Page 30 of Forbidden Pregnant Mate

Jameson growled, running his fingers through his hair. “All right,” he said. “I’ll keep you updated.”

Klyte nodded, his thumb running comfortingly up and down my shoulder. “Thanks, Jameson.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Jameson said. He was about to step through the door when he paused, turning back to look over his shoulder. “Next time I come and tell you I need you, you’re coming. You know that, right?”

“We’ll talk about that if it happens,” Klyte said. The tone of his voice said quite clearly that he would fight tooth and nail if it came to it. “Let’s just make sure it doesn’t.”

Jameson gave Klyte a warning look but didn’t say anything. Instead, he stalked out of the house, closing the door a little harder than was strictly necessary.

I let out a long, shaky breath and closed my eyes. Klyte pulled me against his chest and kissed the top of my head.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

I nodded. “You didn’t tell him right away.”

“Of course I didn’t,” he said, sounding genuinely surprised. “You asked me not to. I’m only sorry that he had to find out at all.”

“I don’t think it could have been helped,” I said, nuzzling against him. “But thanks for trying, anyway. I know it’s probably stupid to want to delay the inevitable like this, but—”

“Nah,” Klyte said. “It’s not. Trust me, I want to delay it, too. Mostly because the longer we wait to tell him, the longer I’ll still be breathing.”

When I didn’t laugh, he pulled me into him, squeezing my arm reassuringly. “Don’t worry,” he said. “They’ll take care of Isaac, and then things will start making more sense. We’ll be able to figure out how to handle it.”

I gave a soft smile. The reassurance was nice, and his confidence was definitely comforting. But something about it still felt hard to believe.

Chapter 13 - Klyte

“You’re looking better,” I said to Freya as I examined her. “How’re the leg and rib?”

“They’re better,” Freya said. “I was hoping I could go on a run or go hunting today.”

“Your leg doesn’t hurt when you put weight on it anymore?” I asked dubiously.

Freya clicked her tongue and gave me a sheepish look. “Not enough to stop me from wanting to get out there again,” she said. “I’m bored.”

I snorted, shaking my head. “You and Jenn both. If you’re feeling better, maybe we can all go out together.”

“Not going to let her out of your sight, are you?” Her dark brown eyes sparkled with knowing amusement as her lips curled into a smirk.

“I can’t help it if I want to keep her safe,” I said, shrugging. “And if Isaac is as bad as he sounds…”

“He’s worse.” Freya shuddered, drawing her knees into her chest.

I stiffened, staring down at her, taking in the haunted look in her eyes. “I’m guessing Jenn didn’t tell me everything that happened that night?”

“I overheard what she was saying,” Freya said. “She definitely watered down the story. I don’t think she wanted anyone to realize how bad it got. When I got there and tried to pull Isaac off her, he threw me across the room. It gave Jenn enough time to get off the floor and start running. He grabbed her and pulled her toward him. She clawed the hell out of himand would have started biting him, too, if he hadn’t been holding her head in place.”

“She didn’t shift?” I asked.

“She did,” Freya said. “When he had her pinned against the wall. But he also shifted and managed to pin her again. They basically destroyed her entire living room. Anyway, by the time I managed to get back up, he had her in a way she couldn’t break out of. He basically mocked her, telling her all the things he was going to do to her when she was his. He was about to claim her—literally, his mouth was inches away from her collarbone—when I managed to knock him off her.”

I kept quiet, but my fingers curled into fists. Jenn had made it sound like a small fight that had been easily contained. This was an entirely different story. And the fact that Isaac had nearly taken Jenn and gotten away with the whole thing made me hate the guy even more than I already did.

“We managed to fend him off and get him out of the house,” Freya continued. “When we were sure he wasn’t coming back, I told Jenn she needed to leave as soon as possible. I think if she hadn’t left when she did, he would have come back that night and killed her. And when he came after me…” she shuddered. “It was a bunch of guys, not just him. They broke into my home a couple of nights after she left. He said if I told them where she’d gone, I could stay and they wouldn’t hurt me. I told them to all go to hell. And that’s when…” She gestured awkwardly at her body, embarrassment radiating off her. “And I felt so bad about telling them where she was going. I didn’t want to, and I hate that I did. It just came out by mistake when they were punching the shit out of me.”

Her voice caught, and she sounded on the verge of tears. I wrapped my arm around her, letting her get all her emotionsout while my hatred for Isaac only grew. If I hadn’t wanted to kill him already for Jenn’s sake, I would have after hearing Freya’s story. Someone who would hurt someone else like that didn’t deserve to live.

“It’s all right,” I said. “We’re going to catch the asshole and teach him a lesson.”

---