It killed him to treat her like nothing, but he needed her to leave. She needed to realize that a life stuck in a compound was not for her. At this point there was nothing he could do about the baby. She was as round as a human woman in her eight month and it damn near killed him to watch her grow rounder and happier every day, knowing that he couldn’t allow himself to get attached to the baby.
She needed to take the baby and go to the island where it could run outside and play all day and live a full and happy life. Growing up in a compound where it was dangerous to step even one foot outside because of demons and shifters that lurked outside at all hours of the day waiting for a chance to get their hands on Izzy was no life for any child.
With a little pained moan, she released his c**k and began to climb on top of him, but her large belly had her falling sideways. Trying not to laugh, because she’d either yell at him or god help him, cry, he reached over and grabbed her h*ps and helped her straddle his waist.
He hissed in a breath as she slowly lowered herself onto him. She was wet and so f**king hot that he could cry.
As she ground herself against him she dropped her head back and moaned. He kept a gentle grip on her h*ps as she rode him, taking her time and obviously enjoying herself.
For a few minutes he was content with just watching her. He memorized the look of rapture on her face, the way she licked her lips, but mostly the way her touch made him feel complete. He loved this woman so f**king much that sometimes like now it was a struggle to breathe through the panic, knowing this had to end.
Soon.
If she wasn’t so damn stubborn she would have already left months ago, but she wouldn’t. No matter how hard he pushed her, ignored her or made it painfully obvious that she needed to leave, she refused to budge. In the three months that she’d been here she hadn’t gone out once. Not once, because she wasn’t allowed to.
It wasn’t the life he wanted for her and he hoped she figured out that she was more of a prisoner here than she would be on an island. There she could at least go wherever she wanted on the island and explore, but here she was limited to the confines of the compound.
He couldn’t stomach the idea of her living like this for another day never mind a hundred and seventy years.
“Chris,” she moaned, grabbing his attention once again.
This was their time together. He savored his mornings with her before he had to turn into an ass**le and ignore her, only seeking her out for sex. She should f**king hate him. Hell, he hated himself, but she didn’t seem to care one way or the other. She was too focused on her job and her excitement over the baby to care.
He bent his knees and held her h*ps as he began thrusting into her, careful of her and the baby. Several minutes later she was screaming his name again and he was biting back the words “I love you,” so instead he shouted them over and over in his head as he struggled to catch his breath.
“Oh my god……Chris! She’s kicking again!” Izzy said, reaching for his hands to press against her stomach, but he wouldn’t let her. If he did it would add to his pain and misery.
“I have to get to work,” he said, guiding her off of him.
He ignored the hurt look on her face and forced himself to walk to the bathroom. “Training is in two hours,” he bit out coldly.
“I can’t make it. I’m having breakfast with Joshua before my appointment,” she said, making him stumble.
Fucking Joshua.
The bastard was always around, always laughing and smiling with Izzy while he had to be the bad guy. He almost hated his brother as much as he loved him. It pissed him off knowing that he couldn’t allow himself the pleasure of spending time with his mate, but Joshua could.
That was probably because his brother didn’t have a wife and daughter to worry about. He did. All the f**king time, he worried about them.
************
“Don’t you think you’re getting a little fat?” Joshua asked, trying to steal the coffee roll off her tray.
“Stop!” she said, laughing when he pouted. She’d tell him to go and grab another one, but she’d grabbed the last two. She loved the compound’s cafeteria. It was large, but without the cafeteria feel. The room was large, with oak wood trimming, beautiful cream tiles, small oak tables along with long ones for large groups to eat together before and after patrol and of course it had Helga.
She loved Helga.
Helga ran the cafeteria. It ran twentyfour hours a day.
She could get breakfast any time of day, pizza, hamburgers and if she asked in advance she could have an entire turkey dinner any time she wanted. When she left in a few weeks she was going to try and kidnap Helga.
“I’m starving,” he said, reaching for it again, but she ignored his pathetic little hurt expression and took a huge bite out the warm pastry.
“Fine,” he said, sniffing. “Then I’m going to show you the surprise.”
“Yes, you will,” she said, stealing his orange juice and taking a sip, knowing he couldn’t keep anything from her. Over the last couple of months they’d grown close, very close. He was her best friend and pain in the ass.
He amused her, kept her entertained and held her when she couldn’t take it anymore. She lost count of how many of his shirts she’d soaked with her tears.
He sighed heavily as he took his juice back and finished it off. His eyes glimmered with humor and she wasn’t too surprised to find Chris glowering at them from across the room.
“He wants to kill me,” Joshua said brightly.
“No,” she mumbled, “he just wants me to leave.”
“There is that,” Joshua conceded. “But I think that he thinks it’s for your own good.”
“It doesn’t matter what he wants. I’m staying,” she said, for probably the thousandth time. She didn’t care what he wanted or thought anymore. The only thing that mattered was her baby, her little girl. He didn’t want them, then that was fine because in less than two weeks she was moving into her new home. There she could live a full life, go out, enjoy her life and raise her child in peace while she still worked. Joshua must have read the expression on her face and knew what she was thinking.
“Have you told him yet?”
“It’s none of his business.”
“He’ll find out soon enough since the rest of the family is going with you,” he said sighing as he stole a pancake off her plate.
She shrugged, knowing that there was no way to hide it from him since he was no doubt going to be coming with them. Yes them, apparently she’d inherited his entire family and they didn’t want to let her go, which actually felt pretty good. It was nice to be a part of a family for once.