Chapter 49

Rachel POV

Bella & Rachel's Apartment

Luck would have it I was still awake when the pounding on the door came.

"I'll get it!"

Jack and Bella were curled up in one corner of the couch while I had been lounging in the other, acutely aware of my solitary state.

I'd taken to holding my hand over the bulge of my belly. There were sometimes flutters inside me now. Some books said I should feel more by now while others echoed only the feelings I already noted myself.

Werewolf pregnancies were meant to be faster developing than those of a standard human though we carried our young the same length of time.

My child was a boy or a girl by now. A human would have had to wait longer, I think, but I had chosen to wait to learn my baby's gender only out of a selfish desire to protect myself from the knowledge.

I threw the door open without concern for who might be on the other side.

"Rachel."

In hindsight, I realized I should have at least peeked out the window before being so reckless. I knew Tyler wouldn't hurt me, but what about Nathan Lewis? What if one or the other of them decided they were tired of waiting for me to make a decision and chose to steal me from my home again---this time for good?

"Tyler," I acknowledged, blinking in confusion at the Alpha standing on my door with pizza boxes as if he were commonly used to delivering food to doors at all hours, "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I brought you food."

I searched my memory for a time when Tyler had brought home food for me. I couldn't recall a single instance when he'd ever brought me so much as a sandwich though I remembered day after day after day I had embarrassed myself bringing him lunches at work.

"Do I look as if I'm not eating?"

Some people whispered Tyler threw my food away. I was always too much of a coward to ask. No one needed to know how many tears I had shed over all those forgotten meals.

"You're pregnant. Pregnant women like food."

Trust Tyler to cut right to the heart of the matter. I had to hand it to him: he was wonderful when he was direct. Would we have had a chance together if I had tried being direct with him from the very start?

"It smells amazing. Where is it from?"

Tyler gave me a grin as he offered the boxes to me, "Giovanni's. They're a family-owned pizzeria. I've never had better. I have to fight Adam when I order because they put crispy basil on top. He steals it all for himself."

I had never heard of the place, but I didn't think much of it since New York City was a place made of tiny neighborhoods where every one of them had their own specialty.

Never had I considered whether Tyler shared meals with Adam. They were Alpha and Beta. I knew Adam was Tyler's friend in the way I knew his position placed him closer to Tyler than any other in the pack. It seemed fitting they shared their table even if Tyler didn't like sharing his with me.

Taking the boxes, I asked, "I take it this is your favorite pizza?"

"It is. I bought the place."

Tyler looked almost sheepish at the admission, but it was completely like him. A son of John Wright would have thought the best course of action would be to buy the restaurant who made his favorite food.

These were the kind of men who thought they could own the world.

Alphas.

"Would you like to come in?"

I offered even though I didn't want him in my apartment right then any more than I wanted any other Alpha barging into my home.

"No," Tyler said, surprising both of us, "I think I want to go home. I want you to eat while the food is still hot. I want to think---you enjoyed something I did for you."

My body felt awash with heat as his gaze moved over my form. It was almost as if he'd reached out to caress me with his hands, but he didn't touch so much as my fingers.

All the days of our mating had bled together in my mind. We were bad for each other in so many ways, but my body only remembered the good parts. I had known more than a little enjoyment from Tyler's hands.

"Thank you for thinking of me."

He gave me a short bow I didn't deserve even if I were an offspring of an Alpha House. I saw him hesitate for a moment before he spoke.

"Text me to tell me if you enjoy it?"

We had reconnected from texts. Was it possible we could right our wrongs through the conveniences of modern technology? I could imagine a world in which we reclaimed one another almost as easily as I could imagine spending the next years of my life alone.

"I will. Will you text me back? Just because you want to talk to me?"

Tyler grinned, "I will."

I gave him a foolish attempt at a curtsy in reply and he laughed at me outright. I could hear his youth in a way I didn't expect. We were both of us younger than the burdens we carried. Had it always been this way for our people?

Humans had such silly ideas about werewolves. They all believed we mated for life yet thought it was through some magic rather than the whims of the Moon Goddess. None of them understood we weren't so very different from them.

Without access to my wolf, I was only a young woman accepting food from my lover before he skipped away from me in the night.

Adam was waiting in the car for him. I knew he wouldn't see me, but I waved as he drove away all the same; a part of my soul which was still girlish woke up to call out for my love to come back to me because I couldn't stand us to be parted even if I didn't know how we could be together.

I found Bella and Jack sitting forward on the couch when I entered the living room. They were both looking at me as if they feared for my life. I wasn't sure they were wrong to be afraid. I wanted to gamble my life in that moment because I wanted to know my lover's touch again.

I didn't want to raise my child alone.

The realization shouldn't have been so earth-shattering.

"Tyler brought us pizza. From Giovanni's which is apparently a pizzeria he owns."

Jack and Bella seemed frozen in place as I settled the boxes on the coffee table. I didn't know what else to say so I went to get plates and smiled as I heard them burst into laughter behind me.

Was pizza enough of a peace offering to salvage a love so damaged as ours? Why not? Stranger things had happened.