A Little Left to Give (Forgotten Series #8)

Chapter Four

My cheek twitched as I heard Luiz talking low to Julieta. The tones of his familiar, if a bit tired, voice rising and falling. Julieta wasn't saying much but I wasn't unaware of the twitches to her expression, the heel of her hand pressed to her belly every so often. I inhaled deeply, blood, despair, pain, denial, and a touch of agitation, seemed to radiate off of her. She smelled as though she was in labour. The scent of it was thick in my lungs and made me want to grimace as I yanked on the body. I didn't give two shits who this male had been but the knowledge he was going to go after Fortis was enough for me.

I would protect my family, the futures they had made. I wasn't sure how but I would. I never paid attention when Jovan came to Fortis, he liked to discuss things like illegal rogues with Luka and Shey but I didn't care. I wondered if I could just kill all of them. I knew I had enough dominance to make most shifters hit the floor, even without the boost that I had taken from the dead fucker.

"We can just stick to the plan." Luiz's voice was almost exhausted and my jaw twitched. He hadn't changed, at all. I didn't know what I had expected but time had changed me, a lot. Yet Luiz stood there and sprouted off plans and ideas just like he had when we had been younger, back in Provocatio. He rarely had the drive to complete them but he would talk and talk and talk. He was always all talk. "Go there, make sure they understand who the new leader is, then contact the hunters." He really liked to talk.

I did feel a bit agitated though. I didn't like that he had dragged Julieta into it. I could barely remember her and frankly I barely recognized her. I knew she had been in awe of me at times, she definitely idolized her brother. She could recite pack tenants by heart at the age of ten. She had a fierce drive for justice. The pregnant, borderline jaded female behind me didn't bring the image of that young female to mind. She had to have been fourteen when I had been banished, it was strange to see her like that.

I didn't like it.

It was one thing for me to become jaded, but it felt wrong that such a... well naive female turned out like that. I didn't know how she would have ended up like that. Luiz had been overprotective over her, hell I had been too. I wondered if Provocatio had been attacked by the illegal rogues and she had been stolen. The idea had merit but not a lot. Luiz would have ensured she was safe before anything else. She also wouldn't just run off, Julieta had been a lot of things but she wasn't rebellious.

I shook the thoughts off slightly. They didn't matter. It was just more past that was clinging to me, dragging me down. I wanted to escape all that, not have to confront it. I just wanted it all to stop, not be stuck with it standing in front of me, or walking behind. I would help get Julieta safe, Luiz could help himself, and then I would be done. I could go back to trying to figure out the mess of my life, try to figure out where I could fit again.

I paused and looked down at my dirt covered body. And then there was that.

I dropped the dead male and shifted my course for one of the hidden caches we had tucked away. If I was going to do this, I would need pants. I really didn't particularly want to but I knew I needed to. "Where are you going?" Luiz sounded exasperated but I ignored him as I continued. "Ezekiel!"

"For fuck's sake, Luiz! He's not a fucking dog!" At the snapped words I snorted and turned to look at her, tilting my head. She was pressing the heel of her hand to her belly with another grimace. She was definitely in labour, early stages. I had been the one to alert everyone when Shey started. After the twins she listened to me when I alerted her to the fact that the baby was coming.

"Julieta-"

"No, Luiz! Can we just drop it? He clearly needs something, give it a rest!" The narrowed eyed, almost death glare she gave Luiz had my eyebrows raising. The Julieta I had known would have never, in a million years, spoken to Luiz like that. It was interesting to watch but I still turned and headed through the trees.