'E-Enzo?' Venus stuttered, confused and baffled,

the only response she got was heavy breathing, and he eyed her with a crazed look, he looked torn.

Venus knew he was on edge and anything she'd do would be a trigger from him and he'd shift completely,

if that happened he'd rip apart everything in sight, kaya was whimpering at the back of her head, worried for her mate but submitting to the sheer raw power he was emitting.

Venus was in utter shock, unable to decipher what had just happened,

'Enzo w-what?'

'mate,' he muttered through clenched teeth, rage dripping from his tone as his hands fisted on the table clenched even further,

gently almost cautiously Venus placed her small hand over his large fisted one, as the sparks from the mate bond came to life, calming down the raging lycan just a little,

breathing in deeply he clenched his eyes shut, and stayed still for a few seconds, the tremors caused by the strain to suppress his Lycan subsided and after a while, he opened his eyes and raised calm blue-green eyes to Venus.

breathing a sigh of relief Venus hugged Dante tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck as he hesitantly placed his arms around her waist.

'what happened?' Venus asked, her voice weak from the unexpected turn of events

'nothing,' he muttered with a dark expression on his face

and Venus didn't push it further, she knew he was on edge, and being persistent wouldn't help, but she would ask him tonight before they head to bed.

Giving him a soft kiss on the cheek she patted his back and quietly left the room while Dante was left alone, his dark thoughts consuming him, possibilities of the worst hounding him, and loneliness from what would happen if she found out creeping into him.

After joining everyone downstairs venus's mood got a bit better, her overthinking stopped slightly as the uplifting aura around her that her friends carried made her feel at ease.

After a while Dante entered the living room, with a half-asleep Jack in his arms, the sight of his tall 6'3 frame with pure-toned muscle hugged by his slacks and dress shirt holding a little baby in his arms made Venus's heart slam into her ribs,

as a warm feeling blossomed in her chest making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, a bright smile creeping onto her face.

James saw the entire exchange and nudged Sophia who stopped her bantering and looked at the scene in front of him, but what worried Sophia that James seemed to miss was the haunted look on Dante's face.

'he woke up when I was getting some stuff from our room,' Dante informed in a deep rough voice.

Venus nodded, her tongue seemed limp of words at the sight. James took a half awake half asleep Jack from Dante's arms, cooing to him as he giggled at him,

'Dante I wan-,'

'Dante rogues caught at the southern border again, we have to go now,' Gabriel said, cutting off Venus as the room grew tense,

Knox kissed Sophia and the baby bump longingly and the three left in a tense hurry without another word.

'be safe please, I love you,' Venus mind-linked to her mate,

'i will,' was all he mind-linked back,

at this point Venus's worry escalated to alarm, she needed to talk to him as soon as possible and demand him to tell her what was going on.

Just like that it was nightfall, Venus with Sophia and James dropped Jack back at the pack house and came back home to have dinner, it was past 11 now and the men still weren't home.

Sophia said she couldn't wait anymore and had to head back home, James said the same, that they would wait there for their mates and then they left.

Alone at home Venus sat in the kitchen after clearing up the table and cleaning the dishes, she tried mind linking Dante a bunch of times but he hadn't responded back.

Venus was about to call him when the main door opened and Dante walked through, his hair messy as dark locks fell over his forehead as if he had been running his fingers through them all day.

'Dante,' Venus breathed and ran up to him and gave him a tight hug,

'i was so worried,' she said, keeping her arms around him and giving him a kiss on the jaw,

Dante nodded and kissed her back on the forehead,

'what happened is everything okay?'

'yes we settled the rogue problem, they won't be coming back for a long while now,'

'did you chase them off orrrrr ....?'

'no, we talked,'

silence,

'what?'

Venus slapped Dante lightly on the chest and giggled, 'i think everyone knows what your definition of talking is,'

'well, what can I say,' he said, grinning at her and giving her a peck on the lips.

After a while when Dante had his dinner and they were preparing to go to bed, Venus mustered up her courage and asked her mate the question that had been hounding her all day,

a fact about Dante was that he spoke very less and hated discussing one matter over and over again.

'baby?' Venus called out, as Dante walked out of the bathroom only with a pair of sweats

'hmmm,'

'about earlier today ...,'

'what?'

'Dante kindly stop acting oblivious you know exactly what I'm talking about, Enzo coming out, how you've been acting and avoiding me?' Venus said frustrated, looking at him in disbelief.

nothing but unsettling silence continued

'why are you like this?' Venus asked

no answer

'why did you react like that?'

silence again

'DANTE TELL ME RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR T-

'we cant have pups,'

his voice was so calm, so collected that Venus almost scoffed but the look, the haunted look on his face told her otherwise.

'what,' she breathed out in disbelief

'yes, we cant have pups,'

her heart started beating fast, she could hear the blood roaring in her ears and the wild thumping in her chest, what did he mean they couldn't have pups, he didn't want kids? Venus thought as her mind went crazy with a million gushing thoughts.

'you don't want to have ki-'

'no Venus I do, but you won't be able to have pups,'

She could have sworn someone ripped her heart into two.

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