I scrambled back as the side door opened again and Alexei and another man rushed in. With the help of Dimitri, they wrestled Nikolai from the room. I jumped out of the way as Nikolai’s foot caught a chair and sent it careening in my direction. It smashed against the wall hard enough to shatter the chair and crack the wall.
Without Nikolai holding the table, Elias managed to push it off of himself with a rattling gasp. His chest heaved, wheezing as he struggled to catch his breath.
Shaking, I turned and looked at him once more. “I don’t give a shit what you or Damien think. You kidnapped women and children. Maybe they aren’t being raped or abused on a daily basis, but you’re not the hero here, Elias.”
I started for the door as Tate stepped into the doorway with wide eyes. She looked as shocked as I felt.
“Skye,” he called softly. “Wait.”
Damn I didn’t want to, but I did. Some sick, hopeful part of me was praying there was any other explanation. Or maybe an apology that would take the sting out of his betrayal.
“There was one last test I wanted to run,” he confessed. “Your mother … when she bonded to your father, she was young. But it triggered her estrous cycle. It's why she became pregnant. It frequently happens to mates when they bond.”
Everything in me went cold. All I could do was blink.
He smiled softly at me. “I would say, due to your age and the rapid acceleration of your bond with Remy, there’s a decent chance you may also be pregnant.”
22
Skye
“Breathe,” Tate told me as the door closed between Elias and me. She grabbed my hand, pulling me deeper into the small room she had been watching in. The only other door in the room was hanging open, and I could still hear the sounds of Dimitri and Alexei as they tried to calm Nikolai.
I could vaguely make out the sounds of something crashing over the pounding of my own heart.
“Skye.” Tate squeezed my hand hard, bordering on painful. “You’ve gotta focus, girl.”
I met her gaze, focusing on the intense swirls of green and gold in her hazel eyes.
“He’s wrong, right?” I said, the words coming out twisted and rough as breathing became difficult.
Her lips thinned. “I don’t know. I mean, do you feel” —her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper—“pregnant?”
I glanced around nervously like someone might have heard as Nikolai let out another ground shattering bellow that made me tremble.
“I have no idea.” It was the truth. It had been less than a week since Remy and I had been together like that. Was it possible to find out that fast?
It wasn’t like I could go to the store and grab a pregnancy test.
“We’ll figure this out,” Tate said quietly, her calm taking the jagged edge off my panic. “Just stay calm, okay? Hold it together.”
I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs and focusing on steadying my nerves as the voices in the hall grew louder.
Seconds later, Nikolai appeared in the doorway, his gray eyes cold as metal.
“Leave us,” he ordered Lulu.
“Dad,” Dimitri said softly behind him.
Nikolai whirled, fixing his glare on his son. “Take the old man back to his cell. I need to speak with my daughter.”
Dimitri looked at me, concern in his eyes even as he nodded. “Okay. Alexei, can you take Tate back to her room?”
“I’m not leaving unless Skye tells me she’s good,” Tate announced, squaring her shoulders.
“It’s okay,” I assured her, my eyes on Nikolai. I wasn’t entirely convinced he wouldn’t have her bodily removed if it came to that. Right now he looked slightly unhinged.
Tate exhaled hard. “Fine.”
Alexei followed her out, almost putting a guiding hand on her back.
“Touch me, and I’ll break that hand off,” Tate snapped, tossing him a glare over her shoulder as she stalked away.
“I’ll make sure Elias gets back to his cell,” Dimitri told Nikolai.
The Alpha nodded, his gaze jerking to me. “Follow me, please.” He turned on his heel and started to walk away, not bothering to see if I was following.
“He’s pissed, but not at you,” Dimitri said in a low voice.
That was mildly comforting.
I trailed behind Nikolai, stepping into the elevator with him. Neither of us spoke until we were inside his office.
He walked across the room to the wet bar, pouring a generous amount of a clear liquid into a tumbler before throwing it back and refilling it again.
“Please, sit,” he told me, gesturing to the seating area by the fireplace.
I made my way to the overstuffed couch and sat down, perching on the edge in case I needed to put distance between us. My wolf was agitated, not sure if we should be engaging our fight or flight reflex.
The Alpha in front of me was throwing off all sorts of violent waves that I could smell in the air.
“I need the truth, Skye,” he started, his voice a low rumble like the beginnings of an earthquake set to destroy a city.
His eyes met mine, pinned me down with churning intensity. “What happened to your mother?”
I swallowed. “I really think that’s her story to tell.”
His body went freakishly still. Like he wasn’t even breathing. “While I respect you wanting to protect her, I need answers.”
I clenched my teeth together, digging in stubbornly. It wasn’t my place to tell Mom’s story. What she had been through and endured had left scars, both physical and mental. It felt like a betrayal to bare them to Nikolai.
“Let me ask you something,” he started softly, his voice barely rising above the crackle of the fire. “If someone had hurt your mate, would you want to know what had happened?”
My fingers felt like ice as I twisted them together.
If someone had hurt Remy?
My wolf rose up, fierce and snarling at the idea of our mate being hurt.
My hands shook as I fought to keep her controlled.
“I don’t know everything,” I admitted finally. “There’s a lot Mom wouldn’t talk about. Stuff from before I was born and when I was a baby. I don’t know the details you want.”
He moved with a fluid grace to sit in the chair across from me, much as he had done hours earlier after we had finished with Linden.
“When I met your mother, she was drunk,” he said, catching me off guard.
I looked up in surprise.
A sad sort of smile twisted his lips. “I told you that we met in a bar. She was there drinking, alone. Something about her called to me. Called to my wolf. She was so sad, I felt compelled to ask her why.”
He stared into the fire. “She told me that she was to be married in a few months. Her parents had arranged it when she was a child, and something her intended had done upset her. I had just lost my mother, and Natasha suggested I get away for a few weeks. I wandered aimlessly around America until I found her in that bar outside of Albuquerque. We talked until the bar closed.”
“What was she like?” I asked, craving to know more about my mom from before Long Mesa had destroyed her.
“Smart, beautiful.” He grinned. “Passionate. There was a fire in her that drew me in. We never spoke much of our packs. I was thankful to be in a place where for once I didn’t have to have all the answers. Your mother wanted to forget the life that was waiting for her.”