Page 17

His people had lost a lot because his uncle, Alpha, at that time, had refused to prepare for the natural and man-made disasters that were coming.

He’d refused to occupy their seat on the Global Shifters Alliance, GSA.

It met annually in the remote Eastern Fjord in Iceland, and the entire country was considered neutral ground.

But, Kenneally was too shortsighted to see the benefits of such a council.

However, Chanin’s father went as a Pack representative on his own every year without voting authority.

It was how Chanin’s father had warned about the growing threats and urged Kenneally to prepare the Pack.

However, Kenneally believed that no matter what destruction humans brought, their shifter abilities would allow them to survive.

Kenneally had been half right, a lot wrong, and did not fully understand how their kind could be affected. And the man’s ignorance had almost destroyed them.

This had been Chanin’s breaking point and led him to challenge his uncle.

“How do you want to serve up justice to the rogues?” Bleddyn’s words broke into his thoughts.

“Swift and precise. We need to call a meeting.” Unable to isolate himself from his Pack any longer, Chanin started toward his house.

Bleddyn fell into step.

“Contact Boris. Get a report from the scout team. I want to know their current numbers and whether Farkas still resides in the northern plains.”

The cunning wolf had a way of staying hidden because he moved locations often.

“Will do.” Bleddyn continued the path alongside him into Chanin’s spacious backyard. “When do you want the report by?”

“Midnight. I want to call a meeting then. See if we can catch the rogues unaware.” Chanin rounded the side of his house and was not surprised when he saw Rudie leaning against his front door. He didn’t pause in stride as he took the six steps two at a time. “I want the fang warriors readied.”

His assistant stepped aside quickly, allowing him and his Beta to enter his dwelling first out of respect.

“Welcome home, Alpha.” The Lupine female with skin the color of desert sand, narrow almond-shaped eyes tilted up at each corner, and long, straight, jet-black hair that only covered one bare breast in her lounged position on his couch stopped him in his tracks.

“Minsi, what are you doing here?”

~YH~

Oh, my Lord, what is happening to me?

Kai sat higher on her elbows as she stared at the odd-shaped mark on her belly.

“What—? Is—? How—?” Her mind went blank, and she couldn’t seem to string together more than one word at a time. Due to the natural soft roundness of her belly and the curviness of her body, she felt as if she had the best angle to see it.

“Kai, it’s—”

She bolted from the bed. Moving fast, she scrambled across the large mattress until she could get off, ignoring everything else around her.

Once her feet touched the cold, unforgiving stone floor, she rushed into the bathroom.

She stood before the mirror and stared at her reflection.

Correction, she focused on the black design—the scale.

It was a replica of those that covered Aodh and his people.

Her heart pounded at full force. There was no slow pick up of speed, just a strong boom, boom, boom in her chest.

She reached down and gingerly ran a shaky finger over the image.

At first, she was nervous that she would feel the sharp burn from before.

However, she felt no pain. She pressed firmly, but still nothing.

Now, she wasn’t sure she would know it was there without looking at it. Her skin felt just as smooth as Aodh’s.

Aodh. Dragon.

“Am I becoming—?”

“Drahk. No.”

She snapped and stared at Aodh, who stood at the door.

Even though his heat surrounded her and caressed her skin, she was so focused on staring at the change to her body in the mirror that she ignored the other sensations swimming through her body.

He appeared relaxed as he leaned along the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Aodh’s intense gaze locked on her.

A tinge of sapphire played at the edges of his markings, resembling the heat that danced in her core whenever she was in his presence—she wanted him.

She always wanted him. Even now, as her mind was racing with too many questions and speculations about what was happening to her and sore from the incredible, odd sex they’d shared, if Aodh crooked his finger at her, she’d need no other encouragement to be in his arms.

Every part of her was heated and craved him. The blood in her body ran through her veins, guided by her lust for him.

However, it wasn’t the bluish glow that drew her, but the bright violet that radiated in a wave along his markings and roared in his eyes—joy.

Many times, she’d seen the hue on him around her.

When they were alone and talking during late meals or curled up in the bed first thing in the morning, it was there when he looked at her before the lust invaded.

The amethyst color captured her heart and took her breath away. She often thought, ‘I put that there.’ And it made her hope that she meant more to Aodh than a warm body in his bed.

Kai was now seeing it. It was more infusing, and it caused her insides to fill with warmth and joy. Aodh’s emotions filled the whole room.

“What’s happening to me, Aodh?” She glided her fingers over the place on her skin again. “What does this mark mean for me?”

“It’s an indication of what we created. What is to come.” His gaze slid down her body and focused on her stomach.

She gasped. The mark thrummed below her fingertips as if the symbol could sense his stare.

It felt alive in some way. For a moment, she pondered if it was how Aodh and those of his kind felt their markings in such a way as if the designs were a living entity on them and connected to something inside.

Since she had met the Dragon King who lived within Aodh, the thought of their scale-like marks being alive made sense. On them. But on her, she was only a human, in love with a dragon-shifter.

Astonished at the thought, she swallowed down those private words. For now, she needed to hold them close. Keep them to herself until she figured out where she and her sister belonged in this new world.

She looked to the mirror briefly, seeing herself, trying to comprehend how she would change, but feeling clueless, she turned back to the massive man taking up most of the doorframe.

“It’s our child. Our offspring is growing inside you.”

What?

Aodh continued to watch her, not saying anything.

Shaking her head, she realized she’d rolled her lips between her teeth and had not spoken aloud.

She was trying to speak, but everything was rushing over her.

Her ears filled with that same pounding that was going on in her chest. The heat in the room seemed to kick up to a suffocating level.

She wanted to rush out of the small space and get some coolness and air because she could not breathe.

All the oxygen got sucked out of the bathroom.

However, she could not move a step because her legs became jelly, her vision was spotty, and everything darkened before her face.

“Kai!”

Hands grabbed her from somewhere, and the stone floor disappeared beneath her feet. That’s strange, she thought, because the way she felt, she would have assumed her body would have crumbled to the floor since it seemed impossible to hold herself up any longer.

“Breathe.”

A cool breeze blew over her face, her skin.

“Breathe.”

For a moment, her mind could not compute the word spoken to her enough to send a signal to her body and follow the instructions.

“Come on, little flame, breathe.”

A wisp of air brushed her skin as if she were caught in a fog. Finally, her lungs remembered their function, and she let in the first wheezy breath.

“Again.”

She sucked in more air, a roasted cinnamon-scented air—Aodh.

“Good.” Aodh’s deep, rough focus came to her through the mental fog. “Open your mouth and take a big breath for me.”

Finally, she was feeling a bit more like herself.

Her mind was starting to become clear again.

Doing what Aodh said, she parted her lips and breathed shallow and then deeper.

A tingling sensation shimmied around her mouth, down her throat, and into her lungs.

From there, it saturated every part of her body.

When she lifted her lids and stared into Aodh’s soft emerald-flamed gaze, his calming concern reached her through the soft smoke, filling the room and her lungs, which made her nerves settle.

The corners of her lips curled up. It was just like Aodh controlling everything around him.

She was sure if not for his deatach glan heyl , healing smoke, she would have passed out.

She glanced around the bathroom. The fixtures and things usually clearly visible appeared like shadows in the smoke.

Kai felt the hard surface beneath her backside and was pretty sure she was sitting on the counter.

“I don’t think this level of smoke was necessary, Aodh,” she teased as she cupped his strong jawline with one hand, trying to communicate that she was all right. “I wasn’t dying. Just a little lightheaded.”

“Doesn’t matter. I must ensure both you and our offspring are well.”

The baby. A baby. She recalled his words before she started to faint.

“Aodh, you’re mistaken. There’s no way I’m pregnant already.

” She thought about her words. “Okay. As much sex as we have, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I got pregnant.

However, it would be weeks before we know.

” She placed both her hands on his shoulders and patted him.

Aodh shook his head. “No, mate. You’re mistaken.”