Chapter Thirty
Saint ran the bath and dropped heavenly scented bath salts into the water. Silently, I sat on the chair he’d brought in, demanding I sit while he handled running the water. Every once in a while, he would peer up at me, smiling as if he knew something I didn’t. I was content just to watch, and the fact that he’d stripped down to only jeans didn’t hurt the view.
“You could have told me, Brat.”
“Told you what? That my father wanted to breed me? Or that he beat me and enjoyed cutting the flesh from my body in small patches to ensure maximum agony was reached during his ‘sessions’ as he preferred to call them. You’d have tried to save me because you loved me. You’d have died, and I would have stopped fighting to live if you no longer existed in my world.”
“We could have run, Brat. You didn’t have to suffer in silence,” he returned, sitting on the edge of the tub to stare at me.
“My father would have murdered the children, including Chaos, who neither of us knew existed at the time. We both suffered, but we survived him. The monsters that fought so hard to destroy us are dead and buried. You and I are still here. We won. I wish you’d have known so that when I stood in front of the pack and said I didn’t love you, you’d have known what I meant was I would never stop loving you, Saint. I loved you enough to let you go live without me, even though you would have done so hating me. The thing is, you’d have to live to think I hated you.”
“I thought you’d realized I was beneath you. That summer with you, it was the best time of my entire life. That time I spent with you, sneaking around and kissing you when no one else was watching us? That kept me fighting to live, Brat. The thought of coming back here, and stealing you, and showing you that you were mine. That is what kept me fighting and alive.”
“I loved you, Saint. Making you think otherwise broke me, too. I would rather be set on fire again than ever see the look of betrayal and pain in your eyes on that day. My father was the only person who had ever kept his promises to me, and when he did, people died or suffered. No one ever saw the monster staring out from his eyes. He would have killed you, and I’d have been forced to watch it happen.”
Saint nodded, knowing it was the truth. My father had his people here, mixed in among the pack. It was also why I hadn’t killed him. I had to know who supported my father and would be against the hostile takeover I had been planning. Saint spun toward the faucet, turning it off.
“Strip, Brat,” he demanded, smirking as I stood.
“You’re bossy, asshole,” I muttered.
He grinned, placing his hands on the tub to lean back. His cyan blue stare slid to my hands as I pulled my shirt off over my head. Nervousness rushed through me the moment his gaze dropped to the perfectly rounded baby bump. My breasts were larger, and my hips had spread, creating a mass of awkward curves. Reaching for the band of my jeans, he smiled at finding them unbuttoned.
“You are absolutely beautiful with my babe growing within you, Brat,” he reassured, sensing the uneasiness I felt. “I imagined you like this, us together, and you carrying our child. I never thought it would happen, not even after I’d escaped. You haunted me more than any ghost ever could.” He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing at his words. Standing, he watched me slowly walk to him.
“You haunted me too, Saint. I dreamed that you were out there somewhere with someone else. I dreamed that you had a family, and you were happy without me. I wanted that for you, even though it was a nightmare that I dreamed.”
He laughed, watching me. “What the hell were the gods thinking putting something as precious as you, with something as rough and abrasive as me?”
“They thought our broken edges might just fit together,” I said, allowing the tears to trail down my cheeks. I didn’t hide the emotions I’d been trained to conceal since before I could remember. His hands cupped my face, wiping away the tears.
“I think they knew that we would end up together when it was time,” he whispered, leaning over to brush his mouth against mine. His kiss was gentle and seeking. I opened to him, allowing him to claim my lips. He wrapped his arms around my lower back, lifting me as he moved us toward the counter.
He stepped back, sliding his eyes over my body slowly with hunger burning in his lucid blue depths. He flicked his thumb against the button of his jeans, letting them drop to the floor, then stepped out of them, shifting closer to settle between my thighs.
“If you don’t want this, you better stop me now,” he growled huskily.
“Don’t stop,” I whispered, pulling him closer to feel him against me. “You have no idea how freaking horny I’ve been without anyone to soothe the ache,” I admitted, watching his eyes dancing with laughter.
“You didn’t handle that ache?” he asked. “I got off thinking about you playing with your pretty pink pussy,” he chuckled.
“I’m going to need you to hurry up,” I grunted, rocking my hips to indicate he needed to get his dick buried in my warmth. Waiting to forgive him be damned, I needed this release. “I need you, Saint.”
He entered me fast and hard, stealing a shocked cry from my lips. My body moved against his, wrapping my legs around his waist as he held me. Saint released a husky growl, and he walked us from the bathroom, through the apartment, and into a massive bedroom decorated in calming shades of blue and white. Placing me on the bed, he never left my body as he found the perfect beat with his. We made music as my body began to sing for him. A gasp escaped my lips, and I pleaded for him to do whatever he needed.
“Fucking hell, you’re on fire,” he growled.
“Harder,” I demanded, uncaring that my voice came out strangled with need. Saint captured my hands, threading his fingers through mine while he loomed over me. His eyes held me prisoner, watching as they widened against the way he moved. “Fuck, that feels so good. Just like that, please,” I moaned, breathless from the storm he was building inside of me.
Saint held the tempo, slowly rocking against my body while managing to ignore the baby bump that I’d feared would make sex awkward. He pretended it wasn’t there and instead held my gaze as I came undone for him. I lifted my legs, placing my feet flat against the bed to meet his thrusts, whimpering his name as I fell over the cliff. He didn’t stop, not even when the pleasure slowly faded.
He withdrew after a few moments, turning me over to adjust me on my hands and knees before he settled behind me. Saint wasn’t gentle when he entered me from behind. His hands gripped my hips, and he moved in and out of me, anger filling the room with each hurried thrust that slammed against me. His hand lifted from my hip, landing hard against my ass cheek, causing a strangled gasp of surprise to escape my throat. It landed again and again before he rubbed the sore cheek.
“If you ever run from me again, Brat, I will tie you up and keep you where I know you’re safe. Do you fucking hear me?” he snapped, sliding his fingers up my spine until they threaded through my hair, jerking my body up against his. He didn’t stop jackhammering into my body, which had me teetering on the edge of another release. “Answer me, now.”
“I understand, Saint,” I groaned, leaning my head against his shoulder as his fingers uncurled from my hair, brushing against my throat to hold me up. His other hand slid beneath my belly, finding my clit to rub his fingers in a small circular pattern that had me crying out his name as everything crashed down at once.
“Good girl,” he murmured, tensing as a deep growl escaped from his chest, vibrating against my ear. “You feel so fucking good taking me inside your tight cunt, Brat. You like me fucking you and manhandling you, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I moaned, grunting as he pushed me down onto the bed, slamming into me hard. “Fuck yes, more,” I demanded, hearing his wicked laughter as he pushed my thighs apart, lifting them. My head dropped to the bed as he angled my body, driving his cock deep into my core. It clenched hungrily around him, fighting to keep him buried within my channel. Saint growled, thrusting h
arder until he snarled his release, dropping my hips as he slowly moved behind me.
“I don’t even care if the gods knew what the hell they were doing. I’m just glad you’re mine because I don’t think I could ever get tired of fucking you.” He dropped to the bed beside me, pulling me back against his body as his hand settled onto my belly. “You didn’t get a bath, Brat.”
I chuckled with heavy eyes, turning to look back at him as he grinned roguishly. Chaos’s voice echoed through the apartment outside the door, and I smiled. Sitting up, I used a cloth to clean up the mess Saint had created between my thighs and pulling on a pair of panties from my dresser that he’d brought into our room. Once we were dressed, Saint kissed my forehead as we exited the bedroom, staring at the table where Chaos was pigging out on the assortment of fresh fruit that made my stomach growl.
Sitting beside him, I leaned over, kissing his brow before joining him. Saint leaned against the bedroom doorframe, watching us consume the fruit, delicious berries, and melons. Eryx sat in a chair in the front room, his leg slung over the arm of it, also watching us.
“Don’t you want any, Saint? It’s good, and we never get fresh fruit during wintertime,” Chaos exclaimed around a mouthful of watermelon.
“I’m enjoying watching you two eat it,” Saint chuckled, sliding his gaze to mine. He smiled and rested his head against the doorframe. “Your momma needs fresh fruit. Jacob said it’s good for her and your sister.”
I blushed, pushing another chunk of honeydew into my mouth. I smiled around it, sliding my stare to Chaos, who looked down at my belly.
“How do you know she likes it?” Chaos asked curiously. “She can’t even talk yet.”
“Because I’m not running for the bathroom to empty my stomach,” I snorted, laughing as his eyes widened.
“I wish I could do that to the cook when she makes us eat liver,” he admitted, causing the room to snort in agreement. “Do you think I made my mom sick? Do you think that is why she didn’t want me?”
My heart clenched, and I shook my head. “I think your mom was scared and didn’t know how to handle having you. I don’t think you were the reason she ran away, Chaos. Sometimes people get scared, and when they’re scared, they run away from what spooks them. Having a baby is scary, especially when you’re not mated.”
“Is that why you ran away?” he asked, holding my stare. “Because of me?”
“No, I didn’t run away because of you, Chaos,” I said firmly, reaching over to push his dark hair away from his forehead. “I love you; you know that. Leaving you behind was hard, but your father deserves to know what an amazing little monster he created. I left because I was hurt and because I was angry. I wouldn’t ever run away because I was scared of something. I felt betrayed by the pack, and the man I loved had come back, but he wanted to punish me because he thought I was like Harold.”
“Are you going to stay with us and be a family?” he continued, his eyes swimming with tears.
“Well, I’m entirely too fat to run away right now, right? I don’t think I could waddle that fast anymore. You and I could race and see if you can finally beat me,” I teased, watching the smile that took control of his face.
“I’d like that,” he said, grabbing a handful of fruit to shove into his mouth. “But I’m not going to go easy on you just because you’re carrying a baby. You’re still a girl, and girls are slower than boys. I proved it by racing Annie and kicking her butt. Then do you know what she tried to do to me? She tried to kiss me, so I pulled her hair and told her she had cooties. Girls are so gross,” he announced, annoyance playing on his cherubic face.
“Yeah, remember that,” I stated, hearing Saint snorting before my gaze lifted, holding his. “One day, you won’t think they’re so gross. One day, they’ll be your world, and you will want to never go another moment without them.”
“Nope, that isn’t happening to me. Jimmy kissed Carla, and now they keep staring at each other, and we heard them grunting inside the fort. I went in to see what she was doing to him, and they were naked. It was disgusting!”
My eyes rounded as I swung them back to Chaos as he frowned. “What fort?”
“Some fort up in the woods,” he shrugged. “Did you miss the part where they were naked?” Chaos asked, exasperation filling his tone. “It’s way up on the hill to the south. There’s a big S and B carved on it, but no one knows what it means.”
I smiled, turning to watch as Saint’s shoulders shake as he silently chuckled. I knew that fort because it was the one Saint built for me, where we’d intended to mate to avoid anyone else catching our scent until we were fully bonded.
I worried my lip with my teeth, holding Saint’s heated gaze. It was our place, the one we had escaped to when we’d wanted to be alone. Saint’s knowing eyes held mine. Tilting his head, he pushed off the doorframe, moving to sit down with us as we munched on the fruit, of which I couldn’t get enough.
Chapter Thirty-One
Days passed, and the nights grew longer and colder. The people who worked with Saint had started rotating, keeping the primary team’s higher-ups here while others worked in the cells, disassembling them. I’d kept out of their business or tried to for the most part. Every day around Saint became a little easier to accept him and the changes he’d brought with him.
I hadn’t forgiven him or the pack, but I’d settled into a routine and had begun overseeing duties again for the pack on a smaller scale. Today the team was all here, and I’d sent in whiskey and snacks to keep them going throughout the meeting in the main hall.
Settling onto the sofa in the library, I watched Chaos reading one of the comic books, laughing boyishly, and sending warmth rushing through me. The fire had been lit, crackling as the heavy snow fell outside the new picture window that Saint and his crew had framed. Sitting up, I gasped and then cried out as pain ripped through my stomach.
I pushed the rest of the way up, smelling the blood before feeling it on my thighs. Chaos stood in front of me; his eyes widened with worry.
“Chaos, help me up,” I whispered thickly, panic pulsing through me.
Chaos shook his head; fear etched on his features before he ran off. It took an effort to get upright, standing as I pushed the pain down and started toward the door of the library. Before I had even reached it, Saint, Eryx, and Leif were there, rushing into the room.
“She’s bleeding,” Leif stated, his Nordic blue eyes meeting mine with worry.
Saint didn’t wait for permission, picking me up to carry me out the door, covering the space between the infirmary and us in moments. Jacob lifted his head when we entered. Sensing the wolves’ worry, he rushed, preparing a bed where Saint placed me. Pain sliced through my belly as he settled me on the mattress, peering down at me with fear burning in his stare.
“What happened?” Jacob asked, pushing Saint back to get to me.
“I don’t know. I tried to sit up on the couch, and pain shot through my stomach. I smelled blood and tried to get Chaos to help me, but he ran for help.”
Jacob nodded, turning to look at the others inside the room. Frowning, his gaze slid back to Saint, who had turned as white as a sheet.
“Do something.” Saint’s voice quivered, mirroring my fear.
“I’m going to need some privacy to check her out,” Jacob stated, stepping to a sink as he removed his lab coat, rolling up his sleeves to reveal a mass of tattoos and scars.
“I’m not moving from her side,” Saint snapped.
“I need to check her cervix and make sure she’s not dilating. She’s at four months, which is too early to go into labor. Your daughter isn’t ready to be born. I don’t have the equipment that we’d need to sustain her life until we could get her to a hospital that does. If Braelyn is in labor, I need to stop it and get her to a hospital. There are many sets of eyes here, which was what I was pointing out to you, daddy. Unless you wish them all to see her in stirrups, they should step outside for a mom
ent.”
The others hesitated until I looked pointedly at them. Eryx didn’t budge as everyone else slipped silently out of the room. He moved away from where we were, allowing some resemblance of privacy. His hands balled tightly at his sides, glancing at Saint while pacing, as the scent of his anxiety and fear filled the room, mixing with mine and Saint’s.
It took seconds for Jacob to check my cervix and to be cleared and declared healthy. It didn’t ease the worry and fear that moved through me. He squeezed a dollop of gel onto my stomach, and then the sweetest sound in the world began thumping through the room. I smiled, meeting Saint’s wide-eyed look with tears swimming in mine.
“Is that her?” he asked, settling into the chair Jacob placed beside the bed, grabbing another for Eryx, who continued pacing. “Is that the baby’s heartbeat?”
“Yes, and it’s strong,” Jacob announced.
“Eryx,” I called, turning to meet his blue gaze. “Get your ass over here and sit. You’re making me nervous.”
“I didn’t mean to, Princess. I’m freaking the fuck out, and it isn’t even my kid.”
“Sit,” Saint ordered, holding my hand tightly as more cold gel was applied to my belly, and then the wand was pressing against it again as Jacob looked at a monitor.
We all watched in silence as he moved the wand across my belly. The screen was dark, with weird stuff that looked like we’d stepped back in time, peering at a black and white television screen.
“There’s her face,” he said, pointing out the lines. “She’s sucking her fingers.”
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