.” My body was feeling better since the tension broke, but my heart was still aching for my family. I needed to have a few things taken care of right away.
“Okay, Little Bunny, I will sit you up.” He turned to the side so that he could reach for a remote control that was sitting on a nearby table. That was when he pressed a button that made the bed start to move on its own. “It’s going to sit up by itself. Let me adjust you so that you will be comfortable when it’s done.”
At that, Joaquin took the blankets from my body and lifted me into his arms. In a way, I felt so much smaller next to him than I used to. Maybe it was just because I was feeling weak because I couldn’t move. I didn’t really know for sure but that could be it.
Still, feeling small or not, I loved the feeling of being in Joaquin’s arms again. Apparently, I had been gone for about three months instead of two. And I had been so busy and stressed about that damn voice, which I know now that it was Hekate. All of this added together just means that I haven’t actually been in my husband’s arms for almost four months now.
It might not have felt that long to me, but it was still a long time. I missed him. I missed this feeling. I missed these types of moments.
I didn’t want to waste the small opportunity that I was given. Instead of just sitting there as motionless as possible, not doing anything at all, I decided to tilt my head the little bit that I was able to and rest my head on his shoulder for the time being.
“Hmmm.” I sighed contentedly as I took all of him in.
“Little Bunny?” I think he was a little taken aback by what I did. “Sweetheart, I missed you so much. Can I hold you while I sit in your bed instead of putting you down? I don’t want to let you go again. Now that I finally have you back in my arms, I want you here for a lot longer than this quick move.”
“Joaquin.” I sighed his name now. Making it more than just me saying his name but almost like I was answering his question in that one word.
He didn’t wait for another response. Instead of putting me down on the bed that was now sitting up, he sat on the bed and cradled me in his arms. I was still leaning against his chest and smelling that intoxicating scent of him. The scent that, as I said before, used to scare me but now just soothes my soul.
I did notice something that scared me when I was on Joaquin’s lap. There was something that I didn’t expect to see. Though in all honesty I should have known this was going to be the case. I mean, it had been a long time already. And this was just about how I expected to look while in my condition.
Well, first off, I noticed that my arms were thinner and that I seemed to have lost a lot of weight. I wasn’t overweight or anything to begin with, so losing this much had made me look sickly and skeletal.
The other thing that I noticed was that my belly was huge. And I do mean huge. It was at least twice as big as I had been with Reagan and Rika. There was only one baby more than that time, but I was so much bigger already.
“Well, I guess there is one upside to things so far.” I laughed and tilted my head to look at Joaquin.
“What’s that, Little Bunny?” He asked me as he shifted my body and tilted my head back to look me in the eyes better.
“I didn’t get gestational hypertension this time. My body was just here growing babies while I was off in another world. That had to make things easier on the triplets.”
“So, you’re making jokes about this already, huh?” Noah laughed at me. “Sometimes, I don’t understand you, Riviana. You are so out of this world.”
“Not anymore, Noah. I came back about ten minutes or so ago. Can’t you keep up?” At that latest joke of mine, Noah’s jaw dropped open in shock while Joaquin, Trevor and Athair m貌r laughed at him.
“Funny. That was really funny.” He crossed his arms over his chest in fake annoyance. “What a laughing riot you are, sis.”
“I’m sorry, but why is that funny?” Alexio asked as he and Rudy walked a little more into the room.
