The Jaguar’s Arranged Mate

“Kevin. How is he?”

“He’s…” Lisa glanced away. “I should go and check in on him.”

Her friend scampered out of the room without another word. So Kevin had gotten hurt too. Had anyone not been injured?

She had just finished up her chicken and was starting in on her soup when Beric walked in. “You’re awake,” he said.

Something in his tone made her stomach flip flop, and not in a pleasant way.

“What is it?” she asked.

“How are you feeling?” He gently turned her head to the side and examined her neck. “It’s healing. Slowly, but it is.”

“I’m fine.”

He glowered at her.

“I’ll be fine,” she amended. “Now tell me what’s going on. Please,” she added belatedly.

“That guy who went to your camp—”

“Who?” she burst out.

“Grave.” He frowned. “Grave-something.”

“Gravestone,” she corrected. “Jericho Gravestone. Oh, good, so at least he survived. He’s on the council,” she explained. “And a really strong and capable warrior. If anyone could make it through to our place, it’s him.”

“He should have reached there by now. I hope he waits until tomorrow to come back. Traveling at night would be dangerous.”

Jericho could be rash and reckless, so she wasn’t at all certain which way he would choose. She hoped with everything she had that he would return safely to them, regardless of when he and the others came back.

“What else is going on?” she demanded. The soup was almost too hot to eat, so she dug into her pasta instead.

“The fence. They didn’t destroy it, and they didn’t bring ladders. They just climbed up each other’s backs to be able to mount it.” Beric scowled. “That was how they were able to do it without making any kind of a loud noise. Sneaky bas*ards. They killed our guards outside, and somehow, they knew just where to climb over so that our guards inside wouldn’t see them until they were already slicing their throats.”

How had they known where to climb over to avoid being detection by their guards inside the compound? She frowned and rubbed her forehead. Her head was beginning to ache. “If they had brought more with them…”

“We would have all died.” His expression shifted, both kinder and… was that fright? “We need to unite our people. It’s the only chance we have.”

“First we have to heal,” she said stubbornly. “A battlefield filled with wounded soldiers is going to be soon covered with dead bodies.”

“Yes…” Beric sounded frustrated, and he ran a hand through his hair.

She wanted to reach out to touch him, to comfort him. Instead she placed her hand on her belly. She hadn’t felt the baby move since… since the battle. Had she felt the baby during the attack? What about during the wedding? And before that?

“While everyone tries to heal, we can still try to get them to come together,” Beric suggested.

“Yes, yes,” she said distractedly.

“Miera…” He did a double take when he noticed her hand on her belly. “What’s wrong?”

Bitter tears burned her eyes. She blinked them away and swallowed back the first retort that came to mind. Maybe it was the surge of her emotions, or the food, but just then, she felt a flutter, a kick, and now she did cry.

Beric tried to talk to her, but she couldn’t really hear him. After a few minutes, he left, and Helen walked in. Miera ate some more, drank plenty of green tea, and fell back to sleep.

When she woke, it was to find the world had descended into chaos. Again.