a door handle or made the bed. Dodge let Silas into the back seat, then got in and started the car up, not quite looking at me as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Persephone, love, I can try but it never works."
"What do you mean, it never works?"
"You've seen Deirdre and Evershaw, right?"
I clamped my lips together to keep from giggling. If I thought Dodge was bad with the hovering and wrapping me in bubble-wrap, the pack alpha was a thousand times worse. He wasn't shy about trying to boss Deirdre around when he thought she needed to do something. It had led to more than one epic showdown in the living room, much to the pack's amusement. Evershaw made a lot of noise trying to get his way, but the second Deirdre's voice wobbled… All the witch had to do was cry or look like she might cry, and her mate froze.
Half the time I suspected Deirdre was just doing it to get him to stop pestering her about pregnancy yoga, or playing music for the baby, or taking new vitamins, or oiling her skin. I'd observed her technique for distracting her mate, though I hadn't needed to go that far to get Dodge to settle down.
I rubbed my jaw and sighed, leaning my head back against the top of the seat. "Of course I've seen them."
"The way Evershaw behaves..." He took a deep breath. "That is how I want to be, and even he's holding back to try and be considerate. If it were up to me, you'd be cocooned somewhere warm and safe, and I would bring you food, and you wouldn't have to do anything for the next five months."
"That's absurd," I said. My eyes drifted shut for a second. Just a second. It wasn't that I wanted to fall asleep in the soft hum of the car tires against the smooth, freshly paved road – something else Dodge paid for when too many potholes jostled me on the way to work. "I couldn't possibly..."
"I know," he said. Dodge reached over to take my hand and brought it up to his mouth so he could kiss my knuckles, my fingers. "I know. But I want you to know what I'm struggling with. I need to protect you, to keep you and the baby safe. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to either of you."
"Nothing is going to –" I started, turning my head so I could study him.
The muscles in his jaw tightened, and he held my hand tighter. "But it could. There are so many terrible things that could happen. We've already been through some of them. I can't take the chance that something might go wrong even the slightest bit."
I sank lower in the seat, wiggling around to try and ease the ache in my lower back and hips. "I get it. I'm worried, too. But I can't stand to feel suffocated, Dodge."
He muttered under his breath. "It's not the same for humans."
"Oh, for God's sake." I pulled my hand away and massaged my temples. "How do you know it's not the same?"
"Well..."
"You gave me shifter blood," I said, irritation making my voice sharp. "Right? Why wouldn't I feel the same kind of stuff you're feeling?"
"Persephone..."
My eyes narrowed as I glared at him, a surge of unreasonable anger swinging through and carrying me along. "Don't you dare say I'm being crazy."
Silas huffed in the backseat, the closest he could get to a wolf laugh, and I whirled to glare at him, too. "No comments from the peanut gallery until you can say it out-loud, got it?"
The wolf grumbled and rested his head on his paws, heaving an impressively expressive sigh. Dodge took a deep breath and reached for my hand again. "Okay, babe. You're right. I'll back off."
"You're just saying that." I frowned at him in suspicion. He never gave up that easy. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing," he said. Dodge kept his eyes on the road as he pulled onto Deirdre's street. "I agree with you a hundred percent."
"Now I know that's bullshit!"
He cracked a smile and parked the car in front of Deirdre's neighbor's house. "It's not."
But I was distracted by a cramp in my side and grumbled, finally heaving myself up and to my feet when he'd opened the door. Pregnancy heartburn was a real bitch. Why hadn’t anyone pointed out you could get heartburn from practically just breathing? Silas jumped out and chased off after Cricket where