Chapter 16 LIKELY POSSIBILITY (1)
WILLA’S POV
A loud, hysterical laugh burst out of me, while William only watched with furrowed brows and lips set into a firm line.
“You can’t be serious,” I said after my laughter ebbed away. “If you’re simply basing your conclusion on my scent, what you’ve detected could be explained by the claiming bite.”
But even as I reasoned against William’s claim, I wasn’t foolishly naive to think that it was absolutely impossible. After all, Gallahan had knotted me twice. William had also sounded certain, and he wasn’t the type of person who would make wild or drastic conclusions if they didn’t hold much ground or merit.
“Again, do not try to be obtuse on purpose, Willa. Gallahan triggered your heat that night. You disappeared for nearly a week before you returned home with a claiming bite. And while I have no desire to know or discuss what you and Gallahan were up to in those days, I am sure that-”
“I didn’t even get to spend an entire day with him, Will,” I interjected,
“What?” William’s brows furrowed further. “Then where have you been during those days?”
Hesitation kept me quiet for nearly a minute, spending that stretch of time gnawing at my lower lip.
“Willa, what happened?” William asked once more, sounding more stern and more like our father when he was slowly losing his patience.
With closed eyes, I let out a long and heavy exhale through my nose. Then when I opened them again, looking at our entwined hands instead of William’s face, I confessed, “When I ran away, my heat wasn’t done yet.”
“Willa! Were you out of your mind?” William hissed, mildly shaking me through the hand he had in his grip. “It could’ve gotten dangerous for you!”
“More dangerous than being with Gallahan Wick?” I quipped, finally daring to meet my brother’s eyes that were back in its glowing deep shade of green.
William glowered, clearly unimpressed.
“Anyway, let me finish before you blow your fuse.”
He only grunted in response, and I almost smiled at how petulant he could still be.
“So I ran away right? But then the third wave of my heat was slowly approaching, and I had to find some place to stay. Soon enough, I met a witch. Sarina. She was in the middle of collecting potion ingredients in the woods when I bumped into her. Long story short, she had me as a guest while I pathetically spent the rest of my heat alone. But then I couldn’t really leave as soon as it was over, can I?”
“So you overstayed your welcome as a token of your gratitude,” William grumbled sardonically, clearly still miffed about my choices in life.
I pretended not to hear his critical jab and continued to say, “So as thanks, I stayed with her for a couple more days to help her with collecting and preparing potion ingredients.”
“Alright. Fine,” William groused in defeat. “I’ll let this recklessness pass. But only because you came home in one piece, and because there are more important things to discuss. Like how you are likely pregnant.”
I groaned, yanking my hand out of his hold so I could harshly rub my face out of frustration, fear and fatigue that I was feeling in equal proportions.
“I can’t be pregnant, Will. There is an ongoing fight between the League and the Culling Army. I am the second-in-command of the Peacemakers, for crying out loud. I can’t be-”
“Willa,” he cut in with an expression that had softened into a cautious one. “Grandpa has stripped you of your position as the second-in-command of the Peacemakers. You are relegated back to your position as undercover informant and patrol for the League.”
I felt the air leave my lungs in a heartbeat, and I could only pathetically stutter out a whispered, “W-what? But…”
Words evaded me as my mind reeled over the fact.
I had been an undercover informant for the most part of this damn war, and I had to climb my way up. It took me nearly two years to be included in the exclusive group of Peacemakers, which my brother joined right off the bat. I relentlessly continued to fight and be better until I became the group’s second-in-command two fucking months ago.
But now, I was shoved back to where I started.
“And so am I. I’m no longer the commander of the Peacemakers. I’m just a regular Peacemaker now.”
“W-wait,” I raised my hands up, trying to slow down William’s barrage of shocking news. “I… I understand why I would receive such a sanction, but you? Why would grandpa remove you as the commander of the Peacemakers?”
“I let you leave, remember? I let you break ranks under my nose, and well… Grandpa thinks that if I was negligent enough over my sister in the cusp of her heat, letting her leave on her own when I could’ve had another woman in our troop accompany you to safety, then I am in no position to have a large group of people entrusted under my care and leadership.”
“William… I am so sorry. I didn’t-”
“Hey, it’s fine. It’s not like I wanted the responsibility. I mean, I stand firmly for what we fight for, but don’t you think we are too young to lead in this war? We are just twenty-one, Willa. So I don’t really think of it as a loss.”
Despite his attempt to quell my guilt, it still lingered stubbornly, causing my lungs and heart to feel much heavier than they already weighed.
“Don’t worry about it, little sis. It’s fine, I promise you. So stop stressing over it. It’s bad for the baby.”
It was clear that William was trying to use the baby talk as a stone to hit two birds at the same time. The first metaphorical bird was to distract me from the guilt I couldn’t shake off, while the second one was to steer us back into discussing my supposed pregnancy he was quite convinced about.
I decided to go along with him and said, “There is no baby, William.”
“You can’t be too sure, Willa. You still spent some time with your fated mate, didn’t you? It is not an impossibility.”
“Well…” I drawled, managing to muster a bit of nonchalance that I didn’t really feel about the matter. “Want to make a bet on whether I’m really pregnant?”
“Who’s pregnant?”
Both William and I turned towards the source of the familiar gruff voice, our necks snapping so quickly that it was a miracle we didn’t hurt ourselves.
“Grandpa,” I whispered, anxiety taking hold of me.