Chapter 19 Saxon
I WOKE UP slowly.
The scent of my mate lingered in the air. When I finally got my eyes open, I didn’t see him. However, there was a bed close to mine, with a rumpled blanket. He’d slept there; I could smell it. He smelled good. Healthy.
And I was far from normal, but I was alive. Somehow I survived the demon’s poison.
I turned my head, where my mother hovered close by.
“Where’s Danny?” I asked.
Her expression grew pinched.
“Where is he?” I pushed myself up into a sitting position, ignoring what felt like needles jabbing every nerve ending in my body.
My mother extended her hand. “Stop struggling. You almost died. You have been unconscious for nearly four weeks.”
Four weeks?! “I do not give a shit how long I’ve been out. Where’s Danny?”
“Saxon! You’re awake.” My brother joined us. “It’s good to see you.”
“I’ll ask once more. Where is Danny?”
Simon sat down on the bed where Danny should have been. “We don’t actually know.”
I growled. “What do you mean, you don’t know? I remember instructing you not to separate him from me.”
“And we didn’t. But brother, it’s been four weeks. He stayed here for the first five days, without leaving. He didn’t leave your side, not even once. Not even when his brothers begged him to come home and let them fuss over him. And once he went back to class, he still came back here to sleep and eat.”
My mind was sluggish, but I didn’t think he was hurt. “Was he injured?”
“No. He was a bit loopy from dehydration, after the heat, but it was easily treated.”
Danny, post-heat, dragged into this cabin with strangers. I shuddered.
“He handled it very well. He was concerned for you,” my mother said.
“So he’s in class right now? At the university?”
Simon frowned. “No.”
I grabbed the headboard of the bed and pulled myself up. “Start talking.”
My brother’s eyes widened. “Okay, okay. He went to class during the day, stopped by his apartment, and then came back here. He had a very predictable routine. That all changed a few days ago. He went to class on Thursday morning, and then he vanished.”
Vanished. A demon had him. “How long? How many days?”
“Eight.”
Eightgoddamned days. For eight days my omega had been missing. “And why aren’t you out looking for him?”
“We have been. But we don’t think he’s been taken. We think he left of his own free will.”
“Until he traveled with me, he hadn’t left New York in four years. Why would he suddenly run?” I stepped forward and loomed over my brother. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
My mother stepped in between me and my brother. “Saxon. Control yourself. This will be difficult to hear,” my mother said.
I dropped back onto my bed. “Just say it.”
“Danny is pregnant. With your child.”
A roar of white noise cascaded through my mind. A hazy darkness descended over my eyes. Danny. My omega. He was pregnant with my child. And I’d been lying here, unconscious. “Why would he run?” I yelled. What had my fool brother done? What had my mother done?
“Try to stay calm,” Simon said.
“Try to stay calm?” I flung myself forward, evading my mother. I grabbed my brother by the throat. I wouldn’t harm him, not really, but I was sick of his evasions. “Start talking.”
“We saw him throw up. We did a blood test, and we confirmed he was pregnant. We’d already suspected, and one of the healers did a spell. We were doing our best to take care of him.”
My omega was pregnant. He was carrying my child. I had been adamantly opposed to having children, because I didn’t want to fuck them up, the way most Fae parents did. But now that Danny was going to have my baby, I was filled with a sense of wonder, and desire to protect the baby. I also was filled with a rage unlike any other, at the idea that my family had harmed my omega. “You did a conception spell, without his consent?”
My brother’s cheeks colored. “Yes.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No, but we made sure he was resting. We made sure he was eating healthy foods and drinking water.”
“That still doesn’t explain why he left. Danny is reserved. He’s shy, and he’s wary. But he is not dramatic or impulsive.”
“Um. The healers were talking. About how the baby would be half-Fae.”
Danny had overheard them. He already didn’t trust Alphas. Worst case scenario, he’d assumed my family would want to use him as a vessel, and take the baby. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did. I was certain of it. “What. Did. You. Say?”
My brother mumbled. Then my mother prodded him in the ribs. “Speak up. Be a true Fae and tell your brother what was said.”
Cheeks blazing crimson, Simon recounted the entire conversation as the roaring in my ears increased to a fever pitch.
“As soon as we were done talking, we checked on him,” Simon said. “His face was white. He was pale, and he was shaky.”
“But you didn’t address the topic right then.”
“No. We got him some water, and kept an eye on him. He slept soundly, and the next morning I took him to his apartment. He went to his first class, and then left campus.”
“Tracking a cell phone should be easy.”
“He left it in his apartment.”
My mate was out there in the world. Alone. Pregnant. With no resources.
“I’m guessing you spoke to his brothers.”
“Yes. They didn’t know anything.”
“Tell me you treated them well. If you didn’t, so help me God, I will break your neck.”
“I did. Gatlin got involved. He made sure no one spoke to any of them without him or that vampire present.”
Good. I owed both Gatlin and Luke a debt now.
My mother came and put her hand on my shoulder. “Saxon, you must lie down.”
“Tell me you had nothing to do with this.”
“I did not. But I take responsibility. Simon’s actions were a reflection on what I would have said. Hold me responsible, not him.”
She was right, but I didn’t have time for blame. “If you think I’m going to lie here after you two have hurt my mate, you’re wrong.”
“Your mate?” Her face paled. “You’re mated?”
We weren’t, but maybe we could have been. I was done talking to them. I’d fucked up when I ignored their warnings. But nothing excused their behavior. I called Gatlin. I’d rather talk in person, but I wasn’t sure I could make it to his pack land at this point. “Saxon. You’re awake.”
“Just barely.” I coughed. “Can I see Wilder?”
“You sound like hell. Is this about Danny?”
“Yes. It’s about Danny. I cannot believe my fucking family.”
“I’ve had a few of my guys out looking for him since day one.”
“I appreciate that.”
“It’s the least I could do. If Haven wasn’t pregnant, I’d be out there myself.”
“I know you would. Is there a spell Wilder knows that could help me locate him?” Danny was a walking target for the demons. I had to do something.
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll have him call you. Is there anything else we can do?”
“I could use one of you now. Even if Wilder doesn’t have a spell to help, I need to get out of here.” I wasn’t up for driving yet. That could take days, but I had to get away from my family. When I thought about how carelessly they’d treated Danny, I wanted to choke them all.