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Lucian faced Malachi.
His best friend, a male he’d thought of as a brother for years, shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was so pissed that Mia was hurt that I didn’t listen to you. And I’m mostly sorry that you’re in this position now because the elders are afraid of you.”
“It’s the elders?” he asked.
“Acksel’s not afraid of anything, frankly, but there have been rumors about the destruction of the raven’s nest. It’s not that anyone thinks it’s bad that those assholes are dead, but what happened to them coupled with the fact you passed yourself off as human for so long makes them nervous. Acksel’s got a baby on the way, and there are young pups around, too.”
“I don’t blame them,” Lucian said, looking at Mia. She was so forlorn. “Thanks for forgiving me, even though I don’t deserve it. I kept you in the dark as much as anyone else.”
“I was ready to hate you forever, but after hearing what you went through, I can’t say I would’ve done any different. If caging my wolf would keep my family safe, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Mia sniffled. “Do you think Acksel will change his mind?”
“Don’t know. I would go into whatever plans you’re making for the future expecting he won’t. Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“You can’t prove a negative,” John said. “You can’t prove you’renotdangerous. It’s ridiculous.”
Lucian sighed inwardly. If his beast had only let him cage him again, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Not gonna happen.
“The full moon isn’t for another two weeks. Maybe he’ll change his mind,” Mia said. “But if he doesn’t, I don’t want to be in a place where my mate can’t be with me on a night that’s important to me. Hunting on the full moon without Lucian is unacceptable.”
He smiled at his fierce mate. “It’ll work out, love.”
“Are you psychic now?” she asked, a teasing twinkle in her eyes.
“I’m working on it.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
The two weeks before the full moon passed so quickly that Mia wasn’t sure some cosmic being hadn’t pushed fast-forward on her life. She and Lucian had gathered his things from his storage unit, and a big motorcycle now sat in her garage next to her car. She loved holding onto Lucian as they rode the bike. It was as close to shifting and running as she could get in her human form.
He’d gotten the process started to legally change his name back to Rhodes. She’d thought she would take his last name of Carnahan, but she liked Rhodes, too. It really didn’t matter to her what his name was, because he was her mate and the name didn’t change anything.
They’d had dinner with his father twice, and he and Lucian had trained for several hours beforehand to help Lucian keep a hold on the berserker even when he was furious. He was a fearsome creature when he changed, so tall and monsterish, but even when he smiled at her with all his sharp teeth she knew it was still the same man underneath.
He’d moved into her home immediately. They both took an extra day off of their respective jobs to enjoy being mated, and then he had started working at L&M Security and she’d gone back to the credit union. Brynn had called several times, but had no new information for Mia on Acksel’s mood. The alpha seemed intent on keeping Lucian out of pack dealings, at least through this full moon.
Mia still hadn’t decided what to do with their future. Lucian had left it entirely up to her, promising to be happy anywhere as long as they were together. His father had offered to let them build a house on his land and use the woods for hunting on the full moon, and she found it very tempting.
But Wilde Creek was part of her, as much as the wolf, as much as the maybe-baby growing inside her. Pressing her hand to her abdomen, she wondered for the millionth time if she was actually pregnant. Nila, who was a nurse by trade, had told Mia she could check now at any time, but Mia had wanted to wait a little while longer. Although the circumstances of the conception had been unpleasant, she loved Lucian with her whole being and carrying his – whatever baby berserkers were called – was right at the top of her wish-list.
Brynn had already suggested they could name their baby Bry after her, if it was a boy. It had been a long-standing joke between them that Brynn should name her baby Mi if it was a boy, in honor of his most amazing aunt.
Last night, when the moon had risen high in the sky and her wolf ached to be let free to run and hunt, Lucian kept her busy by driving her wild in bed. And in the kitchen. And the family room. And twice in the shower. Her wolf liked Lucian’s sexy distractions just fine, but she knew that in another month, she’d be right back in this place having to choose between her pack and her heart. It was wildly unfair to be put in this position, and she hated Acksel a little bit extra.
She stood at the kitchen window and looked out at the backyard. If she looked hard enough through the trees, she could kind of make out Mal’s home in the development behind hers. But all she could see at that moment was how separated she felt from things. For the first time since she shifted as a teenager, she hadn’t been part of a pack celebration. Part of her wanted to tell Lucian it wasn’t a big deal, and that they could make their own traditions, but the wolf in her wanted a pack. Craved it like air.
Damn social creature.
Her phone buzzed. She let her gaze drift from the window, which needed to be cleaned, to where the phone sat on the counter. She pressed the green phone icon to answer and lifted the phone to her ear.
“Hey B,” she said.
“I missed you last night,” Brynn said.
