“I do.” She doesn’t even try to deny it. “I really do.”
She waves goodbye and disappears down the corridor. I watch her go, grateful for the easy relationship we’ve rebuilt over the past year. The curse stole so much from our family. It kept us distant and cold when we should have been close. We grew up in the same house, ate at the same table, and never really knew each other. The curse made sure of that. It wrapped around our hearts and convinced us that distance was strength, that needing someone was weakness.
Breaking it gave us a second chance, and we’ve both been determined not to waste it. We talk now, really talk, about our childhood, about our fears, about the futures we’re building with our mates. Sometimes we argue. Sometimes we disagree. But at least we feel something when we do. At least we’re honest with each other.
A familiar scent reaches me a moment before strong arms wrap around my waist from behind.
“You’re supposed to be teaching,” I say.
“Class is over.” Patrick’s breath is warm against my ear. “I saw you standing here and couldn’t stay away.”
“That’s very unprofessional.”
“I know.” He presses a kiss to the side of my neck. “I don’t care.”
I lean back into his embrace and let myself relax. The mate bond pulses between us, steady and sure. Some days I forget it’s even there. Other days, it’s all I can feel. Today it wraps around me like a blanket, warm and comforting.
“Jonas looked good out there,” I offer.
“He’s improving every week. Reeyan says he’s one of the most dedicated students he’s ever had. He thinks Jonas might have a future in diplomatic work. Negotiations between packs. That sort of thing.”
“The irony of a former Thornridge wolf becoming a peacekeeper.”
“Stranger things have happened.” Patrick’s arms tighten around me. “I married a Llewelyn princess, after all.”
“I’m not a princess.”
“You’re Matriarch Lydia’s niece. Close enough.”
I elbow him in the ribs, and he laughs. The sound still surprises me sometimes. When I first met Patrick, I didn’t think he knew how to laugh. He was so serious. So burdened. Now he laughs easily. He smiles without thinking. He’s become the man he was always meant to be, before his pack twisted him into something else.
“Jonas asked about you yesterday,” Patrick comments. “Wanted to know how you were feeling.”
I place my hand over the spot in my stomach where our child is growing. It’s still too early to show, but I know they’re there. The healer confirmed it last week, and I’ve been carrying the secret around like a precious stone ever since. A new life. A new beginning. A child who will belong to both worlds, Llewelyn and Thornridge, carrying the best of each.
“You told him?”
“I told everyone.” Patrick sounds almost sheepish. “Sorry. I was excited.”
“You told everyone before I could?”
“Technically, I told my brother. And then he told Reeyan. And then Reeyan told Sera. And then Sera told your mother. And then your mother told Matriarch Lydia. And then—” he breaks off. “Okay, yes. I told everyone. Are you angry?”
I should be. This was supposed to be our news to share on our own terms. I had a whole plan. A special dinner. A carefully rehearsed speech. All of it ruined because my mate couldn’t keep his mouth shut for more than five minutes.
But the hopeful look on his face makes it impossible to stay mad.
“I’m not angry,” I admit. “But you owe me.”
“Anything you want.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
He grins and turns me in his arms so we’re facing each other. His hands settle on my hips, and he looks down at me with so much warmth that my knees go weak.
“I love you,” he says. “You know that, right?”
The words still make my breath catch. We’ve said them before, whispered in the dark, gasped in the heat of passion. Buthearing them now, in the middle of the day, with wolves training just a few feet away—it feels different. Realer.
