Protecting Shaylee (The Fae Guard Book 1) (26 page)

MY STOMACH IS ACHING from laughing so hard. This woman is a breed all her own and I love her. I know I shouldn’t take pleasure in it, but the way she needles Aden, and gets him so creeped out, is pretty damn entertaining. He gives me a dirty look that is clearly indicating his branding of me as a traitor. I just manage to squelch more giggling and keep my face straight.

Fate gets up and takes a seat behind her desk. We each move to one of the two chairs positioned in front of it. She sits back and considers me a moment before turning to Aden with an amused smile.

“I wasn’t sure which way this was going to go, especially considering that your decisions were not premediated, but made in the moment. I guess I haven’t been paying that close of attention to you two lately.” She cocks her head and studies me for another moment, then smirks at Aden. “She doesn’t know, does she?”

Oh. “No, he finally told me last night,” I interject.

Fate smiles at me in delight. “No, no. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about you being pregnant.”

Ever cell in my body goes haywire and I jump to me feet screeching, “WHAT????”

It can’t be, he wouldn’t—I’m not . . . I start wringing my hands together, the stress of the moment causing my grip to be almost painful. “You must be wrong. There’s no way. I mean we’ve got years before.” My words are stuttering from the scattered thoughts bouncing around in my head. It suddenly breaks through, the way that Fate was talking about it. As if Aden knew . . .

I whip around and am slightly mollified to see the shock on his face. He shakes his head for a moment, mostly likely in denial, because that’s certainly what I’m feeling. But, there is something in his expression that is suspect.

Could Fate be wrong? She must be. But, my thoughts are coming together and I start to remember little things. Being so tired yesterday, how hungry I was this morning, getting sick yesterday and this morning. But, all of that happened in the last day. Those could be symptoms of the flu.

Fate’s gaze is bouncing back and forth between the two of us, vastly amused by our reactions. I start pacing in a little two foot by two foot spot, and I can only imagine that I look like a wind-up toy in a box, that turns around abruptly every time it hits a wall.

I know I’m freaking out, I just hope Aden isn’t; I’m not sure we could handle the situation if we are both about to crack. The next time I turn and I’m facing him, I look to see his face has shifted. His shock has morphed into a mixture of excited wonder and . . . pride?

Oh, give me a break.

“Seriously, Aden? You think you could put away your extremely inflated man card and instead of focusing on the fact that you successfully knocked up your girlfriend, how about we figure out what the fuck we are going to do now that you’ve KNOCKED UP YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!!” My voice has gotten progressively higher and now, I’m practically screaming.

Aden doesn’t say anything and I growl and return to pacing. After a few quick rotations, I turn around and bump right into Aden’s strong chest. I need his strength and I melt right into him. He smooths my hair back and kisses the top of my head. “We can do this, baby. Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Fate snorts and I whip my head in her direction. When she notices my face, which I’m sure conveys every emotion related to fear and shock, she waves her hand lightly, “Sorry. That’s just a funny phrase.” She accompanies the words with a killer smile. I’m starting to wonder what it was I liked about her. “No, I mean, because people say that as if I can tell them exactly what is supposed to happen in their life, like their destiny is ‘pre-ordained’.” She uses sarcastic bunny ears to put quotations around the last word.

Aden sits down in my vacated seat and drags me onto his lap, before wrapping me up in his arms again. He gives Fate an exasperated sigh, then asks, “Would you get to the point of why we are here, already?”

Fate sticks her tongue out at him peevishly and I almost laugh. Almost. She gives him a slightly evil grin and then meets my gaze. “It wasn’t on purpose. I’ll give him that. But that doesn’t mean he was careful about it.”

I stiffen at her words and Aden lets out an aggravated groan. “What the fuck, Fate? Did you really have to go and make things worse?”

It hits me then, all of the times we didn’t use protection. We used it more often than not but when I say ‘we’ didn’t use protection, I mean it. As much as I’d like someone to blame, it doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t insist on it every time, and it definitely doesn’t change the fact that apparently, I am now pregnant.
Holy shit, I’m fucking pregnant.

I sit up and grasp Aden’s chin, bring his face around to mine. The daggers he was throwing at Fate, swiftly change to a slightly embarrassed and wary look. I’ve calmed down enough now to give him a tremulous smile. “It’s as much my fault as yours, Aden. It takes two and I wasn’t exactly insisting that you use protection every time.” A look of relief washes over his face and is immediately followed by one of adoration.

He gives me a sweet, lingering kiss. “I love you, baby.” Before I can respond, we are interrupted by a gagging sound.

“Ugh, this soul mate business is going to kill me one of these days. Seriously, I’m going to choke on the sickeningly sweet scent of love in the air.”

Aden’s back to glaring daggers and I’m back to stifling my laughter.

“Sexual tension? That I can do. You want to throw down right here? No problem, I can sell tickets, join in, film it for posterity, whatever you want. But this gooey crap,” she motions to the two of us, “I think I need a good hard fuck to get it off of me.”

I can’t keep the snort in and I erupt into hysterics, while Aden just looks up at the ceiling and shakes his head. I’m pretty sure he’s asking God what he was thinking when he chose this chick to be Fate.

“Ok. Ok. Back on topic.” Fate seems to rein herself in a little and leans back in her chair again, watching us. “So, here’s the skinny, as far as I can see it right now. Things are going to get darker out there. I’m not sure when, but someone’s made a decision already that has set this course for the worse and it’s very unlikely that it will change. I know you’ve been wondering if Shaylee’s power is the result of genetics or something, but in reality, you’ve been given your enhanced gifts for a specific purpose and it definitely requires you to work together.”

I want to ask her questions, but Aden gives me a little squeeze and a miniscule shake of his head. So, I keep my mouth shut and listen.

“I’d tell you more about your purpose, but I can’t right now because the motions are not set in stone. Until they are, you just need to keep preparing, keep training, do . . . whatever it is you guards do.” She scoots her chair in and rests her elbows on the desk, her hands in fists under her chin. “Shaylee, the baby complicates things a little bit, but not as much as you might think. Keep training until it’s physically necessary for you to stop. Once the baby is born, get back to it quickly. Yours’ and Aden’s fate has not changed, it’s just been tweaked and I know you’ll be able to handle it.”

I’m a little confused, but Aden seems to be following her, so I guess I’ll get the “skinny” from him later.

Fate’s eyes cloud with despair for a moment, before they clear up, returning to the bright intensity they’ve been the rest of our time here.

“Aden, there was one thing you were right about; Shaylee was discovered before she was marked. I’m pretty sure they turned a Fate reader.” Aden stiffens again, and leans forward, his face a mask of fury.

“Are you fucking with me?” I’m taken aback by the ferocity of his tone and peek at Fate to see if she’s offended by it. But, she seems to equal his sentiment, because she doesn’t take the bait laid out right there in front of her with that statement. I’m also a little rattled because that is a question that I wouldn’t normally ask someone in Rien. But, things are just different for Fate; she plays by a whole other set of rules.

“No. I’m not one hundred percent sure. This particular Fate reader’s destiny has been flitting around so much with indecision that I can’t get a good handle on where he’ll land.” She pauses for a moment, seemingly considering her next words. “It seems as though they turned him before he was marked. I’m even more baffled as to how he was found out. But, because he wasn’t marked yet, his fate is murky. He doesn’t stand solidly on our side or theirs.”

Fate looks to the ceiling, and for the first time, I see a slight sadness enter her features, but she closes her eyes, and like last time, it is gone almost before it was there.

“I can’t know everything. You understand that, right?” her question is filled with intensity, brittle with stress. Aden nods but waits for her to get it all out. “Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to know whether sharing something will change your destiny, rather than giving you a nudge in the right direction, so that you can make your own choices that will lead you to the right future.”

She closes her eyes again and rubs her temples. This entire conversation is playing out in front of me and I feel a little like a spectator at a play. I see and hear everything, but I’m not really a part of it. And yet, so much of the play seems to be about me.

“Look, I can’t tell you what will happen, as I said, it’s changing too rapidly right now. But, I can’t get a handle on whether I should share this information, so I’m just going to take the leap.” She looks straight at Aden now, and I am startled when I see the reproach in her gaze. “You’ve forgotten that there are still shadows in Rien. At night, the shadows are more alive than we want to think. He’s been in the shadows, Aden. He continues to stalk her.”

Aden gapes at her in disbelief, then something seems to dawn on him and it quickly turns to rage, he’s almost shaking with it. “Are you telling me he’s been in our home at night? That he’s been the evil in my dreams?”

I gasp at his words.
No.
Fate’s head swivels toward me and she nods.

“He—he tried to suffocate me, didn’t he?” The words get clogged on their way out and I have to control the need to gag.

Fate doesn’t respond, just continues to contemplate me. Aden, however, has all kinds of responses. He lets out a string of curse words and phrases that have my ears turning a little pink.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me, Shaylee?” he roars.

I bristle at his accusatory tone and snap right back. “Because I thought it was a dream, jackass. Why didn’t
you
tell me that you’d been having dreams like that?”

My reasoning deflates his argument and he hangs his head for a moment before laying it on my shoulder and whispering an apology. His hand is softly rubbing my belly and I feel a warm little glow under his administrations. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He nuzzles my neck and murmurs, “Either of you.”

“Are we back to this again?” Apparently, Fate is done with this meeting because she stands up and begins to walk toward the door. “Take it to your bedroom, would you? I’m off to find someone to take me to mine.” Her words don’t carry the humor that they did before.

I snuggle up tight to Aden and revel in the safety I find in his arms. The car ride home had been silent, and when we arrived, Aden rushed us up to our apartment, intent on avoiding everyone. He silently undressed me, and then stripped off his own clothes, before crawling onto the bed and pulling me down with him, wrapping his body around me. We’ve been in this position for over two hours, silent and safe in each other’s embrace. But, I’m getting a little worried at where he’s disappeared to in his head. Something has been on my mind, so I decide it’s as good a place as any to ease into conversation.