Page 59 of Betrayed Pregnant Mate

“Waterboarding,” I laugh, and he laughs, too, then he drags me back to the bed.

We’re late to the pack meeting, but apparently, that’s pretty normal, and they forgive him as soon as he shows them the donuts we picked up along the way.

“Good morning, everyone,” Aris says, sweeping into the room. “We have a lot of things to cover today, so let’s try to get through them quickly.”

He starts by recapping what happened with the vampires, which authorities will be involved, and his new efforts to talk to a vampire leader.

“Eventually,” he says, “they’ll have to pick someone to lead who isn’t an idiot.”

“Or a cardboard cut-out,” Percy adds, and everyone laughs. I squeeze his hand under the table.

Apparently, the last leader had sacrificed his life, breaking the life pact to give his goons a chance at getting me. Aris covers this, and talks about the threat we might face if anyone finds out about the hybrid baby our pack will soon have. He impresses the importance of keeping this quiet, and says that we could try and keep my current “vampire” status under wraps as well, for safety’s sake.

“I would like everyone to welcome the newest member of our pack and the newest member of this team,” Aris says, and when the door opens, Rafael walks in, smiling broadly at all of us.

“Were you waiting behind that door the entire time?” Percy asks, laughing and giving him a little bro hug.

“Yes,” Rafael says, “and it was totally worth it.”

“Rafael is transferring from his agency to ours.”

“To ours?” Bigby parrots, and this makes Aris smile again.

“That’s right, that’s the next big announcement. Starting now, we are integrating into an agency, taking on agents, training, and expanding. I’m tired of leaving this stuff in the hands of people who are just going corrupt, taking money, siphoning power, and leaving the innocent and weak behind to deal with the damage.”

“Wow,” Bigby says, blowing out a breath.

“You’re accepting agents?” Olivia asks, raising an eyebrow. In a quick movement, she stands, her, chair rolling out from behind her. Rosa reaches out and grabs it before it can roll all the way across the room. “I’d like to become an agent.”

“Oh,” Aris says, clearly not expecting that. “Well, yeah, of course, you’ll just have to go through the training and pass the tests.”

“Excellent,” Olivia says, smiling and plopping into her seat, which she’s just trusted Rosa to fetch for her. I lick my lips, then stand up as well, heat flooding through my cheeks when everyone turns to look at me.

“Me, too,” I say.

“You’re pregnant,” Aris says, looking flustered.

“Yeah,” I say, laughing, “well, obviously, after that’s done. I want to train and become an agent, too.”

“Okay,” Aris says, then looking around the room, “anyone else?”

His gaze settles on Rosa, and she laughs, shaking her head and crossing her arms.

“No, thank you,” she says, “but you guys have fun.”

“Alright, then,” Aris says, “that’s everything I have—”

“There’s actually one more thing,” Linnea says, bopping him to the side and taking her place at the front of the podium. “I didn’t want to overshadow anyone else’s announcement,” she says, adjusting the mic so it’s better for her. I don’t understand why there needs to be a mic. There are only a handful of us here, but it’s funnier that she’s moving it down, so Aris will have to raise it again later.

“I’m pregnant!” she says, and Aris’s mouth drops open. I glance at Percy, shocked that she waited to tell everyone together, even Aris.

“Honey,” he says, stepping closer to her, “is that true.”

“Would I lie?”

“Yeah,” he says, looking her over, “you would.”

“It’s true,” she says, her voice lower as she looks up at him through her lashes. Aris grabs her around the waist, picking her up and spinning her around. Everyone claps and whistles, and then Linnea comes over to squeeze my hand.

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