Roxie rounded on Jager and started poking a finger into the center of his chest. “I told you to give her a choice, you big lug.” Poke. “Why didn’t you listen to me?” Poke.
Jager grabbed Roxie’s finger and pushed it away. “Stop poking me. Hey, having no choice has worked out for all the mated couples here in this room. Granted, Eli wasn’t a werewolf when he claimed Saskia, and didn’t have the mating urge to tell him she was his, but they still didn’t have a choice. Roan and Ansley are happy. And Beowulf didn’t ask first before he claimed you.”
“Leave me out of this,” Beowulf said with a chuckle from where he sat.
Roxie crossed her arms over her chest. “All right, knucklehead. Daylen has accepted your being a werewolf pretty well. Shall we see how well she accepts what it really means to be a mate to one?”
Daylen met Roxie’s gaze when the other woman moved away from Jager to stand in front of her. Given how upset Roxie seemed to be about Jager not telling her all there was to know about being a werewolf’s mate, Daylen braced herself for what was coming next.
She had a feeling it would be another blow to her system.
“Now, Daylen,” Roxie said, “I want you to stay calm, and remember, I’m just the messenger. If you want to punish someone after I’ve told you everything, I suggest you do it to the idiot standing beside you.” Jager let out a low growl at that, but Roxie ignored him. “First of all, I suggest you get Jager to buy you a big-ass diamond ring, because you and he are basically now married.” Roxie flashed the large diamond ring and gold band she wore on the ring finger of her left hand.
Daylen swallowed. “Married? As in we’re married married?”
“Yup. As soon as your souls joined, that was a werewolf equivalent of a mortal marriage ceremony, only it doesn’t have any witnesses and it’s much, much more intimate. There’s also no breaking that bond once it has been forged.”
She looked frantically around the room, hoping Roxie was pulling her leg, but everyone had a serious expression on their faces. “You’re kidding, right? I can’t possibly be married to Jager. We barely know each other. Up until last night, I wanted to throw him in jail every time I saw him.”
One of the men started to laugh, but it was quickly covered over with a loud cough.
Seeing as how Leif had his hand over his mouth and laughter lurked in his eyes, Daylen figured it had been him.
“That is why I told Jager to explain and give you a choice. As for getting to know each other, you’ll learn pretty quickly. The joining of your souls will take care of that.
Now that you’re mated, neither you nor Jager will be able to stand being away from each other for any length of time, especially in the beginning. A few hours away from Jager and you’ll feel as if you’re in a living hell. All you’ll be able to think about is getting back to him.”
Daylen turned to Jager. “You knew that would happen?”
He unwaveringly met her gaze. “Yes.”
She didn’t think. She just reacted. Taking Jager by the arm, she kicked out at the back of his knees. As he went down to the floor, she kept her hold on his arm, keeping it high and outstretched as she used her thumb to apply pressure to the underside of Jager’s wrist. She had him on his knees, leaning forward, with his arm held higher than his shoulder in a matter of seconds. He also couldn’t get out of this hold so long as she kept her thumb on the pressure point under his wrist. Daylen had used this hold on more than one suspect.
“Now I can see why Roxie is a little pissed with you,” she said. “There is one thing you have to learn about me. I don’t like surprises like that.”
The room had gone completely silent. Daylen looked around to see everyone staring at her with surprise on their faces. “I have a black belt in karate, and I know a bit of jujitsu.”
Leif, all of a sudden, burst out laughing. He laughed so hard tears started running out of his eyes and he had to hold his ribs. The others in the room broke out in varying degrees of laughter as well. Even Roxie had cracked a smile.
“I’m sorry,” Leif said as he tried to bring himself back under control. “But you have to admit it looks pretty good to see Mr. He-man-warrior-who-can’t-be-separated-from-my-sword taken down so easily by a woman, and a mortal no less. How many times is this? Twice now?”
“This would be the third time,” Daylen answered.
That only sent Leif into another round of laughter.
Dirk, who sat next to Leif, elbowed him. “I’d cut that out if I were you. Jager will take it out on your hide.”
While still laughing, Leif said, “But it will be so worth it.”
Daylen ignored Leif and turned her gaze onto Jager. “If we’re stuck with each other, you’re going to have to stop keeping things from me. I don’t do well with people who don’t tell the truth or who purposely neglect to tell me things.” She then released Jager.
He stood and quickly put his arms around her waist when she would have put more distance between them. “Okay, I didn’t exactly go about this in the right way. If you had been a female werewolf, you would have already known these things. You being mortal just made it a little more complicated.”
“Speaking of me being a mortal,” Daylen said. “You said something about Eli not always being a werewolf. Does that mean now that we’re mates I’ll become one? Or do you have to bite me to turn me?”
“A mortal can’t be turned from being bitten by a werewolf. Werewolves are born werewolves. Actually, to the general werewolf population, a mortal can never be turned.”
Daylen frowned in confusion. “Then how did Eli get turned?”
Roxie broke into their conversation. “I think I should be the one to explain this one. I was once mortal as well, same with Ansley. There is a very old spell that will turn a mortal into a werewolf. I was the first mortal it actually worked on. It seems I have a little more magic inside me than the average werewolf. The spark of magic deep inside us is how we make the change. Anyway, it has turned out that I’m the only one now who can use the spell. With a small of amount of my blood and the spell, I can make you and Jager truly mates in all ways. At least I think it will still work in my condition.”
“Your condition?” Jager asked before Daylen could.
“You might as well tell them, Roxie,” Beowulf said when Roxie hesitated.
“There was another reason why Beowulf and I came here this morning, other than me giving Jager shit.” She paused, then smiled. “I’m pregnant.”
Chapter Ten
The room went from being so quiet you could hear a pin drop to six people talking all at once in rather loud male voices. Daylen couldn’t help chuckling when she saw the frantic faces of Roxie’s Protectors. Even Jager looked as if someone had told him the world was about to be destroyed and he was the only one who could stop it.
“This means we’re going to have watch Roxie even closer,” Skylar said.
“We’ll now have to do night shifts at Beowulf and Roxie’s house,” Roan said in a pained voice.
“Roxie won’t be able to go to Wulf’s Den anymore. It won’t be safe for her and the baby,” Kye added.
“I don’t mind taking the first night shift,” Dirk said.
“If Miles finds out about this, we’re fucked,” Leif said.
All Jager said was, “Fuck me.”
Saskia hadn’t said anything, but from the thoughtful look she wore, Daylen figured she was thinking about what Roxie had just told them.
When the men continued to talk over each other, Roxie put her fingers in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. All the werewolves in the room stopped talking and covered their ears.
Now that Roxie had everyone’s attention, she said, “Me being pregnant does not mean things have to change. So I’m going to have a baby. Countless women have done it.”