The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12) - J.R. Ward Page 0,51

was gone now. And in its wake, she was as pissed off as he was.

“Why the hell do you care,” she muttered.

“It is my every right to know where you are.”

“Excuse me?”

He jabbed a finger in her general direction. “She is pregnant.”

“So I noticed.”

His fist slammed down so hard the phone disconnected itself. “Do you want to go into your needing!”

“Yes!” she yelled back. “I do! Is that such a goddamn crime?”

Wrath exhaled, feeling like he’d just gotten hit by a car. Again.

Amazing how hearing his greatest fear spoken aloud was so devastating.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, he knew he had to choose his words carefully—in spite of the fact that his adrenal gland had opened up full-bore and was pumping enough OMG into his system that he was drowning in terror.

In the silence, the phone’s dial tone and then meep-meep-meep-reconnect-me was loud as the curses running through both their heads.

With a shaking hand, he patted around until he found the receiver. Replacing it in the cradle took him a couple of tries, but he got there without smashing anything.

Dear God, it was quiet in the room. And for some reason, he became preternaturally aware of the chair he was sitting in, everything from its hard leather seat, to the carved symbols under his forearms, to the way his lower back was scratched by the relief that rose up behind him.

“I need you to hear this,” he said in a dead voice, “and know that it’s the God’s honest. I will not service you in your needing. Ever.”

Now it was her turn to breathe out like she’d been socked in the gut. “I can’t … I can’t believe you just said that.”

“It is never, ever going to happen. I will never get you pregnant.”

There were few things in life that he knew with greater certainty. The only other that came to mind was how much he loved her.

“Won’t,” she said roughly. “Or can’t.”

“Won’t. As in, will not.”

“Wrath, that’s not fair. You can’t just put that in stone like it’s one of your proclamations.”

“So I’m supposed to lie about how I feel?”

“No, but you can talk about it, for God’s sake. We’re partners and this affects us both.”

“Discussion is not going to change where I’m at. If you want to keep wasting time with the Chosen, that’s your decision. But if the gossip is true, and it does bring on your needing, know that you’ll be drugged to get you through it. I’m not going to service you.”

“Jesus … like I’m some kind of animal who needs to go to the vet?”

“You have no idea what those hormones are like.”

“This. Coming from a male.”

He shrugged. “It’s a verifiable fact of biology. When Layla was in hers, we all felt it throughout the house—even a night and a half after she was over it. Marissa was drugged for years. It’s what’s done.’”

“Yeah, maybe when a female isn’t married. But last time I checked, my name was in your back.”

“Just because you’re mated doesn’t mean you have to have children.”

She was silent for a time. “Does it not even occur to you for a second this might be important to me? And not as in, ‘Oh, I need a new car,’ or … ‘I want to go back to school.’ Or even, ‘How about we have a fucking date once in a while in between you getting shot at and doing a job you hate.’ Wrath, this is the foundation of life.”

And the gateway to death—for her. So many females died on the birthing bed, and if he lost her—

Fuck. He couldn’t even go there in the hypothetical. “I will not give you a young. I could doctor up the truth with a lot of meaningless bullshit and soothing words, but sooner or later, you are going to have to accept—”

“Accept it? Like I got sneezed on by someone with a cold and I just have to resign myself to coughing for a couple of days?” The astonishment in her voice rang out clear as that anger of hers. “Do you even hear yourself?”

“I’m really fucking aware of every word I choose. Trust me.”

“Okay. Fine. Why don’t we put the shoe on the other foot. How about I say … how about this—you’re going to give me the child I want, and that’s just something you’re going to have to get used to. Period.”

He shrugged again. “You can’t force me to be with you.”

As Beth gasped, he had some sense they’d entered