Chapter 200

"You are indeed pregnant."

The healer’s words settled over me like warm sunlight, like the first breath of spring after a long winter, like the sweetest honey melting on my tongue. I sat in her hut, the air thick with the scent of dried herbs and woodsmoke, my hands pressed to my still-flat stomach, and felt tears prick my eyes.

Pregnant.

The word echoed in my mind, bright and impossible and wonderful. Inside me, so small I could not yet feel it, a life was growing. A new heartbeat. A new soul. A child of Veylan’s blood and mine, formed from our love, our passion, our desperate hope.

Veylan was beside me, and his reaction was everything I had dreamed it would be. His stoic face, the mask he wore to protect himself from a world that had taught him to hide his feelings, cracked open like a shell, revealing the bright, beautiful soul beneath. His smile was so wide it transformed him, made him look young and carefree and utterly, incandescently happy. His silver eyes, usually so calm and guarded, shone with tears that he did not bother to hide.

He reached for my hand, his fingers trembling, and squeezed so tight I thought he might break bones. But I did not care. I squeezed back, just as hard, and we sat there together, bound by joy, bound by love, bound by the tiny life that now linked us forever.

"A child," he whispered, his voice breaking like waves on the shore. "Our child, Krys. Ours. Made from us. From our love."

"Yes," I said, laughing through my tears, the sound bright and wet and free. "Ours."

He pulled me into his arms then, crushing me against his chest, his face buried in my hair, his whole body shaking with sobs of happiness. And I held him, my stoic wolf, my gentle warrior, my mate who had been so afraid, who had finally surrendered to hope, and I wept with him, wept for joy, wept for the miracle growing inside me.

Eryx was there too, having come to support his brother, and his reaction was pure, uncomplicated delight. His face was split by a grin that seemed to stretch from ear to ear, his amber eyes dancing with mischief and love.

"A niece or nephew," he said, bouncing slightly on his heels like an excited pup. "A child of my blood to spoil. And through the bond, mine as well. My own child and my brother’s child all at once. How lucky can one male be?"

Veylan laughed, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, and reached out to clasp his brother’s shoulder. "You already have children through the bond," he pointed out, his voice warm with affection. "All of them are yours. Every single one."

"Those are through you and Krys," Eryx said, his grin somehow widening even further. "This one will be different. This one will have my blood too. This one will be my niece or nephew and my child at the same time. Double the love. Double the spoiling. Double the trouble I can teach them." He paused, his eyes gleaming. "I am going to teach them all my worst habits and then hand them back to you."

"Oh the beast Gods, help us," Veylan groaned, but he was smiling, so happy he seemed to glow.

I laughed, the sound bright and free, and pressed my hand to my belly, imagining the life already growing there. Another child. Another addition to our impossible, beautiful family. Another soul to love, to protect, to raise in the warmth of our chaotic, enormous home.

God, I cannot believe how fertile I am. Two weeks. Two weeks since our week of relentless passion, and already I was carrying Veylan’s child. The healer had been impressed, though she tried to hide it behind her professional calm, and I had to admit I was impressed with myself too. Not that I was complaining. I was grateful, so grateful, that my body could do this, could conceive and carry and birth, could give each of my mates a child of their own blood.

Seven mates. Children already born, or children on the way. A family so large it had become a tribe unto itself, a clan bound not by geography or tradition but by love.

We would be a tribe. Our own little nation of hearts.

Veylan insisted on accompanying me to share the news, but his duties called, and Eryx went with him, leaving me to walk alone to Mirena’s home. The sun was warm on my face, the birds singing their afternoon songs, the flowers blooming in bright bursts of color along the path. My heart was so full it felt like it might burst, so full of joy and hope and love that I thought I might float away on the breeze.

I should have known it would not last.

Happiness, after all, never came without a price.

Levy and Jasper had come with me, since my mates were scattered across the island on various duties. Leon and Ravin were hunting, Soryn and Aureon were patrolling, Caelion was in the lagoon with the Pearlings, and Veylan and Eryx had gone to the training grounds. So my daughter, eager to see Mira, and my son, eager to protect his mother, had accompanied me.

It was Jasper who spotted him first.

"Mom," he said, his voice dropping, his hand reaching for my arm. "Khemari."

I looked up, and there he was.

He stood near Mirena’s home, leaning against a tree with the casual arrogance of a male who owned the world, his golden eyes burning in the afternoon light. He had been waiting, I realized. Waiting for me.

Jasper moved before I could react, stepping in front of me, his young body rigid with protective fury. He was only two years old, still a teenager in appearance, but he was tall now, broad, and he faced the southern beast with a fearlessness that made my heart swell.

"Get away from my mother," Jasper said, his voice steady, his amber eyes blazing.

Khemari looked at him, and a slow, delighted smile spread across his face. "Handsome fellow," he chuckled, his golden eyes gleaming with amusement. "Is this your son, Krys? He has your fire."

"Please make way," I said, my voice cool, controlled. "I am going to see Mirena."

Khemari did not move. Of course he did not move. He simply stood there, blocking the path, his eyes devouring me with that terrible intensity.

"I finally get you alone," he said, his voice soft, intimate, sending chills down my spine. "Without your mates. Without your guards. Just you, and your children, and me." He tilted his head, studying me. "Can you spare me a moment? A single moment of your precious time?"

I felt it. That wrongness. That darkness that radiated from him like heat from a fire. And I knew, with absolute certainty, that if my children were not here, he would try something. Would reach for me, touch me, maybe more.

"Look, Khemari," I said, my voice firm, my patience thin. "I am not interested in what you have to say. I will not accept any more mates after the seven I have. Please, give up."

He smiled, slow and knowing, as though he held a secret I did not. "Would you not want to align yourself with someone who will be big?"

I frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

But he was already moving, walking past us with a casual grace, his shoulder brushing close to mine, close enough that I felt the heat of him through my clothes.

"I am rambling," he said, his voice trailing behind him like smoke. "But do consider it, lovely Krys. Do consider."

He winked, and then he was gone, disappearing around the corner of Mirena’s home as though he had never been there at all.

Jasper let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. "Mom? Are you alright?"

I blinked, still processing, still unsettled. "Yes," I said, forcing a smile, reaching out to touch his cheek. "Thank you, Jasper. Thank you for being my protector."

He flushed with pleasure, straightening his shoulders. "Always, Mom."

We went inside, and I told Mirena and Rhonda everything. The pregnancy. The encounter. The strange words Khemari had spoken. And then we went to Darius, because something in my gut told me this was important, that Khemari was planning something, that his words meant more than they seemed.

"I am wary of him," Darius admitted, his voice heavy. "Deeply wary. But I made a promise to his mother, long ago. That I would give him a chance. That I would not assume the worst. So I watch, and wait, and hope."

"And if he proves untrustworthy?" Rhonda asked, her sharp eyes narrowed.

"Then we will deal with it," Darius said grimly. "But until then, we are bound by honor. By promise. By the ties of blood and family."

I nodded, understanding even as my stomach churned with unease. Khemari was playing a long game, a game of power and patience and subtle manipulation. And I was caught in the middle of it, a piece on a board I did not fully understand.

But even as the worry settled in my chest, I looked at my children, at Jasper’s fierce protectiveness, at Levy’s bright joy as she ran to greet Mira, and I felt something else rise above the fear.

Happiness.

I was pregnant. My family was growing. My mates loved me. My children were thriving. And despite everything, despite the looming threat of Khemari and his golden eyes and his impossible plans, I was happy. Deeply, impossibly, unshakably happy.