Page 135 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Her unimpressed glare had him huffing a laugh. Everything felt right as he relaxed more and more with each passing minute.

“Shocked, yes. Upset, no. I’m only upset that you’ve been going through this alone,” he replied, pressing his lips to her temple. “Like I said, we’ll figure this out. Theon will help us figure this out. He always knows what to do. He’ll come up with a plan.”

“I think I know how it happened,” she said, tracing patterns on his shirt.

He huffed another laugh. “Me too, kitten. I was there.”

She lightly smacked his chest. “Not that,” she scoffed. “I mean, there was so much going on with Tessa and the Selection and all the other chaos, I wasn’t given my seasonal contraceptive injection.”

His fingers had been stroking up and down her arm, and now they stilled. “Gods, Kat. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because I should have made sure that was done.”

“So you are upset?”

“No, but I take responsibility for not making sure you were taken care of. How long after I sent you with Tristyn did youknow?” Axel asked, resuming the soothing strokes down her arm.

“A week or so. It was probably the best place for me to find out. I was sick one morning. Gia took one look at me and went to get Cienna,” she answered around a yawn.

“And no one else has suspected anything since you came back?”

“No,” she murmured. “I always go off by myself. It wasn’t out of the ordinary. Unless I was at classes or researching with Theon, I was in your room. Researching or resting. The sickness comes and goes. Eliza said that never really goes away.”

“She’s kind of terrifying,” Axel mumbled.

“She is,” Kat agreed, stifling another yawn.

“You need to rest,” Axel said, pressing yet another kiss to the top of her head.

“Mhmm,” she agreed in a sleepy murmur.

In less than five minutes she was fast asleep on his chest. He was a little chilled, and she was so warm with that fire in her veins. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed just having her close. His hand slid to her stomach, and he pressed his palm to it, still unsure how there was a child—hischild—growing in there. Well, he knewhow, but it was still… Something he didn’t have words for. He didn’t care if this went against the laws of Devram. Theon would help them figure this out. He would get his blood cravings under control, and this, right here, would be his world.

The door opening and closing drew his attention, and a minute later, Cienna came into the bedroom. Her violet eyes went from him to Kat’s sleeping form, and something akin to sympathy flashed across her face. It was something Axel had rarely, if ever, seen from the Witch.

“I’m told you’ve been tending to her for weeks,” Axel said as she approached the bed. “Thank you.”

She hummed an acknowledgment while she held her hands over Kat, faint light emanating.

“Is she healing all right? I took a lot of blood from her,” Axel asked, the relaxation immediately replaced with anxiety.

“She will be fine,” Cienna said tersely.

“And the babe?”

“Is fine as well.”

He nodded, pushing out a breath of relief. “Is there anything I can do? What should I know? What can I do to make this easier for her?”

Cienna rounded the bed to his side. “Fae pregnancies are hard. Just like all magical being pregnancies are difficult. It is the cost for bringing more power into the worlds,” she answered. “Katya is strong. She will be fine. Your job in this is to keep her safe and protected when she is vulnerable.”

“Of course,” he muttered while Cienna reached out and took his face in her hands, turning his head from side to side. Unsure of what she was doing, he went on, “They told me about the twin flame bond. Of course I will take that. Eliza said it will help to have the bond.”

“It would,” Cienna agreed, stepping back from him. She was rubbing the tips of her fingers together as she watched him, and to be frank, it was making him incredibly uncomfortable.

“She, uh, tried to give me the Mark, but it wouldn’t work. Maybe because I’m still recovering? Razik was going to see what he could find, but I thought you might know something?”

---