“You’ve been living here, for six months, in the same house as me, and I didn’t know? How is that possible?”
Because that’s how good I am at what I do. But instead I say, “I was able to remain hidden in the safe room.”
She stamps her foot. “I don’t believe you. I have to see this. Show me.”
I take her in the lift up to the attic. The whole time her arms are crossed, her lips pursed, and she looks pissed as hell. I’ve never seen my Chloe this angry.
“There’s no way you’ve been hiding up here,” she sniffs. “I’m in here almost every day, working. I think I’d know if you were up here with me.”
We move through the half-way cleaned out attic, past the workshop she’s created for herself up here, and we turn a corner. I open the hidden door, made to look like part of the wall.
She gasps with surprise. “No.”
And then she places a protective hand over her large belly and steps inside my command center. I see her staring at everything. The cleansing unit and toilet, the narrow bed and the mess of dirty plates and rumpled pants. She sees all the blinking lights, the screens, and the weapons. All my maps and my compilation of data. And that’s when she sees the visual of our bed and she knows I’ve been watching her.
Her face turns red. “You’ve…you’ve been…No.”
“I don’t watch you from here, I’m in there, with you,” I assure her.
“What?”
“I’m with you, always.”
She sucks in a breath and lifts her chin. “You’ve been in my bed. All those nights I thought I was dreaming…”
“I was touching you, bringing you relief.”
Her eyes widen. I can see that she’s remembering all of it. All of it.
“Oh my gods.”
Those same possessive instincts take over. A growl rumbles in my chest.
Her eyes widen as I step forward and press her back against the wall. “It was me,” I rasp against her ear. “My tongue in your slit.”
She whimpers but I notice her hands are on my waist, tugging at my belt. I’m trying not to scare her, but the nearness and smell of my pregnant mate is enough to bring back every primitive Hyrrokin mating instinct I’ve ever denied. I love the pressure of her stomach, swollen with my offspring, against me.
I slap my claws on the wall overhead and brace myself against her, allowing her to feel the long pipe in my trousers. “My claws on your clit, night after night.”
A moan escapes from her mouth.
I lick her neck. “I was unable to use my cock to please you so I used my claw, my lips and the tip of my barb.”
“B…but, aren’t we not supposed to touch at all because this is totally illegal? What if the immigration office found out I wasn’t only your employee?”
“I could not stop myself.”
“Why?”
“Your scent…” I groan. “Your pregnancy pheromones are driving me crazy with need.”
“My scent?” she looks up at me like I’m crazy.
“And,” my voice deepens, “you’ve also been growing our child inside of you.”
And then her face shutters. “We really need to talk about this Berg.”
“I want you.”
“You want to pleasure mate with me?” she gasps.
“I can’t keep my claws off of you. These are extenuating circumstances. You carry my offspring. Normally this makes you automatically my bound. You are secreting hormones that ignite my mating instinct.”
“You want to pleasure mate me because I’m carrying your baby and it’s erotic to you?”
I think she’s not understanding what I’m saying. I try again, “you are the mother of my offspring and my mate.”
Her brow furrows. “I…I don’t understand. You’re my friend. We’re friends. You hired me to be your surrogate so I could get a work visa and so you could be a Dad. I’ve been living in your house this whole time only because you left unexpectedly for six months on a super seekret mission. And now you’re back. I’m six months pregnant but actually only one month away from delivery. I need to make plans for what’s going to happen after I give birth. In fact, now that you’re here I need to alert immigration of my changed status and move out right now and go back to your Mom’s house. Methone has a free room too. There’s no need for me to live here now that you’re back.”
“You’re not leaving,” I snarl. “This is your home.”
“No, it’s your home. It’s your home and the baby’s home. I’ll need to get out of here