Girl Gone Rogue (The Shadow Hunters #2)

41. Into The Unknown

"What are you doing here?" Alexei asked, assessing my matching fighting skins. I tightened the laces of my boots before rising to my full height, which was still shorter than his.

Huh. Annoying.

"I'm coming. You can't stop me from going."

"I wasn't going to." His gaze swept along my uniform again, growing darker. "I was going to comment on how nice you look this eve."

I narrowed my gaze.

I spotted Kian speaking with an Enforcer. He wore misery like a cloak. It was a shock that he was even speaking to anyone. After his duel with Jace and his defeat, he hadn't wanted to speak to anyone. He kept to himself. Watching him speak with another soul that was neither Aella nor I, hurt a little.

Kian was our friend. Didn't friends confide in friends?

Had I given him too much space to overwork his brain?

Alexei followed my gaze to Kian. His is gaze softened a little, sensing my worry. "Come here."

Before he could grab me towards his chest, Jude strolled towards us. "Nice to see you here Pen."

"I wanted to be here if that's alright with you."

Approval overtook his expression, "It's very welcome. Aella wanted to be here too, but she can't, for obvious reasons." His face transformed into one of the softest looks I'd ever seen him wear in front of people, other than Aella.

"You're going to be a good father." Alexei squeezed the Alpha's shoulder.

I wasn't sure who knew about Aella's pregnancy, but I knew his men were recently informed, considering he spent most of his time among them. It would be impossible to miss the subtle changes in the way he conducted himself, especially if his seven men had collaborated with him for so many years. They'd note the change in him immediately.

"It's a lot sooner than we expected. I wanted Aella to have more years to do her own thing and grow into her own but we're more than happy to have the pup."

Judging from his expression, I knew 'happy' wasn't the right word he wanted to use. It seemed less. I could tell the joy that he was feeling was the type of emotion one couldn't simply keep caged for long. It was basically bursting at the seams. Belated? I could never imagine someone like Jude even using the word in his normally low, stoic voice.

"Congratulations Alpha, you'll be a good father."

Jude simply offered us a smile before he approached Emerys.

**

Kian lead us into the tunnels.

The group of men and women who were picked to assist with the retrieval of the nightshade were fascinated by the route we took.

"Who would've thought that there was something like this here." Someone said behind me.

Despite the lack of fresh air and light, I was impressed that we weren't tripping over each other's toes. That would've been messy. I should've known better. These men and women were trained Enforcers. Finding direction in a tunnel most likely was a piece of cake for them.

The moment Kian stopped; I heard his boots touch squeaking metal. He had already taken hold of the ladder. His steps echoed in the space, before the scraping of metal sounded.

A splinter of light appeared, growing wider and wider until a perfect circle of light illuminated in front of us.

Kian pulled himself up before ducking his head back down, "Quick."