Healing Kisses (Sophia and Santiago) novel Chapter 189

Chapter 189

There are four guards in my lab. Kaylee is sitting on my exam table, looking very uncomfortable. I asked Ragnar not to do this, but this was the compromise since he can’t be here himself, and I can’t bring myself to say no when he brings up the baby’s safety. As I turn on my equipment, I can’t help but feel awkward as hell. I can’t remember the last time we were alone without this thick tension sitting between us.

“Face the glass,” I order, looking at the guards as I approach her with my vitals machine.

“Like that’s gonna help,” she scoffs.

“I don’t have to do a single thing to make you feel more at ease. You made sure of that,” I scoff the same way she did. Her eyes flash red, and I step back. “I don’t have to do this for you either. This is a favor for Ivar. Get out.”

“You heard, her majesty,” one of the guards growls at her.

She stares at me for the longest time and then decides she is going to leave. I step away from her when she jumps off the table. My heart almost leaps out of my chest when Ivar steps out from behind the wall where the stairs are. His hand wraps around her throat, and he walks her back over to me.

“Sit,” he growls at her.

“I don’t want to be here,” she says stubbornly.

Ivar’s lips pull back in an almost snarl as he reaches to push her hair out of her face. Her eyes are on him, dancing with fear. I can’t bring myself to look away because if he tries to hurt her here, I’m not going to let that happen.

“You promised me you were going to behave, Kay,” he says gently. It doesn’t match the way he’s looking at her. When she doesn’t say anything, he lets out a heavy sigh and lifts her onto the table again. “How are you doing, Soph? Any morning sickness?”

“No,” I clear my throat. “Aimee says it might not come since my affinity probably wouldn’t allow it.”

“Lucky. My mom was really sick with my little sister,” he says and jumps up on the table beside her. “Will you please examine her?”

“Of course,” I say, reaching for the device. “I’m going to check your blood pressure.”

Kaylee doesn’t move, so he reaches over and holds out her arm. I slide the sleeve up her arm and try my very best not to touch her.

“Ragnar hates Dad being part of the Elder society,” he smirks. I laugh and turn around to prepare my butterfly needle to take a couple of blood samples.

“He showed me the footage,” I nod. “Who would have thought that your father had a knack for showmanship?”

“Right,” he smiles.

“How is Helen?” I ask when the machine beeps.

I write down the information and go to wash my hands. I pat them dry and put on some gloves. Ivar growls at Kaylee. She lets out a defeated sigh and holds out her right arm for me. I don’t look up at her as I prepare her arm.

“She’s not doing well,” he shrugs. “Mentally, I mean. We can’t find her mate. Now that her bond with my father is broken, she can no longer shift, so tracking him in her lycan form is no longer possible.”

“Is there a search party?” I ask.

“Several and everywhere. Dad thinks he’s too scared to come back for her. Zara thinks he’s dead,” he sighs. “Mom, she just sits outside looking out into the forest like she’s waiting for him.”

“I can take a look at her if you want me to. Did you bring her with you?”

“I think you’re in love with her and will do anything to keep her. I know you, you’re exactly like your father and Ragnar. It’s just the way you guys are. If Kaylee wants out, I am on her side. Not yours. We may not be friends anymore, but I’m not going to sit here and act like your relationship is normal.

“Kaylee is as much my sister as you are my brother, and protecting her will always come first. I am all she has

left, and you’re not going to fuck with her simply because you can’t stand her being with someone else.”

He takes a deep breath and looks down at the floor.

“I don’t understand why she’s like this,” he shakes his head. “I don’t know why she hates you as much as she does when all you ever do is stand up for her.”

I reach for the cool water in the fridge and pour her a glass, so when the machine is done scanning her. It blows air out towards the end to get surface samples.

“Being a pack wolf isn’t for the weak,” I say and turn back to him. “It’s their entire personality. They’re more than just part of a pack. They’re connected. Losing a pack member is like losing a part of you. I’ve seen what it does to them.

“I killed a whole lot of them, Ivar. I killed her alpha. I gave you the means to kill her mate. I changed the entire course of her life. To her, my one life mattered more than all the lives that were lost when we took the city from the Romanos. They felt their alpha decay from the rage and pain of my rejection.”

“Yeah, but he forced that on you.”

“It doesn’t matter how or why. The point is that these are her people, and to them, even if I had every right to take revenge, I still took all of that from all of them collectively. And I’m never going to apologize for it.

“Dude, she has to watch me rule over her and her people for the rest of her life, knowing that there isn’t shit she can do about it. Just let her hate me,” I shrug. “I can take it. It doesn’t change anything on my end. She’s still part of the family.”