Page 62 of The Silent Mate

“Are you well rested?” he bit out, clearly unamused by my decision to take a mid-afternoon nap prior to such a momentous occasion.

I didn’t bother answering. He didn’t care about whether I had a good nap, and we both knew it.

To Roman’s credit, hetriedto remain civil in the monthsfollowing his brother’s death. For the first few weeks, he tended to me with painstaking patience and gentleness. But, as the weeks bled into months and I refused to sufficiently fall into his arms, his kindness ran dry.

Granted, I didn’t make it easy for him. I performed the absolute bare minimum in my duties as hisLuna.Just enough to maintain Roman’s protection for my pup.

We kept separate bedrooms, thank the Moon Goddess. He never attempted to act upon the desire I’d seen shimmering behind his eyes on more than one occasion, likely because he knew I’d try to kill him if he tried. He only forced me to interact with him for pack business.

I still didn’t fully believe the story he told about the night Malik died.

“I don’t understand why I have to come today,” I mumbled, wrapping my robe—an item I’d retrieved from the cottage that bore Malik’s scent—tight across my front.

Roman’s lips pressed in a flat line, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

“Because you are my Luna,” he explained, repeating the same words I’d heard countless times before. “And we need this new pack to view us as a united front.”

I barely contained my eye roll. “Fine. I’ll be down shortly.”

“See that youare,” he warned, the words clipped and too-forced to be considered anything but a threat. “They’ll be arriving in?—”

I doubled over, some invisible force sweeping through me like a bolt of electricity. I gasped, but not from pain—there was nothingpainfulabout the sensation. It was strange and overwhelming and vaguely familiar. Andbeautiful.

“Aria?” Roman demanded, brows lowered in concern. His hand clamped on my shoulder, and I nearly recoiled at the contact. “Are you alright?”

The abrupt feeling vanished as quickly as it came, but not before I traced its source. It came from… my mate bond.

Malik?I shouted into our connection, but only my echo responded.

My pulse thundered in my temple, drowning out the world around me. I slowly stood upright, pressing my hand to the center of my belly and shaking my head.

“Sorry,” I breathed, half-convinced that I was losing my mind. “It’s the baby. She kicked me.”

Roman muttered a curse under his breath, eyeing my rounded stomach with a heavy dose of apprehension. He shook his head and turned away from my room. “Try not to do that when the pack arrives,” he called over his shoulder. “Ten minutes, Aria.”

“Thanks, asshole,” I whispered, stepping back inside my bedroom and shutting the door.

It was only when I was alone once more that I realized my fingers were trembling, my lungs heaving for breath. I’d felt it. Felthim.Like, for the briefest moment, the floodgates of our bond opened, and a tsunami swept over me with violent force.

All the grief, all the longing and hope and despair from the last few months, had poured over me. It’d nearly brought me to my knees. Then, it disappeared.

What in the hells was happening to me?

Ten minutes later,I carefully stepped out of the pack house, still not entirely trusting my legs to carry me after what just happened.

I wore a loose dress long enough to brush my ankles, hiding the extent of my pregnancy and the faint wobbling of my knees. One look in the mirror before exiting my room told me that theblood had long-since rushed from my cheeks. I looked like I’d seen a ghost. Or, rather,feltone.

Gio accompanied me outside. He never strayed far, ever-devoted to his role as my personal guardian. Though I doubted he could do much if someone had their mind set on killing me and my unborn child, I enjoyed his company. He, in addition to Emerson and my father, when he was allowed to visit, convinced me to leave the comfort of my bedroom day after day.

“It seems we’re late,” I hummed, eyeing the clearing where a large group of wolves and humans had gathered. Roman stood at the center, flanked by an innumerable number of our largest warriors.

An old man stood directly opposite him, appearing frail and wrinkled by comparison. His skin was dark, his hair white with age, though his eyes shone with quiet resilience. He stared at Roman like a piece of dirt stuck to the bottom of his shoe, and I decided I liked this old man.

With my chin tilted high and shoulders back, I approached the clearing. The old man’s eyes flickered to me when I took my spot by Roman’s side.

“Ah, here she is,” Roman announced, feigned pleasure coating the words. “Alpha Amir, this is my Luna, Aria.”

The whites of the old man’s eyes expanded in the slightest, and his brow lifted in surprise.

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