Page 43 of Their Fated Magic

“Pregnant.” Even as I say the word, I’m smiling, just picturing her belly round with our child.

“And we’ll be fathers to all the kids, no matter who they look like,” he adds.

“Of course,” Rinan says, and I can practically see him melting at the thought of having a child with our Tara.

“Hell.” Garrick laughs. “Now I want you guys to succeed.”

“Thanks,” I tell him, annoyed but still smiling.

“But you guys are idiots, so I want to give you two pieces of advice before you shoot your shot with her.”

None of us speaks for a long minute before Arlys clears his throat. “And that would be?”

He holds my eye contact. “Number one, go after her. Right now. Don’t wait another minute. Number two, there’s no room for pride here. Show her your whole heart and hold nothing back. Then, if you still lose her, you know you’ve done everything you can.”

Lose her. Those words again. My entire chest hurts, and I rub the spot.

He sees what I’m doing and lifts a brow. “It hurts, huh? You fucking idiots.” Then, without a pause, he continues, “Go on then. Go get her.”

We head for the hot spring, not needing to be told twice. Anxiety is bubbling up inside us, so palpable I can almost touch it.

Garrick’s words stop us before we’re out of sight. “I’ll be right here when you’re done. Ready to take care of her, regardless of what happens with you three.”

“Thanks,” I mutter.

But I don’t really care about him. All I care about is Tara. The woman I love more than life itself.

TWENTY-THREE

Tara

I wrap myself in a blanket and walk past everyone to get to the little hot spring we’d found by the river. It’s a quick walk, not nearly long enough for me to get my racing thoughts together, but I’m grateful my feet didn’t have to traverse tough ground for too long. Because there will be more walking today.

The thing is, I want to know what the wolves are here for and what they want to talk about. Some gut feeling tells me this is going to complicate everything. How badly, I don’t know yet. I just hope they’ll just let me out of this marriage peacefully after I fix the water. That whatever plan they had for me they can adjust to allow me to ride off into the sunset with Garrick.

At the edge of the hot spring, I drop the blanket and step in, letting the cold water flow over me. It takes me a little time to inch out in the deepness of the cold hot spring, but I clench my chattering teeth together and do it. I want to get clean, but I also know the wolves won’t want to smell Garrick on me.

I slip my head under the water, and when I pop back up and open my eyes, the wolves are at the edge of the hot spring, stripping.

“Wh-?” I whisper to myself.

But I can’t seem to look away, even though my brain is having trouble comprehending what’s happening right now. It’s a parade of muscles, sleek bodies, and dicks. Large dicks. And after seeing what Garrick can do to me, my gaze lingers more than a little longer on their impressive cocks.

When they’re all naked, they get into the water with me. They wade in slowly, yet seem unaffected by the chill of the water. We quietly stare at each other for a bit before I break the silence, unable to stop myself from asking one of the many questions that’s been on my mind since they reappeared in the cave.

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Rinan says, and he smiles, but his smile is tired and filled with tension.

“How did you find us so quickly?”

“We walked from the moment we found you gone until now,” Drogo says, and his dark eyes meet mine intently, without hesitation or anger. He's not even brooding, which is weird for him.

“Why?” I’m beyond confused. “Did you just want to make sure I fulfilled my word? I’m going to try to fix the curse – I told you I would. You didn’t have to come after me.”

“This isn’t about the curse,” Arlys says, very matter-of-factly.

My nose wrinkles. “Then what’s it about?”

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