Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
He grew still, studying my face. “Did the vision just cut off after the light?”
I nodded. There was more, though, I realized as I finally let myself delve into the depths of my worry. What if they took it out on someone else now that Shay was unavailable? “Brielle has untrained powers of fertility. What if Shay and I bonded, she got pregnant, and then the Fetya took our child as payment?” The words were acid on my tongue, and Reed blanched at the possibility.
“Surely you don’t think… That’s a big if, brother. Have you told Shay?”
“No. How can I? It’s bad enough she almost died because of my stupidity. If I had just been patient, the gathering would have happened, and I’d have met her the same way Kane did Brielle. But the darkness was already creeping in, and… I didn’t wait. And now I’ve not only put her through physical pain, but what do you think will happen when she hears that we’re still at risk? What then?”
Reed shook his head with that same stubborn expression he always got as a toddler when I’d take something dangerous away from him. “No, Dirge. You’re speculating. The vision ended. The Fetya didn’t predict what would happen after she died. And even if there is still a price to be paid-you can’t keep that from your mate.”
“I can bear that burden. She doesn’t need it. She’s been through enough.”
He snorted. “You know, I always thought you were the smart one, but I guess I was wrong.”
I cuffed him on the back of the head, and he shoved my hand off good-naturedly.
“No, I’m serious. You’re dumber than I thought. Really, brother. How do you think it’s going to go when she realizes you’re keeping something from her? Or worse, she doesn’t realize and eventually goes into heat? You’re going to not serve your mate? Let her turn to another?”
I snarled, the vision he painted making me see red. “She will never have another.”
“Uh-huh. Well, if you expect her to ride out a heat solo, you sure as fuck better fess up that you’re scared to get her pregnant. Shit, she might not even need a heat, between being half-fae and Brielle’s fertility mojo. We have no frame of reference for how either of those things would impact her or any other she-wolf in our pack. The records were pretty much all destroyed after the Omega War. You going to just never have sex again? Even after the bear priestess just told you that your bond is fractured, and you could both be hurt by not completing it? How does that work out?”
The red haze over my vision made me want to shift and tear my brother a new one, but instead, I turned and punched the trunk of the nearest tree. Somewhere after the fourth punch, Reed dropped a hand on my shoulder and spun me away from the splintered bark.
“Knock it off, and stop being an asshat. The solution is simple. Talk to her. Tell her what you’re worried about. You’re not stuck in wolf form anymore. You can talk to her.”
It couldn’t be that simple. All telling her would do was scare her. Upset her. Make her pull away from me again, and I couldn’t bear that.
But was he right? Was I asking for trouble if I didn’t tell her?
I was damned if I did, damned if I didn’t.
The question was, did I trust her not to run if I shared the awful reality with her?
THIRTY-EIGHT
Shay
The three of us walked quietly back to the hallway where our rooms were. I didn’t know what I was feeling about any of what Jada had shared, so I could only imagine what Brielle was thinking. She’d lived her whole life thinking she was psi, and here we found out she was actually omega. If Kane couldn’t somehow get the law changed, she would be hunted to the end of her days.
It was heavy and terrifying in and of itself. But now she had fertility powers she had no idea how to use, and no living omega to speak to about it.
We stopped in the hallway, but none of us let go.
“You two okay?” Leigh asked, worried gaze flicking between Brielle and me.
I shrugged one shoulder, unsure how to respond. I was confused, concerned, and about a million other things I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t a good answer, so I kept it to myself.
“I’m better than expected,” Bri said with a forced smile. “At least now we know. What the heck to do with this information… no idea. But we know, and that’s something.”
“Knowledge is power,” Leigh murmured, giving Bri’s arm a supportive squeeze.
“Exactly. And believe it or not, I got a message back from Aunt Kari earlier. She said she’d love to meet and asked when we’d be back in Johnson City.”
“That’s good news,” I said, finally summoning a smile. “She’s got to know something about… all this, right? At least the curse part.”
“I hope so.” Bri blew out an unsteady breath. Gael and Kane finished their conversation off to the side, and Gael took a position at the mouth of the hallway, ready to stand guard for the rest of the night. I pretended I didn’t see Leigh checking out his butt, even though she absolutely did.
“We should all get some sleep, my love.” Kane spoke quietly as he walked up to Brielle’s side.
Leigh yawned, then nodded. “I agree. I’m beat. See you babes on the flip side.”
At first,
I curled up in the giant king-sized bed as I waited for Dirge to come to our room. But then the nerves got to me, and I moved to sit on the edge. Being nervous was first-rate stupidity, but telling myself that didn’t tamp down the wild beaver that had taken up residence in my stomach. There weren’t any trees in there, so he was just gnawing on me instead.
So much had happened, and we’d had no time alone. Other than earlier, when we’d almost fallen into this very bed. But now there was the fact that I was at least some part fae, possibly immortal, and oh yeah, we had somehow created a fractured soul bond.
Nothing at all to derail a couple. Ugh.
Was he going to be weirded out that I might be immortal? That still worried me. He hadn’t seemed bothered when he’d been taking all the air out of my lungs with that kiss. My panties got soaked just remembering how his lips felt on mine.
The nerves had me wanting to stand up and pace, but I didn’t want him to know
I was nervous. If confidence was sexy, then jaw-clenching, leg-shaking anxiety had to be a whole ‘nother level of un
-sexy.
There was a soft knock at the door, and then he was there, letting himself into the room and stopping my mental gymnastics with his dominating presence. He was drop-dead gorgeous, and my pulse picked up as we locked eyes. I had to resist the urge to squirm, the heat building in my belly as he crossed the room.
“Hi,” I murmured.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said. The cocky half grin I’d already come to love was there, but there was a sadness in his eyes that didn’t mesh with the heat I was feeling.