Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

8. Gael

EIGHT

Gael

“ Y ou don’t know that you’re the father.”

I stared out at the clouds, barely visible in the darkness, from my seat at the very back of the plane, the ugly barb playing on repeat in my head. Leigh had free rent because she had moved in since I heard the news this morning, and this new revelation felt like it had gutted me.

Who knew? She didn’t even need a knife.

Goddess, I was fucked up over it. I’d spent the entire flight across the water isolated back here, stewing. I couldn’t even sleep, couldn’t do anything other than hide behind earbuds that were off and avoid my pack mates.

Had she really slept with someone else, and not bothered to tell me?

Had it been before we were together, or after?

I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

I didn’t want to believe it at all, let alone hear the gory details. If it was anybody in Pack Blackwater, I’d rip their head off. And as much as I hated it, I was eyeing Reed now. He’d been in her room this morning, and if it was him…

I’d kill him with my bare hands. She was not his .

She wasn’t mine either. We’d had sex. We had no mate marks or any other mate signs.

I rubbed absently at my chest, unable to shake the achy feeling that had lodged itself there since she’d said those hateful words. She despised me.

The fact that I was trying to do the right thing, standing beside her to figure this out, apparently meant nothing if she was willing to toss me aside like trash.

But I had to know if it was Reed. I couldn’t bear to look at him, and he was not only my pack mate, but one of my best friends.

If it was him, I’d have to leave the pack. Kane wouldn’t want to accept my resignation with everything that was going on, but there was no cell in my body that could stand by and watch her grow round with somebody else’s baby, especially not one of the few people I couldn’t bring myself to lift a finger to.

The list was short. Kane was happily bonded now and safe from my ire. But Reed, he was like a brother to me. The thought of the two of them together made me physically ill after what she and I had shared.

The sky was beginning to lighten, and as I watched the golden fingers of sunlight pierce the darkness, a realization hit me.

Even if there had been someone else, she could still be my daughter. My heart pounded as I sat bolt upright.

The baby might be mine, and I had to find out. Could Brielle tell us who the father was? She was a doctor, so if her magic couldn’t tell, surely a good old-fashioned DNA test could, right? Was that safe for a pregnant woman? I didn’t know, but I could find out.

I gazed around the plane, but when I spotted Brielle, she was fast asleep at Kane’s side, and all the fervor leaked out of me.

It could wait, at least until we were inside the castle and settled. Even if I woke her and asked right now, she didn’t have DNA testing equipment in her luggage. It would take time.

I raked an irritated hand through my hair, the idea of waiting even an hour to find out was pure torture.

But there’s still hope.

I refused to look too closely at why I wanted the baby to be mine. It was illogical. If there was another man, I should want an easy out. Goddess knew my personal situation was already fucked up enough that I shouldn’t be pining after a baby mama who wasn’t my fated mate.

But Leigh had sunk her claws into me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake her off. My wolf wouldn’t accept any other woman but her ever since we’d spent the night together. Not that I was on the prowl, but several available women had offered me room keys the night of the Johnson City pack’s ball, and I’d turned them all down cold.

If it was about scratching an itch, any of them would have been sufficient.

But I didn’t want sufficient, damn it. I wanted Leigh.

And our baby.