Page 98 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
That scent. Salt and heat. Sand and leather. My favorite smell in the world.
And I know exactly why it smells so good to me.
Why my body is hypersensitive to it.
Why my stomach is still twisting and my breasts ache like they’re bruised.
Because I’m pregnant.
The realization hits me with the weight of a falling tide—sudden, forceful, impossible to swim against.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, the words spilling before I can stop them. They’re all I can think to say. “I’m…oh God, Javi, I’m sorry?—”
He pulls back just enough to look at me, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Why?”
“Because!” I choke, emotion rising hot and fast in my throat. “I’m—I mean, haven’t you figured it out? Haven’t you noticed what’s happening to me?”
His expression shifts. Softens. He leans forward until our foreheads touch, his rough hand cradling my jaw. His green eyes shine like moss in morning light—calm, steady, heartbreakingly gentle.
“You’re pregnant, Peach,” he says quietly. “I’ve known for a couple days.”
My breath catches. “You…you have?”
He nods, then lifts a finger to my lips to shush my rising panic. “I could sense it,” he murmurs. “Not confirmed, not for sure, but…something changed. Your scent shifted. Your energy too. You’ve been glowing like the damn sun.”
Tears fill my eyes, blurring the edges of him. “Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t want to stress you out more,” he says. “I didn’t want you to be afraid—not until you felt it too. And I didn’t know how to tell you…how to put words to something that feels like a miracle and a curse at the same time.”
I sniffle and lower my gaze. “It shouldn’t be possible. I wasn’t in heat anymore. It’s only been…what, a few weeks?”
“Maybe it’s different with mates,” he says. “Maybe we’re wired different.”
His hands rest protectively over my stomach—warm, strong, trembling just the slightest bit.
I look down too, unable to stop myself. There’s nothing to see yet. No visible change. But Ifeelit.
I feel something.
This tiny, impossible spark of life that shouldn’t be here…and yet is.
My shoulders slump as the panic claws back up again. “What are we going to do?”
Javi’s hand slides over my stomach, his fingers splaying wide. Something warm and comforting emanates from the spot, radiating over my skin and deep within me. I bury my face in his chest to breath him in, and he feels like home…
Home.
I have to get home.
Somewhere I can settle down, nestle in, somewhere safe. Somewhere I can keep our baby safe…where I can keepJavisafe. Because for all his muscle and stern looks, he needs someone to keep him safe too.
“Do you think they’re still coming?” Javi whispers. “Your pack?”
“They have to,” I say. “We don’t have any other way out.”
“We’ll find a way,” he says, his jaw tight. “Because this is what Gideon wants…and once he knows you’re pregnant, he’ll be even more protective.”
“I can’t have the baby here,” I say, desperation edging into my voice. “Especially if it’s a girl…? What will he do?—”
