Chapter 9
Dain
Watching my mate walk into my boss’s office, swollen with my child but looking at me with fear in his eyes, was like a gut punch. The air whooshed from my lungs, and the only thing in my vision was Nym.
I had once been in a fight in which the alpha pulled a knife and stabbed me through the gut.
This was way worse than that. I thought then that I was going to bleed out and die, but my shifter healing kicked in, and I recovered in enough time to take out the man who was threatening me.
This time, though, the pain stayed. I was bleeding out, but only metaphorically.
When Cael declared that Nym was in fact his child, and that he and his friend would be staying, it was up to me to escort them to their rooms.
If my boss sensed my distress, he didn’t comment on it. I doubted that I pulled the wool over his eyes. Nothing got past Cael.
All the while Nym was looking at me, holding a hand protectively over his belly.
“This will be your room, Preston,” I said, after leading them up to the second floor and into the east wing. This area was reserved for long-term guests. Cael liked to have the rooms ready at any moment just in case they were needed. Today, they were
Preston peeked inside and looked around. “I suppose this is adequate. I’m assuming Nym will be nearby?”
“Just down the hall. There’s actually a connecting sitting room for the two of you. Both rooms have been decorated for the holidays as well. If anything’s not to your liking, reach out to me or Louisa. They are the head of the household.”
“Perfect.” He looked at Nym. “Will you be okay, Nym?”
Nym nodded.
“Great, I’ll get settled and meet you in the sitting room in a bit.”
Nym and I walked side by side down the hall to his room, and I opened the door and gestured for him to go inside. I followed once he did and closed the door behind me.
His eyes went wide. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know you worked for my dad. Dain, please…”
“Please what?” I said. Anger radiated from me. Somehow he still smelled like mine, but what sort of mate would leave me without a word? What sort of mate would be pregnant with my child but not tell me? I knew he had tricked me, yet my heart wasn’t caught up to what my head knew.
“Don’t take my child from me,” he said.
“My child. That is my child you are carrying,” I said. “Don’t think I don’t know that the cub you are carrying is my pup. You cannot lie to me.”
“That may be, but you left me that morning. If you had truly wanted—”
“I left? You left!”
Nym rolled his eyes. “No, sir. I distinctly remember waking up alone in bed and having your little lackey there to tell me exactly where I could go now that our fun had been over. You left me.”
I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t scent any sort of lie on him, nor did he have any reason to lie to me. He wasn’t wrong, I had left him that morning, but he wasn’t supposed to leave the room. I told him I was coming back.
“Yes, I left to go to work, but I left instructions for you to stay as long as you wanted, and if you needed to leave, to have my guard bring you here. He said you left, telling him that it was nothing. He showed me the vial.”
“I never said that,” Nym said. “Why would I say that? And what vial? What are you talking about?”
“You tell me.”
“Excuse me? No. I do not have to defend myself to you. You are the one who left. I would get a hold of the guard on duty that day and have a serious talk with him because he clearly lied to you and me. I waited for hours, Dain.”
“I didn’t leave you, Nym. I mean, I did, I had to work, but I came back. You were already gone. This child… it’s mine?” I knew it was, in my heart of hearts, but I needed to hear the words.
“Of course it is.”
I ran a hand through my hair. This was all so fucked up. Insane even. But I was thankful for the chance.
“I won’t make trouble for you. And if me being here is too much, I can leave.
But I do need money. I don’t need it from you, but…
I just don’t want my child to grow up without anything, struggling like I did, and I think my dad can help.
I hated asking.” He rubbed his hands over his arms, hugging himself.
“Preston and I had a plan. We still do. If Cael’ll just listen… ”
“The bakery that you told me about?”
Nym nodded. “You remember.”
“Of course. Frost and Flame. Cael will listen to you. If he was going to throw you out, he would have done so already. He can tell already that you are his son. And between you and me, I think he’s intrigued by your friend.”
“Preston?” He wrinkled his nose. “Gross.”
“Nym, I’m so sorry about the morning after the ball. Soren, the guard on duty that day, he gave me a vial that held perfume meant to mimic a mate’s scent. It’s meant to trick people into thinking they’ve met their mate.”
Nym wrinkled his nose. “Such a thing exists? Who would do that?”
“Scammers.” I hated that I hadn’t trusted my gut about Nym. I let myself be lied to instead of trusting my mate.
“And you thought I did that?” Nym hugged his arms around his body.
The disappointment in his voice had my stomach dropping to my knees, and I nearly fell to the floor with the realization that I had royally fucked up.
“Soren… I… I thought you did, yes,” I said. “I never would have left you, Nym. I got called away for work, and I didn’t expect to be there so long. When I came back, you were gone. I’m sorry. Please, can you give me another chance?”
Nym bit his lip, his hands still resting over the swell of his belly. My own hands itched to reach out to him.
“I don’t know.”
“Let me have dinner with you tonight, either here in your room or one of the dining rooms.” I would take anything at this point. Even if I had to beg.
“One of the dining rooms? There are multiple?” Nym’s eyes went wide again, and he looked around the room like he was just realizing how real this all was.
“There’s the formal one, the informal one, and then several that are more private settings.”
“Of course there are. Yes, we can have dinner. If this was truly a misunderstanding, then I don’t have any desire to keep you from your child, Dain. I would never do that.”
“You’re my m—”
Nim held up a hand. “Let’s not toss around the M-word again. It gutted me when I woke up alone and realized you weren’t coming back. I don’t know if I can take it.”
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll be back. Is six o’clock okay?”
He nodded. “That will be fine.”
“I’ll let you get settled then. Cael will likely send someone by to make sure you have everything you need.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my business card. I rarely used them, but in this moment, I was glad I had it. “You can reach me anytime for anything, Nym.”
“Thanks.”
I stepped away from him and went toward the door. My wolf howled within me, confused as to why we couldn’t just stay with our mate and talk longer, or better yet, touch him. Cuddle. Anything.
Time and patience. That was what my mate needed, and that was what I would give him.