The Jaguar’s Arranged Mate

“Intentions?” He spat. Luckily, the saliva landed just in front of her feet instead of on her. “You knew you were pregnant when you had your brother send me your proposal. Couldn’t bear the thought of asking me in person, could you? You had to hide behind your brother.”

“That’s not it at all.” She shook her head fiercely. “Beric, please listen to me. I didn’t know—”

As if he just realized she was holding onto his hands, he jerked them away from her, essentially flinging her back onto the ground. “Because you sent him in your stead, we became friends. That’s why we went out scouting together. That’s why he ended up risking his life to save me. His dying is all your fault!”

“No, please,” she begged as tears streamed down her face. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“Exactly.” His face was twisted into a horrible sneer.

“It wasn’t mine either,” she protested.

“Is that what you believe? That you’re innocent? What would you have me believe? That you got pregnant by magic?”

“N-no.”

“Then what? You forgot a condom but were so overcome by lust you had to have him?”

She brushed her tears away and stood. Her finger pointed at him. “You have no right to—”

“I have every right. You have stolen something precious from me. My son or my daughter, whenever I have one, will not be heir after me. How do you think you would feel if you were in my place? If you had to be forced to raise another man’s child while knowing that child would steal your own child’s birthright?”

“I—”

“Did I sound like I was done talking? Did I?”

Miera shook her head and closed her eyes. “This is just a dream. This isn’t real.”

Forceful hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her off the ground. Her eyes popped open to see a terrifying sight. Beric’s face had changed into that of a monstrous being, animalistic and yet not any one creature. This wasn’t Beric at all. Maybe it was the leader of the Brutal Claws, or at least what she thought he would look like. She had never met Andreas the Bloodthirsty. Rumor suggested he might be a berserker, and if that was the case, no wonder so many were-jaguars were willing to do his bidding. Berserkers had almost enslaved the entire world at one point until cavemen mastered fire. Some said that was when berserkers started to lose their ability to change into every animal and the different were species were formed. Once they overcame their fear of the flames, they once again started to dominate over the humans. It took gunpowder for the weres to be forced into hiding. Now, humans only thought of werewolves and the other weres as creatures of myth, and it was better that way.

But could that be Andreas’s plan? To build an army of were-jaguars and rise up against the humans? To claim the earth as their own? Well, that would be more concerning if he started to recruit other weres, although werewolves were rather uncommon nowadays, were-lions tended to keep to themselves, and were-coyotes were just plain vicious. Even Andreas might think twice about getting entangled with them.

“You are nothing. You’re worthless. You’re pathetic.” The face might not be Beric’s, but the voice sure belonged to him. “You aren’t worthy of anything—not being a mother, not being an heir, not being my wife.”

Miera shuddered, trembling before his fury, but then something inside of her snapped. She pushed him backward. “I am not nothing. I am not worthless. I am not pathetic. I am an heir, and one day, I will be alpha. My child will be heir. Don’t you dare talk to me like that.”

“How can you—”

She shoved her palms against his chest, forcing him backward. “With or without you—”

“Without me, you and your people will die.”

“No.”

“Yes.” His eyes shifted, changing to complete blackness and then engulfing into flames. His eyes were all she could see, orbs that promised terror and destruction. Inside them, she saw her people being ripped to shreds, being gunned down, being slaughtered in a hundred different ways.

And the last one she saw to be killed was no one else but herself.

Miera woke up covered in sweat and screaming so loud she thought her ears would bleed from the sound. Her throat was scratchy and unbearable, and she couldn’t stop trembling.

She forced herself to stop her wordless yelling. “It was just a dream. Just a dream, a dream…” Miera whispered the words, but she didn’t believe them.

It hadn’t felt like a dream. It had felt more like a promise. An evil, foreboding promise.

*

Beric had horrible dreams all night long. Miera tried to kill him. The baby tried to kill him. The baby was a monster. Miera turned into a monster. Beric became one and killed her and the baby. Maybe it was just nerves, but his sleep was horrible, and he woke up in a foul mood.

Regardless, he called Miera as soon as he woke up. Thankfully, she didn’t answer so he left a message. “Miera, it’s Beric. We need to talk. Face-to-face would be best. I think. Text me where and when, and I’ll be there.”

As he was eating breakfast, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Yes, we do need to talk. I’ll come to your camp. Noon?

He wiped his hands on a napkin and texted back, I’ll go to yours at noon.

Why?

Why what?

Why don’t you want me to come to you?

He hesitated. Texting made it impossible to hear tone. Was she upset? Maybe she thought he was being overly protective of her.

He started to text, I don’t want to put you through, when his phone rang.

“Hi, Miera. I just don’t want to put you through undue stress. That’s all.”

“You think I’m made of glass now?”