I frowned down at her. “What?”
She licked her lips.
I pressed an ear to her chest and then jerked away, before slowly falling to my knees and pressing an ear to her stomach.
“How long?” I whispered, gripping her hips with my hands as I laid my head in her lap.
She ran her fingers through my hair.
I closed my eyes as warmth washed over me. I’d chosen well in a best friend.
She exhaled. “A few weeks. I told Alex yesterday. I had no choice. I puked all over him.”
I chuckled. “I would have loved to have seen that. Filmed it. Looked at it every now and then when I’m tempted to rip his head from his body.”
She gave me a light slap on the shoulder then kept playing with my hair. “I’m afraid.”
I pulled back and gripped her hands. “Fear isn’t weakness, Hope.”
“It feels like weakness.”
I stood and pulled her into my arms then led her to sit on the bed. It dipped under our weight. I brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Give me your fear then. I’ll take it.”
Tears filled her vision. “Elves used to die. That was their purpose, mate with an immortal then die after giving birth.”
“You’re not just an elf, Hope. You’re the last. You’re royalty. You can’t die.”
“How do we know that though?”
I hugged her tighter. “I know because Cassius says so, and I believe him. I trust him. He wouldn’t ask you to mate only to have you lose one another. He isn’t that cruel. Nobody is.”
“But you lost your mate,” Hope pointed out.
“Lost.” I rolled the word around a bit. “Lost always seems like the wrong word. Lost means that she simply couldn’t find her way back home and was taken. Lost seems like I did something wrong, that I couldn’t keep her.” I shook my head. “Maybe it is the right word. Maybe I never really had her. I was always too much for her, too strong, too big… too hairy.”
Hope burst out laughing, “You aren’t hairy.”
“I’m a wolf. It’s a compliment to be hairy. Could you imagine if I was bald?”
Hope made a face. “You’d be like one of those naked cats.”
“Absolute demons, those cats. Hey, I’ve got a though. Let’s get Alex one. I’ll put a diamond leash on it, buy it a pillow—”
She slammed a hand over my mouth. “Don’t you dare!”
I licked her hand and winked. “Tell him to behave then.”
“You guys are impossible.” She crossed her arms. “Thanks for making me laugh. I know I’m being ridiculous. Here you are, trying to figure out why you keep wanting to bite people and being forced to mate again, and I’m complaining.”
“We all have… things,” I said simply. “Doesn’t make any one of them less important. Don’t compare problems because no matter what, to the person going through it, it will always seem impossible to solve.”
She pressed a hand to my chest. “You said you trust Cassius, right?”
I nodded. “With my life.”
Hope pulled away; the faint smell of vanilla filled the air as she locked eyes with me. “Then trust him in this. Don’t lose Serenity as your mate. Keep her.” Hope pressed a hand to my heart. “Trust that it’s going to be okay.”
I had been afraid to speak my fears aloud.