Roman’s POV
Horror flickered across her face, but she spoke with cold resolve. "Go ahead. Maybe my son will be spared a life in a world full of monsters like you. I’d rather have him die than see him become one of your kind."
"Sure... just you wait..." Lucian hissed, his rage barely contained.
Their gazes locked, a storm of hatred and defiance between them. Neither would yield. What had begun as a plan to mark her, to claim her as our mate, had spiraled into another twist.
If she had acted weak and pitiful, there must have been a way to calm the situation and deal it with rationality. But how defiant she was despite being the reason for ruining our lives, it only made things worse for her.
What will happen now? The Council had ordered us to mark and mate with her to form a complete bond with her. But what happened now, only made it difficult than it was before.
"Lucian, calm down," I said, motioning to Rafe to intervene.
Rafe stepped forward with steady calm, placing a hand on Lucian’s arm. "Luke, come with me to Caston. This bitch’s presence will only suffocate us."
Lucian ignored him for a moment, then turned sharply to Jason. "Get ready to find her son and her mate. We’ll make them pay right in front of her, just like she killed our sister."
"I was going to do it anyway," Jason replied, and the two brothers strode off together, leaving a tense silence in their wake.
Eira watched them leave. Though defiant, worry and fear in her eyes were clear. But she knew well, whatever the fate was, she had to accept it.
I approached cautiously. "Eira... let’s go inside..."
She shot me a sharp glare as if I was her mortal enemy. "Stop faking concern. Just remember the promises you made to me before marking me. Those two pets are mine, and you are going to take me to Alice."
With that, she turned and moved toward Vixen’s small home, walking as if fear was a foreign language she had never learned.
Ignoring any of us, and as if nothing happened, she had returned to her detached self. She settled on the floor in a corner by the large glass window, picking up Vixen and resting her back against the wall.
Sunlight poured over her, warm against her skin, while a cold breeze drifted through, brushing her face. Tears had dried along her lashes, leaving faint traces of the sorrow she refused to show.
It unsettled me. She hadn’t asked us to stop Lucian or Jason. She hadn’t wept to earn our pity.
It was as if she had simply withdrawn into her own world, lost in some private vision. Perhaps she was seeing her son, though I could not tell.
At the same time, it was as if she were sending a clear message: if we were forcing her to stay here, then she would live on her own terms, blatantly ignoring us all. She feared nothing, and it showed.
Liam let out an helpless sigh as he looked lost, not knowing what to do next or solve this situation. He offered a light nod to me and left.
I turned to Kael, who was looking at her with the dangerously suppressed storm in his eyes. I have seen him looking her with hate and disgust, but this gaze of his...it held something different.
It wasn’t just hate, but.... Hard to point out.
Rafe and I were the only ones sane at this moment, though we were equally disturbed to know she had a mate and child with him.
Then a thought struck me like a bolt of lightning. Mark? Where is the mark left by her mate?
I had seen her completely naked—every inch of her—when I had bathed her. Aside from the old and fresh scars etched across her body, there was nothing. No mark.
The places where a mate’s mark usually appeared were always the neck, shoulder or the heart. But I was certain there was nothing.
"Rafe, stay with Kael," I said sharply and ran after Liam.
He was about to climb into his car when I caught up with him. "Liam."
The older man stopped and turned, his expression calm but alert.
"I need to ask something," I said hurriedly.
"Hmm?"
"If she has a mate and a baby, that means she mated with him to complete the bond after he marked her," I began, confusion twisting my features. "But... why didn’t I see any mark on her? Her mate must have marked her somewhere."
Liam didn’t look surprised. "There is indeed no mark," he said evenly. "That also means they are fated mates, not the kind who become mates only after marking, like what you five planned to do with her."
Damn.
I cursed under my breath. So she truly has a fated mate.
The sting was immediate and brutal. Even if we marked her and she became our mate, it would always feel... inferior. Always beneath the bond she shared with him.
Now, it was really important to kill that bastard.
"Fated mates can bear a child without ever needing to mark her," Liam added casually.
"So... the bastard didn’t mark her so he wouldn’t be bound to her for life. He fucked her, rejected her, and left her with a child?" I said, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.
"That seems to be the case," Liam confirmed.
"The asshole truly deserves to die," I muttered under my breath, my jaw tightening. Then I added, "But... it’s a small mercy she doesn’t have a mark. She can only bear the marks of us five."
"As long as you bastards don’t kill her," Liam said, his tone flat, and he slid into his car.
"You said you went to find clues about her son," I called after him as he settled into the driver’s seat. "What did you find?"
"Nothing at all," he replied, starting the engine. "But I am sure those two brothers of yours will find something for sure." And with that, he drove off.
I clenched my fists, a mix of frustration and hope churning inside me. I wanted Lucian and Jason to find that bastard and for us to tear him apart together.
But the child? What were we supposed to do with him?