Page 2 of Forbidden Pregnant Mate

“I prefer to think about it as everyone else being early.” I stepped inside to see the rest of the Silver Wolves in the large foyer and living room to one side. Among them were Georgia, Andi, and even Evelyn. I thought she’d been on a mission, but she must have gotten back early.

Malcolmhmphed, bringing my attention back to him. “Thought I got that out of you when you were a kid,” he said, chuckling.

“You know that’s never going to happen.”

“A lot of people learned not to talk back to their mentors, too,” Malcolm said, but the glint in his eyes told me he didn’t really mind.

“I only talk back about the important stuff,” I said dismissively.

Malcolm chuckled, clapping me on the back as he closed the door behind me.

The foyer was large, and a staircase to the right led upstairs. The house was fairly open-plan. A large kitchen was visible past the crowd spilling out of the living room to the left. The mouthwatering scents of cooking meat hit my nose, and my stomach growled.

“I’ve got a surprise for you, by the way,” Malcolm said, clearly pleased with himself.

“Youarebringing us out of retirement, then,” Alek said as he walked toward us.

Malcolm blinked, clearly confused. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Alek opened his mouth, then closed it. Then, realizing there was no easy way out of it, he asked, “You aren’t bringing us out of retirement?”

“Of course not,” Malcolm said. “Though, now that you mention it, there is a job that you specifically would be perfect for, Alek. If you’re feeling that bored, then I can definitely arrange for you to—”

The speed at which Alek managed to vanish was astounding.

Malcolm chuckled, giving me a wink. “Always liked that kid,” he said. “Now come on, grab yourself a beer.”

“So you’re just going to leave it at ‘surprise’ for now?” I asked.

“You’ll figure it out soon enough,” Malcolm said. “And it’s nothing big.”

I studied my old mentor, looking him up and down as I tried to get an idea of what he was talking about. But he’d always been inscrutable. I remembered how when I was growing up, I practically had a room at his house and crashed over there more than once after particularly grueling training sessions. Whenever I’d gone home to see Mom, I’d always spent time with Malcolm as well. But even with all that time together, I’d never been able to learn all his tells. He was a master at keeping his emotions under wraps, something I’d tried and failed to emulate. Which meant that right now, I had no idea what the hell he was thinking.

I shrugged. Even if I had no idea what Malcolm had planned, I would find out eventually. He just had a flair for the dramatic when having what he saw as a great surprise.

“Fair enough,” I said. “In that case, I shall wait in eager anticipation.”

Malcolm winked enigmatically, then clapped me on the back again and moved further into the house, engaging Sam in conversation. Which, considering that Sam spoke maybe an average of three sentences a day, was similar to either pulling teeth or talking to yourself. But Sam was having one of his talkative days, apparently. As the two of them spoke, I strolled into the kitchen to grab myself a beer.

“Hey, Andi,” I said to the woman leaning against Luke’s chest. “How are things?”

“Good, good,” she said. “Nothing really eventful going on at the moment. How about you?”

“Ah, you know me,” I said, taking a swig of beer. “Just going with the flow.”

Andi arched an eyebrow. “Klyte, I’m pretty sure you prefer redirecting the flow purely for the sake of being contrary.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.

“So you weren’t complaining last week about how boring things have been lately and how nothing interesting has happened?” Andi teased. Luke, whose arm was wrapped protectively around her stomach, smirked at me.

“I griped about that in confidence,” I said good-naturedly. “And I’m not saying boring is bad. After everything that happened, boring is probably for the best. But interesting is, well, interesting. And where’s the fun in things if interesting doesn’t happen?”

“Here, interesting typically means trouble,” Luke said. “I don’t mind a bit of quiet.”

Considering he and Andi were expecting a new cub in the coming months, I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“If you’re that bored,” Evelyn said, sauntering over with Oliver in tow, “then you can always come with me on a mission any time you like. Redwoods could always use an extra hand.”

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