Page 42

thirty-two

. . .

Mia

I wake with a long sigh, stretching in my nest. For the first time in a week, my skin isn’t burning, and my veins aren’t filled with liquid fire. The desperate, clawing need that had consumed me is finally gone, leaving behind a pleasant soreness that speaks of thorough satisfaction.

My heat is over. It’s a relief, but I’m also saddened by it since I bonded so much with Kane, Jace, and Finn.

Sunlight streams through the partially drawn curtains, painting golden stripes across the rumpled furs and blankets around me.

I squint at the digital clock on the bedside table: 11:07 AM.

I’ve slept half the day away, but after the marathon of sex and need, I can hardly blame my body for being exhausted.

I run my hands down my naked body, pausing to massage my lower belly where a dull ache persists.

The area feels tender and slightly swollen from the repeated knotting over the past seven days.

My thighs bear faint bruises from strong hands gripping too tightly in moments of passion.

My neck and breasts are marked with love bites in various stages of healing .

I am thoroughly and completely claimed.

“Worth it,” I murmur to the empty room, working my fingers in gentle circles over my abdomen.

The nest bears evidence of my heat. The sheets were changed daily, but still carried the mingled scents of four bodies locked in primal communion.

The memory of hands on my skin, mouths at my breasts, and cocks filling me from every angle makes my cheeks flush with residual warmth.

They had been relentless in their attention, taking turns satisfying the desperate need that had consumed me.

They fed me when I couldn’t remember to eat, bathed me when I was too exhausted to move, and held me when the overwhelming sensations made me cry. In the depths of my heat-madness, they were my anchors.

The nest feels strangely empty without them.

I’m used to waking surrounded by male bodies—a heavy arm across my waist, a rough cheek pressed against my breast, the rhythmic breathing of someone nestled against my back.

I sit up slowly, my muscles protesting with delicious soreness, and reach for a discarded t-shirt. It looks like Kane’s from the size of it, so I pull it over my head. The soft cotton drapes over my body like a short dress, carrying his scent.

Where are they? It’s unusual for all three to be absent at once, especially after my heat. Their protective instincts should be in overdrive.

As if in answer to my unspoken question, voices drift through the partially open window. Low male voices are speaking somewhere on the wraparound porch below. Curiosity prickles along my skin, and I slide from the nest, wincing slightly at the tenderness between my legs.

I pad to the window on bare feet, careful to stay hidden behind the curtain as I peer out.

They’re seated at the outdoor table beneath a massive pine tree, coffee mugs steaming before them.

Kane leans forward, elbows on the table, his dark hair catching highlights in the midday sun.

Finn sits with his back against the railing, long legs stretched before him, while Jace perches on the table itself, one foot swinging idly.

“It had to be done,” Kane says.

“Justin was just getting too demanding, too aggressive. It was only a matter of time before he started coming after Mia. Guys like him always escalate,” Finn adds. “It wasn’t hard to end him. He’s as weak as you’d imagine.”

I swallow past a lump in my throat. It’s not that I miss Justin, but it feels surreal to hear his death discussed in such cold terms.

“You really are just Mr. Efficient, aren’t you? See threat, destroy threat,” Jace teases.

Finn chuckles at that. “Not all of us can be as wild as you, Jace.”

“It needed to be done,” Kane sighs, his tone shifting to something more serious.

“But it complicates things. The human authorities will eventually connect his disappearance to us, given their history. And with the other packs circling, knowing we have her...” He trails off, taking a long sip of his coffee.

“Speaking of our sweet omega,” Jace interjects, “any update on the pregnancy? That last knot of yours took, right? I can smell the change in her already.”

My hand flies to my belly, a gasp caught in my throat. Pregnancy? Am I pregnant? How could they possibly know before I do?

“I can smell it too,” Kane says, pride evident in his voice. “My seed took root during her heat. She’s carrying my pup.”

“Our pup,” Finn corrects, and Kane nods in acknowledgment.

“She doesn’t know yet,” Kane continues. “I didn’t want to overwhelm her during her heat. I figured we’d tell her tomorrow, now that she’s through the worst of it.”

“She’s not going to be thrilled,” Jace says, surprising me with his perceptiveness. “She was pretty clear about not being ready for motherhood.”

Kane’s jaw tightens visibly. “She’ll accept it. She doesn’t have a choice now.”

Excuse me?

“The question is where to raise it,” Finn says, cutting straight to practicalities in his typical fashion. “She’s not safe here—not with whoever’s hunting her.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Kane admits. “Maybe we need to relocate. Different state, different territory.”

“Running away?” Finn’s tone sharpens with disapproval.

“Strategic retreat,” Kane corrects. “At least until the pup is born and she’s stronger. An omega carrying the next generation of our line is too valuable to risk.”

I stumble back from the window, my legs suddenly unable to support my weight.

I collapse onto the edge of the nest, my hand pressed against my mouth to stifle the sob building in my throat.

Pregnant. I’m pregnant with Kane’s child—with their child, as they see it.

And they’ve known. They’ve discussed it, planned around it, and made decisions about my future based on it, all without telling me.

After everything, after all their talk of protection, they’re still keeping secrets and still making choices for me.

First, they hid what I was—an omega. Then they claimed me without truly explaining what that meant or what I was agreeing to.

Now, they’ve hidden my own pregnancy from me, discussing it casually as if I’m some prized breeding stock rather than a person with thoughts and feelings and choices of my own.

Hot tears spill down my cheeks as I curl into myself, my arms wrapped around my middle where new life is already growing—a werewolf baby.

The reality of it crashes over me in waves.

I’m going to be a mother to a child who isn’t fully human, and I will be bound forever to men who kill without remorse and lie without hesitation.

“I’m not ready,” I whisper to the empty room, to the child I didn’t know existed until moments ago. “I’m not ready for any of this.”

The tears come harder now, sobs shaking my body as I collapse fully into the nest. How many more secrets are they keeping?

And now they want to move me to another state, uprooting whatever semblance of normalcy I might have clung to, all in the name of protection from threats I barely understand. Other packs. Mysterious enemies hunting me for reasons tied to my unknown father.

I have to leave.

I cry until I have no tears left, until my throat is raw, and my eyes burn. I lie there, staring at the ceiling, feeling oddly hollow as the afternoon sun creates shifting patterns of light and shadow above me.

By the time evening falls, a cold resolve has settled in my chest. I can’t stay.

Not like this- with men who make life-altering decisions for me.

Not with killers who joke about murder over morning coffee.

Not in a world where I’m hunted for reasons I don’t understand, valued primarily for my womb and what it can produce.

I need space. Time to think, to process, to decide what I truly want. And I won’t get that here, surrounded by alpha pheromones, pack obligations, and the constant buzz of supernatural danger.

I wait, feigning sleep, when Kane checks on me, accepting the gentle kiss he places on my forehead with closed eyes. I eat the dinner Jace brings me, forcing down each bite despite my churning stomach. I shower under Finn’s watchful gaze, his eyes tracking every movement as if memorizing my body.

And I wait. I wait until the house settles into the deep, quiet rhythms of the night. I wait until Kane’s arm grows heavy across my waist, his breathing deep and even. I wait until I can slip from beneath his embrace, replacing my body with a pillow. He instinctively pulls closer.

The new phone that Kane bought me after I moved in has the taxi app already installed.

I order a car, setting the pickup location a quarter mile down the driveway, away from the house.

Then, I quickly dress in the darkness, choosing practical clothes: jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie that will hide my face.

I stuff a few essentials into a small backpack, along with the emergency cash Kane keeps in his dresser drawer.

The alphas sleep soundly, exhausted from a week of satisfying my heat-driven demands.

Even so, I move with extreme caution, avoiding the creaky floorboard outside the bedroom and easing the front door closed with painful slowness.

The night air is cool against my skin, and crickets chirp a steady rhythm as I slip down the porch steps and onto the gravel driveway.

Each step takes me further from the only security I’ve known in weeks, from men who, for all their faults, have protected me, cared for me, and claimed me as their own. My hand drifts to my belly, to the life growing there—a life that ties me to them in ways I’m only beginning to understand.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the night. “I need to figure this out on my own.”

The gravel crunches beneath my feet as I walk away from what is becoming home toward an uncertain future of my choosing. The app pings, signaling that the car is approaching my pickup spot.