Page 33 of Pregnant Kidnapped Mate

“I think you might be.”

I gripped her hips, still looking up at her. “While I’ve got you here, I have a confession to make.”

Iris raised her eyebrows, eyes searching mine as her body tensed, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“What?” she asked.

“Remember how we met? With the berries?”

She nodded. “Of course. Kind of hard to forget when a guy saves your life.”

“Yeah…” I grinned sheepishly. “I lied. They were blackberries.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I was out hunting when I first saw you. I thought you were gorgeous, and I wanted to talk to you. But I was a wolf, and I didn’t think you would take kindly to a naked guy in the woods trying to talk to you, so I made up my mind to come back again later. Several times. When I finally saw you again, I knew I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me up again. And so I made up the bit about the poisoned berries so I had an excuse to talk to you.”

“You lied about the berries so you could talk to me?” she asked, drawing out each word as if still processing it.

“It was the first thing that came into my head! Though, in hindsight, maybe not the best pickup line.”

She stared in disbelief. Then she started to giggle. And the giggles turned into full-out laughter.

“Asshole,” she said. Then yanked me toward her, so our lips collided. “You made me terrified of blackberries for years.”

“I guess the kiss means I’m forgiven?” I asked.

“Hmm…I don’t know.” She ran her hands along my chest, tracing the muscles in a way that sent shivers down my spine. “I think you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

I smirked, tilting my head. “I can think of a couple of ways to do that.” Gripping her even tighter, I spun her over so I was pinning her to the bed, her wrists locked behind mine. “Starting now.”

***

I knew something was wrong the instant Malcolm stalked out onto the patio.

He was supposed to be at my house, teaching Iris about her abilities and how to use them. I’d given them some space by going over to Jameson’s mansion and relaxing for a while, enjoying the sun and nursing a beer as I hung out with Jameson, Rand, Tannen, and a few of the other Silver Wolves. For the first time since Iris had arrived, things really seemed to be going well on all fronts, and I was starting to feel like maybe we would be able to get control over all of this. But that changed when Malcolm stalked outside.

I stood straight, knocking over my beer in my haste to get up. “What’s wrong?” I asked, stalking toward him.

Malcolm’s jaw tightened. “I was starting to teach Iris a bit about her abilities,” he began. “As we were talking, she let slip that her visions were getting stronger. More vivid. She’s able to see them in more detail. Specifically, her visions about her family coming to take her.”

“What does that mean?” But I could tell by the solemnity on my old boss’s face that it was nothing good.

“It means that those visions are becoming more likely to happen,” he said. “Clairvoyance is imprecise, and not all visions come true. But the more specific they get, the closer they are to happening.”

I kept my face impassive, but inside, my mind was racing. My wolf paced back and forth, snarling and flexing his claws. I wasn’t about to let Iris go back to that terrible family who treated her like shit.

“Is it guaranteed?” I asked. “Is there no way of stopping it?”

“I don’t know,” Malcolm admitted. “At some point, there’s a threshold where there’s no going back. If she sees it, it’s going to happen. But I don’t know enough about psychics to tell you when that will happen.”

“Helpful,” I snarled.

“Easy, bud,” Rand said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Getting mad isn’t going to make this any easier.”

“I’m not letting her go back,” I said. Inside, my wolf was snarling, howling, raging at the thought that someone would try to take Iris away from him. I couldn’t blame him, and I could feel his emotions taking over, entwining with mine.

“And we’re going to help in whatever way we can, Alek. Don’t bite our heads off,” Jameson said.

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