My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 347

Elara

"Shut up about it already, Kane."

The kitchen went silent.

I didn't look at him. I kept my eyes on the cutting board, on the neat rows of potatoes and carrots I'd arranged like they mattered. "Please. Just shut the fuck up with the stupid questions. It's a boy, alright? Fine. We get it. Jesus Christ."

The silence stretched. I could feel his eyes on me, the weight of his confusion pressing against my back.

Kane stared at me like I'd slapped him.

I'd never spoken to him like that. Not once. I'd been soft, careful, the woman he needed me to be. Sweet, a little timid, grateful for his protection. And now he stood there, frozen, trying to work out what he'd done wrong, what invisible line he'd crossed.

I could feel it radiating off him. The confusion. The hurt.

Shit.

I'd overplayed my hand.

I shut my eyes, pulled in a breath, and dragged it all back under. When I opened them, I'd smoothed the edges out, softened the thing I'd let show. I turned toward him.

"I'm sorry." My voice came out quieter, shakier. "I didn't mean—"

I crossed to him, let my hand rest against his chest. His heart beat hard under my palm, still rattled.

He kept talking. About his mother. About how normal I was. About how proud he was of me, how strong I was being, how beautiful I looked even when I was exhausted and angry and overwhelmed.

I watched him as he spoke, and my eyes caught on his mouth.

Stayed there.

Because, however revolting the whole arrangement was—the pack, the house, the endless performance—I'd always liked his mouth. The shape of it. The way it curved when he smiled at me. How it felt to have it under mine, to bite down on his lower lip hard enough to make him gasp, to kiss him until he forgot whatever bullshit he'd been about to say.

Right now, I wanted to shut him up. I wanted his mouth on mine instead of talking, wanted the sound to stop, wanted the relief of not having to hear one more word about a child that didn't exist.

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