I nodded with a trembling breath. That fear I had lived with was still potent. “They made it abundantly clear that I would live my life as my mother had. The night we escaped, Linden had announced I would become an omega the next day. His father had just died, and he took control of the pack. It was the first law he decided to change.”
I flinched at the memory of what had happened next. “He nearly killed Mom when she started to argue with him.”
The glass in his hand shattered, shards exploding from his palm as blood dripped down the side of his hand.
I jumped, my eyes flying to him as he stood and grabbed a towel. He wrapped it around his hand.
“Are you okay?” I started to get up.
He waved me back down. “I’m … Please, continue.”
I gave him a wary look, not sure if I should.
He sat down again beside me. The fierce expression carved into his face softened. “Please.”
I gave myself a quick mental shake, trying to remember what I had been saying. “Um, yeah. When we got home, we walked in on another omega, Maisie, being attacked. And I … I lost it,” I stammered. “I shifted and ripped out his throat.”
His eyes snapped to mine, glittering with pride. “Good girl.”
Some of the tension in my shoulders eased. “Mom and I ran that night. Zara, my mom’s best friend helped us. We made it to Blackwater where they took us in and protected us.”
Nikolai was silent for a while. “Thank you for telling me,” he finally said.
I was emotionally done for the day. This had been just as hard as testifying to the Council. Maybe worse since the Council was a bunch of stupid old men who didn’t have a stake in this.
Nikolai did. And based on the way he looked, he was just as destroyed as I was.
I tucked my hands together on my lap, trying to hide the way they were shaking.
He cleared his throat and blinked a few times. “I received word earlier that the storm is lifting sooner than expected.”
My eyes went round as my heart thumped painfully in my chest.
“You’ll be able to leave tomorrow evening, if you like.”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “I need to get home.”
He nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements, but I have one request.”
“Okay.” I folded my hands in my lap and waited.
“I have some things to attend to today, but tomorrow I would like to spend the day with you,” he said softly, looking at me once again. The hope in his eyes was fathomless. “I would like the chance to get to know my daughter before she leaves. There’s much here you haven’t seen that I would love to show you.”
“It won’t make me change my mind,” I said, feeling like he needed to really understand that. “I’m still going home.”
“I know. I would never separate you from your mate,” he assured me. “I understand that you have a family there that needs you, but you are also my family. And I would like to know you as well.”
I licked my lips, blinking back the sudden rush of tears. “I’d like that, too.”
23
Skye
I opened the door to my room and stopped short when I realized Tate was sitting inside, and she wasn’t alone. The curtains had been pulled back to reveal the picturesque snowy town below as snow continued to fall, but the flakes were smaller and faster now as the storm tapered off.
“Hey,” I said slowly, closing the door as I warily eyed Lulu.
She smiled up at me from where she sat across from Tate, her gray eyes bright and kind. “I ran into Tate on the way here,” she explained with a shrug that made her oversized sweater slip off one shoulder. “I offered to bring her back for Alexei and we got to talking, but I can go if you want privacy.”
I gave Tate a look to make sure she was okay before answering Lulu. “No, it’s fine.”
Honestly, Lulu seemed cool. Or at least she had when she went off on Dimitri for blocking my bond to Remy earlier. I hid a smile at the memory.
“Skye, you need to hear this,” Tate said while openly staring at Lulu. “So, you can do, like, spells and stuff? Curse people?”
Lulu laughed and shook her head. “It’s a little more involved than that. Think less Charmed and more Lord of the Rings. My people can access the power of the earth. Well, the elemental aspects of it.”
That analogy was completely lost on me, and it must have shown.
“My magic is linked to the earth,” Lulu said. “Romani, my people, are able to siphon the magic that already exists in nature and manipulate it, but there are limits. It’s not a free for all.”
“Limits to your magic,” Tate emphasized.
Another giggle bubbled past Lulu’s full mouth. The sound was sweet and airy. “Sure.”
As fun as all the magic talk was, my mind was still caught up in the bomb Elias had dropped in my lap. And since the idea of going to Dimitri or Nikolai was less than ideal, maybe Lulu was my answer.
“Is there a drug store or something around here?” I asked hesitantly, my eyes sliding back to the window and the small town.
Tate’s astonishment over actual freaking magic vanished as she realized what I was talking about.
Lulu frowned, her nose wrinkling. “There’s a pharmacy in town, yes, but odds are we have whatever you need on hand here.”
“What if I didn’t want to ask anyone here for what I need?” I hedged, shifting nervously on my feet.
Lulu’s head tilted to one side, a wave of glossy black curls spilling over her shoulder. “What’s going on?”
I exchanged a look with Tate, who gave me a helpless, tiny shrug with a nod.
“I need a pregnancy test,” I muttered, looking away. My eyes caught on the flames licking up the fireplace.
Lulu stood up slowly, eyes wide. “Excuse me?”
I exhaled hard, puffing my cheeks out. “I spoke with Elias, the doctor who used to visit Nikolai?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m well aware of who that asshole is. He thinks it’s okay to fuck with the natural order of things to get his way. Also? He smells like bengay. It’s gross.”
I blinked slowly. “Right. Well, he said something to me earlier, and … and I need to know if I’m pregnant.”
Her lips thinned as she assessed me with almost clinical precision. “How far along do you think you are?”
“Less than a week,” I replied, heat blooming on my cheeks as I remembered vividly all the ways and times I had been with Remy in such a small amount of time. Parts of me I had forgotten existed tingled to life at the memories of his hands and mouth on my skin.
She shook her head with a small frown. “It’s too soon for a test, even by shifter standards. You’d need to wait at least two weeks and have a blood test to be sure.”
Freaking awesome. A week of this hanging over my head.
I didn’t hate the idea of a person that Remy and I created growing in me. I actually kind of loved the idea. Anything that came from the love we had for each other would be welcome, but I didn’t love the idea of bringing a baby into our current chaos.
Plus, I selfishly wanted more time with just Remy before we had a family.