15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Corey

"It was awful, Jayce. I was sure that a fight was going to break out." My brother had barely been holding it together. I could see his tells, his bear not quite demanding to come out, but only a fraction of a second from doing so.

"Oh, no. Did the big bad bear protect his mate? What did you think was going to happen if Zane saw someone trying to lay claim to you? That's like Fated Mate 101—don't come between the two."

Jayce was attempting to lighten things up, and I appreciated it, but I also needed him to see the seriousness of this. My brother wasn't just my brother. He was the Alpha of a new den, one trying to grow its roots.

"I know. And now Aydan is pissed off." Or disappointed. I wasn't sure which was worse. "Probably. I haven't actually talked to him, and I don't know how the meeting went."

I thought for sure he'd be here as soon as the meeting was done, and the rumor mill said that it was. But my brother? He was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you texted your mate or called him?" Leave it to Jayce to be practical, with solutions that made sense and were sitting there in front of me.

"No, I was afraid to." I still was. "What if he's still talking with Aydan? What if he had to take his fur to run this off? What if the other alpha challenged him? There are so many possibilities."

"That's because your head is good at creating turmoil." I didn't need to see him to know that he was rolling his eyes at me. "Aydan's going to have to get that stick out of his ass and let the two of you be together. He can't come between mates. It's like the law."

"I'm pretty sure there's no law that says that." It would be nice if there were. "And you know how my parents were. I don't think that Aydan puts as much stock into fated mates as the rest of us do."

Jayce was the one person who had heard all the good, the bad, and the ugly of my childhood. He understood better than anyone, other than my brother.

"I hadn't either until meeting Zane." And even then, I hadn't jumped to embrace it. Sure, I thought he'd rejected me and there was the whole promised-to-another thing, but still… "But of course, he'd been able to change my mind."

Jayce chuckled.

"I just want to talk with Aydan so he can see my side of things." And because I wanted to help him fix the mess I created. There had to be something I could do.

"You tried to do that, and he wouldn't listen."

"He was preoccupied. I could've tried harder." At the time I didn't see a way, but that was me being scared. Looking back, I gave up too quickly.

"He also could've tried to shut his mouth for five minutes and let other people talk." Now he sounded like Zane.

I rolled my eyes. "Jayce, I do love that you're being a loyal friend and having my back on this, but he's my brother and you don't even know him."

Not that he was wrong.

"That's fair. Listen, I know stuff's kind of crazy right now, but you and Zane are the real deal. Aydan's going to see that. He's going to understand and, hopefully, get better at being a good listener."

"Thanks, Jayce. I do appreciate you, and I miss you."

I hadn't realized how much until I heard his voice. He needed to get his ass here and stat. That was if my brother was fine with me staying. If I caused him too much political turmoil, I'd understand him asking us to leave. I'd hate it, but I'd get it.

"I miss you more." I needed to hear those words. "Now tell me about this house that we're moving into. Is this Zane of yours going to be there too? Where do I go now?"

I laughed. "Yes, Zane will be here. You're still welcome to have the spare room."

If I get to stay. Now that I thought about that, it was all I could focus on.

"How many bedrooms is it?"

"Just two, but there's room to add on if we wanted to."

"Yeah, listen, I love the idea of living with you and your mate, but I guarantee that spare room isn't going to be a spare room much longer."

"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing full well what he was hinting at, but not quite ready to formalize an answer about it.

"Well, ya'll have been intimate, have you not? I know you don't have a bite on your neck, but you've screwed, right?"

I had. Of course, I had. "Yes. And there was a knot." I may not have worded it quite that way, but we had been intimate.

"We'll get back to the knot. I want to hear everything, but first—what exactly do you think happens when you and your fated mate get together in such a way? Did you miss biology class?"

"Of course not," I said. "But I guess it just didn't occur to me."

"Goodness gracious, Corey. It didn't occur to you that you could get pregnant? You need to get your butt down to the healer and get yourself a test."

Fuck. What if he was right? "Listen, Jayce, I gotta go."

"Give me the results later!" he shouted just before I hung up the phone on him.

I didn't necessarily look forward to seeing anyone else if I left the house, not after what happened this morning, but I did need to get to the healer. Luckily, they were close by. I sent them a quick text, and they let me know that I could come right over.

I ran—not in my bear form, as I didn't wish to arrive naked—but I ran as fast as my human legs could take me. They met me on the front porch, eyebrows raised in question.

"I think I might need a pregnancy test." I knew as a healer, they would keep the information confidential.

"Yes, I assumed that you would be coming to me for that sooner or later. Let's go ahead and get it done here."

I squeaked. "Here?"

"Well, do you want to carry it back home and have to explain to your brother why you have one?" They had a very solid point.

"No, no, that does not sound good."

Five minutes later, I had the answer to the question I didn't even know was on my mind until good old Jayce.

Pregnant.

I was pregnant with Zane's baby.

And currently, my brother was not speaking to either one of us.

What a clusterfuck.

"What are we going to do?" I said to Rissa.

"Everything's going to be fine," they said. "This isn't the first time I've seen two fated mates having some trouble, whether it's with each other or some outside force. Someday, I'll give you the lowdown of all the fun things that happened at Northbay when I lived there. Your brother's a stubborn man, but he's reasonable when he is forced to sit down and listen."

"That's what I'm hoping," I said.

"Now, your mate is going to be over-the-moon excited when you give him this news. So why don't you go on home?"

"I don't even know if I'm allowed to see Zane right now."

"You will be. Your brother might set some rules, but he can't keep fated mates apart. Go home, get some rest, and start taking your prenatal vitamins. And if you start getting some morning sickness, I have a tea that works well."

"Thank you," I said. "I do appreciate all your help."

"Yeah, yeah, get out of here."

I liked Rissa. I liked them a lot.

Recruiting them had been another thing my brother had done well for his den.