All Chapters of The Kingslayer’s Forbidden Mate: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ROMANI didn’t remember leaving the study. One second I was in front of Aurora, about to say a name that would change her whole life. The next I was taking the stairs three at a time, with the guard panting behind me.I’d stopped at the door. She sat there with her hands pressed together, her face the color of milk.“Tonight,” I told her. “I’ll tell you the name tonight. I promise.”She nodded, not arguing. I ordered the guard at the end of the hall to get Josie and stand outside Aurora’s door. Then I ran.The hospital sat on the eastern part of the pack, and tonight it smelled like blood.“Alpha, you can’t go in yet,” said Dr. Paula, stepping in front of me. She was a small woman, and she’d been treating my family since before I could walk. “Give us a few minutes.”“Is he alive?”“Barely.”She looked at me for one long second and moved aside. “Stay by the wall. Don’t touch anything. I mean it, Roman.”Hardly anybody else dared call me by my name. But I let it go.The witness lay on a

ROMANAurora fell asleep a little after one in the morning.I stayed until her breathing slowed, sitting in the hard chair by her bed with Josie on the other side, pretending to be wide awake. Josie lasted four minutes before she started to nod. I would have smiled if my chest hadn’t felt like a stone.Before I left, I stood in the doorway longer than I should have. One hand was curled under her cheek. The other was still resting over her stomach, even in sleep.What if it was the baby?I’d told her we’d find out. I’d said it calmly, like a man who knew what he was doing. Then I’d waited until she closed her eyes before I let my face show what I really felt.I went back to work. The study was a mess. Gideon was asleep facedown on the couch with his boots still on and one arm hanging off the side. He was snoring like a bear with a cold. I threw a blanket over him and left him alone.Then I pulled every file I owned about Silverlake. If the man had a motive, it had to be written down so

AURORAI woke up before Josie came with my tea, which almost never happened.The baby had been fluttering since dawn. It was a tiny, funny feeling, like a fish bumping the side of a bowl. I lay there with my hand on my belly and told the little one that today would be a good day.Then I heard two slow knocks on the door. I knew who it was before the door even opened. Only one man in Ravenwood knocked like he was asking permission and daring the person to say no at the same time.“Come in,” I called, pulling the blanket up to my chest.Roman stepped inside, and I almost gasped. He looked terrible. His hair was a mess, his shirt was wrinkled, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He held something wrapped in a blue cloth against his chest like it might break.“You didn’t sleep,” I said.“Not one minute.”“Is that why you’re in my room before breakfast?”That almost got a smile out of him. Almost. “I need to show you something. I thought about waiting until you’d eaten, but I could

ROMAN“I’m scared, Roman.”“I know.”“No, I mean really scared. Not just of Nolan.” She stared at our hands. “Of me. I don’t know what I am. I have this thing in my blood that I never asked for. I don’t even understand it, but people want to kill me for it. What if it’s not only me? What if my baby grows up with the same target on their back?” Her breath hitched. “I can’t do that to a child. I can’t.”I could have said a hundred things. “It will be fine” or “Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything.” People said them all the time and they meant nothing.But I didn’t say any of that.I tightened my hand around hers and looked her in the eye. “I can’t promise it won’t be hard. I won’t lie to you about that. But you aren’t doing any of this alone.”She searched my face for a long time, like she was checking for cracks. Then her shoulders loosened. “Okay,” she said softly. “I believe you.”***The days after that felt different.We still had work to do. Gideon still went through loads of pape

AURORAThe knock was so soft that I thought I'd imagined it.I was sitting up in bed with a blanket around my shoulders and a book open on my lap. I hadn't read a single page. I hadn’t really slept all week. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my mother's pendant, Nolan's cold face, or a long empty hallway back in Silverlake.Then I heard it again. Two knocks."Who is it?" I called out.There was a pause. Then, "It's me."I knew that voice. It was low and a little rough, like he hadn't slept in days. My heart did a silly little jump.Willow sat up in my head. 'Open it,' she said. 'Quickly.''Calm down,’ I replied.I looked down at myself. I was wearing an old nightgown and fuzzy socks with a hole in one toe. There was nothing I could do about it now, so I opened the door.Roman stood in the hallway with his sleeves rolled up and his hair messy, like he'd been running his hands through it for hours. He looked at me, then at the floor, then at me again."Is something wrong?" I asked rig