Betrayed Forced Mate - Page 71

“No,” he says, shaking his head.

“Yeah, see,” I challenge, raising my eyebrows at him. “That’s how I knew it wasn’t you—you almost started crying when I even so much as mentioned it.”

“You cried?” Maisie asks, turning to him, eyebrow raised.

“No,” he says, smirking at her. “I did not cry. I—well, I’m sure I beat you up, probably.”

He cried, I mouth to her, and Zane punches me in the arm.

“What in the world is Undertale?” Triste asks, glancing between all of us.

“I have no idea,” Rafael says.

“You’d love it,” Zane says, “both of you. Tons of monsters in that one.”

“Monster is kind of a divisive word,” Rafael says, rubbing his chin. “I think paranormal is much better suited.”

“They’re literally monsters in this game, though,” I say, “that’s what they call themselves.”

“Hmm,” Rafael says, while Triste pulls an actual scrap of paper from her pocket.

“What did you say it was called?”

“You play games?” Zane asks, raising his eyebrows at her as he takes a sip of eggnog.

“No,” she says, shaking her head, “but I am interested in paranormal media.”

“You’re writing it on paper?” I ask, watching her scribble it down as Zane spells it for her. “He could just text it to you.”

“I lost my phone a few months ago,” she mutters, pushing her hair away from her face.

“What does that mean?” I ask, wrinkling my brow. “You just…lost it? And you don’t care about finding it?”

Rafael shrugs next to her.

“It’ll show up eventually, right? I lose mine all the time, too.”

“You guys are nuts,” I say, shaking my head and turning away from the group, finding my way through the kitchen until I see her bubblegum pink hair through the crowd, because it’s already been too long since I had my hands on her.

Epilogue – Olivia

Veronica’s screaming fills the medical bay, and Byron grips my hand tight, closing his eyes. Percy has been practically inconsolable for the past three days since Veronica went into labor.

Chase Lawler, the paranormal doctor, arrived in town a week after the Christmas party, and has spent his time monitoring her pregnancy and running her through the different paranormal medical emergencies he’s encountered. Now, he’s in the room with her, assuring Percy it’s normal for paranormal labor to last longer.

“Shifters already run over 24 hours,” he’d said, before she even went into labor. “So, with this case—vampire and shifter, we’ll focus on monitoring her vitals and getting her what she needs.”

We’ve been cycling in and out of the medical bay for days, while Maisie and Chase have hardly slept, constantly monitoring Veronica. Chase also has several vampire-specific specialists ready to video chat, but they require translation, as they’re all located overseas, where the vampires are a little more sophisticated than in the United States.

“Coffee run,” Zane says, walking into the medical bay with two cups in his hands. When he disappears inside, I lean over to Byron, my lips nearly touching his ear as I speak. I watch him shiver from the touch, and it sends a wave of arousal through me.

Will that ever go away? I make a point to ask Linnea the next time I see her. Then again, I’m not sure I want to know what my Alpha is up to in his free time.

“Has he said anything else about joining the pack?” I ask Byron. We could use our mental link, but lately, we’ve been saving it for more…intimate interactions, where it feels the best.

“Aris invited him,” Byron says, his voice taking on that tense tone it gets any time we talk about his brother potentially joining the Rosecreek pack. “But he’s yet to make up his mind. I don’t know if he thinks I still have reservations—I’ve made it clear that we want him.”

But despite the invitations, Zane still makes sure to leave strategically so he doesn’t accidentally integrate too far into the pack. So far, he still has the scent of a rogue floating around him, and nobody is really sure what he does when he’s gone—not even Byron.