When she was little, her mother used to tell her romantic tales about mated shifters that marked each other, letting everyone know just how much they meant to each other, but it was the fairytales that humans told their children that she used to love hearing about more. The idea of one day finding her mate had never appealed to her, but finding Prince Charming? It had led to a lifetime obsession with romance movies and novels and dreams of a happily ever after that she never expected to come true.
Then she’d met an incredibly cranky shifter who loved to glare and she’d fallen in love with him, and now, she wanted what every shifter girl dreamed of, but she also wanted her happily ever after. She wanted it all. She wanted to do all those things that would end with her walking down the aisle one day, but she knew that wasn’t possible.
Shifters didn’t get married. They didn’t date or do all the things that she’d never had the chance to experience. She just…she wanted more with him.
“I fucked up, didn’t I?” Kale asked, sighing heavily as he turned his head and kissed her forehead.
“No, you didn’t,” Ashley said, unable to help but smile as she leaned in and kissed him. “I love you, Kale.”
“But you didn’t want this,” he said, gently pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“It’s not that,” she said, shaking her head as she pushed herself up and sat back on his thighs.
“Then tell me,” Kale said, grabbing several pillows and shoving them behind his back so that he could sit up and-
“You wanted the human version,” he said, sighing heavily with a look of understanding that had her cheeks burning.
“Maybe,” Ashley mumbled, knowing that it was foolish to hope for the impossible, especially knowing just how special a mating claim was, but she hadn’t been raised knowing that she was a shifter. She’d been raised believing that she was human and had dreamed about marrying her Prince Charming one day.
“Do you want to marry me, Ashley?” Kale asked softly as he reached over and ran his fingertips along her jaw.
Worrying her bottom lip, she nodded.
She watched as his lips pulled up into a pleased smile as he said, “Then we’ll get married.”
“We will?” Ashley asked, feeling her lips pull up into a smile as Kale leaned in and kissed her.
“Absolutely,” he said, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he sat back and asked, “Do you know what a claiming mark means?”
“That you love me?” Ashley said with a teasing smile, knowing without a doubt that he loved her. It was in the way that he touched her, the way that he held her, and the way that his gaze softened whenever he looked at her.
“God, yes,” Kale said, leaning in and took her mouth in a slow kiss as he wrapped his arms around her and she realized what she had to do.
She had to mark him.
There was no choice, he’d marked her and she had to do this for him. She remembered what happened to the few males in her stepfather’s Pack who’d marked their mates, hoping that it would be enough to stop their mates from cheating on them. It never was. When their mates didn’t return the claiming mark, they were seen as weak and pathetic and ended up being targets for other shifters. It…it never ended well.
She didn’t want that for Kale. She loved him and would do anything for him, including doing something that terrified her. Over the past few months, Kale had offered her his wrists, but she couldn’t do it. No matter how tempted she was to bite him, and god, was she tempted, she just wasn’t ready to face that side of her, terrified of what would happen if she did.
Right now, she still drank blood in a coffee cup and honestly, she would rather keep doing it that way. At least if she was drinking blood from a cup, she could pretend that something about her was normal. If she bit into his neck…
She didn’t have a choice.
Breaking off the kiss, Ashley turned her head and slowly exhaled, telling herself that she could do this. Repeating that lie that she was really hoping would get her through this, she willed her fangs to slide down as she opened her eyes and-
Frowned in confusion as she sat back, trying to make sense out of what she was seeing, or rather, what she wasn’t seeing. Wondering if her eyes were playing games with her, she reached over and ran her fingertips over his neck, looking for the small, barely visible scar that should be there, only there was nothing but smooth, tan skin.
“What’s wrong?” Kale asked, but she barely heard him as she shifted back on his thighs so that she could look for the light pink scar on his torso this morning, only it was gone.
“You’re completely healed,” Ashley murmured absently as she traced a circle over the smooth skin where the scar from the gunshot should be.
“What?” Kale said, following her gaze only to frown.
“Your scar on your neck is gone too,” Ashley said, her gaze met his as he reached up and ran his fingertips along the spot where his scar should be, only to find smooth skin as his eyes turned silver and his expression went from surprised to pained and she didn’t have to ask to know why.
The last reminder of his sister was gone.
Not knowing what else to say, Ashley dropped her gaze and-
“Oh, my god! You’re bleeding!” she said, struggling not to panic as she climbed off his lap. The scent of fresh blood reached her as she frantically searched for the source of the blood. When she couldn’t find it, she quickly climbed off the bed only to stumble before she managed to pull it together and rushed to the bathroom to grab something to stop the bleeding.
“Ashley, wait!” Kale said, moving to follow her as she tried not to panic.
She should have stopped him, Ashley berated herself as she struggled to hold it together. He’d told her that her blood was dangerous and she should have listened to him. As soon as she felt his fangs press against her neck, she should have pushed him away and…and…
Wondered why Kale was kissing her.
When he finished giving her the sweetest kiss that she’d ever experienced, he pulled away, smiling down at her and making her wonder what she’d missed.
“Why are you smiling?” Ashley asked, only to once again find herself frowning when she realized that the blood wasn’t Kale’s.
It was hers.
Chapter 53
If she didn’t say something soon, he was going to lose his fucking mind, Kale thought as he stood there watching Ashley sitting on the couch with her arms wrapped around her legs, looking completely fucking lost.
When he saw the blood staining her thighs…
He couldn’t even begin to describe how unbelievably happy he’d been at that moment when he’d realized that she was pregnant. For years, he’d told himself that he didn’t want a family because of all the ways that they could hold him back, but the truth was, he was terrified.
Losing Aine had nearly fucking destroyed him, but the thought of losing Ashley or one of their children…
He would never survive it.
“Thank fucking god,” Kale said when he heard Jacob pull into the driveway.
A few minutes later, Jacob was walking through the front door with Marc thrown over his shoulder. “So, why exactly did you have me kidnap this kid?” he asked, not really looking all that concerned that he’d been asked to grab a thirteen-year-old kid from his house in the middle of the night.
“Because he soothes her!” Kale snapped, grabbing Marc away from Jacob and ignored the kid’s grumbled, “I can walk,” praying that this worked.
Please let this fucking work, Kale thought, not sure what else he was supposed to do to fix this. One minute, Ashley was frowning down at the blood on her thighs as he calmly explained what that meant and the next…
“Here!” Kale said as he tossed Marc on the couch next to Ashley.
“Why is everyone manhandling me?” Marc asked, groaning as he pulled himself up so that he could glare at Kale. “And would it have killed him to let me put some clothes on first?” Marc demanded, shaki
ng his head in disgust as he gestured to the gym shorts that he wore as he added, “Especially when it’s thirty degrees out?”
“No time,” Kale said, shaking his head firmly as he gestured for Marc to get on with it.
Frowning, Marc glanced at Ashley, who was sitting next to him, and…
“I have no idea what you want me to do,” Marc said, shaking his head with a helpless shrug when she just sat there.
“Do something,” Kale bit out, letting his eyes turn silver and his fangs slide down as he released a growl in warning that had the kid rolling his eyes.
“How is that supposed to help?” Marc asked, frowning up at him.
“Do something!” Kale snapped again.
“I would if I knew what was wrong!” Marc snapped back with that same panicked look that Kale had been wearing since this all started.
“She’s pregnant!” Kale snapped, gesturing helplessly to Ashley, who still hadn’t fucking said anything!
“Oh, you dumb bastard,” Jacob said with a long-suffering sigh as he walked over to the couch and dropped down next to Marc, who was now sending him pitying looks.
“Really fucking helpful!” Kale snapped, ramming his fingers through his hair as his gaze shot back to Ashley.
“I hope that’s not how you broke the news to her,” Jacob said, sighing heavily as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face.
“It was,” Ashley mumbled absently, still looking lost in thought while Kale sighed heavily and dropped down in his chair, beyond fucking relieved that she was talking again. That is until her next words nearly fucking destroyed him.
“Do you think the baby will be like me?” Ashley whispered, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced up at him.
“The baby’s a Pyte,” Kale told her as he reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a gentle pull that had her climbing off the couch and onto his lap.
As she settled more comfortably on his lap, Kale ran his fingertips over his claiming mark, noting that it had already healed. Humans wouldn’t be able to see it, but every vampire, shifter, and demon that crossed her path would be able to sense it and know that she had a mate willing to tear them apart to keep her safe.
“Will the baby be an Impure?” Ashley asked after a slight hesitation.
“Yes, he will be,” Kale said, unable to help but smile as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.
“How do you know it’s a boy?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Because Pytes are born male,” he said, absently caressing his thumb over her mark.
“I wasn’t,” Ashley mumbled absently, looking lost in thought.
“True, but I also couldn’t scent that you were a Pyte until after you started your transition. Your scent was weak. The baby’s isn’t,” Kale said as he placed his hand on her flat belly and couldn’t help but wonder if their son’s shifter side was going to lay dormant like his mother’s. Then again, it didn’t matter to him if his son was a shifter as long as he was healthy. He’d probably be a nervous wreck for the next sixteen years, Kale thought, chuckling as he gently caressed her belly.
“You’re okay with this?” Ashley asked, sending him a questioning look as she placed her hand over his.
“More than okay,” Kale promised her as he wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her closer.
“What if the baby’s like me?” she mumbled sadly as she wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t want that for him.”
“He won’t be,” Kale said as he reluctantly pulled his hand away from her belly so that he could wrap his arm around her as she laid her head against his chest.
“But what if he is?” she mumbled sadly.
“Then we’ll keep him safe,” he said, glancing at Marc and slowly exhaled, telling himself that their son would be fine, more than fine.
“And I get to name him?” Ashley mumbled, sounding really fucking hopeful for a woman who named a bear Cuddles.
“Not a chance in hell,” Kale said, chuckling even as he couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible to love someone as much as he loved her. She was…
Everything to him.
As he kissed the top of her head, he felt a sense of contentment that he hadn’t felt in years. She’d been worth the wait, Kale thought, placing his hand over her belly again, relieved that their son was a Pyte. Once upon a time, that knowledge would have sent him into a rage, but not today, not when it meant that his child was protected. Most shifter pregnancies ended badly, especially in the beginning. It was why most shifters didn’t get excited the first time they saw the blood because they knew how it was going to end, but they would never have to worry about that.
His mate was a Pyte, which meant that her body had already locked down around the baby, doing everything within its power to keep their baby protected. There were only a few things that could terminate her pregnancy now and he would never let any of those things happen. He would do whatever it took to keep his mate and son protected.
Absolutely fucking anything, Kale thought, frowning when the scent of his unborn child became stronger, only to feel his stomach drop when he scented it. Swallowing hard, he met Jacob’s gaze as the other shifter’s eyes turned silver as his daughter’s scent became stronger.
Chapter 54
Williams Mansion
“Nothing’s working,” Caine said hollowly, his normally gray eyes once again turning red as he stared down at Danni while they stood there waiting for her heart to start beating again.
“I…” Noah began, so fucking tempted to tell him about the blood only to say, “I’m sorry,” because there was nothing that he could do right now, not until he talked to Kale, and he really needed to talk to Kale.
Over the past few months, the shifter had been dropping by every few weeks with more blood for him to test, but without access to the Sentinel network, he’d been limited on what he could do. So, he’d tested a few theories and what he’d discovered had him running the tests over and over again, needing to make sure that what he was seeing was right and if it was…
He really needed to talk to Kale.
“I can’t lose her,” Caine said numbly, looking completely lost while Noah stood there, wondering how he was going to convince Kale to do this, knowing just how much he hated Pytes. That was the first thing that he’d learned about the shifter. The other? He was a mercenary, ruthless, and if he ever found out what this blood could do, he’d be unstoppable, and Noah really wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“What’s the Council doing?” Noah asked, wishing like hell that they hadn’t cut him off, not when he needed answers to help Danni, but they didn’t trust him. They’d made that crystal clear after they found out that he was using their network to run the mystery blood through their system.
“Sending more fucking demon blood,” Caine bit out as Noah’s attention was drawn to the cardiac monitor when a faint beep drew his attention while he tried to figure out a way to get access to the Sentinel network again.
He already ran a sample of the demon blood that they were giving Danni on his own, but the results were all over the place. He couldn’t identify anything in it, but he knew that it wasn’t helping her. When he ran tests on the demon blood with Danni’s blood, her cells would become stronger, but so did the cancer cells, which is why he’d told Caine to stop giving it to her. When he added the mystery blood to the demon blood, it went through a violent transformation, breaking everything down into separate cells, letting him know that the demon blood came from multiple sources. Before he could test the demon blood to see what he was dealing with, the mystery blood completely destroyed it, letting him know that at least one of those sources had been human blood.
“Why isn’t Christofer’s blood working?” Caine asked as they watched a faint heartbeat register on the monitor.
“I’m not sure. Every test that I run shows that Christofer’s blood should be able to kill it,” Noah explained, wondering why it wasn�
��t killing the cancer. It also made him wonder if he was wrong about the other blood. Biting back a sigh, Noah lowered his gaze to the fetal monitor and waited for the baby that never should have made it this far to let them know that it was okay.
From what he’d been told, once a Pyte was pregnant and the body locked down, the baby was protected and could not be harmed unless the mother’s life was at risk and the body was forced to abort the baby. Just with the cancer alone, the baby should never have been able to survive, but somehow it had. It survived every time Danni’s heartbeat stopped and came back stronger than ever when her heart began beating again and he had no idea why.
No one did.
The baby was a Pyte, but it hadn’t reached its immortality yet. At this point, he was as vulnerable as a human child and shouldn’t have been able to survive this, but he had, and it was destroying the Pyte forced to watch his mate and child die over and over again. Noah wasn’t sure how much more of this Caine was going to be able to take, and from what he’d seen, the Council wasn’t either.
They were placing more shifters and demons around town, having Sentinels rotate in and out of the area more frequently, and keeping Nathan, John, Michael, and Chris local instead of sending them to the compounds to help make preparations for the war they thought was coming. They’d also had the cells in the basement reinforced and he knew that the Council was counting on the other Pytes living in the house to stop Caine every time that he lost control. They were also trying to convince everyone in the house to relocate the children to the Boston compound, letting Noah know that they weren’t expecting Danni to pull through this. It told him everything that he needed to know.
They’d given up.
Michael’s main job was now to keep Danni as comfortable as humanly possible and that wasn’t good enough for Noah. He’d come here for a reason and it wasn’t to watch Danni fade away. He wasn’t ready to give up, not now, and definitely not on Danni. When Caine brought her into his ER over a year ago, Noah’s entire life changed.
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