Page 55 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
I forked some food into my mouth. “Honestly, it's pretty simple. I don’thaveto kill a man with a weapon. I can aim for an injury that he can be saved from but still be felled long enough for me and the guys to do our job. At the time, I had to pick a specialty—or wanted to—I didn’t trust my own hands enough to pull back. But a weapon is a weapon. It often has the same strength, no matter how you use it. A bullet will strike the same—mostly. But my hands… I didn’t trust them not to kill. I had gotten so used to it, and I wanted to hone my anger, as I mentioned, but I wanted to learn how to exist with my anger and hatred rather than kill through it. I wanted my hands to do more than just end lives.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you for setting this up for me. I’ve been in protection mode for this island and myself for so long that I didn’t realize fighting back was a proper option.There’s a rush of power that comes with fighting the way you’ve just showed me. I like it. It feels… Gratifying. Though, I don’t know how well I’ll hold up against demons.”
“You won’t,” I told her. “I know I provided scenarios, but there won’t ever be a moment where you’ll face demons alone.Iwill be there.” The words came out in a protective snarl.
Adalyn sighed. “You can’t know that.”
“I can,” he said. “I mean it, Adalyn. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“Since when?” she asked, a slight bite to her voice. “What’s changed? Why do you… Want to be near me? Is it because of the sex?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think it’s just that. I just feel very strongly about protecting you.”
She gazed at me as I avoided her eyes. I couldn’t tell her my suspicions. That Azure Cove was possibly having a repeat of the ancient shifter and his witch mate. Was it true? And was I ready to face that?
***
We trained hard for the rest of the day.
Johnson checked in to tell me that Alex had started the dispatch of demons, sending him and Frazer out from their respective hideaways to start taking out some demons, scattering their numbers from one area, and I itched to wait for my own command from him.
A new scent began to mingle with Adalyn’s usual one, lavender and jasmine mixed with incense. I couldn’t place it yet. Not as those wickedly harsh blows of hers became softerhits against my skin, as if she was learning how to control the intensity of her blasts.
But as I lay next to her that night in bed, I realized what had changed, what the new scent was.
I turned to look at her outline in the darkness, my stomach dropping.
It was a scent that had shrouded my brother and his wife when I had visited them last in Pittsburgh, only to be invited to a baby shower a few weeks later.
It was…
Adalyn was…
I couldn’t form the word in my head, but slowly, I fell apart in that bed next to her as I picked up the signs that Adalyn was pregnant. Was that a life I had ever envisioned for myself? In the military, I hadn’t ever let myself dare think that one day I would settle down and have a family.
But Alex had done it.
Frazerwantedto do it. Even Hector had shrugged and said he thought about kids one day.
Sweeney and Johnson had been similar to me, but I was never really sure if it was an option until we were older. But…
There was something distinctly shifter within Adalyn—growing inside of her, already at a fast rate due to my genetics.
I never thought I had wanted it. Not with the heartbreak that had shrouded my family. I had seen my mom struggle to raise me and my brothers after my father’s death. If I had a family while doing my job, then would that mean Adalyn would be left to raise children alone?
Then I brought myself up short, realizing I had slotted Adalyn into my future.
A mate—mymate.
A mother to my child.
Did she know? Did she suspect?
I pressed closer to her, inhaling her scent. She shifted, groaning softly in her sleep as her hands reached for me.
Maybe Alex was right. Maybe fatehadbrought us back here. For him, his fate pulled him to Harper. But mine was taking me right back to the original shifter who had protected this island from demons with his mate.
“Goodnight, Adalyn,” I whispered. I pulled her close to me, her back to my chest, and laced our fingers over her stomach.
