Trashed & Treasured

30

For the longest time, I laid in bed caught between sleep and awake. My eyes are still closed but I'm very aware of the hand gliding across my stomach. I felt the prickling of Dominic's chin hair as he pressed his lips to my belly forcing a smile and my eyes to finally meet his.

"Good Morning Daddy," I whispered running my hand up his arm and into his hair.

He beamed back at me with eyes full of pride, "Good Morning. I didn't wake you doing this did I?" The smile that was lighting up our still dark bedroom fell instantly replaced by an expression of concern.

"Of course not." His smile returned as he grabbed my hand and kissed my palm.

"Good because I can't stop."

I laughed lifting my hand and laced my fingers between his, "Can't or won't?"

"A little bit of both. I'm so amazed by the fact that my child is here. All night I laid beside you thinking about my life before you—those lonely years where I couldn't see happiness for myself. I really thought I was going to die a lonely bitter old man. I sat up and just watched you in awe of how happy you've made me. In my mind, I just kept thinking this has to be a dream so to convince myself that it's not I've been rubbing your stomach and talking to my boy."

"Your boy?" My brows fused together and my smile returned. "Baby I've looked at that picture over and over and saw nothing that suggests that the baby is a boy."

He shook his head, "But I know we're having a boy."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"He told me." My brows came together again and this time instead of a smile I met him with a curious glare that I had no chance to voice before he explained further. "We bonded while you were sleeping—his wolf and mine."

Still, I looked at him like he was speaking in some kind of language I couldn't understand. To my knowledge, we're born with our wolves but don't connect to them until the age of puberty. We've been called "special cases" enough for me to not be surprised about anything that happens with us anymore but this even sounds crazy to me.

"Really? So what else did he tell you then?"

Dominic smiled at me knowingly, snorting over my last thought of him being crazy. "I don't mean it like he's talking to me, Jade. It's just very strong feelings. I have this feeling the baby is going to be a boy. He'll be widely respected even as a kid and be more powerful than the two of us combined."

My eyes widened a little remembering what happened when Hemming touched me. "Yeah...powerful." I sat up forcing Dominic to move with me, pulling my legs underneath me to allow him the room to get closer to me, "I should have told you this last night but I didn't want to ruin our moment. Hemming felt his wolf when he touched my stomach yesterday." I tried the 'ripping the band-aid off' method hoping his reaction would be nothing like mine.

For a second I saw happiness in Dominic's eyes then all too quickly it faded I guess as he replayed those words in his head and what it actually meant. He exhaled sharply dropping his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "So the second he's born he's going to have the weight of the world on his shoulders? There has to be another way! There has to be something I can do!"

Scooting closer to him I gripped his hand holding it between both of mine in an attempt to calm him. "That was my concern too. I want the baby to be able to be a carefree child for as long as possible since they didn't ask to be born into this but you and I both have done everything we can with everything we know. I don't think we have any other choice but to wait it out."

Dominic sighed again pinching the bridge of his nose. I know exactly what he's feeling considering my reaction was pretty much the same. A child no matter who they are should never be faced with such high expectations. I'm just worried that that will only be the beginning. With the baby being stronger than us, will people start looking to him or her to do things? Will they be seen as a threat or a bargaining chip? Look at how many people of power have had their children kidnapped for ransom. When Dominic and I first came out with what we could do the first thing people thought was the worse. Abuse of power, harsh treatment, a change in our way...what if they fear my baby for those reasons too? Maybe I'm overthinking on this but I can't help but wonder and part of me feels like Dominic might just be on the same page with that thinking.