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As the haze of pleasure begins to recede, horror creeps in to take its place.What just happened? What came over me?I’ve never been so out of control, so desperate and needy. So willing to beg. I hope he won’t remember this in the morning.

Kane rolls us to our sides, his knot still firmly lodged inside me, keeping us connected. His arms wrap around me, holding me close as our breathing slowly returns to normal. One of his hands strokes my hair gently now, where he was rough before.

“What was that?” I finally whisper, my voice hoarse from screaming. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t control myself. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

Kane’s chuckle vibrates against my back. “That, my sweet omega, was your pre-heat.”

“Heat? Like... like animals go into heat?” The comparison should offend me, but after what just happened, after the way my body betrayed my mind, I can’t deny the animalistic nature of what we just did.

“Exactly,” Kane confirms, his lips brushing against my shoulder. “It’s your body’s way of ensuring the continuation of the species. Omega females go into heat when they’re ready to be bred.”

I stiffen in his arms. “Bred? As in...?”

“As in pregnant, yes.” His hand slides down to cup my belly possessively. “That’s what your body wants. What it’s demanding. My seed taking root, growing into our pup.”

A sharp intake of breath is all I can manage as panic grips me because I fucking forgot in the middle of the night.Pregnant. A baby. A werewolf baby. It’s too much, too soon, too overwhelming on top of everything else I’ve discovered in the past forty-eight hours.

“I can’t,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes again, but for entirely different reasons now. “I can’t be a mother. I don’t know how. I don’t know anything about being a werewolf, let alone raising one!”

Kane shifts, adjusting our position so he can see my face. His expression is surprisingly tender, his thumb wiping away a tear that spills down my cheek.

“You think any first-time mother knows what she’s doing?” he asks softly. “It’s not something you need to know in advance; it’s something you learn as you go.”

“But I’m a mess,” I confess, the words tumbling out before I can stop them. “I was in an abusive relationship for years. I have no idea who my parents are, except that my father was apparently some kind of traitor whose entire bloodline was supposed to be wiped out. I just found out werewolves existed two days ago! How can I possibly be a good mother?”

“Because you care enough to worry about it,” he says simply, his gaze softening at the fear in my voice. “Because you’re strong enough to have survived everything life has thrown at you. Because you have a heart big enough to love a child.”

“What about you? Are you going to leave me?”

“Something I’ll always do is protect you and any children we have together. You won’t be alone in this, Mia. You’ll have me. You’ll have Finn and Jace. You’ll have a pack.”

A family. It’s something I’ve never truly had—not with my adoptive parents, who always kept me at a distance, and not with Justin, who only wanted to control and diminish me—a real family bound by something deeper than blood.

“I’m still terrified,” I admit, burying my face againsthis chest.

Kane’s lips press against the top of my head.

“Good,” he says. “Fear means you’ll take it seriously. It means you’ll do everything in your power to be the best mother you can be. And I have absolute confidence that you’ll succeed.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, knowing the words are inadequate but not having better ones to offer.

Kane’s only response is to hold me tighter, his hand protective over my belly where his child might already be growing. Outside, the moon continues its silent journey across the sky, watching over us as we drift back to sleep, still joined, still one.

twenty-seven

. . .

Mia

We’ve been driving for over an hour, leaving the dense forest and Kane’s forest home behind, and my skin won’t stop crawling.

But something feels wrong with me again.

The familiar burning sensation is creeping back, making the leather seats stick to my thighs in a way that has nothing to do with the summer heat outside.

My body temperature is rising, and with it comes that same desperate, clawing need I felt last night when I woke Kane by grabbing his cock in my sleep.Is this what he meant by ‘heat’? Is it happening again so soon?

I squeeze my thighs together, trying to ignore the growing dampness between them. My nipples harden against my t-shirt, and I cross my arms over my chest, hoping none of them notice. But who am I kidding? These are werewolves.