Page 17 of Pregnant By the Alpha Wolf

I hole myself up in my office for the rest of the afternoon, completing some data profiles for the Völva that we know about so far. As usual, I avoid completing my own. Beyond my enhanced fertility markers, I don’t appear to have any special gifts—a fact that annoys me immensely, even though I know it shouldn’t. I’m a scientist; I live and breathe facts, and I know our research into the Völva is in its infancy. But still, having always felt like an outsider without my wolf, I can’t shake the desire tofit in with other shifters, to be useful, and to be able to protect myself and others.

Even though I’m lost in my work, Rowan’s arrival hits me like a tidal wave long before he reaches my office. This strange bond between us snakes like tendrils, bridging the gap between us. It’s almost sensual in its intensity; the urge to see him is palpable. He doesn’t knock, which ought to piss me off, but his knowing smirk as he enters instantly throws me off balance. The door clicks behind him, and immediately, the room feels too small.

“Come here,” he beckons, and I’m already moving. I’m swept into his arms as his lips crash down on mine. “God, I’ve missed you.”

Despite myself, I laugh. “You’ve only been on patrol.”

“And I shouldn’t miss you, love? It’s cold out there, and so very hot in here.” He nibbles my neck as he presses his hardness into my flesh.

I roll my eyes, pulling myself away despite the enigmatic draw to be closer. “We can’t, not here. What will everyone think?”

“You’re their luna. They’ll think I can’t keep my hands off you. Which I can’t,” he chuckles but takes a step back and picks up my coat. “But I can wait. At least until I get you into the house.”

Keeping a respectable distance, we walk through the lab together. I feel his fingers dance against mine as I say goodnight to my new colleagues. Rowan nods at Rian, but they don’t speak; Rian is incredibly astute, though, and I see his eyes focus on the way Rowan’s arm slips around me as we go through the main doors. I wonder if people believe the mate's ceremony was merely a formality or if they sense the strange bond that hasdeveloped between us. Do they pick up on the way his scent now clings to my body?

As we cross the town square, his hand slips easily into mine, and he asks me about my work. I tell him about our progress, the pack DNA results, and the Völva data profiles.

“Have you always known you were Völva?” He asks, turning to me and brushing my hair from my face.

“I knew that I didn’t have my wolf. My mother wasn’t surprised, with my father not being a shifter. But she was disappointed, I think, for me,” I reply honestly, taken slightly aback by my own candor.

Rowan looks thoughtful for a moment. “Not many female shifters mate with humans. Is that how you came to Kaiden’s pack later? Were they not accepted?”

I wonder how much of my truth I want to share, but as I look at him, the bond warming my soul, I find myself telling him a partially redacted version of what happened. I leave out the part where my father was a hunter and explain they were killed because of their union. Genuine sorrow flickers across his features, and he takes my hands in his.

“I am sorry for your loss, and I’m glad you found solace in Kaiden’s pack. And now here.” He pauses, looking toward the frozen lake for a moment before sighing, “My own parents died because of their love.”

I gasp as the strength of his unspoken emotion rolls off him, and I grip the sleeves of his coat to steady myself. His eyes flash from blue to silver. He feels it, too.

“I-I’m sorry,” I stammer.

His lips quirk in a small smile that suddenly makes him look much younger. “It was so long ago. Strange, though, that we find ourselves here together. No?”

All I can do is nod as we continue toward the house, the golden thread of our bond burning brighter as the wave of emotions flows between us. I make a mental note to ask Senna and Kit about the bond and whether this is normal when I speak to them later.

However, as we cross the threshold and he pulls me toward him, all other thoughts fall to the floor.

Chapter 10 - Rowan

The large, vaulted window in my office affords me a commanding view of the town square, and from my desk, I watch Willow walk toward the lab. She’s wrapped in one of her large warm coats since there has been fresh snowfall, but I can still make out the gentle sway of her hips that drives me crazy.

Everything about her drives me crazy: her impossibly soft auburn hair, how her pale skin marks so easily under my touch, and the way her tight body welcomes me in…it took everything in me not to stop her from walking away this morning, I would rather have dragged her back to bed.

I lean against the glass, amused at my own lack of self-control. In truth, I haven’t felt like this in a very long time. It’s not that I hadn’t enjoyed women all my life—especially when I was younger, and the world was full of new challenges, battles that raged for centuries, and the riotous celebrations that followed. I never thought I’d tire of the chase and conquest of my younger years. And I certainly never thought I’d find my mate.

And yet, tire I did, until I met her.

It is quite remarkable how all the women I have known, all the writhing bodies and endless pleasures I have tasted, all paled to insignificance the moment I first held her.

After, rather unceremoniously, taking her virginity in the kitchen like a madman, our bond has only deepened, and so has my desire. This would all be rather perfect if it weren’t for the nagging sense of self-awareness that lingers at the back of my mind, whispering,She will run if she knows the truth. The pack alliances will fall. The pack will become a target. This is what always happens.

This is what always happens.

I am old, too old. Far too old for her, even though I look damn good for it. I’m also old enough to remember a time before vampires were extinct. They were hunted, of course; shifters hunted in packs, and humans were more vulnerable, but numbers still counted. There were so few vampires, often living solitary lives. They were fierce in their own right but vulnerable to those filled with hate.

Were the vampires evil? No more than the bloodthirsty shifters, calculating witches, or the warmongering humans, I guess.

The war between shifters and vampires intensified in my second century when a shifter pack fell to a half-vampire alpha who became obsessed with the power that halflings possess and tried to force mating to create an army of powerful beasts. Vampires had so few children that their numbers were dramatically smaller than shifters. The shifters revolted at the notion that their bloodlines would be forever altered and turned on the few halflings that had been accepted. The rest, as they say, is history. Wars fought by people who could barely remember how it all started, hatred passed down through generations.

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