I turned toward her, confused. “I need to make sure he’s okay.”
Hope gave me a knowing look, her lips twitching into a faint smile. “He just needs some space to process everything. And if… if he’s pregnant, that’s a whole other set of emotions to work through.”
The words hit me like a freight train. “What?”
She shrugged, her expression light but serious. “I’m just saying... throwing up like that, running off the way he did—it wouldn’t be the first time someone acted like that because they’re pregnant.”
My stomach dropped. “Pregnant?”
Hope just smiled and gave my arm a pat. “Just something to think about.”
I stood there, stunned, my mind racing. Pregnant. Mylo. Mylo, carrying my child. Could it be true? My thoughts tumbled over themselves as I replayed every moment we’d spent together—the kisses, the nights, every shared touch.
No, I would’ve known. He would’ve said something. Right?
But then again, I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with him, either.
“You think…” I trailed off, unable to finish the question.
Hope just smiled again. “You’ll figure it out.”
I pushed away from the wall, heart pounding. If was really pregnant, everything just got a whole lot more complicated.
Did it though… having a child with my mate… it was more than I deserved.
But complicated or not…I couldn’t let fear hold me back anymore. Not for him. Not for us.
“Holden!” Knox called after me as I headed toward the door Mylo had run through.
I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.
Not until I found him. Not until I made this right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MYLO
The moment Bishopsaid Noah was going to be okay, I was up and out of that clinic faster than I even knew I could move. I felt Holden’s eyes on me, burning holes into my back as I shoved past the doors and bolted outside. I barely made it around the corner before I puked—everything I’d eaten today, everything I’d felt, all of it coming out in one gross wave.
I felt weak, drained, and my brain wouldn’t stop spinning. There was a tightness in my chest, an ache in my stomach that had nothing to do with what I’d just thrown up. The world had shifted on its axis—like everything I thought I knew had been a lie, and now I had to figure out what was real and what wasn’t.
I walked home, each step heavy, my heart pounding like it was trying to jump out of my chest.Shifters. Holden’s a bear. Noah is a wolf. Shifters.
People turned into a animals…
When I got inside, I slammed the door behind me out of pure instinct. The small cabin was dim, the lights still off, the place feeling colder and emptier than it ever had. I dragged myself to the freezer, grabbed an ice pack, and pressed it to my head. The cold bit into my skin as I flopped onto the couch. It wassupposed to help clear my thoughts, ease the pounding in my head—but nothing was working right now.
“Shifters,” I mumbled out loud, shaking my head. “Like, what the hell even…”
My voice sounded strange in the silence—too loud, too unsure. I squeezed my eyes shut, taking a breath, trying to make it all fit together in my mind.Noah. God, Noah.The one person who’d been there for me when I needed someone most. The one who’d shown me kindness when I thought I’d never have a family. And he’d been a wolf this entire time?
I sighed, letting my head fall back against the couch. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I knew what I saw. Noah had saved me. He’d fought for me, protected me like he always did, except this time… he wasn’t even human.
And that weirdly didn’t change anything.
Noah was still Noah—still the man who’d treated me like I was someone worth protecting.
I guess I should’ve been terrified—I probablyshouldbe terrified. But I couldn’t be.
