Jade’s pov:
Soon enough, a couple of weeks went by since my dad’s passing, and Trevor had become my shadow. I believed that Alex, being Alex, only trusted his third-in-command to protect me.
Alex’s meetings with Camelia were starting to bother me if I were to be honest. Not only was the witch an attention seeker, but also a cunning woman. She was trying desperately to get as much time with Alex as she could… and while I could understand their need to talk strategy, in an attempt to find a solution to the manipulated rogues issue, did it really have to be on a one-to-one basis?
My jealousy was definitely having a field day, and I wasn’t happy about it.
I had gone to the training grounds to let off some steam, too irked by the situation to do anything else, moreso because I couldn’t object to it I didn’t have it in me to be a diplomat after all. And now that I was back to the pack house, I was just about to enter Alex’s office, when Luc caught my attention, near the door.
The man was sniffing, a little bit of a frown on his face, and I asked him in a soft tone of voice, “Is something wrong, Luc?”
He shook his head negatively, somewhat dismissively, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
“I thought I had gotten used to the witch’s fragrance, but it seems to have gotten stronger somehow,” he admitted after a moment, his frown deepening.
“What fragrance?” Trevor asked at once, sounding displeased somehow.
“Can’t you smell it?” I asked him, my eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
“I can,” he assured me at once with a curt nod. “I am smelling it, but that can’t be true.”
“What can’t be true?” I asked, a little bit too dumbfounded to ask relevant questions myself.
He pointed to his temple, and I opened the mind-link connection at once.
“I had insisted that we get the witch’s things checked out,” he declared matter-of-factly, “and among the personal items listed, there was no perfume.”
My eyes bulged at once in disbelief.
“Hey, don’t leave me out of the loop,” Luc let out in a whining tone of voice.
Once we told him, he frowned for a moment before saying, “Could it be that the alpha offered her a perfume?”
It seemed plausible, and the most acceptable answer… and yet, I couldn’t understand how my mate had claimed he wasn’t buddy buddy with her when I confronted him before. Didn’t he realize what he was doing to me, to us?
I decided not to go inside the office. I didn’t need yet another scolding from my wolf, about the safety of the pack and of our pup. I was too angry to reason properly, and I needed time to myself. Somehow, I found myself walking right into my parents’ room.
Good, my wolf quipped. Pup needs a safe environment.
I mentally nodded at her.
Truth be told, the news that I was pregnant had come as a surprise, but seeing as I had other things to handle at the time my dad’s funeral for starters I couldn’t dwell on it much.
But as time began to pass, I was more aware each passing day that I was going to be a mother. I was also acutely aware of the distance between my mate and me, which made me question everything and our future together was at the top of the list.
Mom welcomed me in with a smile, and I hugged her, as if to never let go.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” She asked in a sweet tone of voice, while patting my back soothingly, in a way only loved ones knew how.
“So many things, mom,” I let out, choking on the words despite my best efforts to remain in control of my emotions.
Sometimes, it was harder than other times to keep a lid on everything.
“What’s troubling you, sweetie?” She asked again when silence stretched between us. “You know you can tell me.”
“I know,” I nodded at her and wiped off an errant tear before looking into her eyes, a tentative smile on my face, “It’s just that I fear that voicing out my concerns will make them real.”
“Is this about Alpha Alexander and the witch who seems glued to his side as of late?”
Even mom who barely left the room lately knew?
If she could tell that there was more to it than just an old friend helping us out, what was the pack saying behind my back?
“I think he might have some lingering feelings for her, mom,” I said on a sigh.
There was no need to shy away from the truth any longer.
“What are you saying, Jade?” She let out in a soft chastising tone of voice. She began to play with locks of my hair gently. “The alpha loves you, sweetie.”
“I don’t know, mom,” doubt gnawed at my insides, and I had trouble breathing for a moment there.
Calm down, my wolf let out in a soft tone of voice. I don’t want to have to shut down yet again.
I tried to inhale deeply and then exhale a few times, in an attempt to calm myself.
We have to avoid the clinic as much as possible. We don’t want the pack, much less the witch, to find out about the pregnancy, she said urgently.
My wolf made sense, and I would rather die than put my baby’s safety in jeopardy.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Mom probed once more, her soft tone of voice making tears spring up to my eyes.
“No, but I will be, mom,” I declared after a moment of silence.