The bedside clock had struck the chime for 3 in the morning from besides Damon when he noticed something was amiss. The room's air stunk with the scent of perspiration and when he got himself upright, half groggily, he saw rather than sniffed the source.

"Nora, mio amore?" He called longingly to his thrashing Mate, a hand to her soaked hair. Nora was tossing relentlessly under the comforter, eyes still closed heavily and murmuring under her breathe which vaguely sounded like pleas and curses. Her flimsy shirts curved neck dipped with each toss she made, and he could almost see the cusp of her enlarged chest peeking through the thin grey fabric.

"Please open your eyes, mio amore, it's a nightmare," Damon began to shake her, worry straining his brows now. Antonio said the nightmares were common but she needed to be awakened immediately to avoid any stress on the baby or mother.

It took a bit of delicate force and Nora was awake, panting gravely as if she were outrunning a monster and nearly collided head first with Damon's head which had been too close. He peered down and sighed when Nora gulped a breathe, shooting herself to Damon's embrace. He began to stroke her back while she kept on trembling with fear. After assuring her she wasn't being chased by a gang of mean purple spiders riding green dinosaurs, trying to recruit her for the basketball team, Nora found herself dozing out to the steady rhythm of Damon's chest she laid atop.

They must have turned in their sleep, both of them for shortly after Damon heard the soft and partially muffled sobs of the female he shared his bed with. Turning to face Nora, he rubbed at his eyes and yawned. "Why are you crying?"

The clock confirmed only 20 minutes had passed since the last time had Nora woken up from her night terror of spiders. Despite being still sprawled on the bed, he saw the swell of tears in her eyes and instantly rose with a serious expression. "Nora? Are you okay?" Damon etched a look of concern when pressing a hand to her bulging stomach and one to her lower back, "The babies, are they okay? How do you feel? Do you feel sick again? Do you need that lemon honey tea Leila makes to help with the-"

"I want McDonald's," Nora said rather lowly as if she were derived of joy.

Damon shook his head lightly. "This is the fourth time this month Nora you've pulled this stunt of yours-"

"Babies want McDonald's!" Nora cried harder, rubbing a hand over her enlarged stomach, her salty tears now dripping down at an alarming rate.

"Im getting the keys," Damon exhaled, pulling himself away from the warmth of the bed. Thank god Ollie slept like the dead, he couldn't have dealt with both of them. Yawning, he took a hold of the keys from one of the many bedside drawers and heard a low whimpering noise as soon as he stood up.

"Do you want me to carry you to the car?" He asked simply though he should've known better. His Mate nodded eagerly, not saying a word, still wearing a saddened pout and rubbing her belly.

...

"Ill have two large McFlurries, both Oreo with extra cookies crumbles, four large fries with extra salt and three fountain drinks, and about 5 swirled ice creams in about 20 minutes but Ill be paying now. And oh, also he may need assistance in carrying that all to my table, please and thank you," Nora chided at the dumbfounded cashier who hadn't even had the time to punch in the first of Nora's order.

He was a teen, utterly human, hardly a senior at high school with his squared glasses, acne scarred chin and gaping mouth he had greeted them with a yawn at first. It was 4:10 am when Damon had pulled into the driveway of the local restaurant in his black Ferrari Nora preferred. Everyone in the back kitchen looked half awake with their squinting, heavy lidded eyes, Damon wouldn't be surprised if he found one employee sleeping on the tabletop.

By the time Nora was seated and reading her latest read, a book called The Queen of Air and Darkness, she simply eyed the food Damon had bought, all alone without assistance, with great interest before returning to finish her page. Sliding in a torn sticky note and sorting through to find a napkin, Nora hardly saw the scowl and paid no attention to the curses Damon at directed at the boy in Italian.

Damon scowl was taken back when he noticed how Nora had pulled the entire tray in her direction. "Ahem?"

"Yes husband?" Nora said sweetly, pulling out a single long fry and smiling at it, although it didn't appear to meet her eyes. Damon winced but tried to not show it. Nora only began calling Damon as husband to acknowledge their wedding vows they had sworn and to also remind him of how hostile that time before his change was for her. It was her way of reminding him of the past without saying much, for him to remember his cruelness; so she took it has her faithful duty to remind him of that past because without a past, there would have been a different sitting before them today.

"Where's mine?" Damon asked lowly, eyeing the tray full of food before her.

Nora narrowed her burning eyes, shrugging too nonchalantly with a smirk. "I dont know dearest, why didn't you order any?"

His jaw clenched, but Dylan howled with amusement. "And is that all for you?"

"Actually for three," A grin lit her features as she propped the small ketchup serving bowl onto her outstretched rounding belly where it sat atop rather quite nicely as she dunked her fries. She gave a sigh, closing her eyes and almost gave a moan from the back of her throat. The fabric to her tight shirt rippled with the movement of her body, with expansion of her lungs, chest heaving upwards. Damon almost growled inhumanly, he should asked Nora to change from her striped PJ's bottoms and thin shirt.

"You cant be fucking-" Nora flinched at the vocabulary and held her tummy sides as if she were covering the ears to an infant.

"Sorry," Damon apologized lamely, feeling a bit defeated.

"Ill accept that apologize," Nora thought rather longingly become replying, dipping more fries into the ketchup, "If you buy some more McFlurries, red velvet Oreo this time."

"Oh come on women you can't be serious," Damon said, leaning back.

Nora paused her munching, glare narrowing. "I'll be serious if you bring them here!" She snapped, pulling her tray closer when Damon attempted to swipe some fries. Nora gave a low vicious growl, eyes morphing with gold. "Mine."

"Someone has found their Mate," He grumbled a few steps away and was soon greeted with a slipper thrown to the back of his head. Twirling around, he had no choice but to go return back and place the slipper back on Nora feet, who was suddenly picking up where she had initially left off in her book.

Damon pulled out his wallet on the way to the ordering line. 10 minutes later, Damon was stalking with 5 Mcflurries, all Oreo velvet and handed two to Nora and kept three for himself.

She glanced the additional three with suspicious eyes, and met his.

Sweet Jesus, Damon said to myself and Dylan. It had been only 15 minutes and Nora had torn though the food devouring it all, even the three drinks. She sat before a tray full of garbage, shoving it all aside without a second thought.

"Nora?"

"Hmmm?"

"When I was...I was mean to you," Damon managed to say, "Did you ever want me dead?"

Nora was twirling the contents of her cup, not daring to look up. "There was a point yes, actually no. There were a dozen of points when I felt like giving up on the bond and wanting to kill you. I could have, but June was persistent I don't. There were times when you acted decent enough, and I saw something good but you were like a flickering lightbulb, always changing between moods."

"When I first saw you, you made me pause. I know you thought I must have growled first but I had paused. You looked so kind and frail, and I didn't know what I should've done."

"After the first few days, I thought you trying to impersonate a fucked of version of Christin Grey." Nora admitted nonchalantly, examining her fry. Damon snorted, the sight cracking a grin from Nora. He soon found himself frowning when he realized Nora had swiped away his own McFlurries with her empty cups.

And like so they chatted, briefly exchanging thoughts until the sun was starting to come out. When the sky was crisp with orange golden, they drove back. Nora was in the passengers seat, sleeping with the spoon of her McFlurry still half in her mouth, with a trickle of drool as well, and Damon was driving slowly to admire the low snores she made while trying to wipe away the spoon. Once they both got through the gates of their home, Damon carried his Mate back to the bed and they finally got to sleep peacefully, as a family. ...

Hey owls, your beloved Author has returned from the dead!😅

I know I haven't written lately but last night I began write and today on my dinner break, I'm pleased to post this update to you!

It's a filler chapter, and hopefully the next update should be some time next week.

I just finished reading Queen ofAir and Darkness by Cassandra Clare and oh god, was it an emotional journey. There were like 750 pages of pain and like less than 100 pages of happiness! No spoilers for others please...

The Author; xbookgirlx15

Ps. The song above will be the hint for the ending of this book, just a side note😉