Before he could bend and grab it, a furry dynamo came thumping down the stairs and leaped to say hello.
“Terror!” he exclaimed, beaming in pleasure as the kitten hung off the front of his shirt and meowed.
“You want him, take him.” He’d been a right brat since Ulric left, as if punishing her for his absence. Not to mention seeing him was a constant reminder.
“I missed him.” He chucked the kitten under the chin then eyed her. “I’ve missed you even more.”
“Again, too late for apologies.”
“Give me another chance. I swear I won’t be an asshole.”
She was tempted. She turned from him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Then will you at least listen? There are things you don’t know about my genetics. Reasons why I had the vasectomy.”
“History of hereditary disease?” Having seen it in the animals she treated, she knew all too well the dangers.
“In a sense. More like I have, um, tainted sperm.”
She arched a brow. “Am I going to have a radioactive baby?”
He stammered. “No, not radioactive, but it is dangerous. You can’t keep it.”
“Not really your choice.” She placed a hand on her belly.
“I am telling you this for your own good. That baby will kill you if you don’t abort.”
Her mouth rounded. “What is wrong with you? I won’t get back together, so now you want to kill our child?”
“I don’t want to. We have to.”
“Get out.” She lifted her arm and pointed.
“You have to listen to me, Honey. That thing in your uterus isn’t normal.”
“What’s not normal is you. You don’t want a child, I get it. I already told you I won’t make you pay support. Heck, you don’t even have to be on the birth certificate. But I am not murdering my baby just because you can’t handle the responsibility.”
“I am trying to save your life,” he insisted.
“I don’t need your help or advice. Goodbye, Ulric.”
“But—”
“Don’t make me call the cops.”
Shoulders rounded and head bowed, he left.
She closed the door, locked it, then slumped, too mentally exhausted to cry.
For a moment, when he’d shown up ready to apologize, she thought maybe, just maybe, they could recover from this.
I couldn’t have pegged it more wrong if I tried.
11
Ulric stalked from Honey’s house, Terror clinging to his shoulder and hissing at the few people they passed. His kitten didn’t leap until he entered the familiar main floor of Lanark Leaf. Ulric headed for the back and slumped in a chair.
Dorian whirled to eye him. “Wow, you look like shit.”
“Thanks,” he grumbled. “I’ve got a problem, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Wanna tell me about it? See if outside eyes can spot a solution?”
“Do you know a solution for the fact Honey got pregnant, I accused her of cheating, only to find out the snip failed, and she is carrying my child, which will kill her, but she refuses to even think about aborting and never wants to see me again?”
Dorian didn’t blink the entire time. Just stared.
“Well?” Ulric asked.
“I think what you just said is probably why Doctor Silver popped in for a visit.”
“She’s here?”
“Upstairs with Griffin and Maeve—”
Ulric was moving before he’d finished speaking. He took the stairs two at a time, knocking when he reached the door at the top and standing impatiently, waiting to be let inside.
Maeve answered and smiled at him. “Ulric, come on in. Good timing. Griffin was just about to call you.”
He strode in and saw Doctor Silver sitting at the kitchen island.
She didn’t smile in greeting. Her expression remained blank. Not a good sign.
“I take it she ratted me out.” He flung up his hands. “It’s true, my super sperm rebuilt the canal to my dick. And as a result, Honey is pregnant.”
No one congratulated him. Rather somber faces abounded all around. Except for Silver. She sipped her coffee without saying shit.
“So it is most definitely yours?” Griffin questioned.
“Yeah. Not that it matters in her mind. She won’t talk to me. I went over to apologize and try to explain why she had to abort, and she tossed me out.”
Maeve just about choked. “You told her to get rid of the baby?”
“Well, yeah. You know she can’t keep it. It’ll kill her.”
“Not necessarily,” Dr. Silver murmured.
He whirled to eye the doctor. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. Under the right conditions, a fetus can survive.”
“And the mother?”
“Sometimes.”
He growled as he stalked closer. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that there is a chance that both mother and child can survive the trauma of a Lycan pregnancy.”
“You’ve seen this happen?”
“No. But a search of Cabal history records seems to indicate it used to be if not common, then not entirely unheard of.”
“If it’s possible, then why the rule we have to be neutered?”
“Because it’s possible, not easy.”
“What’s involved?” Maeve asked. “Special dietary regime? Vitamins?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Griffin stated. “The rules are clear. Lycan pregnancies, even if accidental, must be terminated and the embryo destroyed. It’s to protect our species. Disobedience on that point will draw the Cabal.”
Who wouldn’t hesitate to kill Honey to hide their existence. “How am I supposed to convince her when she won’t even talk to me?” Ulric complained.
“What did you expect?” Maeve countered. “You told a woman, whom you love, who is happy to be pregnant with your child, that she has to kill it.”
“Because I wanted to protect her,” he countered.
“But from her perspective, think of how it looks,” Maeve argued back.
“What else was I supposed to do?”
“In the past, slipping something into their food solved it. The mother thought she miscarried.” The sly reply by the doctor had them all staring at her. Silver held her cup and uttered a flat, “What? This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with this exact type of scenario.”
“Does this mean you’re going to taint her food now that you know?” Ulric understood Honey couldn’t keep the baby, but that didn’t mean he was cool with her ingesting what amounted to poison.
“Actually, I’ve requested permission from the Cabal to try something else.”
“Wait a second,” Ulric interjected, “permission for what? What are you planning to do to Honey?”
“If the Cabal agrees, I plan to see if your former lover can carry the child to term.”
“No.”
“It’s not your decision,” Silver countered. “She’s already stated she wants to keep it.”