Luminous
Page 10
Except they both knew that that “someone” wasn’t him.
“Now lay back down and go to sleep,” he added impatiently when she didn’t immediately respond, just continued to stare incredulously at him from her sitting position on the bed.
Katherine pressed her lips together, sorely tempted to literally kick the man out of her bed. Truthfully, though, she couldn’t deny that the man’s presence – even if it wasn’t the person’s she really wanted – acted as a sort of soothing balm to her wounded heart. Silly as it was, the company of a capable protector calmed the extra serving of crazy brought on by her recent uptick in hormones and made her feel just a tiny bit less hysterical about Bastian’s very intentional absence.
So Katherine allowed herself to flop back down onto the mattress. “Fine,” she muttered, as she pulled the covers up to nearly her chin, “but don’t blame me if he kills you.” They both knew what “he” she was referring to. She made sure to keep a respectable distance from Markus, leaving a good two feet between them as she settled into her side of the bed.
Markus snorted. “It’s all part of the plan. Climbing into your bed will have set off instinctual alarm bells in his head that will eventually lure him back here. The beating I suffer will be worth putting a stop to your incessant crying.”
Katherine rolled her eyes at his teasing, but she couldn’t help the first real smile from pulling at the corners of her mouth since her morning announcement had gone so horribly awry. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t mourn your death.”
Markus laughed at that, and to Katherine’s embarrassment, she dissolved into giggles too, the uncontrollable kind marked with a tinge of hysteria.
“Only you,” he muttered once she managed to get ahold of herself. “Good God, the first bitten wolf to get pregnant in decades. What luck.”
He sounded both appropriately awed and horrified. It matched her feelings about the matter pretty much exactly, and she couldn’t help but be relieved that someone actually got it, even if it was only Markus.
She reached over and playfully slapped his shoulder. “Shut up.”
Shockingly enough, the man listened, and a comfortable silence descended after that. Unfortunately, Katherine wasn’t as apt at keeping her own mouth shut – not with the multitude of emotions she could still feel rolling under her skin, begging for release – the most noticeable of which being outright worry. She gnawed at her bottom lip until she couldn’t take it anymore. “What am I going to do?” she asked, tentatively breaking the quiet.
Markus sighed, but didn’t seem truly annoyed by the question. “Nothing. From what I understand, the female body’s been doing this for centuries, millennia even.”
“Markus...” she threatened quietly.
He propped himself up on his elbow and stared down at her. The anxiety she was feeling must have been plastered clearly enough on her face because his features almost immediately softened. He sighed. “Seriously, Katherine, nothing. Just relax. We’ll take care of you. The only thing you have to worry about is when the time comes, doing the right thing and naming the little beast after who will undoubtedly be his favorite uncle.”
Katherine rolled her eyes. “Caleb?” she challenged.
He snorted, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.
“So what if it’s a girl?” she pointed out.
He shrugged one shoulder, seemingly unconcerned as he rolled over onto his back. “Marcella has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
Katherine laughed, and to her surprise – and even though she’d already slept the day away – she could feel her innate tiredness catching up to her. Exhaustion pulled at her eyes. “Thanks, Markus,” she managed to mutter before a yawn took over.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Go back to sleep, princess.”
She did.
* * *
The next time Katherine woke, her headache was gone, but she was cold. The skin around her eyes was still incredibly tender so she kept them shut as she turned from her side onto her back and blindly reached a hand over to the other side of the bed.
Instead of encountering a warm body, however, she only felt cool sheets. The place beside her was empty.
Katherine frowned. “Markus?” she asked, voice thick with sleep as she finally forced her eyes open.
“He left.”
Katherine nearly jumped out of her skin at the blunt answer, spoken not in Markus’s baritone, but an even more familiar timbre.
The owner of the voice was standing over her.
The room was still so dark that Katherine couldn’t make out his features, only the general outline of his body. But she’d recognize him anywhere.
Bastian.
Katherine shot up, quickly pushing herself into a sitting position and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She intended to stand, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her. Her heart, which didn’t seem to know if it wanted to crawl into her throat or sink to her belly, fluttered wildly in equal parts joy at the man’s return and worry at his reaction to having found Markus lying with her while he was gone.
She knew the two of them had joked about his demise at Bastian’s hands earlier, but surely her mate wouldn’t go so far as to actually kill the other man.
...Right?
“Markus was only-” she hurried to defend him, but Bastian cut her off with a shake of his head.
“I know,” he said before she could attempt to justify the man’s presence in their bed. “I get it. He was here when I wasn’t. I... thanked him and sent him to bed.”
He sounded as disbelieving of his actions as she felt. Still, relief rushed through her at his surprise understanding.
“Oh,” she responded dumbly.
“Yeah.”
She chewed nervously on her inner cheek before taking a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the conversation she knew she needed to have with Bastian about the tiny life growing inside her belly.
“Look, Bastian,” she said, staring at her knees and fiddling with the frayed end of the shirt that hung there, “I should have told you about...well, everything, as soon as I found out. I’m really sorry-”
“Stop.” He sounded pained as the hoarse word escaped his mouth, and it had Katherine immediately shutting her own. She swallowed around the lump suddenly present in her throat – her heart must have finally decided to climb there – and forced herself to look up at him.
What she saw there took her by surprise. His brow was pinched in consternation, his eyes shining with something that looked remarkably like remorse.
“Don’t,” he choked out. “Don’t you dare be sorry. I’m the one who should be sorry; I am sorry.” Bastian collapsed onto his knees, taking her face between his hands. He smoothed his calloused thumbs over the skin beneath her eyes, and she could tell he was beating himself up about the pink puffiness still present there. Katherine vaguely wondered if Markus had told him she’d pretty much been crying since he’d fled that morning. “I should have never left you to deal with... this situation on your own.”
Katherine appreciated the apology. Really, she did. But she couldn’t help but notice that Bastian didn’t speak a single word about his feelings behind the reason he’d run from her in the first place. In fact, the way he referred to the tiny life growing in her belly – “this situation” – had her feeling shockingly defensive considering she didn’t even know how she felt about it.
She jerked away from him.
“And what about “this situation”?” She gestured vaguely at her still flat stomach, knowing that she was being unfair, but hardly able to stop herself. After all, Bastian had had less than twenty-four hours to process the fact that he’d knocked her up; she’d had a week to reflect on the matter and only recently had she been able to mentally refer to the thing growing inside of her as a real, live baby. “Are you even going to acknowledge the fact that I’m pregnant or are you going to pretend that there’s not a little werewolf baby growing inside of me? Your litt
Bastian grabbed her hands from the air, where she was waving them around wildly as she talked, refusing to let either go even when she attempted to tug them out of his grasp. “Look at me,” he commanded.
Katherine refused, knowing that the silly tears she could feel swimming in her eyes would be beyond obvious. Instead, she stared firmly at her own lap.
But Bastian wasn’t about to let her get away with ignoring the order. He rubbed his thumbs soothingly over the pulse points of her wrists. “Katherine,” he said, his voice infinitely more gentle when he addressed her, “please look at me.”
Knowing she didn’t really have a choice in the matter – and honestly, wanting to get whatever he had to say over with – Katherine tightly squeezed her eyes shut once, and then twice, in an effort to rid them of tears before finally obliging and directing her gaze up at him. “What?”
Bastian stared at her from a long moment before speaking. “I won’t lie to you. I am scared. I’m goddamn terrified. I’ve never given much thought to becoming a father before, and it’s a shock to the system. It’s... an overwhelming concept to wrap my mind around.” Katherine forced herself to keep looking into the man’s eyes despite the heavy disappointment she felt looming over her at his words. “But underneath all that,” he paused, shaking his head like even he couldn’t believe it, “there is this ridiculous joy, this absolutely stupid pride, in my chest at the thought of you carrying my child.”
And just like that, the disappointment fled, swiftly replaced by surprise and a powerful surge of hope that Katherine quickly worked to suppress. After all, she still remembered his words from barely over a week before, and couldn’t quite chase the nagging doubt from her mind at his confession. “But you just told me a week ago how much you don’t ever want to be responsible for a child,” she accused quietly.
Bastian squeezed her hands. “You’re right,” he admitted. “That was an opinion I held long before I met you, and an opinion I never bothered to reexamine once I had. The odds of us conceiving were so slim that I didn’t see the point. But now that I know... Katherine, how could you think that I wouldn’t want this? How could I ever not want something – someone – who was half you?”
Tears filled her eyes for an entirely different reason now, and Katherine sniffled in an attempt to keep them at bay. She could feel the fear and anxiety that had been plaguing her for the past week slowly lifting as his sweet words took hold. “How do I know you’re not just saying that?”
Bastian rested his forehead against hers. “Would I do that?”
“Yes,” Katherine immediately snarked, finally succeeding in shaking one of her hands loose to quickly wipe at her eyes.
A ghost of a smile pulled at Bastian’s lips. “Well, I’m not.” The tiny grin quickly fell back into a frown. “But what about you? How do you feel about all of this?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I want to be happy, but mostly I’m just scared,” Katherine confessed, feeling unbelievably foolish considering she’d just railed into Bastian for any fear he may have felt at the thought of abruptly becoming responsible for a little life. Talk about projecting one’s own feelings onto others. “I mean, I’m only seventeen. I don’t know the first thing about giving birth or raising a child.”
“Me neither,” Bastian admitted quietly.
Katherine snorted, once again looking down at her knees. “A fine pair we make.”
“Hey,” Bastian protested the self-depreciating comment, releasing the grip he still had on one of her hands so he could tilt up her chin. “We’ll figure it out together, okay? One day at a time?”
Unwilling to fight the comfort and relief that such a sentiment caused to roll over her like a blanket, Katherine nodded.
The corners of Bastian’s mouth rose at the tiny motion. “Good.” His eyes flickered to her lips. “Now, can I please kiss you?” He sounded like he’d been holding the question back for a while, like he’d been wanting nothing more than to kiss her since the moment she’d woke up, but had known it hadn’t been appropriate to ask until now.
A genuine smile pulled at Katherine’s lips. “Only if you mean it.”
“I always mean it,” Bastian assured softly before leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“No. Just... no way.”
The mere thought of what Bastian was asking her to do caused a million butterflies to spontaneously erupt in Katherine’s stomach, their tiny wings flapping incessantly against her insides.
Stand in front of the alpha council and blatantly announce her “condition”?
Katherine could think of an infinite number of things she’d rather do – including give birth in nine or so months. And she’d had to endure her Great Aunt Minnie’s overly detailed descriptions of “the ring of fire” multiple times over the course of her young life.
The only thing stopping her from snarkily informing Bastian of this was the fact that he looked about as upset about his request as she felt.
“I know, and you know I wouldn’t ask you to do this unless I thought it was absolutely necessary,” he said, confirming her suspicions.
“But why is it necessary?” she asked, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest. “Do you really think they won’t believe you?”
Bastian sighed, running an agitated hand through his already disheveled hair. “They know how fiercely I fought against a potential merger with the western colony. I wouldn’t put it past the council to assume I made this up as a last ditch effort to avoid sending a group of envoys there.”
“But even if you’re right, and they don’t believe you, why would they believe me?” she argued. “I mean, I’m your mate. Won’t they just think I’m lying for you?”
Bastian reached one of his hands forward and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Katherine’s ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek as he stared at her. “I know this isn’t easy for you. It isn’t for me either, but I need you to trust me on this. Can you do that? Please?”
Katherine narrowed her eyes. Bastian had to know he wasn’t playing fair when he looked at her like that with his blue, blue eyes. Like he needed her, depended on her. Like he trusted her more than the air he breathed or the food he consumed to sustain him.
Tempted as she was to call him out on the underhanded move, Katherine just sighed. “Fine.”
And that – “trust”, along with being a sucker for Bastian’s ridiculously pretty eyes – was precisely how Katherine landed herself in the uncomfortable situation she was currently in. Namely, fighting not to sink into her chair – the head chair stationed at the very end of the long, rectangular table that the werewolves who made up the alpha council crowded around every meeting – as over a dozen sets of eyes bore into her.
Most stared with neutral curiosity, but she could sense the hidden hostility in a few of their eyes – the ones belonging to the alphas who had never quite accepted the fact that their leader had claimed such an unimpressive-looking, bitten wolf as his mate.
Katherine was grateful for the protective stance Bastian took where he stood behind her, his hands curled tightly around the back rungs of her chair, as she took in the eyes that continued to stare. She imagined what the minds behind them were thinking.
What’s Bastian up to?
This ought to be good.
Why is she here?
Well, they were about to find out.
“I’ve called this meeting to order with the intent of suspending, at least temporarily, our planned trip to the western colony.”
Bastian’s frank announcement garnered an immediate reaction.
There was an explosion of activity around the table, men immediately attempting to speak over each other in loud, booming voices. Three even shot up out of their seats, completely red-faced as angry words spewed from their mouths. Katherine was only able to catch a handful of them as they buzzed by her ears.
“What?”
“Preposterous!”
“I told you-”
“-already voted! It’s a complete breach of protocol to-”
“-can’t believe you’d put the entire colony at risk.”
“And all to spare the feelings of some little girl!”
“That’s enough!” Somehow, Bastian’s voice was the loudest of all as he slammed his hands down on the table on either side of Katherine. He was leaning over her, his breastplate brushing against the hair atop her head as he took deep, labored breaths in an obvious attempt to calm himself.
The council obeyed the order, all but a single person falling silent at the command and reluctantly lowering themselves back down into their seats. The only alpha who dared to remain standing opened his mouth to speak.
It wasn’t at all shocking to Katherine that the alpha in question happened to be Briggs. “Bastian-”
“You call me Head Alpha,” Bastian snarled, interrupting the man.
Briggs grit his teeth at the demand. “Head Alpha,” he nonetheless amended, face twisting like the words tasted sour in his mouth as he spit them out, “I’m afraid I must protest. Not only has there already been immense discussion about this issue, it has already been voted on, and a course of action decided.”
“I undecided,” Bastian rebuked tersely.
Brigg’s already red face all but purpled, his nostrils flaring. “But that’s insanity!” he protested, losing any pretense of respect as he pounded on the table with a meaty fist. “Our population is dwindling at an alarming rate! Doing nothing will doom us all to an eventual extinction!” The words were tinged with the faint hint of hysteria as they escaped his mouth, and as silly as his fears sounded to Katherine, she could acknowledge that to Briggs, at least, the threat of extinction was very real.
Any sympathy that realization may have pulled from her disappeared, however, when he glanced her way, his eyes shining with obvious malice. She could feel Bastian stiffen behind her, his form radiating tension as Briggs continued to stare. After a tense moment, however, he pulled his eyes from her, snorting in what sounded like disgust as he trained his gaze back on Bastian. “We all know that you don’t want to admit your little mate is a part of the problem, but we must face the facts. The recent influx of bitten wolves that first your father, and now you, have welcomed into this colony have somehow contaminated Haven Fall’s gene pool. What will it take to open your eyes? We need fresh blood. No child has been conceived in nearly a year! How can you even think-”
-->