Page 67 of Claimed By the Damned

“Not particularly, no,” Drake agreed.

Knox turned his attention to Zeke then. “Zeke?”

“Not at all,” Zeke stated without taking his eyes off of her.

Amara looked between the three of them and shook her head. “You all are insane. Just out of your fucking minds. How can you not care? What are we even going to tell this kid when it gets here?”

Drake reached out and cupped her cheek with the warm palm of his hand. “We tell them the truth, Amara, that they have four parents who love them unconditionally. This child will be one of us, a shifter, so we will explain that we are mates. It doesn’t have to be this complicated.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment as she processed his words. Was she making it out to be a bigger deal than it really was?

“So, you guys aren’t upset?” she asked.

Knox grinned at her. “I’m fucking excited.”

Amara raised her eyebrow in question, wondering what had suddenly changed with him. They had spoken about this exact thing before, and he seemed unsure, if not reluctant, to become a father. But now, he really did seem to be excited about the prospect, which was a strange but endearing look for him.

None of them seemed to be upset about this new turn of events, and she was beginning to realize that she had been worried for nothing. Or maybe she was just already dealing with pregnancy hormones. She’d seen that it was a lot worse for shifters in that regard.

The four of them had gotten through everything else that had been thrown at them thus far, and she guessed this would just be another thing that they would handle. Together.

“So, that’s it then?” she asked hopefully. “We are just going to become parents and act like this is the most natural thing in the world?”

Zeke leaned over and pressed a kiss to her salty cheek. “That is exactly what we are going to do. We aren’t going to live a lie. We are what we are and we’re fated to be this way.”

Amara gave him a watery smile, tears falling again but this time for a different reason. This was really happening. They were really going to become parents. All four of them.

“Oh! We need to go shopping!” Knox suddenly exclaimed, jumping to his feet and pulling out his phone. “We need a crib, and some diapers, and some toys.”

His excitement seemed to be infectious as everyone laughed, and the tension in the room was gone just like that.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Amara

Amara moved around the shop, trying to get things back in order. It had been a few days since she’d been back there, and she had a lot of stuff she needed to take care of. The online orders couldn’t wait, and she had some restocking to do. Along with those, she had dusting to take care of, and she wasn’t looking forward to that.

She still couldn’t believe she was pregnant, nor could she see how the guys were so calm about the fact that they didn’t know exactly who was the father. She just wished they were calm about other things too, but she chuckled to herself, knowing that would never happen. And then she sobered because it really wasn’t funny. She was hiding at the shop because it was all too much, and she needed the distraction of something that calmed her.

The reason she had come to work today was because she woke up to discover the living room full of baby stuff that Knox had bought over the last few days. He had been going overboard about the whole thing since discovering she was growing a tiny person. They all had, but not as much as he was.

While things were going well between the four of them now, all of this was more than she was ready for. She still had several months before the baby was due, and she was already beginning to feel a bit suffocated.

Another thing that irritated her was how the guys kept treating her as if she were made of glass. Breakable. She wasn’t breakable; she was just pregnant. There was a big difference in her mind. Going to work felt like a good way to show them that nothing had changed and that she was still capable of being a person.

The familiar scent of the new and old books soothed her. It almost made her forget all of their problems, but not for long. Every now and then, she’d come across a title that would make her think of her mates and what they shared together. And because of that, her mind kept wandering to her father.

He hadn’t tried calling since he sent those men to the bar. In fact, she hadn’t heard a word from her old pack. She twisted her lips to the side as she glanced out the shop’s windows. Could it really be that easy? Could he really have decided to let her go?

Pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, she nibbled on the edges. She wondered how he would feel on the matter now that he technically would be having a grandchild. Not that she’d ever let her child near the monster that he was, but the thought of how much worse things could be for her wasn’t a comfort.

As her thoughts drifted, so did she. She was standing halfway up the ladder, popping some books onto the top shelf, when the little bell above the door dinged cheerfully. “I’ll be right with you,” she called, trying to sound more happy than her thoughts had been.

Footsteps grew nearer, and a voice rumbled behind her. “You snuck out this morning,” Drake said, causing her to teeter on the ladder for a moment.

She looked back at Drake and shook her head. “I didn’t sneak out. I came to work. There’s a difference. I do have a business to run, you know.”

He held up a milkshake in one hand, and in the other, he jiggled a bottle of prenatal vitamins. “I bet you didn’t eat breakfast either.”

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