Lola sighed, obviously annoyed. She was going to stay annoyed with him a lot once it began to sink in just how protective of her he was. “There’s no one in here, Callon. I’m perfectly safe.”
He didn’t tell her that he only felt she was safe when he was with her or that it wasn’t just enemies that he worried about. It was ridiculous, but he worried about her slipping and hitting her head in the shower, or falling down stairs, or cutting herself as she prepared a meal. There were so many ways that she could be hurt just in everyday life, and yet he couldn’t protect her from all of it. His beast disagreed, but then when it came to their mate, his lion was a tad overprotective, even worse than the man.
Callon waited outside and kept his attention on any person that came in the vicinity. Most were early morning joggers or bike riders. There were a few street cleaners out and the occasional homeless person.
Five minutes later, he stuck his head back in the bathroom. He started to speak, but Callon’s words died on his lips as he took in the bizarre scene before him. Lola stood with one leg propped on the counter, shorts still on, as she calmly shaved her legs. The contents of the pack that had been on her back were strewn across the counter haphazardly.
She glanced over with a nonchalant, “Hey, babe,” before returning to her task.
Callon dragged a hand down his face. “Sazzi, what are you doing? We need to figure out how to stall this trip, not pamper yourself.”
Lola scoffed, rinsing her razor in the sink. “Uh, pretty sure smooth legs fall under basic human rights. I’m multitasking, plotting our next moves while making myself presentable, which will also keep us here. In about ten minutes, I’m going to become violently ill. Just roll with it.” She switched to the other leg,continuing conversationally. “We could also sabotage the boat engine.”
Callon shook his head as he walked fully into the bathroom, letting the door close behind him. He braced his hands on either side of the sink and leaned toward her. His eyes met hers in the mirror. The heat that was always there between them went up a notch, but he forced himself to ignore it. “Faking an engine issue?” He held her stare. The hand holding the razor had stopped in midair as she watched him back. “Could get us stranded out there. As for illness, Sazzi, you’re a shifter now. You don’t get human ailments.”
“But Jack doesn’t know that,” she pointed out.
“Nico does,” he challenged. “As does Raphael. If Nico is working with Azure, then so is the demon he calls a friend.”
She focused on her task and continued to throw out ideas. “Okay, how about broken bones? Could I trip and, oops, my ankle just snapped in half. Gonna have to call an ambulance. Then when the ambulance gets here, I refuse to get in and I throw a big stink about their carbon footprint for sitting on idle in their square hospital on wheels, just waiting for calls. I’m sure I can come up with at least two dozen questions for them.”
“Your bones would heal faster than they could get a cast on you.”
“Oh, snap. Well, that’s pretty awesome. Hmm.” She tapped the bottom of the razor on the counter.
Callon didn’t like her holding a blade and not paying attention to what she was doing, especially when she threw the hand up in the air that was holding said blade. “I’ve got it!”
“Why do I have a feeling this isn’t going to be?—”
“I’m pregnant!” The word reverberated off the walls of the bathroom and knocked the wind out of Callon.
His grip on the counter tightened as he let the words flow over him. He knew she was just trying to help, to keep her friendsafe,andthe humans whom she didn’t even know. But his mate had no idea what hearing those words out of her mouth would do to him. Children were so few and far between in their world, and the idea of a little Lola running around nearly took him to his knees.
“I’m sorry, but did you just say you’re pregnant?”
Callon slowly turned his head to see his mother stepping into the bathroom.
Lyra stepped around Lola to her other side, and her eyes roamed over her body. Lola’s leg was still up on the counter, albeit most of the shaving cream was gone now. “Unless procreation has changed in some organic way, I’m pretty sure you two haven’t known each other long enough to have created life, or if you’ve tried, you haven’t known each other long enough to know if youhavesucceeded. Are you pregnant with someone else’s child?”
The words had barely left his mother’s lips and Callon was moving. There was no thought, onlyreactionto the idea of another man touching his mate. Another man’s baby growing inside of her. Callon’s fist slammed into the bathroom mirror, shattering it into jagged pieces that crashed to the floor. Rage blinded him at the thought of Lola carrying another male’s child. His inner lion snarled viciously, demanding he rip apart any who dared touch his mate.
A small hand grasped his arm just before he could put his fist through the remaining glass. “Whoa there, Simba. Let’s take a breath before destroying any more property.”
Lola’s teasing voice cut through the haze of primal fury. Callon blinked down at her upturned face. Her beautiful, marbled skin glowed as the impish glint in her green eyes doused his anger as swiftly as it had ignited. Of course she wasn’t pregnant, least of all by some phantom rival. He was being irrational.
Callon dropped his clenched fist and exhaled sheepishly. “Forgive my reaction. The idea of you…” His stomach churned at the thought.
Lola patted his arm consolingly. “No offense taken, Baby Daddy. I’m flattered you find me so copulation worthy. And Katy would be so proud of my choice of vocabulary. Remind me to tell her.”
Despite his embarrassment, Callon couldn’t contain an amused snort. Only his Lola could diffuse the situation with such ease. It was one of the many reasons why he loved her, after all.
Lyra regarded them curiously. “Why are you shaving your legs? Why the insistence on delaying? What has you so on edge?”
Callon quickly filled his mother in on the text from Gage and what he’d learned about the Kingdom of Chaos and Zeena.
Lyra stood up straighter as she folded her arms in front of her and narrowed her eyes. This was the Prima standing before him, not the woman who gave him life.
“I remember a time when Zeena was a friend.” Lyra’s voice held a hint of sadness. “She smiled often. She loved children and desperately wanted some of her own. But as time went on, she slowly changed into someone I no longer recognized. I wonder…” She tilted her head sideways, her eyes lost in a memory. “After all this time, is she capable of changing?”
