Page 41 of Becoming Brandy

“Oh, boys,” she said, still crying. “I’m so sorry. How could they have done this to you? I’m getting you out of here. I don’t know how, but I am.”

“Brandy,” Rahan said with an edge of warning in his voice.

The men shifted their gazes to him. Drake sneered. Tork seemed as if he could rip Rahan’s head clean off.

“Shut up, pretty boy, and face me like a man.” Tork pulled against his chains, making them rattle.

Rahan rolled his eyes. He touched Brandy gently on the elbow. “Are you done?”

“No,” she said, turning away from him. She touched each of their faces tenderly, careful to avoid cuts and bruises. She wanted to memorize every feature just in case.

“Rahan,” Wrek said, locking eyes with the prince. “Can we make a bargain? Han wouldn’t speak to me, but maybe you—”

“If Han wouldn’t speak to you, I shouldn’t either.”

“I thought you were afraid,” Tork said, the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut flashing. “I could smell your cowardice when you walked in.”

“Shut up,” Rahan said, surging forward.

Brandy blocked him with her body. “Just talk to Wrek,” she begged. “Please.”

Rahan shook his head, his shoulder-length hair swaying. “This isn’t a good idea.”

“I have something spectacular,” Wrek said, leaning forward until his chains strained. “I can fix our fertility problem. For good.”

Rahan’s eyes widened, but Brandy went cold. Now it was dawning on her how she’d gotten pregnant. Had Wrek been using her as a guinea pig for his experiments? Heat burned through her body as she zeroed in on Wrek. She’d kill him. She’d…

“I’ll talk to Han,” Rahan said, but his voice held no confidence. “He’ll want to see what you can do.”

“It’s in the testing phase right now,” Wrek added.

Rahan’s brow furrowed.

“He can do it,” Drake said. “If my brother says he can fix our problem, he can.”

Rahan glanced back and forth between them. “All right. I’ll ask him. Brandy?” He held a hand out, waiting to lead her out of the cell, but she planted her feet.

“I need to talk to them.”

“You already have.”

“Alone,” she commanded. It was so unlike her, but it worked.

Rahan started to back up. “I’ll give you one minute. Any funny business from them and the deal is off.” He eyed the men to let them know he meant business and then exited the room, closing the door behind him.

They turned to her. Wrek was the first to speak. “Brandy, thank you.”

“Shut it,” she said, her voice teetering on the edge of tears. “You owe me an explanation.”

He frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I can fix our fertility,” she mimed in a whiny voice. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you?” She was in his face, her hands fisted at her sides and her heart pounding. She wanted to slap Wrek across his beautiful face.

But he didn’t crumble with shame, only appeared confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out.

All three men stared at her.

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