Destined for Deception ✔️

Chapter 6

"Jade?" Aaron asked through mind-link.

Jade's head shot up, and her heart shot in her throat. She was sitting in the infirmary to have Everlee check up on the baby. She was about five weeks along at that point, and still in denial about the whole thing. She hadn't made up her mind about how to feel and the last thing she needed was for Aaron to know and confuse her further.

"What's wrong?" Everlee asked. "Do you feel unwell?" Her gaze flitted over Jade, resting on her stomach, even though there was nothing to see there. Not yet. With heightening anxiety, Jade reminded herself that once she started to show she'd need to come clean about her condition.

"Aaron's linking me," she said. She was sitting on the edge of one of the beds and wiggled her feet nervously. "He can't know I'm here."

Everlee nodded, slowly, contemplatively. "Right. Why?" She tilted her head, brows inching down before her eyes widened. She scooted closer, casting a glance around her as if to make sure they were really alone. "The child is his, right?"

Jade gasped and pushed against Everlee's shoulder, forcing her back. "Are you crazy? Of course it is his. What – just because I'm a Shadow Walker, I must be sleeping my way around the pack? Even if you think I am that immoral, do you really think I'm that stupid?"

Everlee rubbed her shoulder. "No. Sorry. That wouldn't work anyway. If the baby wasn't a royal, they'd know. I just – you're so secretive about it, and I don't get it. You realise that Aaron will be ecstatic to know he's going to be a father, right? What do you fear?"

"I don't know." Jade sighed and tucked her hands under her thighs. She leant forward, squinting at the tiled floor. "All I know is that when I think of telling him, I feel so faint I might drop, and so nauseous I might throw up. The timing is all wrong."

"Well, things like this are difficult to plan."

"Jade, answer me," Aaron said, an edge of irritation lining his voice.

Answering him had slipped her mind, nor did she have an answer ready. If she told him she was at the infirmary without telling him why, he would jump to conclusions and assume there was something fatally wrong with her. He'd come rushing, all worry and fear, and she would have to tell him a well-crafted lie to ease his mind. But she wasn't Ryleigh and lying did not come as effortlessly to her.

"What's up?" she answered, trying to sound cheery and careless.

"Has it occurred to you that he has a right to know?" Everlee said. "Regardless of whether you want to tell him, he will want to know. It is his child too."

"I know," Jade said. She scowled. "I already beat myself up over this enough, you know. I don't need you to heap on the guilt. I know he needs to know, and I know he needs to know sooner rather than later, but I can't. For one, I am not ready to accept that this is happening."

"Do you not want children?"

"Of course I do. Just not now. It's all too fast. I'm not even a Royal Wolf yet. Aaron and I have only just mated and I'm not ready for everything to move this fast. Why does it always move so fast? From the second Aaron and I reunited, everything has been a whirlwind. Meeting his parents, moving into the castle, having guards, mating him, and now this? It's too much, too soon, and I—I—" Her breath caught, her stomach turning.

"Calm down, Jade." Everlee placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping her steady as she hyperventilated on the bed.

"Where are you?" Aaron asked, but Jade didn't have the presence of mind, nor the words, to answer him.

She forced her panic down, gulped in short gasps of air. Everlee's hand sparked a gentle red, and Jade felt a warmth spread through her body. Her limbs relaxed, her stomach unclenched, her breathing slowed. She slumped and leant against Everlee, who was standing in front of her. Everlee draped her free arm around Jade's shoulders, comforting her.