Page 118 of Viper

Mia cast her a supportive smile. “I’ll be terribly surprised if Viper doesn’t feel the same.”

Her child wouldn’t be the first half-celestial-half-demon to be born. Some of the Fallen had bred with demons when they first fell eons ago—the eventual result being the creation of the breed of demons known simply as descendants.

It was believed that some archangels had also fallen back then; that they, too, had reproduced with demons. In fact, some thought that Raini’s mate Maddox had archangelic blood. But Viper was the incarnation of a deadly goddamn sin, which made this situation a little different.

Ella wouldn’t care if her child was half rhino—she’d love it no matter what. But she feared for it. The demon world wasn’t even kind to descendants; considered them mutts. They weren’t going to welcome her baby.

Mia gently squeezed her shoulder. “You need to tell Viper.”

“Tell me what?” he asked, striding inside.

Ella jumped, almost knocking over the cup of tea; her palm flying to her belly in an unconscious protective movement.

Viper’s brows drew together. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” her sister quickly assured him. “Ella just has some news.”

He frowned. Squinted. His gaze dropped to the hand on her stomach. Then his blue eyes widened, his broad shoulders turned stiff, and his facial muscles went slack.

Viper’s gaze slammed back on Ella’s, disbelieving. “You’re pregnant.”

“Yeah,” she rasped. “Yeah, I’m pregnant.”

Holy shit. Viper could only stare at her, stock still. His gaze again dropping to her stomach, he felt a fierce surge of possession rise up inside him. His woman was pregnant with his baby. He swallowed hard, his throat growing tight; emotions burning brightly in his chest.

And, inappropriate though it might be, he had the visceral urge to take her to the floor and bury himself inside her—which his equally pleased entity was all for.

What theyweren’tpleased about was the fear in her expression.

Protectiveness dancing around his system, Viper walked straight to her and caught her face in his hands. “You’re going to be fine,” he firmly stated, refusing to consider any other possibility. “Both of you will be.”

“I love how you think that the force of your will alone is all that’s necessary to ensure that,” she said, mirth playing over her face and chasing away some of the fear.

Mia smiled at them both. “This is so awesome!”

“Also slightly terrifying.”

Viper moved a little closer, hugging Ella to him. “When did you find out?”

“Just now. Mia suspected it, so she did a little magickal scan to check.” She looked at her sister. “Thank God you did.”

“How far along do you think you are?”

“No idea,” said Ella, shaking her head. “I’ve been feeling iffy for weeks, but part of that was because my sleeps weren’t restful. The … dreams I talked aboutseemedto have stopped, but I still felt tired. This could have been why, I don’t know. The symptoms of demonic pregnancy don’t always start straight away. I had my last period over a month ago.”

They’d always used condoms until recently, but she was on the pill. So either the pill hadn’t been effective, or they’d come across a faulty condom at some point.

Viper palmed her stomach as he touched his mind to that of the child inside her, being sure to include her in the psychic ‘loop’ he opened:Hey there, little one.

The young, underdeveloped mind stirred. It ever so gently bumped his, contentment traveling along the ‘channel’.

She gasped, her eyes going wide. “Was that the baby?”

“Yes.”

“I-I never felt anything like that before.”

“The baby won’t be able to reach out on its own yet; only to respond to you when you open a telepathic door. As soon as your mind withdraws, that door closes. The baby’s too young to open it alone.”

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