Page 24 of Pregnant Kidnapped Mate

“When?” she asked.

I shrugged. “No time like the present?”

***

“Holy shit.”

I only barely bit my tongue to keep from laughing. I could understand her shock. Jameson’s mansion was massive. When we’d first moved to Brixton, we’d all camped out here. But as the years went by, we moved out, finding our own places. But even I was still blown away by how huge it was.

“You should see the back patio,” I said. “It’s two-tiered and goes all the way to a dock on the lake.”

“Lake?”

I nodded. “We can check it out later if you’d like.”

“One thing at a time,” she muttered as we approached the front of the house. “Let’s focus on me meeting a bunch of ex-spec-ops shifters before we worry about showing me a lake.”

She shifted back and forth nervously as I opened the door. “Shouldn’t we, um, knock?” she asked.

I snorted. “Jameson knows we’re coming. Also, he has an open-door policy for any of the Silver Wolves. Relax.”

She nodded, but I could still tell by the look in her eyes that she was still imagining being eaten the minute she walked inside. She might have relaxed a bit, but that didn’t mean she was entirely at ease yet. I could understand that.

“You’re going to do great,” I said. “And trust me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

I kissed her on the forehead, taking in her scent as I pulled her close to me, trying to give her some reassurance. Her shoulders sagged slightly as if she was beginning to relax.

Her mouth dropped open when we entered the vast mansion, its high ceilings looming over us. “This is huge,” she muttered. “I didn’t even realize they made houses this big.”

“None in your village?” I asked.

“Nope. Dad had the biggest house, and you could fit ten of them in here.”

“Your family has the biggest house?” I asked.

Iris paused, eyes wide and doe-like, as if I’d just caught her saying something she shouldn’t have. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Dad’s, um…he’s the head of the village. So, biggest house. You know, that type of thing.”

I blinked. I hadn’t known that about her family; she had never mentioned that about her father. Granted, she rarely talked about her family or her past at all, so I guess it wasn’t too surprising that I hadn’t known this. Still, the idea that her father led her village, a man who clearly hated shifters and had instilled so much fear in his daughter, was disconcerting to say the least.

I didn’t want to tell Iris any of this, not right now. She was already so nervous as it was. I didn’t want to amplify it by bringing her family into the situation.

Loud laughter muffled by glass filtered through the house toward us.

“They’re outside. Guess we’re going to the patio after all,” I said.

She tensed for a moment, then nodded.

I put my hand on the small of her back. “You’re going to do great,” I promised. “And the moment you want to leave, just give me a signal and we’ll go.”

Her shoulders relaxed at the promise. “What kind of signal?”

I paused. “I don’t know. Tug on your earlobe?”

She stared at me, then started laughing. “Tug on my earlobe?” she said through giggles. “Yeah, because that’s not conspicuous at all.”

“You come up with something, then, if you’re so clever.”

She smirked, more of her tension ebbing away. “I’ll suck my thumb,” she said sarcastically, then her grin turned wicked. “How about this?”

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