He closed his eyes and whispered at the speed of lightning, “I think we have to report Rawling to the school board.”
“For what? Being pregnant? They know. Look at him. They know.”
“No, not for being pregnant. Any stupid omega can get their ass knocked up.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor. This wasn’t the Bardoul I knew. He immediately looked remorseful. At least he felt bad about it.
I pulled myself together the best I could, not wanting to make things worse. “What do you think we should be reporting him for?”
Then, he whispered even lower, “For being human.”
I stared at him blankly, shocked by his words and not sure how best to respond. Pretty sure telling him he was being an ass wasn’t it.
He continued, “His presence violates shifter law, tradition, and school rules. It puts us all in danger.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. He’s done zero harm to anyone. He’s pregnant, so if he wanted to do harm, he couldn’t.” Although that wasn’t true. Weren’t there stories of pregnant omegas being strong enough to lift a car off of a loved one even if they’d never lifted more than a can of soda in their life? “I bet he can’t aim his bow as well with his belly getting so big.”
Bardoul stared at me. Was anything getting in?
“And he’s protected shifters.”
“What if he’s more than human? What if he’s a hu?—”
I held my hand up. “Do not even say that. Even if it were true that they exist and he is somehow related to them, the hunter of this generation made their kill before Rawling attended Sombertooth. He’s not… so just stop.” I couldn’t remember being this mad. “He’s a person, not his identity, not that we know anything. This is all conjecture, and if you’re going to pull this, I don’t think we should be friends anymore.”
“You’re delaying the inevitable. Secrets like this can’t be hidden forever.Even ifhe’s never hurt anyone,even ifhe’s your friend, andeven ifhe’s been friends with us for thirty years and we’re sitting at our class reunion laughing about the good old days, that doesn’t make him safe.”
“Sounds safe to me.”
“No, Jack. One day, something could trigger it. He could lose control, and you or another shifter won’t be there to tell anyone about it, because you’ll be the one on the ground bleeding out.”
His words slammed into me. He wasn’t shouting. He wasn’t even angry. That made it worse.
What if he was right? I didn’t agree with him, but his logic was sound.
“Can we just not talk about this now? The problem will still be there later. Let him have his baby in peace, maybe?”
“I don’t know if we should wait that long.” He set his mug down and reached over to take my hand. “But I’ll wait. I’ll give you some more time to think about what I said. But loyalty to one person, no matter how important he is to you… to us… is never more important than risking the lives of everyone, including us.”
A knock on the door broke our conversation, which was good. I needed time to think about all this. I’d never been more grateful to someone looking for laundry quarters in my life.
THIRTEEN
RAWLING
“I miss you already.” Phelan kissed my brow and placed juice and toast on the nightstand.
“Who are you?” I pulled him down for a kiss on the lips.
“The guy who adores you and is horny for you but has to get to class.”
I brushed lint off his damned blazer, thankful that now that I was seven and a half months pregnant, I was spared from wearing a blazer and lugging the bump to class. I was, however, attending classes online, but I had a spare period first thing which was why I was still in bed.
Phelan patted my belly and left, but not before coming back for another kiss.
“You’re hard and it’s only nine o’clock.”
He shrugged. “That’s what happens when you mate your one and only.”
