Page 60 of Sold Rejected Mate
And so I do.
I’m realizing, slowly, that I would do anything he wanted.
When it’s done, just like he did for me, I go to the bathroom, find the bandages, and come back, cleaning it up and caring for it. He sits with his eyes shut, his head resting back against the bed, and his cock partially hard, likely from the rush of the bite.
That’s it.
We’re marked. Mated.
And if we continue to mark each other over the next month, our scents will permanently mix. We’ll show every person who walks by us that we’re mated.
Everyone in Silverville will know that he belongs to me, and I belong to him.
“Lachlan,” I say when I’m settled under his arm. My heart starts to pound, and I know that he can sense it because he pulls away from me and looks down at me in alarm.
“What?” he asks, raising his eyebrows. “What’s wrong? It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“No, it feels good.”
Nothing is wrong. For once in what feels like my entire adult life, everything is actually going right. And that somehow started with the Sorel brothers kidnapping me, and Lucian Winward threatening to sell me off.
None of this would have happened without that terrible day, so part of me feels strangely grateful for it.
“I have something to tell you,” I say after a moment, when he continues to look at me, giving me space to go on. I clear my throat, push down the nausea roiling in my stomach, and gather the courage to come clean with my confession.
“Lachlan, I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 30 - Lachlan
I’m sick with guilt the moment I walk out the door, stomach rolling, my wolf pacing inside me like a caged animal, insisting we turn around and return to our pregnant partner.
The woman I’ve marked, and who has marked me. Now I’m leaving her behind? How could I abandon her? She’s going to wake up and be hurt when she sees that I’m gone.
And yet, I can’t get my body to turn around. I can’t bring myself to come back to her, to check on her, and make sure she’s okay. Slide back into bed and hold her until the morning like I should.
When she told me, I fought hard to keep my expression on my face. Not to show the pure, unbridled terror pushing through me. But she probably saw it clearly. She probably won’t be surprised when she realizes I’m gone.
In fact, she probably waited this long to tell me because she knew exactly how I’d react. That I’d be this cowardly about the prospect of raising another shifter.
I don’t even realize I’m heading to the firehouse until I’m inside, staring at Engine One—our only firetruck. The firehouse is dead quiet. It must be nearly three in the morning. Soren is in the process of getting certified as an engineer. Maybe someday, at some point, this firehouse might actually function like a normal one, responding to emergencies in town. But for now, we’re still just a ragtag group of wildfire fighters.
I go to my cubby, pull out the gear I keep here, sit down on the floor, and start to clean it.
It must be at least an hour later when Xeran finds me sitting by the truck, my gear spread out around me like I’m going to take a flat-lay photo for Instagram.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The supreme’s voice echoes in the empty bay, making me jump. How did I not hear him coming? When I look up and meet his eyes, I realize my hands are shaking and have been since I walked out of the house.
“Shouldn’t you be at home with your pregnant wife?” I ask, looking away from him.
“Shouldn’t you?” Xeran returns, and when I look up at him again, the alarm clear on my face, he curses under his breath. “It’s true?”
“Val told you?”
“No. Phina had a hunch. About the mocktails. And getting sick from the shrimp.”
I groan. “Gods, how did I not notice?”
