"I can't do all of the work," Avery snaps, snatching the boiling pot off the stove and switching it off.

"Hallie, honey, hands away from the hot stuff," Avery strains to sound sweet, giving her daughter a small smile.

"Sorry, mommy," Hallie mumbles, the tiny child wandering back over to the kitchen table.

"I'm not asking you to do all of the work," Roman retorts, manoeuvring around their child to get over to Avery.

"I came home from a weekend-long Council meeting to the house looking like a junkyard. Which had been set on fire," she reminds him, her eyes flashing irritably as she mixes her homemade vegetable sauce.

"What did you expect to come home to? We have a three-year-old," he reminds her, equally annoyed and snappy.

Hallie watches the two of them with wide eyes, swinging her legs from the high stool she managed to clamber onto.

"I am three months pregnant, working two full-time jobs, and raising our daughter basically by myself. I cannot do this," Avery snarls, slamming the pot down onto the countertop.

Sauce splatters onto the window and the counter, but she doesn't care.

Her face is turning redder and redder as she tries to catch her breath.

Roman is pale, his jaw dropping slightly.

"I didn't have time to clean," he finally responds, and she wheels around, staring at him with wide eyes.

She releases a sarcastic laugh, shaking her head.

"You mean you didn't even have time to call the maid. Who watched Hallie, Roman?" She growls, and Roman baulks.

"Tobias did," he snaps after a minute, and Avery's eyes widen even more.

"Tobias Nakamura? You left an eleven-year-old in charge of our daughter?" She exclaims in horror, and Roman looks everywhere but at his infuriated mate.

"He was just in the kitchen of the packhouse, they were perfectly safe," he tries to defend himself, and Avery closes her eyes.

"Roman, I'm going to go for a walk. By myself. I don't want you to follow me. I don't want you to call me. When I come back, I would appreciate it if Hallie was asleep because I have to clean the kitchen," she manages to get out without crying.

Before Roman can respond, she grabs her coat and her phone before heading out.

As soon as she's outside in the cold air, she feels like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, sniffing as she tries to stop the tears in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks.

The freezing air wakes her up a little bit, and she rubs her eyes as she hurries down the driveway, rubbing her eyes as she walks along the path.

She's relieved she has her snowboots on - she didn't have time to take them off between the time she got home and the time she left the house, and now it seems like it could be a good thing because it looks like it's going to become a blizzard soon.

She closes her eyes for a second before she exits the gates, and she exhales heavily, deciding on her route.

Will we go to York's?, Sonya suggests tiredly, and Avery nods her head to herself, turning left as she walks out of the gate.

She rests a hand on her bump as she hurries along the pathway, looking over her shoulder.

She feels uncomfortable being outside this late at night.

Since she had Hallie, she hasn't liked being outside when it's dark, but she didn't want to stay in her own house at that time.

She didn't want to fight with Roman, and she would have started an argument bigger than that squabble if she had stayed.

The lights along the path calm her down a little bit, the soft glow comforting.

She can see the lights of her brother's house in the near distance, and she quickens her pace, still a little creeped out by the dark trees across from the pathway.

We've got this; we can take any little bitch who hides in the trees, Sonya scoffs, forcing some of her confidence into her human.

Avery straightens up, nodding to herself as she speeds up even more, now going as quickly as she can with her bump in tow.

She sighs, staring up at the house from the bottom of the little hill it sits on.

She should have driven, and she knows she should have, but she didn't want to stop and grab her car keys - it would have ruined her dramatic exit.

York, I'm at your front door, she sighs once she gets halfway up the hill, knowing it'll take him or Anais a few minutes to get to the door.

Oh, cool, do you want dinner?, York asks curiously, and Avery can feel his confusion and surprise through the link.

She doesn't usually do impromptu visits like this, mostly because the last time she appeared out of the blue, Anais nearly sent her to her dying bed by fire.

If it's something with pasta, vegetables, or chicken, then yes, Avery grunts, hauling herself to the top of the hill.

This pregnancy was much more comfortable for her, thank the Goddess, because she isn't sure how she'd cope if it had been as bad as Hallie's one.

She's only a little limited with what she can do while pregnant, rather than being practically stuck in the hospital for three months.

Lexus had volunteered earlier in the day to go with her to her doctors' appointment tomorrow, and Avery had forgotten until that moment, cursing herself as she makes a mental note of it.

As soon as she arrives at the door, it opens, Anais standing behind it with a smirk on her face.

Her black eyes are glittering like gems as she pulls her sister-in-law inside, rubbing her hands to try and heat her up a little.

"Hello, Ave," she grins, and Avery stares at her cautiously for a minute.

"Why do you look so evil right now?" She asks with a sigh, letting York's mate tug her along as she undoes her coat.

"I have a surprise for you, but your brother doesn't know about it," she sings, skipping along.

The heavily pregnant she-wolf has a hard time keeping up, trying not to pant - it would be a little undignified.

"Her brother doesn't know about what?" York calls, poking his head out of the kitchen and raising an eyebrow.

"I was talking to your sister, not you. Mind your own business," Anais snaps, shaking her head at her nosey mate, pulling Avery into the dining room.

She loves the design of their house - the place is ornately decorated because Anais took over on it. If it were up to York, it would probably have just been left with white walls and minimal furniture.

He wasn't very homely, so he let his creative mate do whatever she wanted.

Anais pulls a chair out for Avery, snapping her fingers before Avery hits the chair.

Instantly, she's resting against a mountain of cushions, with Anais rearranging them to give her more support.

"How is the baby?" She asks, and Avery shrugs tiredly.

"The baby is okay. It's more aggressive than Hallie was, but I feel so much better," she explains, and Anais grins.

"Are you taking the herbs I gave you?" She asks, and Avery nods.

"Every day, I drink them with my breakfast," she swears, and Anais grins, sitting down beside her and inspecting her face.

"You've been crying. Why have you been crying?" She asks, frowning at her sister-in-law.

York appears in the room with a tray of food, pushing it in front of Avery and pushing her chair in towards the table so that she doesn't have to sit up and eat.

"Why has she been crying?" He asks, sitting on the other side of his sister and peering at her in concern.

"I came home from my meeting, and everything was a mess. That's it, that's why I was crying," she hurriedly explains, sipping some of the soup York put in front of her.

"She also fought with Roman," Anais comments innocently, and Avery scowls at her.

"Stop reading my aura, I hate it when you do that," she snaps, and Anais shrugs, sitting back in her seat.

"I wanted to make sure. I don't want you to be upset, and you shouldn't be. Your mate is ridiculous when it comes to fights," Anais scoffs, and York clears his throat.

"That's one of your Alphas, Ana. Maybe hold back on the name-calling," he reminds her with a snort, and Anais shrugs.

"He's not my Alpha. Avery is, and that's only when I'm here. My craft group owns me," she chuckles, a smirk on her lips.

Anais is a witch, and her 'craft group' is her coven. They nicknamed it a craft group so that Hallie didn't get too confused - the poor child struggled enough to accept the concept of werewolves, the thought of introducing witches gave everyone nightmares.

York sighs, rubbing Avery's back gently.

He's beyond excited to meet his new baby niece or nephew. He loves Hallie more than anything, and the little terror seems to like him. She's sneaky and very quiet, so she always manages to scare him. It doesn't do much for his macho image, being intimidated by a three-year-old in light-up sequin shoes.

"Cheer up, dummy. You have that nice scientist coming tomorrow to explain your mating to some of the Elders. You can't be sad for that," York croons, staring at her bump with a massive smile on his face.

Nobody is really sure if Anais and York can have children together, because werewolf-witch mating pairs are pretty unusual, but they're optimistic.

"I just want Roman to wake up and pull his weight," she mumbles, and York sighs.

"I've mindlinked him to let you know you're here," he nods, watching his mate more or less force-feed his older sister.

"The baby is hungry," Anais defends herself before either of them can speak, spooning the soup into Avery's mouth.