Page 44 of Outcast Island

“I want to put a baby in you,” he tells me unexpectedly.

Freezing, I stop lathering my hair with the shampoo I had found and blink at him. “What?”

My stomach drops.

We’ve been over this.

“A baby,” he insists as his gaze drops to admire my body again. “You deserve more than I can give you as a Ygg Vampire. You deserve to be a queen.”

My breath comes in short pants. Twirling, I turn away from him as I lift my head and let the water wash away the shampoo.

But I need a moment to collect myself.

“Assuming I am capable of estrus, the child could still be a Ygg Vampire,” I tell him.

Starting a new nest is a big undertaking, one that requires resources, allies, and land.

All of which I have none of, at the moment.

“Unless that’s the only reason you want a baby,” I begin as my chest tightens.

Of course he only wants a baby so he can start a new nest. He doesn’t actually just want me?—

My spiral of thoughts is put to an immediate stop when a muscular arm wraps around my middle and hauls me against his hard chest.

He’s still wearing the jeans he had put on before he had ventured out to the guest quarters. He doesn’t seem to mind the water that instantly soaks him as he presses one hand between my legs and cups my sex. The other he holds around my middle. “I want a child because I want to give you the world, Guðrún. I don’t need more time to get to know you. I already know I want you. I want a nest with you.” He moves his hand over my stomach where my womb waits for him. “I want to see you swell with my child, knowing that I was the one whobredyou.”

His fingers move over my sex, making me pant as my heat comes back in full force.

Knowing how Magnus really feels changes something inside of me. I’m an empath. I know everything he’s saying is true.

He wants to breed me.

Because he wantsmeto bear his child.

“I want that too,” I admit.

Magnus’s emotions suggest he’s going to reward me for my approval, but his body does the opposite.

A whimper escapes me when Magnus removes his fingers and exits the shower. “I can feel your estrus is close,” he says. He nods to his necklace I’m still wearing. “That’s a suppressant. I suggest you use it if you’re going to be coming with me.”

“W-where?” I ask, because I have lost all ability to string more than two words together. I’m not only feeling the impact of my own heat—but Magnus’s rut, as well. His body pulses with a vibrant, dominant need to fuck and claim and bite. But his expression is stoic.

He’s letting me handle his rut,I realize.

I grip the necklace for strength and shiver at the icy tendril of control it sweeps through me. My empathic powers might be strong, but I need help when it comes to not only my own heat, but my Alpha’s rut, too.

The suppressant’s effects are uncomfortable, but he’s right. It masks the emotions and urges enough for me to be able to think straight.

“We’re going to your childhood home—where we end this. The only thing standing in my way of putting a baby in you is your father. You’ll never feel safe as long as he draws breath.”

I chew my lip as I take a few deep breaths. Shakily finding the shower’s control knob, I dip it so that cold water comes out. “You’re right,” I quietly admit.

Magnus nods. “So finish up and then let me dry you off.” He motions to the comfortable athletic wear laid out on the bench. It looks like it’ll fit me and be easy enough to move around in, especially if I need to run. “Then get dressed. Because we have a vampire to kill.”

I find myself obeying my Alpha again.

I make a mental note not to make a habit of it—but I know with Magnus, that’ll prove difficult.

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