Page 60 of Enzo

"Did you feed her?"

"What am I supposed to feed her?"

Deja felt her heart break. All the Kur'iks knew was war; even after hundreds of years here, they were still primed to fight a war that meant nothing to them now.

"Is this the first baby?"

"I'm Lazaro, Amira's mate. We're not allowed to procreate. The child may not make it through the night, and if she does, our battalion will kill her."

"Oh hell no. No one's touching this child. Enzo, I think it's time for everyone to know your secret."

He stood up and came to stand next to Deja before he called Ven over to his side.

"Take a good look at Ven and ask yourselves why he looks like me. Ven is more than the son of my heart; he is my son. I didn't know I could get an infertile pregnant, but I did. Each of you can have children. It may have to be with your mates, Ven being the exception. What matters here is that you can have children. We won't be killing babies or making parents suffer for loving each other so much that they want children to love too."

"Amira, come with me. Jessie, you come also. Jessie had a child a year ago, so she would be the authority on children and breastfeeding. We're about to find out if Kur'iks can breastfeed."

Oh, happy day!

Stop being sarcastic.

You have to find this funny. Not one child but two and a mother who doesn't know how to feed her child.

I think it's sad.

Here's what I think is sad. There are battalions full of Kur'iks living and dying to fight someone else's war.

All the voices in her head were correct; she could see both the humor and the sadness in this situation.

"That's Mia sleeping in the bed, Jessie's daughter."

Deja motioned them all to sit down. "Well, we are all about to get super friendly with each other. I want to see boobs." She popped hers out while Jessie and Amira looked at her. "This is how you're going to feed your daughter. On Earth, it's nature's way of making sure the child gets fed."

They all went through a series of techniques she found on Google to prime your breasts for feeding. Then she used the warm compress to make sure Amira wasn't clogged, and the milk would start running, and then she taught her how to put her baby on her breast. Thank you, internet. Before long, they had a very happy baby sucking as fast as she could. A little milk dribbled down her cheek, and Amira watched her with bright eyes. The child didn't have a name. Amira and Lazaro would name her after she made it through a full twenty-four hours of life.

Deja stretched as she waited for Enzo to come out of the office so they could walk home. They had made it to closing. Ven was walking Jessie home. They were going to have to do something about that situation. Amira and Lazaro had left after they picked up as many baby tips as they could absorb in one night. Themales in the club had acted terrified of the infant as if she were a monster. They finally warmed up and touched her tiny hands and feet. That little girl owned each of them now.

"Ready?" Enzo came out of the office smiling at her.

"I'm ready." They walked out, but Deja couldn't shake the sense that the Thalians were going to be a threat.

Chapter Twenty-four

"What's wrong?"

Deja was curled up on the couch sitting next to Enzo. She should be sleepy after the day and night she had, but she wasn't. Her senses were off the chart, hollering at her to get ready. It would help if they'd be more specific.

"I don't know. All the voices in my head are screaming at me to get ready, but none of them are telling me what's wrong. I feel tense like I'm being pulled in ten different directions, but I'm sitting next to you."

"Why don't we go to our room, and you let me make love to you?"

"No." Hurt flashed in his eyes.

"Stop that. I have to tell you something first."

"All right, I'm ready." His shoulders had stiffened, and he was holding himself erect as if he were bracing for bad news.

She climbed into his lap and sat straddling him. "I should probably make you breakfast in bed after rocking your worldbefore I tell you this, but I can't wait. I feel like I've held it in all night and if I wait a minute more, I'll explode.

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