I blow out a breath.
Of course they saw that housing request come through. All I asked for were a few minor items to make Clove comfortable during the pregnancy process.
But nothing escapes my mother.
“I’ll have to ask Clove when she’s more capable of coherent sentences,” I reply.
Which causes them both to chuckle.
“Stop talking to us and go see to your mate,” my mother chastises, but it’s a playful chastisement.
“Speaking of seeing to mates,” my father says, his voice low. “How about we—”
“Right. Good talk. See you soon,” I interject, ending the call. Because I have no desire to hear the rest of that statement from my father.
His clan is notoriously affectionate.
Much to my chagrin.
Yet they somehow kept the pregnancies to a minimum.
It’s a magic I’m going to have to ask about because otherwise Clove is going to end up pregnant every year.
An irony that’s not lost on me considering how concerned we were about her ability to go into a proper heat.
I should have taken my own advice and listened to my wolf that first knotting.
Oh well.
We’re where we need to be now.
A complete clan.
Preparing for the future.
And ascending to our rightful place in the pack.
We’re free, I tell them all via the mental link. The Elders lifted my sentence. We can finally go home.
We are home, Volt replies, his voice low and content.
I walk into the room to see him happily knotted inside a dozing Clove.
He’s right.
Clove is our home.
Our heart.
The center of our clan.
Our love.
It isn’t until much later that I finally reply to Alpha Dirk.
He sends me a series of surveillance photos from Wolfe Island with the date of the attack.
They all show Gafton talking to a pair of guards, one of whom is that dick Jack that tried to drown Clove.
The photos are clearly from a video camera, but Alpha Dirk cleaned up the imagery to make them clearer.
I show Volt and Caius, who both snort.
“Leave this with me,” Volt says. “I’ll have a nice chat with Jack and let you know what I learn.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny him.
But he missed his last assassination assignment—something that infuriated our client. Fortunately, Caius knew exactly what would shut him up—so Volt is due another kill.
“All right,” I agree. “But don’t bring his balls back for Clove. I don’t think she would appreciate the present.”
“No balls,” she murmurs, half-asleep between us. “Or heads.”
Volt frowns. “What sort of trophies should I bring home then?”
“Your knot,” she hums, yawning. “Only trophy you need, V.”
He grins. “Is that my sweetling talking or my sex monster?”
“Both,” she says, her long lashes fluttering to reveal her beautiful brown eyes. “I don’t want balls or heads. But I wouldn’t mind coming with you for that chat. My wolf has unfinished business with that one guard’s throat.”
Volt groans. “And now I’m hard.”
Clove squirms back into me as though to escape Volt’s words. “I think she may be sore,” I say softly.
“Very,” she replies on a groan. “I feel like I’ve taken your knots every way possible for a month straight.”
Her ass clenches against my groin and I press my lips to her ear. “You have, but only for nine days. Would you like to continue for another twenty or so to make it a month?”
She moans, but it’s not a sound of pleasure so much as exhaustion mingling with pain.
I kiss her pulse. “How about a bath instead, darling?”
That makes her relax. “Yes. That sounds better than knots.”
I grin. Her heat has definitely broken. But that doesn’t mean we can’t worship her a little with our tongues in the bath.
Caius slips out of the nest first, going to prepare the bath.
Volt leaves next, his bulky form careful as he navigates the exit.
Clove frowns after him. “Why are we in a pillow fort?”
“It’s the nest you built during estrus,” I tell her.
She blinks. Then her cheeks redden prettily. “Oh. I vaguely remember that. My wolf felt very particular about the organization of the sheets.” It’s a statement that makes her frown as her gaze catches on something in the corner.
She crawls over to it and fluffs the fabric, then tucks it back in a particular way.
After a moment, she nods.
Then she starts toward the exit, only to freeze. “Wait…”
I grin, amused by the startled look on her face.
“No, I made the nest. We made it. My wolf and I.” Her lips part as she faces me again, her palm settling on her flat belly. “I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant,” I return, confirming her statement.
Her eyes widen and for a second, I worry that she’s about to freak out.
Except a giant smile blooms in the next instant and she tackles me in the nest. “I’m pregnant!” She’s elated now, her eyes sparkling with a delight that echoes in her mind.
She grew up wanting to have children, maybe because her pack ingrained the need into her mind—a fact I hear her ponder for a brief second. But her heart is so warm and happy that she knows this is what she wants.
It’s what we all want—something she realizes as she taps into all our minds.
“We’re connected,” she whispers, freezing on top of me.
I grab her hips and roll her to her back. “We’re connected,” I echo back at her. “We’re a complete clan now, Clove. And you’re our heart.”
I kiss her, letting her feel all my emotions and gratitude at having found her.
She returns the favor in kind, letting me experience her joy and wonder at our union.
It’s a tender moment made even more special by the life blossoming inside her.
“Let us take care of you now, Clove,” I whisper. “A bath. Some orgasms. And maybe some fruit.”
She grins. “You’re spoiling me.”
“We’re loving you,” I correct her. “Because you’re ours.”
“Forever,” Caius says from outside the nest.
“And always,” Volt finishes.
39
CLOVE