Page 12 of Forbidden Pregnant Mate

“Um…both?” I shook my head to clear it. “All of it. But right now, I was talking about the lake. I was being a bit of a dick.”

“You think?”

I sighed and glared at her, folding my arms. “You’re really not very good at accepting apologies, are you?”

“Sorry.” She gestured for me to continue.

“I shouldn’t have tried to get you to kiss me.”

“Yeah. Next time you want answers, just ask.”

I blinked and tilted my head. “You knew what I was doing?”

“Of course I did. I’ve known you since we were kids. Hell, you practically lived at my house with all the training you and Dad did together. You think I don’t know your tricks?”

“Does that mean I can convince you to tell me what you’re really doing here?”

“Absolutely not.” Her eyes suddenly blazed with fire, and I nearly took a step back. “You think you can just come here and demand answers from me when you haven’t spoken to me in years?”

“I came to apologize, not to ask for answers,” I protested. “Look, I know we didn’t have the best relationship when we were kids. We fought like crazy, and I don’t know if we ever got that out of our system. But that doesn’t mean I want to go back to that. I want us to start over.”

She hesitated, then sighed. “You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit of a dick, too. It’s just…there’s a lot goingon, and you and I haven’t spoken in years. And the last time we did speak to one another, it wasn’t as though we did much more than verbally spar.”

I grinned. “Yeah, but you gotta admit, it was a hell of a lot of fun. I’ve missed having someone to match wits against. You’d be surprised how few people were able to match my level of intellect.”

Jenn tilted her head, smiling. “You’re right. That is surprising, especially considering how low-level your intellect and wit actually are.”

“There’s the Jenn I remember,” I said. “I was wondering where you were keeping her.”

“She only comes out when there’s an actual challenge,” she said, then her features grew a bit more somber. “Sorry for how difficult I’ve been. And, uh, for dunking you underwater.”

I shook my head. “Hell, no. I deserved it for trying to get you to tell me things you weren’t ready to talk about. But if you ever do want to talk…you know I’m here, right?”

Jenn’s lips thinned, and her eyes darkened. I worried that I had said something wrong.

“I don’t think we’re there, Klyte,” she said. “Right now, let’s just settle for not murdering each other, verbally or literally. Let’s leave the hard truths for later, all right?”

I tried not to wince. She was right. I hadn’t given her any reason to trust me over the years, even if part of it wasn’t my fault. But I didn’t think she would understand, let alone forgive me for why I had started shutting her out when we were kids. But one look at her expression made me realize I didn’t want to keep that secret from her anymore. It had been close to a decade. She had a right to know.

I opened my mouth, fully intending to explain, at least partly, what had happened when we were kids. But that caution in Jenn’s face froze, swiftly replaced by confusion as she sniffed the air. Panic raced across her beautiful features.

“What…?” I began, but I cut myself off as the scent of an unfamiliar shifter came from the nearby forest. I smelled wild berries, but they were laced with blood and fear.

Snarling, I spun around, making sure I was between Jenn and the newcomer. A wolf with dark fur barreled out of the brush straight toward us. It was clearly a female, based on her slender frame, and she was battered. Her snout had deep scratches on it, her front leg was bleeding, and she stumbled slightly. Her right hind leg looked as though someone had bit it, and she was limping badly. I could smell from here that if her leg wasn’t taken care of properly, and soon, it would get a lot worse. exhaustion was evident in the wolf’s eyes, but when she saw me, she crouched, growling and ready to spring despite her injuries.

Then she looked past me and Jenn, and her hackles lowered. The wolf whimpered slightly, then shifted. A pretty, petite girl with straight black hair collapsed onto the ground. The injuries that had been on the wolf showed on her human form, accompanied by several large purple bruises. The fact that she was naked revealed more injuries that had been concealed by fur moments earlier. Her left arm looked almost as rough as her leg. She was also covered in dirt. She had been running for a while and hadn’t stopped.

“Oh my god!” Jenn pushed past me, running toward the woman. “Freya.”

She sat on the ground next to the newcomer, looking her over before wrapping her in her arms. “Oh my god. What happened to you?”

“Hey, Jenn,” Freya muttered hoarsely. “Good to see you.”

“Step away, Jenn,” I said as I reached them.

Jenn glowered at me and wrapped her hands tighter around the girl. “She’s my friend,” she snarled. “If you think you’re going to do anything to her—”

“Get out of the way so I can take her inside and look at her,” I said bluntly.

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