Karizma: Reborn
Chapter 23: Lukas

Lukas opened his eyes and stretched in his bed. He looked to his side and found Ryleigh splayed on her back. Her crimson hair framed her face, matted with sweat. Small beads of sweat glistened against her nude skin. The blanket on the bed had been discarded to the floor, as it was just another item that tried to wedge between them. Lukas tucked his arm behind his head and kept his gaze on his mate.

The last four days had been constantly relishing in the heat cycle. As soon as one of them would orgasm, the other would resume the mating dance. His eyes instinctively trailed to Ryleigh’s stomach, and his heart stuttered at the thought that she could be carrying his child. The heat cycle was for the sole purpose of reproduction, so conception was rather quick, which resulted in a rather quick pregnancy; the average duration of Lycan pregnancy was only three months. Lukas exhaled quietly. The average duration. An Alpha impregnating his Luna was far from average, and he could not remember how long that powerful of a pregnancy truly lasted. He assumed that made the pregnancy even shorter because of the advanced genes, but he would plan for the three months as a safety net.

Lukas clenched his jaw and flicked his eyes up to the ceiling. This was reckless. Ryleigh was supposed to fight in the upcoming war, and he did not know if he would be strong enough to let her. Now it would not be just her risking her life, she would be risking their child’s life. My heir’s life. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. We should have waited. I should have fought against it harder and locked her in the bathroom the second that she came out.

Lukas opened his eyes as he heard a soft mumble. He shifted his gaze to Ryleigh and smiled softly as her eyes struggled to open. He rolled on to his side and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Her wolf purred in response as she rolled into his chest and nuzzled him. “Hello there,” she mumbled.

“Hello yourself,” Lukas said softly.

“Is it morning or night?”

Lukas chuckled and his eyes flickered to the partially open curtains. “It’s dark outside, so I suppose it could go either way.”

“Either way means that we go back to sleep,” Ryleigh mumbled. She lifted her head and slowly opened her eyes. Her emerald eyes studied his blue ones curiously. “My wolf heard your anxiousness. What is wrong?”

“You wolf should have let you sleep.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Thinking of the future.”

“What about it?”

Lukas sighed and wrapped his arms around Ryleigh. “You won’t like my answer, my love.”

“Lukas…” Ryleigh mumbled as she pressed a light kiss on his chest. “Just tell me.”

“We need you to fight in this war.”

“I am aware.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“I am aware of that, too.”

“What if you’re pregnant when the time comes?”

Lukas felt Ryleigh’s body tense, and he looked down at her. Her emerald eyes were hard as she looked at him. “You won’t like my answer,” she said slowly.

“Just tell me,” he repeated quietly.

“If I’m pregnant, then that is the best time for me to fight.”

“What?” Lukas asked, surprise. “The hell it is. It’s not just your life that you’re risking.”

“Lukas,” Ryleigh said as she removed herself from him and shifted into a sitting position. Lukas remained lying beside her, but kept his eyes focused on her. There were very few moments in his life that he would be submissive, and this was one of them. He heard in her demeanor, and felt in her emotions, that there was something that he was not understanding. She needed to dominate this conversation, and he was going to let her.

“Lukas, do you remember what I had told our people about Karizma children?”

“That you were like the Amazons,” he nodded. “Your magic only ties to females, so only females are born.” His eyes brightened suddenly. “A daughter, can you imagine?”

Ryleigh smiled softly. “Lukas, think about that for a second. Magic ties to the child. The Karizma magic begins to grow in the child. Why do you think Naomi ate her own children? She wanted their power. If I am pregnant when it is time to fight, I will literally have the power of two Karizmas, not just myself.”

“You will be your absolute strongest,” he murmured in realization. His heart dropped and his wolf growled in response. His daughter would be a weapon in this war against her own choice. What if she died because of it? What if Ryleigh killed Naomi using their daughter’s magic? Their daughter would either be dead or a murderer from the start. “Let’s hope not. Lycan pregnancies are only three months,” he whispered. He wanted the child to be born before this damn war could start.

“Hey,” Ryleigh whispered. She cupped his cheek with one of her hands and turned his face to hers. “We are absolutely going to circle back to the fact that I may be giving birth in a few months, but I want to address the concern of the war first. It is terrifying that I may be carrying our child, our pack’s heir, when the time comes, but I will do everything in my power, and hers, to make sure that nothing happens to her.”

“Even if that makes her a murderer?”

“That wouldn’t be her, and you know it. That would be me.”

“You would be killing Naomi with her inside of you.”

“All right, think of it this way,” Ryleigh exhaled in annoyance. “If I don’t kill Naomi, there is a good chance that she would kill both of us. So, would you rather us be dead, or us be alive and explain to your daughter how she lived?”

Lukas’ jaw tensed. Their survival was all that mattered. But to know that you were involved in a murder before you were even born? “I just…” He sighed. “That is a huge fucking weight to put on a child. How are you not more concerned about this?”

“Because we would be her parents,” Ryleigh answered softly. “Neither one of us would allow her to think that it was her fault, especially if we told her that her helping me kept us both alive. What other choice is there?”

“We could have waited,” Lukas muttered. His eyes widened as he realized he spoke the thought aloud. He noticed Ryleigh flinch and heard her wolf whimper softly. “Ryleigh—”

“It was my fault,” she interrupted. “It always is. So, if she dies, your conscience is clear. This is on me.”

“Ryleigh, that’s not what I meant—”

“What did you mean then?” she asked as she pushed herself out of bed. She grabbed the blanket off the floor and wrapped it around her body. “I opened that door, Lukas. Quite literally, I opened the bathroom door. I did this. You’re right, we shouldn’t have done this. I should have fought harder.”

Lukas felt the pain and fear that ran through Ryleigh. He jumped out of bed and approached her. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She kept her cocoon around herself but did not fight his embrace. “Do not think for one second that I regret this,” he whispered. “These have been the best days of my long life. I am just scared for her, for you, for us. I am terrified, Ryleigh. This is the worst time for you to be with child.”

“Lukas, I’m a Karizma. There is no great time to have a child.”

“After the war would have been better.”

“Obviously, but what if we lose? We would never even have had the chance. We have the chance now. If I am pregnant when the time comes, that is something more that we must fight for; not just ourselves, or for our people, but for our daughter.”

“Ryleigh—”

“Lukas, stop,” Ryleigh said, exasperated. “Please, just stop. It is a little too late to wish that we had planned this. If it happens, it happens, but that does not change anything. You need a Karizma to fight a Karizma, and Naomi cannot know about Bailey. Bailey has to remain our secret weapon if we lose. It’s a shitty hand, but it is the hand that we were dealt. Now,” Ryleigh continued as she unwrapped her arms from her blanket cocoon and wound them around Lukas. “We are totally circling back to only being pregnant for three months.”

Lukas could not fight the grin that broke out across his face. She was right, after all; what has happened, happened, and they cannot change it now. The grip of fear would remain tight on his heart, but he knew that fear was there regardless of if Ryleigh was pregnant or not. He knew that he would be terrified for her own safety when the time came, but her intrigue in carrying his child placed that fear on a temporary pause. Now, he felt excited. “If you’re an average Lycan, yes, three months,” he stated. “But when you’re full of Alpha cum, well,” he dipped his head down and bit her earlobe. “Who knows how long you will really be pregnant. And the heat cycle does not go away after your firstborn, my love. I want a litter of pups with you.”

Ryleigh cocked an eyebrow at him. “You’re joking, right?”

“Not at all, my love,” he purred as he kissed along her neck. “Every heat cycle, I will fill you to the brim and watch you pop out pup after pup. Conception does take longer after the first one, but we are immortal, no? We have plenty of time.”

“The hell we do,” Ryleigh barked. “Let me get through one birth, and I’ll think about another one.” She inhaled sharply, and Lukas grinned. “Did you really go from terrified to aroused?”

“I believe that this is how life with a Karizma as my mate will be from now on,” he answered proudly.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” she mumbled playfully.

“Good. Now, I think we need a nice, long, hot shower,” he whispered against her ear.

“Only if you promise to not argue with me about something,” she said as she dropped the blanket from her skin.

Lukas growled and his gold eyes flared in approval. “If I argue, does the shower not happen?”

“Oh, I plan on showering, but I will do it alone,” she smiled. “Do you promise not to argue?”

“Fine,” he groaned. “What is it?”

“Come with me after the shower to project. It is time we learned more about what they are planning.”

“Why would you think I would argue that?” Lukas asked in surprise. “I have been against you going alone from the start of all of this. If I can be there to protect you, I will.”

“I had to keep you on your toes, didn’t I? It is a little fun to watch you squirm after all.”

“Not near as much fun as I will have when I am making you squirm beneath me,” Lukas’ wolf vowed darkly. He wrapped a hand in Ryleigh’s hair and kissed her deeply as he forced her back on to the bed.

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