Black Moon

His happiness dimmed some as he took a seat at the small table. “You could say that. Got a call from Nicky a couple of days ago that I couldn’t ignore. So here I am.”

“That’s rather vague,” she said drily, fetching three mugs. She resisted the urge to bite her lip, figuring the extra mug wouldn’t go unnoticed.

It didn’t. “You got company?” he asked, tone carefully neutral.

“Um, you could say that.” Ugh. How awkward. “But it’s fine, really. In fact, there’s something I need to —”

“Hey, baby. Do I smell coffee?”

Yawning sleepily, her Sorcerer walked right past her father seated at the table without noticing him. Her dad’s eyes widened and his brow shot up. Thankfully, Kalen had put on his jeans before venturing out of the bedroom, but given his disheveled state, the top button undone at his waist, and no shirt, it was pretty darned clear that this man was her lover.

Her enthusiastic lover, who wrapped his arms around her and gave her a soul- melting kiss while her father smirked at her behind Kalen’s back.

She managed to pull away with an embarrassed laugh. She was a grown woman and this was her life, but still. “Uh, Kalen, sweetie. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

“Huh?” Confusion furrowed his brow until she turned him to face her dad. “Oh! Damn, sorry! I didn’t realize we had company. I’m Kalen Black,” he said politely, voice uncertain, as he stuck out his hand.

Her father rose to his full six-foot-four height, smirk gone. In her dad’s place was the man who could—and had—made grown men pee their pants. “General Jarrod Grant.” He took the offered hand, giving Kalen the unmistakable once-over that let the other man know he was being measured. And that the jury was out.

“Nice to meet you, sir.” To his credit, Kalen didn’t flinch. He stood straight and tall, meeting her father’s gaze with a level one of his own, silently communicating that while he was respectful, he was no pushover.

“You too, Kalen.” Her dad paused, narrowing his eyes as he released Kalen’s hand. He glanced between his daughter and the man in her apartment. “You’re the Sorcerer Nick was telling me about. You’re the reason the Pack is having so much trouble with that Unseelie bastard.”

“You’ve got the right Sorcerer but the wrong impression,” Kalen said stiffly. “Malik doesn’t need a reason to make everyone’s lives miserable, but he’s got a couple all the same, and his plans happen to include me.”

“And what do your plans include? Balancing on the fence until you figure out which side you’re going to land on?”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop about twenty degrees and Mac’s stomach twisted. “Daddy, please—”

Kalen interrupted her plea. “That’s a fair question. No, sir, I’m not sitting on any fence. I’m fighting as hard as I can against the asshole who wants me in his camp. And I’m determined to win, but if I don’t . . .” He swallowed hard, but held her father’s steely gaze. “I’m prepared to do what I have to in order to protect your daughter and my team.”

Her dad nodded, new respect easing the harshness of his face. “If it looks like you’re going to fail, I’ll help you do it. Believe that.”

God. They were discussing Kalen, her mate and the man she loved, losing his life, right in front of her! Mac’s stomach lurched again, and she knew she was going to be sick. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Excuse me.”

She ran for the bathroom, hit her knees, and heaved. As she did, her father’s incredulous voice floated in the air. Made her pulse pound with panic and regret.

“Sooo . . . when the hell were the two of you going to tell me that my baby girl is pregnant?”

Twelve

Pregnant?

What the fuck?

Kalen made like a statue, stared dumbly at the undoubtedly badass General Jarrod Grant and searched for an appropriate reaction. Unfortunately, his brain short-circuited and he gaped at the general with his mouth hanging open and his heart doing a weird stuttering thing in his chest. Maybe he was going to have a heart attack.

“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t know,” Grant demanded. “She’s been rubbing her stomach since I got here, she didn’t take a single sip of her coffee, and now she’s throwing up her guts. And the kicker is, she’s not really sick—in fact, I’ve never seen her more radiant. How long has this been going on?”

“I—I don’t know.” He thought back, trying to remember.

“Wake up, son. Seems like you’ve been so busy with your Unseelie problem that you’ve been blind to what’s most important.”

Kalen blinked at the man. “You must be mistaken. She wouldn’t keep something like that from me.” Would she?

“Actually, Dad, I was waiting for the right time to talk to him,” Mac said, her voice tight with stress and irritation. “So thanks for bulldozing right over me.”

“Shit! I’m sorry, baby girl,” he said contritely.

Kalen felt like his head was going to explode. He rubbed his temples, staring at his mate. “You’re pregnant.”

“Yes.” Her blue eyes were clouded with worry. “I was going to tell you. There just hasn’t been a good time.”

Some thread of knowledge was trying to come to the forefront, but he hadn’t grasped it yet. He was still too busy assimilating the facts to think about how excited he was over the news. “How long have you known?”

Her face paled and she licked her lips. “A few days.”

A few days. Okay. He processed that and the unwanted information slowly dawned. She wouldn’t have—but yeah. She fucking had. A hot flare of anger ignited inside him and built rapidly toward something very, very ugly.

“You knew,” he said in a deceptively low voice that quickly ramped up in volume. “You sent me out to battle with the pendant around my neck. The pendant that should have been protecting not only you but our child.”

The general frowned. “What pendant?”

“The one she’s wearing that protects against evil. I gave it to her, but she took it off when we went into battle against some Sluagh and begged me to wear it.”

“Mac,” her father began, “what were you thinking?”

“I can explain!” Her eyes filled with tears as she fingered the disk in question. “It seemed safe for me and the baby here, and I didn’t want anything to happen to you!”

But Kalen’s rage was far from averted. “You chose to protect me over our baby? How the fuck could you?” he roared. He hadn’t even realized he’d taken a giant step toward her until Grant was between them, a palm on his chest, holding him back.

“Okay, let’s all calm down.”

“I’m sorry!” she cried. The tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks. But Kalen wasn’t swayed.

Malik pounced on the situation. Didn’t I warn you, my boy? Do you believe now that I’m the only one you can trust to tell you the truth?

“You endangered our child, Mackenzie,” he said hoarsely, grabbing his head in both hands. The pain of her betrayal was so great, it threatened to send his anger over the edge. “I don’t know if that’s something I can forgive.”

There’s something else she knows that you do not, Malik said, his voice sly and pleased. Ask her.

“What else are you keeping from me?”

Sobbing openly now, she shook her head in confusion. “What? Nothing!”

She lies. Come to me and I’ll forgive your betrayal. I’ll reveal the answer to the question you