Total pages in book: 203
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
“They’re looking into things?” Mom asks, hopefully.
Riley gives her a tight smile. “Ran a few ideas past my mate. She and I will talk further. We’ll talk to you guys in a couple days.”
Sherry is a mess as Mom walks her to the car.
Pops asks, “What are you thinking, Riley?”
“I’ve heard of cases where a pregnancy can be supernaturally moved to another female,” he says. “I don’t know the parameters for it to work and don’t know which female would be able to do it, but I wanted to ask my mate if that would be an option.”
“I’ll do it,” Mom calls over immediately from the car, illustrating she’s got pretty strong ears, which I’ve always known.
“Val…” my father mutters.
“I’m healthy. I’m perfectly capable.”
“Give us a minute, Val,” my father says and we walk further away.
He looks at Rye questioningly.
Riley shakes his head and speaks low. “My mate said it wasn’t likely in this case. She’s gonna talk to her sisters and their great aunt and see if there’s any other ideas. She did say the coven can supernaturally protect the unborn baby from maternal neglect if there’s that risk. They’ll map things out to see what can be done.”
“The unborn child takes priority over my daughter,” Pops observes with sadness.
I squeeze his shoulder.
“I know that’s not what you want to hear, but in this case, if we need to intervene to protect the child, we must.” Rye confirms. “But my mate is also looking into whether we can incentivize her to take care of herself by mapping to see if it’s feasible to offer to sever the mate bond after she gives birth.”
“Right. That’s a good way to go. Keep us posted,” Pops says and claps my bicep, giving it a squeeze. “You okay, son?”
“I’m all right, Pops.”
“Closing in on the claiming?” he asks.
I blow out a breath before I say, “Bailey’s setting the pace.”
My father’s eyebrows go up. “You getting help with that? Like Brody?”
“No,” I admit.
His expression switches to alarm. “Fuck sakes, Jason. Remember what happened with Riley.”
Rye gives me a look of empathy before stuffing his hand into his pocket and handing me a bottle of gel capsules. The bottle has my name written on the label with the instructions, 1 capsule every eight hours.
I examine it.
“If you need it,” he says. “Rikki made them for you. No crime in getting some help.”
“I’m good. I’ve got this.” I try to pass him the bottle.
He shakes his head. “Hang onto it.”
“Close that deal, son,” my father says.
“She sets the pace,” I repeat.
“Keep them. In case,” Riley suggests. “And be careful. Your connection with us feels a little muffled. I know how it is, bro, and it goes downhill fast from where you’re at right now.”
“You’re heard,” I say and stuff the bottle in my pocket.
Riley slaps my back and walks off.
My father blows out a breath. “We want her at our dinner table soon. Make it happen.”
“Don’t worry,” I mumble. “It’ll be about the fiftieth thing on my priority list after I finally claim her.”
He laughs. “That’s my boy.”
But then he sobers quickly, obviously weighed down by what’s going on with my sister.
“It’ll be all right,” I tell him.
He says, “For you it will be. For your sister, not so sure. That girl’s her own worst enemy. Don’t know what’s broken in her but it was broken the minute she was born.”
He’s not wrong about that.
Me, Sherry, and Gwen are their biological kids, Taylor raised by them since she was eight. My folks are good parents. They raised us right, didn’t spoil any of us, treated all three girls as equals. And one of them has, straight up, just always been rotten to the fucking core.
***
It’s gonna be a long, hard day staying away from Bailey. And it’s all part of the plan. Wow her with thoughtful dates, put zero pressure on her for intimacy while still showing her closeness like she’d get if we’d just started dating. And hopefully, leaving her wanting more. More contact. More connection. More of me. And signs are good – she’s been warming up to me. Not seeing me today might mean good things tomorrow.
I earned brownie points last night with the Sixteen Candles gesture with Graydon’s car and the movies, not to mention that carnival. When I told her I was sorry for falling asleep, she gave me a sweet look that I’ll never forget. Is that how she used to look at me?
And I won’t ever forget the look on her face when she stepped out of the library.
Graydon laughed when I explained why I needed to borrow his car and told me his mate and daughter love their movie marathons, that I’d earn big points taking her to a drive-in, because she loves them and will go bananas over it being a marathon of some of her favorites with me acting out the ending of one of them.