Chapter Five - Men Don't Get Pregnant

Carter remembered the metal baseball bat that he kept by the door to defend himself in case of a break-in.

He picked it up and swung it at Dallas in a rage.

But Dallas moved faster than anything Carter had ever seen, faster than humanly possible, one hand coming up to close around the bat without even looking at it, stopping the swing dead in the air.

Then he pulled it out of Carter’s grip, squeezed the solid hunk of metal into a tiny ball as if it were a piece of paper and threw it on the floor without breaking a sweat.

Carter backed up fast, stepping away from the freakishly strong beast of a man and raised his hands in surrender, his survival instincts ringing in his head.

“Shouldn’t you be happy to see your mate?” Dallas asked pleasantly, stepping past the doorframe into Carter’s apartment, his massive frame blocking out the light.

“Get out of my house, or I’m calling the police.” Carter spat. His eyes darted to his phone on the coffee table.

It was a long shot. He most likely wouldn’t be able to get his phone, turn it back on and call 911 all before Dallas noticed, but he had to try.

“You won’t.”

“Watch me.”

Dallas closed the door behind him and turned to look around the apartment.

He didn’t look pleased, probably because the place was a mess and he was used to the luxury that his family’s incredible wealth provided.

“You won’t call the police,” he said again, “because humans cannot be informed about the existence of people like me. And even if you tried…”

He looked back at Carter with another one of those evil smirks, “…our mate bond wouldn’t let you do something that could bring any harm to me. You’d find that instinct disappearing before you hit dial. You might not understand why yet. But you’d feel it.”

Carter’s jaw tightened. “The mate bond. Right.” He crossed his arms.

Dallas kept saying that word over and over again… mate. Why?

Had he suddenly developed an Australian accent? Or had he finally gone crazy after spending most of high school getting concussions on the football field?

“People like you. What does that mean, exactly? What are you?” Carter asked, inching towards his phone.

“I’m a werewolf.”

Carter scoffed, “A werewolf? Like in the movies?”

“I’m the real deal, pet. An Alpha, leader of my pack.” Dallas continued, “And when I marked you last night, you became part of my pack and my mate. It's time for you to start learning about the traditions of the family you'll soon be joining."

“You’ve lost your mind,” Carter said flatly, inching once more towards his phone, “You seriously need to leave my apartment right now before I—”

“I heard what you said on the phone with your parents,” Dallas announced out of nowhere.

“What?” Carter gasped.

“We werewolves have superior hearing to humans, and I was interested in getting information about my in-laws.”

He continued, “Join my pack, accept our mate bond, and I’ll make sure your family never lacks for anything ever again. ”

“I don’t care how rich your family is. I don’t care that your father is basically the President! I don’t want your filthy money. Just get out!” Carter yelled.

Dallas simply ignored him, then casually walked over to his bedroom.

He stopped in front of his engagement ring box on the nightstand, glaring angrily at it.

“On second thought, don’t pack. I don’t want you bringing any of this with you.” Dallas frowned with annoyance, “It has that woman… Susan? Samantha?...”

“You mean Sophie? My fiance? The one you stole from me.” Carter hissed, feeling rage rip through him again.

“Exactly, yes. It has her scent all over it.” Dallas growled like an animal would, jealousy written all over his face.

The audacity of this man! Carter thought. Barging into his home, spouting nonsense gibberish and then throwing his fiancés infidelity in his face!

“Get downstairs to the limo, my driver is waiting. I’ll make sure you’ll have replacements waiting for you at our home.” Dallas ordered.

“Forget it! Whatever last night was—” He tried to make one final step towards his phone. “Whatever last night was, it was a mistake, and I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, so…”

Carter never made it to his phone. A strong wave of nausea hit him without warning, and he stumbled to the side.

He grabbed the nearest shelf with both hands to steady himself as the room tilted around him, gasping for breath.

Dallas went very still. His composed, lightly amused expression fell away, and he became far more alert.

He sniffed the air suspiciously like a dog would… or a wolf… and walked over to Carter, close enough that Carter could smell that maddening woodsy cologne scent again.

“Have you been feeling well?” Dallas asked, his voice becoming serious, “Since last night. Since we…”

“Don’t.” Carter held up a hand, still gripping the shelf with the other.

“Don’t bring that up. I told you. It didn’t happen. It’s not… Oh no.”

The room swam again. Carter felt himself falling forward as his legs turned to jelly. Help me, he thought.

And then Dallas caught him. One arm came around Carter’s back, gently supporting his weight like it was nothing, pulling him upright.

“You’re okay. I’ve got you.” Dallas assured him, though his voice sounded muffled and faraway to Carter.

His face pressed against Dallas’s broad chest, and that was the last thing he felt before the world turned dark.

Carter opened his eyes to bright white light and the smell of antiseptic.

There was a doctor leaning over him with a small light, peering into his eyes while a nurse stood behind the doctor with a tablet in her hands, her expression carefully blank.

“There he is,” the doctor said, “Welcome back. Can you tell me your name?”

“Carter,” he said. His mouth tasted like cotton. “Carter Whitfield. Where am I? What happened?”

“You fainted. You’re in the hospital.” He clicked the light off and straightened. “We’ve run some more tests. We’re just waiting on some confirmation, but…”

The doctor glanced at the nurse, and both of them looked worried for whatever reason, making Carter really uncomfortable.

He turned his head and found Dallas sitting in a chair beside the bed, his long legs stretched out in front of him, arms folded, gazing calmly at him.

“Dallas.” Carter croaked, “What’s going on? What happened to me?”

Dallas said nothing.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on? Do I have an STD or something?” Carter asked the room.

The doctor cleared her throat, anxiously holding the test results in both hands, “No. It's nothing like that Mr. Whitfield. But after a thorough examination, and several rounds of retesting just to be sure…”

He paused. “We’ve found something quite unexpected.”

Carter felt a cold sense of unease move through him.

“What?” he asked. “Found what?”

He looked at Carter, then he looked at the nurse. She looked worriedly at Carter, nervously fiddling with the tablet.

“Mr Whitfield,” the doctor said. “You’re pregnant.”

Carter waited for him to continue, to laugh, maybe, or say that he actually had the wrong file, or the wrong room, or the wrong patient.

When no explanation came, he pushed himself upright, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Charge the bill to my account.”

He reached for his jacket, draped over the back of the chair.

"I understand you may have been testing something, or… I don’t know, but I’m not in the mood for whatever messed-up joke this is. It’s deeply unprofessional of you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d just…”

“Mr Whitfield—”

“Men don’t get pregnant.” He said simply, about to step out, “You’re a doctor, you should know that.”

Dallas stood up from the chair and moved to the door in one smooth motion, positioning himself directly in front of it, so Carter couldn’t leave.

“I knew I smelled something on you. I had to bring you here just to make sure my instincts were correct. You’re pregnant with my…” He sniffed the air again, “…son.”

The doctor and nurse were still talking, their voices overlapping behind them, “remarkable, we’ve never seen something like…” “… have to run further tests.” But Carter barely heard them because he was looking at Dallas.

“Move,” Carter said. He’d always wanted a family of his own, and he loved kids, but this? This was crazy! He had to get out of there.

Dallas grinned, a look of smug satisfaction spreading across his face. “There’s no way I’m letting the carrier of my heir walk out of here without me.”

Carter glared at his arch nemesis. “Your heir?”

“Yes. My heir. Unless you’ve had sex with another werewolf since last night.” Dallas tilted his head, “…which I’m going to assume you haven’t, given the timeline.”

The whole room went quiet.

“Now. Sit down, mate. We have a lot to discuss.” Dallas smirked. “Starting with, what are we going to name him?”