Lily
When my eyes flutter open, I’m confused. This isn’t my shitty apartment, but a nice master bedroom with furniture that looks like it cost a fortune.
The walls are painted a warm creamy white, and the large open windows let in streams of sunshine, illuminating hummingbird feeders that hang outside. A plush beige rug is spread on the floor, creating an inviting space in front of the tall four-poster bed I’m currently resting on. I’m almost ashamed to be using it. Its pristine white sheets are too nice for a rogue to sleep on.
“That’s right...” I groan to myself and place my hand over the little bump on my stomach, rubbing it as I whisper to myself in an irritated voice. “I told Wesley that I’m pregnant with his child, and he brought me here...shit. How could I forget?”
It’s all coming back to me now. How rude Wesley was in the limousine and how he didn’t even tell me goodnight before disappearing inside his study.
I slowly slip out of bed and grab my robe from the side table. I can smell coffee beans coming from the kitchen, so I tie it on quickly and go downstairs in search of breakfast. As soon as I walk down, I’m met with a portrait hanging over the fireplace.
I recognize the man as Wesley, but the woman with the hand on his chest is someone I’ve never seen before. The two of them look intimate, and something stirs in me when I see it; did Wesley have a mate, or at least a wife, before I walked into the picture? What happened to her?
I study the portrait until I hear someone clear their throat, causing me to spin around. There is a smiling elderly woman with her long silver hair pinned up in a ball at the back of her head. She looks nice.
“Good morning,” she says softly with a sweet smile, her green eyes contrasting with her olive complexion. Even though she is wrinkled and old, she is beautiful.
“Good morning,” I reply and smile back while trying to figure out who this woman is. She seems too old to be Wesley’s mother. “Is there any coffee for me?”
The woman’s eyes light up as she laughs warmly. “Of course! I thought you might be hungry when you woke up, so I made some breakfast. Please, come into the kitchen,” she invites and waves her arm for me to follow her.
I don’t have to be told twice, and once in the kitchen, my mouth begins to water from the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking on the stove. The elderly lady grabs a plate and starts to scoop generous helpings of food onto it before handing it over to me.
“My name is Eva,” she introduces herself as she takes out another plate so we can enjoy breakfast together. “I assume you’re Lily?”
I gasp. “Did Wesley already tell you about me?” She must be his grandmother or another relative if Wesley has talked to her about me.
“No, I just have a gift to see things,” she gives me a mischievous smile and takes a seat. I sit down across from her, watching as she cuts into her pancakes. “How long have you been pregnant with my grandson’s child?”
“Three months...” I don’t see a point in hiding it if she has a gift to see things.
“Oh, it’s a human child then,” she smiles.
I’m shocked that she isn’t upset, considering she is a member of the Alpha family and probably expected a more powerful heir. “That...that doesn’t bother you?”
“No. I think it will be interesting to have a great-grandchild born as a human.”
I blink. “Are you insinuating that our child will turn out to be something else later on?”
“Yes,” she chuckles behind her coffee cup. “We haven’t had a human child in the Brooks family for a very long time, and I doubt your child will be the first in generations. They are a late-bloomer but not a human.”
I tilt my head. “Did your gift show you that?”
“Yes,” she smiles. “I might have had a vision about your child, but my visions don’t always come true,” her eyes grow curious. “Tell me, does my ability bother you?”
“No.”
Oddly enough, it calms me to think about Eva’s ability. It feels like I can be honest without judgment because the chances are she already knows what I might tell her.
“Then tell me what is upsetting you,” she says. “I know that there is something.”
I fight a grimace. “I’m fine...”
“You don’t look fine, dear. Your energies are all over the place, so why don’t you tell me what is upsetting you, hmm? Let Granny Eva help.”
“I-I really don’t want to trouble you with my problems.”
“You won’t be troubling me. We are family.”
Her words make my heart flutter. I’ve never had someone call me their family before, and it sounds like Eva means her words. I look at her, and her wrinkled smile is so genuine that I blurt out the next thing on my mind, “I don’t belong here.”
Eva pauses, but she doesn’t look too surprised. “You’re a rogue, darling, but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong here.”
I give her a sad smile. “That’s not all my problems.”
“There are more?”
“Your grandson hates me.”
It shocks me when Eva snorts. “Oh, dear, my grandson hates everything and everyone. It’s just the way Wesley is. He takes life and his work too seriously. Perhaps he will snap out of it someday. At least one can hope.”
“Well, I hope he comes out of it before our child is born...”
“Why is that dear?”
I hesitate, but then I just say it. “Because he wishes to take care of our child alone and be a single parent. He...” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip. This is the hardest thing to say without crying. “Wesley doesn’t think I have what it takes to stay clean.”
Silence falls, and I stare down at the table. Eva is perfectly still, and I can feel her eyes silently studying me. Not in a judging way, but in a more thoughtful way, as if she is trying to find the right words to say. I really don’t think she has it in her to be mean. Unlike Wesley, Eva radiates kindness.
“You’re Wesley’s second chance, mate, aren’t you?”
My eyes snap to her. “W-what? No. I mean, he said we were mates, but he is my first one.”
Her smile is bittersweet. “You’re not Wesley’s first mate. She died two years ago. Wesley never recovered,” her eyes travel to the portrait that is hanging outside of the kitchen. “Her name was Mirelle, and her death might be the reason why Wesley is so mean.”
I swallow thickly. “What happened to her?”
Eva sighs. “I wish I could tell you, but that story is not mine to tell. If you want to know what happened, I’m sure Wesley will tell you once he feels ready.”
I frown. “As if that jerk would ever tell me anything...”
Only when Eva laughs do I realize I spoke out loud. I hadn’t meant for her to hear my thoughts, but she doesn’t seem even one bit offended that I just insulted her grandson. If anything, I can sense her amusement.
“Wesley may not be the best communicator, but he does have a good heart.”
“Hard to believe...” I mutter.
“Why?”
“Because he is so...” I think of Wesley and how cold he treated me yesterday and shudder. “Cold.” Scary. Mean. Intimidating. Tall. An Alpha without a heart.
“Hmm... Perhaps he just needs someone to break down his walls,” Eva says. “And I have a feeling that someone may just be you, Lily.”
I look at her skeptically. “I don’t know about that. He seems pretty set in his ways.”
Eva smiles. “We will see. In the meantime, just focus on taking care of yourself and our little one. I have a feeling that things will start falling into place soon enough.”
A feeling of happiness surges through me at Eva’s words. It’s strange, but being around Eva already makes me feel like I have a family again. She is a very kind woman, and I would love to have her as my grandma. Wesley is lucky.
As we finish breakfast, Eva tells me stories about her past and her experiences with her gift. I listen intently, feeling like I’m getting to know a side of Wesley’s family that he never bothered to share with me. It’s refreshing, and for the first time, I feel like I’m not so alone in this new world I’ve found myself in. Eva is most definitely a friend.
Perhaps everything isn’t as hopeless as I thought.