Page 21 of Broken Pregnant Mate
I knew it as a teenager, and I know it now.
I’m still on the couch, head buried in my hands, trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do when Emaline goes into heat, when there’s a knock at the door.
Immediately, I’m on high alert, but when I manage to smell through Emaline’s scent, I realize it’s not Vern and his guys—it’s Kira.
I open the door to find Kira, Veva, and Ash—Dorian’s sister—standing there. Kira, with her curves and her long, red-gold waves. Veva looking pissed off, as usual, her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, and Ash, wearing her dark hair up in a bun, her curls falling loose around her face like she just threw them up like that before leaving.
“Good morning,” Kira says, beaming. I realize she has a basket in her hands. “Dorian said there’s some pretty big news! You have your mate here with you?
I blink at her, realizing I should have known better—of course, Dorian wasn’t going to keep this to himself. Of course he was going to tell his wife. They wouldn’t think this was anything to keep secret.
“Yeah, Emaline,” I cough, taking a step back from the door, realizing she and I haven’t decided what we’re going to do about this whole situation, with potentially the entire pack thinking we’re officially together. “She’s in the shower right now.”
They shuffle in, and I notice Veva glancing at the sheets on the couch, then at me, frowning. I bite my lip, realizing it would be pretty weird for us to sleep apart if we’re mated, especially considering the show we were putting on in the courtyard yesterday.
“Emaline is still…recovering,” I manage, clearing my throat. “From everything that she’s been through.”
“Right,” Ash says, nodding. Veva meets my eyes, still looking suspicious, but Ash says, “That makes sense. Dorian said she has a deadbeat ex-boyfriend who was here yesterday?”
Once again, I’m biting my tongue, trying to figure out how much I’m supposed to share with them. What Emaline would want to be private.
“Yeah,” I finally say, realizing I have to say something. “He’s the reason she was locked up. Tricked her into going to the border, and…things didn’t end great.”
Ash grimaces, nods, and leans against the wall. Veva is still looking at me like she’s trying to figure something out. Eminhas talked about how difficult it is to keep things from her, but I haven’t experienced it directly until now.
Does she know? That I—partially—lied yesterday? Saying Emaline was my mate to piss off that beta, even though I have no intention of claiming her, and she still thinks I have another mate somewhere?
“I put this together,” Kira says, thankfully distracting me from wondering if Veva has this whole thing figured out. Kira lifts the basket and sets it on my tiny dining table. “I’ve been experimenting with jam, thought I might bring some by in case she wants something a little better than frozen pizza.”
I bite my tongue, hoping she doesn’t glance over at the open garbage can and see that her guess was absolutely right—I only had frozen pizza to feed Emaline last night, but she didn’t mind.
Frozen pizza is a million times better than the food we got at home.
The basket appears to be full of goodies in jars and cellophane, and Kira reaches into a different bag I hadn’t seen, taking out stacks of Tupperware and putting them in the barren fridge, which she clucks her tongue at.
“And I brought these,” Veva says, hauling a bag up and setting it on the counter, so all the surfaces in my home are effectively covered with stuff. I glance at the bag, realizing it’s full of clothes. “Some stuff Kira made for me, other stuff I’ve been working on conjuring.”
When I turn and look at Ash, she just shrugs. “I brought nothing but my sunny personality. Unless you need something fixed around here?”
I shake my head, rub my hand over the back of my neck. “Nah, Brock is great with the maintenance. Comes the second something breaks, sometimes even before I notice it.”
Ash nods. “Makes sense. His place over on Second Avenue is gorgeous—I bet he’s done some remodeling himself.”
I’ve never really spoken to Ash one-on-one like this before, and I’ve definitely never been alone in my apartment with three women—four,counting Em—so I shift side to side, swallowing, wishing I knew what to do with my hands.
“…Aidan?”
The four of us turn to look at Emaline when she appears, back in the soft scrubs from the cell, those wide green eyes blinking at me, then at the other people in the room.
Her hair hangs limp around her face, damp and leaving dark spots on her scrubs, and she smells amazing—mostly like herself, floral and sweet, but with the faint hint of my soap from the shower, cinnamon, and spice.
“You must be Emaline,” Kira says, her voice peppy as she claps her hands together, then glances over at me. “You’re Aidan’s mate?”
“Uh,” she glances at me, seems to realize the situation we’re in, and looks back to Kira. “Yeah.”
The women gather her up and start talking, and when I hear one of them say, “Luna for the Grayhides!” I start to feel sick.
Emaline has never felt the type to be a luna to me.
