Page 72 of Bullied Pregnant Mate

“Shh,” I put my finger on his lips. “It’s okay. I will come with you.”

“I don’t know about this. If you aren’t feeling strong…”

“I can handle it. I want to be there for you.”

He sighs. “I’m starting to feel like I’m putting you in danger unnecessarily. They did attack you.”

“They didn’t know who I was.”

“Really, that’s no excuse. My brother said some messed-up stuff about witches.”

“That’s exactly why we have to go. If you don’t do the meeting, you’ll always be wondering how it could have been. If you do anything to drive them away—like tell Bailey—you’ll betray them and never know if you could have reconciled.”

“I don’t see how we can. Decker isn’t going to give a fuck about our family connections.”

“There’s a good chance Bailey won’t, either,” I say.

“Patrols are thick,” he says. “There is always a wolf not far from the house, and all of them have overlapping routes. He’s not taking any chances.”

I push my doubts down, even though it’s difficult. “Jenks, I’m with you. No matter how it goes, I’ll be by your side, and you’ll need me. What if they turn on you, and you’re all alone?”

“What if they turn on me, and you’re with me?” he asks. “They could be planning to drag me back to Silverton and interrogate me—or Decker just wants revenge on me because I was part of his pack for so long. He might even want to kill me just so Bailey can’t use me as a spy.”

“Hmm, Bae did suggest exactly that.”

“He did.”

I put my arms around him and give him a quick hug. “Let’s try not to think about it. It’s only mid-afternoon. You’ve got all evening to stress about it.”

“That’s true. I’m going for another run, though. I just can’t sit still.”

“Don’t wear yourself out.”

He shrugs. “I can rest later when we have dinner. I need to keep moving. I even tried to spin up some new songs to distract myself, but I couldn’t focus. It’s weird for me to want to occupy myself with physical activity.”

“I know,” I chuckle, ruffling his hair. “Well, except for certain… exercises.”

“I’m all for more of those.” He grins lasciviously.

“Go for your run,” I urge. “I’ll think about early dinner, and when you get back, we can cook together.”

“That sounds great,” he says absently.

He sounds so distracted. I’m so worried his personal feelings are getting in the way of his judgment.

“Okay.” I lean back on the couch, getting comfy. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Sure,” Jenks says, kissing me briefly on the lips. I wait impatiently for him to leave the room, staying curled under the blanket as if I’m getting ready to nap.

The second I hear the door slam, I throw the blanket off me and hurry over to the hearth. I have a little box of spell supplies next to it, and I pull out a few items from it.

Rocks from the mountain, some herbs from the garden… and a pigeon flight feather.

I arrange them in front of me, holding my hands above them while I chant. The spell is like a magical GPS. It will send my location to the other witches once I get to the meeting place tonight.

Some of the witches won’t be powerful enough to read the whole signature, but Amanda and Lucy definitely will.

I pick up the pigeon feather and stroke it gently, running the soft edge against my fingertips.

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