Page 25 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

“I got mad at him, and in the heat of the moment, I insinuated he might not be the father.”

She blinked at me, speechless.

Shay wasn’t, though. “Leigh, please tell me you’re kidding?”

I threw up my hands and then covered my face. “I’m not kidding. It was stupid and awful, and I know it, okay? He was just standing there all domineering and bossy, and I lashed out. I’m not proud of it. I just wanted him to back off.”

“Domineering about what?”

I bit my lip and looked from Bri to Oli, who was hovering awkwardly at the end of the chairs Bri and I sat in, clearly uncertain if she should be part of the conversation. She might as well hear the bit about my stupidity, but I didn’t feel comfortable telling her about Brielle’s curse unless she brought it up first.

“Things that have to do with me and a visit to your Aunt Kari.”

“Leigh,no!” Shay shot to her feet, clearly making the connection even as Bri’s face turned ghost white with shock.

“I haven’t decided, okay? But… if our official efforts don’t do what we need them to, well, I’m not sacrificing my baby.” I lifted my chin, not apologizing for that fact. She was mine, and I would protect her.

“So he didn’t like that plan for obvious reasons of being a decent person, and handling a disagreement with your baby’s father like anadult, you told him he might not be the father?” Shay summed up the situation.

When I nodded, she growled—actually growled, her eyes glowing gold with her wolf.

“He is the father, though, right? He’s asked me to run a DNA test, and I drew his blood this morning. If there’s any question—and I’mnotjudging; if there is, you know I don’t care—I’ll need a sample from you too, if you consent to being tested.”

I sighed. “You don’t need a sample, but I’ll give it if he wants it. I haven’t been with anyone else since Marcus.”

Brielle nodded, squeezing my shoulder supportively. “Okay, well, would you like to talk to him first, or just run the blood test?”

I thought long and hard. “I’ll talk to him. But if he still wants the test after, I’ll do it. He should know, especially after what I said. It’s going to be pretty hard to walk that back, even if the truth is I haven’t been with anyone but him in a year and a half, and there’s zero chance anyone else is the father.”

“What did you just say?”

I froze in the chair, my pulse pounding double time at the masculine voice.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I said. Shay swore under her breath and stepped forward, angling herself between me and Gael. She might have been pissed at my immaturity, but she still had my back, and something about that tiny movement had tears stinging my eyes. They did that a lot more than I was used to these days.

“Repeat what you just said,” Gael barked, the alpha dominance in his tone making me bristle.

When I stood from the chair, I ignored the fact that my knees were shaking, keeping my chin up. Though I faltered when I saw the giant bouquet of red roses clutched in his fist.

“I said, you’re the father. I haven’t been with anyone else.”

FOURTEEN

Gael

Iclutched the roses so hard, I was pretty sure my palm was bleeding from a thorn or three. But at the moment, it felt like all the breath had gone out of my lungs, and that was more important than a little stabbing.

I’m the fatherwas the headline, butI haven’t been with anyone else for more than a year and a halfwas a pretty damn great follow-up. My wolf preened, proud of the fact that we’d wooed her when no one else had been able to.

Asinine, maybe, but he was all alpha. And I couldn’t lie and say there wasn’t a sort of male satisfaction at that fact for me too.

I didn’t want anyone else touching what wasmine.

And she was mine. Even if she was mad. I would do what it took to make it up to her if it took me nine months.

Hell, if it took me nineyears.

I wasn’t going to let the mother of my child hate my guts forever if it killed me. But I was putting the cart way ahead of the damn horse here.

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