Chapter 15 #2
“Stop!” Emma yelled, the word ragged, splintering the violence like lightning through a storm. “Just stop.”
And for the smallest fraction of a heartbeat, everything did stop.
My stomach dropped, the weight of it dragging me under, because I knew what was coming.
However grateful I was for her saving Sean, she better not agree to this, she better not be forced into yet another True Bond, not after everything she’s already endured, not while I still had breath in my body to fight it, not while I—
“Let’s talk about this,” she interrupted my thoughts quickly, words tumbling out between short, hard breaths, and though her voice shook with urgency, her spine remained unbent, defiance woven into every syllable.
The High Chief arched a brow. “Not much to talk about, Ms. Thompson. Choose to bond with your mate, do it now, and mister McGrath will live.”
It was a tactic that might have worked on others—corner them, offer safety in exchange for chains—but not Emma.
Her breathing slowed, she squared her shoulders, and then she spoke with a chill professionalism that made the room itself pause.
“Then let’s negotiate. Surely, you are not unreasonable?”
The High Chief’s smile faded into something harder, something edged with disdain. “We are also not easy to manipulate, Ms. Thompson. Why would we entertain your requests if we can simply threaten you into compliance?
Emma didn’t flinch. “Because if you negotiate with me, you can stipulate your own terms. Like me keeping what happened here today a secret from the rest of the world. You can either control me or the narrative, but not both. Unless you negotiate.”
The High Chief shifted his weight. “Our reputation is not something we care about.”
“That would be shortsighted,” she said evenly, her retort sharp as glass, “since your illegitimate position suggests it could benefit from a cleaner one, rather than a tainted one.”
For a fraction of a second, the Chief’s expression betrayed a flicker of doubt before he gave a single, curt nod. “You have a proposition?”
Her answer came crisp, unshaken. “I do.”
And just like that, the balance in the room shifted; the two of them moved toward the table, taking their places across from each other as opponents stepping into an arena.
“How long?” she asked, her question clear and steady.
The High Chief tilted his head. “How long…what?”
“How long before I give birth to my son, Alek?”
The Chiefs watched them with predatory patience, and the High Chief shook his head once, almost indulgently. “We can only jump to a certain time we set on the Nexus before we jump. We haven’t found the exact moment in time yet that you do.”
Emma dragged her hand slowly over her mouth, as though pulling herself into the center of gravity, then leaned forward. “What have you found?”
“We found Alek as a child,” the Chief replied, all stripped of theatrics now, all business, all weight. “In about five years, he will be three years old, roughly estimated.”
His focus flicked to Walker. “And will look a lot like you.”
The words landed like a fist to my gut.
Emma’s eyes sharpened, calculation flickering. “Which means he’ll be born in about two years.”
“Yes.”
“Which means I’ll be pregnant in a little over a year.”
“Yes.”
Her expression turned thoughtful, too calm, too unhurried. “Give me a year.”
The Chief frowned, suspicion flickering across his features. “What do you mean?”
“You want me to bond with James today,” she said, the lawyer in her bleeding through every syllable, “but as it stands, I’m nowhere near ready to do so.
He and I have been through a lot and I need to…
breathe. So, give me a year. Give me a year to find my way back to him.
Consider it a hard deadline. We’ll form the bond during this time, but not today. ”
My heart was stomping and my stomach twisted hard, bile clawing up my throat, because even the thought of her bonding to him, of her being forced again to tie herself to anyone…
The High Chief studied her for a long, stretched silence, then inclined his head with finality. “And if we allow you this year, our deal will remain a secret. Except for the people in this room, no one learns of this?”
Emma nodded once, brisk and certain. “I’ll draw up an NDA if you’d like.”
The Chief snorted. “That won’t be necessary.”
With another flick of his wrist, the strangling translation around my throat dissolved into nothing, air rushing back into my system so fast it hurt, and across from me James jerked as his bindings fell away too.
The other Chiefs released Sean in turn, collapsing forward but alive, though barely.
“You have one year, Ms. Thompson,” the High Chief declared, the statement rolling through the room like a verdict carved in stone.
Then, with conscious calm, he rose from his chair and smoothed his coat, every gesture unhurried, a man so certain of power he could afford to waste time. “We will be back to check on your progress.”
His boots struck the floor in echoing clicks as he crossed to the door, each step a reminder of how completely he owned the silence he left behind.
The other Chiefs fell in behind him, shadows moving as one, until the High Chief lifted a hand and tore open a portal, its green glow swallowing them whole.
In the blink of an eye, the space was empty except for four of us.
And though my body was free again, I’d never felt the cage tighter, because Emma hadn’t just bought us time, she’d sold herself to someone else to do it.