Page 28 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

“I’m sure you wanted to talk about more than my out-of-control tear ducts,” I said, forcing a smile as I squeezed his fingers. “So, what do you want to talk about?”

He nodded slowly, studying my face so intently, I had to resist the urge to squirm. He wasintense. And not a man who spoke too much. Basically, he was my polar opposite, which was why it was so easy to pick fights with him. I wanted to fill up all those blank spaces he left in a room.

Blank spaces left me alone with my thoughts, and that wasn’t a good place to be.

“We’re going to be parents,” he said.

Such a simple thing, but the acknowledgment sent a little shiver down my back. “We are,” I agreed.

He nodded, eyes still burning into mine. “I want us to put the past behind us and start fresh. We have a baby to thinkabout, and a lot of complications regular parents don’t have to think about.”

“She’s an omega,” I whispered, all those big, bravado-filled words suddenly gone, out the window in a flash. I dropped my gaze to my lap, no longer able to handle his intensity.

Do not cry, do not cry, do not cry…

“But we’re going to protect her, and I promise you that.”

“Youcan’tpromise me that,” I snapped. “Nobody can, except Brielle’s Aunt Kari. She has a solution, and Bri is living proof. I’m willing to take that risk.”

“Would you stop martyring yourself long enough for us to have one conversation?” He stood from the chair to pace back and forth.

He was genuinely agitated, and it surprised me. Why did he care so much what happened to me? Or was it that he’d seen what it did to Bri, making her have a weak connection to her wolf?

Our wolves were everything to us, so I understood.

“Surely you see it’s better for her to have a weaker connection with her wolf than for her to be killed at birth.”

“We are not bringing our daughter into this world with a curse already on her head! No!” He restrained his alpha command, but only just.

Well, that was fine. Because I wasn’t a weakling myself. I was an alpha bitch, and if he wanted to bark and snap, I could do that too. I pushed myself out of the chair, stepping into the path of his pacing. He stopped and squared off with me, anger brewing beneath the surface like a teakettle ready to blow.

“We will dowhateverit takes, including the damn curse, if that’s what we have to do to save her! You’re not in control of me, and last time I checked, if I’m willing to accept the risks, that’s on me. You’re not my mate, so get over yourself,” I said, leaning in close for the ending, letting alpha dominance lacemywords for once.

He bristled as he felt it, but didn’t back down even as I held his gaze.

But when he moved, he didn’t hurt me or push me back or any of the dozen things your average alpha asshole might have done when challenged. Gael wrapped one hand around the back of my neck with a growl low in his throat and hauled me forward, claiming my lips in a crushing kiss.

I had my arms wrapped around him so fast, they probably blurred. Fingernails digging in as I held him tight, matching him swipe for every crushing, punishing swipe.

When we pulled apart to gasp in a breath some minutes later, his hair was mussed, and my lips felt puffy.

I touched them softly, eyes falling closed as I shoved away from his chest.

“We arenotgoing there again.”

“You aren’t going to sacrifice yourself. Give me a chance to fix this. I won’t letanyonehurt you or our baby, I swear it on my life.”

I spun toward him, anger simmering once again. “Stop that! Words have power. You can’t just go speaking things like that into the universe!”

He laughed, and it just pissed me off further. “You’re superstitious now, are you?”

My eye roll said it all. “Brielle’s mom didn’t have to take the curse until she was further along, so I’m not doing anything tomorrow. But I’m not kidding. If we don’t have this sorted out by the time I’m halfway along, I’m going to ask for the curse. I’m not giving up the best gift life has ever given me, even if I don’t get as long as I’d hoped with her.”

The sadness hit me then, swiftly overwhelming the anger. I dropped both hands to my belly and sank against the window frame, the only available part of the wall that wasn’t covered in books. I was accepting my own death with the curse. Giving up my lifetime of joy so that she could have hers. I didn’t regret it; Iwanted to save my baby. But I also wanted to get to know her, hold her, love her. It was a bitter pill to swallow that our days together would be numbered from the beginning. I would just have to relish every minute of time I had left before the curse took me.

“Shh,” he murmured, enveloping me in his arms as I broke down into sobs.

“It’s not fair,” I said between racking tears. “It’s just not fair.”

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