Chapter 139

Theodore’s POV

They knew.

Somehow Owen’s spies had made it all the way out here, had found my one place where I could be truly at peace, and had come here to ambush me.

I had just seen Riley open the door for Bennett, but what about the other three? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them, and if they were all three here, they might be able to overpower me, out here in the middle of nowhere where no one would hear my screams or find me for days. And now that I knew Violet was pregnant, I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

I turned around, poising to leap into a run as the front door creaked open behind me.

“Doher!”

I paused at the magic word for “husband”. At the sound of her voice.

It couldn’t be.

I slowly looked over my shoulder, still in wolf form, and there she was. I padded around to face her, amazed at how my memories had not done Violet’s beauty justice. She was a vision, one I had been dreaming of for weeks.

I shifted into my human form, already sobbing on my knees, completely overcome. She rushed over, meeting me on her knees and cupping my cheeks. “Doher, are you hurt?”

In answer to her question, I clutched her face and kissed her. I pulled her toward me, reunited on our knees, kissing her as if these were my last breaths. I kissed her through the tears and snot running down my face.

She didn’t pull away, only kissed me even more deeply.

As my brain caught up to this new reality, I scooped her up as I stood, carrying her inside the cabin. I was caught by the fact that she let me, just like she had last time I’d seen her at the palace. “No complaints about this mode of transportation?” I teased.

“After three weeks apart, letting you carry me doesn’t bother me like it used to.”

I would have crumbled at her words were I not holding her.

Reluctantly setting her down, I locked the cabin door. “I’m not hurt,” I finally answered her question. “But you’re pregnant.”

Her gaze on me softened at that, a smile slowly creeping up her face to confirm it. I wasn’t sure if what came out of my mouth then was quite a laugh or a sob or somewhere between the two as I pulled her into another embrace.

Begrudgingly, I leaned back just enough to look her in the eye. “How much time do we have?”

“I can’t guarantee any time at all.”

“If they find us together…”

“I know.” Her face reflected every emotion I’d been battling for the past three weeks without her. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed the validation that it wasn’t just me, that the separation was just as painful for both of us.

But we had to avoid being caught together at all costs. Too much was at stake.

“Why now?” I asked. “Why risk meeting now?”

Concern flashed through her eyes. “Olivia Bronson figured out I’m pregnant.”

I clutched her forearms in fear.

“She promised to keep my secret, but if she discovers a reason to break that promise that fuels her interests…”

“We can’t trust her,” I concluded.

Violet shook her head in agreement. “I didn’t want to risk you finding out from someone else. But I knew that when you learned of it from Bennett, you would seek refuge here to be alone with your thoughts; sorry to interrupt that, by the way.”

I pressed closer to her. “This is way better.”

Looking like she really didn’t want to, Violet turned away from me to walk to the kitchen table. I hated every second with her out of my arms.

She tapped her finger on a piece of paper on the table.

“There are too many moving pieces for us to be out of contact with each other. I gave Sophia a burner phone, but even that is too risky for us. This spell will open up a line of communication between us in our minds – similar to how our mate bond should function.”

Brilliant. My sexy, compassionate, brilliant wife.

“What about the fake mate bond with Eva? The High Priestess told me the legend about the jealous queen, but Owen didn’t have anyone’s eyeballs or tongues.”

“To recreate the spell, the caster only needs a DNA sample. Eva probably gave hers willingly, and Owen’s blood has enough of your DNA in it, so they only would have needed to snatch a stray hair from my jacket.”

I crossed the space between us, enveloping her in my arms again. “This isn’t enough time,” I whispered into her hair as she wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.

She tilted her head up to gaze into my face. “Keep working on the Shelter project.”

“Why?”

She tucked her hands into my back pockets. “Because when the world comes falling down, we need to be able to show the country what we are capable of building.”

My shoulders deflated as I read between the lines. “I don’t want the crown.” But even as I said it, I knew that I would do anything to keep my alari safe – and our child.

Her gaze was full of apologies as she said, “I know.”

I kissed her forehead, knowing this conversation wasn’t over. “How do we prove Owen cast that spell? How do we undo it?”

Her hands came out of my back pockets to rub up and down my back affectionately. I savored every moment, memorizing the feeling to keep me company in the lonely weeks to follow.

“I don’t know. I’m still working on all of that. But once we get this bond set up, we will be able to work on it together.”

I nodded, letting go of her so she could pick up the paper from the table. No matter how much I hated the idea of leaving her, it would be for her and our child’s safety.

“I expect these will be new words for you.” She showed me the paper with magical words on it, and I realized I had to cast the spell since I was the one with magic.

I nodded to confirm that, despite my progress learning the language, these particular words were new to me.

“I’ll read them aloud so you know how to pronounce them, and then you can enact the spell, alright?”

I grasped the side of her face, kissing her one more time, and nodding my agreement into the kiss. She nuzzled my nose intimately before pulling away to read the spell.

But as she read it aloud, something tugged inside of me like a tether grounding me to… to her. Her brows furrowed as she continued reading, and she rubbed her palm against her chest as if she were experiencing the same thing.

She finished the spell, and I couldn’t be sure, so I reached toward the tether within me.

Violet?

She spun to look at me, and I knew she had heard my voice calling her name in her head – even though I had only thought it.

Did you just create the bond?

“I couldn’t have,” she responded out loud. The rest, she said only in our minds:

I don’t have magic.