[Victor]Experiencing dreams again was strange. They weren’t my own, but Echo’s. Sometimes they were nightmares about her past and I was able to pull her out of them. Other times, they were nightmares about the future. Echo’s subconscious was afraid of Grayson or me leaving her. Echo loved both of us with all of her heart. Being able to soothe those dreams made all of this worth it. Perhaps it was helping her mind to heal. We were never under the impression that Echo would magically be healed just because she had her mates. Having us nearby helped a lot, but healing wasn’t magical. Not real healing, at least. It was enough to make her feel comfortable and happy, but there were still issues. We were working on them with therapy and communication. I felt myself slipping further into the dream, Echo’s thoughts and fears becoming my own. I saw her memories of the abuse she endured before we found her, and the way she had to give in and suffer just to survive. I felt her pain and her despair, but I also felt her strength and her resilience. Echo was a survivor, through and through. But then the dream shifted, and I saw something that sent a shiver down my spine. It was a vision of Echo, Grayson, and me, standing together, but surrounded by darkness. It was as if the entire world had been swallowed up by shadows. Echo’s voice reverberated in the darkness as I fought to reach the avatar of myself in her dream. If I could reach him, I could take over controlling him and be more than an observer. I finally reached myself and was absorbed into his body. I pulled Echo between Grayson and myself. He followed my lead and wrapped himself around Echo. These dreams of darkness were happening more and more often lately. Queen Maeve was convinced that Echo’s dreams were created by her connection to the plants in the area. They would sense these things long before we would. They were trying to tell her what they could. The darkness settled and bled away. I wondered at the dream and what it could mean. For now, Echo was safe and the world in her dreams became a safer place. From time to time, everything would freeze or go dark, but the dreams would come back after a little while. I knew these were times when Echo woke up and the dream realm, unable to know what to do with me, either waited for her or disappeared completely. Soon, the darkness remained. After a while, I felt myself surfacing from the nothingness that consumed me as I rested. The familiar weight of Echo’s head on my chest. “Are you feeling any better, Princess?” I asked. “A little. Gray brought me some soup with blood in it for my lunch and some more ginger-blood tea. My stomach has settled down and I’m feeling better now. I finally feel rested. Maybe it was because of forgetting to drink blood.” “Now that you’re a fully actualized dhampyr, you need to remember to have a little blood from time to time. It can’t just be when you remember it. Blood will make you stronger,” I told her. Echo nodded and kissed my chest. I stroked her hair as we laid in bed. Grayson didn’t seem to be around, but I was sure he didn’t want to lay in bed when he could be doing something else. He was a young man, after all. Slowly, Echo started kissing up my chest. She moved to straddle my body as she kissed toward my neck. I smiled. The last time she had bitten me was in December. I missed it almost as much as I missed biting her. As she reached my neck, I could feel her teeth graze my skin. I shuddered with anticipation. Her desire was palpable, and it was all I could do to remain still beneath her. Echo’s lips pressed against my skin, her tongue teasing me before she finally bit down. I groaned, the pleasure and pain mixing together in a heady rush. She drank from me for a few moments before pulling back, her eyes dark with hunger. “I missed this,” she whispered. I smiled, pulling her back down to kiss her deeply. I could taste the metallic tang of my blood on her lips, but it only served to heighten my desire for her. For vampires, biting was something we did to each other as part of foreplay or climax. Out of all the different ways our bites were used, it was the most pleasurable and fulfilling. Exchanging blood was one of the most intimate acts among vampires. Kissing down her neck, I held Echo against me tightly. She moved her hips, rubbing against my erection as I moved to the artery that would give me a taste of her sweet blood. I teased her, letting my lips and fangs graze her skin but never committing to taking her blood or bringing her to orgasm. Her moans filled the room, the sound sending shivers down my spine. I teased both of us until I couldn’t take it any more. Her body was slick with sweat and her fingers were digging into my shoulders. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I pressed my lips against her skin, my fangs sinking into her, drinking in her blood as she whimpered and moaned. Echo’s body tightened as if she was gripped by an electric current. Her breasts heaved as she panted through the mild orgasm that came with the combination of my bite and her grinding against me. The power of her blood washed over me, but this time it was different. There was something in her blood that I hadn’t tasted in her before. I sealed her wound while I tried to figure out what it was. She started kissing down my body and about the time she reached my navel my brain finally made all of the connections. I sat up and grabbed her by the shoulders. Echo froze and stared at me. “Your eyes are glowing, Victor. Did I do something wrong?” Echo asked. “No. We need to send Grayson out to the store. Immediately.” “You’re scaring me a little, Victor.” “I don’t know why I didn’t put it all together. Of course, you needed more blood. Reach out to Grayson and get him in here quickly, Echo.” I pulled her into a hug. If I was right about what I tasted, it meant that Echo was pregnant. It explained everything. Grayson hurried into the bedroom a few moments later. He came close to the bed, but didn’t come on. He was nervous. “What’s going on, Victor?” he asked. “I need you to go to the store and buy a pregnancy test. I believe part of Echo’s problem is that she is pregnant,” I explained. “What?” Echo gasped. “It must have happened sometime in the month and a half that you were feeling bite shy. It can take a couple months before a human smells pregnant to a vampire and you may not be far enough along for a pack wolf to smell, but I tasted something that made me think that you’re pregnant.”Echo shook her head. “No, it’s too soon. I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant until after I was nineteen.” Her eyes watered. I knew she wanted time with both of us and time to heal before we started a family. This had to be a huge shock to her. “Let’s find out if Victor’s right, then we can talk about what to do. Okay, Echo? We can do whatever you want. If you’re not ready, we don’t have to do this, okay?” Grayson told her. “We will respect whatever choice you make, Echo,” I added. She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. Echo stayed in my arms while Grayson left the room. I could feel all of the emotions she was feeling. The one that hurt the most was the fear. As much as I wanted a child, I wouldn’t force Echo into keeping the baby if she wasn’t ready. She had talked about waiting a couple of years and then trying with just one of us at a time. Echo had told both Grayson and me that she wanted to have my child first. There was no telling who the father of this baby was. I wouldn’t mind if it was Grayson’s, though. We were banking on what was normal for other female dhampyrs, we didn’t even consider all of the other influences in her bloodline. While Grayson was gone, I comforted Echo as much as I could. The idea of it was still shocking to her. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what she needed to hear. I only held her and focused on how much I loved her. She would feel it in our bond. I don’t know how long we sat like that, but Grayson reappeared with a plastic bag from the pharmacy down the road. He climbed up on the bed and opened the box while Echo turned in my arms to face him. He pulled out the instructions and read them, showing Echo the diagrams in the instructions. When he was finished, she took the stick and the instructions from Grayson and went into the bathroom. We sat on the bed, watching the door, unable to think of anything to do other than wait for our wife. “What are we going to do if she doesn’t want to keep it, Victor?” Grayson whispered. “We’re going to support her. Echo needs to know that we support her no matter her decision. Are you going to be able to do that, Grayson?” I asked. Grayson frowned for a moment, then nodded. This wasn’t something he ever thought he would have to consider. I understood. We thought we were safe for another month or two, but we were wrong and now there was a situation we didn’t know if Echo could handle. A few minutes went by and the bathroom door opened. Echo came out with her head down. We got off the bed and went to her. “Did you get the result, princess?” I asked. She nodded. “Was it positive, angel?” Grayson asked. She nodded again. Echo looked up at us from behind the fringe of her hair. Her eyes and nose were red. She had been crying. “Do you not want to keep the baby, princess?” “I wanted to have your baby first and I don’t know whose baby this is. I promised and this means I broke my promise to you.” Echo’s voice quivered as she talked. “My love, I don’t care if it is my baby or Grayson’s baby. When we were married, I made promises to Grayson and to you. I promised him I would be his partner and support as well. That means loving his children as if they were my own.”“And I’ll love Victor’s children as if they were my own. There’s a fifty-fifty shot it’s his, Echo. Let’s not focus on who the father is, though. Are you ready for a baby? I know you wanted more time with us. Do you want to keep the baby?” Grayson asked. Echo looked up at us, her eyes filled with hesitation. She seemed to weigh the options in her mind before finally answering. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke.“Yes, I want to keep the baby.”Grayson and I smiled at each other, both of us relieved and happy. We moved closer to Echo and enveloped her in a hug. We held her while she cried, glad that she was willing to have this baby.We stayed like that for a while, but eventually decided to get ready for the night. I wasn’t going to work. Instead, I was going to spend time with my Solus Amor and her other husband. After we were dressed, Echo called Marius while I called Talia and Grayson called his parents. Everyone was thrilled at the news. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know who the father was or that it was earlier than planned. Grayson’s parents were a little sad to learn that Echo would likely have a dhampyr pregnancy, that meant the same gestation as a human. The happier everyone was for us, the more Echo relaxed. We went to have dinner after calling everyone in our lives. Echo smiled through the meal as Grayson and I discussed everything we were going to do for the baby. It was nice to see her happy and I was glad that she wanted to keep the baby, though I wouldn’t tell her that right now. For now, I would just be happy that my Solus Amor was with child and that there was every chance for that child to grow up happy and healthy. It was all I ever wanted.