“What the bloody hell is he doing?” I say out the corner of my mouth.
“Reid, remember what I told you?” my woman says softly beside me. “Cut the growling too, you sound like an animal.”
“Eeev—”
“Reeeid—”
“He’s holding her.”
“Yup, got eyes too.” She’s sassing me. “Does she look afraid?”
“No.”
She looks happy.
“Then… let’s roll with it and see where they’re going.”
Rolling.
Ev’s words of wisdom can’t be denied, so I plaster a smile on my face, which hurts my cheeks.
“You look constipated.” Evelyn is trying not to show her amusement.
I move my facial muscles about. “Is this better?”
She squeezes my arm. “They’re adults, just like we are,” she rushes the words out under her breath.
I stand a little taller when they reach us.
“Hi, Sara—and Edge.” I begrudgingly add his name on.
“You’re both finally awake! And you can call me Whisper. You’re just in time to come outside with us and see what Phoenix and the guys have been up to,” she tells us, excitement in her eyes. I plaster a happy smile back on my face. I’ve missed the transition from Sara, back to Whisper.
I nudge Evelyn gently. “See what you made me miss out on, love, I could have been helping outside,” I say, attempting a good-natured disposition, but I really want to snatch Whisper from Edge’s arms. Instead I lean down and give my girl a kiss on her cheek.
Surprising me, she links her arms around my neck encouraging me to hug her back. She whispers in my ear, “Edge knows I’m pregnant and I’m glad you’re here with Dr. Castille. You two look good together.”
I hold her until I’m ready to let go.
I step back eyeing Edge up. Another alpha male has invaded my family and there is never any room for two alphas in a pack. And Edge is no beta.
“Boxer?” Whisper’s soft voice sounds miles away.
Evelyn clears her throat and I swing my attention around to her.
“It’s not polite to stare.” Oh shit, I was standing here like a right git having a conversation in my head.
“Sorry, I was miles away. Well, from the look of things, Ev, we need to rug up and get ourselves outside.”
“Do I need to check you over first, honey,” Evelyn asks. “Are you in any pain, Whisper?”
“I’m okay.”
“Whisper, speak up if you need anything,” Evelyn urges, gently. “I promise the painkillers won’t put you to sleep or hurt the baby.” Annnd there is that little pink or blue elephant in the room. “They just make your pain manageable and we won’t force you to feel pain unnecessarily.”
“Yes please.”
She turns the color of a tomato when Evelyn mentions the baby, but Edge stands a little straighter.
“I’ve been hurting for a while now,” she confesses. “I guess I’ve forgotten I can speak up. Edge brought me something to eat and I don’t feel like I’m going to hurl it up, but the nausea is still there.”
I watch Edge’s jaw tighten when reminded of what she has been put through, what his father started. A curtain of guilt darkens his eyes and when Whisper looks up at him, he mentally scrubs it away softening them for her, hiding his own pain that can’t be cured so easily.
Christ, the man is suffering.
I give Edge a sharp nod in appreciation for him looking after her while I was ‘sleeping’, and he responds with an incline of his head.
Small steps and all that crap.
“Now would be the best time, honey, while you’re not fighting the urge to vomit and the painkiller has time to work. Edge will take you down to the kitchen where I have my medical bag and anything else I need, and I’ll be able to give you something there. Okay?”
“Okay, and then we go outside.” She’s determined, and that’s a good sign.
“Lead the way, Edge.” I step out of the way taking Evelyn with me to let them pass.
It’s going to take me a while to be on the same page as this Edge and Whisper thing, but I’ll try for Whisper. She deserves that from me.
They are nearly down the stairs before I move Evelyn with me, stepping onto the first step.
“Thank you for keeping your head in front of Whisper. I know it was hard for you,” she murmurs, one arm around me.
“You have no idea,” I say, for her ears only.
“I let you into my life because you are a good man, you’re my man,” she says in a low husky voice. “You may find there are a lot of similarities in the way you both look after your woman—shooting them isn’t one of them, of course. But if you watch him around her…”
“I know what you’re trying to do, Ev.”
“Is it working?”
My hand swings up gently taking a hold of the back of her neck, my thumb lazily rubbing her nape, the act soothing me, maybe more than her.
“You’re buttering me up,” I say out of the corner of my mouth. “Later tonight, my woman… you will pay for drugging me, with your mouth.”
A small sexy gasp escapes her.
My threat pleases her, so I let my hand lightly travel down her spine following the curve of her back. I cup her firm buttock, sliding my hand toward the middle, letting one finger glide underneath to find that sweet spot, and I apply a little pressure, before removing my hand. My head lowers and I kiss her hard, with a lot of tongue action. “It’s a promise, Evelyn,” I remind her.
And then we walk around to the kitchen where Edge and Whisper are talking to Miss Catherine.
And then I see Miss Catherine’s face.
“EEEDGE—!”