Page 73 of Luna Rising

Winter shook her head. “I don’t know. She must have had a child at some point. With whom, I couldn’t say. In my dreams, she’s never been pregnant.”

“She wasn’t a bonded wolf,” Walter said. “Unlike the rest of you, she wasn’t confined to having children with any single person. She could have found any willing fae or common pack wolf. Clearly, she gave birth to a daughter while still mortal. The kid’s father is irrelevant.”

“But Mat knows now that he and Demi aren’t the other pair,” Ewan said. “So, what’s his endgame?”

It was Essie who answered. “To expose the supernatural world and subjugate the humans. To take what he was denied so long ago. Except, instead of the Valley, he wants to be king of this realm. At least, that is what we believe.”

A Prison Break? How Original

I left the meeting with the fae conflicted. Mat’s grand plan didn’t come as a surprise. He already had his little vampire city, so extending his domain to include the entire world seemed like a logical next leap. My only question was—why now? The guy had been alive forever. He could have done this at any point.

“He needs all the eternals and protectors for some reason,” Ewan said as we walked back to our house through the lightly falling snow.

I frowned. “Stop reading my thoughts.”

He nudged me with his hip. “I don’t need to read your mind. The question is written on your face. I’m thinking this has to do with those magical fortifications on Demi’s cell that Essie mentioned. She is older than the rest of us, except maybe Archer. Mat’s been looking for eternals for years. It’s why Colleen went into hiding when she got pregnant. My guess is that as soon as they locked up Demi, that’s when he started tracking us down.”

“Call Reggie,” I said. “She grew up in that prison. If anyone knows how to break out her sister, it’s her.”

Ewan held up his phone. “I already texted her.”

“I think we might have a bigger problem,” Birch said in his usual sort of bored voice. “A lot of supes think we should be running this world. They don’t like that we’ve remained in the shadows for so long. Many will want to fight with him, including some of our pack.”

I had considered this as well, and I hated that I didn’t totally disagree. Not the part about subjugating humans. I didn’t have a ton of experience with them in this life since they kept to themselves and so did we, but they were the reason my life had turned out the way it did. King Orrin created wolves to protect the fae from humans. Of course, if the games had never happened, I wouldn’t have ever met Stavros.

Is this all our fault? Are the soulmates truly cursed?

Ewan grabbed my hand and pulled me to stop. “Don’t. Don’t go down that path. Do you remember what I told you the first time you said that we were wrong?”

“That if that was true, nothing in this world was right.”

“I still believe that.”

The next thing I knew, his hands were in my hair and his mouth was on mine. I wasn’t even sure who started the kiss, only that we both needed the contact. His love burned through the bond and signed my doubt. I loved him with all of my being. And as much as I wanted to do wicked things to him, our love felt pure. Right. Untainted.

Birch cleared his throat several times, loudly. “If you want to eat—err drink—before the accords, we need to keep moving.”

Ewan skimmed his nose along my jaw and then scrapped his fangs along the sensitive spot under my ear. “I’m going to have you for lunch.”

Those words really shouldn’t have been such a turn on, and yet they totally were.

I should have know something was off when reached the house and Birch chose to wait outside, but I was too caught up in thoughts of world domination and Ewan’s impending bite. So, when Ewan led me to the living room and sat me on the couch, I didn’t realize something was amiss until he said the words every woman dreads.

“We need to talk.” He sat on the coffee table facing me, one of his knees between my legs. “Birch is going to stay here with you while I meet with the other alphas and the high fae elders.”

I blinked, too shocked to respond at first.

“You’ll be there when we sign the accords. Just not while we hammer out the details. It’s not only you. No mates are coming.” He put his hands on my thighs and squeezed. Dread flooded the bond, and I knew I wouldn’t like his next words. “You need to tell Brooke who she is. Now. I’m sorry it can’t wait, and I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I need to name an heir.”

Too many conflicting emotions tore me in different directions. I didn’t know if I should be mad or upset or simply say okay. If this had been any other boring meeting, I would have been relieved to stay home. But it wasn’t. Four wolf packs and two fae contingents were entering an alliance. This was literally history in the making and as Ewan’s mate and Luna, I had a right to be there. If he hadn’t mentioned my vampire-induced infertility issues, I would have been indignant at the slight of not inviting me. Instead, I wanted to run up the stairs and hide in my bed.

“Look at me, Zara.” He squeezed my legs again as I fought tears. “It doesn’t matter to me. I knew when we bonded that I couldn’t get you pregnant. No one blames you. The pack knew when I became alpha that I wouldn’t produce an heir.”

He wiped the tears from my cheeks with the backs of his hands and scooted closer, alarm swirling in his crimson irises. “I love you. Never doubt that.”

“I’m fine.” I brushed his hand away. “It’s so ridiculous. I don’t know why I care so much. There’s this ingrained need to have a child inside of me that wars with my indifference on the matter. Like, I don’t want to be a mother, I don’t think. But then there’s this voice inside my head telling me how much I suck because I can’t give you an heir.”

“It’s because of what you are. All original wolves have an ingrained need to breed. It’s written in the magic that made us.”

---