The Broken Wolf
Chapter 149

I decided to go to my brother’s rooms to borrow his kitchen. I didn’t want to get in the way downstairs again, but my Mate will be home soon and I wanted to make him his favorite cookies.

Michael is standing in the doorway, which seems to be his favorite place in every room. I hear Robbie come into the main room and approach, but Michael doesn’t move to allow him in.

“Uhh… excuse me,” he says, to the guard, but still, he doesn’t move.

“Princess, would you like me to allow Alpha Robert entry?” he asks and I stop, blinking at him and making a face. I can’t believe he just asked me that as we are standing in my brother’s kitchen.

“I guess?” I say, unsure how to respond in this situation.

“You don’t have to,” he tells me flatly with absolutely no emotion. “I can send him away if you wish.”

“You’re in MY house,” I hear Robbie say from behind him and it makes me giggle.

I turn around to put a pan of cookies in the oven. “It’s fine,” I tell him, still giggling.

Robbie walks in and takes a seat on a stool at the island, sighing. “Mom and Dad want me to talk to you. Apparently it needs to ‘come from her darling brother’” he tells me, putting quotes in the air with his fingers. “We need to figure out how to respond to the article that was published.”

I sigh, looking up at my brother who is looking at me like I might break is he says the wrong thing. “I just want to ignore it. It’s embarrassing.”

“Why are you embarassed?” he asks, tilting his head in question.

“It’s… it’s just…” I start to say, but I quickly become uncomfortable. “Everyone knows I was just left in the woods.”

Robbie’s face softens as he looks at me, the look on his face urging me to continue. He pulls out the stool next to him and I take a seat. “I spent so much of my life trying to prove that I’m good enough to be in the pack. Now I’ll have to spend the rest of my life proving that I’m good enough to be queen.”

“Molly, that’s not what’s going to happen,” he says, putting his arm around me and kissing my head. “Lily is willing to be public now. Benjamin thinks that trying to hide her, with the whole kingdom knowing she’s a witch, will put her in more danger. I think you should select a journalist and sit down for an interview with Seth and all of the parents. It gives you the chance to control the narrative.”

I nod, thinking about what he’s said. Truly, it’s not a bad option. “Is Lily really alright with this, or is she just pretending to be because there’s no other options?”

“That,” he says, standing up to grab a beer out of his refrigerator, “I do not know. I’ve not spoken with her, but I do know she’d do anything if it made your life easier. She feels so much guilt about the spell.”

“I know,” I tell him, looking down at my hands, clasped together and resting on the counter.

I hear the cap of the beer pop off and him pouring it into a glass. “You don’t, though. Not the full extent of it, at least. She told me on your birthday that it hurt her to see us together and to see you next to Seth, because you’re so small, and it’s her fault. There are a lot of things that have been hard for her when you are around.”

“I don’t call her Mom,” I say softly and he nods. “And I am much closer to Benjamin,” and he nods again. I sigh, sitting back on the stool, looking at his face.

“It’s nothing you can change,” he tells me sincerely. “She’s not upset about it, and doesn’t blame you at all, but it IS hard for her. But she also told me that she knows it’s her own fault that your relationship is this way.”

I take a deep breath, steadying myself to tell my brother the whole truth. “I’m uncomfortable having magical abilities. I didn’t know magic was actually real, and then I found out that I’m a witch. I just associate her with the magic, and it makes it even harder.”

“Oh, I know,” he tells me with a smile. “I think she knows it, too. It’s just…”

Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my shoulder and I reach up to grab it. As soon as I do, it’s gone, with the weird feeling left in its wake.

“What’s wrong?” Robbie asks and he’s at my side in an instant.

I look up to him, noticing Michael directly behind him. “Seth’s hurt again.”

“Let’s go,” Michael says, offering me his arm but I shake my head. I go to the oven and pull the cookies out, thankfully they were almost done, and turn the oven off before going back to him and taking his arm. Robbie comes downstairs with us, Toby and the other guy joining us along the way.

“I can’t come in, kid,” he tells me as I walk in the room. “I’ve got to be available to the pack if anything happens. Want me to send Mom and Dad?”

I shake my head. “No, I’ve got these guys. If anything happens, you’ll need them more than I will.”

He nods once and Michael closes the door, locking it tightly and stands in front of it and looking at me. “Have you had anymore pains, Princess Molly?” he asks me.

“Nothing bad, just a few little ones,” I whisper, worried about my mate. “Do you know what happened?”

“No ma’am,” he tells me, straightening his tie and I realize that it must be a nervous habit. “I attempted to link Gus but he has not responded yet.”

“s**t,” I whisper and look up to see Toby smiling at me.

“Princess, he’s most likely too busy to respond,” he tells me, trying to reassure me. “If anything had happened and he were dead, we wouldn’t be able to link him. You’re not feeling pain and we can link Gus. These are good signs.”

It would be a good sign, except that right after he said it, I feel sharp pains across my back. I gasp in pain and cry out a little. To my surprise, it is Michael that comes over to me. He kneels down in front of the couch where I’m sitting and takes my hand, telling me to take deep breaths.

“Would you like me to have the doctor brought in?” he asks me. “I don’t think the Prince would mind if we bend the rules for that since the pack here is not under any attack.”

I nod to him quickly as another wave of pain hits my arm. He helps me lie down and covers me with the same blanket as before, taking a few steps back. I curl up into a ball under the safety of the blanket as more pains come and I realize they’re all on the outside of my body. Seth must be trying to keep anything away from his center, so that the pains I feel are away from our pups.

The door slowly opens and Sofia walks in, concern clearly evident on her face. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she says, rushing over to me as one of the guards moves a chair over towards me for her.

“It’s our stupid bond,” I whisper. “We can feel each other’s pain. Remember when I cut my finger and he knew I was hurt…”

Sofia’s eyes widen as she opens her bag and pulls out a little machine. “Roll over,” she tells me, offering me her hand for support. “I can check their heartbeats here and when it’s safe, we’ll go for an ultrasound in the office.”

I nod at her, tears beginning to form in my eyes. “OK,” I say, moving to lay on my back and lifting my shirt so she can reach my stomach. She places the wand on my skin and there’s a wooshing sound throughout the room. “It’s not as bad this time. Yesterday he got hit in the side a lot. I think he’s trying hard not to now as it’s mostly been my arms and legs… and my back a couple of times.” I wince as a pain rushes through my shoulder.

“That sounds like something he would do,” she tells me with a smile. I explain to her the way the pain works and how it’s not long lasting. I tell her about the book I was searching through for any hint of an answer and she nods, listening intently to every word I say while she thoroughly checks me over. Toby often looks away when she lifts my shirt, but Michael’s eyes never leave me, not once. I can’t tell if he’s worried about me, or worried that Sofia is in the room.

She opens her mouth to speak but before any sound can come out, I hear the horn blare outside, signaling that there is an attack on the pack. My heart sinks and she turns her head towards the door. “You need to go, don’t you?” I ask, knowing that she’s one of the most important people when an attack comes.

“No,” she tells me. “The Alpha instructed me to stay with you should anything happen. I just didn’t think that it actually would.”

I look at her, a confused look on my face. “But you’re the pack doctor. You need to be out there to help.”

She shakes her head with a sad smile. “Molly, you’re his sister. He’ll protect you above all else, just like your dad did. Just like your Mate does now. The babies seem alright, as do you, though your b***d pressure is a little high. That’s to be expected, all things considered. As soon as the door opens, we’ll go to the clinic, though.”