No emotions

It took less than ten minutes to pack up our measly belongings. Saint stared at the apartment in horror. His men tried to pile inside, only to figure out it wouldn't allow more than three into the front room. I entered my bedroom with Saint close on my heels. The moment I'd spun around to tell him that there wasn't enough room to pack my bag with him inside the room, he kissed me.

His hand snaked around, grabbing my throat as he crushed his mouth against mine. It was a soul-destroying kiss that left me spinning. He didn't release me, holding me in his embrace even after he'd ended the kiss. There was no burning animosity, and it ached. My emotions were already fucked from the pregnancy, and I hadn't been able to get the herbs to calm the churning anger and pain that drove me.

"What the hell is up with you? Why aren't you gloating or bragging that I didn't escape you?" I demanded, stepping back and almost ending up sprawled on the floor, but he caught me, righting me.

"You did escape me, Brat. You hid for three and a half fucking months. Do you have any idea how worried I was? You've never been off that fucking mountain, and then you were just gone. I found the tunnels and spent days inside of them trying to figure out which direction you'd gone. I discovered the raft, ripped up and torn to shit on the bank of that river, and fuck me if I didn't pray to the gods that you'd escaped it, and me."

"Couldn't lose your heir, right?" I snorted, pushing him away to grab my things, shoving them into the green army bag. "I couldn't lose you, Braelyn. I never wanted you hurt. I wanted you to know how I felt when you threw me away. Never were my intentions for you to be in physical pain."

"You failed on that accord." I growled, turning to look at him with my bag held in front of me. Saint grabbed the bag, peering down at my baby bump. His forehead furrowed as he tightened his fist, continuing to gaze at it.

Warmth washed over me, and I grabbed his hand as I lifted the shirt, press- ing his palm against our daughter. His eyes narrowed until she kicked, forcing them to open wide. I'd be over six months, closer to seven months, and entering the late-term pregnancy if I were human, but shifters have short gestation periods. Saint's lips parted, and he smiled as our daughter continued assaulting me from within.

"Does it hurt you?" he asked, his eyes filled with wonder as she continually moved within me.

"No, it feels like wings fluttering. She's stronger, though. It's a weird feeling. She is very active, but mostly at night." "And you're certain it is a girl?" he asked, studying me.

"Yeah, we had an ultrasound done last week. They said she was small for her gestation age, but then I didn't come out and say she was a wolf pup. I think that doctor might have shit herself or had me locked up had I done so."

"Have you named her?" he asked, dropping his hand as I fixed my shirt. "No, because it felt wrong to pick out a name without you," I admitted, wringing my hands in front of my stomach, feeling her fluttering actively. "I mean, I would have done so obviously. Eventually, because I'd have to call her something." I rambled, my eyes holding his stare prisoner.

"We should go before we end up stuck here. This place is too small to hold us all, and there's a storm coming. I'd prefer to have you two on the mountain and in the safety of the pack before the weather is too bad to fly through."

"Fly?" I asked, swallowing past the lump in my throat. I hadn't even ques- tioned how he'd gotten off the mountain before spring had thawed the roads. Of course, he'd flown because he had an entire arsenal of hunters and people helping him rip apart my world.

"I'll hold your hand if you're a nervous flyer, Brat." "I have never flown before," I admitted.

He smiled, grabbing my hand as he started from the room. I looked back over my shoulder, staring at the tiny space. Saint's hand tightened on mine as we stepped out into the front room, overly crowded with his men. Or two of them. Eryx and Bowen looked like giants standing beside the two small chairs we'd bought to lounge in front of the tiny, sixteen-inch TV we'd bought with our first paycheck. "You couldn't find something better than this shitty place?" Eryx asked. staring pointedly at me.

"Did you think to look for us in this tiny place?" I countered, and his brows creased on his forehead before he nodded in agreement. "It wasn't like we could afford much better, either. It is actually a lot bigger without you ogres in it," I grumbled. "No, it isn't," he snorted, heading for the door. "It was a strategic move, Princess. I'll give you that, but it's an utter shithole that is unfit for my niece to be born in." "Who said she would be born here?" I asked, grumbling.

"You'd have had her at the hospital then?" Eryx countered, turning to lift a brow in question as he entered the hallway. "Didn't think so. They'd have freaked out when you had the pup."

"We're close enough to humans that they wouldn't have noticed." I followed behind Saint, who still hadn't released my hand.

"They'd have known." Saint laughed. "She'd have come early, and they'd notice her teeth were already formed, along with other things human babes wouldn't have. Things like claws and glowing pretty blue eyes like her momma's."

I stared at Saint's back, not trusting the fact that he and his men didn't seem upset. They seemed friendly, which made everything within me want to scream with fear. I was already worried about getting onto a plane, let alone fly- ing back to a pack that hated me. Returning home in my condition didn't feel safe. It left me filled with anxiety and worry that the pack would aim their anger and hatred at my child. "How is Chaos?" I asked, moving down the stairs as the men walked painstakingly slow.

"He misses you. He wanted to come with me to get you back," he admitted, which caused my heart to tighten. "Chaos wants his momma back, and I promised him I'd come to get her."

"I'm not his mother," I argued, hating that I wasn't.

"You raised my son, and you're my mate. You accepted him, and many alpha females wouldn't have done that. When Chaos was sick, you tended to him personally. When he needed comfort, you offered it. You're his mother un- less you intend to reject him now?" he asked, pausing his steps to look up at me.

"Of course not!" I growled, glaring at him for even considering it.