Page 33 of Betrayed Pregnant Mate

“Oh, Gods, are you the Veronica I’ve heard so much about?” she asks, her eyes widening. She sticks her hand out toward me, and I realize she’s wearing a lab coat. “I’m Rosa! I am so excited about meeting you!”

“Oh,” I laugh shakily, “thanks, you too.”

“Are you okay?” she asks, glancing between me and Linnea, who laughs.

“Why is everyone asking me that?”

“Probably because you look like you need to be laid,” Rosa laughs, which sets Linnea off into these loud, all-consuming bouts of laughter. All the blood in my body rushes to my face. I glance around, wondering if everyone can tell that I’m walking around with a lot of unresolved sexual tension.

“No,” Linnea says, putting a hand on my arm to steady, “Gods, Rosa, you cannot just say that to her.”

“Why not?” Rosa asks, glancing at me, her eyes serious but her smile friendly. “Girl, what the hell are you doing? Aren’t you staying at Percy’s place?”

“Yes,” I say, closing my eyes for a moment. The whole point of coming out here was to get a distraction, now, here I am, talking about the one thing I need to get off my mind.

“So—take advantage of that?”

“We’re not—we’re not—together.” I finally say, looking around for something to drink. I am so parched, and it suddenly feels a lot warmer than it is.

“Oh?” Rosa asks, pulling her head back, “I thought—”

“Well,” Linnea says, reaching out and putting a hand on Rosa’s arm. “You two are mates, right?”

I stare at her, my brain working to catch up. I think of the “blood-bond” we’d done, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone about that. If they knew about that, wouldn’t they be upset? Percy said shifters don’t do it anymore because it’s dangerous. But both of them are looking at me expectantly, their eyes hopeful.

“I don’t—” I start. “What does that mean?”

Dumbly, I think of how British people use “mates” to mean “friends,” but I’m fairly sure that’s not how they’re using it.

“What?” Rosa gasps, bringing her hand to her mouth and looking me a little closer. “What do you mean? Are you having a stroke?”

“Oh, I completely forgot!” Linnea says, putting her palm to her forehead. “Rosa, she didn’t grow up a shifter. I mean—after she was bitten, it triggered her first shift. She thought she was human, this whole time, and she even smelled human, before the bite.”

“What?” Rosa says again, her gaze swinging back around to Linnea. “I have never heard of anything like that. It sounds so…improbable? Why would the venom from a vampire bite trigger your first shift? And why would your scent change? Have you spoken to your parents?”

“Yeah, it’s nuts,” I add lamely, not wanting this clearly very intelligent woman to keep thinking it through. “So, what are you saying about mates?”

“Mates,” Linnea swallows, “like me and Aris, like Bigby and Rosa. I mean, we can smell him all over you, and that wouldn’t happen unless you were mates, or you had—you know.”

I desperately try not to flush, thinking of that violent, whip-quick scene that left us both breathless, frustrated, unsatisfied.

“Mates are fated lovers,” Rosa explains. “Some believe they’re fated by the gods, others believe it’s a biological attraction, designed to create the most optimal offspring.”

“Should I assume you’re in the latter category?” I ask, and she laughs.

“Well, I am a scientist, so—”

“But what does that mean, biological attraction? Isn’t all attraction…biological?”

“Mates are drawn together very strongly,” Linnea explains. “It’s like, nearly impossible to resist the pull, especially when you’re around them. The second Aris was near me again, it’s like I was, you know, keyed up, all the time.”

“Yeah,” Rosa says, “but he’s also an alpha, which makes it stronger. And the two of you were blood-bonded.”

“Oh?” I say, hoping my feigned curiosity and ignorance isn’t too thick. “What’s that?”

To my surprise, Linnea blushes, and Rosa’s face darkens a bit.

“It’s an ancient practice,” Rosa says, taking a breath. “It involves a bit of blood magic. It’s like the shifter equivalent of marriage, except with much worse consequences. Typically, unmated shifters would use it to declare their commitment to one another. But when mates have a blood-bond,” she pauses, glancing at Linnea, who looks a little more somber. “When mates are blood-bonded, it’s a lot heavier. It means that if Linnea dies, Aris will, too. And the other way around. Parents especially avoid this one, as it means that one parent dying automatically makes orphans.

---