Page 45 of Pregnant Kidnapped Mate

I said the only thing I could think of. “Or Alek is going to come after me,” I said. “Do you think he’s going to let me or his unborn babies stay stuck in a basement? He’ll have guessed where I am. He’ll come after me.”

Their laughter echoed, bouncing off the stone walls and harmonizing in a sickening symphony that made bile boil up my throat.

“That wolf man won’t be a problem,” Dad said with a dismissive flick of his hand. His smile turned malevolent. “Our friend said he would take care of that before he left. Apparently, you weren’t the only one that wolf was pissed off at.”

Cold panic washed any remaining warmth out of my body. I tried to keep a composed face but failed miserably. Dan. They were talking about Dan.

“Dan’s going to kill Alek?” I asked, my voice soft and flimsy.

“That seemed to be his plan,” Dad responded, examining his nails with cool indifference. “At least, he mentioned that was part of his plan before he’d leave town.”

My breaths came out ragged and shallow as my head swam.

“Bet you didn’t see that one coming,” Jason gloated with a knowing smile.

My mouth opened in shock as the true meaning of his words slammed home.

“You knew,” I croaked, my throat dry. “You knew I was psychic.”

All this time, all those years of wondering what the hell was wrong with me. All those years of confusion and feeling lost, of wondering why I just knew things out of the blue. My dad had known that entire time, and he’d kept it from me without a second thought.

Disbelief and rage and hurt swirled inside me, gnawing at my guts and twisting my thoughts. All this time, my dad had known the answer. And he had kept it from me.

“Your mother was one, too,” Dad said off-handedly, as if he was talking about the weather. “I know the signs.”

“You did this to Mom, too?” I thought back to the horrible way Dad had treated Mom when she was alive, like she was his personal slave, ignoring her whenever he felt like it. How she hadn’t usually been allowed out of the house, either; she’d just stayed indoors.

I suddenly realized I didn’t even need him to answer that because I had just hit the mark. I remembered the few times Mom had gone missing for a handful of days. “You didn’t even love her, did you?” I asked him, my voice bitter.

“It’s important to keep useful commodities close,” Dad said. “Why do you think I’ve put up with you all these years?”

My head spun as I tried to take in everything Dad was saying. It couldn’t be true. And yet, one look at Dad’s smug, triumphant expression was more than I could take. It told me everything I didn’t want to know. Every word he was telling me, every mocking insult, was the truth, and I could see it on his face.

“So what now?” I asked, trying to give myself enough time to sort out all my emotions. “You expect me to spout out visions whenever you like? I don’t know how to do that.”

“You’ll learn,” Dad said simply.

“Did you run Mom into the ground the same way?” I asked. “Is that why she died?”

“She died from the flu,” he snapped back. “Do you think I would have let her die before she could train you? It would have made my life a million times easier.”

“Let me guess...she got flu from being locked in this basement?”

“Watch it,” Dad warned, stalking forward until he was right in my face. His rancid breath slammed into my nostrils. “You keep up with that lip, and you’ll regret it.”

I opened my mouth to snap back, tired of being his punching bag, of letting him walk over me. But when I saw his arm twitch, I let it drop, instead asking another question that was bothering me.

“What is it you even want me for?” I demanded. “You wouldn’t have dragged me all the way back here at this specific moment if there wasn’t a reason or you didn’t want me for something. So, what is it?”

“The wolf men—”

“Shifters,” I corrected, and I felt a small sense of satisfaction as Dad glowered at me. The smirk on my face was quickly wiped away as Dad’s arm blurred, hand moving toward my face. I flinched from a blow that never came, the back of his hand halting just inches from my face. When Dad knew he had my attention, his hand lowered and his smug expression returned.

“The wolf men have been terrifying us for too long,” he said. “It’s time for us to make a change.”

I stilled, the fire in me quenched by dread. “You want to wipe them out,” I said.

Dad nodded.

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