“Caeden,” I said his name calmly and approached him slowly. I placed a hand on the bare skin of his back and the muscles jumped at my touch. “Just be glad I saw him.”
“He could have gotten in the house, Sophie!” Caeden swung around and his face expressed just how livid he was. I hated seeing Caeden mad and worried all the time. I missed the carefree, goofy guy he was when I met him. But we had so much going on that I understood why he couldn’t be that guy anymore—that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it though.
“But he didn’t,” I reasoned.
My words didn’t do anything to calm him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nolan slip out of the room. Smart guy.
“I would never forgive myself if he hurt you or the baby,” Caeden swallowed thickly and his blue eyes sparkled with fire. “I already let him get to you once. I won’t let it happen again.”
“Caeden,” I groaned, “you have got to stop beating yourself up over that.”
He shook his head, his jaw clenched. “It tears me apart to know that I can’t protect you.”
“Protect me? What about protecting yourself? Protecting the pack? I’m not the most important person in the world, Caeden. You have to stop worrying so much about me. If something happens to me, it does.” I hated to be so morbid, especially with our child growing inside me, but the reality was that I could die. Or Caeden could die. It sucked to think about, but it was the truth.
“I refuse to accept that,” he glared at me.
“If—God forbid—I would die, you have to let it go.” I pleaded.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” he shook his head rapidly back and forth as he stared at the floor.
“We have to!” I screamed, trying to get him to listen to me. “We have to,” I repeated in a softer tone.
His expression softened and he reached up to cup my cheeks between his hands. “I’m sorry,” he leaned his forehead against mine. “But talking about death…that’s not something I’m comfortable with. I refuse to think about the possibility of losing you or our baby. You’re both,” one of his hands lowered to press against my stomach, “the most important thing to me.”
I understood where he was coming from. Did I want to think of the possibility of Caeden dying? Hell no. But it was something I had to accept might happen.
“We’re going to kill Travis and his mutants,” Caeden promised, “and all of this will have been nothing but a distant nightmare.”
FIVE.
Unfortunately I didn’t possess the same confidence Caeden did. Thus far, we’d been unable to kill Travis. There was no guarantee that we’d manage to kill him and the mutants this time. True, we’d greatly depleted his numbers when we fought the last time but he could easily make more mutants.
The stress of worrying about Travis and what the future may hold was really taking a toll on me. What if something happened to Caeden? I’d be left without my mate and our child wouldn’t have a father. If something happened to me, Caeden could lose me and the baby.
I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it to go after Travis.
I stopped that thought as soon as I had it, because it was worth it. Logan deserved to have his death avenged. He died to save me and I wouldn’t let his death have been in vain. I would squash Travis like a bug.
“Sophie?”
“Huh?” My head swung Caeden’s way. After discovering Travis lurking outside, neither of us were able to go back to sleep and ended up going into his office to read through books and talk about things.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry,” I frowned, shaking my head. “I was just thinking about things,” I mumbled.
Worry shimmered in his cerulean blue eyes.
“I’m fine,” I said before he could comment. I wasn’t in the mood to hear what he had to say. Empty promises were getting old. All I wanted was to have this over with and live a normal life…a normal life. I was a shifter, my life was never going to be normal by human standards, but I’d like for it to get to the point where there wasn’t so much bloodshed. Was that too much to ask for?
“I’m not an idiot, Soph,” he groaned, shoving the book he was reading off his lap. It thumped against the floor and I jumped at the sound. “Stop saying you’re fine when I know that’s not true. We’re mates. Do you not understand what that means?” He looked at me fiercely. “I know when you’re bothered by something. Talk to me. Please,” he begged, reaching for my hands.
I sniffled, fighting tears. I turned away so he couldn’t see my weakness, but it was useless. He reached up with one hand and took my chin between his fingers so that I was forced to look at him.