“Thanks. Mori will have to come around or he won’t. I think once the baby’s here my parents will be happy.”
“For what it’s worth, I think having a parent around who never wanted you is probably bad for a kid. That’s not how I grew up, but I’ve seen plenty of it.”
“Do we need to order takeout or anything? I thought your appetite was all bear until tonight,” I said.
“No, I’m okay. I’m probably going to lay down soon. Afraid as soon as I do, that they’ll be back and Mori will raise hell again.”
“I’ll be up until they get back. I’ll do my best to keep Mori grounded,” I sighed.
“I knew he’d be like this. He wants everyone to wait to live until they meet their true-mates. He idolizes our parents that way but I don’t think they stayed single by choice. Maybe our carrier – but he was also busy working for the sleuth. I don’t know. I just don’t want to live my whole life waiting on some guy that never shows up. Speaking of which, I know you’re probably decent, because Crilus is, but true-mates don’t always match on morals. So I feel like I have to say it either way. Crilus was just having fun while he was waiting on you.”
“I don’t care about body counts unless we’re speaking of corpses. Then they become interesting,” I shrugged.
“Damn,” Preston laughed. “Maybe you are the right fit for Crilus.”
“Go get some sleep. I’ll call around about—What is her name?” I asked, realizing I didn’t have a clue who I was calling around about.
“Sharon Claudis,” Preston sighed. “She’s a witch in the GGB Territory.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks for not locking me in the tower or something.”
“Eh, not yet,” I teased. “Besides, if you are bait for her, I’ll just take her out when she comes into the house.”
“If she comes into the cabin while it’s filled with Moonscale Guards, maybe she deserves to die for being dumb,” Preston shrugged before heading off to bed.
Chapter Fifteen
Crilus
I dragged Mori off into the woods surrounding Moonglow Cabin. I knew better than anyone how infuriating family could be. We both had too many siblings to count on both of our hands and parents with heavy pasts that made them overprotective at times.
“What is this really about?” Mori snapped when we ran out of paved stones to walk on. “Are you showing me where Reve died or something?”
“No! I don’t think of him often. Mostly what I remember about that day is that damn murder dog trying to get me to leave before he was ever a murder dog. Apparently, he liked me better than the iguana man. This is about you losing your shit. I get that this is probably an appropriate time for you to lose your shit, but I can’t right now. This is my time to lose my shit and that’s exactly what’s happening.”
“What?” Mori blinked at me. “The answer to your problem is easy!” He threw his hands up and tried to start back toward the house.
“Nope!” I sprinted in front of him. “Not until you get your shit together! You’re going to hate yourself later! If you go in there and stress him out again while he’s pregnant, you’re going to hate yourself! If he decides to go no contact or shut you out, you’re going to hate yourself!”
“What if someone hurt him? What if that’s how he got pregnant?!” Mori growled. “What if they made him---”
“Then I will hold the fucker down while you carve out his spleen with a dull, rusty spoon. Then we can do the same tohis testicles!” I grabbed Mori’s shoulder. “But we don’t know if that’s what happened!”
My hands trembled and my every sense was heightened. I knew what it was. It was Pierce. No that wasn’t fair. It was my reaction to Pierce.
“If it was a hookup or something, why didn’t he tell me?” Mori asked, his eyes shifting back to his wolf’s.
“Look, I don’t know why he didn’t tell you, but I think you’re asking all the wrong questions. Is he okay? Does he need help? Do we need to cut out the guy’s spleen? Those are the questions you ask!” my fingers dug into his shoulders. “Mori, it feels like if I let go of you, I’m going to slip off the face of Earthside.”
“Did you really bring me into the woods so that you can rant about how unfair life is? About how you can’t just accept that you’ve found your true-mate and that it’s a good thing?” Mori growled.
My wolf growled inside his inner sanctum, but I shoved him back down. I wasn’t about to fight Mori. Even if I was pretty sure I could kick his ass, I wouldn’t win.
“No, I brought you out here because you looked how I felt! I can’t do anything about Pierce! We can do something about Preston! We can help him! You just need to breathe! You’ve been off since you fainted!”
“Yes, I’m off! Dern is an asshole and I’m so stupid! I trusted an asshole because he told me upfront, he was an asshole!” Mori growled.
