Chapter 116

You need to sleep,” Gabby said all over again as she fluffed the pillow in my bed. I opened my mouth to argue, but she didn’t give me a chance. “It’s been an emotional fucking day, GiGi. You can’t run on fumes. Killian isn’t going anywhere. I’m here, the Byrnes are here, and that stupid magician is here.”

I giggled as she called Lane that. I had a feeling he’d be either pissed off or amused by such a nickname. Except the giggles turned into full-blown laughter as I flopped back on the bed. Okay, maybe I was more tired than I thought. A pillow smacked me in the face.

“Go brush your teeth or whatever fucking things you do before you sleep,” she ordered.

“What do you do before you sleep?” I asked, tipping my head back to stare at her.

“I fuck a hot guy and then kick him out,” she replied. “Which you’re not doing. Go, go, go. I’m putting your ass to bed, and then I’ll go sit by your husband and watch over him like a hawk in your place.”

“Fine,” I whined as I rolled my butt off the bed, dramatic in every way possible. I wanted to go back downstairs and sit next to Killian until he woke up, but I knew my sister would do as she promised.

I cut my bedtime routine in half. Well, more like, I went to the bathroom and that was it. I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. In the hall, I ran into Lane—rather, Lane just sort of appeared out of nowhere.

“I’m going to sleep for a little bit. Feel free to make yourself at home.” I wasn’t sure if I was inviting trouble by saying that, but the hostess in me knew it was the polite thing to do. The man had saved Killin’s life.

“You need to leave Cedar Harbor,” Lane caught me by the elbow when I tried to pass him by, “now.”

“What?” I frowned. “Why? I’m not leaving.”

“In the backyard, my magic didn’t work on you the way it worked on the two idiots back there,” he said. “There’s exactly two reasons why my magic doesn’t work on wolves. The first is because their wolf hasn’t woken yet, and the second is because their wolf is dormant. There’s only one reason a wolf goes dormant.”

Pregnancy.

The only reason a wolf went dormant was pregnancy.

“No.” My heart practically fell out of my chest as I shook my head rapidly. “There’s no way…”

I racked my brain, trying to figure out the last time I felt any real connection to my wolf. I could remember fleeting moments, but did that really count? Had I been so wrapped up in everything that I’d missed the biggest sign?

“Are you telling me you haven’t had sex with your husband in the last eight weeks or so?” he challenged. “It takes eight weeks for a wolf to go dormant once you become pregnant.”

He said it like I needed reminding. I knew how wolves and pregnancy worked. It took eight weeks for a female wolf to go dormant once a woman was pregnant. It was basic wolf biology—something we all learned.

“I’m not…” I couldn’t be pregnant. I just couldn’t be. “Oh… no. I don’t want… this.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want right now,” he told me. “You need to leave Cedar Harbor. Now.”

“Why?”

“Because if Killian and his brothers die, you’re carrying the only hope for the entire future of your race. You and that baby have to live, Genevieve. You need to leave. Right now. Before she comes for you.”