Page 23 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

Only one.

I narrowed my gaze at Reed, and his eyes went wide.

Reed shoved his chair back, standing and leaning over the table. “Absolutely not, Gael. I would never lay a finger on her after you’ve claimed her,” he said, stabbing the table with his pointer finger. “You know me better than that.”

“He hasn’tclaimedher,” Dirge argued, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at me with judgment in his eyes.

I ignored the judgment because he didn’t know what thefuck he was talking about. “You were the only other male in her room.”

Reed straightened, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “The day we left? Yes, because I’d gone to round up all three of them and heard her being sick in her room. I knocked, but the door wasn’t locked, so I let myself in. Gael, I’ve never stepped foot in her room—or she in mine, for that matter—alone other than that morning. You walked in less than two minutes after I did, I swear it.”

He held my gaze, and the knot between my shoulders finally loosened as I scanned him for any hint of dishonesty but found none.

“He’s telling the truth, Gael. There is no hint of dishonesty in the pack bonds,” Kane said, tapping his chest.

Relief flooded me.He isn’t the father. I don’t have to leave my pack.

But if what they were saying was true… Why would she lie about there being someone else?

“Great, now that we’ve established that you’re an idiot,” Dirge said, plopping back down in his chair and piling seconds on his plate without a care for the emotional roller coaster I was currently riding. “When are you going to make this official? You two obviously have the hots for each other, and I suspect the mating marks will show when they’re good and ready. It’s not always instantaneous, you know.”

I just stared at him as he stuffed bacon in his face at an alarming rate. Because my brain was stuck back on thewhy. Did she hate me that much?

Yes, I’d made a mistake. I’d knotted her, which you just didn’tdoto someone who wasn’t your mate. But I’d tried to pull back, and she hadn’t let me. And yes, she was pissed when the assistant from the clinic had come to the door to get her for Shay, and she was stuck. But that was like… fifteen minutes.

Was that enough to hate me so much she’d tell me the baby wasn’t mine? Was shetryingto get rid of me?

“Earth to G, Earth to G.” Dirge waved his fork, a hunk of bitten sausage still stuck to the end of it.

“You eat like you’re still feral,” I sniped, even though it was petty.

He just laughed and swallowed the sausage whole. “My brother’s been telling me that for years. So, what are you waiting for? Go talk to her. You’re having a baby, and you’re clearly not in the mood to talk pack business.”

“You don’t have to do anything you’re not ready to do. You can wait for the results,” Kane said, sinking back into his chair at the head of the obnoxiously large table.

I shook my head, not sure how I felt about the conversation, let alone about going to see her. She’d tried to talk to me last night, and I’d blown her off with the DNA test request.

Which didn’t help, if she was that pissed at me already.

“Any results back from the lab on the weird flower stuff in the vial?”

“Ooh, smooth subject change.” Dirge cackled, ignoring the annoyed look Reed shot him.

“Not yet. Forty-eight hours minimum. Longer for magically enhanced solutions, which we can assume that was for several reasons,” Kane said, ignoring Dirge.

I nodded, feeling sorry for Kane. Even the High Alpha couldn’t always snap his fingers and get something delivered on a silver platter, which was a real bitch when it was your parents’ killer you were trying to find.

“What about the plan to talk to the IGC? Any headway?” I directed the question to Reed, since he was our resident politician, even though he hated when we called him that.

He wore the suits. He got to deal with asshole politicians. I got to bash people’s heads together. It was a simple division of labor, and it worked.

Except with problems I couldn’t fight my way out of, like this mess with Leigh.

“I spoke with the secretary already, and she says we’re on the docket for next week. Although, given the runaround Lucien experienced trying to speak with Alpha Varga, I’m not sure they’ll keep our first appointment. Actually, speaking of Lucien?—”

He turned to Kane, and I tuned out the rest of the conversation. My brain was a wolf with a bone, constantly going back to the most important thing.

She’s having my baby.

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