Lakota took a seat in a chair. “Because she wasn’t eating for two like she should have been. We would have noticed. I’m an idiot. Why didn’t I see?”
Hope blanched and regarded her mate. “She’s malnourished!”
“I assure you that’s not the case,” Salem informed her. “Some women carry differently. Joy gained weight all over, so it was easy to assume she was just getting larger.”
Melody scowled at him.
Lacing his fingers together, Tak leveled me with his gaze. “Tell me why you kept this a secret for so long. I want the truth.”
I steeled myself beneath the crushing weight of his gaze. “Everyone always says that packs don’t want single women when they have a lot of single men. Especially a woman with a child. It’s another mouth to feed. Most wolves live on their own fora little while, but they eventually join a packafterthey find a mate.”
“That sure wasn’t my plan,” Melody murmured.
“Yes, but if you and Lakota had never mated, you still had something to offer a pack with your company,” I pointed out. “Good packs have a waiting list and are very selective. If there are too many unmated men, they’ll choose couples so they don’t have to deal with the drama of everyone hitting on the new girl. The only way I stood a chance was to fake our relationship.”
Melody jerked her head back. “Wait… What?”
I nervously rubbed my thumbnail and addressed Tak. “Salem and I aren’t really mated. We had no idea what we were walking into, and you expected everyone to prove themselves by putting in the work. Salem’s odds of getting accepted were greater because of his medical skills, but I still wanted to pull my weight. If you knew I was pregnant and single, I would have sat on the sidelines like a freeloader. You rejected busloads of people before we even arrived, and that terrified me. I realized how selective you were, so there was no retracting our lie. It turned out I was right. Salem got accepted, and I squeaked in as his mate.”
Krys rested his arms over the back of a chair. “Something isn’t right with that bullshit. If he knocked you up, why pretend you’re mated?”
“Don’t be an a-hole,” Mercy snapped.
He steered his crystal-blue eyes back to Salem. “I’m just being real. If Tak had known you were the father, he wouldn’t have cut her loose just because you weren’t mated. Tak wouldn’t separate a child from both parents. Why go through life in a fake relationship, all because of a baby?”
I studied Salem’s expression to see what he thought about telling them everything. When he watched in silence, I realized I was alone in this endeavor.
“Guilt,” I answered for him.
Krys scoffed. “For a baby? Shit. He could have given you money and helped raise the kid until you found a mate.Thenyou join a pack. How long did you two think you could carry on without cheating?”
Virgil smirked at him. “Technically it’s not cheating if they’re not mated.”
“Quiet,” Tak ordered them.
Hope stood beside her mate, her hand on his shoulder as she cast an uncertain gaze on me.
“It’s not Salem’s baby,” I admitted, making it abundantly clear.
Tak drew in a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t like being lied to, but now that the truth is out, I need time to reflect on how to handle this. I should have been made aware about the pregnancy. You were hauling lumberandputting out a fire when the barn went up in flames.” He gave a stern tilt of his head before addressing the others. “The father of the baby is nobody’s business, and unless Joy wants to share more, we’ll leave it alone. As for you two in a false relationship,thatI have an issue with. All this time, you’ve been sleeping in the same bed. You’ve given everyone the impression you were mated. The baby was a secret, but the relationship was a lie.”
I stroked the base of my throat. Tak was a fair leader, but he would always put the pack above one person’s needs.
He rose from his chair. “I can’t allow this charade to go on. You two won’t be sleeping in the same room if you’re not romantically involved. That’s not the pack way.” Tak shook his head. “Now it’s obvious why Catcher’s been following you around—he thinks he’s on watchdog duty again. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”
“It’s a terrible idea,” I protested. “I’m not comfortable with a wolf following me around everywhere I go.”
He shrugged. “I can’t make him stop if that’s what he chooses to do.” Tak knelt before me and clutched the arms of the chair. “You and Salem deceived me, and I have much to consider. But the baby is a blessing. All children are blessings.” He placed his hand over my stomach and whispered what seemed like a prayer in his native tongue. Then he finally said, “You’ll eat extra food from now on. Your wolf needs meat. And no more work.”
When I saw Hope wipe a tear from her eye, I pushed myself up. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I feel terrible. All the fuss everyone made over me. All the precious gifts you made for my baby when you had one of your own coming. The extra food people brought me on movie night. The pampering. And all this time, you were sitting off to the side with your own little one to celebrate.”
Hope wasn’t an especially emotional person, let alone a hugger. So when I saw those emotions and fell into her embrace, it was real and touched my tender heart. It also meant she was just as hormonal as I was.
Someone’s arms came around me from behind, and the pack’s love surrounded us. I had never been part of a pack—I’d never known unconditional support. But a looming reality reminded me that Tak would have to weigh his decision heavily on what to do with us.
“Two babies,” Mercy blurted out. “Everyone’s gonna be on diaper duty.”
