Their End

Chapter 9 | Mood Swings

CULLEN

Something was wrong.

It took Calder dragging me inside, away from everyone, and punching me in the mouth to figure it out. I immediately got into his face but backed down. I deserved the hit. I should have let it go, but I just couldn’t. It didn’t explain Remi’s odd behavior, though.

Yes, I believed we were being a little too lenient with Callum. He needed to grow up to be strong. They both did. We had no idea what would happen when it was their time. There were too many unknowns combined with no precedence for this ever happening.

But that was not something that needed to turn into a fight between us, especially not in front of our pups and friends.

“Get upstairs and work it out!” Calder demanded hotly.

“Fine,” I growled, working my jaw back and forth. While I knew he hadn’t done more than inflict a small bruise that would be gone by bedtime, it still hurt.

Calder returned to the pool, presumably to console our pups and smooth everything over. With a deep breath, I went looking for Remi. I willed my anger down to a less consuming level. It hit me as I started up the stairs.

Remi was upset. Really upset.

The deluge of emotion through our bond was out of place. Hadn’t she just been angry with me? I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the top floor. Our bedroom door was open, confirming that she had come straight upstairs. My lungs constricted in my chest when I heard her choked sobs from the bathroom.

“i***t,” my wolf grumbled.

I stepped into the bathroom to find Remi standing over the sink. Water droplets ran off her face, or were those tears?

She looked up and caught my eye through the mirror. I stood stiff in the doorway. I hated upsetting her. Remi feeling sad or disappointed was one of the worst physical pains.

“I didn’t mean to upset you so much,” I said. My voice came out low and gruff.

Remi choked on another sob. My body moved toward her immediately. She turned and fell into my arms. “Love,” I said, holding her close.

“I’m sorry!” she cried into my chest.

“Don’t cry,” I tried to calm her, running my hand over her soft hair. “I was out of line. Please don’t cry.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing!” Her words came out garbled against my body. I kissed the top of her head and continued to try to soothe her as she broke down in my arms. This was a huge swing from what happened outside. My insides twisted as I waited for her to be calm enough to talk to me.

When her cries softened and dulled to gentle hiccups, I pulled her face away to look her in the eye. “I never meant to upset you so much,” I told her gently. “Nothing is wrong with Callum.”

Her lip quivered. “I’m such a bad mom,” she whispered. “I can’t even get him to swim. How is he ever going to survive?”

“Remi, how could you think that?” I asked her seriously. I swiped away the wetness coating her round cheeks. “You are an incredible mother. The fact that you care enough to fight me is example enough.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand. I wanted to hurt you,” she gushed. “Cullen, I’ve never been that angry. I couldn’t calm down or stop it. All over getting into the pool. And then when I got up here-”

“I know,” I said, cutting her off with a kiss. “I know. I felt it.”

“And now, I can’t stop thinking about how I’m the worst person possible to be raising Alpha wolves. I wasn’t even a successful human; how could I possibly raise the children responsible for our whole pack in the future?” she ranted. “Maybe you’re right, and we need to force him into the water. Maybe I’m just being too soft. He’ll never want to shift, and he’ll be afraid of it like I was, and he won’t have his mate like I did, and it’ll be so much worse, and then no one will respect him as Alpha, and we don’t even know how that is all going to work and-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “Breathe, love. Breathe.” More tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She was so emotional, which wasn’t normal for her. She shook her head and hid in my chest once more.

I was at a loss. Not wanting to continue just standing here in the bathroom, I picked her up, cradling her against me with an arm around her waist and the other under her legs. I took her back out to our bedroom and sat on the couch. Remi curled herself tightly against me, silently crying still.

I waited for her to calm down, wondering if I should get my brother to join us. Remi hadn’t been this emotional since-

“We need to call the doctor,” I blurted out.

“What?” Remi rasped. “I don’t understand.”

I sat her up and pushed her hair away from her tear-stained face. “You said you can’t stop the crying?”

“For good reason,” she nodded.

I shook my head. “We’ve never fought like that. It was like I had no control over my irritation, and it just erupted.”

“I don’t understand,” she pouted. “Why would we need to go to the doctor?”

“The last time your emotions ran wild and bled over into us like that was when you were pregnant, love. I think you need a pregnancy test.”

Her expression went blank. She blinked at me for a minute as if my words were not properly registering. Then she did something I wasn’t expecting; she broke into hysterical laughter.

“What could you possibly be doing?” Calder linked me.

“I told her I think she’s pregnant,” I relayed.

“Why would you do that? Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“No!” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes, my brother lacked faith in my emotional intelligence because he was the admittedly friendlier one between us.

“If you are trying to distract me, it worked,” Remi said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes now.

“I really think we should check,” I told her.

She cupped my cheek and gave me a soft smile. “No, we need to not fight in front of our children,” she said. “We can disagree without creating a scene. Callum will feel responsible, and that’s not good for him or Cerys.”

“I know that,” I frowned. “But you just went from completely distraught to giggling as if I flipped a switch, love. That isn’t normal for you. I pride myself on making you happy, but it isn’t always so easy.”

“You can’t possibly think I’m pregnant,” she laughed. “That would just be crazy.”

“Would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Calder said calmly as he came into the room. She looked at Calder and then back at me. The amusement on her face fell away.

“You two are serious?” she said absently. “I can’t be pregnant. No way.” She shook her head sharply. “Not possible. We haven’t even talked about more pups.”

I locked eyes with Calder and knew he had thought it all through.

“No, don’t do that. Don’t cut me out of the conversation,” she snapped. Remi scrambled off my lap, suddenly looking like a cornered animal. “I hate when you two do that. I’m right here!”

Calder put his hands up. “We aren’t saying anything,” he promised her. “We just agree.”

“How could I possibly be pregnant?” she half shrieked.

“We do have a fair amount of s*x,” I reasoned.

“I know how babies are made!”

“Baby, just think about it for a moment,” Calder urged her. She narrowed her eyes at him. I held my breath, waiting for her to actually consider what we were saying. Slowly, her face loosened, and reason sunk in.

“f**k, I think I’m pregnant.”