SKIN (Demon Chaser 4) (6 page)

“I will only agree to move in with you
if you accept that we will sleep in separate rooms and I need to pay my own way.”
It would be tough since she still had her own apartment, which she would keep
just in case, but she would get by somehow.

He nodded, “Fine...” He didn’t look like
he thought it was fine. Gaby felt the tension rise as he continued, “For now.
One other thing though.” His eyes stayed on her. “Is this your real form?”

Gaby nodded. “I can’t change my skin
right now, maybe after the babies are born.”

His mouth became a thin white line and
his jaw clenched. “I’ll make the arrangements to move your things.”

It was clear that Phoenix wasn’t happy
with her current skin, the real her. That strange feeling took a stronger hold.
Oh yes, she knew what that feeling was even though a man had never caused her
to feel this way.  Phoenix had the ability to hurt her and she didn’t like it
one bit.

****

How the hell was he supposed to live
with Gaby and not take her to his bed? She was exactly what he found attractive
in a woman, legs that went on for miles, eyes a man could drown in and her
scent had his cock twitching in his pants. Although the scent of sex was not
nearly as strong as the first time he had met her, it was still there
intermingled with ripe cherries and rich, dark chocolate. Phoenix had to stop
himself from drooling as he was reminded of her decadent taste. Next time he
went between those thighs he would make sure she came in his mouth. There would
be no stopping him when it happened again. If he had anything to say about it,
it would happen in the very near future.

Right now, he could stick to his
original plan which was to get to know her better. They were compatible. This
could work. For the sake of his unborn children he would make it work. Their
needs came above all else and what they needed most of all was a loving family
unit. He prayed that his pack would accept the union, but one step at a time.
For now he needed to get to know his future mate. He also needed to get her
into his bed and prove to her that they were right for one another.

“I need to leave. I have a doctor’s
appointment in half an hour.”

“I’ll take you.”

“I’m sure you have work to do it’s—”

“I will take you. I’ll cancel all of my
meetings and court appearances for every appointment that you have going
forward as well. I will be there when you give birth. This is not negotiable
Gaby,” he added the last part when he saw her look of disapproval.  It would
take time to convince her of his convictions, he still wasn’t sure how he felt
about this himself. He was sure on two things though, one, it was his
responsibility and one not taken lightly and two, there was something there
between himself and Gaby. He planned to use that something to make it work
between them.

Phoenix stared dumbfounded at the
screen.

“I’ll try and get baby A’s face from a
different angle so that we can get a better look.” The image on the screen
bounced around for a few seconds before the doctor finally settled on an angle
that he liked. “There, that’s better.”

Technology was amazing. Phoenix could
make out the silhouette of a face, perfectly formed. His throat felt tight and
he blinked a couple of times. There was no way he was going to cry; he was a
grown ass man for hound’s sake. One thing was certain, he may not have been
sure of his feelings soon after finding out about being a father, but seeing
his children on the screen, hearing the race of their heart beats made a
feeling of pride surge through his veins. These were his pups, his flesh and
blood.  

“Are you sure you don’t want to know the
sex?”

Gaby hesitated a moment. “I think it
should be a surprise.” She looked at Phoenix, almost daring him to disagree.
He’d never actually thought about it until right at that moment. It was a given
that half blood species normally exhibited mostly the traits of the father, but
he found himself longing for a little girl with big green eyes, just like her
mother.

“Everything looks great.” The big doctor
snapped him out of his thoughts as he handed Gaby a wad of paper towels. “The
babies are a little over two kilograms each which is on the small side for
demon wolves but close to the birth weight of demon skins. The organs are fully
formed but it is difficult to say if the lungs are sufficiently developed. The
fetuses
only have one heart and one liver. I therefore think that we are looking at
anywhere between two and four weeks until delivery date. It is believed that
one of the reasons demon skins have a relatively long gestation period is due
to the extra organs.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “We have
to let nature take its course. I am in the process of conducting research into
how skins give birth, but haven’t found much information. I’ll keep at it.”

The doctor gave Gaby a reassuring pat on
the hand that had Phoenix bristling. Damned if he didn’t want to remove that
hand at the wrist. What the hell was wrong with him? This pregnancy had shot
him straight into protective mode. That had to be it.

“I want you to take it easy.” The doctor
looked at Gaby. “You should start to think about going on maternity leave
soon.”

“You said between two and four weeks.
You agree that it could be longer than that?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think so. We don’t know
what to expect, Gaby. Keep that in mind.”

Gaby took hold of the doctor’s hand and
Phoenix had to stop himself from pulling her against him to show the other male
that she was taken. How had he gone from never having a jealous bone in his
body to becoming this ugly green monster?

“I promise to take it easy, but I need
to keep working. Aside from going nuts if I sit around all day, I only have
four months paid leave and would rather spend it with the babies once they are
born.”

It was clear that she wanted nothing to
do with his money, which irritated the crap out of him. “You can take unpaid
leave. Let’s be clear, you are carrying my children, I need to be able to
contribute financially.” He had to try and find a way of convincing her to take
his money. “If you can’t work and it’s for the safety of the children, I will
pay.”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“No we won’t, it’s not negotiable. The
safety of our children comes first.”

Her face clouded, she looked hurt and
then her eyes narrowed at him in anger. “Fine, but there is no medical reason
why I can’t keep going for the time being. What do you say Dev?” She turned to
look at the demon dragon.

“For now Gaby, but I won’t agree to your
working for much longer.”

“Thanks, Dev. You’re the best.” Gaby
hugged the other man and Phoenix’s demon clawed at him. A low growl pierced the
silence and his gums itched. Gaby ignored him and continued, “I’ll see you in
three days, Doc.” Gaby turned to leave.

“You go on without me, I need five
minutes with the doctor.”

She turned to face him. Her features
were drawn in confusion.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about.
I’ll meet you in the coffee shop we passed on the way in. There is something I
need to ask the doc.”

“Are you okay with me talking with
Phoenix?” The doctor looked at Gaby with concern.

Gaby nodded, “Yeah, they’re his children
too.” She left, closing the door behind her.

“Take a seat,” Doctor Devlin gestured to
the chair across the desk from him. “What’s on your mind?”

Phoenix sat, the chair creaked beneath
him. “I need you to be straight with me Doc, how high risk is this pregnancy?”

“We’re moving into an extremely high
risk phase purely because we have no idea what to expect. Thankfully Gaby is a
demon skin which are considered to be strong, fierce demons, she should be fine
but we just don’t know. Things like gestation, duration of labor, will she
birth via the birth canal or will she vomit out the babies? There’s just no way
of knowing for sure.” He paused pushing his glasses up. “I can only speculate.
Skins are similar to humans in their make-up so therefore we would expect the
birth to be in line with that of a human. And then let’s just say we get
through the birth, what is considered normal for a newly born infant? Again we
can speculate that they will have your traits, but who actually knows? We will
have to be prepared and flexible, take it as it comes. Have Gaby pack a
hospital bag and she should be home and under your watchful eye going forward.”
The demon dragon pinched the bridge of his nose. “She shouldn’t be working. I
have no medical reason to stop her. Good luck, but I urge you to talk her into
staying home. It’s just, she can go into labor any time now. I’ll make sure
that we have a chopper on alert just in case.”

Phoenix nodded, “Cost is irrelevant.”

“Thanks, Mr...um Phoenix, DCA will cover
the costs, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You said that it’s good that Gaby is a
demon skin, will she be okay? Is she in any danger?” The thought of losing Gaby
made his blood rush and his heart pound.

“I don’t think so, she should be fine.”

“One last thing Doc, can we have sex?”

The doctor leaned back in his chair and
smiled. “I can’t see it being a problem. Take it slow and easy. Stop if Gaby
experiences any pain or bleeding. The endorphins released during sex are
considered good for mother and child...in this case children.”

“You’re sure?”

“The pregnancy itself is relatively low
risk as skins are built to carry twins. It’s the birth that I’m a little
concerned about.”

 “Thank you.” Phoenix reached over and
shook the other man’s hand.

****

 Phoenix had dropped her off back at his
house. They’d first made a stop at her apartment where she’d packed a bag to
last a few days while arrangements were made to have her things moved in to his
place. That was hours ago and Gaby had felt ready to climb the walls.

At first she had explored his home, and
although it was filled with designer things with all the colors and textures
that complemented each other, she couldn’t help but feel how impersonal it was.
There were no items of importance or meaning like a framed picture at the very
least. Gaby had to open up the dressers in all of the bedrooms to discover
which one he slept in. She supposed that the black sheets and comforter should
have been a giveaway. It didn’t get more bachelor than that. There were three
other bedrooms, Gaby put her bag in the one furthest from his.

Even though she couldn’t blame him for
not trusting her, it still stung that Phoenix had stayed behind after her
appointment with Devlin, must have been to verify that she had taken the shot
to prevent the pregnancy. It was her that had suggested it to him in the first
place. Except, she hadn’t actually expected him to do it. Another reason to
stay far away from the sexy wolf. He clearly didn’t trust her as far as he
could throw her and badass shifter or not, in her current state, that was not
very far.

There was sweet F-all in the kitchen,
unless a few condiments and a six pack of beer counted as food which in her
opinion did not. Gaby had grabbed her purse and headed to the seven eleven she
had seen just a short way up the block. The store was small but well stocked
and pleasant. She knew she wouldn’t be able to carry much so she just got bread
and cheese, for one of her all-time favorites of grilled cheese sandwiches, and
some apples for the health factor.

As she rounded the bread aisle, the hair
on the back of her neck stood on end. She paused, it felt like…someone was
watching her. Gaby looked around, aside from an elderly lady at the bottom of
the aisle, there was nobody. The sensation worsened causing her heart rate to
increase. Her instincts told her to drop everything and run.

Big arms surrounded her, lifting her
clear off the ground. She had to suppress a scream.

“What are you doing?” Phoenix’s familiar
growl had her breathing out a sigh of relief. Her senses were so screwed up at
the moment. The feelings must have been caused by Phoenix the whole time. His
chest vibrated as he pulled her against him, her insides turned to jello.

“A girl has to eat.”

Phoenix put her down for just a second
while he removed the food items from her hands placing them on the closest
shelf. A sound of exasperation left her lips as he picked her back up, cradling
her in his arms. “I’m far too heavy.”

Gaby still had a nagging feeling that
told her to search every face in the store as Phoenix moved through it.

He chuckled and her jello insides
reduced even further. “You weigh nothing,” he said as he strode along the
pavement and back in the direction of his apartment.

“Yeah, yeah you’re a big, bad, extra
strong wolf. I can walk you know.”

“You should not have left the apartment.
I will carry you just to be safe. Humor me, it’ll make me feel better. You
heard the Doc, you could go into labor anytime.”

It wasn’t worth arguing, she would lose,
so she may as well accept her fate. Up against his hard chest with massive arms
enveloping her was not such a bad place to be. Christ almighty, he smelled so
good. It went beyond the expensive aftershave to the woodsy musky sent of a
man. This man. Being so close, feeling his strength as he carried her with
ease, feeling the heat radiate off his body, left her feeling light headed. The
rocking motion as he walked should’ve had a lulling affect, but instead it
reminded her of how he had rocked against her while he was fucking her. How his
heavy cock had felt sliding in and out of her, on and on, over and over. No man
had ever made her feel that way.

The door slammed behind them. She had
been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t even realized that they were back
already. The man was quick...strong.  Instead of putting her down, Phoenix
carried her into his bedroom and deposited her on the bed. He pulled his shirt
over his head giving her an amazing view of his wash board abs and massive
chest. It was only when he kicked off his shoes and moved to join her on the
bed that she reacted. “What are you doing?”

“Take off your dress.”

“I said no sex remember.”

His lips quirked to the side and his
nostrils flared. “Your body says differently.”

Damn wolves and their fantastic sense of
smell. She felt like clawing his eyes out or punching him in the nose. If it
gushed blood then maybe he wouldn’t be able to use it so efficiently.

“Right now your body is telling me you’re
turned on. That being close to me has affected you. If it helps any, I want you
too.” His voice was deep, she felt her mouth drop in response. Other parts of
her body responded by clenching and puckering and this time he leaned into her
and sniffed at the sensitive patch of skin just below her ear.

“My body may be aroused, but my mind is
telling me that this is a bad idea.” She moaned when his hot mouth closed on
her ear lobe. “I can’t think rationally with you doing that so please stop.”
Instead of stopping he nipped at her before dropping his lips to her throat.
Gaby moaned again. “You’re not playing fair. We shouldn’t do this.” It was
getting harder to remember why especially when his face levelled with hers and
his eyes were hooded with desire...for her...not Macy or because of how she
scented but for fat, pregnant her.

His eyes dropped to her lips and the air
must have evaporated from the room because she found it hard to breathe all of
a sudden. He licked his lips before claiming hers. His mouth was soft, pliable,
heavenly. Addictive came to mind just as his tongue brushed against hers.
Phoenix moved at a leisurely pace, it was as if he was exploring her, savoring
her. His hand cupped her chin tilting her head so that he could deepen the
kiss. Much to her disdain, she mewled loving his taste, needing more.

She circled her hands around his neck pulling
him closer. Her already sensitive nipples felt like agony in the confines of
her bra. Lord help her but she wanted him. When his hand slid up her thigh she
opened her legs in welcome. Instead, he kept on going until he reached her
belly. He caressed her first with one hand and then with both before fisting
the material. Phoenix broke the kiss to pull her dress over her head.  Instead
of looking down, he recaptured her mouth. Gaby moaned as his warm hands cupped
her breasts. He kneaded them gently before moving to her nipples where he
squeezed and tweaked through her bra. She managed to suppress a moan, only
just, it felt too good.