“Is it working?”
I slum
ped down in my seat. “No. Maybe.”
“You do not have to accept,” Thomas said. “Mark would never force you. I wouldn’t allow it. You are young yet. There is a whole wide world out there for you to explore. I only ask that you not… string Mark along, whatever your decision. If you need time, tell him. If you don’t feel the same way, say so. You are your own person, Gordo. You will never be defined solely as the mate of a wolf.”
“But what happens to Mark if I say no?”
Thomas smiled. “He will be upset, but he’ll learn to live with it. And one day, there may be another that catches his eye and speaks to his wolf as you do.”
“It’s probably going to be Bethany,” I muttered.
“Possibly.”
I glared at him. “She’s awful.”
“Oh? She seemed rather nice to me.”
“What? You met her? When? Why? Did Mark bring her to—and now you’re laughing at me. You never met her, did you.”
“Nope.”
“I hate you.”
His smile widened. “Oh, how your heart just showed that was a lie. That makes me happy, Gordo. My little witch.”
I loved Thomas Bennett.
I SAID, “Here’s the thing. If I say yes, you don’t own me. You don’t control me. You don’t get to tell me what to do. I am a witch to the Alpha Thomas Bennett. I am my own man. I can fry the hair off every part of your body with a single thought. You don’t get to treat me like I’m weak or fragile. If we have to fight one day, then we’ll do it side by side. And I reserve the right to change my mind. Especially if you are going to be friends with Bethany, because she is the absolute worst.” I took a breath and let it out slow. “Okay, how was that?”
Elizabeth stared at me with wide eyes, her hand on her distended stomach.
Carter sat at her feet, gnawing on wooden blocks. He waved at me with a chubby hand.
Elizabeth said, “I think… huh. I think that was much better than what I said to Thomas. And—oh. Oh.” She grimaced, bottom lip sucked up between her teeth.
“Are you okay?” I asked, panicked. Thomas and Mark were in town, and I’d been asked to watch over Elizabeth.
“Yeah,” Carter said, voice high and sweet. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “More than. This one is… active. Here, Gordo. Feel.”
I moved slowly and carefully, making sure to avoid little fingers and toes below me. Carter latched on to my leg, gnawing on my pants and growling in a low voice.
Elizabeth took my hand and placed it against her belly.
At first, there was nothing.
Then—
A push back against my palm and fingers. A pulse of something low and happy. My tattoos flared along my arms.
“Is that…?” I asked in awe.
“He knows you,” she said, a quiet smile on her face. “He knows his pack is waiting for him.”
IN THE end, it wasn’t as I planned.