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

10. Gael

TEN

Gael

I dropped my duffel bag onto the cushioned stool at the end of the gaudy, four-poster bed in the room I’d been assigned. The simple black nylon looked tacky against the fancy brocade, but I didn’t give a shit about the trappings of wealth. I’d spent the whole day busying myself with security and enforcer business, but eventually, there was nothing else to hide behind.

My family had a place just like this a few hours’ flight away, and I was never happier than the day I’d left it all behind to start fresh in Alaska.

Not the expectations, though. That shit followed you like a bad smell .

I curled my lip as I looked at the painting on the wall. Some long-lost cousin of Kane’s in a frilly pink gown, one shoulder slipping down in what was probably a risqué display of bare skin back then. I walked across and lifted it from the hanger on the wall, carefully tucking the gaudy, heavy thing into the oversized closet where I didn’t have to look at it the whole time we were here.

Space thus de-femininized, I quickly checked the messages on my phone before heading out to find Kane for a debrief. Security didn’t stop just because we’d changed scenery, and I was a busy man.

A distracted man who couldn’t afford to be.

Leigh had looked beautiful as she crawled out of the black SUV, sleep-rumpled clothes and dark smudges under her eyes proof that she was struggling with the pregnancy. My gut tightened at the memory, but I did my best to shake it off.

I had to keep everyone safe, including her and the baby, and I couldn’t do that if my head was up my ass over whether or not the baby was mine.

I rapped twice on the door of Kane’s room—his childhood room, I noted, not the enormous suite his parents had shared at the end of the hall.

He opened it a moment later, hair damp from a shower and wearing a pair of loose sweats. “Come on in, man. Brielle’s reading, but she doesn’t mind.”

Kane’s room looked exactly as I remembered it, from the rug at the foot of the bed to the massive window overlooking the mountains. It held none of the fripperies of my room, and I instantly settled in the more familiar surroundings.

“Hi, G.” Brielle waved at me from the massive bed. She did indeed have a medical text in hand, glasses perched low on her nose as she read. She didn’t even look up, happy to ignore pack politics any chance she got.

Not that I blamed her; that shit got old quick, and we were dealing with way more of it than we used to. But I’d known this would be my life someday as Kane’s second and head enforcer. It had just come centuries sooner than either of us expected. But if he could handle it, I could too. I’d never let him down, and I didn’t intend to start now when he needed me.

“Everything secure?” he asked, dropping down into an upholstered chair by the window and gesturing for me to take the other .

I mirrored his pose and rattled off the security update with practiced habit.

“Perimeter is secure, our personal guard has taken up position alongside your father’s people, and I’ve gotten a full download from their head of security. It’s been quiet. The whole household’s been in mourning since your mother’s passing.” I paused, the next part more delicate. “They did mention that it would mean a lot to the staff if you would be willing to visit the site of your mother’s pyre and hold a memorial service at the family cemetery.”

He nodded, expression grave as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I would like that as well.”

“I’ll ask Reed to arrange it with Cristian, if that’s good with you?”

“Perfect.” He slouched against the chairback, new weariness lining his shoulders. “I keep expecting her to come in with a tray of Nina’s cookies and a glass of milk like I’m ten. But she’s not going to.”

The sorrow was thick in his voice, and I ducked my head. I wasn’t good with words, and at times like this, I felt it to my bones. I was a doer. I could arrange, protect, and make things happen. But comforting a friend in his time of grief? I didn’t have the words for that.

Thankfully, he shook it off, reaching for a pitcher of water the staff had left out on the table with a pair of glasses. He poured a drink in silence, offering it to me before pouring his own. It was crisp and cool, the taste of home.

Brielle had crossed the room so quietly, I jumped when she stepped up to his side, wrapping him in a supportive hug.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered against the top of his head.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, and my throat got tight at the sight of them .

Damn, I wanted that.

A fated mate, my perfect other half.

But I was running out of time, and sitting around moping about it wouldn’t make the perfect woman appear.

Leigh is the perfect woman, my wolf snarled at my stray thoughts, but I shook off his grouchiness.

If she were the one, she’d have marks by now. A heated kiss was enough to bring on marks for some couples—like the one standing in front of me—whereas we’d spent a marathon night together, having sex at least six or seven times. If that wasn’t enough to pop marks on either of us, well… she wasn’t my fated mate.

It stung, of course. But those marks were part of the wolf’s inherent magic, and wishing wouldn’t change a fucking thing.

Though my wolf’s insistence reminded me of something that had been nagging at me, and as Brielle stepped back from Kane’s embrace to go back to her book, it seemed like as good a time as any to ask, when there weren’t any extra ears listening.

“Brielle?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it possible to do a DNA test without hurting a baby?” Her forehead wrinkled at the question, so I hastily added. “ Before they’re born?”

Shock replaced the confusion, and she cast an unreadable look at Kane before answering me. “Yes, of course. A simple blood test from the pregnant mother and the prospective father is all you need for shifters. No harm whatsoever, but Gael, if you’re asking about Leigh’s baby…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t put you in the middle,” I said, quickly rising from the chair, eager to avoid an awkward conversation. She was probably going to try to reassure me, but she hadn’t heard what Leigh had admitted. “I just wanted to know if it was possible, so thank you. I’ll leave you two to your night. ”

I didn’t let myself think about my cowardice as I ran from a tiny little she-wolf and the accusing glare she leveled on my back. I escaped into the deserted hallway, heading for my silent, empty room.