“Don’t be. I understand you feel at fault, but it’s not your fault at all. We’re born how we’re born. As much as I love living in Alyra with our friends and family, I’m also angry that there are no exceptions to their laws for instances like ours. You. Are.Mine. We’ve known it all our lives. It’s shitty, cruel, and unacceptable that they’d still split us up.”
Iri sniffles. Closing his eyes, he nods.
“When do we leave?” he whispers.
“Eight weeks. We’ll pack just enough that it follows the story that we’re going on vacation.”
“Why don’t we tell the truth?” he asks. “We’re allowed to leave if we want to.”
“We are,” I agree. “But I’d like to avoid the exit interview process if I can.” I’m not sure I can explain the uneasy feeling I get when I think about it. There’s a feeling in my gut that says we don’t want to go through it. More specifically, I shouldn’t let Iri go through it. A coveted, rare breedable.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, and there’s the hurt again.
I bring his forehead to mine. His sweet honey caramel fills my lungs, making my cock pulse in my pants. “Because stress changes your body chemistry and can make it even more difficult to conceive,” I explain. “I didn’t want you to put more pressure on yourself.”
“Eight weeks. That’s it?”
I kiss his lips. “Sweetheart, our year is up in nine.”
He flinches as if I’d just punched him in the gut. A whoosh of air leaves his lungs that almost sounds like a sob. “So soon?”
“Yes.”
Iri takes a breath. For one short minute, we’re silent. Then he springs from my lap and practically sprints into the bedroom.
“What just happened?” I ask, sitting forward.
“I’m going to take a test,” he calls over his shoulder before disappearing into our bedroom toward the connected bathroom. His voice carries to me before I hear a door close. “I’ll be right back.”
I’m left sitting there dumbfounded and staring after him. That was a strange turn of events. But… at least he’s taking a test again. Right?
LUKEN
I lean backin the chair with a heavy sigh and close my eyes. My phone beeps a couple times with incoming texts. Probably because I stopped responding when I got sidetracked with Iri.
My eyes open and I look at all the files Iri found that are open on the computer screen. I wasn’t hiding it, exactly. The folder is sitting on the desktop labeled ‘One Year.’ I guess he either never noticed it before or simply never cared to look until today.
Maybe I left something up, and he followed the file trail to the folder. That’s also entirely possible. There’s a good chance that I was subconsciously doing something so Iri would find the folder and prompt a response from me. Then I could stop hiding it and tell him.
I pull out my phone and send them a message again.
Me
Well, he knows.
Hakan
You can’t just leave it at that. What happened?
Instead of typing it all, I hit the call button on the chat, and three faces immediately pop up. They’re together. Becausethey’re always together. I smile when I see them and can’t help but imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by their warmth right now. Holding Iri in my arms while our pack surrounds us.
“What happened?” Hakan repeats.
Sighing, I relay the events.
“Ouch,” Rhydian says. “I think you should have thought that through a little better than keeping it on your desktop, baby.”
I grin and close my eyes again. “I think I wanted to be caught. I never wanted to keep it a secret. Keeping a secret makes it feel wrong. I just didn’t want to burden him with something else that’s going to put pressure on him.”