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“You might have been. I’m magnetically attractive without the spell, and you’re naturally very appealing.” He chuckles, but then turns somber. “Bailey… your sister wouldn’t be dead. Doesn’t that make you angry?”
Apoplectically so, but my anger won’t fix anything. “I’m angry that we’ve been manipulated. I’m angry that we’ve been used, and we have no idea why. But I have to look at the positives or I won’t be able to get up in the mornings.
“I’ve lost everything. I’m not going to sacrifice the joy I still have.” I shrug helplessly and rise, gesturing over my shoulder. “Get my zipper, please?”
He steps behind me and unzips my dress slowly, his big hands returning to my shoulders. “At least, we can rule out a few potential culprits. Ashton Daniels, for example.”
“His whole family,” I add. “They were fully dedicated to gaining whatever advantages they thought I’d bring as their daughter-in-law.”
“What about your parents?” He pushes the wide straps of my dress down my arms and brushes my ponytail aside to kiss the back of my neck. “Your mother was a social climber. Do you think she might have set her sights on—”
“I don’t know when she would have had time. I got back into town on the night of the ball, and I was already…” Ugh, I hate to admit it, because I know he’s going to be so proud of himself. “I was super into you literally the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“You were?” There’s that egotistical grin. I can’t see it, facing away from him, but I hear it in his voice.
“Oh, you know I was.” I roll my eyes. “You admitted feeling it that night, too.”
He leans down to whisper against my ear, “Oh, I did.”
The binding thrums between us, and he deftly pops the hooks fastening my bra. His hands slide under the dress, snaking around the front to splay over my belly. “I had the most intense dream of you riding me in my office chair—”
“Will you stop being a distraction? This is incredibly serious.” I swat his hands down and he reluctantly takes them out of my dress. Facing him, I hold the fabric to my chest so as not to be a distraction, myself. “If we were already under the influence of the binding, it’s something that either can be done very quickly or snuck into a person’s food, or it happened to me in London. And since you very clearly know people in the Greater London pack, King Nathaniel, I would guess it happened to you there, too.”
“But what could the purpose possibly be?” he wonders aloud. “You said they weren’t aware of you.”
“I said that they had no contact with me,” I correct him. “That doesn’t mean they weren’t aware of me. But I have no idea why they’d want us together.”
His expression darkens as he stares off in thought. “I feel like I’ve been played with. I don’t like it.”
“We’ve both been played with.” I pause, though. “Right? Both of us? This isn’t something you’re lying to me about?”
“I appreciate your faith in my acting skills, but no. You knew about the spell before I did.” He gestures to my head. “Unless you forgot when you collapsed.”
He goes to the bed and pulls back the covers while I step out of my dress and pop my earrings out with one hand. It’s easier than getting them in that way, but I’m proud I figured them both out so quickly.
“I didn’t collapse,” I protest. “I fainted. Which is a completely normal thing for pregnant werewolves to do in the first trimester.”
He makes a “hmm” noise that suggests he still doesn’t believe me.
“The medic said so,” I add. “You have to stop being so paranoid, okay? I’m young and I’m healthy and I’m going to be fine.”
Unless I die or the baby dies or both of us die. I shut those thoughts down as best as I can; they’ll still run on a constant loop in my mind but at least they’ll just be background noise.
“I’ll stop being paranoid when people stop trying to kill us,” is all he says. He takes off his trousers and boxers and tosses them both aside before climbing naked beneath the duvet. “Now get over here. You’re keeping me awake, looking like that.”
I snort a laugh and shuck my bra and panties, though I’m not sure getting more naked is going to be less interesting to him. When I slide the band out of my hair and give it a shake to loosen my scalp, he audibly groans.
“The first thing I’m going to do in the morning is fuck your brains out,” he declares as I get into the bed beside him. His strong arm catches me around my waist and draws me into the protective curve of his body.
