by Hawke Oakley
“They don’t know any better,” I argued. “We can change their minds.”
“Keep dreaming.” He waved me off.
But I was livid. I wasn’t going to let him go so easily. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him back to face me. He was spitting mad.
“Since you obviously don’t care, fine,” I snapped. “But at least give me information so I can help them.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.” He glared at my belly. “You and your baby.”
I couldn’t tell if he was threatening me or genuinely worried, but I didn’t care either way. “Just tell me what I want to know and I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”
Scar glanced to Ryu, who only shrugged. He glared at me long and hard before finally sighing.
“Fine,” he muttered. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Thank you,” I said with a sigh.
He crossed his arms. “What do you want to know?”
I pulled out the encyclopedia, dog-eared to the section on Stoneheart pack, and pointed to the map.
“Tell me where the human raider’s camps are,” I demanded.
13
Dante
The nursery looked fantastic, if I do say so myself.
We’d decided to paint the nursery walls a pale sunset-orange color so it was gender neutral, since we didn’t know the sex of the baby just yet. My dad helped me with painting, and in his excitement, he’d already bought a whole bunch of toys and stuffed animals, which he was currently arranging on the brand new microfiber couch he bought for the nursery.
“Dad,” I said with a chuckle, “the baby’s not gonna be able to play with those until it’s way older.”
“I know,” my dad said, smiling with a twinkle in his eyes. “Doesn’t mean I can’t spoil my grandbaby already, does it?”
Sometimes I saw myself in him, and this was one of those times. I had no doubt he acted exactly like this when Lorenzo and I were born.
“So, I heard you made Gabriel learn magic,” Dad said as he fluffed up a pillow.
“Yeah, I did. And you know what? He’s really good at it,” I said proudly.
“Really?” his brows raised.
“Yup. His earth magic affinity is pretty strong. That’s what he and Ryu have been focusing on, and Ryu’s impressed. So am I, actually.”
Dad smiled. “That’s wonderful, Dante.”
A sad look flickered across his face, and I knew what he was thinking about. My omega-father.
“Did you want Gabriel to learn because of your father?” Dad asked softly.
I swallowed hard, feeling a lump in my throat. “Yeah.”
He nodded. “I understand. It’s easier, knowing he can protect himself, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I admitted. “Even if he didn’t take to magic, I probably would have made him go to a self-defense martial arts class or something.”
Dad chuckled. “Good idea.”
I checked the time. It was getting late. “Gabe’s probably done with his lessons now. I’m gonna go pick him up.”
“Sure,” my dad said. “I’ll head on home. Call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
When I arrived in front of Ryu’s door, a strange sensation crawled up my spine, like something wasn’t quite right. I shook it off. I saw Gabriel inside through the window, meaning he was obviously alive and well. It must have just been my imagination.
When I entered, I found Ryu and Gabriel standing beside the potted flower from earlier - the one Gabe had made bloom with magic.
But right now, they were so entranced they didn’t notice me enter.
And then I saw why.
Gabriel, with his brows furrowed intensely and sweat dripping down his forehead, had his trembling hands held out towards the flower. Surrounding it was a thin, see-through bubble with a silver sheen.
Gabe had created a barrier.
“Gabe!?” I cried with a gasp.
It broke his concentration. The barrier popped like a bubble. Gabriel stumbled back. Ryu glanced at me with an enormous grin.
“Gods, Dante, your mate is really something else!” he said.
“Did you see that, Dante?” Gabriel cried, his face lit up.
“Was that you?” I asked in disbelief, turning to Ryu. “You weren’t doing that?”
Ryu shook his head. “No. It was all Gabriel.”
“Yeah, have some respect for your mate!” Gabe said, grinning.
“Holy shit, Gabe,” I said, running towards him and hugging him tightly. “That’s clear magic! Not even some dragons can pull that off!”
“I know,” he said breathlessly. “Ryu said he can barely do it.”
“Well, now, don’t throw me under the bus,” Ryu grumbled playfully.
“That’s incredible,” I said. I kissed Gabe. “Soon you’re gonna be unstoppable with all this magic!”
He laughed, sounding a bit tired. I held onto him just in case he felt dizzy again. “I think I’m good with earth and clear magic. It takes a lot out of you.”
“Well, yeah, you’re a wolf,” I said. “You’re not even supposed to be magically aligned, but here you are. Son of a gun. The baby’s probably gonna come out of you a fully trained wizard or something.”
Gabriel laughed breathlessly.
“Shall we head home?” I asked. “You look like you need a nice, long rest.”
He nodded, to my relief. “Yeah. Carry me?”
“Of course. See you, Ryu.”
Ryu waved us goodbye as I shifted, carefully took Gabe in my arms, and carried him back home.
“I can’t wait to show you the nursery,” I said as we landed.
“Did you already finish?” Gabe asked, looking surprised.
“Yep. Me and my dad worked on it together. I did the painting and he did all the buying-of-unnecessary-baby-toys.”
Gabe grinned. “Well, now I’ll be the judge of what’s unnecessary or not.”
When I led him to the nursery, he gasped. “Oh, Dante… It’s perfect.”
He walked inside and touched the crib’s railing, running his hand up and down the solid cherry frame. Inside were baby blankets and pillows, and of course, a stuffed wolf.
“It’s so cute,” Gabe said with a smile. “Your dad has good taste in baby toys.”
“Maybe. Not sure we needed two hundred of them, though.”
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist. “We can put them in a toy chest and whip out a new one every time the baby gets bored. How about that?”
As he leaned closer to me, a strange scent met my nose. I smelled his clothes. He blinked in confusion.
“Gabe, why do you smell like alcohol?” I asked, then more panicked, “Were you drinking?”
Instantly he was irritated. “No! Are you crazy? I would never drink while pregnant.”
I sighed but I was only half relieved. “Then why do you smell like a bar?”
“Because I was in one,” he said. “And before you ask, yes, Ryu did take me. I was looking for someone and he knew exactly where that person would be.”
“What person?”
“An omega named Loni - well, I guess he goes by Scar now,” Gabriel said.
“Scar? That pissed-off bartender? What’d you need to find him for?” I asked.
Gabriel’s expression was serious. “You probably don’t know this, because it wasn’t explicitly written in that book. But Scar is an escaped Stoneheart omega, just like me.”
“What?” My brows raised. “Really?”
“Yes. Everyone in Stoneheart thought he was dead, including me. Learning that he was alive was a huge shock, but also really helpful.”
I still didn’t understand what any of this had to do with Gabe. Sure, he wasn’t the only living Stoneheart wolf anymore, but neither of them lived there. Why did it matter?
“So… What?” I asked.
Gabriel frowned. “What?”
“It’s great that Loni - Scar - is alive,
but what did you need his help for?”
Gabe’s brows knitted in confusion. “I needed his help because he’s the only omega besides me who's ever gotten out of the pack and lived. Don’t you get that?”
I was trying to understand. Honestly, I was. But I still didn’t get what he was getting at.
“Do you miss your pack or something?” I asked, taking a wild guess.
He paused. “I don’t miss living there, no. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about it a lot.”
That was a shock to me. I’d assumed Gabe would want to leave his dark past behind, not actively seek it out. “You do?”
“Yes.” He hung his head. “I think about how good I have it here, and what everyone in Stoneheart is missing. They live in fear while I live in freedom. It’s not fair to them.”
The memory of the night I met Gabriel flashed before my eyes - watching him run desperately away from raiders and failing to flee, being caught in their grasp… I felt a prickle of anger and fire stirred within me.
“What they did to you wasn’t fair,” I stated, narrowing my eyes.
“I know that. But it doesn’t mean they should all suffer because of the elders’ rules.”
“So, what?” I asked cautiously. He obviously had something in mind. I just wished he’d hurry up and tell me.
“I need to help them,” Gabriel murmured.
I snorted. “Like hell, you do. Gabe, you have enough things to deal with right now. Stoneheart can take care of itself.”
His eyes widened in shock, which quickly turned to anger. “Dante, this is important to me. My old pack can’t live like rats in a cage forever.”
“Then they should have thought of that before they kicked you out and left you to die,” I growled. “You’re safe here now. Isn’t that what matters?”
I held out my arms to embrace him, but he backed away, scowling.
“No! It’s selfish of me to sit here, doing nothing, while they suffer.”
“Doing nothing?” I echoed. “Gabe, you’re pregnant. You’re carrying a child. My child. That’s not nothing.”
“You know that’s not what I meant,” he growled.
I opened my arms in a wide gesture. “Then what do you mean? Because I don’t understand what the point of all this is.”
“The point is that I’m learning clear magic so I can create a barrier for Stoneheart so they don’t have to live inside those walls anymore!” he cried.
I stared at him for a long time.
“You’re not serious,” I said quietly.
He didn’t break eye contact with me. “I’m dead serious, Dante. Do I look like I’m joking?”
He didn’t. Not at all. And that scared the hell out of me.
“Can we talk about this in the morning when you’re rested?” I suggested. “I know you just started learning clear magic and you’re excited to use it, but - “
“No, don’t shut me down like that!” Gabe cried with more force than I expected. I winced at his tone.
“Gabe,” I said slowly, “if I’m being totally honest, I don’t want you to go back there. You and I both know it’s not safe.”
He shook his head. “We can make it safe. With magic. We have the power to do something about it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn't like the direction this conversation was heading in. Why couldn’t Gabriel see why I didn’t want him to go back to that hellhole? I had barely saved him the first time - what if I couldn’t do it a second time?
“Can we plan this after the baby’s born, at least?” I asked. If he agreed, that would give him time to cool down and think about this more.
“No,” he said firmly. “Ryu already told us that my magic’s stronger because of the pregnancy. If we do this, it has to be done during my pregnancy.”
I stood up tall and growled, “Then absolutely not.”
“What?” he said, offended.
I lost it. “You are not going to Stoneheart or anywhere else where there’s people trying to kill you while pregnant. What the hell are you thinking, Gabe?”
“I’m thinking that there are people that need our help!” he snapped.
“I don’t care about people, I care about you. And our baby, for gods’ sake,” I growled. “I’m not letting you get hurt to save a bunch of people who almost let you get killed without a second thought.”
Anger flashed across his face. “I care, even if you don’t. And you don’t control me, or own me, Dante Drakinus. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
Fear rose up in my chest like a sickly infection. My mind raced with horrible thoughts of Gabriel going off on his own, getting hurt or killed, or losing the baby, or both.
“What about the pack elders?” I asked, getting desperate for a foothold on his determination, anything to lower him from the edge of insanity.
“What about them?” he countered.
“Won’t they care that you’re trapping them in with another barrier?” My tongue slipped in panic as I added, “Do they even want you back?”
He winced, and I instantly felt horrible about it. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter, anyway. We don't need their permission to create a barrier from the outside. What they do with the wall is up to them after that.”
“From the outside?” I growled, horrible images flashing in my mind again. “You mean where the human raiders are? Are you even listening to yourself?”
Gabriel frowned deeply, his eyes narrowing into angry slits. I had never seen him so upset before - and with a pang of guilt, I knew that I had brought this upon him. But I couldn’t control the words coming out of my mouth. I was desperate - I’d do anything to keep him from going through with this insane plan.
“You know,” Gabriel said slowly, “for my mate who’s supposed to care about me, you sure are acting as controlling as the alphas from the pack I escaped from.”
I stared at him in utter disbelief. The word fell from my lips, almost a whisper from how stunned I was. “What?”
But Gabriel was too angry to speak any more. He turned his back on me and began to walk away. My dragon roared. Fear coursed through my veins. I reached for him.
“Gabriel, wait!”
“I don’t want to do this right now, Dante,” he said, holding up a hand. “Just… leave me alone for a while, okay?”
My dragon thrashed within me, crying out into the hollow of my chest. We were both on the brink of a meltdown. The thought of losing Gabriel - to our argument, or to the hands of raiders I’d already saved him from once before - was inconceivable. I couldn’t let him do this.
As he walked away, I concentrated quickly, and with the added power of my raging dragon, I put up a wall made of clear magic. Gabriel instantly stopped.
“Please don’t go anywhere until we sort this out,” I growled. “We can sleep on it, talk about it in the morning - “
“Did you just try to trap me in here with you with magic?” Gabriel asked without looking at me. His back faced me.
Realization dawned on me. Instantly I knew what I’d done. I’d made what was already bad worse - horribly so.
I’d tried to keep Gabriel here with a wall - the same walls I’d rescued him from in Stoneheart pack.
My magic was already waning. “Gabe, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” I stepped towards him. “You know I’d do anything for you. You’re my fated mate.”
Suddenly, he turned. His eyes were wide with an emotion I couldn’t read. Unblinking, he stared at me for a moment before turning and shattering the weakened wall with his own clear magic.
He stormed off, stomping on the shattered translucent pieces.
I didn’t follow.
14
Gabriel
Fated mates.
I wasn’t just hearing things. Dante really said those words.
Fated mates. I repeated the phrase over and over in my mind like a mantra, trying to decipher them.
Two souls destined for each other, fated to
overcome all obstacles, no matter what.
It wasn’t real. It just couldn’t be. Ever since I was a young pup in Stoneheart pack, the phrase seemed like a curse, a taboo subject no one should speak of. Another rumour that existed in the world outside the walls, but never within them.
Why had Dante said that? Was it just to get me to stop fighting with him? Did he say it just so I wouldn’t walk away?
Part of me - the angry, irrational part - wanted to say yes. He was losing an argument and pulled out yet another magic trick. Except instead of clear magic, it was a concept.
Fated mates. The term burned inside my skull like venom.
But the other part of me - my omega wolf, my nurturing compassionate side - knew with absolute certainty that Dante wasn’t lying. He truly believed we were fated mates. Even in the middle of this turmoil, he believed in the depths of his heart that we were destined to be together.
But I hadn't grown up that way. I thought it was a myth. A lie.
What if it wasn’t?
I wanted to cry out in frustration. As I stormed back into the bedroom, I slammed the door. Even without the fated mates wrench thrown in, I was still angry and confused. Dante didn’t want me going back to help my pack, that was for certain.
Why couldn’t he see what I could? That it wasn’t as dangerous as he thought?
I sat on the edge of the bed with an exasperated sigh. My hand travelled to my belly, which was just beginning to swell as my baby grew.
I frowned, thinking of Dante’s words. He didn’t want me to put myself or our child in danger. I bit my lip. Maybe he was right. It wasn’t just me anymore. Any kind of stunt I pulled automatically involved our baby as well. Could I risk putting our child in harm’s way?
No, I thought firmly. There won’t be any danger.
I could go in, put up the barrier, and get out before any humans even showed up. I wouldn’t even have to ask the elders’ permission. Once the magic was up, they could do whatever the hell they wanted.
And I could only do this now, with the strength of my pregnancy fuelling my magic.
