"No, thanks. I just need to sleep for a bit."
"Good day to you both." Phoebe left their bedroom.
Wulf locked the door behind her, then stripped his clothes off while Cassandra pulled on a dark green silk nightgown that Phoebe had brought to her. To her surprise, it fit perfectly, even over her slightly bulging belly.
Wulf climbed into bed and gathered her into his warm arms. "How are you doing for real, villkat?"
"I don't know. It's been an exciting, strange night." The events replayed through her mind. She'd learned a lot and had had one too many surprises. Now she was exhausted. "I'm very sorry about your house."
She felt him shrug. "Houses can be rebuilt. I'm just glad no one was hurt."
"Me too."
Wulf felt her relaxing as she closed her eyes and snuggled into him. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled the soft womanly scent of her. His mind whirled with everything that had happened tonight.
Most of all, it whirled with thoughts of the baby he had seen on the monitor. He laid his hand on Cassandra's stomach and imagined the baby thriving in there. His baby.
Their son.
A part of both of them. The child of a Dark-Hunter and an Apollite. Two beings who should never have united and yet here they were. No longer enemies, he wasn't sure what to call her. She was his lover. His friend.
He froze as realization dawned on him. She really was his friend. The first one he had made in centuries. He had laughed with her often these last three weeks. Listened to her stories, her fears. Her hopes for the baby's future.
And he was going to lose her.
Anger and pain swelled up inside him. Jealousy, too, as he thought of the other three Dark-Hunters who had been given a second chance.
He was glad Kyrian and Talon had found their wives. They were good men.
How he wished he could be granted such a blessing.
The pain of losing Cassandra would be excruciating, and he had to admit that he was selfish. He wanted Cassandra and his baby both.
Alive and healthy.
If only he knew of some way to make her live past her birthday.
There had to be something. The gods always made a loophole. This couldn't be the end of their relationship. No matter what it took, he was going to find that loophole.
The alternative was unacceptable to him.
Cassandra didn't wake up until almost six o'clock in the evening. She was completely alone in the room. Getting up, she dressed in a pair of black wool maternity pants and a large gray sweater Phoebe had given her.
She opened the door and found Chris, Wulf, and Kat eating on the floor in the living room. Her jaw went slack at the feast they were consuming.
"Hungry?" Chris asked as he saw her hesitating in the doorway. "Jump in. Wulf said he hasn't seen anything like this since his days in a Norse mead hall."
Cassandra joined them at the coffee table that was set with dozens of dishes. She was amazed at the variety of foods the Apollites had provided for them. They had steak, fish, roasted chicken. Eggs, potatoes, bananas, apples, roasted and sliced. You name it.
Kat licked her fingers. "Shanus said they didn't know what or how much humans ate so they went a little overboard."
"A little?" Cassandra asked with a short laugh. There was enough food there for an entire Dark-Hunter army.
"Yeah, I know," Kat said with a smile, "but it's all really good."
Cassandra agreed as soon as she bit into a succulent leg of roasted lamb.
"Here's the mint jelly," Kat said, passing it over. "Wait until you taste that."