Damn it. Malik should be the one rubbing her back. Malik should be the one making sure she was okay and trying not to comment on how swollen her ankles were.
Freaking hormones.
She let out a breath, annoyed with herself yet again. Malik wasn’t here, but this baby was. She didn’t know the sex because she’d wanted to be surprised, something out of character for her. Usually, she wanted to plan things perfectly, but since the baby wasn’t planned, she’d wanted to keep it all in the same theme.
She wouldn’t be alone for much longer; soon she’d be a mother. And no matter how much her heart hurt, no matter how much she wanted to scream or cry over the fact that she didn’t have a clue what she was doing, she would be damned if she’d hurt this baby because of it.
This was her baby, and she’d love him or her until the end of days.
Faith leaned into her and Eliana held back a sigh. She loved her friends, she really did, but she knew once she had this baby, she’d be even more more separate from the rest. The others might not know it, but she did.
“Talk to me, Eliana,” Faith whispered as she leaned into her shoulder, still rubbing her back. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
Eliana closed her eyes a moment before opening them to meet Faith’s gaze in the bathroom mirror. There was no use hiding from Faith. The other woman always seemed to know everything. In fact, all her friends did these days.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“Of course, you are,” Faith said simply. “If you weren’t, I’d be worried about you.”
Eliana raised a brow. “More worried than you already are?”
Faith shrugged and took a step back, keeping her hand on Eliana’s back. “We love you. You can’t lose us, even if you feel like you have to. I know you’re scared about the baby and pissed off that that asshole Malik isn’t here, but we’re here. We’re going to be kickass aunts and uncles, and you’re not going to be able to get rid of us.”
Eliana let out a watery snort. “Things are going to change, Faith.”
“I know,” Faith said softly. “They do every week it seems like these days.” Her friend let out a breath. “I never really thought about what it would be like for the last of us.”
Eliana blanked her face. She didn’t want to hear what Faith had to say, but telling Faith what to do never ended well. Her mate, Levi, was about the only one who could really do it.
“We all knew our lives changed the day the lightning struck,” Eliana said coolly. If she let her emotions show, she’d break, and she wasn’t ready for that.
“Yeah, and six of us have found our true halves. Six of us went through the agony of our first change and found our way into our new realms. I never thought about what it would mean for the seventh.” Faith’s eyes filled with tears and she quickly blinked them away. Eliana didn’t want to see her friend cry. The woman rarely let emotions that could prove a weakness show.
“All it means is that I don’t turn furry or have pink wings like you.” She tried to smile as she said it, but Faith didn’t even blink at the pixie joke.
“I’m not going to let you fade away, damn it. None of us are. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but you are not going to stay human.” Faith crossed her arms over her chest and set her jaw.
“You really have no control over that.” No one had control of anything.
Faith raised her chin. “Watch me.”
And with that, her friend stormed out of the bathroom, and Eliana followed. Her ankles hurt and she wanted to sit down. Though her heart ached to think about what would happen when the others couldn’t find a way to keep her with them in the long run, she pushed it aside. Little squirt deserved more than that.
She made it back to the table, and the others gave her solemn nods as if vowing something she wouldn’t be able to control. But if that’s what they needed to keep sane, then they could do it. It wasn’t as if it would upset her more than she already was.
Seth handed her a glass of water and she grinned at him. “Thank you,” she said. There. That was nice. Not the crazy pregnant chick.
“You’re welcome. Do you need anything to eat? I can get you something.” He was out of his chair before she could answer, hovering as if waiting for an order.
She couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m fine, Seth. Take care of your mate. I won’t break.” She looked over at the others. “I won’t break,” she repeated. A vow of her own.
They nodded back at her and Tristan scowled before muttering something about fate under his breath.
Eliana sighed. “Fate had nothing to do with this, Tristan,” she said calmly. “Malik was human. He wasn’t my mate, wasn’t my true half. He’s gone now, and I’m going to be a mom. That’s not fate. That’s life.”
Tristan froze, his jaw setting. “What did you just say?”
She blinked. “That’s not fate. That’s life?”
He shook his head, his hands shaking. “No, about Malik being human.”
She didn’t understand why he was acting this way. “Malik was human. Right? I mean, he’s your friend and all.”
Tristan cursed and stood up quickly, practically knocking his chair to the ground. “No. Malik is a lion shifter. He’s in line for the throne. I thought you knew he wasn’t human and that’s why…fuck. Oh, fuck.”
Eliana set the glass down on the table, afraid it would slip from her fingers. The others talked around her, asking her questions, speaking to Tristan as if he held all the answers.
“He…he never met any of you.” She took a deep breath. “And I never mentioned…it’s not like I have lightning-struck on my forehead or anything.” Her eyes stung and she tried to focus. “He’s a…he’s a lion?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Amara asked Tristan, worry on her face.
“Because I thought you knew!” Tristan scowled. “I swear to the goddess, I thought you all knew.”
Dante shook his head and tapped his tongue ring to his lip. “None of us met him. I thought at one point I scented a lion on Eliana, but that could have been anyone.” The dragon met Eliana’s face. “While you were dating him, we didn’t see much of you. None of us knew.”
She tried to catch her breath. “So he’s a lion. Okay. But that doesn’t mean he’s my true half. I didn’t change into my paranormal self when he had sex like what happened with the rest of you. He didn’t claim me as his. So he was just some random lion that left me. We aren’t mates.”
Tristan looked pained. “It’s not that simple, Eliana.”
She set her jaw. “Why? Why is the fact that Malik left me not simple?”
“Because lions don’t mate the way other supernaturals do.”
The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the sound of the deep voice behind her. She knew that voice. It haunted her dreams, and at one point, had made her shiver just from being softly spoken.
She slowly turned her head so she could see the man that had shattered her heart. His dark hair looked like it hadn’t been cut since she’d last seen him, so long now it brushed his shoulders. His light brown skin stretched over thick muscles and she couldn’t breathe at the sight of him.
“Malik,” she whispered.
He glowered at her then let his gaze trail to her belly. “It seems we need to talk.”
It seemed they did.
Chapter Two
There were times in a man’s life when he felt like he held the world in his hands. There were times where that man could conquer that world and know instinctively what to do with the life it held.
This was not one of those times.
Malik Ward wanted to throw up, even though he didn’t have a thing in his stomach. Or maybe yell at someone until he was so red in the face he couldn’t speak. Perhaps hit someone so he could feel bone smash against bone. Or maybe, just maybe, go down to his knees in front of the woman who carried his child and beg for forgiveness.
As Malik was in line for the lion throne and a Ward, the latter w
ouldn’t be happening.
Ever.
If he were anything less than the lion he was, he’d have tucked his tail between his legs and walked out of the bar as quickly as he’d come in. But he wasn’t that kind of man, and now he had to face the consequences of his decisions.
And what consequences they were.
He’d been in his realm, trying to calm the rising storm and failing at everything he tried when he’d finally heard the full story of what had happened to Amara, Tristan, and Seth. If his head hadn’t been so far up his ass, he’d have known why his friend had wanted to save his mates the way he had. Instead, Malik had been focused on his family and the realm that would soon be his because he hadn’t had a choice in the matter.
He hadn’t known Amara was lightning-struck—not until word had eventually spread that she was now the queen of the siren realm.
He hadn’t known that Amara’s friends were also lightning-struck. Therefore, he hadn’t known that if those particular women found their mates, they would become the paranormal that held the most dominant strain in their DNA.
He hadn’t known that the one woman he’d thought he could love—the one woman, if he let himself believe, he did love—was lightning-struck.
He’d kicked Eliana out of his bed, out of his life, and had shut the door so tightly on that connection that he’d missed out on what could have been his future.
Holy. Hell.
Eliana was pregnant. With his child. His cub.
His mouth went dry and his brain fogged, much like it had when he’d first heard about what Eliana could be.
He hadn’t known she was pregnant when he left. Hadn’t known when he found out that Eliana could be his. He hadn’t known until he’d walked in and almost fell to his knees. There was no doubt this was his child. Not with the timing or the way the others—and Eliana—glared at him as though he were the worst kind of person. He couldn’t blame them, but he couldn’t care about their opinions yet either.
Not until he spoke to Eliana and figured out what the hell they were going to do.
“You have a hell of a lot of nerve showing up here,” a woman with dark hair and blunt bangs said. She stood up, and Malik scented pixie on her.
Well, that made sense since pixies were some of the most cutthroat paranormals out there.
“Faith, sit down,” Eliana said, her voice strong. A hell of a lot stronger than he felt right then.
“You can’t expect me to sit down while this asshole shows up after being missing for months.” Faith waved her hand at him, and if she’d been in her full pixie form, he had a feeling her wings would have been red with anger right then.
The numerous others at the table began to speak at once. Even the babies cried or babbled in that baby language Malik had never been able to understand. His pulse pounded at his temple but he only had eyes for Eliana. He needed to speak to her, needed to explain, needed to find a way to breathe because he couldn’t quite get enough air.
“Eliana,” he whispered.
Eliana pressed her lips together and put her hands over her stomach, over their baby. He hadn’t been here, didn’t know until it was almost too late about the pregnancy, but the fact that she was carrying his cub changed everything.
The others became louder, even standing up to walk toward him. He stayed frozen to his spot, afraid to move closer and lose Eliana forever. Though, really, did he have her at all? He’d fucked up but it wasn’t his fault. He’d done what he had to do with the evidence he’d held at the time.
“Stop it,” Eliana said softly, though her voice was firm. “All of you. Sit down and take care of your babies. I need to speak with Malik. Alone.”
She made a move to stand up, and he took a step toward her, needing to help, but stopped as a tall and slender man made it to her first. The other man glared over his shoulder at Malik as he put his hands on Eliana’s arms.
“Thank you, Seth,” Eliana whispered.
Seth. This was Tristan’s mate, or at least one of them. That meant Malik didn’t have to rip the man’s arms off for daring to touch Eliana. He tried to keep his temper in check, fisting his hands at his sides and breathing through his nose. He had no right to feel this way, no right to fuck everything up once more. But it seemed the predator in him was ready to claim the woman in front of him. Hell, he’d been ready when he’d thought Eliana was human.
As lions couldn’t mate with humans, he’d walked away.
Hopefully, Eliana would listen to him, would forgive him.
But he wouldn’t grovel. He would one day be Leo and a Leo didn’t beg.
No matter what might be needed.
“Eliana, let us go with you at least,” Faith said.
“Let them be alone,” Tristan put in, his eyes on Malik. This was his friend, or at least had been at one time. They weren’t brothers, weren’t warriors together, but they had once been closer than they were now. Endless time and responsibilities had separated them, but at least the man stood for him now. “For now,” Tristan added, his eyes narrowing. “They should speak alone for now as they need to get the facts straight. But know this, Malik, if you hurt her again, you won’t just have a pixie on your heels but also the rest of us.”
“And we won’t hold back for long,” the large dragon said from the side.
Of course, Eliana was friends with a dragon. Why wouldn’t she be?
Malik had never been so wrong in his life, and now he had to make sure he didn’t lose her again. Because if he messed up, he had a feeling it would be the women at the table tearing him limb from limb, not the dragon or the fae in front of him.
Eliana pushed Seth’s hands away and picked up her bag. “Let’s talk then, Malik,” she snapped. Fire slid into her eyes and he wanted to take a step back. He’d seen lionesses in a rage before, but he had a feeling they had nothing on a pregnant Eliana right then.
She moved past him, keeping her distance, and he let out a breath before following her. He didn’t miss the glares sent his way, or the fact that the bear shifter at the table was casually sharpening his claws even in human form.
Dear goddess, this crew fought for their own like no other.
And while he liked the fact that Eliana had that—them—in her life, now that she was carrying his cub and he could be with her, she was his to protect. And once the others—as well as Eliana—understood that, things could go on like normal.
As he made his way to the sidewalk in front of Dante’s Circle, he stopped by Eliana, who clutched her bag to her belly.
“You’re going to need to drive as the others drove me here,” Eliana said, her voice emotional. “I’m too big to fit behind the wheel safely.”
He licked his lips as he studied her face. She was paler than he remembered, but that could have been from the shock of seeing him. Her shaggy red hair was longer now, brushing her shoulders in layers. When he’d last seen her, it had looked as though she could afford to gain a few pounds. Now, she was round with his child and had filled out nicely. He wanted to reach out and cup her face or even put his hand over her belly, but he didn’t.
He didn’t know what to do and that wasn’t like him.
In fact, he hated it.
“Eliana…”
She held up a hand. “Not now. My ankles hurt and I have to pee. Again. I don’t want to go back in there though because I don’t think Tristan will be able to hold back the mob a second time. So, did you drive here? Or do we need to take a cab? Either way, let’s go. We can go to my place because you sold yours.” She raised her chin as he tried to process the fact that she’d been to his place after he left. Or rather, what had once been his place. “Yeah, I went to your old condo. Sue me. I was trying to tell you about little squirt here. But whatever. So, cab or car?”
He blinked. “Little squirt?”
She pointed at her belly and raised a brow. “Car or cab?”
Apparently, she wouldn’t be talking about any true details until they went to her place and he’d have t
o be fine with that. Because, frankly, his mind was still whirling over the fact that she was pregnant. He’d gone into the bar to find her so he could figure out what they were going to do about mating.
He’d never once thought she could be pregnant.
That changed everything.
And yet, it didn’t change a thing.
He cleared his throat as she shuffled from foot to foot. Her ankles were hurting, she’d said. So maybe he needed to once again get his head out of his ass and take care of the woman carrying his child.
“I drove,” he finally said. “Here, let me help you.” He took her elbow, hopefully keeping her steady. He honestly didn’t know what to do to help her. He may have been around some pregnant women in the Pride before, but he’d never really thought about how to help them beyond protection.
When she didn’t pull away from him, he counted that as a small victory and led her to his Range Rover. She raised a brow at him when she saw the SUV, and he shrugged.
“I sold the Mercedes.” He’d picked her up in that car when they were dating, and had sold it once he’d thought he would be spending the next few years with the Pride, working on his destiny. “I’m renting this.”
She flinched slightly as he said it, and he wanted to curse at himself. Way to make it plain that he wasn’t staying for long. And frankly, remind her that he’d left in the first place. He hadn’t even told her that he wasn’t staying, and yet the car sort of made that statement for him.
Instead of trying to explain, he helped her with her seatbelt and closed the door. He took steadying breaths as he made his way to the other side of the SUV and jumped in. This wasn’t what he’d thought he’d be doing once he made his way back to the human realm, but now, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do.
He had to fix this thing between him and Eliana. Because if he didn’t, he wasn’t sure what he would do.
They were silent as they made their way to Eliana’s home. It wasn’t lost on either of them that he remembered how to get there even if he’d never been to Dante’s Circle before. He’d never actually been in her home as he’d never wanted to let things get too serious, but he’d picked her up from there numerous times. They’d only ever slept together in his bed. And his shower. And on his table.
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