Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond novel Chapter 538

~ Jace ~

“Baby, what baby?”

“Of course…” Mum gasps out but I can’t keep up with everybody else’s words, all I can concentrate is on one image…Cleo having a baby.

“What baby?” I roar out again, surely, they must have it wrong. She can’t be with child, she would have told me.

“Cleo is pregnant.” The words leave Auntie Rosa’s lips, her eyes piercing directly through to my soul.

No..that cannot be.

“What?”

“He still wants an heir, after all this time.” Dad’s voice rumbles out loudly over everybody else’s.

“No the father is a human…it’s not Than’s.” Rosa declares out loudly, shaking her head, her breathing continuing to be erratic.

It’s like the world disappears around me…everything just melts away. All the shouting over each other, the incessant noise…it is blocked out, as all I can hear is my own heart beat thudding against my chest.

“She’s pregnant?” My words don’t even sound like my own. They sound clouded…a voice not belonging to me.

Maybe it’s the blood now pumping violently against my ear drum that has drowned out even the sound of my own voice.

“Jace?” Jaxon clears the floor towards me, large meaningful strides before his hand lands firmly

on my shoulder…helping to keep me grounded.

“Than…how do I know that name?” Josie’s voice rises above the arguing that has continued in the room.

“He…”

“Kaia…don’t.” Rosa screams out, her hands covering her ears as if she was pained by the sound of this name physically.

“It’s time Rosa, it’s time they all learnt the truth. We should have told them. She wouldn’t have gone near him if she knew. He’s manipulated our lengths to protect them…all this time we’ve been keeping him away but he has just been biding his time.”

“Wait, I’ve met him…he was the one in the bar..the one that got kicked out by Uncle Jude’s men. What does he want with Cleo?” Josie interjects.

“Is she is danger?” Ares growls out, his hands turning into tiny clenched fists. Cleo might be older than him but I know for a fact he would go to the ends of the world to protect her, just like I would for Josie. Having a sister doesn’t matter if they are older or younger than you, you keep them safe no matter what.