Page 65 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

And since I couldn't demon hunt in my child-carrying state, that meant I got turned over to Saul for training while Julian worked on getting his pack transferred over and tracked down any new demonic leads.

It only took me two days to wish I had stuck with Faye as my witch trainer.

The man was…a lot. And he pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed.

After a particularly brutal afternoon training session, I flopped down into a chair at the dining room table and put my head in my hands.

Saul was a great teacher, but he was so damned intense.

The witch stood in the kitchen, making us both cups of tea while I tried not to pass out from exhaustion. We never did physical work, it was all mental, but even that was draining me at this point. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"I'm just tired," I sighed.

It wasn't a lie, I really was exhausted. I was six months pregnant now, and the baby was big. I'd had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago, and they'd estimated the baby would be about nine pounds at birth.

It hadn't been easy carrying, either. I was having a hard time getting comfortable and sleeping, and when I wasn't tired, I was hungry. All the time. The doctor said that everything was normal, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Saul dropped the cup of tea next to me and took his seat. "I think we're done until after you've had the brat, Whitney. It's too much."

Oh no. I knew what would happen when training was over. "But—"

"No buts. I'm on Danny's payroll, not yours. It's time for you to start your reading."

I groaned, looking over at the enormous bag of books waiting in the corner for me. Hector had dropped them off last week from Faye, and I hadn't even bothered to unpack them from the bag. Saul had told me to read a few, and then we'd talk. I had no idea how many were in the bag, but if I had to guess, it was at least thirty.

From what Faye had told me, it was a mix of basic teaching books and some old dusty tomes that she had found in her family's personal library and hadn’t had a chance to go through yet.

There was no way I would get through all of that before my due date.

"I'll help you," he said, sipping his tea.

"You will?" I looked up at him, surprised. This man had been working me to the bone since he got here, and now he wanted to help me? What was the catch?

"Sure. Why not? I don't have anything better to do."

I eyed him warily. "That's very…nice of you. Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"Okay. So…now what?"

"Well, let's see what we have." Saul got up and grabbed the bag of books, sitting back down at the table. He dumped the contents out onto the wood surface, and we both stared at the mess.

There were at least twenty books scattered across the table. Some were thin, but most were quite thick. A few were old and worn, the spines cracked and pages yellowed with age.

"Oh. Great," I sighed, staring at the pile. "So, what's first?"

Saul pushed a couple of books aside and pulled two from the center of the pile. "These two. The rest…I'll look through to see if they're helpful." He handed me one of the books. "You should start with this one."

I took the book from him, looking at the worn cover. It looked ancient but was clearly taken care of. The pages were clean and crisp, and the spine was free from damage. The title was printed in faded gold, but I could still read it.

The Art of Spells: An Introduction to Witchcraft.

"Really?" I asked, flipping the book open. "You know I've been using small spells forever."

"Tough shit. Get to reading, preggo."

I sighed heavily, but knowing that there wasn't really any way out of it, flipped to the first page.

---