Coming Home To You

Chapter 7

His POV

I feel a prick on my arm followed by a heated sensation. Starting in my arm and hand, the sensation moved through my body. It felt like electricity was jumping from one cell to another.

Then as soon as it started, it was gone.

I cracked my eyes open for a moment as my beautiful sunshine stared down at me. I wanted to reach out. I wanted to hold her.

Then I blinked, and she was gone.

She wasn't here. She was never here, I tell myself as the realization sets in my mind, She was just a hallucination. I'm not with her.

I closed my eyes again as the darkness crept back into my vision. I could feel my body being moved, but I couldn't fight it.

As I fell deeper, I could only think one thing.

I'll make it home, Sunshine. I'll make it home to both of you.

*****

A Year Ago

I wake to a light caress of the sun on my skin as a smile takes my lips. After spending nearly a century alone, I had finally found my soulmate. Every day for the last decade, I have woken happy and fulfilled.

However, the last few years have been tough on her. The soul mark, which had started as a small design on the back of her neck, completed itself as the design wove over her shoulder and around her heart.

Once the mark finished, our connection became unbreakable. Five years ago, she stopped aging. She was still human, but she could heal herself to a degree where she would never get sick and injuries heal in half the time. She was stronger and faster than normal now, but it couldn't stop her pain from saying goodbye to her friends or to her mother.

I would do anything to take her pain away, but the one thing I could not guarantee her was a family of our own. Lycan pregnancies were rare. Most soulmates only have one child. I only knew of a handful of lycans who had siblings and they were usually decades apart in age.

Picturing my Sunshine holding our child fills my mind with a happiness I could only dream of.

One day, I tell myself, Hopefully, one day.

I reached over to feel my soul on our bed, but the cold surface met my touch. Lifting my head off my pillow, I looked around our empty bedroom.

Reaching for our bond, I could feel her close, "Sunshine?" I call out through the house as I slide out of bed and throw on a pair of sweatpants. not bothering with a shirt, I head out of the room and call for her again.

"I'm in the kitchen," her voice rings out before I hear her start to hum a melody to herself.

Walking into the kitchen, I'm greeted to the sight of a beautiful brunette wearing only my T-shirt, moving around as she flips pancakes in the skillet. I swiftly cross the wood to stand behind her.

Wrapping my arms around her waist, she immediately relaxes into my hold.

"Morning," I kiss the side of her head before nuzzling into her neck to lay a few more kisses there as well.

She giggles as I brush against her ticklish spot, "Good morning to you too."

"Now you see it would be a good morning, but I found I was missing something extremely vital when I woke up."

"And what were you missing?" she asks as she turns in my arms to give me her magical smile.

"You," I squeeze her closer to me, "I woke up without you," I tap her nose on the last word as I fake a pout.

"Aww," she kisses me before she turns back around to take the pancakes off the burner and plating our breakfast, "And I wanted today to be perfect for us."

"And how do I make it perfect?" I ask her as I grab both plates and carry them to the table.

She leans against the counter as she answers, "By being happy with the surprise I got you."

"And what did you get me?"

She reaches behind her to grab a small piece of paper off the counter, "Please be happy," she whispers before taking her seat at the table and sliding it towards me.

Nerves start to fill me as I lift the paper into my hands. Taking in a deep breath, I flip it over. My heart stops as I take in the image staring back at me.

"Is this- Are you-" I stutter out my words as my brain tries to wrap itself around the possibility, "Does this mean what I think it does?"

She smiles softly as she bites that lower lip, "I'm pregnant."

I never thought I could fall even more in love with this woman. I was completely alone for so long and when she came into my life, I knew she was an angel. My Sunshine pulled me out of the dark. She accepted the monster I am and chose to love me. Now she is giving me a family.

"You're starting to make me nervous," she pulls me back from my thoughts, "Are you happy?"

"Happy?" I laugh as I stand up so I can pull her into my arms, "Happy doesn't even begin to describe what I feel."

She laughs as she relaxes into my hold, "I know we hadn't talked about it being a real possibility, and with what you told me about how hard it would be and how rare it is for lycans to have a child. I just didn't know-"

I cut off her adorable rambling with a heated kiss. I kept one hand on her waist to hold her closer as I weaved the other through her silky hair. She whimpered into my touch as she kissed me back with the same amount of passion.

We are both panting heavily as we finally pull away, "We're really having a baby?"

She nods as her smile never leaves her lips. Kneeling down in front of her, I place a gentle kiss against her navel.

My soul is carrying my child.

Standing up, I scoop her into my arms. She squeaks at the sudden movement but doesn't protest as I carry her back upstairs.

Placing her on the bed, I quickly remove my shirt from her and kiss her soundly, "I don't know what I could have done to deserve you, but I'll never stop thanking the goddess for giving me you."

She smiles up at me as she places her palm against my cheek, "I love you, Phoenix."

"I love you too, Sunshine," I kiss her before I move lower to place another kiss over the spot my child lays, "And I love you, little one."

*****

I wake up to the pounding of footsteps. Opening my eyelids, I notice half a dozen guards moving down the hall to the restricted cages.

From what I learned from the vampires, the scientists keep their special subjects down there. The creatures who are rarer than even a lycan.

I feel my muscles tighten as the sound of the metal around my wrists jingles. Hearing a creak, I look down at my wrists. The metal had moved.

Not more than a few millimeters, but enough to notice it. Relaxing my body, I feel stronger than before.

For the first moment since I have been here, I start to feel just a bit of hope.