Page 75 of Warrior Unraveled

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Wesley had to do a double-take. The woman entering the kitchen definitely looked like Leila, but at the same time, it couldn’t be her. Because the Leila he knew didn’t have golden skin. Not golden in a Goldfinger kind of way, but glowing as if a million grains of light were sparkling under her rosy complexion.

He slid off his barstool and walked to her, while the others wished her a good morning as if they didn’t even notice her appearance. Stopping a few feet away from her, Wes caught her gaze.

“Are you alright, Leila?”

“Thanks for asking, I’m fine. I smelled the pancakes, and it made me hungry.”

He nodded automatically, still unable to tear his gaze away from her face, neck, and bare arms. He quickly cast a look at the guardians closest to him at the island, Manus and Logan, but they were talking to each other as if nothing had happened.

Hamish was whispering something to Tessa, and Enya was shoveling more food into her mouth, while Pearce stared at the tablet and swiped over it with his finger.

“Stop staring,” Virginia suddenly whispered behind him.

Wes whirled around. He hadn’t noticed that Virginia had jumped off her barstool and approached him.

“But something is obviously wrong with her. Why is nobody doing anything?” he said, trying to be as quiet as Virginia, but the worry he felt lifted his voice. “Maybe it’s the pregnancy.”

A gasp from Leila made him pivot toward her.

Leila looked at Aiden accusingly. “You told him?”

Aiden stood up and walked toward his wife. “I didn’t. Wesley guessed it.”

“Oh.” Then she smiled and shrugged. “I suppose it was time for people to find out.”

As soon as she said it, all the others started talking over each other, congratulating Leila on her pregnancy, expressing their best wishes and their surprise. Tessa and Enya even hugged their compound mate’s wife. Yet nobody made a single remark about her golden skin.

For a moment, Wesley just stood there in silence. Was it possible that he was the only one who could see the golden glow? Could it mean that he was sensing that something was wrong with Leila? That she was maybe sick?

He reached for Aiden, gripping his forearm, drawing his gaze onto him.

Wesley leaned in. “Something is wrong with your wife.”

Aiden’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Listen, I don’t know what it is, and obviously none of you can see it, so it must be my witch senses, but I think your wife is sick.”

A heavy hand landed on Wesley’s shoulder. He spun his head around as Hamish sidled up to them.

Hamish grinned. “You wouldn’t by any chance be referring to the fact that Leila is glowing golden?”

Wesley’s chin dropped. “You can see it, too?”

Hamish smirked, then exchanged a look with Aiden. “Do you want to explain to Wes here what you did to your wife?”

“None of his business,” Aiden said curtly, his cheeks reddening.

“What the fuck is going on?” Wes cursed. “Will somebody please explain to me what this is? Because whatever it is, it’s not normal.”

“Yeah, well, vampires biting their mates isn’t normal for us either,” Hamish said dryly. “We have our own sexual practices that might seem a little weird to you.” Then he leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “And who knows, maybe you’ll find out firsthand someday.”

“Oh.” Understanding dawned on him. Hamish knew about him and Virginia, and was insinuating that Virginia would introduce him to whatever sexual practice he was referring to.

The question in Wesley’s mind, however, was why hadn’t she already done so?

Wes turned to where Virginia stood at the kitchen island. She was looking at them. She’d watched them. Slowly he ripped his eyes from her and looked back at Aiden and Hamish. This was neither the time nor the place to discuss this with Virginia. It was best to divert everybody’s attention away from the two of them.