“Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.” A faint ticking filled his wolf’s ears, and Ben’s eyes snapped open.
He pushed himself up to his elbows and looked around the room as the early morning light filtered through the shutters. Not seeing anything out of place, he closed his eyes and laid down on his pillow beside Imara. “Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.” The quick, faint ticking came again, but this time lingered in his ears. He’d heard that sound before on his wife.
Leaning into her neck, his nostrils flared, and when he caught the scent, his eyes pinched shut. His fingertips slid along her silk gown and wrapped around her belly. As the pulse of life surged underneath his palm once again, he whispered so Imara wouldn’t hear it. “Hi, Sweet Pea.”
Imara’s soft whimpers made her stretch her arms above her head, and she rolled back onto Ben. For a second, she forgot all the pain and fear and smiled up at him. “Good morning, handsome.”
His arms encircled her, and he pulled her against his chest.“How are you feeling, Baby?”
The mansion was far from the cottage he built her, and when she realized where she was, her eyes dropped to his chest. “I’ve been better.” Her fingers slithered up his skin until she noticed the wavy orange and silver light that surrounded them. Her eyes moved over the handballed before them before they rose to meet Ben’s. “I’m pregnant.”
“I know.” He pushed the hair from her face. “It’s a”-she shook her head and pressed her fingers to his mouth.
“So, I know you usually train all day, but do you think you could come home early? I just”- her round cheeks lifted under her eyes, but Ben could feel her despair in the pit of his stomach- “I want to spend some time with you.”
“Of course.” His hand grasped her face and pulled her to his lips. “I’ll stay home.”
No matter how hard she tried, her whole body shivered, and little kitten-like whimpers came from her throat. “I’d like that.”
***
The sweet sound of Imara’s humming coming from the kitchen made Thorin wrinkle his nose as he peeked around the doorway. Seeing her flip pancakes on the griddle, his eyes shifted to Ben sitting at the table, who answered his look with a shrug.
“Good morning, Sweet Girl.” The stool screeched along the floor as he pulled it away from the island. “I’m so happy to see you up and about.”
A mountain of cakes on a plate appeared in front of him when she slid it across the counter. “Can’t mope around forever, can I?”
Like an icy hand landed on his back, Thorin’s shoulders shuddered, and his head turned to Ben. A hand wiped across his mouth as his head shook from side to side. “I’m taking the day off, Thorin.”
“Good idea.” While he attacked the considerable amount of pancakes his sister made for him, Thorin peeked up at her. “So, what do the two of you have planned?”
Her hand rubbed at the lie rising from her throat before it waved him off. “I just wanted to spend some time with my husband, is all.”
After a quick scan of the kitchen, Thorin pointed his fork at her. “Why are you cooking breakfast, Imara? Where’s Andre? I pay that man a lot of money to do all this, so we don’t have to.”
Her fingers tugged at her chain as she turned to face him. “I needed a few things, so I sent Andre out to the store. Don’t you like my cooking?”
He smirked as he glanced up to her and shoved a forkful into his mouth. “It’s just wonderful. Thank you.”
As she wiped down the counters, she peeked back over her shoulders at Ben. “What would you like to do today, Sweetheart? This is your day. Whatever you want.”
Ben leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms. “Whatever I want?”
After she threw the washcloth in the sink, she wiped her hands on her apron and turned around. “Yes, of course.”
She inched across the kitchen, and her voice cracked a little more with each suggestion she made. “Um, we could go on a picnic, or we could take a carriage ride. We could go to one of those pictures shows I heard about. I’ve never been to one, but the staff was saying how much fun it was.”
Pushing his plate away, Ben clasped his hands in front of him. “Baby, we could stay here in bed all day if it’s all the same to you.”
She cleared her throat and wiped her fingertips across her cheeks before turning to her brother. “Will you be back for dinner? I was going to have Andre make something special.”
He snatched her hand and tugged her closer. “Are you alright?”
She sniffed back her tears and nodded. “Oh, yes. I’m fine. Everything’s just fine.” The front door opened, and when Imara heard it, she looked over herself. “I’m a mess. I’m going to go get cleaned up.”
Thorin rubbed his hand across his chin as he watched Imara speaking to the cook in the hallway. “Huh. I don’t know about this.”
Ben left his plate in the sink and crossed his arms as he faced Thorin. “She’s pregnant.”
As it all became clear to him, Thorin closed his eyes and shook his head. “Ben, you can’t leave her alone for a second. She’s already made up her mind.”
“I’ll be with her all day.” A finger pointed at Thorin as he backed away. “You still have those guards coming, right?”
He cut into his pancakes and nodded. “They’ll be here in the morning.”
“Good.” Ben tapped the countertop before he turned away. “I’ll see you this evening.”
When Ben closed the bedroom door behind him, Imara was gazing out over the park outside the window. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
His arm wrapped around her waist, and he kissed her forehead. “Yes, it is.”
Her eyes found the little tea set she used to play with on the windowsill, and she smiled. “I was born in this house. Right here in this room a long, long time ago. Almost seventy-five years ago, as a matter of fact.”
Her breaths were short and choppy as she tried to keep herself together, but her voice was raw with fear, and Ben felt it in every atom of his body. “Of course, all this is, well, different. Everything’s so different. If I could, I’d go back home with you right now to our little house. Away from all this noise and all the people.”
“So would I, Baby, in a heartbeat.” He twisted her in his arms until she faced him and dipped down to meet her eyes. “Someday, we’re going to have that back. We’re going to go somewhere and find a little house, and it’ll just be the three of us again.”
Imara slid her hand into Ben’s shirt and felt his bare chest. “I love you, Ben.” Not like the gentlewoman he knew at all, Imara ripped at his buttons and kissed and nipped at his skin.
Collapsing in front of him, Imara yanked him down by his shirt to the Oriental rug that lined her floor. “I need you. Please, love me, Ben.”
All she wanted was to be free for a moment of the curse that owned her soul. And when he pounded her hips into the floor, she felt each chain pop lose of her. With the servants listening in the hall and with tears soaking her face, she screamed out into the air for everything that could never be until Ben’s mouth covered hers. Shaking fingers grasped her face and made her look into his eyes. “Don’t leave me, Imara.”