Page 57 of Betrayed By the Alpha Wolf

A renewed mate bond, in fact.

The wall of frustration that I’d built so thoroughly around myself cracked just a little bit more, and at this rate, there wouldn’t be much left after today. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Still, I offered Grayson a smile, patting his knee.

“I’m fine. Why don’t you just ask whatever things are in your head so that I can address them all, and we can move on?”

Gray let out a hard laugh that blended with a scoff. “Okay. Well, I guess the first question I have is…how did all this happen? Given what we know about what’s been going on with wolves.”

I sighed, staring off across the room. “Well, from what Forrest, Willow, and I learned when I asked the same thing, there are different markers in various wolf and V?lva DNA. Also human because of Kit.”

“Different markers?” Grayson cocked a brow, and I had to remember that the only things he knew about medicine and healing he’d learned from me.

I chuckled lightly. “Sorry. Umm, our DNA has little sections or points that tell our bodies what to do, right? Well, some of those markers tell the body how to reproduce, how to handle disease, and how to bond with other wolves. The markers on a non-V?lva wolf, someone with none of that in their background, are worse for reproduction and disease. V?lvas and their descendants have better chances of getting pregnant, carrying successfully, and are less susceptible to disease.”

“Okay,” Grayson furrowed his brow as he dragged out the word, “Do you have V?lva DNA in your background?"

“Yeah.” I nodded. “My grandmother. And those same markers are better in Senna, her twins, and even Kit and Kaiden’s baby. Even across species, the fertility is better. Willow and Forrest suggested that it’s spreading our genes around that’s better for wolves. Our isolation is the cause of the fertility issues and susceptibility to illness.”

Grayson leaned back, his eyes going to the floor. “Damn. That’s…damn.”

“Yeah.” I raised my brows, nodding, but then I remembered what else I’d learned. “We, umm, we also learnedthat a rejection, like yours to me, can actually be mended. Being with your mate can bring on a heat, especially when emotions are high.Andmates can develop over time as well as be instant. Oh, and I think the baby is a V?lva.”

In a quick burst of movement, Grayson was up off the bed, pacing back and forth in front of me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! That was so much!” He shook his head, slashing his hands through the air. “I’m sorry. So, hold on. The rejection wound can be reversed? Is that what happened to you?”

I nodded, staying quiet.

“And I’m your mate, so that’s why you went into heat like that?”

I nodded.

“And the baby…Gods, I can’t believe I just said that. The baby is a…V?lva. How do you know that?”

“Because she talks to me. In my head. I think she’s…telepathic, and it’s working even now.”

Grayson’s eyes were the size of dinner plates, and his brows were all the way up to his hairline. He froze in place, standing there in front of me like he’d been struck by lightning.

“We have a psychic baby?” I offered him a sympathetic smile. “We have a psychic baby. And our mate bond made you go into heat. And you can make V?lvas. We can, I guess. And Leon is downstairs stark raving mad after poisoning the Alphas. And there are hunters and Reginald to be worried about. Did I miss anything?”

“The rejection doesn’t hurt so much anymore because we’ve healed most of it.”

He laughed again, equal parts amused and exhausted, and then Grayson plopped down onto the bed next to me.

“Right. Well,” he looked at me, his icy blue eyes sparkling with something I hadn’t seen in a long while—happiness, “that’s good. I don’t like seeing you in pain. Especially when I’m the asshole who caused it.”

This time it was my turn to laugh, and boy, did I. It was all just so ridiculous laid out like that. And hearing Grayson be so open about the fact that he’d harmed me, that he was accepting the fault in his own self-deprecating humor type of way, was enough to get me sighing.

It was such a relief.

“You really can be an asshole sometimes.” I smiled back at Grayson, bumping him with my shoulder. “But I haven’t exactly been nice to you lately, so…sorry about that.”

He nodded, turning the corners of his mouth down. “Thanks. You had your reasons, of course, but thanks.”

“What do we do now? Do you…do you want to have a kid? Do you even want me around?”

The questions had filled my brain, drowning my subconscious in doubt and leaving me perpetually anxious. Still, there was no other way to ask them really. I just needed to get it out there and hear the answers—even if I didn’t like them.

“Kenz,” Grayson took my hand, using his free one to pull my chin toward him so I’d have to meet his eyes, “I will do everything in my power to protect you and the baby you’re growing.Ourbaby. I never want anything bad to happen to either of you. And you certainly don’t have to up and leave.”

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