Page 9 of Pregnant Kidnapped Mate

“You seem in a better mood than yesterday,” Alek hedged.

“I am,” I admitted, grabbing a biscuit. I winced as the still-hot dough scalded my hand, hopping it from palm to palm before it cooled.

“So, does that mean you forgive me?” Alek asked.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I said, slathering jam on the biscuit. “I’m still furious with you. But I do prefer staying here than being stuck at home with my family.”

I took a bit of the biscuit, savoring the raspberry flavor of the preserves. I wasn’t going to add that the other reason I wasn’t fully opposed to being here, despite the circumstances, was that I was glad to be around Alek again. I hadn’t forgotten the chemistry and spark between us, even if it had been a few years. That pull of attraction toward him. Nothing had changed. I was constantly aware of how close he was to me, the way his muscles rippled with every motion.

He scratched his chin, his eyes not leaving mine. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want,” he said. “Though, if you tell me you want to go back to that hellhole, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go along with it. I know what I said yesterday, but it’d be hard for me to accept it.”

He didn’t know the half of it. I took another bite, looking down at the crumbs on my plate, biting my tongue so I wouldn’t add more fuel to the fire. As long as he didn’t ask what had happened when I’d vanished on him, it would be fine. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

“Let’s worry about that in a couple of weeks,” I said. “Everything is a little wonky at the moment, and I’m having a hard time sorting out my feelings.”

“I understand.” His hand went to mine, covering it.

The feel of his hand on mine was enough to make my heart thunder. I was certain he could hear it; it was so loud. My stomach clenched in excitement as I imagined what it would be like if I leaned forward and kissed him, whether things would pick up exactly where they had left off years ago. Based on the look Alek gave me and the way his grip tightened on my hand, tugging me gently toward him, he was imagining the same.

But just as I was about to close my eyes and let him kiss me, Alek frowned, his nostrils flaring. His eyes flew wide as he stiffened. His hand jerked away from mine with surprising rapidity.

“Fuck,” he grumbled, his head swiveling toward the front door.

My brow furrowed. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about or what was going on until a knock echoed through the house a moment later. It took a second to register that he was reacting to whoever was at the door, and another second to wonder how the hell he had known someone was there in the first place. Were his ears sensitive enough to hear someone walking up the path? I hadn’t heard anything.

“What’s—?” I began, but Alek cut me off.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, standing. “You stay here.”

He stalked toward the front. I stared after him, frowning. I’d never seen him this angry before, and I couldn’t imagine what could set him off like this. Beyond that, I had no intention of listening to his order. I wanted to know what had shaken him so much.

A moment of panic shot through me as I crept toward the front door. Was it Dad or Justin? Had they somehow tracked me here already? My eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. Then I told myself not to be stupid. Based on how Alek had looked, he had known who it was. I had no idea how he would know it, but the fact stood that he definitely seemed to know. And if it were my family, he would have told me.

“What are you doing here?” I heard Alek ask.

“I wanted to talk,” an unfamiliar voice said. But at the sound of the voice, an image flashed in my mind. I could picture him perfectly from his voice alone: tall, maybe a bit larger than Alek, with brown hair, a square jaw, and a broad forehead.

Muffled, raised voices, the words indiscernible from this distance beyond their obvious fury, filtered in from outside. My curiosity got the better of me, and I crept toward the entryway. The door opened and closed, and by the time I peered through the door, there was no one there.

I blinked as the bright light beamed through the tree leaves when I stepped outside. Normally, I would expect to hear birds and rustling wind, insects buzzing, and other sounds of summer. But they were all drowned out by angry voices.

“I told you to leave it,” Alek said, his back toward me. He and another man stood at the bottom of the path up the hill. They seemed too preoccupied with arguing to notice me. The other man was even larger than Alek, and just as muscular. My mouth dropped open. I’d been nearly dead-on with the picture I’d formed in my head from his voice, right down to the coldness on his features. Spiders crawled up my spine.

“And I told you that you’re making a huge mistake right now. Have you told her yet?” the other man asked. His folded arms made his muscles bulge even more.

Told me what? But whatever Alek was supposed to have told me, he didn’t say. I could see his back stiffen, and the other man shook his head.

“You can’t actually expect her to stay once she knows,” he said. “Her kind are all alike.”

My kind? Did he mean from a small village? But my gut told me it was something else, even if I had no idea what it might be. My heart thudded so loud that I was surprised it wasn’t drowning out the increasingly heated argument. I took an unconscious step forward.

“You don’t know her like I do,” Alek said, and I could sense the anger bubbling just below the surface.

I stepped on a twig. It barely made a sound, but both men stopped talking, their heads swiveling toward me. Alek’s eyes filled with alarm, his face a mixture of unease and anger. The other man looked me up and down, his sneer growing every minute.

“Iris,” Alek said. “Get back inside.”

The other man laughed. “No, stay,” he called to me. “I’ve got something to show you.”

---