I stare dubiously over his shoulder, too afraid to gauge his anger, but even more frightened by the destruction I just left behind. I brace myself for the impact of his anger when I’m set onto my feet on the snowy ground outside.
Flinching against the terse silence that follows, my face drops, shoulders drooping penitently. I don’t even know how to begin to explain myself or apologize sincerely for what I’ve done. The only sounds that can be heard are the raging flames and the shouts of the pack members who fight to put out the fire, some yelling out instructions and calling for refills of the buckets of water and snow they’re using to get control.
“What the hell, Aurora?!” Elias suddenly snaps, the fury in his voice compelling me to look up with furrowed brows.
“I could have stopped it!” I yell out, my defense mechanisms kicking in when it’s all I have against his anger. “If you hadn’t pulled me out, I would have stopped that fire!” My venomous words come just as a thunderous bang rings out, and I look up to see the entire house crumbling to the ground. It’s too late. Nothing I do now will save the house.
Gasping, I’m even more startled when Elias grabs my arm and yanks me closer, glaring into my eyes with a ferocity that has me biting my tongue.
“Are you crazy?!” he roars, shaking my shoulders as if to knock sense into me. “You could have gotten hurt!”
“The house…” I whimper apologetically, eyes hazy with tears as I blink fervently at the house burning to the ground. “Your house…”
“Fuck the house!” Elias bellows, shaking me and forcing me to look at him with a frown. “Your life is invaluable to me, Aurora. I don’t care about the house! All I care about is that you’re safe!”
Unable to believe what I’m hearing, especially when it comes in the heat of a life-changing moment for the alpha, I’m knocked with the striking realization that he really cares for me. He inspects me from head to toe, then straightens up to check my face with both hands cradling my cheeks, eyes full of the deepest concern I’ve ever seen him show.
I find myself staring at him, seeing him cast beneath a different light that has me dropping all the walls I’ve been holding up to keep myself protected. But as soon as those walls come crumbling down the way the burning house did, my pulse slows down, and my knees weaken.
I didn’t even realize it before, but just as the crisp, clear air outside fills my lungs, I’d been consuming all the suffocating smoke inside. Dizzy, I press a hand to my forehead just as my vision blurs.
“Elias…” I whisper faintly.
He lifts his eyes to mine and notices my disorientation as his brows furrow. My knees give in as a whimpered gasp leaves my lips, but just as I’m about to fall over, Elias nimbly catches me to him.
With one arm around my shoulders and one hand on my belly, he steadies me and drops to his knees to allow my limp frame to crash on his lap instead of the cold, wet ground.
Still woozy, I can only faintly make out Elias’s face, softened now with concern as he holds me close to his chest. Overcome with emotion, I lift a flailing arm to touch his hand on my midriff when a jolting spark of awareness wraps itstendrils around my wrist, keeping me restrained long enough for realization to set in.
There’s no doubting the tiny pitter-patter of a racing heartbeat in my belly.
Elias gasps and lifts disbelieving eyes at me, then whispers, “The prophecywastrue…” he murmurs. “You’re pregnant...”
Chapter 15 - Elias
Confirming that Aurora is pregnant was both exciting and overwhelming all at once.
I still have reason to believe that she doesn’t trust me. Her wary frown that night when her powers went out of control and she burned down my parents’ house was enough to tell me that she couldn’t feel the mate bond shackling our wrists together as if we’d been restrained by the Moon Goddess Herself.
I’d felt it, and if I had any doubts before, I was certain of it at that moment—Aurora was my fated mate. But what was more invigorating was confirming that she was pregnant, and now all I want to do is be around her so I can keep her safe.
Gently kicking the door open since both my hands are full, I smile when Aurora stirs in her sleep, her eyelids opening up just a crack.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” I greet sweetly, prompting Aurora to open her eyes fully before squinting to adjust them to the morning light. When she notices me coming in with breakfast, she pulls herself upright, appearing tense and wary when she pulls the covers over her chest.
“Wh-where are we?” she asks groggily, blinking fervently as she scans the room with skeptical eyes.
“We’re in my private cabin,” I reveal, carefully walking to the bed and placing the trays on the nightstand.
“Your private cabin?” Aurora frowns, her eyes flitting between me and the food I’d prepared for her.
Nodding, I lift a plate of freshly picked fruit from the market in Hope, nudging her to take it. “Yeah. You passed out after the fire last night.”
“Right,” she nods and takes the plate with tentative fingers.
Carefully inspecting her reaction, I notice her discomfort and wonder what it’s about. Of course, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed, but I wonder if she’ll just become defensive about it, as she always does when I try speaking to her.
She appears more timid now, though, a glint in her eyes indicating her remorse about what happened to my parents’ home despite my insistence that it was just a house and her life was more important.
