Page 66 of The Worst Mate Ever

“Brady!” I gasped and grabbed his arm. “What is this?”

He looked down at the mark and sighed. “Minerva’s dark magic infected his claws,” he said with another sigh. “I thought I had nullified the poison in his claws, but I suppose there was still enough to infect me with a scratch.”

“Infect?” I asked, my eyes widening as I looked back at the wound.

“Don’t worry,” he said, tilting my chin up to look into his eyes once more. “I stopped it. I didn’t fall into the temptation of the dark magic. I couldn’t let myself do that. Not when you and Aurora need me.”

My hand instinctively went to my stomach, tears filling my eyes again as I smiled up at the man The Fates gifted me as my mate. The father of my child. The only man I’ve ever loved and will ever love.

“There is a bright side to all of this,” he said, his smile turning mischievous.

“Oh? And what is that?” I asked.

“I finally paid you back in full for saving my life at our last Winter Solstice together,” he laughed.

I gasped with mocked insult; my hand pressed to my chest as I leaned back. “You think this pays off the amount of times I saved you? I believe you still owe me.”

He smiled back at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Oh? And what will it take to pay off this debt?”

I smiled back at him and reached to cradle his face in my hands. He leaned closer to me, our lips mere inches apart now.

“Your entire life at my side.”

“As you wish,” he sighed before leaning the rest of the way in. My lips parted for him the moment they touched, my arms moving smoothly to wrap around his neck and hold him closer to me. I could feel the heat of his magic through the bond, my desire for him never ending.

We both breathed heavily as we pulled apart, the scent of humans coming closer, breaking the spell we held over one another.

“We’d better get back to the packhouse,” he whispered to me as I nodded in agreement. “You’ll have to ride on my back.”

I turned to look at him just as he shifted into a bright red wolf, though now, a black mark sat on the shoulder where his wound had been.

Climb on, hurry, his voice whispered in my mind.

I did as I was told, holding tight to the thick fur around his neck as he took off into the pack territory, the distant sound of humans talking over their radios about the disruption to the abandoned building.

We reached the packhouse at the same moment as the rest of the pack. Diana and Alma both rushed over, each taking turns to scold me and hug me with tears in their eyes.

It was only when Edwardo assured them both that I had been untouched by my captors that they finally allowed Brady and me to pass and return to our room. Brady frowned as he closed the door, finding the lock now broken.

As he inspected the lock, I found my phone on the charger and thought about what Thorne had said to me before leaving. About his attempts to stop whatever it was the witch was doing.

I sent Paige a text, asking her about him and what he had done during her time in the school. Her reply came quick.

Paige: He tried to keep my friend Grace and her mate, Headmaster Rome, from fulfilling their bond. There was a prophecy about them, and so he was trying to prevent it from happening.

I stared at the message, my eyes widening as the realization hit me. It wasn’t just some prophecy about the two that he was trying to prevent. It was their bond entirely. A bond between a witch and a wolf shifter. A bond that would lead to a hybrid child. The same hybrids that his witch held such interest in.

Whatever it was she was trying to do, it involved the hybrid children’s existence. To what end? I still couldn’t be sure, but I was beginning to believe that The Fates were purposely keeping us all in the dark, leaving us to wonder about the ultimate goal. A goal they shared with the dark witch.

I looked over at Brady and thought about the research he had been doing with the prophecies of shadows, and I wondered if we would ever find the answers in the library at all. Or if we simply weren’t meant to know. Not until it was nearly too late to stop it.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Brady

The library was empty as I flipped through page after page of books that had anything to do with ancients and other creatures who live in the shadows of the world. Yet, still, I was no closer to understanding the prophecy I received a year ago.

I sighed as I sat back and glanced over at the baby monitor, watching as my mate and daughter both slept peacefully in our room.

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