Age 23, Hiding
Fatin POV (Age 23)
“Babe I’m home,” Fatin called out into their apartment as she threw her keys in the dish on the side.
She walked up the hall and shucked her jacket off when she got to the living room.
“Babe?” she called out again, eyes peering around their place.
Scowling, Fatin made her way to their bedroom. Nothing. Their bed was made, and Leah’s favourite blanket even sat there; Fatin knew since she had gotten pregnant, she always kept it near. She normally found her snuggled up with it on the sofa because it held Fatin’s scent.
“Leah?”
Fatin tried the kitchen, the guest rooms, and the storage cupboard before going back to their room and trying the ensuite.
“Oh, honey,” Fatin whispered when she saw Leah sitting in their shower cubicle under a duvet from the guest room. Her face peered out from it like some Star Wars Jedi, eyes gold and cheeks damp.
Fatin slid the glass door open, perching in front of it. Her thumbs caressed puffy cheeks and her heart twisted in her chest.
“Hey.” She leaned forward, kissing her nose.
“Hi,” Leah rasped. “We missed you.”
Fatin pulled the duvet aside and ran her hand over Leah’s stomach as she felt the baby kick within.
“I missed you both too.” Fatin kissed her cheek, the salt of her tears tangy on her lips. “Why are we in here?”
“Next door told their delivery man to leave their parcel in their house, but he got the numbers mixed up and I came out of our room and he was just standing there. So I panicked… a little bit.”
“Shit, I forgot to lock the door.”
“He was really polite,” Leah said. “Embarrassed even. Apologised a lot and next door called to explain.”
“Still, that must have been concerning.” Fatin winced. Pregnant wolves were far more anxiety-ridden. Mix that with the protective instincts that mothers had to protect their home and Fatin could only guess how scared Leah must have felt.
“Yeah. It was.”
Fatin brought her closer, running her nose along Leah’s neck. “We’ll sit here for a bit and when you’re ready we can go to the bedroom, and I’ll give you a massage. We can order in Thai from the place you love too if you want.”
Leah nodded, letting her hand tangle with Fatin’s over her bump.
“He’s kicking a lot today.”
“I think he was scared of the intruder, maybe he felt me panicking or something.”
“Or perhaps we have a baby alpha in there who’s protective of his momma already?”
“We don’t know that.”
Fatin smiled, running her fingers through Leah’s hair. “We don’t. But soon we will.”
...
She ended up taking the next day off in hopes of soothing her mate who was still on edge. When Leah awoke it was to the smell of the banana pancakes Fatin had made her; ones she now craved most days.
“Did I ever tell you that I love you?”
Laughing, Fatin placed the plate in front of her mate. “Once or twice. Eat up cutie. Do you want extra nut butter today?”
“Peanut? And Nutella?”
“On it.”
The pancakes disappeared relatively fast, but once Fatin had washed the plate up and returned Leah was nervously playing with the comforter.
“I took the day off.”
“You don’t have to do that. Honestly, I’m fine.”
“Remember that bond we share?” Fatin raised a brow. “That teeny thing that tends to like, give me your emotions and shit.”
Flushing, Leah dropped her chin. It still amazed Fatin that her mate thought that she could hide strong emotions from her. Their bond had been there since they were seven and at this point, both could read each other like an open book.
“Fine. I’m a little on edge,” Leah admitted.
“How about I bring the laptop in here with some hot drinks and we can just hide away for the day?”
“It’s your day off, don’t you want to go out?”
“I’m off to take care of you not to go galivanting around the city. Plus, you know I love a good pyjama day.”
“Okay, yeah, that sounds nice.”
Fatin climbed back beneath the covers, pulling them over their heads so they were shrouded by darkness as she kissed her mate.
Leah relaxed into the shadow, the smell of her mate amplified around them whilst confined beneath the covers. Sighing she wrapped her arms around her waist.
“I will always be here for you Leah.”
“Will the banana pancakes be here too?”
“Always.”
“Good,” Leah said, burrowing into Fatin’s side.