Chapter 26 - Linnea

I can feel the exact moment Aris processes the truth, realizing I'm pregnant. It's like when I realized it for myself, all the pieces clicking into place as soon as the words were spoken out loud. I can practically feel him probing at me with his senses and hearing the second heartbeat I'm carrying for him.

A memory of my mother comes back, her holding a baby picture of me, smiling sweetly down at it. Your father knew the day after I conceived. He said he could feel that there was more life inside me, pulsing with potential.

First—joy, which is quickly overrode with anger, fear, and an intense protectiveness that I understand now. The baby shifts, and I feel the bond between us growing stronger.

It will be okay, little one, I send to the baby, and I can see on Aris's face that he heard it, too.

"Let her go," Aris says. "Or I swear to God—"

"No," Varun says, his cool voice cutting across the room. "No, Aris, it must kill you that you're not calling the shots right now, but unless you want me to bury this dagger in your wife's stomach and rip the little beast out of her womb, you're going to listen to me now."

I grow nauseous at the image Varun is painting and feel my body go a little lax in his arms. As Varun starts to talk, I meet Bigby's eyes, which are wide and angry. Then, I look to Byron, who has moved across the room and is glaring at Eva.

That's odd.

Eva is standing with her arms crossed, her hip jutting out, and her blonde hair pulled back into a perfectly slicked ponytail. Something like pleasure flits across her face. I look back to Byron, who meets my eyes and very carefully flicks his toward Eva for just a moment, and I know.

Varun knows I'm pregnant because Eva told him. Eva is the traitor, and she's standing just behind Aris, who has turned his back to her. I lock eyes with Byron again, who gives me a subtle nod. Ado is also looking at me, and it seems the two of them are aware of Eva and ready to intercept her if she goes for Aris.

"Did you know that your daddy begged me not to do it, Aris?" Varun is saying, running the tip of the blade against the sensitive skin on my neck. I push to get away from the knife, but all that does is nestle my body closer to his, which makes Aris growl. Varun ignores this and keeps going. "It turns out, if you want to become alpha, you don't go after the alpha himself—you go after his luna. I called your mom that night, begging for her to come and help my mom, who was so sick. She didn't usually do house calls on her own, but she was such a kind soul, and she came. Too bad my mom was already dead—hanged herself just days after your father killed my dad. Tragic, isn't it?"

Aris stares at Varun with open contempt. "Your father challenged mine in a drunken state. My dad told him to go home, sober up, and come to his senses, but your dad attacked anyway. He gave my father no choice."

"He had a choice!" Varun thundered. "He didn't have to kill my dad, leave him lying there in the street, his throat sliced open. That's how I found him the next day. Gray, with maggots swarming in his open flesh. That's when I decided that if tradition must be followed, I would follow it to the letter. I'd create hell on Earth for your dad's pack and his people, and I was going to start with you, but you were too much of a coward. When you left, your dad was distraught enough that he let his wife do a house call solo, and once I had her, it wasn't hard to get daddy down on his knees, begging me not to hurt her."

He"s just trying to make you angry, I send to Aris, trying to help him stay calm, but I can see from the look on his face that he's nowhere near calm. I think of my parents, and what it would be like to hear them talked about like this, and realize I wouldn't be staying level-headed either.

"You're crazy," Aris says. "You're a narcissistic freak."

"Sure, sure," Varun drawls, letting out a loud, Maniacal laugh. Even Eva looks startled at this, her eyes darting up to him, unsure. "Call me names, Aris. We all know you're a bully. It's what you do best."

"You—"

Everything turns to chaos as the alarm above us starts to blare, the sprinklers turning on and dousing the room with water. Byron hoots, and I realize he must have been frantically working on this distraction while Varun was talking. Using the distraction to my advantage, I thrust the jeweled dagger Aris gave me into Varun's thigh, making him gasp and release me.

I lurch away into Bigby's arms, and he pushes me behind him against the wall as one of the rogues near us turns to fight. Bigby makes quick work of him, and I look past to see Aris tackling Varun to the ground, the two of them shifting mid-fight.

Varun is a large, stark white wolf with red eyes. It's a terrifying thing to look at. Though he's leaner than Aris, Aris has size and strength on him. They roll on the ground, and Varun gets a good slash to Aris's side, drawing blood, but a second later, Aris has him pinned down, his snarling snout just a centimeter from Varun's throat.

Eva screams and launches herself at Aris, just as Ado turns and throws his body into hers. I can sense the restraint Ado has, not wanting to kill her. All those years of working on a team with someone, only to learn that they betrayed you so easily. Eva screams again, trying to push Ado away, but Byron has joined the effort, and they snap at one another, fighting, but not killing.

During this commotion, Varun is able to slip out from beneath Aris and runs to the other side of the room, sliding around the back of the throne. When he emerges, he has his jaw clamped on the hilt of a long knife that's dripping with a thick, viscous silver goop.

It's at this moment that I make the connection, remembering the vision I had just before Aris came to town.

I remember the scream rippling down the hallway, deep and guttural, like a wounded animal—Aris. That massive man, hulking with muscle, crushing me under his weight—it was Aris in the vision. He smelled like pine, deodorant, and blood.

In my memory, I picture it—his body is seizing under my hands, the trickle of blood running down the corner of his mouth. I see the silver liquid coating my fingers, feel the heavy weight of grief, loss, and then finally pain as the blood-bond comes for me, taking our souls at the same time.

Varun is going to throw that poisoned knife at Aris.

I move before I can think, hurtling my body toward them. But putting myself in front of the knife won't do any good—if I die, Aris will die, too. If I die, our baby will die. Somebody else will have to make the sacrifice to save my mate's life.

Just as I break out of Bigby's reach as he desperately tries to grab me and haul me back to the edge of the room where it's safe, Eva snaps loose from Ado and Byron, moving in the direction of Aris. I move without thinking, hauling all of my body weight into the movement, throwing myself onto her and catapulting her directly into the path of the knife flying through the room, hurtling for my husband.

I hear the dull thud of the knife embedding itself in flesh, and I look down, examining my body to see if it found purchase in me. When I see nothing, I look up and find the knife buried to the hilt in the center of Eva's chest.

When she lets out an ear-splitting scream of pain and anguish, Aris turns in our direction, and I see the panic turn to relief when he realizes the knife isn't in my chest. But Aris still thinks Eva is on his team, having not seen Ado and Byron against her, and his brief moment of concern costs him.

While he's looking at Eva, Varun launches himself at Aris, growling and snapping, tackling Aris to the floor and getting his mouth on Aris's throat. I watch in horror, waiting for the moment that Varun tears, ending Aris's life—and mine—in one fluid movement.

But it doesn't come. Instead, the room fills with the sound of Varun's bones and ligaments popping, his face confused, then pained, as he shifts back to his human form. Once he's changed back, Aris is able to easily toss him to the side, and Varun's body lands with a damp thunk on the floor.

We all watch as he gets to his feet, his knees shaking, his eyes crazed and confused.

"Eva," he whispers, taking in her twisted body, the agony frozen on her face. Whatever version of the serum she got killed her almost instantly. I see the pain and grief in Varun's eyes and realize they knew each other as more than just convenient allies.

Then, his eyes shift to me.

"What have you done?" he says, but his words are choked, and when he tries to take a step in my direction, his knees buckle, and he falls to the floor, his head hanging like it's impossible for him to keep it held up.

"You threw the knife," I say, trying to keep my eyes off Eva's body. The team may be used to killing left and right, but the sight of a person lying lifeless on the floor—someone I spoke to, someone who laughed and smiled at me—is too much for me to handle. "I just…"

"You don't have to answer him," Bigby says, his chest heaving, and I realize he's been fighting off the other rogues with Byron and Ado. He comes to my side, standing in front of me protectively.

Varun lets out a low moan of pain, falling to his hands and knees as Aris stands above him, staring down.

"What—" Varun starts, but then he seems to remember and reaches down, his fingers touching the wound where I'd stabbed him in his leg to get away. Instead of blood, Varun's fingers come back shining, glinting with the metallic substance. "No," he says, trying to push to his feet, a trickle of blood running down the corner of his mouth as he stares at me, utter hatred on his face. "You ruined everything, you stupid slut—"

He can't say anything else because Aris's foot lands on his throat, choking his words.

"You will respect the luna on my territory."

Varun twists, his hands around Aris's ankle, trying to ease the pressure against his throat. He coughs and sputters, the blood from his mouth speckling on the floor next to him, and I watch Aris grimace in disgust.

"This isn't—" Varun starts, but Aris presses down firmly, breaking his neck and ending his career as alpha of the Rosecreek pack.