Chapter 27 Wen
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Wen
I was in the middle of closing up the shop for the day when my internal monologue decided to torture me again.
The usual routine. Count the register. Straighten the shelves. Lock the front door. Try not to think about him. Fail miserably at not thinking about him. Rinse and repeat.
I’d been feeling more of those stupid bond snippets these past few days.
Little flashes of emotion that weren’t mine bleeding through the connection I couldn’t sever.
Anger. Frustration. Exhaustion. The usual buffet of feelings from a werewolf king dealing with political bullshit in another dimension.
But I’d been so tired lately that I’d just shrugged it off. Five months pregnant meant I was exhausted all the time anyway. What was a little extra emotional baggage on top of the physical exhaustion? Just add it to the pile.
That’s fine. I’m fine. I have a good life here.
I had the bookstore running smoothly. Had friends who loved me. Had a baby on the way who I was going to love with everything I had. I didn’t need some werewolf king who’d rejected me. Didn’t need to waste energy wondering if he was okay or what he was doing or whether he ever thought about me.
I didn’t need him. Period. End of story. Moving on with my life now.
Except I couldn’t stop thinking about him which meant I very much was not moving on and my brain was a lying piece of garbage.
I was in the middle of this delightful spiral of self-loathing when it happened.
Pain exploded through my entire body.
Not the dull ache in my back from standing all day. Not the usual pregnancy discomfort. This was agony. Searing and intense and so overwhelming I dropped to my knees behind the counter.
I grabbed my chest and tried to breathe but my lungs didn’t want to cooperate. Every nerve ending was on fire. My vision blurred at the edges. What the fuck was going on?
Was it the baby? Oh god, was something wrong with the baby?
I forced myself to calm down enough to assess where the pain was coming from. It wasn’t my stomach. The baby wasn’t in distress. This was coming from somewhere else-
That’s when I felt it. The bond. That stupid mate bond that refused to completely die.
The pain was pouring through it in waves that made me want to scream. This wasn’t my pain at all.
This was Mal’s pain.
And if it was bad enough to break through a bond he’d supposedly severed months ago, then he was in the kind of danger that could kill him.
Panic flooded through me and overrode every rational thought in my brain. I had to get to him. Had to help, do fucking something.
I scrambled to my feet and ran for the back of the store where the portal was. My hands were shaking as I grabbed the edge of the chest. But then reality crashed down and stopped me cold.
What the fuck was I going to do once I got there?
I was five months pregnant and couldn’t fight or run or do much of anything except waddle around and hope I didn’t pass out from the exertion.
I’d be completely useless. Worse than useless.
I’d be a liability that would distract him and probably get us both killed.
But I knew someone who could help.
Aurion.
I ran back to the counter and yanked open the drawer where I’d shoved the letter weeks ago. The paper with an address written in neat handwriting. I’d found it slipped under my apartment door one morning with a scent that told me exactly who it was from.
I’d kept it but hadn’t used it. Hadn’t wanted to see Aurion because looking at him meant seeing a face too similar to Mal’s. But now I needed him.
I grabbed my car keys and ran out the front door. Closed it behind me with shaking hands but didn’t bother locking it. There wasn’t time.
The streets were mostly empty this time of evening. I blew through a yellow light that was definitely red by the time I crossed the intersection. Took a corner too fast and felt my tires screech in protest. Didn’t care. Just pressed harder on the gas.
His address was only one block away from my bookstore. One fucking block. I could’ve run it in normal circumstances but five months pregnant meant running wasn’t happening. Driving was faster anyway.
I screeched to a stop in front of a nice apartment building and got out of the car without bothering to turn off the engine. The keys were still in the ignition as I raced toward the entrance.
The door flung open before I reached it.
Aurion stood there looking panicked. “What happened? Is it the baby? What’s going on?” He reached for me and started fussing like a mother hen. “Your heartbeat is through the roof. I heard it from inside. Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”
That answered the question of whether he knew about my pregnancy. Clearly he did since he wasn’t surprised by my very obvious baby bump. I figured he’d know. Werewolf senses and all that.
“I felt him,” I gasped out. My lungs still weren’t working properly. “I felt Mal just a moment ago. I felt his pain through the bond. He’s in danger, Aurion. Serious danger. Please, please go help him.”
His entire face changed. Went from concerned to deadly serious in half a second. He moved behind a wall without saying anything and I heard the sounds of bones cracking and reforming. Then a massive black wolf burst out and ran past me like hell itself was chasing him.
Shit.
I got back in my car and drove back to the bookstore as fast as I’d come. By the time I arrived, the front door was hanging open and there was no sign of Aurion anywhere. He must’ve already gone through the portal.
I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. Opened the group chat with my friends and hit record on a voice message.
“Hey guys. So I’m about to do something really stupid.
Like monumentally stupid. If I don’t come back, I love you all and thank you for being the best friends ever.
Also Krystin, you can have my book collection.
Bella, take whatever you want from the apartment.
Daphne, there’s money in the safe behind the Austen novels and the combination is my birthday.
Use it to do bad things. Okay. Love you. Bye.”
I hit send and shoved my phone in my pocket.
Then I walked to the back of the store just in time to see the tail end of a black wolf disappearing into the portal.
I didn’t think about it or let myself hesitate or consider the absolute insanity of what I was doing. Just climbed into the chest and jumped into the swirling light.
The journey hit me like a freight train.
My stomach lurched as we tumbled through dimensions and everything spun in sickening circles.
I was disoriented and dizzy by the time I felt solid ground beneath me again.
My stomach rolled dangerously but surprisingly I didn’t vomit this time.
Was I actually getting used to interdimensional travel?
That seemed impossible but here I was, managing to keep my lunch down.
Small victories.
I moved carefully, one hand on my belly to steady myself. The corridor was familiar. Dark stone walls, now with torches providing flickering light. The same place where I’d first arrived in Lytopia all those weeks ago.
Aurion was nowhere to be seen. He must’ve run ahead already, moving at that supernatural werewolf speed that I definitely couldn’t match even if I wasn’t heavily pregnant.
I started walking through the hallways as quickly as I could manage. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears with each step. The baby kicked inside me, probably sensing my panic through whatever supernatural connection we shared.
“I know,” I whispered to my stomach. “Mommy’s being an idiot. But we can’t just leave him to die, can we?”
Another kick that felt almost like agreement.
The hallways were empty, which seemed wrong. Last time I was here there had been guards everywhere, servants moving through the corridors, nobles gossiping in alcoves. Now there was nothing, just silence broken by distant sounds that made my blood run cold.
Shouting. Lots of voices yelling over each other in what sounded like chaos.
The sounds were coming from somewhere ahead.
The throne room, if I remembered the layout correctly.
As I got closer I could make out more details.
Metal clashing against metal. Growls that sounded distinctly inhuman.
The wet sound of something hitting stone that I really didn’t want to think about.
I stopped outside the massive throne room doors and took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Tried to calm my racing heart even though that was completely impossible given what I was about to walk into.
My hands were shaking as I reached for the door handles.
This was insane. I was five months pregnant and about to walk into what sounded like a battle.
But Mal was in there. In danger. And despite everything he’d done, despite the rejection and the pain and the months of heartbreak, I couldn’t just leave him to die.
I pushed open the massive doors and they swung inward with a bang that echoed through the chaos inside.
Pure chaos greeted me.
Bodies were scattered across the throne room floor.
Some moving. Some not. Nobles cowered against the walls with terror written across their faces.
Guards were fighting other guards in brutal close combat.
Blood was splattered across the beautiful stone floors and pooled in places where people had fallen.
The metallic scent of it hit me and made my stomach turn.
And in the center of it all was Mal.
He was fighting five men at once with a sword in each hand. His movements were faster than should’ve been possible. Deadly and precise. His eyes glowed red with his wolf at the surface. Blood covered his clothes and I couldn’t tell if it was his or theirs.
Across the room Aurion in wolf form was tearing into another group of attackers. His jaws closed around someone’s arm and I heard bones crunch. Another man tried to stab him from behind but Aurion spun and caught him by the throat.
The doors slamming open had drawn every eye in the room.
Including Mal’s.
He turned toward the sound and his eyes went impossibly wide when he saw me. “Wen?”
Then his gaze dropped to my very obvious pregnant belly and his swords clattered from his hand.
Everyone was staring now. At me and my stomach.