That brought him up short. His heart thudded against his ribs. “What?”
Kira took his hand and dragged him from the room, taking him to the potion’s room. A table had been added, along with a few grimoires. Kira caught his frown.
“I brought a couple with me last night. I thought I might have more time for reading,” she explained without looking at him. “These were both ones that mentioned the witch hunters, but we haven’t been able to read through them yet. I thought we could take some time this morning, look for something.”
“And you think we’ll just happen to find something that will fix everything?” Joshua demanded.
“Better than just giving up. Or do you have other reasons for not wanting me to be pregnant with your child?” Kira’s voice was soft, pleading.
Joshua shook his head slowly. “Isn’t wanting you to live good enough? The curse will kill you.”
She opened her mouth as though she wanted to argue, only to wrap her arms around herself and bite her lips. She knew it was true.
Joshua reached toward her, only to stop. He couldn’t bear the thought of touching her now, as though even the gentlest touch might shatter her. His hands dropped back to his sides, limp and useless. “What are you going to do?”
“You know I want to be a mother,” Kira said slowly. “I’m having trouble wrapping my head around being pregnant now,of all times, but I want this baby. But I also want to live. Without more information, I don’t know what to do. So I guess that first, I need to help you take down the demons, so it’ll be safe for us to go to the mainland and get thoroughly checked out. If it’s a healthy pregnancy, that gives us hope. If there are any signs that things can go wrong, we’ll be able to judge accordingly.”
We. She was including him in this. His chest coiled. If it had solely been his choice, it would have been made already. Did she realize that? Did she realize that, regardless of what the doctors might say, what evidence she might find, he didn’t think it was worth the risk?
Then the rest of what she said hit him.
He stiffened. “You are not joining us on the hunts.”
Kira lifted her chin. “I’ve had all night to think about this.”
“So was it the pregnancy or this suicidal plan that was the big secret that you wanted to tell me before we had sex?” Joshua barked, growing agitated again.
“The pregnancy mostly. But now that you say it, I should have known you would react this way.”
“Don’t try to make it out as though I’m unreasonable for wanting you, untrained, barely able to use her magic, to be out in the forest with us hunting demons.” He narrowed his eyes, his wolf snarling at the idea of her being out and so vulnerable.
Kira shifted from foot to foot. “I’ve improved my magic use a lot. I’m now able to project shields and hold up to three at once. It was the witches, not the shifters, that defeated the demons in the first place. I might not have military training, but that doesn’t mean I’m unable to protect myself.”
Joshua took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He had to balance this carefully, considering his past behavior with her. He clasped his hands lightly together, forcing himself to breathe and calm his system. “Your lack of military training has everything to do with this, Kira.”
Her chin started to rise stubbornly.
“I would say the same to Gwen, Chelsey, or any other witch who volunteered,” he added quickly. “The best thing you can do to help defeat the demons is to keep doing your research and performing more spells like the one Gwen cast that can protect us at a distance. But it would be utterly irresponsible of me to let you join a military pursuit. Especially when you can’t shift into your wolf and keep up with us.”
Kira frowned. She stared hard at him for a moment before she turned and picked up one of the grimoires. “Then I guess I’d better get back to studying.”
Joshua followed her, tracking her movements as she dressed in fresh clothes and twisted her hair into a bun that she secured with an elastic. It wasn’t going to be over so easily. She wasn’t done fighting. And he dreaded to find out what she would do next.
***
The next morning, he arrived at town hall to meet with the special ops team to find Kira there, straddling a sleek dirt bike. She wore a bullet-proof vest—where the hell did she get that from?—and a dark helmet sat on the dirt bike’s handles.
The team eyed her warily. A few of them winced when they saw him coming and moved out of the way, heads bent together as they muttered. Irritation swept through Joshua as he marched over to her. She looked up at his approach and, beforehe could say anything, she took hold of his wrist and pulled him aside.
He let her, if only to avoid causing a scene.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“No.”
“I’m not weak, Joshua. And it hurts that you think I am. That’s what it’s all been about, isn’t it? Why you keep making these choices. Because you think I’m too weak to handle the threat.” She lifted her chin and glared at him.
Joshua ground his teeth. “It’s not weakness, Kira.”
