Page 23 of Bullied Pregnant Mate (Silver Meadows Wolves #7)

The next day, time drags by, and every passing moment gives me a feeling of dread I can’t explain. I’m also feeling guilty for keeping the baby from Jenks. I don’t know how long I can hold on to this secret.

He deserves to know, but how can I tell him? He has so much to worry about right now.

To be fair, so do I.

I spend most of the day in the den, curled up on the couch, reading. Jenks hangs out with me a little, bringing me food and sitting with me to chat, but he can’t sit still and keeps going outside to pace around the house in his wolf shape.

I can sense other members of the pack not far away, watching the house. There seems to be a constant presence of wolves around the mountains nearby, and even though they are here for our protection, they make me jumpy.

Even though I promised Jenks I’d keep his secret, I didn’t think it was going to be this hard. My alarm bells are going off. I don’t think we should be meeting these wolves alone!

Wrapping the blanket more tightly around myself, I rub my belly. I can’t be much more than a week pregnant, but I can sense my daughter within me. I know she is a witch, and possibly a wolf, too. It’s my powers as a medium that give me so much knowledge about her. I can feel the presence of her spirit.

I don’t want to confuse Jenks right now. He has enough to focus on… and I don’t want him to make any decisions based solely on me being pregnant.

It’s hard to admit, but I also don’t want to fully commit to Jenks just because of the baby. Over the past week, I decided I couldn’t live without him, but finding out I’m pregnant has made the situation so much more serious.

He said he still wants to be party-boy Jenks. Does that mean he won’t be a good father? Is he admitting that he can’t settle down?

“Hey, how’s it going?” Jenks asks from the doorway, startling me.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” I answer breathlessly. “You scared me.”

“I was pretty quiet, but I don’t think I was cloaking.”

“No, I was really distracted so I wasn’t paying attention, anyway.”

Jenks frowns. “Are you okay today? You’ve barely gotten up.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say. “Just really tired. Maybe I’m coming down with something.”

Jenks comes in and kneels by the couch, putting a hand on my forehead. “Hmm, seems fine to me.”

I chuckle. “Do you have any idea what you’re feeling for?”

“None. But you always feel good.”

“I’m okay, really. Just let me rest.”

“Are you going to be up for the meeting tonight?”

Jenks’s words put a chill through me. Tonight is the full moon, and the zenith is close to midnight.

“Yes, I will be,” I manage to say. “Don’t worry about that. I might take a nap or something, though.”

I can see a pained look on his face as he struggles with himself. I know he wants to tell me that I don’t have to go, but if he did, it would be a lie.

He needs me to go with him. As much as he wants to let me off the hook, he wants my support, and I can’t leave him alone.

“Alisa, if you don’t—”

“Shh,” I put my finger on his lips. “It’s okay. I will come with you.”

“I don’t know about this. If you aren’t feeling strong…”

“I can handle it. I want to be there for you.”

He sighs. “I’m starting to feel like I’m putting you in danger unnecessarily. They did attack you.”

“They didn’t know who I was.”

“Really, that’s no excuse. My brother said some messed-up stuff about witches.”

“That’s exactly why we have to go. If you don’t do the meeting, you’ll always be wondering how it could have been. If you do anything to drive them away—like tell Bailey—you’ll betray them and never know if you could have reconciled.”

“I don’t see how we can. Decker isn’t going to give a fuck about our family connections.”

“There’s a good chance Bailey won’t, either,” I say.

“Patrols are thick,” he says. “There is always a wolf not far from the house, and all of them have overlapping routes. He’s not taking any chances.”

I push my doubts down, even though it’s difficult. “Jenks, I’m with you. No matter how it goes, I’ll be by your side, and you’ll need me. What if they turn on you, and you’re all alone?”

“What if they turn on me, and you’re with me?” he asks. “They could be planning to drag me back to Silverton and interrogate me—or Decker just wants revenge on me because I was part of his pack for so long. He might even want to kill me just so Bailey can’t use me as a spy.”

“Hmm, Bae did suggest exactly that.”

“He did.”

I put my arms around him and give him a quick hug. “Let’s try not to think about it. It’s only mid-afternoon. You’ve got all evening to stress about it.”

“That’s true. I’m going for another run, though. I just can’t sit still.”

“Don’t wear yourself out.”

He shrugs. “I can rest later when we have dinner. I need to keep moving. I even tried to spin up some new songs to distract myself, but I couldn’t focus. It’s weird for me to want to occupy myself with physical activity.”

“I know,” I chuckle, ruffling his hair. “Well, except for certain… exercises.”

“I’m all for more of those.” He grins lasciviously.

“Go for your run,” I urge. “I’ll think about early dinner, and when you get back, we can cook together.”

“That sounds great,” he says absently.

He sounds so distracted. I’m so worried his personal feelings are getting in the way of his judgment.

“Okay.” I lean back on the couch, getting comfy. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Sure,” Jenks says, kissing me briefly on the lips. I wait impatiently for him to leave the room, staying curled under the blanket as if I’m getting ready to nap.

The second I hear the door slam, I throw the blanket off me and hurry over to the hearth. I have a little box of spell supplies next to it, and I pull out a few items from it.

Rocks from the mountain, some herbs from the garden… and a pigeon flight feather.

I arrange them in front of me, holding my hands above them while I chant. The spell is like a magical GPS. It will send my location to the other witches once I get to the meeting place tonight.

Some of the witches won’t be powerful enough to read the whole signature, but Amanda and Lucy definitely will.

I pick up the pigeon feather and stroke it gently, running the soft edge against my fingertips.

Pigeons are messengers, and they always know their way home. This will help them find me if I’m lost and can’t find my way.

By the time Jenks comes back inside, I’m all done with the spell and curled up on the couch like I never even moved. After he freshens up, we go straight to the kitchen to cook dinner, but the atmosphere is strained. There’s no easy banter or jokes, just awkward silence. Jenks keeps looking at the sky as if he can force night to come. It’s barely even dark when he says we should drive to the other end of town.

“Isn’t it a bit early?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No, it will take a few hours to hike down to Ophir. If we drive over now, then we should arrive right on time.”

“Okay,” I agree, nervousness shooting through my guts. “It’s up to you, Jenks.”

He looks at me with wide eyes, and I can see the conflict raging in him. He wants to call this off—quite desperately—but he can’t.

Let’s just go and get this over with.

We tidy up and head out to the car. Jenks reaches for my hand and squeezes it, but it feels like there is no warmth between us. I still can’t think of anything to say, and a lump starts to form in my throat.

Keep it together!

I can’t. I miss the energy between us, the warmth in our casual touching. All of it seems to have disappeared, and I feel cold, abandoned, and alone.

He’s just struggling with his own emotions. It’s not personal!

As we drive across town, it starts to feel pretty personal. Jenks barely looks at me, just keeps his eyes fixed on the road. By the time we reach a parking lot near the hiking trail, my nerves are bubbling over, making me feel jumpy and nauseous.

I’m sure my condition doesn’t help with that.

I’m careful to guard my thoughts. The last thing I want is for Jenks to find out about the baby by accident.

I want all this settled before I tell him. Then he’ll have the support of his family… or the knowledge that they can never be a part of his life.

“Okay,” Jenks says, giving me a little smile. “Let’s move.”

He takes my hand, but his touch does nothing to comfort me. We start to hike out onto the trail, and I realize he was right about it taking time to get to the meeting place. Jenks could cover the distance in an hour or so in his wolf shape, but I definitely can’t.

“It’s really steep here,” I say breathlessly. “Are you sure this is the way?”

“Yeah, it’s the only trail,” he answers. “And we have to move off it soon, to go to the place we agreed on. It’s secluded, just out of our territory, but not quite in theirs. Bae’s running few patrols in this area, so we don’t have to worry.”

I am worried!

I’m more relieved than ever that I put the spell on myself because we’re going so far out, I know I’m going to get lost. The locator will allow the others to find me, no matter where I am.

“This way,” Jenks says, getting off the trail. “I’ll go ahead of you and break a bit of a path. I can’t fully clear it, though. I don’t want any sign that we’ve passed through here.”

“Okay,” I pant.

I’m regretting my decision to come on many levels now, and all I want to do is sit and rest. I’m sure Jenks can feel this, but he keeps pushing forward.

What’s going on?

“Come on,” he urges, reaching for my hand and tugging me through the thick scrub. “The moon is almost at zenith.”

I want to protest or at least tell him to slow down, but I can’t catch my breath. Trying to read Jenks’s emotions gets me nowhere. He feels like a blank slate all of a sudden.

Is it because I’m scattered and can’t read him, or is he deliberately hiding himself from me?

The latter thought is so terrifying, I can’t bear to think about it. Jenks keeps pulling on my hand, finally tugging me through some thick trees and into a small clearing.

“Are we there?” I ask, gasping for breath.

“This is it,” he confirms.

“And we’re here,” a voice calls out from the shadows.

Two men materialize out of the night. One is stocky and shorter, with dark hair. He’s the younger of the two, so most likely Brad, Jenks’s half-brother.

The other man is tall and slender with long, unruly dark hair. His resemblance to Jenks is unmistakable. The high cheekbones, the strong jaw, the set of the eyes—this man is definitely his father.

“Hello, Jenks,” the older one says, smiling. “It’s good to meet you, finally. My name is Jerry. I’m your father.”

A shudder runs through Jenks, and I still can’t discern his feelings. He’s staring at the other two in complete shock, his eyes wide and his body frozen in place.

“You look just like me,” Jenks says, amazed.

Jerry chuckles. “You look like me, son.”

“But, how… why? When I was in Silverton, why didn’t you come to me then? It’s so clear that we are related. And the packs were at peace!”

“We don’t live in town,” Jerry explains. “Our cabin is far out in the mountains, and we only come in as needed for supplies. I don’t hang around in the bar and drink, so I only saw you from a distance. By the time either of us could muster up some courage, you were gone.”

Jenks narrows his eyes, shaking his head a little. Brad steps forward, a grin on his face that sends shock waves of terror running through my bones.

He looks like a fucking maniac!

“None of that is important right now,” Brad says, waving a hand. “The important thing is you brought the witch.”

What?

“Brought her right to us, practically served up on a silver platter,” Jerry growls, showing his teeth.

I take a slow step back, but Jenks puts a hand on my arm. I look up at him in wild terror. Surely this can’t be betrayal?

But when my eyes dart to him, he’s frozen with cold, unwavering purpose.