His eyes sparkled. Yes. Most are already mothers. We’ve found that if women repeat this process every half decade, it usually triggers another fertility cycle. These women are hoping for a second, third, or even fourth, child.
Are they bonded? My mind was racing.
Gabe and Mallory had four kids, but they were bonded mates.
Only a handful, Nikolai replied.
The average, unbonded female only had one child. Maybe two if she was super lucky. Nikolai had completely thrown that average out the window.
How does it work? I demanded, needing to know more.
We encourage them to not suppress their true nature, little wolf. In doing so, they find a balance. Nature does the rest.
I stared down at the dozens of women.
Elias tried to do this? I sank down beside him.
Tried and failed. While our participants are willing, his are not. The effects of an unwilling person being forced to submit into this process can end disastrously. Nikolai’s lip pulled up over his teeth in a snarl.
How can he force them? Doesn’t he need magic like Lulu to do this?
Nikolai surged to his feet with a growl. His Alpha found someone with magic like Lulu. Unlike Lulu, they are willing to break the laws of nature to force the process.
Someone like Lulu? I looked up at him. Another Romani?
Not only Romani have magic, sweetheart. There is magic and those who wield it on every continent. Some do it reverently, with respect to the elements. Some are reckless and careless. Elias and Damien have found the latter to do their bidding.
I stood up beside him. We have to stop them.
His eyes caught mine, the full moon reflected in their darkness. We will.
26
Remy
Sleeping was impossible after Skye hung up. My mind was too busy twisting all the possible ways she could still be hurt while I was here, powerless to protect her.
The agitation and frustration ate at me until my wolf took over, pushing us from my bed and out the back door where I shifted and ran into the woods.
I took a long route, running down the mountain and around the edge of town. I passed by several groups heading out to relieve the overnight border patrols as I started back. By the time I returned to the house, the sun had risen, and I could smell the scent of breakfast starting in the kitchen.
I shifted back on the deck, sliding back into my sweatpants before opening the backdoor.
“Hey,” I said, greeting Rhodes, who stood over the stove.
He nodded at me, frowning at the food in front of him.
“Larkin making you cook for a change?” I smirked, heading for the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water.
His lips curved into a half-grin. “Skye called. Katy and Larkin are on the phone with her in the other room.”
I nodded, downing all the water in the bottle in one go.
Rhodes set the spatula down he was using on the eggs and turned to me. “What had you up so early?”
“Skye,” I admitted, sitting on the barstool across from him as Sam stumbled into the kitchen.
He made a barely intelligible grunt and headed straight for the coffee pot.
Rhodes shot me a concerned look. “Everything okay with her?”
“The storm cleared out, so they’re planning on leaving tomorrow,” I answered, crinkling the plastic of the bottle in my hands.
He blinked in surprise before a wide grin spread across his face. “That’s awesome.”
I nodded. “Yeah, except she also told me Norwood managed to get a spy into her dad’s pack.”
Fury twisted my beta’s features. “The fuck?”
“That’s messed up,” Sam seethed, his blue eyes narrowing in a way that looked a lot like our dad’s.
“Her dad handled it,” I replied, trying to ignore the residual bitterness of not being able to protect her myself. “But it has me on edge. I hate that she’s all the way over there and I’m all the way over here. I feel so damn useless.”
Sam clapped a comforting hand on my shoulder as he slipped on to the seat beside me. “She’s okay, though, right?”
“Yeah.”
Rhodes turned back to the stove with a hard sigh, shaking his head. “At least she’ll be back soon.”
“She isn’t coming alone,” I told him, drumming my fingers on the edge of the counter.
He slowly turned back to me, eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”
“Her dad is coming. Apparently he hates Norwood as much as we do. He offered to help.”
Rhodes’s eyes narrowed and he shook his hair out of his eyes. “You think that’s a good idea?”
I sighed quietly, rolling my shoulders to work the tension out. “Skye trusts him. I trust her.”
“Okay,” Rhodes agreed. And that was it. Rhodes would back whatever play Skye and I made.
“If Skye trusts him, that says a lot,” Sam mumbled, still nursing his coffee cup as his bleary eyes became more focused.
I watched him carefully, wondering if it might be time to get him to lay off the caffeine addiction.
Sam cleared his throat and set the mug down. “Skye doesn’t trust people. If her gut says we can trust him, that means a lot.”
He was right. Skye didn’t trust a lot of people. I didn’t know of anyone, besides her mom and Tate, that she trusted that wasn’t currently living in this house with me. The number of people Skye would let herself rely on could be counted on my fingers.
The fact that she trusted Nikolai was huge.
I just hoped like hell he didn’t disappoint her.
It would be awkward as hell to have to dismember my future father-in-law.
Katy and Larkin entered the kitchen as Dante and Ryder came down the back stairs.
Larkin practically skipped to Rhodes, plucking the spatula from his fingers and sliding between him and the stove. She kissed his lips quickly with a bright smile.
“Skye’s coming home,” she announced with a smile, her eyes sparkling.
Instead of moving back to let her work, Rhodes wrapped his arms around Larkin’s waist, burying his face against her neck until she was laughing and trying to get away.
Ryder sat down next to Sam as Dante went to fill up their coffee mugs.
“Where’s Dax?” Katy demanded, looking around until her eyes landed on his twin.
“Sleeping,” Sam muttered.
Katy looked at the clock on the microwave. She planted her hands on her hips in exasperation. “You guys have school in less than thirty minutes.”
Sam gave her a slow blink. “I’m up.”
“Fine,” Katy snapped, pressing her lips together. “I’ll wake him up.”
She started for the stairs, but spun around, went to the sink and filled up a glass of water before marching back to the stairs.
Dante chuckled as he handed Ryder his drink, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s chest and pulling him back until Ryder’s back was pressed to his front.
Seconds later we heard Dax bellow, followed by Katy shouting and a door slamming.
Katy hurried down the stairs a second later, ignoring the looks we were all throwing her way as she put the now empty glass in the sink.
“Was that really the best way to handle it?” I ask dryly, shaking my head.
She flashed me a smile I knew not to touch. “It was that or the coffee.”