“This is no time for jokes, Elena.”
“I’m not joking. I’m pregnant.”
He stared at her.
Elena’s smile faded. “Say something.”
But he didn’t speak. Instead, he placed his hand over her womb, his expression intense. “It is a girl.”
“What?”
“The baby,” he said, his voice filled with awe. “It is a girl.” He shook his head. “If I hadn’t been so involved with events at the Fortress, I wouldn’t have missed the echo of your heartbeat.”
“You can hear the baby’s heartbeat?”
He nodded.
“How do you know it’s a girl?”
“I know.”
“You don’t look very happy.”
He drew her into his arms. “Of course I am.”
“But?”
“I did not think it was possible. I know it has happened occasionally in the past, but so rarely that I put the thought out of my mind.” His arms tightened around her. “I love you, wife.”
Lowering his head, he kissed her, hoping to avoid any more conversation, at least for the moment. And all the while, in the back of his mind, he was remembering Stefan and how devastated his brother had been when the mortal woman he loved had died in childbirth.
When they returned to the Fortress, Drake sent Elena to their apartment, then called a meeting of the Council. He also bid Andrei and Katiya to attend, as well as his brother Stefan.
“I am leaving the Fortress,” Drake announced when those who had been summoned were seated. “Andrei will be in charge while I am away. His word is to be obeyed as my own. Stefan, you will be second-in-command.”
“Where are you going?” Andrei asked.
“Back to Wolfram with Elena. She is with child. I do not want her here.”
“She is pregnant?” Katiya exclaimed. “Oh, but that is wonderful.”
Drake nodded, aware that Stefan was watching him closely. “Let us hope so.”
Chapter 31
“Leaving?” Elena stared at Drake. “Where are we going?”
“Back to Wolfram.”
“But . . . why?”
“Would you rather stay here?”
She bit down on the corner of her lip. Did she want to stay at the Fortress? She had few friends back home. She loved Wolfram, but she knew she would miss Andrei and Katiya, Northa, Marta, and Elnora. And Stefan. But Wolfram was home, and it would be nice to be alone with Drake.
“No,” she said. “I guess not. Is it all right for you to leave?”
“I am the Master of the Coven,” he said. “I can do whatever I choose. And I choose to leave. Are you ready to go?”
She grinned. Sometimes she forgot that her husband didn’t need mortal transportation, that he could simply will himself wherever he wished to be. “I’m ready,” she said, then frowned. “It won’t hurt the baby?”
“No. Is there anything you want to take with you?”
Elena shook her head. There was really nothing here that belonged to her. Except Drake.
He folded her in his embrace, kissed the top of her head, and once again, she felt herself being carried away through time and space.
When the world righted itself, they were in the living room at Wolfram.
“You look tired,” Drake said, brushing a lock of hair from her cheek. “You should go to bed.”
“Only if you come with me.”
He smiled, a real smile for the first time since he had been appointed Master of the Coven.
“Always my pleasure,” he murmured.
“I think I’d like a bath before we go to bed. Which reminds me. Do you think we could install a bathroom upstairs? A real bathroom, with a tub and a shower and a sink and a toilet.”
“Is tomorrow soon enough?”
She made a face at him. “I guess so, if you can’t do it tonight.”
He swatted her on the rump. “Go, take your bath. I will be back soon.”
Elena nodded. He was going out to feed. She would have to get used to that, now that there were no sheep to satisfy his hunger.
Elena had bathed and changed into her nightgown by the time Drake returned. She tried not to think of where he had been, or wonder who he had fed on, or what it tasted like, but the questions flooded her mind. She would always be curious about that part of his life, always wonder what it was like.
“You could come with me next time,” he remarked, sitting beside her on the sofa.
“I don’t think so. Hey! I thought you weren’t going to read my mind anymore.”
“Sometimes I cannot help it.”
“Hmm.” She canted her head to the side. “Is feeding on a stranger different than drinking from me?”
“Very much so.”
“Why? Blood is blood.”
“With you, it is more than easing my hunger. Though I do not expect you to understand, it is a way of making love.”
“Do vampires drink from each other?”
He nodded. “It is a pleasurable experience.”
“Better than drinking from humans?”
“It depends on who is drinking from whom.” He trailed his fingertips along the side of her neck. “Nothing equals what I feel when I taste you.”
“Are you hinting for a taste now?”
“Would you mind?”
“No. I like it when you do it.”
Smiling, he took her by the hand. “I think we should continue this conversation in bed.”
Excitement fluttered in the pit of Elena’s stomach as they walked up the stairs. There had been times in their relationship when she had been afraid that Drake was lost to her, that she would have to spend the rest of her life without him. But those days were behind them now. They were back in Wolfram where they belonged, with a baby on the way.
She put all thoughts of the past behind her when Drake drew her gently into his arms. Whispering that he loved her, he kissed her as he backed her toward the bed, then slowly lowered her onto the mattress.
They undressed each other with impatient hands.
She closed her eyes and gave herself into his keeping, sighing as he rained kisses on her cheeks, her brow, the length of her neck. She moaned when his fangs pricked her skin, sighed as their bodies came together, fell asleep with the sound of his voice whispering that he loved her more than life itself.
The next day, Elena couldn’t think of anything but the baby. A girl, Drake had said. After breakfast, she went down the hall to the bedroom next to their own. This would be the nursery. Standing in the middle of the floor, she imagined how she would decorate it. Yellow for the walls, she thought. White furniture. The crib near the window where her daughter would be able to see the sun and the sky. A rocking chair in that corner. New carpeting for the floor, new curtains for the windows. Perhaps a mural on one wall. Maybe a country scene, with baby animals frolicking in a green pasture, or perhaps scenes depicting the Disney princesses. After all, her daughter lived in a castle and would be viewed as a princess in her own right by those in the Fortress.